Female forms of exquisite grace and beauty began to mingle in his mental adventures; nor was he long without looking abroad to compare the creatures of his own imagination with the females of actual life.

This trend accelerated in the twentieth century. I didn’t know exactly what a “dead soul” was but. In Ivanhoe as in the Waverley novels religious and sectarian fanatics are the villains while the eponymous hero is a bystander who must weigh the evidence and decide where to take a stand.

Famous titles include Ivanhoe Rob Roy The Lady of the Lake Waverley The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride of Lammermoor. His novels and poetry are still read and many of his works remain classics of both English-language literature and of Scottish literature.