wn his shoe over Edom was, by having done so,
constituted my lawful critic and corrector. It occurred, therefore,
that where the author of Anastasius, as well as he of Hadji Baba, had
described the manners and vices of the Eastern nations, not only with
fidelity, but with the humour of Le Sage and the ludicrous power of
Fielding himself, one who was a perfect stranger to the subject must
necessarily produce an unfavourable contrast. The Poet Laureate also,
in the charming tale of "Thalaba," had shown how extensive might be
the researches of a person of acquirements and talent, by dint of
investigation alone, into the ancient doctrines, history, and manners of
the Eastern countries, in which we are probably to look for the cradle
of mankind; Moore, in his "Lalla Rookh," had successfully trod the
same path; in which, too, Byron, joining ocular experience to extensive
reading, had written some of his most attractive poems. In a word, the
Eastern themes had been already so successfully handled by those who
were acknowledged to be masters of their craft, that I was diffident of
making the attempt.

These were powerful objections; nor did they lose force when they
became the subject of anxious reflection, although they did not finally
prevail. The arguments on the other side were, that though I had no hope
of rivalling the contemporaries whom I have mentioned, yet it occurred
to me as possible to acquit myself of the task I was engaged in without
entering into competition with them.

The period relating more immediately to the Crusades which I at last
fixed upon was that at which the warlike character of Richard I., wild
and generous, a pattern of chivalry, with all its extravagant virtues,
and its no less absurd errors, was opposed to that of Saladin, in which
the Christian and English monarch showed all the cruelty and violence
of an Eastern sultan, and Saladin, on the other hand, displayed the deep
policy and prudence of a European sovereign, whilst each contended
which should excel the other in the knightly qualities of bravery and
generosity. This singular contrast afforded, as the author conceived,
materials for a work of fiction possessing peculiar interest. One of the
inferior characters introduced was a supposed relation of Richard Coeur
de Lion--a violation of the truth of history which gave offence to Mr.
Mills, the author of the "History of Chivalry and the Crusades," who was
not, it may be presumed, aware that r