Excerpt from Waverley Novels, Vol. 5 Lady of Avenel was far from being popular. He does not now make the present statement in the view of arguing readers into a more favorable opinion on the subject, but merely with the purpose of exculpating himself from the charge of having wantonly intruded into the narrative a. Being of inconsistent powers and propensities. In the delineation of another character, the Author of the Monastery failed where he hoped for some success. As nothing is so successful a subject of ridicule as the fashion able follies of the time, it occurred to him, that the more serious scenes of his narrative might be relieved by the humor of a cavaliero of the age of Queen Elizabeth. In every period, the attempt to gain and maintain the highest rank of society has depended on the power of assuming and sup porting a certain fashionable kind of affectation, usually connected with some vivacity of talent and energy of char acter, but distinguished at the same time by a transcendental flight beyond sound reason and common sense both facul ties too vulgar to be admitted into the estimate of one who claims to be esteemed a choice spirit of the age 'j hese, in their different phases, constitute the gallants of the day, whose boast it is to' drive the whims of fashion to extremity. 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.