themselves rather with the kind of ideas
set forth than with the manner of presentation.

It does indeed seem as if Scott's feelings were more easily aroused to
the point of formulating "laws" in the field of political criticism than
in that which appears to us his more legitimate sphere. He has his
fling, to be sure, at Madame de Stael, because she "lived and died in
the belief that revolutions were to be effected, and countries governed,
by a proper succession of clever pamphlets."[474] But in proposing the
establishment of the _Quarterly Review_ he made no secret of the fact
that his motives were political. The literary aspect of the periodical
was thought of as a subordinate, though a necessary and not unimportant
phase of the undertaking. The _Letters of Malachi Malagrowther_ contain
some very definite maxims on the subject of political economy, and just
as decided are the remarks made in the last of _Paul's Letters_, as well
as in the _Life of Napoleon_ and elsewhere, as to how Louis XVIII. ought
to set about the task of calming his distracted kingdom of France. But
however emphatic Scott may be in the comments on government which appear
throughout his writings, he was as strongly averse in this matter as in
literary affairs to any separation of philosophy from fact: his maxims
are always derived from experience. The following statement of opinion
is typical: "In legislating for an ancient people, the question is not,
what is the best possible system of law, but what is the best they can
bear. Their habitudes and prejudices must always be respected; and,
whenever it is practicable, those prejudices, instead of being
destroyed, ought to be taken as the basis of the new regulations."[475]

It was Scott's political creed that roused the ire of such men as
Hazlitt and Hunt, though they may also have been exasperated at the
unprecedented success of poetry which seemed so facile and so
superficial to them as Scott's. Leigh Hunt calls him "a poet of a purely
conventional order," "a bitter and not very large-minded politician," "a
critic more agreeable than subtle."[476] But Scott's politics may be
looked at in another way. "In his patriotism," says Mr. Courthope, "his
passionate love of the past, and his reverence for established
authority, literary or political, Scott is the best representative among
English men of letters of Conservatism in its most generous form."[477]

Though it seems to have been a common opinion a