Note 262 — Chapter IX
Reading edition
This is a point of importance. Details of a life-like character are most valuable in the novel; but if they are not "material" in the transferred sense they are simply a bore. Scott undoubtedly learnt this lesson from his prentice work in finishing Strutt's Queenhoo Hall, where the story is simply a clumsy vehicle for conveying information about sports and pastimes and costumes and such-like "antiquarities."