Kenilworth or Redgauntlet was taken down, and the
reader was at once in another country and in another age, transported
as if by some Arabian charm away from Cowfold cares. If anywhere in
another world the blessings which men have conferred here are taken
into account in distributing reward, surely the choicest in the store
of the Most High will be reserved for His servant Scott! It may be
said of others that they have made the world wise or rich, but of him
it must be said that HE, MORE THAN ALL, HAS MADE THE WORLD HAPPIER--
wiser too, wiser through its happiness.
Of the influence of Byron nothing more need be said here, because so
much has been said before. It may seem strange that the deacon of a
Dissenting chapel and his wife could read him, and could continue to
wait upon the ministrations of the Reverend John Broad; but I am only
stating a fact. Mrs. Allen could repeat page after page of Childe
Harold, and yet she went diligently to Tanner's Lane. Part of what
was read exhaled in the almost republican politics of the Allen
household; but it had also its effect in another direction, and it
was always felt by the Broads that the Allens were questionable
members of the flock.
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