829. The Graeme. Jeffrey says: "Malcolm Graeme has too insignificant
a part assigned him, considering the favor in which he is held both
by Ellen and the author; and in bringing out the shaded and imperfect
character of Roderick Dhu as a contrast to the purer virtue of his
rival, Mr. Scott seems to have fallen into the common error of making
him more interesting than him whose virtues he was intended to set off,
and converted the villain of the piece in some measure into its hero.
A modern poet, however, may perhaps be pardoned for an error of which
Milton himself is thought not to have kept clear, and for which there
seems so natural a cause in the difference between poetical and amiable
characters."