The farmer and mechanic., 1906-12-04

ro.-:bly his ablcst, but doubt may
.. raised. 1 found it depressing ana
.-htmaIi@h. / recognized ITS mastery y
ts.s. and the power manifested III
..uv scenes, as we'll as the STRIKING
..unug IF character. and yet 10 me
..u. story vas unpleasant. But as TO the
..pftu1dcy dDoVc all othef Hcuoha
..J may be counted now BY tens OF
..nu-auu~. it may be- vigorously oppos-
.a one writer, l remember, SAID 1t
.- 'thc greatest novel Of the last
century. the wy ITtuhc nineteenth.
A.. NV opinion There We're at least tWen-
..-Itc probably fifty, superior to it
u.iUIIshcd in the last century. OF
.our1c taste and judgment differ wide
. There are people now who think
I,-eu greater than even Shakespeare
anal that Yankee poetical crank, Wall.
VI Ui'man, superior TO IennySon. tdu-
..t pronounccs Dickens to be the
...atcst Of all noVcIsts. If not that
a. certainly deserves to rank among
.1r foremost Of the world. w. y.
8IoycIls some fifteen years ago gave
.uc bouquet to Tolstoi. Willic Collins
uut Scott above all. and he was not
lar from the mark. An English critic
aid some years since that there were
well cultured people in England then
VINO estimated "Richard FeVerel' as
.hr greatest novel ever written. \ su-
prriDr production of genius, but over
\1Iu ID. It is surely q greater novel
than '"The Master Of Ballantrae." SO
al least IL appears 20 me. luGfc dI
French, American and English critics
who place the Frenchman BalZac at
jh, head Of all writer's in all the ages.
ii would not be difficult to find men Of
fine parts saying that Thackeray was
the greatest of all, or that Harry F1Cld
ing hcId the highest rank in the
Eu,haIIa Of all creative writer's in the
tine field Of fiction. You see that doc
TORS will differ. That real man of
genius, Fitzgerald, the close friend OF
q = h
poet, that he considered Richardson's
"Clarisa HarloWe' very wonderful,
and quite original and a unique book.
lie said he had read it five times Ten
uySGn and Alfred de MusSet, French
poet of high merit had special ad-
lnir2tiOn for this novel of Richardson.
never was fascinated with this ia
NOUS. original English author | never
read more than portion of one novel.
have been content with but one OF
Jane Austen's very popular novels with
scores of highly cultured and some
very gifted people. | rather incline TO
read one or two others to see if l can
llud the uncommon fascination that so
many people far beyond me in gifts
have found.
have found George Meredith with
great drawing capacity l have read
but two of his novels, but there are
ut least two OF three others | would be
2iad to read. He has very great attraC-
zion for thousands OF British readers
Of an unusual standing. He has
marked genius and is held by many
educated readers to be the foremost of
all living nOVelistS who use English.
Some of his novels have failed of
praise. although of conceded ability.
one of them is The Tale of Chloe"
and is rejected as coarse and even nor
rid, while pathetic and moving other
WISE one of his inferior books is
regarded in England as below his
standard. 1t is called zone of Our
Conqucrors" His extraordinary man
ucrism appears, and the style is below
his usual success. He is troubled with
rcccntricities of style and unmistaH-
able pccuIiarites while possessing very
distinguished abilities. In all proba-
hjlily he has no full rival living who
rmploys English, if there is any living
ju any European country. He has
very lofty intellect, and is rich IN
thought and wit. He has produced
some of the strongest characters III
fiction. aud some of his scenes are
Wonderful for dramatic force and fire,
N'gor of presentation and even splcndor
oj language. His witty and wise SAY
I''@s are SO numerous they have been
I.th"rrd into separate volume. if /
"u3 not mistaken. for | have never
sueu it, ! saw it mentioned. ana soy
raI years ago that he, like Carlyle
and some other extreme m1nnerlSts,
haas grown more vicious and singular
WITH age. lie is now some SeNentN-SlN
FL" decay Of intellect visible. While
"~ mnd is as quick, Nirilc, original
.H4 responsive, the garb of his
""u-hl3 is possibly more motley ana
Extraordinary. Browning, a superior
I".' showed something of this with
>."f1. His style showed decay. But
''h' I.u~trinuS contemporary, Lord Ten
N}s"o. WHnte with more Greek severity |
ana pulity at cighty-tWO than he did al !
thirty when he was So affluent and /
III would not be difficult to show !
'."' there is q strong family likeness
.""hG Browning. Carlyle and Mere |
"j' that Meredith in a sense stands
'n poetry and Carlyle to history. All |
'ar". have. in their varying degrees. |
"i r"u'~u. tremendous Vigor. passion |
and iUa@ination. In all three the |
''~. for form is quite OVerbalanced !
I# 'nr sense for Substance.'
would not give ND Carlyle, with !
.H "t his linguistic idiOsyncrasies and |
@''itu2n inVolutions and marvellous |
.oasluG and even peculiar jargon, |
0'" any prose writer in English for |
.." past half century. He ranks de- |
@E".tiE high among the great writer's !
." very productive century having no /
""HOor perhaps among the greatest |
".fN" men Of genius VINO are Brit
,'""~, with the one exception of Sir !
".-,"r Scott. who has had no equal
.pl- them all since John Milton. It
Is very sure that Meredith has pro- !
.t.+d some novels that no man OF
IL" culture can we'll afford to over
r. Not having read but two of his
.'|"5'S | ct'r not say with decision that
-"'2c redith's masterpiece IS
|1.hurd FevcreI." but it is claimed
' D" by many critical minds. 1t is
.".H very nasterful novel and will
'#3T" long, [ would say.
1t Us pitifuI to hear "serious critics.,
'uE sod to have understanding and
'"Hrn. saying Ibsen. who lately died,
G,,,-
"||W level. Whenever a latter day
''''} comes to the front and achieves
"l tame, he is ut once maGnified by
10. ne b" is but little inferior to
'"''Nc%pCHrc or MilOn or ThaCkerY or
.''tJ. "r some othec great writer he IS
"hI"Nrd to resemble. All men of in
'h&'i"n and reading know Of the
't| absurd COmpa risonS that have
w." made from time to time by
i'i~- some of them of great quail
we'll known how q