﻿14 Indiana University studies 



takes the place of a conclusion to When Ghost Meets Ghost. We 

 are left only to conjecture how De Morgan, if he had lived, would 

 have brought out the explanations furnished by his wife in the 

 last chapter of The Old Madhouse. 



The Early Victorians are noted for their large number of 

 characters. Dickens, Thackeray, and George Eliot have whole 

 families of them in each novel. In Pickwick Papers the numbers 

 extend into the hundreds. Today the custom is to concentrate 

 on a few and to treat them in a highly intensive way. And yet, 

 in spite of the admirable results of this, on the whole, the method 

 of the Victorians tends to greater verisimilitude, for where a 

 great many characters appear, the atmosphere of reality is in- 

 creased. Perspective, which plays a great part in the veracity of 

 representations of the real, is provided in a large degree where a 

 number of characters are associated together. A greater ap- 

 pearance of reality occurs in an interplay of groups upon each 

 other than in the episodes of isolated individuals or units of three 

 or four. Even if a large number of characters tends to dissipate 

 the attention and interest from the prominent ones and lessen 

 their impression in certain ways, this is compensated for by the 

 gain in verisimilitude due to the background created by the 

 various relations of the individuals. This principle, which the 

 Early Victorians often exaggerated, has been maintained by 

 De Morgan very successfully. In each of his books, except that 

 anomalous An Affair of Dishonor, the prominent characters 

 abound in unusual numbers, and they appear sharply individual- 

 ized, not only in the novel where they occur but also in com- 

 parison with the whole body of characters that the author has 

 created.* The Dragon, Goody Vereker, 53 Mrs. Challis, Charlotte 

 Eldridge, 54 Lavinia Straker's mother, 55 Mrs. Percival Pellew, 56 

 Mrs. HinchlifTe, 57 and Lady Towerstairs 58 are all disagreeable 

 and, except the last, middle-aged, and yet they are distinct per- 

 sonalities. Professor Sales Wilson, 59 Dr. Thorpe, 58 and Professor 

 Eraser 57 are scholars of reputation; Joseph Vance, General 

 Desprez, 58 Charley Heath, 60 Athelstan Taylor, 61 Fenwick, Prosy, 

 the Major, 59 and Charley Snaith 57 are fine gentlemen; Christopher 

 Vance, his first wife, Mrs. Packles, 58 Blind Jim, Lizarann's uncle and 



^Somehow Good. 



s *It Never Can Happen Again. 



^Alice-f or -Short. 



5 « When Ghost Meets Ghost. 



^The Old Madhouse. 



™ Joseph Vance. 



^Somehow Good. 



t0 Alice-for-Short. 



nit Never Can Happen Again. 



