Four Years of Novel Reading | Page 9

of heredity are shown to work in the characters of Mrs. Gibson and Molly, Mrs. Gibson and Cynthia, the Squire and Mrs. Hamley, and their two sons; the modification or accentuation of certain traits in the children.
2. The charm of truthfulness and absence of exaggeration in the book.
Debate. Was cowardice the moral failing which worked most mischief in the course of the story?
Essay. The law of heredity as shown in various characters in the book.

ELEVENTH NOVEL
Romola, by George Eliot.
Points to be noted (suggested by W. E. Norris, Esq.}.
It is to the study of Tito Melema in chief that Romola excellent as the work is throughout owes its immortality. Note especially how his selfishness and cowardice have to be indicated so early in the book, that the reader's sympathies are necessarily alienated from him, and it is therefore all the greater triumph on the writer's part to have conveyed the impression that in real life his charm would have been almost irresistible. To have discovered something about the methods by which this character has been made to stand upon his feet is, no doubt, to have discovered something about the technical side of light literature.
Essays.
1. The character of Savonarola, and the secret of his influence.
2. Tito and Romola: a contrast.
3. Tito: as a political study, and a work of art.

TWELFTH NOVEL
Persuasion, by Jane Austen.
Points to be noted (suggested by J. H. Shorthouse, Esq.).
1. The extraordinary vitality of Miss Austen's characters, tho more surprising as they are all, or nearly all, commonplace and ordinary people.
2. The character of Anne Elliot (considered by some to be the most perfect piece of work in English fiction).
Debate. Was Anne Elliot self-conscious? and, if so, is self-consciousness a fault? and why?

THIRTEENTH NOVEL
Alton Locke, by Charles Kingsley.
Points to be noted (suggested by Arthur Berry, Esq., M.A.}.
1. This is essentially a novel with a purpose; namely, to raise public opinion against the evils of sweating, to denounce cheapness and competition, and to advocate the union of the gentry and clergy with the working-classes against the commercial classes.
2. Note the evil influence of Lillian on Alton.
3. The character of Sandy Mackaye.
Essay. Whether it is good art to teach political or other doctrines in a novel.
Debate. Is the conversion of Alton natural?
Essay. Literary symbolism (Sandy Mackaye Thomas Carlyle).

FOURTEENTH NOVEL
Kenilworth, by Sir Walter Scott.
Points to be noted (suggested by Mr. Thomas Dawson).
1. Note how the general interest of the book is wonderfully divided between the narrative and the graphic pictures of English life in the Elizabethan period. Compare and contrast these pictures with those drawn in Westward Ho!
2. Note the character of Queen Elizabeth, especially when she frequently betrays the weakness of her sex.
3. It is not until the honor of Amy Robsart is imperilled that the real strength and nobility of her character is discovered.
4. Observe the mesmeric power possessed by Varney, espe cially in the scene when Amy drinks the liquid offered by him.
Debate. Which is the greater villain Varney or Foster?
Essay. The literary use of mesmeric fascination.

FIFTEENTH NOVEL
The Wandering Jew, by Eugene Sue.
Points to be noted (suggested by Prof. R. G. Moulton).
1. Note how the legendary immortality of an individual is brought into contact with immortality as seen (1) in a family, (2) in property compound interest, (3) in a corporation the Jesuits.
2. Contrast the first part of the book intrigue by violent opposition with the second part, the intrigue that acts through the passions of its opponents. Essays.
1.The difficulties and improbabilities of the story.
2. The legend of the Wandering Jew in literature.

SIXTEENTH NOVEL
The Cloister and the Hearth, by Charles Reade.
Points to be noted (suggested by G. L. Dickinson, Esq., M.A.}.
1. The value of the historical novel as supplementing history, giving with vividness the manners and customs and daily life of the period.
2. The particular characteristics of the period with which the novel deals, the transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance.
3. The main interest of the story proper is the way in which the love of Gerard and Margaret is transformed without being lessened when they are unable to live as husband and wife.
4. The broad humanity of the author, as, for example, in his sympathetic treatment of the soldier Denys, and of the beggar with whom Gerard travels. Essay. The ideal of asceticism.

SEVENTEENTH NOVEL
Esmond, by Wm. M. Thackeray.
Points to be noted (suggested by Miss Peard).
1. Note the absence of any great central situation in Es mond. There is scarcely one striking incident which takes hold of the reader, whereas the characters remain strong and distinct in the memory.
2. Note the excellence of the style. The story is told with extreme vigor and directness, and there is nothing which can be called ornamental description. Yet no historical novel carries one so completely into the spirit of the age.
Debate. Is Thackeray a cynic, or a great moral