In this book Dickens achieved the dual purpose which he had always before him. He wrote a great story, and he laboured also to redress a great social scandal. In no other, perhaps, except _A Tale of Two Cities_, is the tragic power which lay behind all his humour apparent in so wonderful a degree. The Old Curiosity Shop. CHARLES DICKENS. This book, largely biographical, has always been one of the most popular of the author's works. Humour and pathos are mingled in it, for if we have on the one hand Little Nell, on the other we have "The Marchioness," Mrs. Jarley, and the immortal Codlin and Short. A Tale of Two Cities. CHARLES DICKENS. Sidney Carton is almost the only case in which Dickens has drawn a hero on the true heroic scale, and his famous act of self-sacrifice is unmatched in fiction. The book must be ranked very high among the great tragedies in literature. A Child's History of England. CHARLES DICKENS. Amongst histories for children this is easily first. It possesses all Dickens's wonderful force, vivacity, and keen insight into human nature, and his characteristic enthusiasm for all that is loyal, manly, and true. Hard Times. CHARLES DICKENS. A bitter and scathing satire on the belief in "Facts, nothing but Facts" in education, the results developed in a tale of deep and pathetic interest. Westward Ho! CHARLES KINGSLEY. This is the best novel ever written on the greatest age of English adventure. It is a saga of the Devonshire sailors who, like Drake, sailed to the unknown to found an empire for their queen, "as good as any which his Majesty of Spain had." The story swings from start to close at a breathless pace. Hypatia. CHARLES KINGSLEY. This book is a remarkable instance of the range of Kingsley's powers. No difference could be greater than that between the stirring age of Elizabeth and that of Alexandria in the fifth century, when the world was occupied with barren ecclesiastical strife. Hypatia, the last defender of the pagan faith, is a wonderful study, and the whole book is a brilliant picture of the passing of the old faiths of Greece and Rome. The Last Days of Pompeii. Lord LYTTON. A classical romance is always a difficult form of art, but Lord Lytton's is easily the most successful. He does not overload his narrative with antiquarian details, and the story moves rapidly to its great climax. It is a brilliant and imaginative picture of the later Roman civilization. The Cloister and the Hearth. CHARLES READE. There are many who think this the greatest of all historical novels, and it is certain that there are few better. It is not a story so much as a vast and varied transcript of life. It is also a delightful romance, and Gerard and Margaret are among the immortals of fiction. John Halifax, Gentleman. Mrs. CRAIK.