[Footnote 420: Carlyle's _Essay on Scott_. See also Taine's _History of English Literature_, Introduction, I.] [Footnote 421: Review of _Metrical Romances_, _Edinburgh Review_, January, 1806.] [Footnote 422: _Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 333.] [Footnote 423: _The Pirate_, Vol. II, p. 138.] [Footnote 424: Introductory Epistle to _Ivanhoe_. Freeman, in his _Norman Conquest_, vigorously attacks _Ivanhoe_ for its unwarranted picture of the relations between Saxons and Normans in the thirteenth century. (Vol. V, pp. 551-561.)] [Footnote 425: Mr. Lang points out that he made many written notes of his reading, as we should hardly expect a man of his unrivalled memory to do. (_Life of Scott_, p. 27.)] [Footnote 426: _Constable's Correspondence_, Vol. III, p. 161.] [Footnote 427: _Constable's Correspondence_, Vol. III, pp. 93-4.] [Footnote 428: _Letters of Lady Louisa Stuart_, p. 247.] [Footnote 429: Mr. Lang's theory that Scott was responsible for a decline in serious reading cannot be either proved or refuted completely, but more than one man has given personal testimony concerning the stimulating effect of the Waverley novels. Thierry's _Norman Conquest_ was directly inspired by _Ivanhoe_, and with _Ivanhoe_ is condemned by Freeman for its mistaken views. Mr. Andrew D. White says in his _Autobiography_ that _Quentin Durward_ and _Anne of Geierstein_ led him to see the first that he had ever clearly discerned of the great principles that "lie hidden beneath the surface of events"--"the secret of the centralization of power in Europe, and of the triumph of monarchy over feudalism." (Vol. I, pp. 15-16.)] [Footnote 430: Scott had theories as to what children's books ought to be. They should stir the imagination, he said, instead of simply imparting knowledge as certain scientific books attempted to do. (_Lockhart_, Vol. II, p. 27.) But he seriously objected to any attempt to write down to the understanding of children. Of the _Tales of a Grandfather_ he said: "I will make, if possible, a book that a child shall understand, yet a man will feel some temptation to peruse, should he chance to take it up." (_Lockhart_, Vol. V, p. 112. See also _ib._, Vol. I, p. 19.) Anatole France has expressed ideas about children's books which are practically the same as those of Scott. (See _Le Livre de Mon Ami_, 3me partie: "A Madame D * * *.")] [Footnote 431: Introduction to _The Fortunes of Nigel_.] [Footnote 432: See the Introduction to _Waverley_.] [Footnote 433: Introductory Epistle to _Ivanhoe_.] [Footnote 434: _Ibid._ In _Old Mortality_, Claverhouse was made to use the phrase "sentimental speeches," but when Lady Louisa Stuart pointed out to Scott that the word "sentimental" was modern, he struck it out of the second edition.]