hesitating in his choice of a medium; but he recognized that it was not wholly satisfactory, and that its chief deficiency--the absence of verbal melody--was fatal. Later in the same year he contributed to the _Soirées de Médan_, a collection of short stories by MM. Zola, J.-K. Huysmans, Henry Céard, Léon Hennique and Paul Alexis; and in _Boule de suif_ the young unknown author revealed himself to his amazed collaborators and to the public as an admirable writer of prose and a consummate master of the _conte_. There is perhaps no other instance in modern literary history of a writer beginning, as a fully equipped artist, with a genuine masterpiece. This early success was quickly followed by another. The volume entitled _La Maison Tellier_ (1881) confirmed the first impression, and vanquished even those who were repelled by the author's choice of subjects. In _Mademoiselle Fifi_ (1883) he repeated his previous triumphs as a _conteur_, and in this same year he, for the first time, attempted to write on a larger scale. Choosing to portray the life of a blameless girl, unfortunate in her marriage, unfortunate in her son, consistently unfortunate in every circumstance of existence, he leaves her, ruined and prematurely old, clinging to the tragic hope, which time, as one feels, will belie, that she may find happiness in her grandson. This picture of an average woman undergoing the constant agony of disillusion Maupassant calls _Une Vie_ (1883), and as in modern literature there is no finer example of cruel observation, so there is no sadder book than this, while the effect of extreme truthfulness which it conveys justifies its sub-title--_L'Humble vérité_. Certain passages of _Une Vie_ are of such a character that the sale of the volume at railway bookstalls was forbidden throughout France. The matter was brought before the chamber of deputies, with the result of drawing still more attention to the book, and of advertising the _Contes de la bécasse_ (1883), a collection of stories as improper as they are clever. _Au soleil_ (1884), a book of travels which has the eminent qualities of lucid observation and exact description, was less read than _Clair de lune_, _Miss Harriet_, _Les Soeurs Rondoli_ and _Yvette_, all published in 1883-1884 when Maupassant's powers were at their highest level. Three further collections of short tales, entitled _Contes et nouvelles_, _Monsieur Parent_, and _Contes du jour et de la nuit_, issued in 1885, proved that while the author's vision was as incomparable as ever, his fecundity had not improved his impeccable form. To 1885 also belongs an elaborate novel, _Bel-ami_, the cynical history of a particularly detestable, brutal scoundrel who makes his way in the world by means of his handsome face. Maupassant is here no less vivid in realizing his literary men, financiers and frivolous women than in dealing with his favourite peasants, boors and servants, to whom he