CHAPTER XIV

Chapter 2812,029 wordsPublic domain

A child of four chosen Emperor--The power of the Empress Dowager--The Palace feud--The Palace at Pekin--A Frenchman's interview with the Emperor--The Emperor's person held sacred--Coming of age of the Emperor--An enlightened proclamation--Reception of the foreign ministers in 1889--Education of the young monarch--He goes to do homage at the tombs of his ancestors--A wife is chosen for him--His secondary wives--China, the battle-ground of the future--Railway concessions.

On the death of the Emperor Tung-Che, there was for the first time for three hundred years no direct heir to the throne of China, and it being the law of the country that the heir must be younger than the person he inherits from, the choice fell upon the infant son of one of Tung-Che's brothers, the Prince of Chun, seventh son of Taou-Kwang, who still occupies the throne, if throne it can be called, when the monarch is a mere prisoner in the hands of the Dowager Empress, compelled to amuse himself in his enforced seclusion as best he can, and spending much of his time in training pets, such as goats and monkeys. The ambitious title of Kwang-Sen, or the "Succession of Glory," was bestowed upon the little fellow of four years old, who has, alas! found his reign rather a succession of misfortunes of every kind than one redounding either to his own glory or that of his people. Once more the unfortunate country has had to suffer all the evils of a long minority, the real power being in the hands of an unscrupulous woman, who yields the sceptre of state with a hand of iron, keeping the "Son of Heaven" in complete subjection. "For many years," says the astute observer, Archibald Colquhoun, in his _China in Transformation_, "the politics of Pekin have been swayed by a bitter Palace feud; the young Emperor and his party on one side, and the Empress Dowager on the other. Of a passionate nature and an imperious will, inspired by purely selfish considerations, the late Regent continues to dominate and even to terrorize the Emperor, who is of feeble physique, and incapable of wielding the power which belongs to him."

He is a mere puppet in the hands of those who ought to obey him, and his name is not associated with a single act of policy worthy of the ruler of a great Empire. Li-Hung-Chang, the courtier, more than once already referred to, is the chief agent of the Dowager Empress, and to these two was due the disgraceful abandonment of the war with Japan--which the Emperor himself wished to carry on to the bitter end--and the signing of the ignominious treaty in 1895. It is just possible that should the Empress Dowager die before him--and she is an old woman now--the Emperor Kwang-Sen may yet take the reins of government into his own hands, but with pretty well every European nation clamouring for a slice of his dominions, he will indeed be a wonderful man if he succeeds in leaving any semblance of power to his successor.

[Sidenote: THE EMPEROR'S APARTMENTS]

This unfortunate occupant of a doomed throne has spent most of his life at Pekin in the great Palace of his ancestors, his apartments being situated in the centre of the multitudinous buildings, not far from those set apart for the use of the real ruler, the Dowager Empress. The space the Palace occupies is so vast that ministers on their way to the Council Chamber have more than half a mile to walk after entering the precincts. Audience is only given by the Emperor at the early hours, four, five, or six in the morning, and certain high functionaries have the privilege accorded them of being carried to the reception-hall in sedan-chairs. Many an important personage, rejoicing in all manner of high-sounding titles, has however been compelled to remain waiting all night in gala costume in some ante-room, for the early morning interview, and foreigners complain bitterly of the discomforts they still have to endure before they are allowed to come face to face either with the real or the nominal head of the State.

A friend of mine, connected with the French Embassy, told me that on one of the very rare occasions when he and some of his colleagues succeeded in obtaining an interview with the Son of Heaven, the time fixed for the audience was at four o'clock a.m. He was conducted by a chamberlain to a room in which a few candles were burning on a table covered with a yellow cloth. On the other side of this table opposite to him was the Emperor, with a screen of a delicate jonquil-yellow colour on either side. Behind one of these screens knelt Prince Kung, and behind the other the Empress.

