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impressive, and the inal tremendous monologue before Lucifer seizes Faustus's soul is unsurpassed in all the range of tragedy. Faustus, dissatisfied with philosophy, resolves to enlarge his sphere by cultivating magic. He conjures up Mephistopheles and bids him be his servant. The spirit, however, replies that Lucifer's permission must first be gained. Faustus then voluntarily offers to surrender his soul after fourand-twenty years, if during that time Mephistopheles shall be his slave. Lucifer agrees, and demands a promise written in Faustus's blood. Then Faustus sets out in search of knowledge and pleasure, traveling about invisible. He provides grapes in midwinter, and calls up the spirits of Alexander and Thais to please the emperor. At the request

of his scholars he summons Helen of Troy, and impressed by her beauty, exclaims:

"Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,

And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?

Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss!

At times the desire for repentance seizes him; but the exhilaration of pleasure is too great, and the powers of evil are too strong. Finally the time expires, and Faustus in agony awaits the coming of Lucifer. He appeals to God and Christ, but has forfeited the right to pray; and at the stroke of twelve Lucifer bears him away to everlasting doom.

English Literature, History of, by

Hippolyte Adolphe Taine. (French original, 5 vols., 1863-64. English Translation by Henri Van Laun, 4 vols., 1872-74.) An admirably written, sympathetic, and penetrating account of the aspects of English culture and the English race as revealed in English literature. To no small extent it misses exact knowledge of English genius and of the finer aspects of English literary culture; but it is a masterly study to come from the pen of a foreigner, and rich in interest and suggestion to the thoughtful reader. The strength of the work is in its study of race and civilization; but this is also its weakness, as to some extent the view taken of literary production is too much colored by the author's theory of race, which wholly fails in any such case as that of Shakespeare. "Just as astronomy is at bottom a problem in mechanics, and physiology

a problem in chemistry, so history at bottom is a problem in psychology »; and he aims here to give a view, more or less complete, of the English intellect, illustrated by literary examples, and not a history at all, if by history is meant a record of books produced or of facts gathered together. The defects of the book are many and obvious; but when all abatement is made, it remains to the English reader a most stimulating intellectual performance. "In its powerful, though arbitrary, unity of composition, in its sustained æsthetic temper, its brilliancy, variety, and sympathy, it is a really monumental accession to a lit erature, which, whatever its limitations in the range of its ideas, is a splendid series of masterly compositions."

English Novel, The: A STUDY IN THE

DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONALITY, by Sidney Lanier. (1883. Revised Edition, 1897.) A volume of singularly rich criti cism, based on a course of twelve lectures at Johns Hopkins University, 1881. It was almost the last work of a writer whose death was a heavy loss to American letters. The full title given by Lanier to his course was, 'From Eschylus to George Eliot: The Development of Personality.' The idea suggesting this title was that in Greek tragedy, represented by Eschylus, the expression of personality is faint and crude, while in George Eliot it reached the clearness and strength of high literary art. The earlier work of Lanier on The Science of English Verse,' and the later study of the novel, were designed to serve as parts of a comprehensive philosophy of the form and substance of beauty in literature; and the execution of the plan, as far as he had proceeded, was of a quality rarely found in literary criticism. In the second of the work, the last six of the twelve chapters are devoted to George Eliot. The earlier six range over a wide field, and show wealth of knowledge with remarkable insight and felicity of expression.

Euphues and the Anatomy of Wit,

and Euphues and His England, by John Lyly, were published respectively in 1578 and 1580, when the author was a young courtier still under thirty. They constitute the first and second part of a work which can only loosely be called fiction in the modern sense. Perhaps the word "romance» best expresses its

nature. For a dozen years it was fashionable in the polite circles of England; and the word "Euphuism" survives in the language to designate the stilted, farfetched, ornate style of writing introduced and made popular by Lyly. Euphues, the hero, is a native of Athens, who goes to Naples and there wooes Lucilla, fickle daughter of the governor. She is already plighted to his friend Philautus; and when Euphues seeks to win her in spite of this, both mistress and friend forsake him. Later, he is reconciled with Philautus, and writes a cynical blast against all womankind. He then returns to his own city, and forswearing love forever, takes refuge in writing disquisitions upon education and religion, interspersed with letters to and from various friends. Incidentally, a fine eulogy on Queen Elizabeth is penned. The narrative is loosely constructed and inconsecutive; the chief interest in the work for Lyly's contemporaries was the philosophical dissertations upon topics of timely pertinence, couched, not in the heavy manner of the formal thinker, but in the light, elegant, finicky tone of the man-about-court. The literary diction of Euphues has been well characterized by a German scholar, Dr. Landmann, who says it showed "a peculiar combination of antithesis with alliter

