The novels and histories of Mrs. Behn have long ceased to be read; the faults of style in which they all partake, the want of interest of many of them, are no doubt amongst the motives for which these tales, though short and told with much spirit, are wholly neglected. They are also no longer read, for a very excellent reason, which the following significant passage from one of Sir Walter Scott's works of biography shows in the fairest aspect:—

“The editor was acquainted with an old lady of family, who assured him that in her younger days Mrs. Behn's novels were as currently upon the toilette as the works of Miss Edgeworth at present; and described with some humour her own surprise when the book falling into her hands after a long interval of years, and when its contents were quite forgotten, she found it impossible to endure at the age of fourscore what at fifteen she, like all the fashionable world of the time, had perused without an idea of impropriety.”

The public is like the old lady; it has ceased to read coarse books and will no longer tolerate them, and those tales of Mrs. Behn's which escape that reproach are flat and uninteresting. She could not invent, but she could relate well, spite her want of grammar. Her way of telling a story is of the best, for it is that which gives life to the lightest matter.