Obeying a sign from the chamberlain, the visitors saluted the Emperor, but without performing the ko-too, from which Lord Macartney saved all foreigners by his firm attitude in 1793, and my friend, as he rose up after his respectful obeisance, could not resist just raising his eyes to have a good look at the Son of Heaven, who was at that moment yawning enough to dislocate his jaws. For this presumption the _attaché_ was immediately rebuked by the chamberlain, who ordered him to keep his eyes fixed on the ground until the end of the interview.

[Sidenote: THE EMPEROR'S BED]

The Emperor's apartments consist of seven spacious rooms, in each of which is a k'ang or divan, such as is in use everywhere in the north of China, covered with red felt of native manufacture, and provided with cushions adorned with gold embroidery, representing the symbolic dragon and phœnix. On the floors of the royal domain are beautiful European carpets of various kinds, and numerous tables, what-nots, etc., are crowded with objects of art, such as porcelain and pottery, mostly produced in China, though of late years some foreign products have figured amongst them.

The Son of Heaven sleeps in a big bed made at Ningpo, richly decorated with gold and ivory, the very same as that used by his illustrious ancestor Kang-Hy. He is treated by the eight eunuchs in attendance on his person with as much reverence as was the great founder of the now weakened dynasty, and as are the Lamas in the convents on the lofty plateaux of Thibet and Mongolia, where the modified form of Buddhism known as Lamaism is practised.

The person of the Emperor is held so sacred that neither iron nor steel is ever allowed to touch him, which of course makes it impossible for him to receive surgical aid should he be suffering from any of the diseases requiring the use of the knife. Fortunately he was vaccinated when an infant in the cradle, before those in charge of him had any suspicion of the great destiny in store for him. The story goes that a doctor who proposed to save the life of a Chinese Emperor by bleeding him, nearly lost his own head as a punishment. The same superstition prevails in Corea, where one of the kings died in the eighteenth century, when he might have been saved if he, or rather those about him, could have been induced to allow a lancet to be used on his sacred person.

The young Emperor was declared of age in 1889, and he was at once informed that the foreign ministers would be glad to be allowed to pay their respects to him on this auspicious occasion. To their great surprise consent to their reception was given not very long afterwards, that consent being published in the _Pekin Gazette_ in the following year in terms most flattering to all concerned. After the usual preamble the Emperor was made to say:

[Sidenote: AN IMPORTANT INTERVIEW]

"The ministers of the various powers residing in Pekin have abundantly shown their loyal desire to maintain peaceful relations and international friendship. This I cordially recognize, and I rejoice in it.... It is also hereby decreed that a day be fixed every year for an audience; ... on the next day the foreign ministers are to be received at a banquet at the Foreign Office. The same is to be done every year in the first month, and the rule will be the same on each occasion..." The remainder of the proclamation was couched in equally courteous terms, presenting a very marked contrast to the grudging, indeed almost insolent, assent given by previous Emperors to any request for an audience by the representatives of the European powers. When the interview took place, moreover, the various ministers were admitted to the presence of their host one by one, instead of all together as on previous occasions, whilst the _attachés_, etc., were received collectively later. The Emperor was seated on a raised platform at the end of the vast reception-hall, with Prince Ching, President of the Foreign Board, kneeling on one side. As each minister came up to the platform making three bows on the way, he was introduced by the Prince, who took from him the letters of credence and placed them on a table near the Son of Heaven, who, after bowing an acknowledgment, made a long speech to the Prince, who listened to it on his knees. The reply completed, he rose, and with uplifted arms went down into the body of the hall, where he repeated to the foreign interpreter the following speech:

"We desire to convey to all the ministers, _chargés d'affaires_, and secretaries, who have presented congratulations to us, that we truly appreciate, and are very pleased with all their kind expressions, and we sincerely wish that their respective sovereigns may this year have all things according to their hearts' desire, and that their happiness and prosperity may increase. We also hope that you ministers will stay long in China in the full enjoyment of health, and that friendly relations between China and foreign countries will never cease."

Surely nothing could be more courteous and conciliatory than the behaviour of the young Emperor on this important occasion, and but for the terrible war with Japan, which so soon afterwards shook his throne to its foundations, he might perhaps have won a real alliance with some Western power, which would have saved him from the partition of his Empire, from which there is now no hope of escape.

