lls fearful, his spirit
Mephistophelian. "He delights to analyze, to classify. But he has no
hatred for what is loathsome, no contempt for what is base, no love for
what is lovely, no faith for what is noble. To him there is no virtue
and no vice; men and women are more or less finely organized; noble and
tender conduct is more agreeable than the reverse,--that is all." His
novels show "goodness, aspiration, the loveliest instincts, stifled,
strangled by fate in the form of our own brute nature."

Margaret did not, perhaps, foresee how popular strangling of this kind
was destined to become in the romance of the period following her own.

Contrasting Eugene Sue with Balzac, she finds in the first an equal
power of observation, disturbed by a more variable temperament, and
enhanced by "the heart and faith that Balzac lacks." She sees him
standing, pen in hand, armed with this slight but keen weapon, as "the
champion of poverty, innocence, and humanity against superstition,
selfishness, and prejudice." His works, she thinks, with "all their
strong points and brilliant decorations, may erelong be forgotten.
Still, the writer's name shall be held in imperishable honor as the
teacher of the ignorant, the guardian of the weak." She sums up thus the
merits of the two: "Balzac is the heartless surgeon, probing the wounds
and describing the delirium of suffering men for the amusement of his
students. Sue, a bold and glittering crusader, with endless ballads
jingling in the silence of night before the battle." She finds both of
them "much right and a good deal wrong," since their most virtuous
personages are allowed to practise stratagems, falsehood, and
violence,--a taint, she thinks, of the old _regime_ under which "La
belle France has worn rouge so long that the purest mountain air will
not soon restore the natural hues to her complexion."

Two ideal sketches, "The Rich Man" and "The Poor Man," are also
preserved in this volume, and are noticeable as treating of differences
and difficulties which have rather become aggravated than diminished
since Margaret's time. The "Rich Man" is a merchant, who "sees in
commerce a representation of most important interests, a grand school
that may teach the heart and soul of the civilized world to a willing,
thinking mind. He plays his part in the game, but not for himself alone.
He sees the interests of all mankind engaged with his, and remembers
them while he furthers his own." In regard