person and adventures of a highwayman; but it is too
unreal to have done as much injury as the _Pirate's Own Book_, or the
_Adventures of Jack Sheppard_. It may be safely asserted that _Paul
Clifford_ never produced a highwayman. Of the same period is _Eugene
Aram_, founded upon the true story of a scholar who was a murderer--a
painful subject powerfully handled.

In 1831 Bulwer entered Parliament, and seems to have at once commenced a
new life. With his public duties he combined severe historical study; and
the novels he now produced gave witness of his riper and better learning.
Chief among these were _Rienzi_, and _The Last Days of Pompeii_. The
former is based upon the history of that wonderful and unfortunate man
who, in the fourteenth century, attempted to restore the Roman republic,
and govern it like an ancient tribune. The latter is a noble production:
he has caught the very spirit of the day in which Pompeii was submerged by
the lava-flood; his characters are masterpieces of historic delineation;
he handles like an adept the conflicting theologies, Christian, Roman, and
Egyptian; and his natural scenes--Vesuvius in fury, the Bay of Naples in
the lurid light, the crowded amphitheatre, and the terror which fell on
man and beast, gladiator and lion--are _chef-d'oeuvres_ of Romantic art.

CHANGES IN WRITING.--For a time he edited _The New Monthly Magazine_, and
a change came over the spirit of his novels. This was first noticed in his
_Ernest Maltravers_, and the sequel, _Alice, or the Mysteries_, which are
marked by sentimental passion and mystic ideas. In _Night and Morning_ he
is still mysterious: a blind fate seems to preside over his characters,
robbing the good of its free merit and condoning the evil.

In 1838 he was made a baronet. His versatile pen now turned to the drama;
and although he produced nothing great, his _Lady of Lyons_, _Richelieu_,
_Money_, and _The Sea Captain_ have always since been favorites upon the
stage, subsidizing the talents of actors like Macready, Kean, and Edwin
Booth.

We must now chronicle another change, from the mystic to the supernatural,
as displayed in _Zanoni_ and _Lucretia_, and especially in _A Strange
Story_, which is the strangest of all. It was at the same period that he
wrote _The Last of the Barons_, or the story of Warwick the king-maker,
and _Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings_. Both are valuable to the
student of English history as presenting the fruits of