A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales by Jonathan Nield (top books of all time .txt) 📖

Historical Novel; this has already been amply done by Professor Saintsbury and others. I shall be content to approach the subject on its general side, offering, at the same time, some critical suggestions which will, I hope, not be without value to readers of Romance.

But, first of all, I must explain how the List which follows came to be compiled, and the object I have in offering it. For many years I have been an assiduous reader of novels and tales in which the historical element appeared, supplementing my own reading in this direction by a careful study of all that I could find in the way of Criticism on such works and their writers. Only in this way could I venture on a selection involving a survey of several thousand volumes! With the above understanding, I can say that no book has been inserted without some reason, while I have made all possible effort to obtain accuracy of description. And this leads me to remark, that just in this process of selection do I claim originality for my List. Nearly twenty years ago an excellent "Descriptive Catalogue of Historical Novels and Tales" was published; Mr. H. Courthope Bowen was the compiler,* and I would here mention my indebtedness to him. In Mr. Bowen's list, however, one finds good and bad alike—all the works of even such moderately endowed writers as G. P. R. James, Ainsworth, Grant, etc., are there set down. It seemed to me that, not only was there room for a new list of Historical Novels (Stevenson, Marion Crawford, Conan Doyle, Weyman, Mason, and a number of more or less capable romancists having come forward in the last twenty years), but, also, that more than ever was there a need for some sort of clue in the search for such books. In the last year or two there has been an almost alarming influx in this department of Fiction, and teachers in schools, besides readers in general, may be glad to be saved a somewhat tedious investigation.

* "A Descriptive Catalogue of Historical Novels and Tales, for the use of School Libraries and Teachers of History," compiled and described by H. Courthope Bowen, M. A. (Edward Stanford, 1882.)

Having thus attempted to justify the existence of my little "Guide," I pass on to deal with the subject of Historical Fiction itself. Most of us, I suppose, at one time or another have experienced a thrill of interest when some prominent personage, whom we knew well by repute, came before us in the flesh. We watched his manner, and noted all those shades of expression which in another's countenance we should have passed by unheeded. Well, it seems to me that, parallel with this experience, is that which we gain, when, reading some first-rank romance, we encounter in its pages a figure with which History has made us more or less familiar. And I would remark that the great masters do not, as a rule, make that mistake which less skilful writers fall into—the mistake of introducing well-known historical figures too frequently. The Cromwell of "Woodstock" has an element of mystery about him, even while he stands out before our mental vision in bold relief. Had Scott brought him more prominently into the plot, and thus emphasized the fictional aspect of his figure, our interest in the story, as such, might have been sustained, but we should have lost that atmosphere of vraisemblance which, under a more careful reserve, the hand of the master has wrought for us.

But it is not only this introduction of personalities which constitutes a novel "historical"; the mere allusion to real events, or the introduction of dates, may give us sufficient ground for identifying the period with which a novel deals. Of course the question as to whether a particular person or event is truly historical, is not always an easy one to answer. By the adaptation in it of some purely mythical character or event, a novel is no more constituted "historical" than is a Fairy-tale by the adaptation of folklore. King Arthur and Robin Hood are unhistorical, and, if I have ventured to insert in my list certain tales which deal with the latter, it is not on that account, but because other figures truly historical (e.g., Richard I.) appear. As there has been some dispute on this question of the Historical Novel proper, I offer the following definition:—A Novel is rendered Historical by the introduction of dates, personages, or events, to which identification can be readily given. I am quite aware that certain well-known novels which give the general atmosphere of a period—such, for example, as Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter" and Mr. Hewlett's "Forest Lovers"—do not come within the scope of my definition; but this is just why I have added a "Supplementary List" of semi-historical tales. And, while I am alluding to this "Supplementary List," I should like to give my reason for omitting from it one remarkable book which has every claim to be considered representative of the mid-nineteenth century. Readers of "John Inglesant" may be reminded that in his interesting preface Mr. Shorthouse alludes to William Smith's philosophical novel—"Thorndale." As a picture of Thought developments in the early Victorian period, the latter work has special historical interest for the philosophical and theological student; in this respect it may be likened to Pater's "Marius the Epicurean," which vividly reproduces the Intellectual ferment of an earlier age. "Thorndale," however, is primarily didactic, and the philosophical dialogues (interesting as these are to the metaphysician) hardly atone to the general reader for an almost entire absence of plot. The above is, doubtless, an altogether extreme instance, but the exclusion of several other works from the category of Romance seems to follow on something like the same grounds. Becker's "Charicles" and "Gallus" are little more than school textbooks, while, turning to a less scholarly quarter, Ainsworth's "Preston Fight," and even his better-known "Guy Fawkes," may be cited as illustrating what Mr. Shorthouse means when he speaks of novels "in which a small amount of fiction has been introduced simply for the purpose of relating History." In all such cases the average novel-reader feels that he has been allured on false pretences. I am well aware that not a few of the books included in my List might be considered to fall under the same ban, but I think it will be found that in most of them there is at least a fair attempt to arouse narrative interest.

Coming to the List itself, it will be noticed that I have been somewhat sparing in the books given under the "Pre-Christian" heading. Novels dealing with these very far-off times are apt to be unsatisfactory; the mist in which events and personages are enveloped, takes away from that appearance of reality which is the great charm of the historical novel. We are hardly concerned, in reading "Sarchedon" and similar books, to get away from the purely imaginary pictures which spring from the Novelist's own brain, and the danger is that the very elements which add to our interest in the tale as such, will go far to mislead us in our conception of the period dealt with. There is none of that sense of familiarity which we enjoy when reading a sixteenth or seventeenth century romance; in the latter case, the historical background, being easily perceptible, merges for us with the creations of the author's own imagination. Where the writer of an "ancient" romance happens to be a scholar like Ebers, we feel that—so far at least as historical presentment goes—we cannot be far wrong, but the combination of great scholarship and narrative capacity is, alas, too rare!

