I have sent in a parcel “Paul’s Letters to his Kinsfolk,” by Walter Scott, which you told me you had not seen. It was considered here as a great failure: though it is evidently the work of a sensible man and a practised writer. The account of the battle of Waterloo is lively and spirited; in other respects it is rather flat and insipid, especially considering that it was the first time Scott had seen the Continent.
Unquestionably it forms a strong contrast to the vigour and spirit displayed in Scott’s supposed novels and in the “Tales of my Landlord.” I have just received a letter from the Edgeworths containing some observations on this last work, of which they are warm admirers.
