One of the most charming books of the Victorian age was produced by Richard Blackmore (1825-1900). He wrote several novels, some of them of excellent quality, but they were all overshadowed by his beautiful old romance of _Lorna Doone_ (1869). It is hard to overpraise such a story, wholesome and sweet as a breath from the moors, and the critic's praise will be unnecessary if the reader only opens the book. It should be read, with _Cranford_, if one reads nothing else of Victorian fiction. [Illustration: RICHARD DODDRIDGE BLACKMORE] Two other notable romances of a vanished age came from the hand of Charles Kingsley (1819-1875). He produced many works in poetry and prose, but his fame now rests upon _Hypatia_, _Westward Ho!_ and a few stories for children. _Hypatia_ (1853) is an interesting novel dealing with the conflict of pagan and Christian ideals in the early centuries. _Westward Ho!_ (1855) is a stirring narrative of seafaring and adventure in the days of Elizabeth. It has been described as a "stunning" boys' book, and it would prove an absorbing story for any reader who likes adventure were it not marred by one serious fault. The author's personal beliefs and his desire to glorify certain Elizabethan adventurers lead him to pronounce judgment of a somewhat wholesale kind. He treats one religious party of the period to a golden halo, and the other to a lash of scorpions; and this is apt to alienate many readers who else would gladly follow Sir Amyas Leigh on his gallant ventures in the New World or on the Spanish Main. Kingsley had a rare talent for writing for children (his heart never grew old), and his _Heroes_ and _Water Babies_ are still widely read as bedtime stories. Of the later Victorian novelists, chief among them being Meredith, Hardy and Stevenson, little may be said here, as they are much too near us to judge of their true place in the long perspective of English literature. Meredith, with the analytical temper and the disconnected style of Browning, is for mature readers, not for young people. Hardy has decided power, but is too hopelessly pessimistic for anybody's comfort,--except in his earlier works, which have a romantic charm that brightens the obscurity of his later philosophy. [Illustration: ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON From a photograph] [Sidenote: STEVENSON]