the Auchinleck Manuscript
gave him the formidable name of Front-de-Boeuf. Ivanhoe was highly successful upon its appearance and may be said to
have procured for its author the freedom of the Rules, since he has
ever since been permitted to exercise his powers of fictitious
composition in England and Scotland. The character of the fair Jewess found so much favor in the eyes of
some fair readers that the writer was censured because when arranging the fates of the characters of the drama, he had not assigned
Wilfred's hand to Rebecca, rather than the less interesting
Rowena. But, not to mention that the prejudices of the age rendered
such a union almost impossible, the author may, in passing, observe
that he thinks a character of a highly virtuous and lofty stamp is
degraded rather than exalted by an attempt to reward virtue with
temporal prosperity. Such is not the recompense which Providence has
deemed worthy of suffering merit, and it is a dangerous and fatal
doctrine to teach young persons, the most common readers of romance,
that rectitude of conduct and of principle are either naturally allied
with or adequately rewarded by, the gratification of our passions or
the attainment of our wishes. In a word, if a virtuous and self-denied
character is dismissed with temporal wealth, greatness, rank, or the
indulgence of such a rashly formed or ill-assorted passion as that of
Rebecca for Ivanhoe, the reader will be apt to say, verily Virtue has
had its reward. But a glance at the great picture of life will show
that the duties of self-denial and the sacrifice of passion to
principle are seldom thus remunerated and that the internal
consciousness of their high-minded discharge of duty produces on their
own reflections a more adequate recompense in the form of that peace
which the world cannot give or take away. Abbotsford, September 1st, 1830.

DEDICATORY EPISTLE
TO
THE REV. DR. DRYASDUST, F.A.S.
Residing in the Castle-Gate, York. Much esteemed and dear Sir,
It is scarcely necessary to mention the various and concurring reasons
which induce me to place your name at the head of the following work. Yet the chief of these reasons may perhaps be refuted by the
imperfections of the performance. Could I have hoped to render it
worthy of your patronage, the public would at once have seen the
propriety of inscribing a work designed to illustrate the domestic
antiquities of England, and particularly of our Saxon forefathers, to
the learned author of the Essays upon the Horn of King Ulphus and on

 Prev. P 9/450 next