leaves the house, only to be followed by her tormentor. Finally, being truly in love with her, Mr. B decides to overlook their difference of station and marry her. The second part of the novel, which appeared the following year and narrates Pamela's life after this union, is less interesting. The story is told in the form of letters-a form used in all Richardson's fiction. The moral standard-which is that of English society in the first half of the eighteenth century— seems to the modern reader disgraceful. Mr. B acts toward Pamela as only a profligate and rascal would to a girl of his own station; yet Pamela, in the true spirit of caste distinc.ion, extols him, when he at last condescends to wed her, as not only the greatest but the best of men. There is much human nature, however, in the book; and the interest is strong and well maintained. Richardson did a new thing in novel-writing when he chose a girl of the humble class for heroine, and made use of every-day contemporaneous persons and scenes for the purposes of fiction. Thus the story of incident and the analysis of character came into English fiction; and thus the Modern Novel traces its development from Richardson.

words, a love for the conformity and correspondence of parallel sentences, and a tendency to accumulate rhetorical figures, such as climax, the rhetorical question, objections and refutations, the repetition of the same thought in other forms, etc.» Although Lyly's style had in it too much of the affected to give it long life, he undoubtedly did something towards making the sixteenth-century speech refined, musical, and choice. It is this rather than any attraction of story that makes the 'Euphues' interesting to the modern student of literature.

Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, by Sam

uel Richardson, is the first work of fiction by an author who began what is called the modern analytic novel. It was published in 1740, and won instant applause and a wide circle of readers in all classes of society, women especially following with bated breath the shifting fortunes of Pamela Andrews. She

is a serving-maid whom the son and heir of the family dishonorably pursues. She indignantly repels his advances and

was the first novel by that master. It appeared in 1742, its full title being 'The Adventures of Joseph Andrews and his Friend Abraham Adams. Fielding was thirty-five years old when it was published. His intention in writing it was to satirize Richardson's 'Pamela.' This novel, given to the world two years before, had depicted the struggle of an honest serving-maid to escape from the snares laid for her by her master. Andrews, the hero of Fielding's story, is a brother of Pamela, like her in service; and the narrative details the trials he endures in the performance of his duty. This story was begun satirically, with an evident intention of burlesquing the high-flown virtue of Richardson's heroine by the representation of a man under similar temptation. But as the tale developed, Fielding grew serious, warming to his work so that it became in many respects a genuine picture of life, and contained a number of his most enjoyable creations; notably Parson Adams, a fine study of the old-style country clergyman, simple-minded, good-hearted.

with a relish for meat and drink and a wholesome disdain of hypocrisy and meanness. Andrews and Adams have numerous amusing adventures together, many of these being too coarse to please mod

ern taste. In the end it falls out that Andrews is really of good birth, while his sweetheart Fanny, a handsome girl of humble rank, is the daughter of the parents who had adopted him; and the pair are wedded amidst general jubilation. The confusion arising from the exchange of children at birth- a device since much used in English fiction-is cleverly managed. The chief charm of the story, however, lies in its lively episodes, high spirits, and delightful humor. The success of this novel encouraged Fielding to write other and better books.

Clay

She

larissa Harlowe, by Samuel Richardson, was published in 1751, ten years after (Pamela,' when Richardson was over sixty years old. In 'Pamela › he tried to draw the portrait of a girl of humble class in distress; in Clarissa he essayed to do the same thing for a young woman of gentility. is of a good country family (the scene being laid in rural England of the first half of the eighteenth century, Richardson's time), and is wooed by Lovelace, a well-known but profligate gentleman. The match is opposed by the Harlowes because of his dubious reputation. Clarissa for some time declines his advances; but as she is secretly taken by his dashing ways, he succeeds in abducting her, and so compromising her good name that she dies of shame,- her betrayer being killed in a duel by her cousin, Colonel Morden. Lovelace's name has become a synonym for the fine-gentleman profligate. He is drawn as by no means without his good side, and as sincerely loving Clarissa, who stands as a sympathetic study of a noble-minded young woman in misfortune. The story is largely told by letters exchanged between Clarissa and her confidante Miss Howe, and between Lovelace and his friend Belford. Its affecting incidents moved the heart of the eighteenth century, and ladies of quality knelt at Richardson's feet imploring him to spare his heroine. To the present-day reader, the tale seems slow and prolix; but it was able to enchain the attention of a man like Macaulay, and has much merit of plot and character. It is, moreover, a

truthful picture of the conventions and ideals of its period, while it possesses a perennial life because it deals with some of the elemental interests and passions.

