=--It was the custom of Sir Walter Scott, at the
introduction of a character, to furnish the reader with an elaborate
set portrayal, partly expository and partly descriptive, of the traits
and features of the character; and to allow this initial direct
statement to do duty through the remainder of the novel. The trouble
with this off-hand expedient is that the reader inevitably forgets the
set statement of the author before the narrative has very far
progressed. It is therefore more effective to make a direct portrayal
of character, whether expository or descriptive, little by little
rather than all in a lump; and to present at any one time to the
reader only such traits or features as he needs to be reminded of in
order to appreciate the scene before him. Thus, in Mr. Kipling's
masterpiece, called "They," we catch this initial glimpse of Miss
Florence:--

"The garden door--heavy oak sunk deep in the thickness of the
wall--opened further: a woman in a big garden hat set her foot slowly
on the time-hollowed stone step and as slowly walked across the turf.
I was forming some apology when she lifted up her head and I saw that
she was blind.

"'I heard you,' she said. 'Isn't that a motor car?'"

And it is only after five pages of narrative that the writer deems it
the proper time to add:--

"She stood looking at me with open blue eyes in which no sight lay,
and I saw for the first time that she was beautiful."

=3. By Psychological Analysis.=--The point that a direct statement of
characteristics should preferably be delivered to the reader little by
little rather than all in a lump is particularly patent when the
statement is not external and objective like those already quoted, but
internal and subjective. In a certain type of fiction, which is
commonly called "the psychological novel," the usual expedient for
delineating character is a statement partly narrative and partly
expository of what is taking place within the mind of the fictitious
person, based upon an analysis of his thoughts and his emotions, at
important moments of the story. This expedient of portraying character
by mental analysis is George Eliot's favorite technical device. Here
is a typical passage, from "The Mill on the Floss," Chapter V:--

"Maggie soon thought she had been hours in the attic, and it must be
tea-time, and they were all having their tea, and not thinking of her.
Well, then, she would stay up there and starve herself--hide herself