Ivanhoe | Page 2

to light upon, is the untasted spring of the desert;---
"Men bless their stars and call it luxury."
But when men and horses, cattle, camels, and dromedaries, have
poached the spring into mud, it becomes loathsome to those who at first
drank of it with rapture; and he who had the merit of discovering it, if
he would preserve his reputation with the tribe, must display his talent
by a fresh discovery of untasted fountains.
If the author, who finds himself limited to a particular class of subjects,
endeavours to sustain his reputation by striving to add a novelty of
attraction to themes of the same character which have been formerly
successful under his management, there are manifest reasons why, after
a certain point, he is likely to fail. If the mine be not wrought out, the
strength and capacity of the miner become necessarily exhausted. If he
closely imitates the narratives which he has before rendered successful,
he is doomed to "wonder that they please no more." If he struggles to
take a different view of the same class of subjects, he speedily
discovers that what is obvious, graceful, and natural, has been
exhausted; and, in order to obtain the indispensable charm of novelty,
he is forced upon caricature, and, to avoid being trite, must become
extravagant.
It is not, perhaps, necessary to enumerate so many reasons why the
author of the Scottish Novels, as they were then exclusively termed,
should be desirous to make an experiment on a subject purely English.
It was his purpose, at the same time, to have rendered the experiment as
complete as possible, by bringing the intended work before the public
as the effort of a new candidate for their favour, in order that no degree
of prejudice, whether favourable or the reverse, might attach to it, as a
new production of the Author of Waverley; but this intention was
afterwards departed from, for reasons to be hereafter mentioned.
The period of the narrative adopted was the reign of Richard I., not
only as abounding with characters whose very names were sure to
attract general attention, but as affording a striking contrast betwixt the
Saxons, by whom the soil was cultivated, and the Normans, who still
reigned in it as conquerors, reluctant to mix with the vanquished, or
acknowledge themselves of the same stock. The idea of this contrast

was taken from the ingenious and unfortunate Logan's tragedy of
Runnamede, in which, about the same period of history, the author had
seen the Saxon and Norman barons opposed to each other on different
sides of the stage. He does not recollect that there was any attempt to
contrast the two races in their habits and sentiments; and indeed it was
obvious, that history was violated by introducing the Saxons still
existing as a high-minded and martial race of nobles.
They did, however, survive as a people, and some of the ancient Saxon
families possessed wealth and power, although they were exceptions to
the humble condition of the race in general. It seemed to the author,
that the existence of the two races in the same country, the vanquished
distinguished by their plain, homely, blunt manners, and the free spirit
infused by their ancient institutions and laws; the victors, by the high
spirit of military fame, personal adventure, and whatever could
distinguish them as the Flower of Chivalry, might, intermixed with
other characters belonging to the same time and country, interest the
reader by the contrast, if the author should not fail on his part.
Scotland, however, had been of late used so exclusively as the scene of
what is called Historical Romance, that the preliminary letter of Mr
Laurence Templeton became in some measure necessary. To this, as to
an Introduction, the reader is referred, as expressing author's purpose
and opinions in undertaking this species of composition, under the
necessary reservation, that he is far from thinking he has attained the
point at which he aimed.
It is scarcely necessary to add, that there was no idea or wish to pass off
the supposed Mr Templeton as a real person. But a kind of continuation
of the Tales of my Landlord had been recently attempted by a stranger,
and it was supposed this Dedicatory Epistle might pass for some
imitation of the same kind, and thus putting enquirers upon a false
scent, induce them to believe they had before them the work of some
new candidate for their favour.
After a considerable part of the work had been finished and printed, the
Publishers, who pretended to discern in it a germ of popularity,
remonstrated strenuously against its appearing as an absolutely
anonymous production, and contended that it should have the
advantage of being announced as by the Author of Waverley. The
author did not