in his own words--

It lives,
If precious be the soul of man to man."

9th November 1887





IV. "ROBERT ELSMERE"




[55] THOSE who, in this bustling age, turn to fiction not merely for
a little passing amusement, but for profit, for the higher sort of
pleasure, will do well, we think (after a conscientious perusal on
our own part) to bestow careful reading on Robert Elsmere. A chef
d'oeuvre of that kind of quiet evolution of character through
circumstance, introduced into English literature by Miss Austen, and
carried to perfection in France by George Sand (who is more to the
point, because, like Mrs. Ward, she was not afraid to challenge
novel-readers to an interest in religious questions), it abounds in
sympathy with people as we find them, in aspiration towards something
better--towards a certain ideal--in a refreshing sense of second
thoughts everywhere. The author clearly has developed a remarkable
natural aptitude for literature by liberal reading and most patient
care [56] in composition--composition in that narrower sense which is