 <unk> the most pervasive influence on Walpole was Walter Scott , whose <unk> is reflected in much of the later writer 's fiction . Such was Walpole 's love of Scott that he liked to think of himself as the latter 's reincarnation . He amassed the largest collection in Britain of Scott manuscripts and early editions , and constantly <unk> the novels . With the Herries stories Walpole restored the popularity of the historical novel , a form for which Scott was famous but which had been out of fashion for decades . The Herries series begins in the 18th century and follows a <unk> family through the generations up to modern times . 
