political movements, and connect the facts of history with the
events of actual life.

The severe historian has to do but with accomplished facts; he can
only record and describe, with the strictest regard to truth, that
which has outwardly occurred. He describes the battles of peoples,
the struggles of nations, the great deeds of heroes, the actions of
princes--in short, he gives the accomplished facts. To investigate
and explain the secret motives, the hidden causes of these facts, to
present them in connection with all that impelled to them, this is
the task of Historical Romance.

The historian presents to you the outward face, the external form of
history; Historical Romance would show you the heart of history, and
thus bring near to your heart what, else, would stand so far off. To
enable him to do this, the writer of an Historical Romance must,
indeed, make severe and various studies. He must devote his whole
mind and soul to the epoch he would illustrate, he must live in it
and feel with it. He must so familiarize himself with all the
details, as in a manner to become a child of that epoch; for he can
present a really living image of only that which is living in
himself. That this requires a deep and earnest study of history is
self-evident. Historical Romance demands the study of the historian,
together with the creative imagination of the poet. For the free
embodiment of the poet can blossom only from out the studio of the
historian, as the flower from the seed; as, by a reciprocal organic
action, the hyacinth is derived from the onion, and the rose from
its seed-capsule, so are history and poetry combined in the
Historical Romance, giving and receiving life to and from each
other.