Historical Novels

Extract

Does any one ever read Henty nowadays? It is a pity if they do not, for in his unpretentious way he serves as a very good model for one type of historical fiction, and it may upon reflection appear that his is not the worst type to follow. It was his practice to take some historical period of general interest, and into the framework of fact to work the adventures of a fictitious hero; the real historical heroes paced at intervals across the background, the facts of history were generally accurately enough presented, and the dialogue was couched in the ordinary speech of all ages: the more educated spoke the standard English of Henty's own day, the uneducated a sort of conventional Loamshire, which had the advantage of being equally suitable for Kingswear, Kenmare, or Kircudbright. He never attempted to give his books an air of antiquity by plastering them with what passed for the vocabulary of the period.