LITERATURE, BRITISH, IN 1891. 



427 



_ught "Glimpses of Nature," while nowhere is 

 ore tenderly and lovingly portrayed than 

 in " Anna!- of a Pishing Village 1 and " On Sur- 

 iills," l.y .1. A. OXM-II, who calls himself on 

 the title-page of tin- la-t volume " A Son of tho 

 .1. K. Kirs was at his l>e-t - With 

 laud Hook in the Study and the Kit-Ids." 

 An Introduction to the Study of the History 

 linage," by II. A. Strong, W. S. Logeimm, 

 B, I. Wheeler, was a literary curio-it y. 

 Primitive Folk Studies in Comparative Eth- 

 , " wore made by Elio Red us in tho "Con- 

 temporary Science Series," and a second series 

 Yorkshire Legends and Traditions" was is- 

 I iv I iev. Thomas Parkinson. " The Women 

 of Turkey and their Folk Lore" were carefully 

 studied by Lucy Garnett. "Studies in the Ar- 

 thurian Legend," by John Rhys, held a high 

 ,.laee, as did also "Olympos: Tales of the Gods 

 f (i recce and Rome," by Talfourd Ely. Two 

 iluiues contained " The Story of the Iliad " and 

 The Story of the Odyssey," by Rev. Alfred 

 I. Church, with illustrations from Flaxman. 

 .'harles Godfrey Leland, with Albert Barrere, 

 smpiled " A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon, and 

 'ant,'' in two volumes, embracing every variety 

 cnown, and, as Hans Breitman, Leland also 

 ive his attention to " Gypsy Sorcery and For- 

 ic-Telling." Vols. I ana II were published 

 the "Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society," 

 ad Dr. Raven, the well-known antiquarian, de- 

 voted himself to " The Church Bells of Suffolk." 

 . fourth series of the " Bookworm," an illustrated 

 iry of old-time literature, appeared. J. C. 

 Collins, in " The Study of English Literature," 

 made a plea for its recognition and organization 

 it tho universities; and John Earle treated of 

 English Prose." " Names and their Mean- 

 ngs was a book for the curious by Leopold 

 Wagner ; a second edition was made of " Pes- 

 simism," by James Sully, published fourteen 

 rears ago ; and Alfred W . Pollard spoke " Last 

 Words on the History of the Title-page," with 

 lotes on some colophons and twenty-seven fac- 

 similes of title-pages. University life was de- 

 scribed in "Tn f!Riiihri<1<rp. f!rnrt.s ." hv R. C. Loll- 



n " In Cambridge Courts, by R. C. Leh- 

 ian n. and Andrew Clark edited " The Colleges 

 Oxford : their Histories and Traditions." Ar- 

 thur Acland, M. P., compiled " The Guide to the 

 hoice of Books," E. B. Sargent and Bernard 

 " together prepared "The Guide Book 



Books," and Henry Morley sent out Vols. VI 

 Hid VII of " English Writers," covering the pe- 

 riods " From Chaucer to Caxton " and " From 

 }axton to Coverdale." 



Fiction. Several good novels were written, 

 though not one made a marked sensation,not even 

 One of our Conquerors," by George Meredith, 

 the first from his pen in a long time, but inferior 

 to nothing that he had previously produced. 

 Ralph Iron, now confessedly Miss Olive Schreiner, 

 contributed "Dreams"; William Black wrote 

 "Donald Ross of Heimra," dealing once more 

 with the Scotch Highlands; Rudyard Kipling's 

 reputation pained nothing by " Life's Handicap," 

 a volume of very poor stories, "Mine Own Peo- 

 ple." and "Under the Deodars"; and his sister 

 Miss Beatrice Kipling, made a first attempt in 

 literature, not altogether successful, with "The 

 Heart of n Maid.* "Blanche, Lady Falaise," 

 by J. II. Short house, is, of course, mystical and 



s ; and "My Danish Sweetheart," by \V. 

