not a novelty, it had been,
and for the matter of that has been, rarely a success. It has, as was
pointed out before, spoilt most classical novels, reaching its acme of
boredom in the German work of Ebers and Dahn; and it has scarcely ever
been very successful, even in the hands of Charles Reade, who used it
"with a difference." But it can hardly be said to have done _Salammbo_
much harm, because the "fusing" process which is above referred to, and
to which the imported elements are often so rebellious, is here
perfectly carried out. You may not like the colour and shape of the
ingot or cast; but there is nothing in it which has not duly felt and
obeyed the fire of art.

[Sidenote: _L'Education Sentimentale._]

That there was no danger of Flaubert's merely palming off, in his novel
work, replicas with a few superficial differences, had now been shown.
It was further established by his third and longest book, _L'Education
Sentimentale_. This was not only, as the others had been, violently
attacked, but was comparatively little read--indeed it is the only one
of his books, with the usual exception of _Bouvard et Pecuchet_, which
has been called, by any rational creature, dull. I do not find it so;
but I confess that I find its intrinsic interest, which to me is great,
largely enhanced by its unpopularity--which supplies a most remarkable
pendant to that of _Jonathan Wild_, and is by no means devoid of value
as further illustrating the cause of the very limited popularity of
Thackeray, and even of the rarity of whole-hearted enthusiasm for Swift.
Satire is allowed to be a considerable, and sometimes held to be an
attractive, branch of literature. But when you come to analyse the
actual sources of the attraction, it is to be feared that you will
generally find them to lie outside of the pure exposure of general human
weaknesses. A very large proportion of satire is personal, and
personality is always popular. Satire is very often "naughty," and
"naughtiness" is to a good many, _qua_ naughtiness, "nice." It lends
itself well to rhetoric; and there is no doubt, whatever superior
persons may say of it, that rhetoric _does_ "persuade" a large portion
of the human race. It is constantly associated with directly comic
treatment, sometimes with something not unlike tragedy; and while the
first, if of any merit, is sure, the second has a fair though more
restricted chance, of favourable reception. Try Aristophanes, Horace,
Juven