THE HISTORICAL NOVEL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14453, 20 August 1910, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE HISTORICAL NOVEL.

ITS APPROACHING CENTENARY. "Time which antiquates antiquities." Theio are many, brevities in the narrative of facts and dates; which are conveyed to the elementary student of history in the ordinary history primer of everyday reading. Wars, pestilence, famine, the populace, rulers, and governors all receive the scantiest of icfeienee. The mind skips over centuries without pausing to understand phases in the life of a nation which, containing the general idea of ;i revolutionary move, are too abstract and involved for the primer. Wars extending through years are introduced and dismissed in a few words ; loathsome pestisuch as leprosy and the concurrent idea of founding leper houses, are rarely, if ever, referred to, and only then in the briefest oi ways ; the appalling famines, the devastation of countries through the failing of crops, are instances where submission to superstition and ignorant tyranny —such as the shocking story of "The Castle of Rats on the Rhine—are sufficient to rouse the most unprejudiced outcry against ignorance.

The condition of tho populace under the mythical, barbaric, and Theocratic systems of society abound with instances of bravery, devotion from a serf-like populace, later evidences of which appear in the chronicles of Monmouth and Beverley. Taking the bibliography of English histories from these early chronicles until we approach those singularly line references which Italian historians have, by their contact with the Church in England, causo to make: studying the ballads of ancient times as collected by Bishop Percy, or that admirable work, "The Shorter History of the English People the mere comprehensive and particular works of Hallam, Lingard, Thierry, and others, we are introduced to the storm, stress, and illfrequent peace of the Plantagenet and subsequent periods. But of all the narrative which should imbue every reader of his nativo tongue, nothing ranks tn greater importance with the life history of King Alfred and tho " Hakluyt Voyages.'' To follow in these pages tho historical annals, the story of adventures contrived and carried out by our Saxon and medheval navigators, their daring, amazing faith, and the marvellous power they everywhere exerted upon tue unknown people they encountered, these men whom some vainly title "barbarians," were the luminaries of that brilliant age of faith. Their dauntless courage took them into unheard of seas beyond the "Ultima Thule," and roused them to explore strange and distant lands.

King All red, everyone knows, founded ilio English navy, but how many have endeavoured to understand the history, imagine the scene, or trace the incidents and desires of those savage ancient Britons who launched their cumbrous bark, not only on their native rivers, but on the broad seas which make this land the island it is? We turn to Smith's. "History of the Religions of Ancient:. Britain," but in vain search for the mention of any maritime incident in the lives of those savage adventurers, who carried on a trade with the equally savage denizens of the marsh and fen land of Western Kurope. Tradition, upon which any records of these times could be founded, has vanished in the immensity of time ; as relics only an ancient bark is now and again unearthed — such a one in particular as that recently removed from Brigg to the museum at Hull. Its history is left, to the weaving power of imagination. We look on this ancient relic and wonder. Curious and interesting lapses in the transactions of a nation fail to attract anything but brief mention. To the faculty of imagination mental, detachment .nd sympathy are duo to tho delightful stories which we are blessed with in tho form of tho Historic Novel. The valuable annals of Hakluvt are actually the record of the pre-Reformution English nation. They stand supremely alone, requiring no efforts of elucidation, no imaginative colouring, no great power of penetration. Their siinpliity is their charm. We follow the intrepid Davis into the Arctic circle in vessels none exceeding 100 tons burthen ; become acquainted with the White Sea Company, whoso daring founder, Willoughby-de-Eres-by r with his small fleet, perished amidst the snow and ico of that inhospitable region. But to tho everyday prospect ol the nation, the daily occupations, the mental attitude of the populace towards the crucial changing scenes of a nation's being, the last century produced tho first historical novel. Within five years we shall be celebrating tho centenary of this entertaining manner of obtaining a mimic life in feudal castle, and witness all tho phases and chances of tho chivalrous Crusader. That great national asset, Sir Walter Scott, with all his profound archaeological knowledge, his intense lire of patriotic genius, and that noble love which ho had for tho bold and brave, wae ihe first to compose from the dry dead ashes of past ages such charming works as "Ivanhoe.'' " The Red Gauntlet," " The Fair Maid of Perth." and all that go to make that immortal sequence known to the world as the Y\ aver ley Novels. Their centenary is upon us.

In the later years of the eighteenth century many works of historic fiction appeared which, elaborating on the ballads, legends, and romances of the past, aro attributable fo " Percy's Relicpies," hut they are all permeated with a listlessness, a langour, and coloured with the symptoms of the age of their introduction. Scott, however, soars mightily above these. He, throwing his mind back into the scenes of his different periods and subjects, breathes a natural atmosphere around the narrative, which with ease and firmness transports the reader into the feudal life, the ribaldry and daring of the outlaw, tho scheming worldliness of the abandoned priest : in one brief illustration lie memorialises the condition and hazards of Jewry in those days when the Jew had nowhere to claim sanctuary. Many magnificent novels have appeared since Scott resigned his soul into that brighter world which his heroes had sought ages before. That marvel of detachment, "The Cloister and tho Hearth." is a type of the scholarly historic fiction. r lhe historic novel with its sublimer purpose has done much for the scholar, considerably more for the casual reader whose life is spent in everyday toil. To such the grandeur of our national past would be a. sealed book had not. the genius of Sir Walter Scott Hashed with its patriotic beacon across the ages, and illumined the darkness of historic fact and data.