mentality that is as wholesome as bread and butter. It is full too, not merely of English feeling, but of the feeling of one part of England, West Somerset, the spirit of which it has put permanently into literature. The author looks on life with somewhat the view of Charles Kingsley, the cultured Englishman who knows his Homer and his own countryside, who is big enough to feel that Achilles and John Ridd, Mt. Olympus and Dunkery Beacon, all belong to one big, wonderful world. His book is full of thought and observation, and, still more, of warm sympathy and honest romance, and the freshness of moorland air. He feels that life is good.

Hardy

In sharp contrast with Blackmore is another author who writes of English country life. Thomas Hardy (1840- ) depicts, as tenderly as Blackmore, the outward beauty of country life, but his novels recall the lines "where every prospect pleases and only man is vile." To him the beauty of the natural world is not a symbol of inward spirituality. He feels none of the certainty of George Eliot that moral law rules the universe. He is not sure that good prevails. Mankind may be only the plaything of blind, unreasoning forces. Man is "a leaf in the wind." Man's acts are predetermined by circumstance. only thinks he chooses. What Hardy excels in is the beauty with which he makes us see the sadness of such a world. Fortunately we need not believe that it is real. We need only feel with Hardy how sad it would be were such a world the real world, and we may turn to some more hopeful novelist for consolation and hope.

He

A writer of odd style and great imaginative power is George Meredith (1828-1909). In spirit he is of a later

Andromeda, the best English hexameters ever written by anybody.)

Charles Reade (1814-1884) and Wilkie Collins (18241889) wrote novels very popular in their day. One novel of each still holds its place. Reade's Cloister Reade and the Hearth is a long, loose, wandering

historical novel dealing with the Middle Ages. It lives

because its writer had real imagination and got this into his work. His other novels are of light weight. Collins was a master of the mystery story. His style has one merit, clearness. His skill in

Near Porlock, under Dunkery Beacon. constructing a plot,

Observe the substantial stone farmhouse with thatched roof.

however, is in advance

of that of any other

writer of his day. His Moonstone is the first great English detective novel. No one who studies this type of novel can overlook his work.

Blackmore

Richard D. Blackmore (1825-1900) wrote many excellent books. His Lorna Doone, however, is so much better than the others that it has eclipsed them. It brings out with a romantic charm just the things upon which rural England most prides itself, its union of rich farm scenes and wild moorland filled with mystery and even terror; its sturdy yeoman, plain and blunt and just a little stupid, and proud of it, generous and gentle, but a terrible fellow when roused. It is a thoroughly English tale, sentimental, but with a senti

mentality that is as wholesome as bread and butter. It is full too, not merely of English feeling, but of the feeling of one part of England, West Somerset, the spirit of which it has put permanently into literature. The author looks on life with somewhat the view of Charles Kingsley, the cultured Englishman who knows his Homer and his own countryside, who is big enough to feel that Achilles and John Ridd, Mt. Olympus and Dunkery Beacon, all belong to one big, wonderful world. His book is full of thought and observation, and, still more, of warm sympathy and honest romance, and the freshness of moorland air. He feels that life is good.

In sharp contrast with Blackmore is another author who writes of English country life. Thomas Hardy (1840- ) depicts, as tenderly as Blackmore, the out- Hardy ward beauty of country life, but his novels

recall the lines "where every prospect pleases and only man is vile." To him the beauty of the natural world is not a symbol of inward spirituality. He feels none of the certainty of George Eliot that moral law rules the universe. He is not sure that good prevails. Mankind may be only the plaything of blind, unreasoning forces. Man is "a leaf in the wind." Man's acts are predetermined by circumstance. He only thinks he chooses. What Hardy excels in is the beauty with which he makes us see the sadness of such a world. Fortunately we need not believe that it is real. We need only feel with Hardy how sad it would be were such a world the real world, and we may turn to some more hopeful novelist for consolation and hope.

A writer of odd style and great imaginative power is George Meredith (1828-1909). In spirit he is of a later

Meredith

type than any of the preceding, except Hardy. He is a man who has gone his own way, influenced little, and influencing others. Like Browning, he has been more concerned to make his words do justice to his ideas than to books make hard reading. The Egoist are the most people, but shows them in a bewildering world of his own, the world of a poet rather than that of a novelist. Like James and Conrad (pages 518 and 517) he devotes much of his effort to making clear fine points of motive and character. His poetry has much the same qualities as his novels.

appeal to his readers. His Diana of the Crossways and readable. He gives us real

QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW

I. What is meant by saying that modern fiction attempts to "interpret life." Illustrate by reference to modern novels. What is meant by "atmosphere" in fiction? Illustrate. Explain the statement that fiction is now more painstakingly plotted and constructed.

What has been said (see Chapter V) regarding the use of poetic prose in fiction?

II. Show by reference to his works that Dickens excels in creating distinctly drawn characters, in humor, in pathos, in creating striking situations. Refer to definite instances of each. Compare the characters that he creates with those created by Shakspere. What is meant by saying that those of Shakspere have many-sidedness?

What justification can you find for the assertion that Dickens lacks refinement of taste, that he exaggerates, that he is melodramatic?

What facts in Dickens life account in part for its merits and limitations?

III. How do Thackeray's characters compare with those of Dickens?

What was Dickens's general feeling about life? What was

Thackeray's? Which is more likely to appeal to the ordidary public?

Why?

In what respects in Thackeray's style superior to that of Dickens?

Tell what novel of Thackeray you have read. What in it do you like or dislike?

Why?

Give reasons for believing that Thackeray was kindly, sympathetic, and a man of high ideals.

IV. Show that George Eliot had a philosophy about life.

What is her general teaching regarding life and its meaning? Show that it is typical of the age.

By reference to one of her novels that you have studied, illustrate the qualities characteristic of her work.

For what kind of reader would you especially recommend a novel by Dickens, by Thackeray, by George Eliot? Explain your reasons.

V. What should a reader expect to get from novels of Trollope, from those of Mrs. Gaskell?

What is the nature of Charlotte Brontë's novels?

What is said of Lytton, Kingsley, Reade? To what kind of people would you recommend the works of each?

In what are Blackmore and Hardy alike? In what are they different?

CHAPTER XI

RUSKIN, NEWMAN, AND OTHERS

IN the middle of the nineteenth century we find a new group of writers. They introduce a new manner which, for a time, became the fashion. Underlying this new manner there were new principles which will live. The man who saw these principles plainly and tried to make the world see them was Ruskin.

John Ruskin (1819-1900) was the leader in a new movement. Such leaders get little credit. The man who