The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-04-13

OF unWlSefS TedO through the many
years the ten and even so many as
the fifty best novels which [ have
read. L fnd [ have changed my opin-
ION sometimes as the yea go, by. and
when I a repeated the reading of
some Of the best Il classify them
somewhat difficulty. I doubt if it is
possible for any cultured, intellectual
reader to name he ten best as per-
petua1 stand bys.' Even in ten or
change places in the enumeration.
[ know I have done this in the case
of one Or more. It is difficult to make
out an entirely new test Of the ten
best after the lapse Of a decade or
Two. It is easier to name fifty than
20. name ten. and because there are
more thar ten that are Of the, first
rank, unless we are to. put one or
two upon q summit above all the
Shakespeare, and Milton above all
other poets. It must be said, that no
doubt there are many Very famous
and delightful and even great novels
[ have not read. There are Span
ish, German, French, Norwegian and
Russian novels much praised which
I have rot read. 1 am not up in
the European field of fiction. l never
read the novels of many French
writer's, but ! have read some Of the
greatest-Hugo. Dumas, the elder,
Eugene Sue, n only by Balzac, and
one by George. Sand OF the German
novelists / know nothing, while a
ing the poetry Of a half dozen Of
their greatest poets. Some few other
scattered writer's of other nationalities,
I have read something Of-.DOn QulX-
ote,' "Gil Bias" 'Quo Eadis" and
some others. The lists I nay make
will be almost altogether British.
Deal, xyo~a4r - 1 SQA a nv T. YnnnS
published q list of the best novels, l
give the selections, some good and
some bad. made by certain
voters he called lpon:
The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne 80
Les Miserables. Hugo .........39
Romola. George Eliot ..........37
Adam Bede George Eliot ...-..36
Ivanhoe. Scott .......3o
David Coperheld. Dickens .....2S
Henry Esmond. Thackery .......24
Wilhelm Meister. Goethe ........24
Uncle Toms Cabin. Mrs. Stowe...24
On the Heights. Auerbach ......23
The figures represent the votes as
given. It will be seen thai Scott,
Dickens and Thackery, the three En-
-lish masters, did not measure UP with
Hawthorne. Hugo and George Eliet, as
was her real Dame.) In New York
Literary News about the same time
published as follows as the best:
David Copperfeld, Dickens; 1vanhoe,
Scott: Adam Bede, George Eliot: The
Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne; Vanity
Fair, ThacI1ery; Jane Eyre, Bronfe;
Uncle Toms Cabin, Mrs. Stowe: The
Newcomes, Thackery; Les M~iserables,
Hugo: John Halifax, Gentleman, Miss
Mulock.
I would not arrange the schedule IN
that way, and I would not put in the
list a half dozen, perhaps. Although
the voters an lived in this country
they did not vote for but two Amerl-
Fan authors Let me now attempt q
list of the ten best novels. I shall
make a list without reference to other
lists I may have made heretofore, Sc
3ecting now what novels appear to me
10 be the best. OF course others
would select differently Limited to
ten / will be forced to omit several
5ha no doubt would be chosen also
COR the first list if it embraced more
than ten, for they equal some OF
those selected, none them:
Les Miserabies, by Victor Hugo; Heart
IF Midlothian. Scott; Antiouary, Scott;
Guy Manrering, Scott; kenilworth.
Scott; Henry Esmond. T~hackery;
Vanity Fair, Thackery; Wandering
Jew, Eugene Sac; Scarlet Letter. Ma
Ihaniel Hawthorne; David Coperfield,
Dickens.
Let me tag a second list Of ten:
Cloister and the Hearth. Charles
Reade; Martin Chuzzlewit, Dickens; A
Tale Of Two Cities, Dickens: Adam
-Bede, George Eliot; The Hunchback
IF Notre Dame. Hugo; Quinten Den
1ard; Scott, Mill on the Floss, George
Eliot; Rob Roy. Scott; House OF the
Seven Gables, Hawthorne. Nearly or
al of these are strictly great.
Let me try ten more selections:
Westward Ho! Kingsley; P~endennis,
T~hackery; Great Expectations, Dick
ems; Fortunes Of Nigel, Scott; Jane
Eyre, Charlotte Reoult; Old Mortal
:ry. Scott: Lorna Doone. Blackmore;
Tess DUrbiviiles, Thomas Hardy;
Memoirs Of Barry Linden, fThackery.
Once more I will select, but this
time make it twelve, and it may help
some true seekers after really superior
action; The Mysteries Of Paris. Eu-