Ottilie is as pure and immortal a creation of genius as Mignon.
As novel-literature has developed itself in Europe, an attempt has been made to employ it as a mirror of the past, into which mankind shall love to look, and thereby ascertain whether civilization has advanced or retrograded with the lapse of time.

This is a reaction against the eighteenth century, and it appears under two forms--the idealistic-sentimental and the strongly realistic-social.

The earliest instance in Germany of the romantic school, _Heinrich von Ofterdingen_, is the apotheosis of the art and literature of the Middle Ages.

The writings of Walter Scott put an end to this sentimentalism, and this is indeed their highest merit.

Those of his works will continue to maintain the most prominent place, standing forth as true and living representations of character, which deal with the events of Scottish history in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.