The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-08-06
WHICH ARE THE BEST NOVELS +?

| The Buffalo Express mas taken VOTE
among its readers on the question which
are the best five novels of the century ii
the English tongue. The works of fctiOr
which commanded the largest votes were
"Hypatia." by Kingsley; Under Two
Flags" by Ouida; Vanity Fair" by
Thackeray; Lorna Doone." by Black
more; and 1.-The Cloister and the Hearth,
by Charles Reade.
No critic of sound judgment would class
"Under Two Flags" or any of Ouida's
works among the masterpieces Of English
| fiction. "Hypatia" cannot take the first
rank, though it is an historical novel OF
power and ought to he read by all who
desire to understand the period OF
transition between the early Chris
tian era and the dark ages. Il
paints the sixth century more truthfully
than Walter Scott painted the ages OF the
crusades and of chivalry; but as substi
tute of history it Is inferior to the same
writer's "Westward Ho!" AS to the
merit of Lorna Doone" every reader
must judge for himself. II il is not work
of the very first class. it certainly stands
at the top of the second class. 1t appeals
to high order OF readers, and is not
appreciated by the rank and file. Com
monplace minds fail TO see its charm, and
it has never commanded wide sale,
though many regard it as their favorite
novel.
Upon the other two novels which won
the favor of the Buffalo readers there can
be no difference of opinion. 1t would be
difficult to find in the whole range OF
Itch Eafi hi nh mi
Vanity Fair" and 1.-THE Closter and the
Hearth" Tho former has been forty
years before the public. and is is intensely
enjoyable to-day as it was when it frs,
appeared. 1t is work, indeed. which be-
longs TO no particular period. Like
Shakespeare, Thackeray painted men and
women who fit into every age of the
world. Becky, Lord Styne and Rawdon
Crawley existed throughout history and
will exist forever. Their costume and
mise en- scene are lost sight of in view OF
tie intense light which is thrown upon
their moral and mental anatomy. The
charm of Vanity Fair" is that the more
it is read the more DESTROYS the reader is
to read it again.
"The Closter and the Hearth" is the
Only history we have Of a most interesting
epoch. and history by master of the
picturesque. the pathetic and the dramatic.
1t was the epoch which preceded Luther,
Erasmus and Leo the Tenth. Europe was
seethlng with the fire which broke out in
the Reformation; the spirit Of inquiry
was active; life, manners. customs, princi-
Piles, thoughts were all undergoing a
transformation. Printing and gunpow-
der had just been invented. Reade found
this period virgin; he planted in it the
natural and sharply outlined figures he
knew so we'll how to draw; and the result
was novel ahich has few il any equals,
and DO superior in any language.
Are there not three other novels in the
English language worthy of being classed
with these two? Shall we set Scott alto
gether to one side and ignore "Ivanhoe,"
Quentin Durward" and "Guy Manner
ing? BuIwer wrote for the times and t
is Ifficult To realize that pelham" is by
the same author as 1.-The Parisians"; but
the masterpiece of his middle period, M y
Novel," deserves TO be considered in q re-
view Of English fiction. No novelist ever
had so many readers as Dickens; he was
not as uniform or as sustained as Thack-
cray; but it would be a serious loss TO the
literature of fiction if Our Mutual Friend "
David Copperfield" CT THE Tale of Two
Cities" were out of print. No novelist
now living has produced works which
class with these, but Mrs. Humphry
Ward is comparatively young and Thomas
Hardy has not closed his career.
The Buffalo paper confined the competi-
tn ltor M
authors of 1.-THE Blithedale Romance. y
Tine Scarlet Letter" and Ben Hur"
perhaps. when the lists are again opened
in the twentieth century, we may have a
competitor who may fear no rival.