of terror; the element of fear in
myths, heroic legends, ballads and folk-tales; terror in the
romances of the middle ages, in Elizabethan times and in the
seventeenth century; the credulity of the age of reason; the
renascence of terror and wonder in poetry; the "attempt to blend
the marvellous of old story with the natural of modern novels."
Pp. 1-15.

CHAPTER II - THE BEGINNINGS OF GOTHIC ROMANCE.

Walpole's admiration for Gothic art and his interest in the
middle ages; the mediaeval revival at the close of the eighteenth
century; _The Castle of Otranto_; Walpole's bequest to later
romance-writers; Smollett's incidental anticipation of the
methods of Gothic Romance; Clara Reeve's _Old English Baron_ and
her effort to bring her story "within the utmost verge of
probability"; Mrs. Barbauld's Gothic fragment; Blake's _Fair
Elenor_; the critical theories and Gothic experiments of Dr.
Nathan Drake. Pp. 16-37.

CHAPTER III - "THE NOVEL OF SUSPENSE." MRS. RADCLIFFE.

The vogue of Mrs. Radcliffe; her tentative beginning in _The
Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne_, and her gradual advance in skill
and power; _The Sicilian Romance_ and her early experiments in
the "explained" supernatural; _The Romance of the Forest_, and
her use of suspense; heroines: _The Mysteries of Udolpho_;
illustrations of Mrs. Radcliffe's methods; _The Italian_;
villains; her historical accuracy and "unexplained" spectre in
_Gaston de Blondeville_; her reading; style; descriptions of
scenery; position in the history of the novel.
Pp. 38-62.

CHAPTER IV - THE NOVEL OF TERROR. LEWIS AND MATURIN.

Lewis's methods contrasted with those of Mrs. Radcliffe; his debt
to German terror-mongers; _The Monk_; ballads; _The Bravo of
Venice_; minor works and translations; Scott's review of
Maturin's _Montorio_; the vogue of the tale of terror between
Lewis and Maturin; Miss Sarah Wilkinson; the personality of
Charles Robert Maturin; his literary career; the complicated plot
of _The Family of Montorio_; Maturin's debt to others; his
distinguishing gifts revealed in _Montorio_; the influence of
_Melmoth the Wanderer_ on French literature; a survey of
_Melmoth_; Maturin's achievement as a novelist. Pp. 63-93.

CHAPTER V - THE ORIENTAL TALE OF TERROR. BECKFORD.

The Oriental story in France and England in the eighteenth
century; Beckford's _Vathek_; Beckford's life and character; his
literary gifts; later Oriental tales. Pp. 94-99.