best historical novels and tales(乔纳森尼尔德历史小说故事精选)

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A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales

A Guide to the Best

Historical Novels and Tales

Jonathan Nield

A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales

"These historical novels have taught all men this truth, which looks

like a truism, and yet was as good as unknown to writers of history and

others, till so taught: that the bygone ages of the world were actually filled

by living men, not by protocols, state-papers, controversies, and

abstractions of men."

--Carlyle on the Waverley novels.

A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales

Contents

Introduction

Pre-Christian Era

First Century

Second Century

Third Century

Fourth Century

Fifth Century

Sixth Century

Seventh Century

Eighth Century

Ninth Century

Tenth Century

Eleventh Century

Twelfth Century

Thirteenth Century

Fourteenth Century

Fifteenth Century

Sixteenth Century

Seventeenth Century

Eighteenth Century

Nineteenth Century

Supplementary List (Semi-Historical)

Suggested Courses of Reading (Juvenile)

Bibliography

A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales

INTRODUCTION.

It is not proposed, in these preliminary remarks, to sketch in detail

the origin and growth of the 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

A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales

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

A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales

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

A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales

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

A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales

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

A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales

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 Historical Romance.

With the exclusion of Mrs. Radcliffe, Mrs. Marsh, Mrs. Gore, Lady

Blessington, Lady Fullerton, Mrs. Bray, and Mrs. Child, few will, I

imagine, find fault; but writers like Miss Tucker (A. L. O. E.) and Miss

Emily Holt still find so many readers in juvenile quarters, that it has

required a certain amount of courage to place them also on my Index

Expurgatorius! Turning once again to writers of the sterner sex, I have

ruled out C. R. Maturin, G. W. M. Reynolds, and Pierce Egan, Junr.; and

(quitting the "sensational" for the "mildly entertaining") out of the Rev. J.

M. Neale's many historical tales I have selected only one--"Theodora

Phranza," which, besides being well written, has the merit of dealing with

a somewhat neglected period. Stories possessing a background of

History are to be found in "Tales from Blackwood," as also in "Wilson's

Tales of the Borders," but their extremely slight character seemed scarcely

A Guide to the Best Historical Novels and Tales

to justify insertion; while not even the high literary position attained by

him on other grounds reconciled me to either of Allan Cunningham's

novels--"Sir Michael Scott" and "Paul Jones."

Of the Foreign novelists appearing in my list, several have been

already named, but Marchese D'Azeglio, F. D. Guerrazzi, Cesare Cantu,

"W. Alexis" (G. Haring), H. Laube, Louise Mulbach (Klara M. Mundt),

Nicolas Josika, Viktor Rydberg, Hendrik Conscience, Xavier B. Saintine,

Amedee Achard, and "Erckmann-Chatrian" here call for notice as not

coming under strictly Contemporary classification. I would forestall the

criticism that two writers have been passed over whose fame is greater

than any of those just mentioned, viz.: "Stendhal" (Henri Beyle) and

Alphonse Daudet. Beyle's "La Chartreuse de Parme," though containing

the oft-praised account of Waterloo, is far more Psychological than

Historical; and Daudet's "Robert Helmont," while it depicts (under Diary

form) certain aspects of the Franco-German War, has hardly any plot

running through it. As the Waterloo and Franco-German War periods

were amply illustrated in numerous other novels of more assured

suitability, I had the less hesitation in deciding against the two works just

named. In the selections from Foreign Historical Fiction nothing more

has been attempted than to include the leading examples; most of these, it

will be found, have been translated into English.

Before leaving the subject of older writers, it may be mentioned that

not a few of the works chosen to represent them are, at the moment, out of

print. To anyone objecting that something ought to have been done to

indicate this in each separate case, I would urge that the "out of print" line

can never be drawn with precision in view of constant reprints as well as

of further extinctions.

Perhaps this introduction may be most fitly concluded by something in

the nature of apology for Historical Romance itself. Not only has fault

been found with the deficiencies of unskilled authors in that department,

but the question has been asked by one or two critics of standing--What

right has the Historical Novel to exist at all? More often than not, it is

pointed out, the Romancist gives us a mass of inaccuracies, which, while

they mislead the ignorant (i.e., the majority?), are an unpardonable offence

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