ON THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF

PROSE FICTION.

WITH SOME APOLOGY FOR THE FICTIONS OF THE AUTHOR.

PROSE fiction may be divided into two principal classes, -the one narrative (or epic) fiction,- the other dramatic. The first is of more ancient date than the last: - the romances of Fenelon and Cervantes, the novels of Fielding, Smollet, and Le Sage, are essentially narrative; they but ill adapt themselves to the stage, and every attempt to reduce them into the dramatic shape has been singularly unsuccessful. The old Greek romances, with the master-piece of Apuleius, (their chief ornament,) are also of the narrative kind; so are the French tales of "Cassandra" and "Clelia," so inordinately tedious; and the English fiction, beautiful despite its prolixity, of the poetical "Arcadia." Horace Walpole's "Castle of Otranto," and Mrs. Radcliffe's romances, were the first, as far as I am aware, which trespassed visibly upon the boundaries of the dramatic fiction. The intricate plots, the striking situations, the elaborate scene-painting, the constant appeals to effect of these eminent writers, especially the latter;-their general avoidance of episode,—and their artful conduct of events towards one picturesque and inevitable catastrophe, are qualities that markedly appertain to the drama; and, but for one striking deficiency, presently to be noted, their romances are easily capable

of conversion into tragedies. The Miss Porters, especially Jane, continued this school of romance, without perhaps the same mastery of plot and conduct, and with less eloquence of diction; but, on the other hand, with considerable success towards supplying the deficiency I have hinted at. That deficiency is in character: - the situations of Walpole and Radcliffe are often dramatic; not so the characters of the agents. There is but little that belongs to the true varieties—the contrasted qualities the flesh and blood of human nature, in the beings created by those prose poets. indeed, perhaps, a natural as well as his weakness relieves his crimes,

Manfred * himself is a striking character; his heart is bared to

us, and in its struggles between good and evil we acknowl

edge the elements of the drama. merely wearers of garments and

from villain,

But his companions are talkers of words;they are not made subservient to the display whether of humor or emotion, they belong to a pageant, and are rather of pasteboard than of flesh. In Mrs. Radcliffe the same deficiency is yet more apparent ;-the springs which move character, the distinctions which make one man differ from another, which separate lover from lover, or villain - Romeo from Hamlet, Richard from Macbeth, that consummate and mystic individuality which belongs to the drama, setting its mark, peculiar and indelible, on each creation; these were not qualities of the genius, remarkable as it was, which has given to unquestionable fame the "Romance of the Forest" and the "Mysteries of Udolpho." The real essence of the drama in the creation of its characters is not only individuality --but an individuality produced by certain passions, if purely tragic, or certain humors, if purely comic, ope*Castle of Otranto.

rating upon the thoughts and feelings of some character itself uncommon and original. To say that this man loves and that man is jealous, - that this lady is gentle and that lady is fierce, is not to individualize dramatically. In the drama the actors must describe themselves,-the Author cannot write beneath his portraitures "This is a lion." But, by the power of language, by the conduct of story, by the art in arranging incidents, a romance of wonderful merit may be produced, with but very little deep analysis of character, and very little individuality in its distinctions. Mrs. Radcliffe produced many such romances.

In the romances of the Miss Porters there appears to me to be considerably more of dramatic individuality and of mental portraiture than in those of Mrs. Radcliffe. The character of Ripperda, that of the Duke of Wharton,

that of Don Sebastian, and the beautiful sketch of his bride, are, to my judgment, far superior to the Schedonis and Vivaldis of Mrs. Radcliffe. But, then, in the

eloquence of diction, in the art of plot, in the machinery of romance — the Miss Porters unquestionably fall short of their gifted predecessor.

Miss Edgeworth, in her various tales, blended also the dramatic with the narrative form of fiction, though those tales partake but little of any other species of the drama than that of the more serious and elevated comedy; she has little of tragedy, and nothing of melodrame. She introduces more dialogue than her immediate predecessors; makes her heroes speak for themselves; and, while her stories are usually admirable in their compact simplicity, she ever seems more intent upon bringing out her characters than mystifying her readers; and, interesting you in their thoughts, their actions, as well as their fate, she makes you intimately acquainted with their peculiarities

of excellence or error,

and then quietly suffers those

peculiarities to work out both her fable and her moral. it is the true ethical comic. Vivian

All this is dramatic,

- Basil the procrastinating,

the weak, Mrs. Beaumont the manoeuvring,- Murad the unlucky, are characters formed in the same school of intellect as that which produced a Tartuffe and a Mons. Jourdain.

But still these writers, while they insensibly departed from the old narrativę form, (which usually, with but slender mysteries and amidst a wilderness of episodical adventure, conducted its heroes through the mimic life, and insensibly trespassed upon the province of the drama,) can scarcely be said to have done more than indicate the true genius of the dramatic novel. This it was reserved for the glorious imagination of Scott to create, and perhaps to perfect. Not only in plot, in mystery, in incident, in catastrophe, are his fictions consummately dramatic, but his characters are essentially dramatic also. The scenes so brilliantly painted are but the means by which his actors display the peculiarities of their natures. Baillie Nicol Jarvie, Rob Roy, Leicester, Rebecca, and Bois Guilbert, are almost dramas in themselves. Could we annihilate the very plot in which they figure, they would still be effective on the stage :-even as in the Prometheus or the Aulularia, we see a tragedy in Prometheus, a comedy in Euclio. So, it is the character of Sir Giles Overreach, and not the incidents of the play in which it shines forth, that makes the "New Way to pay Old Debts" the most successful on the stage of Massinger's thoughtful, but perhaps overrated, plays.

Most of Scott's novels require but little of the scissors to become plays. But it was as he proceeded in his art, that his fictions became more closely dramatic. Perhaps

"Waverley" is the least so of all, and, perhaps, in the "the Fortunes of Nigel" and "the

conduct of the story, Fair Maid of Perth are among the most,- two works greatly inferior in other respects to many by the same author.

In truth, as Scott proceeded on the brilliant track he had (I suspect unconsciously) opened, he found that the dramatic form of composition, its unity of plot, its constant dialogue and stage-effect action, were means as certain of creating at least a temporary interest as the conception of character itself, and by degrees his stories became more dramatic and his characters less so. I am by no means sure that in many instances this adaptation of the drama is not carried by Scott to an inordinate degrée, - such as the last scene of Quentin Durward, in which Louis and Charles are brought on the stage, when we see Balafre justly entitled to the hand of the heroine; and when, by one of the sudden tricks common to the boards, it is transferred to the lover, and the piece suddenly concludes with "It is sense, firmness, and gallantry, which have put him in possession of wealth, rank, and beauty.' The grouping of the figures, the unexpected joining of the lovers, and the somewhat clap-trap sentiment at the end, have, to my judgment at least, somewhat too much of the flourish of the actor and the drop of the green curtain. I could name various other instances in Scott's works, in which the analogy between the romance and the drama seems to me to be drawn too closely, and the preference of dialogue to recital becomes inconveniently frequent, but I do not think myself sufficiently removed from the influence of the great master's genius to do more than hint at what better judges may not acknowledge to be errors. Scott, then, was the great creator of the dramatic fiction,