The extent of the favour shown by Australian readers to the works of their own novelists is, as a rule, exactly proportioned to that which their merits have previously won in England. Booksellers and their London agents, who of course treat all literature from a purely commercial standpoint, are at all events unanimous in discrediting the existence in recent years of any prejudice against colonial fiction of the better class. It is now very seldom sent out in two or three volume form, they say, but neither are the most popular English novels, except occasionally to subscription libraries. For representative Australian work, then, there is a fair field but no favour. It is as though the function and existence of the authors apart from the rank and file of English letters were not recognised. There is an exception to this rule in the poet Gordon, as a portion of his writings, the Bush _Ballads and Galloping Rhymes_, irresistibly commemorate the national love of horseflesh and outdoor life. Every Australian now knows that _For the Term of his Natural Life_ is a great novel of its class; but as a leading Victorian journalist (Mr. James Smith) once pointed out in an article in the _Melbourne Review_, Clarke's real merit was for years undervalued, because he was known to be 'only a colonial writer.' Thousands of English, European and American readers had admired the novel before they thought of inquiring who the writer was or whence he came. It is true that the story attracted a good deal of interest in Australia even during its first appearance as a serial, but from elsewhere came its recognition as one of the novels of the century. The authors whose lives and writings are briefly sketched in this volume are all noted in some degree for accuracy and sincerity in their representation of life in Australia. They have all written from abundant knowledge--from love, also, perhaps it may be added--of this great wide land with its brilliant skies, its opportunities and its wholesome pleasures. That they should fail to cover their field--that they tell too much of country life and adventure and too little of the throb and energy of the cities--is in a large measure explained by the fact that their books are of necessity primarily written for English readers.