ROMANCE AND Sin WALTER Scorr. The old romances never became quite dead. As late as 1752, Charlotte Lennox thought it worth while to ridicule them in the Female Quixote. Under the impulse of the romantic spirit which was pervading all literature, a short ghostly romance was published by Walpole in 1764. His Castle of Otranto set the standard for many writers, among whom were Clara Reeve, Ann Radcliffe. Beekford, M. G. Lewis, C. B. Brown, William Godwin, and Nary Shelley. Per haps the most typical specimen of their work is Mrs. Radcliffe's Mysteries of Udo1pho (1794), which definitely marks an interest in scenery for its own sake. Godwin',s Caleb Williams (1794) is the first detective story. These romances of the eighteenth century are forerunners of the tales of terror and wonder by Poe and Hawthorne. But Poe gave them a new art in the Fall of the House of Usher (1840) and the Masque of the Red Death (18421. To Hawthorne they sug gested a dress for psychological problems. Wal pole and his school oommonly placed their scenes in mediawal times: hence, their romances were known as `Gothic,' and they are, in a manner, his torical in setting. it was a natural step for an innovator to make history the main interest, Such a step was taken by Sophia Lee, whose Recess (1783-86) is an historical fiction of the time of Queen Elizabeth. Her example was fol
lowed by many others, among whom were James White, W. 11. Ireland, and, most noteworthy of all, Jane Porter, author of The Scottish Chiefs (1810). Nothing could be more preposterous than the way in which these writers dealt with history. Characters and ineidents of different periods they introduced into the same scene. But they rarely employed the historical allegory; and they made possible Waver-ley (1814). To the amazement of his contemporaries, Scott poured forth during the next sixteen years about thirty novels, covering English and Scotch history. with some gaps, from William Rufus to 1800. Among his English followers were Horace Smith. (4. P. R. James, Harrison Ainsworth, and .lames Grant. He inspired INIanzoni in Italy, Freytag in Germany, and Hugo and Dumas, in France. His Pirate suggested to James Feninnn•e Cooper the brilliant tales of the sea beginning with The Pilot 11824) ; and for his Leather-Stocking Series, containing The Last of the Mohicans. Thr Pathfinder, and The Deerslayer, Cooper became known as the American Scott.