atmosphere of a period--such, for example, as Hawthorne's "Scarlet
Letter" and Mr. Hewlett's "Forest Lovers"--do not come within the
scope of my definition; but this is just why I have added a
"Supplementary List" of semi-historical tales. And, while I am
alluding to this "Supplementary List," I should like to give my
reason for omitting from it one remarkable book which has every
claim to be considered representative of the mid-nineteenth
century. Readers of "John Inglesant" may be reminded that in his
interesting preface Mr. Shorthouse alludes to William Smith's
philosophical novel--"Thorndale." As a picture of Thought
developments in the early Victorian period, the latter work has
special historical interest for the philosophical and theological
student; in this respect it may be likened to Pater's "Marius the
Epicurean," which vividly reproduces the Intellectual ferment of an
earlier age. "Thorndale," however, is primarily didactic, and the
philosophical dialogues (interesting as these are to the
metaphysician) hardly atone to the general reader for an almost
entire absence of plot. The above is, doubtless, an altogether
extreme instance, but the exclusion of several other works from the
category of Romance seems to follow on something like the same
grounds. Becker's "Charicles" and "Gallus" are little more than
school textbooks, while, turning to a less scholarly quarter,
Ainsworth's "Preston Fight," and even his better-known "Guy
Fawkes," may be cited as illustrating what Mr. Shorthouse means
when he speaks of novels "in which a small amount of fiction has
been introduced simply for the purpose of relating History." In
all such cases the average novel-reader feels that he has been
allured on false pretences. I am well aware that not a few of the
books included in my List might be considered to fall under the
same ban, but I think it will be found that in most of them there