CASTLE OF OTRANTO, The. Horace Walpole's 'The Castle of Otranto,' published in 1764, owes its importance to the fact that it is the first example of the so-called Gothic romance, a type of fiction which, in the hands of writers like. Mrs. Radcliffe, became highly popular in the late 18th century as a reaction against the sentimental and realistic novel of the school of Richardson, and prepared the way for the great exploitation of mediaeval romance in the historical novels of Sir Walter Scott. Intrinsically 'The Castle of Otranto' is interesting chiefly by virtue of its absurdity. The scene is a medimval castle, with frowning battlements, trap doors and intricate sub terranean cloisters; the theme, the mysteries which it harbors within its walls. The plot, involving a gloomy tyrant, a persecuted wife, a lovely young prince and two romantic girls, and employing the supernatural crudely at every turn, is not worth rehearsing. A gigan
tic helmet comes crashing from heaven into the courtyard. An ancestral portrait steps forth from its frame and becomes a ghost. Walpole was a mere dilettante, trying what he could do to wring sensation out of a spurious mediavalism. He is entirely lacking in the delicate skill and the genuine historical sense of Scott. Yet the credit of originality cannot be denied him. He is the father of all those who cast reality to the winds and carry the reader deep into the heart of romantic mystery. 'The Castle of Otranto' was reprinted with a memoir by Scott in 1823; a convenient edi tion is that in Cassell's National Library. Con sult Beers, H. A., 'English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century) (1898).