Chapter 3

The vogue of Mrs. Radcliffe; her tentative beginning in _The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne_, and her gradual advance in skill and power; _The Sicilian Romance_ and her early experiments in the "explained" supernatural; _The Romance of the Forest_, and her use of suspense; heroines: _The Mysteries of Udolpho_; illustrations of Mrs. Radcliffe's methods; _The Italian_; villains; her historical accuracy and "unexplained" spectre in _Gaston de Blondeville_; her reading; style; descriptions of scenery; position in the history of the novel. Pp. 38-62.