Novels dealing with these very far-off times are apt to
be unsatisfactory; the mist in which events and personages are
enveloped, takes away from that appearance of reality which is the
great charm of the historical novel. We are hardly concerned, in
reading "Sarchedon" and similar books, to get away from the purely
imaginary pictures which spring from the Novelist's own brain, and
the danger is that the very elements which add to our interest in
the tale as such, will go far to mislead us in our conception of
the period dealt with. There is none of that sense of familiarity
which we enjoy when reading a sixteenth or seventeenth century
romance; in the latter case, the historical background, being
easily perceptible, merges for us with the creations of the
author's own imagination. Where the writer of an "ancient" romance
happens to be a scholar like Ebers, we feel that--so far at least
as historical presentment goes--we cannot be far wrong, but the
combination of great scholarship and narrative capacity is, alas,
too rare!
I have likewise refrained from giving many tales dealing with
Early-Christian times.
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