hich show his general characteristics. Can you
find any other author whose humor resembles Meredith's? Would he
naturally be more popular with men or with women?

Hardy.--Hardy's most enjoyable novel is _Far from the Madding Crowd.
The Return of the Native_ is one of his strongest works.

What are some of the most striking differences between him and
Meredith? Which one is naturally the better story-teller? Where are
the scenes of most of Hardy's novels laid? What is his theory of life?

Arnold.--Read _Dover Beach, Memorial Verses, Stanzas in Memory of
the Author of "Obermann" and Sohrab and Rustum_ (Page's _British Poets
of the Nineteenth Century_, Bronson, IV., Manly, I.).

Is Arnold the poet of fancy or of reflection? How does his poetry show
one phase of nineteenth-century thought?

Arnold's _Essays, Literary and Critical_ are published in _Everyman's
Library_. The best volume of selections from the prose writings of
Arnold is the one edited by Lewis E. Gates (348 pages, 75 cents). Good
selections are given in Craik, V., Manly, I. (_Sweetness and light_),
_Century_ (_The Study of Poetry_). Arnold's _Introduction_ to Ward,
I., is well worth reading.

What quality specially marks Arnold's criticism? Compare him as a
critic with Coleridge, Macaulay, Carlyle, and Thackeray. What are the
advantages and disadvantages of a style like Arnold's?

Pater.--Read the essay, _Leonardo da Vinci_ (Dickinson and Roe's
_Nineteenth Century Prose_, pp. 338-368), from Pater's "golden book,"
_The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Literature_. E.E. Hale's
_Selections from Walter Pater_ (268 pages, 75 cents) gives
representative selections. Manly, II., and _Century_ give the essay on
_Style_.

What are the chief characteristics of Pater's style? Compare it with
Macaulay's, Newman's, Ruskin's, and Matthew Arnold's. Has Pater a
message? Does he show the spirit of the time?

The Brownings.--From Elizabeth Barrett Browning, read _Cowper's
Grave, the Cry of the Children_, and from her _Sonnets from the
Portuguese_, Nos. I., III., VI., X., XVIII., XX., XXVI., XXVIII.,
XLI., XLIII.

Mrs. Browning's verse comes from the heart and should be felt rather
than criticized. Fresh interest may, however, by given to a study of
her _Sonnets from the Portuguese_, by comparing them with any other
series of love sonnets, excepting Shakespeare's.

Robert Browning's shorter poems are best for the beginner, who should
read _Rabbi Ben Ezra, Abt Vogler