I recently read a work which here presents itself as admirably
illustrating my meaning. In her too little known "Adventures of a
Goldsmith" Miss M. H. Bourchier has contrived to bring forcibly
before us the period when Napoleon, fast approaching the zenith of
his power, was known in France as the "First Consul." The "man of
destiny" himself--appearing on the scene for little more than a
brief moment--can in no sense be described as one of the book's
characters, and yet the whole plot is so skilfully contrived as to
hinge on his personality. We are made to feel the dominating
influence of that powerful will upon the fears and hopes of a time
brimming over with revolutionary movement. Whether the Chouan
revolt is in this particular story accurately depicted for us in
all its phases, or whether the motives which impelled certain
public characters are therein interpreted aright--both in regard to
these and other points there may be room for doubt, but at least
the general forces of the period are placed before us in such a way
as to drive home the conviction that, be the historical
inaccuracies of detail what they may in the eyes of this or that
specialist, the picture as a whole is one which, while it rivets
our attention as lovers of romance, does no injury to the strictest
Historic sense.
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