under whom he has served, vividly por- | present race of females is not very favortray various types of the "fine old Irish gentleman"; foremost among them all being Sir Patrick Rackrent, "who lived and died a monument of old Irish hospitality," and whose "funeral was such a one as was never known before or since in the county." Then comes Sir Murtagh Rackrent, whose famous legal knowledge brought the poor tenants little consolation; and his wife, of the Skinflint family, who "had a charity school for poor children, where they were taught to read and write gratis, and where they were kept spinning gratis for my lady in return.» Next follows Sir Kit, "God bless him! He valued a guinea as little as any man, money was no more to him than dirt, and his gentleman and groom and all belonging to him the same." Also his Jewish wife, whom he imprisons in her room for seven years because she refuses to give up her diamonds. In the words of Thady, "it was a shame for her not to have shown more duty, when he condescended to ask so often for such a bit of a trifle in his distresses, especially when he all along made it no secret that he married her for money.» The memoirs close with the history of Sir Condy Rackrent, who dies from quaffing on a wager a great horn of able to domestic happiness.» His dying father had also enjoined Colebs to take the advice of an old friend, Mr. Stanley, before marrying. Cœlebs goes to Stanley Grove in Hampshire, taking London on his way, and meeting at the house of Sir John Bedfield several fashionable women who fail to reach his standard of eligibility. At Stanley Grove he finds his ideal in one of the six daughters of the house, Lucilla, with whom he dutifully falls in love, to be at once accepted. In the month of his probation he meets Dr. Barlow, rector of the parish; Lady Ashton, a gloomy religionist; the Carltons, a dissolute and unbelieving husband who is converted by a saintly wife; and Tyrril, holding the Antinomian doctrine of faith without works, whose foil is Flam, a Tory squire, simple in faith and practicing good works. The conversation of these and other personages supplies the didactic features of the novel. 'Coelebs' was published in London in 1808, and had an instant and great popularity. The first edition was sold in a fortnight; the book went through three more within three months, and eleven within a year. Its republication in the United States was also highly successful. punch, after having squandered the re- Guy Mannering, by Sir Walter Scott. mainder of the family fortune. Castle Rackrent' was issued in 1801, and was the first of a series of successful novels produced by the author, whose descriptions of Irish character, whether grave or gay, are unsurpassed. Sir Walter Scott has acknowledged that his original idea, when he began his career as a nov. elist, was to be to Scotland what Miss Edgeworth was to Ireland. 'Guy Mannering,' the second of Scott's novels, appeared anonymously in 1815, seven months after Waverley.' It is said to have been the result of six weeks' work, and by some critics is thought to show the marks of haste. Its time is the middle of the eighteenth century, its scene chiefly Scotland. Guy Mannering himself is a young Englishman, at the opening of the story traveling through Scotland. Belated one Celebs in Search of a Wife, by Han- night, he is hospitably received at New nah More. This is the best-known work of fiction by that prolific moralist, Hannah More. It was written after she had passed her sixtieth year, and was intended as an antidote to what she considered the deleterious influence of the romantic tales of that day. In 'Cœlebs' she sought to convey precepts of religion, morals, and manners, in the form of a novel. Coelebs, a young gentleman of fortune and estate in the north of England, sets out to find a woman who shall meet the somewhat exacting requirements of his departed mother. This estimable matron held that "the education of the Place, the home of the Laird of Ellangowan. When the laird learns that the young man has studied astrology, he begs him to cast the horoscope of his son, born that very night. The young man, carrying out his promise, is dismayed to find two possible catastrophes overhanging the boy: one at his fifth, the other at his twenty-first year. He tells the father, however, what he has discovered, in order that he may have due warning; and later proceeds on his way. The fortunes of the Laird of Ellangowan, Godfrey Bertram, are now on the ebb, and he has hardly money to keep up the estate. His troubles are increased when his son Harry, at the age of five, is spirited away. No one can learn whether the child is dead or alive, and the shock at once kills Mrs. Bertram. After some years the father himself dies, leaving his penniless daughter Lucy to the care of Dominie Sampson, an old teacher and a devoted friend of the family. When things are at their worst for Lucy Bertram, Guy Mannering, returning to England after many years' military service in India, hears accidentally of the straits to which she is reduced. He at once invites her and Dominie Sampson to make their home with him and his daughter Julia. He has leased a fine estate, and Dominie Sampson rejoices in the great collection of books to which Colonel Mannering gives him free access. In India Julia had formed an attachment for Vanbeest Brown, a young officer, against whom her father feels a strong prejudice. Captain Brown has followed the Mannerings to England; and to make a long story short, is proved in the end to be the long-lost Harry Bertram, and Lucy's brother. The abduction had been accomplished