been
observed. The source from which each article is drawn has in all cases
been indicated, and this opportunity is taken of acknowledging the
permission to republish that has courteously been accorded by the
editors or proprietors of the Reviews concerned.

Permission has also been given to publish the article on 'Sir Spencer
Walpole' written for the British Academy, and the address on the
'Reading of History.'

John O. Miller

_December 1914._

CONTENTS

PAGE

NOVELS OF ADVENTURE AND MANNERS 1

ENGLISH LETTER-WRITING IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 34

THACKERAY 76

THE ANGLO-INDIAN NOVELIST 121

HEROIC POETRY 155

THE WORKS OF LORD BYRON 177

THE ENGLISH UTILITARIANS 210

CHARACTERISTICS OF MR. SWINBURNE'S POETRY 263

FRONTIERS ANCIENT AND MODERN 291

L'EMPIRE LIBERAL 328

SIR SPENCER WALPOLE 368

REMARKS ON THE READING OF HISTORY 377

RACE AND RELIGION 399

THE STATE IN ITS RELATION TO EASTERN AND WESTERN RELIGIONS 427

INDEX 454

NOVELS OF ADVENTURE AND MANNERS[2]

Mr. Raleigh[3] very rightly goes back to mediaeval romance for the
origins of English fiction. In all countries the metrical tale is many
generations older than the prose story; for prose writing is a
refinement of the literary art which flourishes only when reading has
become popular; while verse, being at first a kind of _memoria
technica_ used for the correct transmission of sacred texts and the
heroic tradition, strikes the ear and fixes the recollection of an
audience. The exploits of mighty warriors and the miracles of
saints--love, fighting, and theology--form the subject matter of these
stories in verse. They are, as Mr. Raleigh says, epical in spirit
though not in form: 'they carry their hero through the actions and
adventures of his life ... they display a marked preference for deeds
done, and attem