We object to these, and to all such details, because they
are, for the most part, without dignity or interest in themselves;
because, in a modern author, they are evidently unnatural; and because
they must always be strange, and, in a good degree, obscure and
unintelligible to ordinary readers.
When a great personage is to be introduced, it is right, perhaps, to
give the reader some notion of his external appearance; and when a
memorable event is to be narrated, it is natural to help the imagination
by some picturesque representation of the scenes with which it is
connected. Yet, even upon such occasions, it can seldom be advisable to
present the reader with a full inventory of the hero's dress, from his
shoebuckle to the plume in his cap, or to enumerate all the drawbridges,
portcullisses, and diamond cut stones in the castle. Mr Scott, however,
not only draws out almost all his pictures in these full dimensions, but
frequently introduces those pieces of Flemish or Chinese painting to
represent persons who are of no consequence, or places and events which
are of no importance to the story.
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