the wheels and the wood work: such is the singular variety of forms and
of lights and shadows, of mosses and weather stains from the constant
moisture, of plants springing from the rough joints of the stones--that,
even without the addition of water, an old mill has the greatest charm
for a painter" (i., 55). He mentions, as a striking example of
picturesque beauty, a hollow lane or by-road with broken banks, thickets,
old neglected pollards, fantastic roots bared by the winter torrents,
tangled trailers and wild plants, and infinite variety of tints and
shades (i., 23-29). He denounces the improvements of Capability Brown
(see "Romanticism," vol. i., p. 124): especially the clump, the belt and
regular serpentine walks with smooth turf edges, the made water with
uniformly sloping banks--all as insipidly formal, in their way, as the
old Italian gardens which Brown's landscapes displaced.

[38] "Essay on Walter Scott."

[39] Andrew Lang reminds us that, after all, only three of the Waverley
Novels are "chivalry romances." The following are the only numbers of
the series that have to do with the Middle Ages: "Count Robert of Paris,"
_circa_ 1090 A.D.; "The Betrothed," 1187; "The Talisman," 1193;
"Ivanhoe," 1194; "The Fair Maid of Perth," 1402; "Quentin Durward," 1470;
"Anne of Geierstein," 1474-77.

[40] "The Romantic School in Germany," p. 187. _Cf._ Stendhal, "Walter
Scott et la Princesse de Clèves." "Mes reflexions seront mal accueilles.
Une immense troupe de littérateurs est intéressée à porter aux nues Sir
Walter Scott et sa maniere. L'habit et le collier de cuivre d'un serf du
moyen âge sont plus facile à décrire que les mouvements du coeur
humain. . . . N'oublions pas un autre avantage de l'école de Sir Walter
Scott: la description d'un costume et la _pose_ d'un personnage . . .