evinced by his poetry, and there is much melody in his verses. Above all things else he is "English to the core." His love for his country makes him to England what Maurice Thompson was to America. His complete works were published in 1890 in six volumes; "The Tower of Babel," "Savonarola," "Satires," "Prince Lucifer," "The Human Tragedy," and "Lyrical Poems,"

THOMAS HARDY. (1840-)`

One of the most widely read English novelists of this century is Thomas Hardy, and of them all he seems to live closest to the hearts of his readers. Like Zola he takes his people from the peasantry and the humble walks of life. Like Zola too he has been accused of using an exception as a type. He is a realist of the advanced school for his rhetoric is always good and some lines beautiful. As an example, "Tess of the D'Urbevilles" in her bridal array on her wedding night is thus described. "A steady crimson glare from the now flameless embers painted the sides and back of the fireplace with its color, and the well polished andirons, and the old brass tongs that would not meet. The underside of the mantel shelf was flushed with the unwavering blood-colored light, and the logs of the table nearest the fire Tess's face and neck reflected the same warmth; while each diamond turned into an Aldebaran or a Sirius-a collection of white red and green flashes that interchanged their hues with her every pulsation.

Their hands were still joined. The ashes under the grate were lit by the fire vertically like a torrid waste. Her imagination suddenly beheld a Last Day luridness in this red-coaled glow."

Hardy's stories are sometimes freighted with morbid and gloomy sentiment; but in the end he leads his characters to know the right and be glorified and justified in doing it. His wife is a broad-minded, sympathetic woman, who keeps in touch with her husband's work and even assists him in copying.

"Tis said that all truly great people have their peculiarities or idiosyncrasies. Hardy's distinguishing feature is his inability to retain the names of the characters in his stories. He is constantly appealing to his wife to help him remember these elusive titles.

Some of his works are "Life's Little Ironies," "A Pair of Blue Eyes," "Far From the Madding Crowd," "Desperate Remedies," "The Trumpet Major," "Two on a Tower" and Return of the Native," ""Tess of the D'Urbevilles" and "Jude the Obscure" are considered the most cleverly written stories. Hardy's growth, from story to story, has been recognized and appreciated by his readers everywhere. His home is near Dorchester, England.

WILLIAM BLACK. (1841-1902.)

"A

WILLIAM BLACK, best known as the author of "A Daughter of Heth," was born in Glasgow Scotland on Nov. 15, 1841. Died in London 1902. He was a voluminous writer who always held the interest of his readers. Some of his best known novels are Daughter of Heth," "Princess of Thule," "White Wings," "That Beautiful Wretch," "Madcap Violet," "Yolande," "Kilmeny," "White Heather" and "Briseis."

"Briseis" published in 1896 revealed a scholarly precision which indicated that the author's mind was growing brighter as he advanced in years.

SIR EDWIN ARNOLD. (1823-1903.)

This profound scholar, blind poet and historian died at his London home late in 1903 with his young Japanese wife beside his couch. During the latter part of his life she was eyes and ears both" to him he remarked to an intimate friend. She read aloud by the hour, copied his best thoughts, arranged his works for publication and was his constant companion: consequently he was an enthusiast for the cause of Japan and was engaged at the time of his death, on a volume indicating her attitude in the Eastern situation.

"The Light of Asia" is his most finished work but some of his late poems show that, as he neared the sunset shore, his vehicle of thought attained rare and beautiful heights.

He gives you the amplest sympathy in your desire to believe, and possesses wonderful imaginative power in getting over religious objections to the faith which he portrays. His style is luminous: the white light rather than lurid order. His early life tranquil and solitary. The difference between the inspired writers of the Bible and the author of the Light of Asia may be seen by contrasting his notable work with the Psalms. Read the Psalms, and you will find in them the germs of all the affections generated in his disciples by Christ's own teachings: the shame, the grief, the remorse, the desolation, the hope, the awe, the love in it's highest sense which human beings feel in the presence of human nature, holier, deeper, richer, stronger, nobler than their own, when they have sinned against it, and are conscious of its displeasure, its retributive justice, its joy in human repentance and its forgiveness.

Arnold's curious earnestness, and ability were spent in attempting the impossible.

Some one has said that "Like the East he bows lows before the blast, only to seek strength in his own mind and to delight in the strength he finds there."

MRS. FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT. (1849-)

FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT was born in Manchester, England, November 24, 1849. When she was fifteen years of age her parents emigrated to the United States and settled at Knoxville, Tennessee. They were gentle refined people who had met with reverses.

Mrs. Burnett began to write to papers and magazines at a very early age. She sold berries to buy stamps to mail her first manuscript. She was married to Dr. Luan M. Burnett when both were very young, and with her pen she earned money to send him to Paris to be educated as an oculist. She now resides in Washington, D. C. but spends a part of every year in her London house. She is a woman of charming personality and is much sought after in England drawing-rooms. The cellars of the London residence are said to have given her the idea of the central scene in "A Lady of Quality." Her son Vivian was the original of "Little Lord Fauntleroy" one of the sweetest juvenile books in our literature. She has never been the same joyous-hearted mother since the death of her eldest son Lionel. When her children were small she would never consent to be separated from them except for a very short while. It was during one of these enforced absences that Lionel contracted an illness from which he died.

"That Lass O'Lowries" a story of morning life in England is a beautiful romance. Among her early works are "Louisiana," "Haworths," "Through One Administration," "Sarah Crewe" and "A Fair Barbarian,” a

novel which edicts with clearness the many phases of human nature.

In her later works we find that Mrs. Burnett has grown more dramatic, but less humorous.

"In Connection with the De Willoughby Claim " is an American novel." "His Grace, the Duke of Osmonde " is full of dramatic situations.

After her divorce from Dr. Burnett she was married to her private secretary but reviewers still know her as Mrs. F. Hodgson Burnett.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. (1850-1894.)

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON was born at Edinburgh, November 13, 1850. He was of a canny Scotch family. His father wished him to take his vocation-engineering— but the boy's heart turned to letters and in the end prevailed. He was educated at Edinburgh University where he studied law. Consumption came into his life about the time he attained his majority. Then began his hopeless search for life and health which ended at Apia, Samoa in December 1894. His home at Apia is described by Mr. Wm. Churchill as a narrow shelf upon the mountain side where the paths run much like ladders, where there were three springs of water, where the view over the ocean was ever restful, and stopped short of the north Pole only by reason of the earth's swelling round." "Treasure Island" was published when he was thirty-one. Charles D. Lanier writes of Stevenson "His married life was exceedingly happy though the circumstances of their union-Mrs. Osborne was divorced for that purpose-would have seemed sufficiently ominous for a less untrammeled spirit than Stevenson's."

In appearance Stevenson was very slightly built, of