and "Waverley," occupied with the Pretender's troubles in
the middle of the eighteenth century, threw into bold relief widely
differing periods of Scotch history. Its is, indeed, extraordinary that
one mind should have been able to seize so many and so varied
historical conditions as are treated in the Waverley novels. Of these
works, about fourteen deal with entirely distinct epochs, each one of
which is given its individual character and obtains its appropriate
treatment.[211]

Bulwer Lytton's "Last Days of Pompeii," and "Harold, the Last of the
Saxon Kings," are both powerful, ingenious, and interesting narratives,
and they give as definite an idea, perhaps, of the times of which they
treat as is possible after so long a lapse of time. "Rienzi" leaves a
greater impression of verisimilitude. "The Last of the Barons" is
somewhat clogged by its superabundance of historic incident, but still
affords a striking view of declining feudalism. In the "Tale of Two
Cities" and "Barnaby Rudge," Dickens described the sanguinary scenes of
the French Revolution and the Lord Gordon Riots with his never-failing
power. Since the Waverley novels, the most perfect specimen of English
historical fiction has been "Henry Esmond." The artistic construction
of its plot, and the life-like reality of its characters, place it
first among Thackeray's works. But its pre-eminence among historical
novels is due to the fact that it reproduces so vividly the spirit and
atmosphere of a past age. All the thoughts, opinions, and actions of
the characters in "Henry Esmond" are such as we should expect from
persons living in the beginning of the eighteenth century. Whoever is
familiar with the pages of the "Spectator" will notice how faithfully
Thackeray adopted the language of Steele and Addison. It is true that
he had a far less difficult task before him in describing the age of
Queen Anne than fell to the lot of Bulwer Lytton in "The Last Days of
Pompeii." The latter work required far more historical research and a
far greater effort of the imagination. But while in Lytton's novel the
reader cannot divest himself of a certain sense of unreality, he feels
that "Henry Esmond" really carries him back to the period it portrays.

George Eliot's "Romola" must always retain a high place in historical
fiction. But its author's great creative power led her to bestow more
pains on such of the characters as proceeded from her own imagination,
than on those whom