Now  to  copy  nature  in  her  every-day  forms,  is  nei
ther  difficult  nor  desirable.  To  report  the  slip-slop
conversation  of  a  tea-table  is  to  copy  nature,  and
the  more  literal  the  copy  the  less  the  skill  required  :
but  to  be  true  to  nature — to  anticipate  her,  and
make  human  beings  in  extraordinary  situations
and  agitated  by  strong  and  conflicting  passions,  act
and  speak  as  she  would  make  them  act  and  speak
in  such  situations — to  make  them  do  and  say  that
8*


90  BULWER  AND  WALTER  SCOTT.
which  the  reader  has  no  conception  of  beforehand,
but  which,  the  moment  he  has  read  it,  flashes  upon
him  as  the  only  thing  they  ought  or  could  have
done  and  said,  is  a  power  that  few  mortals  are
gifted  with,  and  it  remains  to  be  shown  that  Mr.
