Scott.
"We are unwilling to consider this publication in the light of a common
novel whose fate it is to be devoured with rapidity for a day, and
afterwards forgotten forever, but as a vehicle of curious and accurate
information upon a subject which must at all times demand our
attention,--the history and manners of a very large and renowned portion
of the inhabitants of these islands. We would recommend this tale as
faithfully embodying the lives, the manners, and the opinions of this
departed race, and as affording those features of ancient days which no
man probably, besides its author, has had the means to collect, the
desire to preserve, or the power to portray.
"Although there are characters sufficient to awaken the attention and to
diversify the scenes, yet they are not in sufficient number to perplex
the memory or to confuse the incidents. Their spirit is well kept up till
the very last, and they relieve one another with so much art that the
reader will not find himself wearied even with the pedantic jargon of the
old Baron of Bradwardine.
"Of Waverley himself we shall say but little, as his character is far too
common to need a comment; we can only say that his wanderings are not
gratuitous, nor is he wavering and indecisive only because the author
chooses to make him so.
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