Amongst Jókai’s novels, “An Hungarian Nabob” (“_Egy magyar nábob_,” 1856, translated into English) is one of his earlier masterworks. It tells the story of one of those immensely wealthy Hungarian noblemen who, in pre-revolutionary times, lived like small potentates on their vast estates, surrounded by wassailing companions, women, gamblers, fools, gypsies, and an indefinite crowd of hangers-on. The old Kárpáthy, the nabob, in spite of habitual excesses of all kinds, is, at bottom, an upright and proud man. The intrigues made against him by a profligate nephew, hitherto his only heir, and who wants to precipitate his death, are baffled by the nabob’s marriage with a young and innocent girl, who makes him the father of a boy, Zoltán. Within this apparently very simple framework what a wealth of scenes, of types, of humour, and descriptive gems! We are taken from the half-savage manor-life of the old nabob to brilliant Paris, then again to Pozsony and to Pest. The language is winged, winning, and gorgeously varied. The continuation of the “Nabob” is given in “_Kárpáthy Zoltán_,” a novel which, both in its pathos and in its humour, is one of the most engaging pieces of modern narrative literature. Full of historic interest are Jókai’s “The Golden Era of Transylvania” (“_Erdély arany kora_,” translated into English by Mr. Nisbet Bain); “The Sins of the Heartless Man” (“_A kőszivü ember fiai_”); “Political Fashions” (“_Politikai divatok_”); “The Lady with the Sea-Eyes” (“_A tengerszemü hölgy_”); and in “The New Landlord” (“_Az új földesúr_”) Jókai has, without so much as posing as a political moralist, achieved one of the best effects of patriotic moralizing. “The New Landlord” is perhaps one of the most finished and architectonically perfect of the Hungarian master’s works, although the workmanship of “What we are growing old for” (“_Mire megvénűlünk_”) is also remarkable. Other novels in which Jókai’s splendour of imagination and narrative genius may be enjoyed at their best are: “Love’s Fools” (“_Szerelem bolondjai_”); “Black Diamonds” (“_Fekete gyémántok_,” translated into English); “There is no Devil” (“_Nincsen ördög_”); “The Son of Rákóczy” (“_Rákóczy fia_”); “Twice Two is Four” (“_Kétszer kettő négy_”), etc. Besides works of fiction, exceeding two hundred and fifty volumes, Jókai has written an interesting History of Hungary; his memoirs; the Hungarian part of the late Crown Prince Rudolf’s great work on Austria-Hungary, etc. He is still enriching Hungarian Literature with ever new works of fiction. CHAPTER XXXI.