Read it through once

Among the many tributes of praise received by _Rienzi’s_ author none gave greater delight than the one embodied in Lord Lytton’s Preface to his novel, _Rienzi_, which first appeared in 1835. “I cannot conclude,” it runs, “without rendering the tribute of my praise and homage to the versatile and gifted Author of the beautiful Tragedy of _Rienzi_. Considering that our hero be the same—considering that we had the same materials from which to choose our several stories—I trust I shall be found to have little, if at all, trespassed upon ground previously occupied. With the single exception of a love-intrigue between a relative of Rienzi and one of the antagonist party, which makes the plot of Miss Mitford’s Tragedy, and is little more than an episode in my Romance, having slight effect on the conduct and none on the fate of the hero, I am not aware of any resemblance between the two works; and even _this_ coincidence I could easily have removed, had I deemed it the least advisable; but it would be almost discreditable if I had _nothing_ that resembled a performance so much it were an honour to imitate.”