On the coming of age of the Son of Heaven, his mother, the Princess of Chun, was raised to the rank of Empress, but his father, the Prince, received no accession of dignity. Both parents, when admitted to the presence of their august son, kneel to him and treat him as a being altogether superior to themselves. Still young, Kwang-Sen is fond of riding, shooting with the bow-and-arrow, and skating. His day is rigidly portioned out, and he has little real liberty. When he was a child his teachers approached him on their knees, and were only allowed to sit in his presence when he gave them permission. He had to work at the Chinese and Manchu languages for an hour and a half every day, and is really extremely well-educated, though, fortunately for foreigners, he is anything but fond of the mandarins or literati, who would gladly poison his mind against everything European. At regular intervals he goes to do homage at the tombs of his ancestors, as do all of high or low degree in China, and on these solemn occasions he is accompanied by the Empresses and a suite of no less than thirty thousand persons, including princes, nobles, mandarins, apparitors, lictors, banner-bearers, porters, etc. Long before dawn on the day of the ceremony the main road is strewn with fine sand, and decorated with white and blue velvet flags, whilst at regular intervals tables are set up covered with yellow drapery, and bearing the inscription, _Ya Tao_, signifying the Imperial road, words full of terrible significance to the Chinese, for they mean that all on pain of death should keep out of the way of the Son of Heaven.

[Sidenote: STRINGENT MEASURES OF PRECAUTION]

The most stringent measures are taken even in the capital to protect the sovereign from the gaze of the profane. Not only are all the inhabitants compelled to close the doors of their houses when he is about to pass, but no one is allowed to climb on the walls of the town, lest from them they should catch even a glimpse of the Imperial procession. Nor is it only reverence for the sacred person which leads to all these precautions: there is the danger that some evil-minded person might attempt to take the life of the Emperor by firing at him from a distance with one of those awful engines of destruction, the range of which even now seems so extraordinary to the Celestials, in spite of their recent experiences in the war with the Japanese. The Chinese police forbid even European women to show themselves on the day of the procession, lest the sovereign should see them, for the myrmidons of the law, accustomed to the strict seclusion of the female sex in their native land, believe that those who enjoy a liberty such as that of the wives and daughters of the diplomatists, to be capable of any crime even against the venerated Son of Heaven.

[Sidenote: SECONDARY WIVES IN CHINA]

A wife was of course chosen for Kwang-Sen as soon as he attained his majority, and the lady selected for the difficult position of Empress was the daughter of an official of the province of Che-kiang, who was, it is said, as good and as well educated as she was beautiful. Truly it must have been an immense change in her life to be raised from her humble position as the child of a mere nobody, to be placed on the throne of the most populous Empire of the world, and the way in which she has fulfilled her high destiny is very differently judged by the few who really know anything of Palace life in China. Her influence has not of course been as paramount as it would have been in a country where monogamy was practised. Very soon after she became a bride, various supplementary beauties were chosen to fill the royal harem, and the so-called lotus flowers, tea-blossoms, etc., were all equally irreproachable in manners and morals from the Chinese point of view. The number of left-handed marriages permitted in China is illimitable, and where there is money enough to support them, a man often has as many as three hundred secondary wives.

As a matter of course there is none of the fierce jealousy in the Celestial Empire such as is aroused on the mere suspicion of a rival in the virtuous bosom of a European wife. Other countries, other manners; and in China wives and concubines live peacefully enough under one roof, with no more friction than is seen amongst the hens in a poultry-yard. Time alone can show what will be the eventual outcome of the life now being lived in the Imperial Palace of Pekin, for time alone can sift the truth from the many conflicting rumours which reach the outer world. One thing alone is certain, China will be the battle-ground of the future, and the yellow peril, about which so much has been prophesied, will assume many an unexpected form before the century just about to begin in its turn nears its close.