with the connivance of Meg Merrilies, a gipsy of striking aspect and six feet tall; of Frank Kennedy, a smuggler; Dirk Hatteraick, a Dutch sea-captain, also concerned in smuggling; and of Gilbert Glossin, once agent for the Laird of Ellangowan. Glossin had aimed to get possession of the laird's property, and finally succeeded; but after the discovery of his crime, he dies a violent death in prison. All told, there are fewer than twoscore characters in Guy Mannering,' and the plot is not very complicated. Meg Merrilies, and Dominie Sampson the uncouth, honest pedant, are the only great creations. Emma 'mma, by Jane Austen. The story of 'Emma' is perhaps one of the simplest in all fiction, but the genius of Miss Austen manifests itself throughout. All her books show keen insight into human nature; but in Emma' the characters are so true to life, and the descriptions so vivid, that for the time one positively lives in the village of Highbury, the scene of the tale. At the opening of the story, Emma Woodhouse, the heroine, «handsome, clever, and rich," and somewhat spoilt by a weak fussy father, lives alone with him. Her married sister's brotherin-law, Mr. Knightley, is a frequent visitor at their house; as is Mrs. Weston, Emma's former governess. Mr. Knightley is a quiet, sensible English gentleman, the only one who tells Emma her faults. Finding life dull, Emma makes friends with Harriet Smith, an amiable, weakminded young girl, and tries to arrange a match between her and Mr. Elton, the clergyman, but fails. Frank Churchill Mrs. Weston's stepson-arrives in the village, pays marked attention to Emma, and supplies the town with gayety and gossip. Shortly after his departure, a letter brings the news of his rich aunt's death, and his own secret engagement to Jane Fairfax, a beautiful girl in Highbury. Emma suspects Harriet of being in love with Mr. Churchill, but discovers that she cherishes instead a hidden affection for Mr. Knightley. The disclosure fills Emma with alarm, and she realizes for the first time that no one but herself must marry him. Fortunately he has long loved her; and the story ends with her marriage to him, that of Harriet to Mr. Martin, her rejected lover, and of Jane to Frank Churchill. The gradual evolution of her better self in Emma, and her unconscious admiration for Mr. Knightley's quiet strength of character, changing from admiration to love as she herself grows, is exceedingly interesting. Chief among the other characters are Mr. Woodhouse, a nervous invalid with a permanent fear of colds, and a taste for thin gruel; and talkative Miss Bates, who flits from one topic of conversation to another like a distracted butterfly. Less brilliant than Pride and Prejudice,' Emma' is equally rich in humor, in the vivid portraiture of character, and a never-ending delight in human absurdities, which the fascinated reader shares from chapter to chapter. It was published in 1816, when Jane Austen was forty-one. Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life, by "Christopher North» (Professor John Wilson, author of Noctes Ambrosianæ '). First published in 1822 in book form, and dedicated to Sir Walter Scott. The stories deal with the deepest and the simplest passions of the soul, -such themes as the love of man and maid, of brother and sister, of husband and wife; death, loyal-heartedness, and betrayal; of the Lily of Liddesdale (the shepherdess lassie), and how she overcame the temptation to be false to her manly farmer lover and marry a lord; of the reconciliation of two brothers over their father's grave; of the death in childbirth of a beautiful wife; of the reconcilement of a deserted betrothed girl to her lover by the girl's friend, who was herself on the morrow about to become his bride. The tales resemble a little Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales, but a good deal more the recent beautiful Scottish stories of the Bonnie Briar Bush' and 'Margaret Ogilvy' variety, though devoid of the Scotch dialect of these latter. Artless tales they are, full of tenderest emotion and pathos, dealing with lowly but honest family life. A little of the melodramatic order, with just a suspicion of a taste for scarlet and the luxury of tears (as in the story of Little Nell in Dickens), and written in a florid high-flown diction. Yet admirably wholesome reading, especially for young people, who have always passionately loved them and cried over them. They give also fine pictures of Scotch rural scenery,-mountain, heath, river, snow-storm, the deep-mossed cottage with its garden of tulips and roses, the lark overhead, and within, the little pale-faced dying daughter. Such a story as 'Moss-Side' gives as sweet and quiet a picture as Burns's 'Cotter's Saturday Night.' Inheritance, The, by Susan Edmon ston Ferrier. (1824.) The scenes of this interesting novel are laid in Scotland and England, and the story deals with the gentry of both. Some years before the opening of the story, Mrs. St. Clair, an ambitious woman, has taken the child of a servant to bring up as her own. After the death of her husband, Mrs. St. Clair and her supposed daughter Gertrude, a charming girl, go to his brother's castle in Scotland, of whose estates Gertrude is to become the heiress. Her two cousins, Edward Lyndsay and Colonel Delmour, visit their uncle, as well as Mr. Delmour, the Colonel's sedate brother. Lord Rossville wishes his niece Gertrude to marry Mr. Delmour, but she loves his handsome brother and refuses. Upon this the Earl sends Gertrude and her mother from the castle, and the Colonel shows his true character by withdrawing his addresses. A