by Walter Scott
—from an unsigned review in the National Review (April 1858)
HENRY JAMES
It is almost ungrateful to criticize [Scott] . He, least of all, would have invited or sanctioned any curious investigation of his works. They were written without pretence: all that has been claimed for them has been claimed by others than their author. They are emphatically works of entertainment. As such let us cherish and preserve them. Say what we will, we should be very sorry to lose, and equally sorry to mend them. There are few of us but can become sentimental over the uncounted hours they have cost us. There are moments of high-strung sympathy with the spirit which is abroad when we might find them rather dull—in parts; but they are capital books to have read. Who would forego the companionship of all those shadowy figures which stand side by side in their morocco niches in yonder mahogany cathedral? What youth would willingly close his eyes upon that dazzling array of female forms,—so serried that he can hardly see where to choose,—Rebecca of York, Edith Plantagenet, Mary of Scotland, sweet Lucy Ashton? What maiden would consent to drop the dear acquaintance of Halbert Glendinning, of Wilfred of Ivanhoe, of Roland Græme and Henry Morton? Scott was a born story-teller: we can give him no higher praise. Surveying his works, his character, his method, as a whole, we can liken him to nothing better than to a strong and kindly elder brother, who gathers his juvenile public about him at eventide, and pours out a stream of wondrous improvisation. Who cannot remember an experience like this? On no occasion are the delights of fiction so intense. Fiction? These are the triumphs of fact. In the richness of his invention and memory, in the infinitude of his knowledge, in his improvidence for the future, in the skill with which he answers, or rather parries, sudden questions, in his low-voiced pathos and his resounding merriment, he is identical with the ideal fireside chronicler. And thoroughly to enjoy him, we must again become as credulous as children at twilight.
—from an unsigned review in the North American Review (October 1864)
MARK TWAIN
A curious exemplification of the power of a single book for good or harm is shown in the effects wrought by Don Quixote and those wrought by Ivanhoe. The first swept the world’s admiration for the mediæval chivalry-silliness out of existence; and the other restored it. As far as our South is concerned, the good work done by Cervantes is pretty nearly a dead letter, so effectually has Scott’s pernicious work undermined it.
—from Life on the Mississippi (1883)
QUESTIONS
1. Professor Wood reminds us of parallels between the circumstances of the time in which Ivanhoe was written and those of the time in which it was set. He also reminds us why, later, American southerners found it attractive. But the novel has had, and continues to have, many readers who know nothing about such matters. What is its appeal?
2. Is the artificial dialogue in Ivanhoe a problem? Think how hard it would be to recover the colloquial English of Ivanhoe’s time. If you wanted to write a sequel, how would you solve the problem, on the one hand, of avoiding anachronisms and, on the other, of writing dialogue that is true to the way people spoke at that time? How would you know what was accurate and what was a product of your imagination?
3. How would you describe the function of the material about Robin Hood within the novel as a whole? Do he and his band serve as an implied commentary on the lifestyles of the other characters? Does he represent another, alternative way of living?
For Further Reading
BIOGRAPHIES OF SCOTT
Buchan, John. Sir Walter Scott. London and Toronto: Cassell and Company, 1932.
Clark, Arthur Melville. Sir Walter Scott: The Formative Years. Edinburgh and London: Blackwood, 1969.
Grierson, Sir Herbert. Sir Walter Scott: A New Life Supplementary to, and Corrective of, Lockhart’s Biography. London: Constable and Co., 1938.
Johnson, Edgar. Sir Walter Scott: The Great Unknown. 2 vols. London: Macmillan, 1970.
Lockhart, J. G. Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott. 7 vols. Edinburgh, 1837-1838.
Sutherland, John. The Life of Walter Scott. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Wilson, A. N. The Laird of Abbotsford: A View of Sir Walter Scott. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980.
CRITICAL WORKS ON SCOTT
Beiderwell, Bruce. Power and Punishment in Scott’s Novels. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1992.
Brown, David. Walter Scott and the Historical Imagination. London: Routledge, 1979.
Ferris, Ina. The Achievement of Literary Authority: Gender, History, and the Waverley Novels. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991.
Hart, Francis R. Scott’s Novels: The Plotting of Historic Survival. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1966.
Kerr, James. Fiction Against History: Scott as Storyteller. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
McMaster, Graham. Scott and Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
Mitchell, Jerome. Scott, Chaucer, and Medieval Romance: A Study in Sir Walter Scott’s Indebtedness to the Literature of the Middle Ages. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1987.