CONCLUSION

When every month brings some change in the political position in China, and the daily press is full of more or less contradictory rumours as to what is going on at Pekin, it is impossible to come to any real decision on the many vexed questions under discussion. One great fact, however, emerges distinctly from out of the chaos of conflicting data, and that is, that it will be Russia, with her wonderful faculty for working steadily onwards towards a definite aim, who will secure the lion's share in the spoliation of the Celestials, whilst her Trans-Siberian railway, which already pays its way, creating trade wherever it passes, and in another four years will connect St. Petersburg with Port Arthur, will be one of the most important factors in changing the course of the commerce of the world.

Shut in as she is on the East by the English in Burmah and the French in Cochin-China, threatened on the West by the Germans and the Japanese, and dominated on the north by Russia, the Celestial Empire finds herself compelled to awake from her long stupor, and to arouse herself to action of some kind. With no real army, no longer an efficient fleet, however, what can she do? She can only choose what seems to her the least of the evils hemming her in on every side, and elect from among the many competitors for the post, the protector best able to save her not only from her outside enemies, but from herself.

[Sidenote: IMPORTANCE OF RUSSIA]

As has been very aptly said, Russia is of all the Western Powers the most imbued with Oriental ideas, and she combines, with the energy and ambition of a first-rate power of the future, a sympathy with the Celestials altogether wanting to France, Germany, or Great Britain. There is, in fact, an actual affinity of race between the Chinese and the inhabitants of the northern steppes, and there is therefore far more hope of real amalgamation between them than there can be in any other case. The English, the French, the Germans, the Italians, if they win the concessions they are now in their turn clamouring for, will always be aliens in the districts they acquire, and there will never, to use a homely but expressive phrase, be any love lost between them and the natives.

Li-Hung-Chang, one of the most enlightened statesmen who have ever arisen in China, came to Europe in 1896 with a view to ascertaining by personal observation, which of the western nations would be likely to be the best friend for his distracted country, in the enfeebled condition to which the war with Japan had reduced her. He saw quickly enough that it would not be England, nor Germany, nor France, but that it would be Russia. It was therefore with Russia that a treaty was eventually made, and ratified in 1897; this treaty, in addition to other privileges, giving to the great northern power. Port Arthur, with the right of making it a coaling station, and in case of war of concentrating troops in its harbour. "The Russians and the Chinese," said Mitchie, writing more than thirty years ago, "are peculiarly suited to each other ... the Russians meet the Chinese as Greek meets Greek ... they understand each other's character thoroughly, because they are so closely alike." Recent events have proved how true was the insight of this astute observer, and it is evident that whilst the other Powers will have to content themselves with their various spheres of influence, Russia alone will obtain real political control of the Celestial Empire as a whole. There remains now no hope that the disintegrating forces at work in the once powerful nation will be arrested from within, in spite of the fact that again and again China has risen in the past from apparent dissolution into a greater nation than before, absorbing her conquerors and converting them into patriots, ready to dare all for their adopted country. The saving force must now come from without, and when once more there is a strong hand directed by a strong brain at the head of affairs, the resources of the unhappy land will be found to be practically inexhaustible. With a prolific soil, vast mineral wealth, and a teachable population, there is indeed no limit to what China, which has been called the India of the future, may become.

In the imminent partition of China into spheres of influence, should that partition finally supersede the more generous policy of the opening of the whole country on equal terms to the trade of all the European nations, the Yang-tse basin, with its populous towns of Nanking, Hankow, Fuchan, and others, will be the field of action of Great Britain; whilst Shantung, a rich sea-bound province, will be that of Germany; and the French, who already occupy Tonking on the south, will obtain concessions in the neighbouring districts. On every side railways are now being projected, and the probability is that ere the century just about to open has run half its course, the whole of China will be intersected by them.

