well as
Scotland.
    The character of the fair Jewess found so much favour in the eyes of some
fair readers, that the writer was censured, because, when arranging the fates of
the characters of the drama, he had not assigned the hand of Wilfred to Rebecca,
rather than the less interesting Rowena. But, not to mention that the prejudices
of the age rendered such a union almost impossible, the author may, in passing,
observe, that he thinks a character of a highly virtuous and lofty stamp is
degraded rather than exalted by an attempt to reward virtue with temporal
prosperity. Such is not the recompense which Providence has deemed worthy of
suffering merit, and it is a dangerous and fatal doctrine to teach young
persons, the most common readers of romance, that rectitude of conduct and of
principle are either naturally allied with, or adequately rewarded by, the
gratification of our passions, or attainment of our wishes. In a word, if a
virtuous and self-denied character is dismissed with temporal wealth, greatness,
rank, or the indulgence of such a rashly-formed or ill-assorted passion as that
of Rebecca for Ivanhoe, the reader will be apt to say, verily virtue has had its
reward. But a glance on the great picture of life will show, that the duties of
self-denial, and the sacrifice of passion to principle, are seldom thus
remunerated; and that the internal consciousness of their high-minded discharge
of duty, produces on their own reflections a more adequate recompense, in the
form of that peace which the world cannot give or take away.
    
    ABBOTSFORD, 1st September 1830.
 

                           Dedicatory Epistle to the

                        Rev. Doctor Dryasdust, F. A. S.

                       Residing at the Castle Gate, York

Much esteemed and dear sir - It is scarcely necessary to mention the various and
concurring reasons which induce me to place your name at the head of the
following work. Yet the chief of these reasons may perhaps be refuted by the
imperfections of the performance. Could I have hoped to render it worthy of your
patronage, the public would at once have seen the propriety of inscribing a work
designed to illustrate the domestic antiquities of England, and particularly of
our Saxon forefathers, to the learned author of the Essays upon the Horn of King
Ulphus, and on the Lands bestowed by him upon the patrimony of St. Peter. I am
conscious, however, that the slight, unsatisfactory, and trivial manner, in
which the result of my antiquarian researches has been recorded in the following
pages, takes the work from under that class which bears the proud motto, Detur