Excerpt from Family Romance: Or, Episodes in the Domestic Annals; The Aristocracy Within the last half-century a new era has opened upon a class of writing that may best be designated as "Family History." For a long time, that portion of literature had been left wholly in the hands of genealogists and antiquaries, most of whom contented themselves with accuracy of dates, names, and alliances, or at most with a few dry details - dry, not in themselves, but in the manner in which they were narrated. In addition to such repositories or catacombs rather of "domestic story" thus derived, a fund no less ample lies buried in the ponderous tomes of County History, gigantic folios that from their size alone are enough to repel any ordinary reader. But even the most intrepid Davids, who have taken heart to struggle with these Goliaths, have been for the most part glad to beat an early retreat after a few brief glances at the first pages, for the writers would have thought their usefulness compromised and their value as antiquaries immeasurably damaged had they condescended to quit for a moment the bare fields of reality for the more flowery meadows of anecdote and tradition. To have covered the dry skeletons of the past with muscle, flesh, and colouring, so as to make them objects of interest to the world at large, would have been in their eyes a sin against truth, which, say they, should, to be instructive, have no decoration; as if the proportions of any structure could be marred by appropriate and elegant ornaments. The first inroad upon this barren system was made by Sir Walter Scott, of whom it may be said, as Johnson so happily said of Goldsmith, "Omne fere scribendi genus tetigit; nullum tetigit quod non ornavit." At the touch of his pen, as if it had been tipt with the Promethean fire, the forms, which had no more life in themselves than so much marble, started into captivating vitality. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.