In the Blue Book on Chinese affairs, issued on the 14th March of the current year (1899), the following significant statistics of the railway concessions granted to foreigners in the Celestial Empire are given, showing that Great Britain is more than equal to Russia in the actual amount of mileage secured, whilst Germany, France, Belgium, and America have among them less than Great Britain alone:

[Sidenote: TELEGRAPHS IN CHINA]

British railways 2,800 miles Russian " 1,530 " German " 720 " Belgian " 650 " French " 420 " American " 300 "

More important still, as breaking up finally the isolation on which China has prided herself for so many centuries, is the fact that already pretty well all the important towns of the vast Empire are connected by telegraph with each other, and with the outside world. The search-light of publicity is in fact turned full upon the land once so fraught with mystery, and before long there will be no hidden thing connected with either court or country which will not be revealed to the inquisitive gaze of all the world.

THE END

Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, London & Bungay.

In One Volume, Small 4TO.

_PRICE HALF-A-GUINEA._

_Women Novelists of Queen Victoria's Reign_

A BOOK OF APPRECIATIONS.

THE SISTERS BRONTË By Mrs. Oliphant.

GEORGE ELIOT By Mrs. Lynn Linton.

MRS. GASKELL By Edna Lyall.

LADY GEORGIANA FULLERTON. } By Charlotte M. Yonge. THE AUTHOR OF "THE VALLEY OF } A HUNDRED FIRES" } THE AUTHOR OF "MARY POWELL" }

MRS. CATHERINE CROWE } By Adeline Sergeant. MRS. ARCHER CLIVE } MRS. HENRY WOOD }

MRS. CRAIK (MISS MULOCK) By Mrs. Parr.

AMELIA B. EDWARDS } By Mrs. Macquoid. JULIA KAVANAGH }

MRS. NORTON By Mrs. Alexander.

"A. L. O. E." (MISS TUCKER) } By Mrs. Marshall. "AUNT JUDY" (MRS. EWING) }

HURST AND BLACKETT, Limited,

13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET, LONDON, W.

New Work by H. D. Traill.

_IN ONE VOLUME, CROWN 8vo. PRICE 6s._

_The New Fiction and Other Essays on Literary Subjects_

By H. D. TRAILL

Author of "The New Lucian," "The Life of Sir John Franklin," etc.

SUBJECTS:--

THE NEW FICTION. THE POLITICAL NOVEL. THE POLITICS OF LITERATURE;--A Dialogue. MATTHEW ARNOLD. SAMUEL RICHARDSON. THE NOVEL OF MANNERS. NEWSPAPERS AND ENGLISH;--A Dialogue. LUCIAN. THE REVOLUTION IN GRUB STREET;--A Boswellian Fragment. THE PROVINCIAL LETTERS. THE FUTURE OF HUMOUR.

HURST AND BLACKETT, Limited,

13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET, LONDON, W.

WORKS BY

GEORGE MAC DONALD, LL.D.

_Each in One Volume, Frontispiece, and Uniformly Bound, Pries 5s._

ALEC FORBES OF HOWGLEN.

"No account of this story would give any idea of the profound interest that pervades the work from the first page to the last."--_Athenæum_.

"A novel of uncommon merit Sir Walter Scott said he would advise no man to try to read 'Clarissa Harlowe' out loud in company if he wished to keep his character for manly superiority to tears. We fancy a good many hardened old novel-readers will feel a rising in the throat as they follow the fortunes of Alec and Annie."--_Pall Mall Gazette_.

"The whole story is one of surpassing excellence and beauty."--_Daily News_.

"This book is full of good thought and good writing. Dr. Mac Donald looks in his stories more to the souls of men and women than to their social outside. He reads life and Nature like a true poet."--_Examiner_.

ROBERT FALCONER.

"'Robert Falconer' is a work brimful of life and humour and of the deepest human interest. It is a work to be returned to again and again for the deep and searching knowledge it evinces of human thoughts and feelings."--_Athenæum_.

"This story abounds in exquisite specimens of the word-painting in which Dr. Mac Donald excels, charming transcripts of Nature, full of lights air, and colour."--_Saturday Review_.

"This noble story displays to the best advantage all the powers of Dr. Mac Donald's genius."--_Illustrated London News_.

"'Robert Falconer' the noblest work of fiction that Dr. Mac Donald has yet produced."--_British Quarterly Review_.

