66 Yes," replied Shelley; " and he might maintain the converse,-that every truly religious man is a poet; meaning by poetry the power of communicating intense and impassioned impressions respecting man and Nature.” When I entered the room, Lord Byron was devouring, as he called it, a new novel of Sir Walter Scott's. 66 "How difficult it is," said he, "to say any thing new! Who was that volup tuary of antiquity, who offered a re"ward for a new pleasure? Perhaps all "nature and art could not supply a new ❝idea. "This page, for instance, is a brilliant 66 one; it is full of wit. But let us see "how much of it is original. This pas 66 66 sage, for instance, comes from Shakspeare; this bon mot from one of She"ridan's Comedies; this observation from "another writer (naming the author); and yet the ideas are new-moulded,—and "perhaps Scott was not aware of their being plagiarisms. It is a bad thing to ❝ have too good a memory." 66 "I should not like to have you for a critic," I observed. "Set a thief to catch a thief,'" was the reply. "I never travel without Scott's No"vels," said he: "they are a library in themselves a perfect literary treasure. "I could read them once a-year with new "pleasure." I asked him if he was certain about the Novels being Sir Walter Scott's? "Scott as much as owned himself the "author of Waverley' to me in Murray's 66 shop," replied he. "I was talking to "him about that novel, and lamented that "its author had not carried back the 66 66 66 story nearer to the time of the Revolution. Scott, entirely off his guard, said, 'Ay, I might have done so, but' There he stopped. It was in vain to attempt to correct himself: he "looked confused, and relieved his embarrassment by a precipitate retreat. "to 66 66 On another occasion I was to dine at 66 Murray's; and being in his parlour in "the morning, he told me I should meet "the author of Waverley' at dinner. "He had received several excuses, and 66 66 the party was a small one; and, know ing all the people present, I was satis"fied that the writer of that novel must "have been, and could have been, no "other than Walter Scott. "He spoiled the fame of his poetry "by his superior prose. He has such "extent and versatility of of powers in 66 writing, that, should his Novels ever "tire the public, which is not likely, he "will apply himself to something else, " and succeed as well. 66 "His mottoes from old plays prove that he, at all events, possesses the dramatic X 66 faculty, which is denied me. 6 And yet "I am told that his Halidon Hill' did "not justify expectation. I have never 66 met with it, but have seen extracts " from it." 66 66 Do you think," asked I, that Sir Walter Scott's Novels owe any part of their reputation to the concealment of the author's name?" 66 No," said he; "such works do not gain or lose by it. I am at a loss to "know his reason for keeping up the 66 incognito, but that the reigning family "could not have been very well pleased "with 'Waverley.' There is a degree "of charlatanism in some authors keeping up the Unknown. Junius owed much "of his fame to that trick; and now 66 |