Clara Reeve’s Gothic story, first issued under the title of The Champion of Virtue, but later as The Old English Baron, was published in 1777—­twelve years after Walpole’s Castle of Otranto, of which, as she herself asserted, it was the “literary offspring.”  By eliminating all supernatural incidents save one ghost, she sought to bring her story “within the utmost verge of probability.”  Walpole, perhaps displeased by the slighting references in the preface to some of the more extraordinary incidents in his novel, received The Old English Baron with disdain, describing it as “totally void of imagination and interest."[30] His strictures are unjust.  There are certainly no wild flights of fancy in Clara Reeve’s story, but an even level of interest is maintained throughout.  Her style is simple and refreshingly free from affectation.  The plot is neither rapid nor exhilarating, but it never actually stagnates.  Like Walpole’s Gothic story, The Old English Baron is supposed to be a transcript from an ancient manuscript.  The period, we are assured, is that of the minority of Henry VI., but despite an elaborately described tournament, we never really leave eighteenth century England.  Edmund Twyford, the reputed son of a cottager, is befriended by a benevolent baron Fitzowen, but, through his good fortune and estimable qualities, excites the envy of Fitzowen’s nephews and his eldest son.  To prove the courage of Edmund, who has been basely slandered by his enemies, the baron asks him to spend three nights in the haunted apartment of the castle.  Up to this point, there has been nothing to differentiate the story from an uneventful domestic novel.  The ghost is of the mechanical variety and does not inspire awe when he actually appears, but Miss Reeve tries to prepare our minds for the shock, before she introduces him.  The rusty locks and the sudden extinction of the lamp are a heritage from Walpole, but the “hollow, rustling noise” and the glimmering light, naturally explained later by the approach of a servant with a faggot, anticipate Mrs. Radcliffe.  Like Adeline later, in The Romance of the Forest, Edmund is haunted by prophetic dreams.  The second night the ghost violently clashes his armour, but still remains concealed.  The third night dismal groans are heard.  The ghost does not deign to appear in person until the baron’s nephews watch, and then: 

“All the doors flew open, a pale glimmering light appeared at the door from the staircase, and a man in complete armour entered the room:  he stood with one hand extended pointing to the outward door.”

It is to vindicate the rights of this departed spirit that Sir Ralph Harclay challenges Sir Walter Lovel to a “mediaeval” tournament.  Before the story closes, Edmund is identified as the owner of Castle Lovel, and is married to Lady Emma, Fitzowen’s daughter.  The narration of the unusual circumstances connected with his birth takes some time, as the foster