system. In life itself, many things befall every mortal, of which the
individual never knows the real cause or origin; and were we to point
out the most marked distinction between a real and a fictitious
narrative, we would say, that the former in reference to the remote
causes of the events it relates, is obscure, doubtful, and mysterious;
whereas, in the latter case, it is a part of the author's duty to
afford satisfactory details upon the causes of the separate events he
has recorded, and, in a word, to account for every thing. The reader,
like Mungo in the Padlock, will not be satisfied with hearing what he
is not made fully to comprehend.

I omitted, therefore, in the Introduction to the Abbot, any attempt to
explain the previous story, or to apologize for unintelligibility.

Neither would it have been prudent to have endeavoured to proclaim, in
the Introduction to the Abbot, the real spring, by which I hoped it
might attract a greater degree of interest than its immediate
predecessor. A taking title, or the announcement of a popular subject,
is a recipe for success much in favour with booksellers, but which
authors will not always find efficacious. The cause is worth a
moment's examination.

There occur in every country some peculiar historical characters,
which are, like a spell or charm, sovereign to excite curiosity and
attract attention, since every one in the slightest degree interested
in the land which they belong to, has heard much of them, and longs to
hear more. A tale turning on the fortunes of Alfred or Elizabeth in
England, or of Wallace or Bruce in Scotland, is sure by the very
announcement to excite public curiosity to a considerable degree, and
ensure the publisher's being relieved of the greater part of an