a story of the great Mississippi Bubble; 'Tower Hill,' whose
heroine is the luckless Catharine Howard; 'The Spanish Match,' a story
of the romantic pilgrimage of Prince Charles and "Steenie" Buckingham to
Spain for the fruitless wooing of the Spanish Princess; and at least ten
other romances, many of them in three volumes, all appearing between
1840 and 1873. Two of these were published simultaneously, in serial
form; and no year passed without its book, to the end of the novelist's
long life.

Whatever the twentieth century may say to Ainsworth's historic romances,
many of them have found high favor in the past. Concerning 'Crichton,'
so good a critic as "Father Prout" wrote:--"Indeed, I scarcely know any
of the so-called historical novels of this frivolous generation which
has altogether so graphically reproduced the spirit and character of the
time as this daring and dashing portraiture of the young Scot and his
contemporaries." The author of 'Waverley' praised more than one of the
romances, saying that they were written in his own vein. Even Maginn,
the satirical, thought that the novelist was doing excellent service to
history in making Englishmen understand how full of comedy and tragedy
were the old streets and the old buildings of London. And if Ainsworth
the writer received some buffetings, Ainsworth the man seems to have
been universally loved and approved. All the literary men of his time
were his cordial friends. Scott wrote for him 'The Bonnets of Bonnie
Dundee,' and objected to being paid. Dickens was eager to serve him.
Talfourd, Barham, Hood, Howitt, James, Jerrold, delighted in his
society. At dinner-parties and in country-houses he was a favorite
guest. Thus, easy in circumstances, surrounded by affection, happy in
the labor of his choice, passed the long life of the upright and kindly
English gentleman who spent fifty industrious years in recording the
annals of tragedy, wretchedness, and crime.

THE STUDENTS OF PARIS

From 'Crichton'

Toward the close of Wednesday, the 4th of February, 1579, a vast
assemblage of scholars was collected before the Gothic gateway of the
ancient College of Navarre. So numerous was this concourse, that it not
merely blocked up the area in front of the renowned seminary in
question, but extended far down the Rue de la Montagne Sainte-Genevieve,
in which it is situated. Never had such a disorderly rout been brought
together since the days of the uproar in 1557, when t