"The dialogues in 'Robert Falconer' are so finely blended with humour and pathos as to make them in themselves an intellectual treat to which the reader returns again and again."--_Spectator_.

DAVID ELGINBROD.

"A novel which is the work of a man of genius. It will attract the highest class of readers."--_Times_.

"There are many beautiful passages and descriptions in this book. The characters are extremely well drawn."--_Athenæum_.

"A clever novel The incidents are exciting and the interest is maintained to the close It may be doubted if Sir Walter Scott himself ever painted a Scotch fireside with more truth than Dr. Mac Donald."--_Morning Post_.

"David Elginbrod is the finest character we have met in fiction for many a day. The descriptions of natural scenery are vivid, truthful, and artistic; the general reflections are those of a refined, thoughtful, and poetical philosopher, and the whole moral atmosphere of the book is lofty, pure, and invigorating."--_Globe_.

SIR GIBBIE.

"'Sir Gibbie' is a book of genius."--_Pall Mall Gazette_.

"This book has power, pathos, and humour. There is not a character which Is not life-like. There are many powerful scenes, and the portraits will stay long in our memory."--_Athenæum_.

"'Sir Gibbie' is unquestionably a book of genius. It abounds in humour, pathos, insight into character, and happy touches of description."--_Graphic_.

"'Sir Gibbie' contains some of the most charming writing the author has yet produced."--_Scotsman_.

"'Sir Gibbie' is one of the most touching and beautiful stories that has been written for many years. It is not a novel to be idly read and laid aside; it is a grand work, to be kept near at hand, and studied and thought over."--_Morning Post_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

WORKS BY THE AUTHOR OF

'SAM SLICK, THE CLOCKMAKER.'

_Each in One Volume, Frontispiece, and Uniformly Bound, Price 5s._

NATURE AND HUMAN NATURE.

"We enjoy our old friend's company with unabated relish. This work is a rattling miscellany of sharp sayings, stories, and hard hits. It is full of fun and fancy."--_Athenæum_.

"Since Sam's first work he has written nothing so fresh, racy, and genuinely humorous as this. Every line of it tells in some way or other--instructively, satirically, jocosely, or wittily. Admiration of Sam's mature talents, and laughter at his droll yarns, constantly alternate as with unhalting avidity we peruse the work. The Clockmaker proves himself the fastest time-killer a-going."--_Observer_.

WISE SAWS AND MODERN INSTANCES.

"This delightful book will be the most popular, as beyond doubt it is the best, of all the author's admirable works."--_Standard_.

"The book before us will be read and laughed over. Its quaint and racy dialect will please some readers--its abundance of yarns will amuse others. There is something to suit readers of every humour."--_Athenæum_.

"The humour of Sam Slick is inexhaustible. He is ever and everywhere a welcome visitor; smiles greet his approach, and wit and wisdom hang upon his tongue. We promise our readers a great treat from the perusal of these 'Wise Saws,' which contain a world of practical wisdom, and a treasury of the richest fun."--_Morning Post_.

THE OLD JUDGE; OR, LIFE IN A COLONY.

"By common consent this work is regarded as one of the raciest, truest to life, most humorous, and most interesting works which have proceeded from the prolific pen of its author. We all know what shrewdness of observation, what power of graphic description, what natural resources of drollery, and what a happy method of hitting off the broader characteristics of the life he reviews, belong to Judge Haliburton. We have all those qualities here; but they are balanced by a serious literary purpose, and are employed in the communication of information respecting certain phases of colonial experience which impart to the work an element of sober utility."--_Sunday Times_.

TRAITS OF AMERICAN HUMOUR.

"No man has done more than the facetious Judge Haliburton through the mouth of the inimitable 'Sam' to make the old parent country recognise and appreciate her queer transatlantic progeny. His present collection of comic stories and laughable traits is a budget of fun, full of rich specimens of American humour."--_Globe_.

