Doubtless not a few of the works so chosen are
open to criticism, but they will at least serve to illustrate
certain stages in the growth of Historical Romance. With the
exclusion of Mrs. Radcliffe, Mrs. Marsh, Mrs. Gore, Lady
Blessington, Lady Fullerton, Mrs. Bray, and Mrs. Child, few will, I
imagine, find fault; but writers like Miss Tucker (A. L. O. E.) and
Miss Emily Holt still find so many readers in juvenile quarters,
that it has required a certain amount of courage to place them also
on my Index Expurgatorius! Turning once again to writers of the
sterner sex, I have ruled out C. R. Maturin, G. W. M. Reynolds, and
Pierce Egan, Junr.; and (quitting the "sensational" for the "mildly
entertaining") out of the Rev. J. M. Neale's many historical tales
I have selected only one--"Theodora Phranza," which, besides being
well written, has the merit of dealing with a somewhat neglected
period. Stories possessing a background of History are to be found
in "Tales from Blackwood," as also in "Wilson's Tales of the
Borders," but their extremely slight character seemed scarcely to
justify insertion; while not even the high literary position
attained by him on other grounds reconciled me to either of Allan
Cunningham's novels--"Sir Michael Scott" and "Paul Jones.
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