Tom Jones, by Henry Fielding, con

ceded to be that writer's masterpiece, and deemed by some critics the greatest English novel, was published in 1749, when the author was forty-two. He had, however, been long at work upon it. The story is Fielding's third piece of fiction, and represents the zenith of his literary power; Amelia,' which followed two years later and was his last novel, having less exuberance and happy invention. (The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling,' is the full title of the book; Tom is the foundling, left on the doorstep of a charitable gentleman, Mr. Allworthy, who gives him a home and rears him with care, but, grieved by his wild conduct as a young man, repudiates him for a time. Tom is a high-spirited, handsome fellow, generous and honest, but perpetually in hot water because of his liking for adventure and his gallantry towards women. He loves Sophia Western, whose father, Squire Western, an irascible, bluff, three-bottle, hunting English country magnate, is one of the best and best-known pieces of characterdrawing in the whole range of English fiction. The match is opposed strenuously by the squire; and Tom sets out on his travels under a cloud, hoping to win his girl in spite of all. He is accompanied by his tutor, the schoolmaster Partridge, a simple-minded, learned man, very lovable, a capitally drawn and amusing figure. Another character sympathetically sketched is that of Blifil, the contemptible hypocrite who seeks Sophia's hand and tries to further his cause by lying about Jones. Tom has many escapades, especially of the ama tory sort; and his experiences are narrated with great liveliness, reality, and unction, the reader being carried along irresistibly by the author's high good spirits. No other eighteenth-century story give such truthful, varied, and animated scenes of contemporaneous life in country and town. Jones finally triumphs over his enemies, is reconciled with his guardian, the blot on his birth is removed, and he wins his Sophia. He is throughout a likable fellow, though his ethics are not always agreeable to modern taste or conscience.

The, by Tobias Smollett. This novel, Smollett's last and generally considered his best one, was published in 1771, only a few months before he died at the age of fifty-one. The young man who gives his name to the story is really the least conspicuous of its characters, and has not a very strongly marked individuality. About a quarter of the story has been told before he is introduced. He then makes his appearance as a "shabby country fellow," who takes the place of a postilion discharged from the service of Mr. Matthew Bramble. He seemed to be about twenty years of age, of a middle size, with bandy legs, stooping shoulders, high forehead, sandy locks, pinking eyes, flat nose, and long chin; but his complexion was of a sickly yellow, his looks denoted famine, and the rags that he wore could hardly conceal what decency requires to be covered.»

In spite of his unattractive exterior, Humphrey soon wins the regard of his employer and his family, to whom in the end he proves to be related, though by the bar sinister. The story is told in a series of letters from Matthew Bramble, an elderly bachelor, to his friend and medical adviser, Dr. Lewis; by his maiden sister Tabitha, to the housekeeper, Mrs. Gwyllim; by Winifred Jenkins, her maid, to another maid, Mary Jones; and by Lydia and Jeremiah Melford, niece and nephew of the Brambles, to their friends Mrs. Jermyn, and Letitia Willis, and Sir Watkins Philips. The time covered by the letters is little more than six months, and they are written while the Brambles and their relatives and servants are making a pleasure tour through England and Scotland. The letters are the vehicle of much interesting information about the different places visited by the family, including Bath and all its frivolities, Scarborough, London in the season, Newcastle and other towns in the north, Edinburgh, Manchester, and various country regions. Although the novel has too much the air of a guide-book through which runs a very slender thread of story, each one of the writers has his own point of view regarding persons and places. Each one also displays his own characteristics: Matthew Bramble is observing, amiable if a little cynical; his sister vain and bent on getting a husband; Winifred,

Lydia is a dutiful niece, though constant to the lover from whom they try to separate her; and Jeremiah, fresh from Oxford, shows that his air of man of the world is only assumed. In the end Tabitha secures a husband, a Captain Lismahago. Lydia's lover, masquerading under the name of Wilson, proves to be George Dennison, the son of estimable and rich parents; and on the day when aunt and niece are married to the men of their choice, Humphrey Clinker, now known as Matthew Lloyd, is married to Winifred Jenkins.

Though Humphrey Clinker' may not altogether meet modern requirements as a work of fiction, as a picture of eighteenth-century life it is extremely interesting. Smollett had a keen insight into human nature, which gives a value to all that he writes. The plot of Humphrey Clinker' is perfectly clean; but in many places it is stained by what may be called colloquial coarseness.

