Excerpt from The Expositor, Vol. 2
It is impossible for any one to invent a tale whose scene lies in a foreign land without betraying in slight details his ignorance of the scenery and circumstances amid which the event is described as taking place. Unless the writer studiously avoids details, and confines himself to names and generalities, he is certain to commit numerous errors. Even the most laborious and minute study of the circumstances of the country in which is to lay his scene will not preserve him from such errors. He must live long and observe carefully in the country, if he wishes to invent a tale which will not betray his ignorance in numberless details. Allusions of French or German authors to English life supply the readiest illustration of this principle. Even after all the study has been expended on classical writers, I will engage to prove it in detail from almost any commentary on a Greek or Roman author, where the commentator ventures beyond mere linguistic exposition of his text.
Even to relate an incident that has actually occurred in a foreign land is no easy task for one who has not actually witnessed it. The one chance of safety for a writer in such a case lies in faithfully reproducing the narrative of an eyewitness. As soon as he ventures to write from an independent point, and to modify the account of his authority, he is certain to import into his version some of those slight inaccuracies that betray the foreigner.
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