Ivanhoe | Page 5

other narratives turning on the same
subject, where the host, apprehensive of death for having trespassed on
the respect due to his Sovereign, while incognito, is agreeably surprised
by receiving honours and reward.
In Mr Hartshorne's collection, there is a romance on the same
foundation, called King Edward and the Shepherd,*
* 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."
which, considered as illustrating manners, is still more curious than the
King and the Hermit; but it is foreign to the present purpose. The reader
has here the original legend from which the incident in the romance is
derived; and the identifying the irregular Eremite with the Friar Tuck of
Robin Hood's story, was an obvious expedient.
The name of Ivanhoe was suggested by an old rhyme. All novelists
have had occasion at some time or other to wish with Falstaff, that they
knew where a commodity of good names was to be had. On such an
occasion the author chanced to call to memory a rhyme recording three
names of the manors forfeited by the ancestor of the celebrated
Hampden, for striking the Black Prince a blow with his racket, when
they quarrelled at tennis:
"Tring, Wing, and Ivanhoe, For striking of a blow, Hampden did forego,
And glad he could escape so."
The word suited the author's purpose in two material respects, ---for,
first, it had an ancient English sound; and secondly, it conveyed no
indication whatever of the nature of the story. He presumes to hold this
last quality to be of no small importance. What is called a taking title,
serves the direct interest of the bookseller or publisher, who by this
means sometimes sells an edition while it is yet passing the press. But
if the author permits an over degree of attention to be drawn to his
work ere it has appeared, he places himself in the embarrassing
condition of having excited a degree of expectation which, if he proves
unable to satisfy, is an error fatal to his literary reputation. Besides,
when we meet such a title as the Gunpowder Plot, or any other
connected with general history, each reader, before he has seen the
book, has formed to himself some particular idea of the sort of manner
in which the story is to be conducted, and the nature of the amusement
which he is to derive from it. In this he is probably disappointed, and in
that case may be naturally disposed to visit upon the author or the work,
the unpleasant feelings thus excited. In such a case the literary
adventurer is censured, not for having missed the mark at which he
himself aimed, but for not having shot off his shaft in a direction he
never thought of.
On the footing of unreserved communication which the Author has

established with the reader, he may here add the trifling circumstance,
that a roll of Norman warriors, occurring in the Auchinleck Manuscript,
gave him the formidable name of Front-de-Boeuf.
Ivanhoe was highly successful upon its appearance, and may be said to
have procured for its author the freedom of the Rules, since he has ever
since been permitted to exercise his powers of fictitious composition in
England, as well as Scotland.
The character of the fair Jewess found so much favour in the eyes of
some fair readers, that the writer was censured, because, when
arranging the fates of the characters of the drama, he had not assigned
the hand of Wilfred to Rebecca, rather than the less interesting Rowena.
But, not to mention that the prejudices of the age rendered such an
union almost impossible, the author may, in passing, observe, that he
thinks a character of a highly virtuous and lofty stamp, is degraded
rather than exalted by an attempt to reward virtue with temporal
prosperity. Such is not the recompense which Providence has deemed
worthy of suffering merit, and it is a dangerous and fatal doctrine to
teach young persons, the most common readers of romance, that
rectitude of conduct and of principle are either naturally allied with, or
adequately rewarded by, the gratification of our passions, or attainment
of our wishes. In a word, if a virtuous and self-denied character is
dismissed with temporal wealth, greatness, rank, or the indulgence of
such a rashly formed or ill assorted passion as that of Rebecca for
Ivanhoe, the reader will be apt to say, verily Virtue has had its reward.