ical force and historical accuracy.

_Benjamin d'Israeli_, born 1805: is far more famous as a persevering,
acute, and able statesman than as a novelist. In proof of this, having
surmounted unusual difficulties, he has been twice Chancellor of the
Exchequer and once Prime Minister of England. Among his earlier novels,
which are pictures of existing society, are: _Vivian Gray_, _Contarini
Fleming_, _Coningsby_, and _Henrietta Temple_. In _The Wondrous Tale of
Alroy_ he has described the career of that singular claimant to the
Jewish Messiahship. _Lothair_, which was published in 1869, is the story
of a young nobleman who was almost enticed to enter the Roman Catholic
Church. The descriptions of society are either very much overwrought or
ironical; but his knowledge of State craft and Church craft renders the
book of great value to the history of religious polemics. His father,
_Isaac d'Israeli_, is favorably known as the author of _The Curiosities of
Literature_, _The Amenities of Literature_, and _The Quarrels of Authors_.

_Charles Lever_, 1806-1872: he was born in Dublin, and, after a partial
University career, studied medicine. He has embodied his experience of
military life in several striking but exaggerated works,--among these are:
_The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer_, _Charles O'Malley_, and _Jack
Hinton_. He excels in humor and in picturesque battle-scenes, and he has
painted the age in caricature. Of its kind, _Charles O'Malley_ stands
pre-eminent: the variety of character is great; all classes of military
men figure in the scenes, from the Duke of Wellington to the inimitable
Mickey Free. He was for some time editor of the _Dublin University
Magazine_, and has written numerous other novels, among which are: _Roland
Cashel_, _The Knight of Gwynne_, and _The Dodd Family Abroad_; and, last
of all, _Lord Kilgobbin_.

_Charles Kingsley_, born 1809: this accomplished clergyman, who is a canon
of Chester, is among the most popular English writers,--a poet, a
novelist, and a philosopher. He was first favorably known by a poetical
drama on the story of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, entitled _The Saint's
Tragedy_. Among his other works are: _Alton Locke, Tailor and Poet_;
_Hypatia, the Story of a Virgin Martyr_; _Andromeda; Westward Ho! or the
Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh_; _Two Years Ago_; and _Hereward, the Last
of the English_. This last is a very vivid historical picture of the way
in which the man of the fens, under t