...being worked to death hyswarmjng irn^atnrs Dreary is the picture given by Washington Irving in 1823: "There are such quantities of these legendary and...day. Scott's manner must likewise be widely avoided." Byron bears similar testimony in "Don Juan": I won't describe; description is my forte, But every fool...

...Irving himself. From Paris, whither he had gone after his year in Germany, he had written his brother: I have been thinking over the German subjects. It...now littering from the press, both in England and in Germany, that one must take care not to fall into the commonplace of the day. Scott's manner must...

...myself instead of following others." Again in another letter he speaks of his struggle for originality: "There are such quantities of these legendary and...now littering from the press, both in England and in Germany, that one must take care not to fall into the commonplace of the day. Scott's manner must...

...something of his attitude towards his art. A letter of September 1823 to Peter Irving, referring to the 'quantities of these legendary and romantic tales now littering from the press in England and Germany', stresses that he wishes to avoid 'the commonplace of the day' and strike out...