 The result was that the novelist was generally condemned, and that his tale, notwithstanding the popularity which at first attended it, sank in popular estimation, and became one of the least valued of all his admired productions.The success, with which the "Life of Knox" was attended, would have been sufficient to make most authors repeat the attempt; but, besides this, the task of Dr. M'Crie had already been chosen, of which his first great effort had only been the commencement.The distinguished lights of the Scottish Reformation had long stood arrayed before his view as successively demanding their due commemoration; and after having completed the first and best in the series, the choice of the next was not a matter of difficulty.