EFORE HIS DEATH]

Meredith's life was that of a scholar; it contained few exciting
episodes. He was of Welsh and Irish stock. At an early age he was sent
to Germany, where he remained at a Moravian school until he was
fifteen. He then returned to England to study law, but he never
practiced it. For a number of years he was a regular contributor to
the London MORNING POST, and in 1866 he acted as correspondent during
the Austro-Italian war. For many years he served as chief reader and
literary adviser to Chapman & Hall, the English publishers, and in
that capacity he showed an insight that led to the development of many
authors whose first work was crude and unpromising. Meredith himself
began his literary career with _The Shaving of Shagpat_, a series of
Oriental tales the central idea of which is the overcoming of
established evil. Shagpat stands for any evil or superstition, and
Shibli Bagarag, the hero, is the reformer. This book, with its wealth
of metaphor, opened the door for Meredith, but he did not score a
success until he wrote _The Ordeal of Richard Feverel_, two years
later. Despite its faults, this is his greatest book, and it is the
one which readers should begin with. It is overloaded with aphorism in
the famous "Pilgrim's Scrip," which is a diary kept by Sir Austin, the
father of Richard. The boy is trained to cut women out of his life,
and just when the father's theory seems to have succeeded Richard
meets and falls in love with Lucy, and the whole towering structure
founded on the "Pilgrim's Scrip" falls into ruin. The scene in which
Richard and Lucy meet is one of the great scenes in English fiction,
in which Meredith's passionate love of nature serves to bring out the
natural love of the two young people. Earth was all greenness in the
eyes of these two lovers, and nature served only to deepen the love
that they saw in each other's gaze and felt with thrilling force in
each other's kisses. But even stronger that this scene is that last
terrible chapter, in which Richard returns to his home and refuses to
stay with Lucy and her child. Stevenson declared that this parting
scene was the strongest bit of English since Shakespeare. It certainly
reaches great heights of exaltation, and in its simplicity it reveals
what miracles Meredith could work when he allowed his creative
imagination full play.

Another story which is usually bracketed with this is _Diana of the
Crossways_. This great novel was founde