Delight condones offence. The only question
for the writer is, whether the offence is so trivial as to be submerged
in the delight. And he will do well to remember that the greater
flexibility belonging to the novel by no means removes the novel from
the laws which rule the drama. The parts of a novel should have organic
relations. Push the licence to excess, and stitch together a volume of
unrelated chapters,--a patchwork of descriptions, dialogues, and
incidents,--no one will call that a novel; and the less the work has of
this unorganised character the greater will be its value, not only in
the eyes of critics, but in its effect on the emotions of the reader.
Simplicity of structure means organic unity, whether the organism be
simple or complex; and hence in all times the emphasis which critics
have laid upon Simplicity, though they have not unfrequently confounded
it with narrowness of range. In like manner, as we said just now, when
treating of diction they have overlooked the fact that the simplest
must be that which best expresses the thought.
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