Abstract
Immediately after the start of the French Revolution, the society of British poets and novelists divided into two groups: one glorified the revolution and the other criticized it. Sir Walter Scott was only 18 years old at the dawn of the revolution, yet he was able to foresee its bloody ending.
The revolution had a great impact on him; he became strongly anti-radical and sceptical towards any major reforms and changes. Surprisingly, the next generation of British writers that were born after the outbreak of the French Revolution were even more interested in the revolution and its consequences than its contemporaries.
However not all young men of letters were as enthusiastic about the revolution and Napoleon as for example Lord Byron was. Thomas Carlyle and Charles Dickens criticized the revolution but also the social and political conditions in Britain which, in their opinion, were almost as tragic.
In the 1790s, the British conservative writers considered that the French revolution was bad and praised British political moderation, but several decades later in 1830s, they were forced to revise their convictions. The society of British writers split once again because of the Great Reform Act in 1832.
Sir Walter Scott and circle of his supporters, who initially stood strongly against the French Revolution and Napoleon, formed the anti-reform movement. Tories-revisionists decided to support the reform and welcomed the democratization of British society.
John Gibson Lockhart, Sir Walter Scott's son-in-law and editor of The Quarterly Review, along with his friend John Wilson Croker, a political commentator, continued to condemn the Reform Act even years after the parliament passed it.