reconciliation is brought about, and a short time after Gertrude's return to the castle the Earl dies and she is made rich. Colonel Delmour then renews his love-making, and becomes her accepted lover in London. After their return to Scotland, a vulgar man, who has previously had secret interviews with Mrs. St. Clair to obtain money, comes boldly forward and claims to be Gertrude's father. From this point the interest of the story lies in the development of character in Gertrude and her lovers, and the way in which they face what seems an irremediable misfortune. The characters are drawn with humor, the descriptions are true to nature, and there are several original situations in the book; as for instance the arrival at the castle of Miss Pratt, a gossiping old spinster, in a hearse drawn by eight horses, in which she has sought shelter from a snow-storm. Destiny, by Susan Edmonston Ferrier. This story, published in 1831, is the last and best of the three novels by the Scotch authoress. The scene of action is the Highlands, and fashionable London society in the first part of the nineteenth century. Written in a clear, bright style, in spite of its length it is inter- · esting throughout. Its tone is serious, but the gravity is brightened by a delightful humor, which reveals both the ludicrous and the sad side of a narrowminded and conventional society. The reader laughs at the arrogant and haughty chief Glenroy, growing more childishly obstinate and bigoted as he grows older, and at his echo and retainer Benbowie; at the self-sufficient and uncouth pastor M'Dow; and at the supercilious Lady Elizabeth, who thinks herself always recherchée. The plot involves constant changes in the lot of the characters, the moral being that no man can escape his destiny. Somewhat old-fashioned, and much too long, the book is still agreeable reading. Doctor, The, a ponderous romance by Robert Southey, appeared anonymously in 1834, though Vols. vi. and vii. were not published until after his death in 1847. It records the observations, philosophizing, and experiences of a quaint physician, 'Dr. Love, of Doncaster,' who, with his faithful horse "Nobbs," travels the country over and ministers to the needs of men. While little read in In form present days, it has generally received the moderate praise of scholars. it is a peculiar medley of essay, colloquy, and criticism, lacking coherence; a vast accumulation of curious erudition, meditative wisdom, and somewhat labored humor. Southey manifested much pride in the book, from whose pure English, freshness of innovation, and brilliant though mechanical diorama of thought, he expected a larger meed of praise than has ever been accorded it, by either critics or the public. Rory O'More, by Samuel Lover. (1836.) In 1797, De Lacy, an officer of the French army, volunteered in the interest of universal liberty to investigate the prevalence of revolutionary tendencies in England and Ireland. Falling sick in the house of a well-to-do Irish peasant, Rory O'More, he found his host the soul of wit, honor, and hospitality. Rory, undertaking the delicate mission of forwarding De Lacy's dispatches, fell in with a band of insurgents, who, though calling themselves United Irishmen, desired the reign of license rather than the freedom of Ireland. One of their number, Shan Regan, was Rory's sworn enemy, having been rejected by his sister; and through this feud the hero met with unpleasant adventures, in which his quickness of resource served him well. At last, however, chivalrously defending an unpopular collector from Shan's ruffians, Rory was secretly shipped to France with the man whom he had befriended. Rumor spread that he had killed the collector, and absconded; and on his return a year later, Rory was confronted with the charge of murder. The opportune reappearance of his supposed victim on the very day of O'More's trial alone saved him from the halter. Meanwhile, a rebellion in Ireland had been crushed; and the unhappy people, disappointed in expected aid from France, lost hope of independence. Rory with his impoverished household, and the disheartened enthusiast De Lacy, hopefully turned their faces towards America. In spite of its stilted style and improbable incidents, this story is valuable in its delineation of Irish character, and in its picture of the Irish uprisings at the close of the last century. Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens, was published in 1838. This story shows in vivid colors the miseries of the pau per's home where the inmates are robbed and starved, while the dead are hurried into unhonored graves; the haunts of villains and thieves, where the wretched poor are purposely made criminals by those who have sinned past hope; and one wrong-doing is used to force the victim deeper in vice. With such lives are interwoven those of a better sort, showing how men and women in all grades have power on others for good or ill. Oliver Twist-so called because the workhouse master had just then reached the letter "T» in naming the waifs was born in the poorhouse, where his forever. mother's wanderings ceased When the hungry lad asked for more of the too thin gruel he was whipped. Bound out to work, he runs away from this slavery and goes to London. The Artful Dodger takes the starving lad to the den of Fagin the Jew, the pickpocket's school. But he will not steal. He finds a home. He is kidnapped, and forced to be again with the bad ones, and to act as helper to Sykes the robber in house-breaking. Nancy's womanly heart, bad though her life may be, works to set him free. Once more good people shelter him, rescuing him