fterwards
became Mrs. Craik. She was born at Stoke-upon-Trent in 1826, and had
written for nearly ten years when _John Halifax_ appeared. She died in
1888, having written a very great deal both in prose and verse; the
former part including many novels, of which the best perhaps is _A Life
for a Life_. Mrs. Craik was an example of the influence, so often
noticed and to be noticed in the latter part of our period, of the great
demand for books on writers of any popularity. Her work was never bad;
but it was to a very great extent work which was, as the French say, the
"small change" for what would probably in other circumstances have been
a very much smaller quantity of much better work. How this state of
things--which has been brought about on the one hand by the printing
press, newspapers, and the spread of education, on the other by the
disuse of sinecures, patronage, pensions, and easy living generally--is
to be prevented from affecting literature very disastrously is not
clear. Its negative or rather privative effect cannot but be bad; if its
positive effect is always as good as the works of Mrs. Craik, it will be
fortunate.

It is difficult, in a book of this kind, to know how far to attempt the
subdivisions of specialist novels which have been common, such as for
instance the sporting novel, the practitioners of which have been
innumerable. The chief perhaps were Robert Surtees, the author of the
facetious series of which "Mr. Jorrocks" is the central and best figure,
and Major Whyte-Melville. The former, about the middle of the century,
carried out with much knowledge, not inconsiderable wit, and the
advantage of admirable illustrations from the pencil of John Leech,
something like the original idea of _Pickwick_ as a sporting romance,
and there is a strong following of Dickens in him. Major Whyte-Melville,
born near St. Andrews in 1821 and heir to property there, was educated
at Eton, served for some years in the Guards, and with the Turkish
Contingent in the Crimean War, and was killed in the hunting-field in
1878. He touched various styles, chiefly those of Lever and Bulwer,
while he had a sort of contact with George Lawrence. He was never
happier than in depicting his favourite pastime, which figures in most
of his novels and inspired him with some capital verse. But in _Holmby
House_, _Sarchedon_, the _Gladiators_, etc., he tried the historical
style also.

Nor must the brief life, embittered by physical su