 Clark Kusscll, has the breath of tin- si a, as usual. 

 "Tlie Little- Minister" and "Better Dead" 

 were by J. M. Barrio, author of " A Window 

 in Thrums".; "An Old Maid's Love," by Maar- 

 ten Maartens; "The Scapegoat," by Hall Caine; 

 "The Him- Pavilions," by Arthur Thomas 

 Quiller-Couch, who masqueraded for a time un- 

 der the pseudonym " Q, producing "Noughts 

 and Crosses," a volume of short stories, which 

 established his claim to originality and power. 

 " Lord Arthur Seville's Crime and other Stories," 

 by Oscar Wilde, possessed unusual merit. Three 

 historical novels were " Darkness and Dawn, or 

 Scenes in tho Days of Nero," by Archdeacon 

 Farrar; "The Story of Francis Cludde," by 

 Stanley J. Weyman (whose latest was " The New 

 Rector ") ; and " The White Company," by A. 

 Conan Doyle. Maxwell Grey (Miss M. G. Tut- 

 tiett, of the Isle of Wight) followed " Dean Mail- 

 land " with " In the Heart of the Storm," while 

 the two novels of Walter Besant were " Children 

 of Gibeon," a strong book dealing with the labor- 

 ing classes, and " St. Katherine's by the Tower." 

 Thomas Hardy's " A Group of Noble Dames " 

 proved well worth reading, though out of his 

 customary vein. "Eric Brighteyes," by II. 

 Rider-Haggard, and Grant Allen's four books 

 " The Great Taboo," " Dumaresq's Daughter," 

 " What's bred in the Bone," and " Recalled to 

 Life" with their suggestive titles, were wel- 

 comed by the admirers of the respective authors. 

 Beatrice Whitby, who made her name by " The 

 Awakening of Mary Fenwick," published "A 

 Matter of Skill," " One Reason why," and " On 

 the Lake of Lucerne," the last volume contain- 

 ing five other stories. F. Anstey Guthrie wrote 

 " Tourmalin's Time Cheques " ; B. L. Farjeon, 

 " Ties Human and Divine " and " The Shield 

 of Love " ; George Mannville Fenn, " A Double 

 Knot "and "A Golden Dream"; George Mac- 

 donald, "There and Back"; Mrs. Campbell- 

 Praed, the " Romance of a Chalet " and " The 

 Soul of the Countess Adrian " ; F. W. Robinson, 

 " Her Love and his Life " ; Miss M. E. Braddon 

 (Mrs. J. Maxwell), " Tho World, the Flesh, and 

 the Devil"; Mrs. Margaret O. W. Oliphant, 

 "The Railway Man and his Children," "The 

 Heir Presumptive and the Heir Apparent," and 

 Janet"; Adeline Sergeant, "Brooke's Daugh- 

 ter," and, in collaboration with Lester Ewing, 

 " Name and Fame " ; William Morris, the " Story 

 of the Glittering Plain"; Du Maurier, the 

 famous caricaturist, came out in a new rSle 

 with "Peter Ibbetson"; and David Christie 

 Murray and Henry Herman were together re- 

 sponsible for " He fell among Thieves." " The 

 Wages of Sin " were graphically portrayed by Lu- 

 cas Malet (Mrs. Kingsley Harrison). " Save me 

 from my Friends," by E. F. Knight, conveyed 

 more than one moral; Rosa Nouchette Carey 

 contributed three of her cheery little romances, 

 "Our Bessie," "Averil," and Mary St. John," 

 while novels pronounced excellent, but which 

 can l>o only enumerated, without comment, are 

 " A Just Impediment " and " Miss Maxwell's 

 Affections," by Richard Price; "Mr. Chaine's 

 Sons" and "Miss Wentworth's Idea," by W. E. 

 Norris ; " My First Love and my Last Love," by 

 Mrs. J. H. Riddell; "Well Won." l.y Mrs. Alex- 

 ander; "Within Sound of the Weir," I'y T. St. 