I have likewise refrained from giving many tales dealing with Early-Christian times. We are here, it must be admitted, on controversial ground, and under the First Century heading I have endeavoured to insert romances of the highest quality only. For instance, I think that Dr. Abbott's "Philochristus" and Wallace's "Ben Hur" ought to satisfy two different types of readers. And this is the place, doubtless, to say that in my lists will be found books of widely differing merit and aim. School teachers, and others in like capacity, will easily discriminate between authors suitable for juvenile or untrained tastes, and authors whose appeal is specially to those of maturer thought and experience. Differing as much in method and style as in choice of period and character type, Thackeray's "Vanity Fair" and George Eliot's "Romola" have at least this in common—they require a very high degree of intelligence for their due appreciation. Who, among those of us with any knowledge of such works, would dream of recommending them to a youthful reader fresh from the perusal of Miss Yonge's "Little Duke," or Captain Marryatt's "Children of the New Forest"?

Naturally in a list of this kind there is bound to be very great inequality; certain periods have been wholly ignored by writers of the first rank, while in others we have something like an embarras de richesse. Consequently, I have been compelled, here and there, to insert authors of only mediocre merit. In other cases, again, I have not hesitated to omit works by writers of acknowledged position when these have seemed below the author's usual standard, and where no gap had to be filled. I would instance the James II.- William III. period. Here Stanley Weyman and "Edna Lyall" might have been represented, but, there being no dearth of good novels dealing with both the above reigns, I did not deem it advisable to call in these popular writers at the point which has been very generally considered their lowest. I mention this to show that omissions do not necessarily mean ignorance, though, in covering such an immense ground, I cannot doubt that romances worthy of a place in my list have been overlooked.

I think many will be surprised to find how large a proportion of
our best writers (English and American) have entered the domain of
Historical or Semi-Historical Romance. Scott, Thackeray, Dickens,
George Eliot, Charlotte Bronte, George Meredith, R. L. Stevenson,
Hawthorne, Peacock, Charles Kingsley, Henry Kingsley, Charles
Reade, Anthony Trollope, Mrs. Gaskell, Walter Besant, Lytton,
Disraeli, J. H. Newman, J. A. Froude, and Walter Pater—these are a
few of the names which appear in the following pages; while
Tolstoy, Dumas, Balzac, George Sand, Victor Hugo, De Vigny, Prosper
Merimee, Flaubert, Theophile Gautier, Freytag, Scheffel, Hauff,
Auerbach, Manzoni, Perez Galdos, Merejkowski, Topelius,
Sienkiewicz, and Jokai are, perhaps, the chief amongst those
representing Literatures other than our own.

"The Last Days of Pompeii," "The Gladiators," "Hypatia," "Harold,"
"Ivanhoe," "The Talisman," "Maid Marian," "The Last of the Barons,"
"Quentin Durward," "Romola," "The Cloister and the Hearth," "The
Palace of the King," "Westward Ho!", "Kenilworth," "The Chaplet of
Pearls," "A Gentleman of France," "John Inglesant," "The Three
Musketeers," "Twenty Years After," "Woodstock," "Peveril of the
Peak," "Old Mortality," " The Betrothed Lovers" ("I Promessi
Sposi"), "Lorna Doone," "The Refugees," "In the Golden Days," "The
Courtship of Morice Buckler," "Dorothy Forster," "The Men of the
Moss Hags," "Esmond," "The Virginians," "Heart of Midlothian,"
"Waverley," "The Master of Ballantrae," "Kidnapped," "Catriona,"
"The Chaplain of the Fleet," "The Seats of the Mighty," "Barnaby
Rudge," "A Tale of Two Cities," "War and Peace"—what visions do
these mere titles arouse within many of us! And, though most of
the books given in my list cannot be described in the same glowing
terms as the masterpieces just named, yet many "nests of pleasant
thoughts" may be formed through their companionship.

Hitherto allusion has been mainly in the direction of modern authors, and I would now say a word or two in regard to those of an earlier period who are also represented. Defoe, Fielding, Richardson, Goldsmith, Smollett, Frances Burney, Samuel Lover, John Galt, Maria Edgeworth, Susan Ferrier, William Godwin, Mary Shelley, Fennimore Cooper, J. G. Lockhart, Leigh Hunt, Thos. Moore, Harriet Martineau, J. L. Motley, Horace Smith, Charles Lever, Meadows Taylor, and Wm. Carleton,—these (in greater or less degree) notable names were bound to have a place; and, coming to less distinguished writers, I may mention the brothers Banim, Gerald Griffin, Mrs. S. C. Hall, Lady Morgan, the sisters Porter, W. G. Simms, George Croly, Albert Smith, G. R. Gleig, W. H. Maxwell, Sir Arthur Helps, Eliot Warburton, Lewis Wingfield, Thomas Miller, C. Macfarlane, Grace Aguilar, Anne Manning, and Emma Robinson (author of "Whitefriars"). To G. P. R. James, Harrison Ainsworth, and James Grant I have previously alluded. It has been my endeavour to choose the best examples of all the above-named novelists—a task rendered specially difficult in some cases by the fact of immense literary output. Doubtless not a few of the works so chosen are open to criticism, but they will at least serve to illustrate certain stages in the growth of