"The imperfect thing or thought, The dubious doubt, the twilight truth, The work that for the passing day was wrought, The schemes that came to naught, “The sketch half-way 'twixt verse and prose, That mocks the finished picture true, The splinters whence the statue grew, The scaffolding 'neath which the palace rose, "And crudities of joy or gloom : In kind oblivion let them be! Nor has the dead worse foe than he Who rakes these sweepings of the artist's room, Whether a particular biography will meet the conditions prescribed must be left, in most cases, to the judgment of the reader himself. To attempt to make a selection from the very rich and copious library of works of this class with which English literature abounds, would be difficult, if not impracticable, within our limits. We must ask the reader to accept in its place the classification which we have made, and the illustrative examples which we have cited under its several heads. CHAPTER XV. NOVELS AND NOVEL-READING. FROM History and Biography to Fiction and Poetry the transition is natural and easy. It is none other than from true to what Lord Bacon calls "feigned history -the one being the narration of events which have actually occurred, the other the narration of events which are only supposed to have taken place. The form of the two is the same; the matter is different. The story which the novelist and poet narrate would be history if what is narrated had actually taken place. But the end in both cases always is or always should be the same-i. e., the communication of truth; not always what we call real truth in the sense of actual or literal occurrences, but always real truth in the sense of those relations and impressions which are real in that import which is most comprehensive and profound. Whenever the imagination, by its creations of incidents and drapery, can assert or impress truth of this kind more effectually than the memory by its transcripts from reality, then is it at liberty to do so, provided it does not disturb the relations of truth to veracity. There are other ends for which the truth is conveyed than the ends of instruction and science. It may often be largely for ends of amusement; but it is truth nevertheless. The mirror of the imagination must always reflect nature, though with enlarged and altered proportions. The criterion of every good work of imagination is well expressed by the description of the Arcadia of Sir Philip Sidney as a work of which “the invention is wholly spun out of the phansie, but conformable to the possibilitie of truth in all particulars." We have already defended works of imagination from ignorant and prejudiced objections. We have also sought to show that the highest advantage which can come of literature and reading of all kinds is the service which they render to the imagination, as they enrich it with multiform and varied images of beauty, elevate it by noble associations, and inspire it with pure emotions. We shall neither repeat nor expand our argument in vindication of Fiction and Poetry. If anything needs to be added, it will naturally present itself in our suggestions concerning the wise and profitable use of both. Prose Fiction is of comparatively recent growth in English literature. It is within the present century that it has attained its gigantic proportions. Our grandmothers read Rasselas, The Vicar of Wakefield, Sir Charles Grandison, The Castle of Otranto, and a few other tales. Some of our grandfathers allowed themselves now and then the entertainment of Tom Jones, Humphrey Clinker, and Tristram Shandy. There are thousands of their grandchildren who would be puzzled to tell what novels they have read, or to recite the names of their authorsboth are so numerous. Two novels a week is the smallest number that is produced as an average from the British Press, if we say nothing of the novels translated from the French and German; and the names of all the leading popular novelists it would be difficult for even the most desperate and practised novel-reader to recount. The year 1814, in which Waverley was published, ushered in the new period of English, and, we may say, of modern fiction, and since that time the number and variety of novels has been steadily increasing. The writing of Fiction has been widened and enriched as an art, and the reading of Fiction has been more distinctly recognized and worthily appreciated as a means of culture and a source of enjoyment. Juvenile Fiction has of late been increased to well nigh enormous dimensions. The writing of novels has become one of the regular professions; the reading of novels is the chief occupation of a certain class of persons who are exempt from the ordinary claims of business or study, and even the criticism of novels has become a specialty-almost as much as the criticism of art or music. The world of Fiction in many minds overbears and outweighs the world of reality. To not a few, the creations of the imagination are more interesting and absorbing than those of real life. With many persons the successful conduct of a plot excites more interest and elicits a more active criticism than the direction of a campaign, and the development of a fictitious character is watched with as keen an interest as the life and fortunes of a great general or an eminent statesman. The issue of a tangled story is followed more anxiously than the result of an exciting criminal trial, or a closely contested political canvass. Prof. David Masson, in his very able and readable work on British Novelists, divides British novels, since Scott's appearance in the field, into thirteen classes, as follows: 1. The Novel of Scottish Life and Manners; 2. The Novel of Irish Life and Manners; 3. The Novel of English Life and Manners; 4. The Fashionable Novel; 5. The Illustrious Criminal Novel; 6. The Traveler's Novel; 7. The Novel of American Manners and Society; 8. The Novel of Eastern Manners and Society; 9 and 10. The Military and Naval Novel; 11. The Novel of Supernatural Phantasy; 12. The Art and Culture Novel; 13. The Historical Novel. This classification cannot be accepted as exhaustive, but it may serve to impress the reader with the variety of topics that are treated in modern novels, as well as be convenient for reference and illustration. A broader and simpler classification is that which divides all novels into two groups, according as they are more or less conspicuously Novels of Incident or Novels of Character, i. e., according as they are more or less occupied with pictures to the objective phantasy, or as they present strongly marked and strikingly individualized characters. There are no novels of incident in which various personages do not figure largely, but there is only now and then one in which these personages have the relief and reality of living men and women. with a distinct personal existence and a strongly marked individuality. On the other hand, there are no novels of character in which there is not more or less of a story or plot. But the interest in all novels which deserve to be so-called, turns invariably upon the illustration or the development of character. Novels of incident are especially fitted for the young, because their tastes are eminently objective. They like an exciting and picturesque story, no matter how grotesque and improbable it may be. Persons are as real and objective to them as incidents and events. It is what these do and suffer for which their readers care, not what they are, or how their characters are impeded or made known. With the analysis of their motives, their inner conflicts of feeling, and the developments or changes. of their character, their readers have little concern. The excitement of the story is the chief attraction, and if the story is exciting, they neither care nor inquire whether the events are probable or possible, or whether the characters are natural or true. Nor are they fastidious in respect to either imagery or style. Indeed, provided the imagery is bold, they do not care if it be coarse and highly-colored; and provided the language be strong and passionate, they do not mind if it be declamatory and raving. The taste of young people in respect to novels is very like their taste for food. They do not totally reject the more delicate fruits and dishes, but they swallow them without discrimination, and without appreciating their exquisite flavor. But the stronger and coarser edibles they devour not only |