The casual incidents of life, the trivial possibilities of every day, are treated by Dickens with extraordinary humor and skill; witness David Copperfield’s journey to Dover, and Oliver Twist’s first introduction to Fagin’s den. But his great situations are apt to be theatrical rather than dramatic. It is not often that he reaches the sombre strength and passion of that memorable scene where the convict reveals to Pip the secret of his mysterious wealth. I do not know whether a great many people read Bulwer’s novels nowadays. They belong to a past generation, which perhaps was luckier than the present. But I do know that the rescue of Glaucus from the arena was an epoch in my childhood, and the cry of joy that rings from Nydia’s lips rang in my heart for years. I have an inexpressible tenderness now for _The Last Days of Pompeii_, because of the passionate suspense with which I read it when I was a little girl, and the supreme gasp of relief with which I hailed the arrival of Sallust and Calenus, while the lion crouches trembling in his cage. It is not easy to criticise a book linked with such vivid memories, and perhaps it is the association with early pleasures which gilds for many of us the beguiling pages of romance. “We are all homesick, in the dark days and black towns, for the land of blue skies and brave adventures in forests, and in lonely inns, on the battle-field, in the prison, on the desert isle.” It is useless, and worse than useless, to dispute over the respective schools of fiction, instead of gladly enjoying that which we like best; and there are different kinds of enjoyment for different kinds of work. For my part, the good novel of character is the novel I can always pick up; but the good novel of incident is the novel I can never lay down. THE END FOOTNOTES [1] “The Pilgrims of the Sun.” [2] Translated by Sir Theodore Martin. [3] Translation of Mr. Andrew Lang. [4] Translation of Lilla Cabot Perry. Popular New Books FROM THE LIST OF CHARLES L. WEBSTER & CO. Fiction. =The American Claimant.=—By MARK TWAIN. The most widely known character in American fiction, Col. Mulberry Sellers, is again introduced to readers in an original and delightful romance, replete with Mark Twain’s whimsical humor. Fully illustrated by Dan Beard. Cloth, 8vo, $1.50. =Don Finimondone: Calabrian Sketches.=—By ELISABETH CAVAZZA. Though a native and resident of Portland, Me., and belonging to an old New England family, Mrs. Cavazza early became interested in Italian matters. Few American authors have so completely captured the Italian spirit as she has done in these pictures of Italian life among the lowly. (“Fiction, Fact, and Fancy Series.”) Frontispiece by Dan Beard. Cloth, 12mo, 75 cents. “Racy of the Calabrian soil.”—_Cleveland Plaindealer._ “This little book is something new and rare.”—_Atlanta Constitution._