Shaw, Harry E. The Forms of Historical Fiction: Sir Walter Scott and His Successors. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983.
Tulloch, Graham. The Language of Walter Scott: A Study of his Scottish and Period Language. London: Deutsch Press, 1980.
Wilt, Judith. Secret Leaves: The Novels of Walter Scott. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.
RELATED BOOKS ON THE MIDDLE AGES AND ITS LITERARY LEGACIES
Barber, Malcom. The New Knighthood: A History of the Order of the Temple. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Chandler, Alice. A Dream of Order: The Medieval Ideal in Nineteenth-century English Literature. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1970.
Girouard, Mark. The Return to Camelot: Chivalry and the English Gentleman. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1981.
Knight, Stephen. Robin Hood: A Complete Study of the English Outlaw. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Poole, Austin Lane. From Domesday Book to Magna Carta, 1087-1216. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1951.
Simmons, Clare A. Reversing the Conquest: History and Myth in Nineteenth-century British Literature. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1990.
WORKS CITED IN THE INTRODUCTION
Chesnutt, Charles W. The House Behind the Cedars. New York: Penguin, 1993.
Daiches, David. “Scott’s Achievement as a Novelist.” In Scott’s Mind and Art. Edited by A. Norman Jeffares. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1969.
Lukács, György. The Historical Novel. Translated by Hannah and Stanley Mitchell. Boston: Beacon Press, 1962.
Scott, Sir Walter. Miscellaneous Prose Works, Vol. 6: Essays on Chivalry, Romance, and the Drama. Edinburgh: Cadell, 1834?
Sutherland, John. The Life of Sir Walter Scott. Oxford: Blackwell, 1995.
Twain, Mark. Mississippi Writings. New York: Literary Classics of the United States: Library of America, 1982.
. Letters. Vol. 2. Edited by Albert Bigelow Paine. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1917.
a The spoiled child (French).
b This very curious poem, long a desideratum in Scottish literature, and given up as irrecoverably lost, was lately brought to light by the researches of Dr. Irvine of the Advocates’ Library, and has been reprinted by Mr. David Laing, Edinburgh [author’s note].
c Vol. II, p. 167 [author’s note].
d Like the hermit, the shepherd makes havock amongst the king’s game; but by means of a sling, not of a bow; like the hermit, too, he has his peculiar phrases of compotation, the sign and countersign being Passelodion and Berafriend. One can scarce conceive what humour our ancestors found in this species of gibberish; but “I warrant it proved an excuse for the glass.’ [author’s note].
e Let it be given to someone more worthy (Latin).
f Green woolen cloth, similar to Lincoln green; both colors are associated with Robin Hood.
/> g Private life (French).
h That is, Gothic types.
i Island on Loch Lomond, Scotland.
j Ancient Persian city.
k Source of fake diamonds.
l That is, gallstones.
m This anticipation proved but too true, as my learned correspondent did not receive my letter until a twelvemonth after it was written. I mention this circumstance, that a gentleman attached to the cause of learning, who now holds the principal control of the post-office, may consider whether, by some mitigation of the present enormous rates, some favour might not be shown to the correspondents of the principal Literary and Antiquarian Societies. I understand, indeed, that this experiment was once tried, but that the mail-coach having broke down under the weight of packages addressed to members of the Society of Antiquaries, it is relinquished as a hazardous experiment. Surely, however, it would be possible to build these vehicles in a form more substantial, stronger in the perch, and broader in the wheels, so as to support the weight of antiquarian learning; when, if they should be found to travel more slowly, they would be not the less agreeable to quiet travellers like myself.—L. T. [author’s note].
n Mr. Skene of Rubislaw is here intimated, to whose taste and skill the Author is indebted for a series of etchings, exhibiting the various localities alluded to in these novels [author’s note].
o Farewell, don’t forget me (Latin).
p A large steel knife.
q Born into the service (that is, a serf).
r For straining jelly.
s Cavalry officer.
t Deliberate wrongdoing.
u That is, the advantage (based on nautical terminology).
v Plague.
w Odysseus’ loyal swineherd.
x That is, his brow.
y Small horses.
z A Maltese cross, with eight points.
aa Mock combat involving the casting of spears.
ab Bless you, my sons (Old French).
ac Stewards.
ad One churchman does not take tithes from another (Latin).
ae Half-turn (French).
af Norse god adopted by the Anglo-Saxons.
ag Rules (French) of courtly love.
ah Pilgrim.
ai Pillaging.
aj The left hand—that is, the wrong side.
ak Types of buttermilk (in Latin, dulce is “sweet” and acidum “sour”) used according to the Christian calendar.