Evelina, by Frances Burney. In 'Ev

elina; or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World,' Miss Burney, describing the experiences of her charming little heroine in London, gives a vivid picture of the manners and customs of the eighteenth century.

Some years before the opening of the story, Sir John Belmont has deserted his wife. When she dies, their child Evelina is brought up in the seclusion of the country by her kind guardian, Mr. Villars. Sir John is followed to France by an ambi tious woman, a nurse, who carries her child to him in place of his own, and he educates this child believing her to be his daughter. Evelina, meantime, grown to be a pretty, unaffected girl, goes to visit Mrs. Mirvan in London, and is introduced to society. She meets Lord Orville, the dignified and handsome hero, and falls in love with him. Later she is obliged to visit her vulgar grandmother, Madame Duval; and while with her ill-bred relatives she undergoes great mortification on meeting Lord Orville and Sir Clement Willoughby, a persistent lover. During this visit Evelina saves a poor young man, Mr. Macartney, from committing suicide. He proves to be the illegitimate son of Sir John Belmont, and in Paris he has fallen in love with the supposed daughter of that gentleman, who, he is afterwards told, is his own sister. Ha

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tells Evelina his story; but as no names are mentioned, they remain in ignorance of their relationship. At Bath, Evelina sees Lord Orville again, and in spite of many misunderstandings they at last come together. Sir John returns from France, is made to realize the mistake that had been made, and accepts Evelina as his rightful heir. All mysteries are cleared up, Mr. Macartney marries the nurse's child so long considered Sir John's daughter, and Lord Orville marries Evelina.

The characters are interesting contrasts: Orville, Lovel, Willoughby, and Merton standing for different types of fashionable men; while Captain Mirvan, Madame Duval, and the Branghtons are excellent illustrations of eighteenth-century vulgarity. The story is told by letters, principally those of Evelina to her guardian. 'Evelina' was published in 1778, and immediately brought fame to the authoress, then only twenty-five years old.

Cecilia, by Frances Burney. Cecilia;

or, Memoirs of an Heiress' is a typical English novel of a century ago. The plot is simple, the story long drawn out, the style stilted, and the characters alone constitute the interest of the book, and justify Dr. Johnson's praise of Miss Burney as "a little character-monger.»

The charming heroine, Cecilia Beverley, has no restriction on her fortune but that her future husband must take her name. She goes to London to stay with Mr. Harrel, one of her guardians, and is introduced into society by his wife. Mr. Harrel contrives to influence her for his own advantage, and succeeds in keeping about her only those admirers who serve him personally. She and the hero, Mortimer Delvile, have therefore little intercourse. After borrowing money from Cecilia and gambling it all away, Mr. Harrel in despair commits suicide. Cecilia then visits her other guardian, Mr. Delvile, at his castle, where she is constantly thrown with Mortimer, his son.

scene gives up Mortimer. But the heroine has her reward at the end. It is hard, in our day, to understand the overpowering family pride and prejudice, the effects of which constitute largely the story of the heroine. Cecilia' was pub lished in 1782, four years after the issue of 'Evelina,' and met with public favor almost as great as that which welcomed the earlier romance. Sentimental, artificial, and unliterary though they are, Miss Burney's stories present a vivid picture of the society of her time, and are likely to remain among the English classics.

The Diary and Letters of Madame

D'Arblay, the gifted Fanny Burney, surpass in modern estimation the rest of her writings. The record begins with Evelina. The success of her first effort, the dinings, winings, and compliments that followed, are recorded with a naïve garrulousness perfectly consistent with simplicity and sincerity. The three periods of the authoress's life, her home life, her service as maid of honor to Queen Charlotte, and her subsequent travvels and residence abroad with General D'Arblay, are described. She draws portraits of her friends: Johnson, Burke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thrale, Boswell, and her "Dear Daddy Crisp.» Outside their talk of literary celebrities, these memoirs describe court etiquette under the coarse Madame Schwellenberg, the trial of Warren Hastings, the king's insanity during 1788-89, and many other incidents which were the talk of the town. In later life, after her husband had regained his command, the stay of the D'Arblays in Waterloo just before the day of the battle furnishes a passage upon great events. From this source, Thackeray, when describing the departure and death of George Osborne in 'Vanity Fair,' probably drew his material. Lively, talkative, gossipy, full of prejudices, the book is as interesting as little Frances Burney herself must have been.

This, as the author announces, is "an Hibernian tale taken from facts and from the manners of the Irish squire before the year 1782." The memoirs of the Rackrent family are recounted by Thady Quirk, an old steward, who has been from childhood devotedly attached to the house of Rackrent. The old retainer's descriptions of the several masters