Even at first, English readers complained of the difficulty caused by his Scotch, and now many make his I "dialect" an excuse for not reading books which their taste, debauched by third-rate fiction, is incapable of enjoying.

But Scott has never disappeared in one of those irregular changes of public opinion remarked on by his friend Lady Louisa Stuart.

In 1821 she informed him that she had tried the experiment of reading Mackenzie's "Man of Feeling" aloud: "Nobody cried, and at some of the touches I used to think so exquisite, they laughed."-- [Abbotsford Manuscripts.]--His correspondent requested Scott to write something on such variations of taste, which actually seem to be in the air and epidemic, for they affect, as she remarked, young people who have not heard the criticisms of their elders .-- [See Scott's reply, with the anecdote about Mrs.Aphra Behn's novels, Lockhart, vi.

406 (edition of 1839).]--Thus Rousseau's "Nouvelle Heloise," once so fascinating to girls, and reputed so dangerous, had become tedious to the young, Lady Louisa says, even in 1821.

But to the young, if they have any fancy and intelligence, Scott is not tedious even now; and probably his most devoted readers are boys, girls, and men of matured appreciation and considerable knowledge of literature.