He can create a plot which, though not dramatically flawless, has
movement and energy and stir. The sweetness and modesty of his
disposition lends itself to his portrayal of the more gracious aspects
of human life, especially as seen in the humours and oddities of very
simple and naive persons.
Under the stress of occasional emotion he can rise to quite noble
heights of feeling and he is able to throw a startling glamour of
romance over certain familiar and recurrent human situations. At his
best there is a grandeur and simplicity of utterance about what his
characters say and an ease and largeness of sympathy about his own
commentaries upon them, which must win admiration even from those most
avid of modern pathology. Without the passion of Balzac, or the
insight of Dostoievsky, or the art of Turgeniev, there is yet, in the
sweetness of Scott's own personality, and in the biblical grandeur of
certain of the scenes he evokes, a quality and a charm which it would
be at once foolish and arbitrary to neglect.
59. THACKERAY. THE HISTORY OF HENRY ESMOND.
Thackeray is a writer who occupies a curious and very interesting
position.
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