lds the multitude by reason of the thrilling sensations extracted
from incidents wholly unlike anything possible in their lives, but
near enough to reported facts to be able to astonish and excite them.
Such improbable but ingeniously contrived events are enough to
distract them, and if there be more in Mr. Hyne's stories imparted by
his personal eagerness and honesty, it escapes them, or at least does
not annoy them.

But this finer quality has been lacking in such of Mr. Le Queux's
books as I have chanced to read. I may have been unlucky in my
selection, and there may be admirable qualities in those of his novels
which I have not read. But in the three or four volumes known to me I
found that the persons were puppets, moving in unnatural situations,
meeting sensational adventures which constituted all that there was of
an improbable and slenderly connected plot. We all know the sort of
book. But what is it that makes this, and others like it, popular?
There were scenes of spurious passion. There were incidents in which
action assumed the proportions of prodigy. There was vague sensation.
In one of his novels I found an introduction by Lord Roberts warning
Englishmen to prepare for the German invasion planned by Mr. Le Queux
for 1910! History has not yet revealed the horror and devastation of
that war; but this horror and devastation lent to Mr. Le Queux's book
the interest which it required.

Yet the novel which is read mainly for the thrill of the incident may
be written in a far finer spirit. Most historical novels depend mainly
upon the vigour of the action. The very best historical novelists must
be excepted; in Scott, for example, as in Fielding, there is so much
which depends on character and atmosphere that there is always much
more than thrilling incident to hold the attention. In the books of a
modern writer like Mr. Ford Madox Hueffer, at his best, there is an
artistry of composition, a synthetic quality in the romance, a unity
of pictorial effort which give to them a quality of design and
exquisiteness; they are a distillation of Mr. Hueffer's romantic
personality. But if we consider Mr. Stanley Weyman, we are taking a
novelist in whom everything depends upon the thrill of incident.
Still, he has made of his work a fine craft. He uses words
conscientiously. He has exceptional skill in tracing his ingenious
plots. He has read history carefully, and for the most part adheres
faithfully to facts--though I be