It ought not to be necessary, but from some symptoms it may be desirable, to point out that Scott is very far from being an historical novelist only. An acute French critic, well acquainted with both literatures, once went so far as to say that there were a good many professed "philosophical" novels which did not contain such keen psychology as Scott's: and I would undertake to show a good deal of cause on this side. But short of it, it is undeniable that he can do perfectly well without any historical scaffolding. There is practically nothing of it in his second and third novels, _Guy Mannering_ and _The Antiquary_, each of which good judges have sometimes ranked as his very best: there is as little or less in _St. Ronan's Well_, a very fine thing as it is, and one which, but for James Ballantyne's meddling folly and prudery, would have been much finer. The incomparable little conversation--scenes and character-sketches scattered among the Introductions to the novels--especially the history of Crystal Croftangry--show that he could perfectly well have dispensed with all out-of-the-way incident had he chosen. But, as a rule, he did not so choose: and, in the majority of cases, he preferred to take his out-of-the-way incident from historical sources. Not here, unfortunately, can we allow ourselves even a space proportionate to that given above in Miss Austen's case to the criticism of individual novels: but luckily there is not much need of this. The brilliant overture of _Waverley_ as such, with its entirely novel combination of the historical and the "national" elements upon the still more novel background of Highland scenery; the equally vivid and vigorous narrative and the more interesting personages of _Old Mortality_ and _Rob Roy_; the domestic tragedy, with the historical element for little more than a framework, of the _Heart of Midlothian_ and the _Bride of Lammermoor_; the little masterpiece of _A Legend of Montrose_; the fresh departure, with purely English subject, of _Ivanhoe_ and its triumphant sequels in _Kenilworth, Quentin Durward_, and others; the striking utilisation of literary assistance in the _Fortunes of Nigel_; and the wonderful blending of autobiographic, historical, and romantic interest in _Redgauntlet_:--one cannot dwell on these and other things. The magic continued even in _Woodstock_--written as this was almost between the blows of the executioner's crow-bar on the wheel, in the tightening of the windlasses at the rack--it is not absent, whatever people may say, in _Anne of Geierstein_, nor even quite lacking in the better parts of _Count Robert of Paris_. But we must not expatiate on its effects; we must only give a little attention to the means by which they are achieved.