AN APPRECIATION 315 



kind for a wife. He shared both these fail- 

 ings with Thackeray ; and as Thackeray 

 unwillingly interested the reader in Becky 

 and Beatrix when he meant us to like 

 Amelia and Lady Castlewood, so it must 

 be confessed does Surtees in Lucy Glitters, 

 whom he himself describes as " tolerably 

 virtuous." But he at least drew no paragons. 

 ''Did you see Notre DaineV' asks Nimrod 

 of Jorrocks when they foregather at Calais 

 after the trip to Paris. *' No," is the 

 hero's reply; "but I've seen some werry 

 naughty dames all the same." But if we do 

 meet some "naughty dames" in Surtees' 

 pages, they will do us no harm. Even poor 

 Lucy's shortcomings are touched upon with a 

 very light hand. No boy or girl will be the 

 worse for reading these books, and few of them 

 will fail to appreciate. That is the charm of 



