text:  If we could conceive a poem in which the storming of Front-de-Boeuf's castle in _Ivanhoe_--the death of Fergus in _Waverley_--the storm on the coast and death scene in the fisher's hut in the _Antiquary_--the devoted love in the _Bride of Lammermoor_--the fervour of the Covenanters in _Old Mortality_ and the combats of Richard and Saladin in the _Talisman_ were united together and intermingled with the incomparable characters descriptions and incidents with which these novels abound they would form an epic poem