May he be permitted a few words also of remonstrance against the promiscuous application of the term 'sensation' to that large school of fiction which transgresses no one of those canons of construction and morality which, in producing the unapproachable 'Waverley Novels,' their great author imposed upon himself? No one, it is assumed, would describe Sir Walter Scott's romances as 'sensation novels;' yet in that marvellous series there is not a single tale in which death, crime, and, in some form, mystery, have not a place.

Passing by those grand romances of 'Ivanhoe,' 'Old Mortality,' and 'Kenilworth,' with their terrible intricacies of crime and bloodshed, constructed with so fine a mastery of the art of exciting suspense and horror, let the reader pick out those two exceptional novels in the series which profess to paint contemporary manners and the scenes of common life; and remembering in the 'Antiquary' the vision in the tapestried chamber, the duel, the horrible secret, and the death of old Elspeth, the drowned fisherman, and above all the tremendous situation of the tide-bound party under the cliffs; and in 'St. Ronan's Well,' the long-drawn mystery, the suspicion of insanity, and the catastrophe of suicide;—determine whether an epithet which it would be a profanation to apply to the structure of any, even the most exciting of Sir Walter Scott's stories, is fairly applicable to tales which, though illimitably inferior in execution, yet observe the same limitations of incident, and the same moral aims.

The author trusts that the Press, to whose masterly criticism and generous encouragement he and other humble labourers in the art owe so much, will insist upon the limitation of that degrading term to the peculiar type of fiction which it was originally intended to indicate, and prevent, as they may, its being made to include the legitimate school of tragic English romance, which has been ennobled, and in great measure founded, by the genius of Sir Walter Scott.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

  1. [AUSTIN RUTHYN, OF KNOWL, AND HIS DAUGHTER]
  2. [UNCLE SILAS]
  3. [A NEW FACE]
  4. [MADAME DE LA ROUGIERRE]
  5. [SIGHTS AND NOISES]
  6. [A WALK IN THE WOOD]
  7. [CHURCH SCARSDALE]
  8. [THE SMOKER]
  9. [MONICA KNOLLYS]
  10. [LADY KNOLLYS REMOVES A COVERLET]
  11. [LADY KNOLLYS SEES THE FEATURES]
  12. [A CURIOUS CONVERSATION]
  13. [BEFORE AND AFTER BREAKFAST]
  14. [ANGRY WORDS]
  15. [A WARNING]
  16. [DOCTOR BRYERLY LOOKS IN]
  17. [AN ADVENTURE]
  18. [A MIDNIGHT VISITOR]
  19. [AU REVOIR]
  20. [AUSTIN RUTHYN SETS OUT ON HIS JOURNEY]
  21. [ARRIVALS]
  22. [SOMEBODY IN THE ROOM WITH THE COFFIN]
  23. [I TALK WITH DOCTOR BRYERLY]
  24. [THE OPENING OF THE WILL]
  25. [I HEAR FROM UNCLE SILAS]
  26. [THE STORY OF UNCLE SILAS]
  27. [MORE ABOUT TOM CHARKE'S SUICIDE]
  28. [I AM PERSUADED]
  29. [HOW THE AMBASSADOR FARED]
  30. [ON THE ROAD]
  31. [BARTRAM-HAUGH]
  32. [UNCLE SILAS]
  33. [THE WINDMILL WOOD]
  34. [ZAMIEL]
  35. [WE VISIT A ROOM IN THE SECOND STOREY]
  36. [AN ARRIVAL AT DEAD OF NIGHT]
  37. [DOCTOR BRYERLY EMERGES]
  38. [A MIDNIGHT DEPARTURE]
  39. [COUSIN MONICA AND UNCLE SILAS MEET]
  40. [IN WHICH I MAKE ANOTHER COUSIN'S ACQUAINTANCE]
  41. [MY COUSIN DUDLEY]
  42. [ELVERSTON AND ITS PEOPLE]
  43. [NEWS AT BARTRAM GATE]
  44. [A FRIEND ARISES]
  45. [A CHAPTER-FULL OF LOVERS]
  46. [THE RIVALS]
  47. [DOCTOR BRYERLY REAPPEARS]
  48. [QUESTION AND ANSWER]
  49. [AN APPARITION]
  50. [MILLY'S FAREWELL]
  51. [SARAH MATILDA COMES TO LIGHT]
  52. [THE PICTURE OF A WOLF]
  53. [AN ODD PROPOSAL]
  54. [IN SEARCH OF MR. CHARKE'S SKELETON]
  55. [THE FOOT OF HERCULES]
  56. [I CONSPIRE]
  57. [THE LETTER]
  58. [LADY KNOLLYS' CARRIAGE]
  59. [A SUDDEN DEPARTURE]
  60. [THE JOURNEY]
  61. [OUR BED-CHAMBER]
  62. [A WELL-KNOWN FACE LOOKS IN]
  63. [SPICED CLARET]
  64. [THE HOUR OF DEATH]
  65. [IN THE OAK PARLOUR]
  66. [CONCLUSION]