without assistance of the Bow Street officers, who make brave talk. The kind old scholar, Mr. Brownlow, is the good genius who opens before him a way to liberty and a life suited to his nature. The excitable country doctor deceives the police, and saves Oliver for an honest career. The eccentric Mr. Grimwig should not be overlooked. The mystery of his mother's fate is solved, and he finds a sister. Although the innocent and less guilty suffer, the conscious wrongdoers are, after much scheming and actual sin, made to give back the stolen, repair-if such can be-the evil done, and pay the penalty of transgression. They bring ruin on their own heads. There are about twenty prominent characters, each the type of its kind, in this life-drama; separate scenes of which we may, as it were, read in our daily papers, so real are they. The author says that as romance had made vice to shine with pleasures, so his purpose was to show crime in its repulsive truth. Mary Barton, by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1848) is a forcible tale of Manchester, at the time when the manufacturing districts suffered the terrible distress that reached its height in 1842. It deals with the saddest and most terribie side of factory life. John Barton, the father of Mary, is a weaver, an honest man, possessing more than the usual amount of intelligence of his class. When the story opens, he has plenty of work and high wages, which he spends to the last penny with no thought of the possible "rainy day." Suddenly his master fails, and he feels the effect of his improvidence. His wife and little son die from the want of ordinary necessaries, and Mary alone is left to him. Mary's beauty has attracted the attention of young Mr. Carson, the son of a wealthy mill-owner. Meanwhile she is deeply loved by Jem Nilson, a man of her own class. In the distress of this time it is decided to send a petition to Parliament. John Barton is chosen one of the delegates to present it. The failure of the petition embitters him so that he becomes a Chartist. He further increases his morbid feelings by the use of opium to deaden the pangs of hunger. Young Mr. Carson has indulged in satires against the delegates, which unfortunately reach their ears and rouse their anger. They resolve on his assassination and determine the instrument by lot, which falls to John Barton. Suspicious circumstances lead to the apprehension of Jem Nilson. Mary suspects the truth, and determines to rescue her lover without exposing her father. At the trial Jem learns for the first time of Mary's love for him. John Barton disappears without rousing suspicion, and Jem is cleared through his ability to prove an alibi. The story ends with Barton's return to his home, and his death after a confession of his guilt. The chief interest of 'Mary Barton' lies in the touching simplicity of the descriptions of daily life among the artisan class. Their graphic power brings the reader into a vital sympathy with the life and scenes described. Some of the sad pictures of those toiling, suffering people are presented with intense pathos. Lavengro: THE SCHOLAR, GIPSY, PRIEST. Romany Rye (Sequel to Lavengro). By George Borrow. These books comprise a tale of loosely connected adventures introducing romantic, grotesque, and exciting episodes, and interwoven with reflections on the moral and religious condition of the world, with a large intermixture of mystic and philosophic lore. They suggest Le Sage's story; and like the Gil Blas,' the characters are drawn largely from Spanish sources. Gipsy life and legends form a kind of background to the writer's reflections on the men and morals of his time. The author, born in East Dereham, Norfolk, England, 1803, had been employed in 1840-50 as an agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society in distributing Bibles in the mountainous districts of Spain, and had met with hardships and rough usage which helped to embitter his feelings toward the Roman Catholic religion, at the same time that they afforded him glimpses of the simple life of the lower classes, and especially an acquaintance with the Gipsy tribe-life, which had a peculiar charm for him. "Lavengro» is depicted as a dreamy youth following the fortunes of his father, who is in military service. His visits are divided between the Gipsy camp, the "Romany chal," and the "parlor of the AngloGerman philosopher." The title "Romany Rye» [Gipsy Gentleman] is introduced in the verse of a song, «The Gipsy Gentleman,» sung in Chapter liv. of Lavengro:— "Here the Gipsy gemman see, With his Kernan jib and his rome and dree; Rome and dree, rum and dry, Rally round the Romany Rye." The song is sung by "Mr. Petulengro,» the author's favorite Gipsy character. The hero's trials of mind and faith are depicted, when, at the age of nineteen, he is cast upon the world in London to make his living as a hack author. Meeting with success with one of his books, he leaves London to roam abroad, and becomes in turn tinker, gipsy, postilion, and hostler; but ever preserves the selfrespect of the poor gentleman and the scholar in disguise. His object in writing is to show the goodness of God, and to reveal the plots of popery; he shows much contempt for the pope, whom he calls "Mumbo-Jumbo," and for all his ceremonies. He would encourage charity, free and genial manners, the exposure of the humbugs of "gentility," and the appreciation of genuine worth of character in whatever social station. The titles "Scholar, Gipsy, Priest,» are not successive characters assumed by the author, but stand for these various types of humanity. A marked feature of these |