later work not infrequently indicates that he was out of sympathy with current social changes. His admirers, however, always welcomed the appearance of a new story by Howells, even though there was no wide-spread interest in many of the books that he wrote during his last twenty years.

5. Henry James (1843-1916), who alone challenged the literary supremacy of Howells, achieved his reputation with a type of story in which he narrated the experiences of Americans in European surroundings and under the influence of a culture that was alien and strange. He was born in New York City, the grandson of a millionaire merchant of Albany, the son of the Reverend Henry James, and the brother of William James, the eminent psychologist. Surrounded by all that wealth and culture could secure, he received his education in France and in Switzerland, then studied law at Harvard. His early associations developed in him a preference for the European manner of living and habits of thought. His literary career began in 1865 with a story contributed to The Atlantic Monthly. After 1869 he lived in England, and about one year before his death he became an English citizen.

His first collection of short stories, A Passionate Pilgrim (1875), was rather romantic in character and quite unlike his later typical style. Daisy Miller (1878), one of his masterpieces, is based upon the European experiences of an American girl accompanied by a complacent mother and a self-assertive imp of a little brother. However, it is not rated more highly by some critics than The Portrait of a Lady (1881), an excellent presentation of a clever woman

who had several chances to marry but who selected the wrong man when she finally made up her mind.

6. A Literary Analyst.—In his later works James showed a fondness for analytical complexities and irritating mannerisms that made him difficult to read. Although his long residence abroad made of him a clever cosmopolitan and a discerning critic, it likewise distorted his knowledge of American life. His casual visits to his native land did not suffice to correct his impressions. He had studied George Eliot and Balzac carefully, he had acquired much of their technic, but in spite of his intellectual attainments and his skill in character analysis, he wrote as one who had observed life, not as one who had lived.

Frequently he permitted his interest in the portrayal of a character to obscure the fact that his readers would be waiting for something to happen in the story. As a result those who prefer a narration of incident to a state of affairs will find James's novels rather dull. He wrote some brilliant essays and several excellent short stories, including "The Madonna of the Future," "The Other House," and "The Turn of the Screw." These have thrills for the reader, but in most of his work the cold light of intellect is more in evidence than the warm glow of emotion. Such impassive art may invite the adoration of the few and the insincere adulation of certain others; it does not find an abiding-place in the hearts of the multitude.

7. The Historical Novel.-Many writers in England and in America followed in the wake of Sir Walter Scott and produced historical romances, but few were quite so consistent in keeping to that one field of fiction. Cooper and

Hawthorne both varied their practice, and younger writers of a later generation for the most part did likewise. Those who essayed the historical novel usually attempted stories of contemporary life as well. In these days of exact scholarship much time is required and many works must be consulted before the novelist can feel assured that he has a firm grasp on the setting for his historical tale. The reading public has become more discriminating in this respect, and promptly trips up the unwary author who is guilty of anachronisms. Unfortunately, as the critics have pointed out, as the standard of historical precision goes up, the imaginative quality usually goes down. When the novelist sacrifices the romantic glamour of the past in the interest of historical accuracy, he pays too heavy a price for something that is, after all, not essential. Thus the writer of historical fiction faces the dilemma and frequently decides the issue by writing some other sort of novel.

8. Francis Marion Crawford (1854-1909), the son of an American sculptor, was born in Italy, spent most of his life in that country, and chose it as the setting for his best stories. These are Saracinesca (1887), Sant' Ilario (1889), and Don Orsino (1892), all of which deal with the story of a noble Italian family. They should be read in the order indicated. Among his forty-five novels are two historical romances, Via Crucis (1899), a well-told story of the Second Crusade, and In the Palace of the King (1900), a thrilling tale of the days of Philip the Second of Spain. In such stories as these his narrative skill atones in large measure for his carelessness in composition and in construction.