al That is, Muslims.
am Reward.
an Cross.
ao In those days the Jews were subjected to an Exchequer, specially dedicated to that purpose, and which laid them under the most exorbitant impositions. —L. T. [author’s note].
ap An upstairs room.
aq On the rear (French).
ar That is, a fish vulnerable to predators of both sea and sky.
as God bless you.
at Spanish coin.
au The “green man” of English folklore.
av This sort of masquerade is supposed to have occasioned the introduction of supporters into the science of heraldry [author’s note].
aw Color worn by Robin Hood’s followers.
ax Outdoing.
ay Pranced.
az Clasp.
ba That is, money; marks and byzants are types of coins.
bb Bow.
bc The power of inertia (Latin).
bd By all that is holy.
be Head to toe (French).
bf This term of chivalry transferred to the law gives the phrase of being attainted of treason [author’s note].
bg Literally, unfortunate.
bh Beware the raven (French).
bi Beware, I am here (Latin).
bj Venetian coins.
bk Presumption (French).
bl Horse protected by armor plate.
bm Plague of boils (see the Bible, Exodus 9:9).
bn Dregs.
bo Coin that has been pared down for its metal.
bp That is, head.
bq Execute a circular flourish of the sword (French).
br Let them go to it! (French).
bs Beau-seant was the name of the Templars’ banner, which was half black, half white, to intimate, it is said, that they were candid and fair towards Christians, but black and terrible towards infidels [author’s note].
bt Official staff, which could be thrown down to halt the fighting.
bu Youth.
bv Front plate of an armored horse.
bw At a distance.
bx Bull’s-eye.
by Bread of fine flour and currant cakes.
bz Italian for the black-cap, a small bird of the warbler variety.
ca Man’s tunic.
cb That is, Saint Witless.
cc Holding pen for stray cattle.
cd Wild ox (now extinct).
ce Tekla was an early and obscure saint from Asia Minor, featured in the Apocrypha (a group of religious or moral texts contemporary to the Old Testament but not included in it).
cf Excepting what is necessary (Latin).
cg That is, all comers.
ch Glaive: spear or sword; brown-bill: broadsword.
ci A rere-supper was a night-meal, and sometimes signified a collation which was given at a late hour, after the regular supper had made its appearance.—L. T. [author’s note].
cj Part of the satanic parody of the Catholic Mass.
ck Danish king of England (ruled 1040-1042); he died of gluttony.
cl Steward or butler.
cm Nota Bene.—We by no means warrant the accuracy of this piece of natural history, which we give on the authority of the Wardour MS.—L. T. [author’s note].
cn Fiddler.
co Henry’s History, edition 1805, Vol. VII., p. 346 [author’s note].
cp Pagan God from Slavic, not Saxon, mythology.
cq Tail.
cr Still.
cs By the Gods! (French).
ct That is, as a lover, not a husband (French).
cu I wish the Prior had also informed them when Niobe was sainted. Probably during that enlightened period when “Pan to Moses lent his pagan horn.” L.T. [author’s note].
cv Destructive angel of the biblical book of Revelation 9:11.
cw Signature.
cx That is, three feet long.
cy Scraps.
cz Peace be with you (Latin).
da A traveler fell among thieves (Latin); slightly altered from text in the Bible, Luke 10:30.
db The Latin is an allusion to the Bible, Luke 8:30: “What is thy name? And he said, Legion” (KJV).
dc The Latin is an allusion to the Bible, Psalm 45:1, which can be translated as “My heart burst out.”
dd Enough (Italian and Spanish).
de Early form of rounders, an English ball-and-bat game somewhat similar to baseball.
df In guard duty, a double shift requiring unbroken vigilance through night and day.
dg I beg your mercy, most reverend master (Latin).
dh Celtic version of Hell.
di That is, he has died.
dj Dagger.
dk Main tower.
dl Catapult.
dm From The Song of Roland, an eleventh-century epic poem in Old French. The war-song of Rollo was employed by the Normans at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
dn That is, accompany the song.
do Insolence and presumption.
dp Dutch coin.
dq Baby’s cap.
dr That is, a mortal man.
ds The City of God (Latin).
dt If anv man is tempted by the Devil (Latin).
du That is, worthless men (see the Bible, 1 Samuel 30:22).
dv Low-born.
dw Vest.
dx That is, Muslims and Christians.
dy Forward De Bracy! ... Front-de-Boeuf to the rescue! (French).
dz Absolve.
ea Pagan idol in the Bible, Leviticus 18:21.