Dick Rodney: or, The Adventures of an Eton Boy (Neko Classics Edition)

In the relation of the following adventures I do not mean to illustrate the principle maintained by some writers, that by an inevitable course of events in life, that becomes fate, which at first was merely choice; but rather to show how, by a remarkable combination of circumstances (to a great extent beyond my own control), I was involved in a series of perils and peregrinations, such as rarely fall to the lot even of those who have the most restless of dispositions.That my temperament was, and is still, something of this nature, I must confess; and the reading of my leisure hours-books of wild adventure by field and flood (I have devoured them all from the volumes of dear old Daniel Defoe, to those of the Railway Library), filled my mind with vague longings and airy fancies, for greater achievements than our periodical regatta, or the ranks of our Eton Rifle Volunteer Corps were likely to afford, although I deemed myself by no means an undistinguished member of the latterJames Grant wrote in all some fifty-six novels. A quick succession of incidents, much vivacity of style, and a dialogue that seldom flags characterize all of them. Those dealing with Scottish history embody considerable research, are vigorous and picturesque in style, and express much sympathy with the reckless daring, loyalty, and manliness of Scots and Border heroes. A charge of plagiarism has been brought against Grant owing to his having incorporated without acknowledgment a good many descriptive passages from a book of travels and campaigning in one of his novels. Grant, however, does not seem to have exceeded the license justly allowed a novelist of appropriating local color for his fictions from graver writers