asting oblivion. And this triumph is not only due to literary
excellence, but to the human excellence of the conception which
Goldsmith gave to the world.

CHAPTER VIII.

I.--THE NOVEL IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
II.--THE NOVEL OF LIFE AND MANNERS.
III.--OF SCOTCH LIFE.
IV.--OF IRISH LIFE.
V.--OF ENGLISH LIFE.
VI.--OF AMERICAN LIFE.
VII.--THE HISTORICAL NOVEL.
VIII.--THE NOVEL OF PURPOSE.
IX.--THE NOVEL OF FANCY.
X.--USE AND ABUSE OF FICTION.

I.

Fiction has absorbed so much of the literary talent of the present
century, and has attained so important a place in the lives and
thoughts of the reading public, that, in this chapter, we will attempt
a description of its varied forms, and an inquiry into its uses and
abuses, rather than an extended criticism of individual writers.
Allibone's "Dictionary of Authors" contains two thousand two hundred
and fifty-seven names of writers of fiction, by far the greater number
of which belong to the nineteenth century, and every year adds to the
list.

There is no better example of the closeness of the connection between
society and its literature than is supplied by the novel. Every change
in the public taste has been followed by a corresponding variety of
fiction, until it is difficult to enumerate all the schools into which
novelists have divided themselves. During the present century, life has
become far more complex and the reading public far more exacting,
varied, and extended than ever before. Steam and electricity have
brought distant countries into close communion, and have awakened a
feeling of fellowship among the different nations of the civilised
world which has greatly widened the horizon of human interests. The
spread of education, the increase and distribution of wealth, together
with the cheapness of printing, have largely increased the number and
variety of those who seek entertainment from works of fiction. The
novel-reader is no longer content with the description of scenes and
characters among which his own life is passed. He wishes to be
introduced to foreign countries, to past ages, and to societies and
ranks apart from his own. He wishes also to find in fiction the
reflection of his own tastes and the discussion of his own interests.
He seeks psychology, or study of character, or the excitement of a
complicated plot, or the details and events of sea-faring, criminal, or
fashionable life. All of these different tastes the n