liot put most of her early life, and of all her heroines
Maggie Tulliver is the one on whom she has expended most care and
tenderness.

Oliver Twist. CHARLES DICKENS.

In this book Dickens achieved the dual purpose which he had always
before him. He wrote a great story, and he laboured also to redress a
great social scandal. In no other, perhaps, except _A Tale of Two
Cities_, is the tragic power which lay behind all his humour apparent
in so wonderful a degree.

The Old Curiosity Shop. CHARLES DICKENS.

This book, largely biographical, has always been one of the most
popular of the author's works. Humour and pathos are mingled in it,
for if we have on the one hand Little Nell, on the other we have "The
Marchioness," Mrs. Jarley, and the immortal Codlin and Short.

A Tale of Two Cities. CHARLES DICKENS.

Sidney Carton is almost the only case in which Dickens has drawn a
hero on the true heroic scale, and his famous act of self-sacrifice is
unmatched in fiction. The book must be ranked very high among the
great tragedies in literature.

A Child's History of England. CHARLES DICKENS.

Amongst histories for children this is easily first. It possesses all
Dickens's wonderful force, vivacity, and keen insight into human
nature, and his characteristic enthusiasm for all that is loyal,
manly, and true.

Hard Times. CHARLES DICKENS.

A bitter and scathing satire on the belief in "Facts, nothing but
Facts" in education, the results developed in a tale of deep and
pathetic interest.

Westward Ho! CHARLES KINGSLEY.

This is the best novel ever written on the greatest age of English
adventure. It is a saga of the Devonshire sailors who, like Drake,
sailed to the unknown to found an empire for their queen, "as good as
any which his Majesty of Spain had." The story swings from start to
close at a breathless pace.

Hypatia. CHARLES KINGSLEY.

This book is a remarkable instance of the range of Kingsley's powers.
No difference could be greater than that between the stirring age of
Elizabeth and that of Alexandria in the fifth century, when the world
was occupied with barren ecclesiastical strife. Hypatia, the last
defender of the pagan faith, is a wonderful study, and the whole book
is a brilliant picture of the passing of the old faiths of Greece and
Rome.

The Last Days of Pompeii. Lord LYTTON.

A classical romance is always a difficult form of art, but Lord
Lytton