"Yankeeism, portrayed in its raciest aspect, constitutes the contents of these superlatively entertaining sketches. The work embraces the most varied topics--political parties, religious eccentricities, the flights of literature, and the absurdities of pretenders to learning all come in for their share of satire; while we have specimens of genuine American exaggerations and graphic pictures of social and domestic life as it is. The work will have a wide circulation."--_John Bull_.

THE AMERICANS AT HOME.

"In this highly entertaining work we are treated to another cargo of capital stories from the inexhaustible store of our Yankee friend. In the volume before us he dishes up, with his accustomed humour and terseness of style, a vast number of tales, none more entertaining than another, and all of them graphically illustrative of the ways and manners of brother Jonathan. The anomalies of American law, the extraordinary adventures incident to life in the backwoods, and, above all, the peculiarities of American society, are variously, powerfully, and for the most part amusingly exemplified."--_John Bull_.

"In the picturesque delineation of character, and the felicitous portraiture of national features, no writer equals Judge Haliburton, and the subjects embraced in the present delightful book call forth, in new and vigorous exercise, his peculiar powers. 'The Americans at Home' will not be less popular than any of his previous works."--_Post_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

HURST AND BLACKETT'S

THREE-AND-SIXPENNY SERIES.

_To be had at all Booksellers and Railway Book-stalls_

LONDON:

HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED,

13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

THE AWAKENING OF MARY FENWICK.

By Beatrice Whitby.

"We have no hesitation in declaring that 'The Awakening of Mary Fenwick' is the best novel of its kind that we have seen for some years. It is apparently a first effort, and, as such, is really remarkable. The story is extremely simple. Mary Mauser marries her husband for external, and perhaps rather inadequate, reasons, and then discovers that he married her because she was an heiress. She feels the indignity acutely, and does not scruple to tell him her opinion--her very candid opinion--of his behaviour. That is the effect of the first few chapters, and the rest of Miss Whitby's book is devoted to relating how this divided couple hated, quarrelled, and finally fell in love with one another. Mary Fenwick and her husband live and move and make us believe in them in a way which few but the great masters of fiction have been able to compass."--_Athenæum_.

TWO ENGLISH GIRLS.

By Mabel Hart.

"This story is distinguished by its pure and elegant English, and the refinement of its style and thought. It is a lively account, with many touches of humour, of Art study in Florence, and the story weaved into it exhibits a high ideal of life ... The lively, pleasant, and refined tone of the narrative and dialogue will recommend the story to all cultivated renders."--_Spectator_.

"Beatrice Hamlyn is an emancipated young woman of the most pleasing type, and her friend Evelyn is hardly less amiable. But the cleverness of Miss Hart's story lies in the simple yet effective portrait of the Italian character. The elder Vivaldi is presented to us in a way that shows both knowledge and sympathy. There are pleasing touches of humour, too, in the minor personages."--_Saturday Review_.

HIS LITTLE MOTHER, AND OTHER TALES.

By the Author of 'John Halifax, Gentleman.'

"'His Little Mother' is the story of a sister's self-sacrifice from her childhood until her early death, worn out in her brother's and his children's service. It is a pathetic story as the author tells it The beauty of the girl's devotion is described with many tender touches, and the question of short-sighted though loving foolishness is kept in the background. The volume is written in a pleasant informal manner, and contains many tender generous thoughts and not a few practical ones. It is a book that will be read with interest, and that cannot be lightly forgotten."--_St. James's Gazette_.

"The book is written with all Mrs. Craik's grace of style, the chief charm of which after all, is its simplicity."--_Glasgow Herald_.

MISTRESS BEATRICE COPE:

Or, PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF A JACOBITE'S DAUGHTER.

By M. E. Le Clerc.

"This is a new one-volume edition of one of the prettiest stories that has been written for a long time. It has all the charm and glamour of the most romantic and heroic period of English history yet it never for an instant oversteps the limit of sober fact and probability in the way which mars, so many romantic stories. The tone of the book is absolutely fair and just, and so good qualities of both parties are done justice to. Not that politics as such do more than form a background for the sweet figure of Mistress Beatrice, one of the simplest, most charming, tender, and heroic maidens of fiction. It is a good story well and dramatically told, which gives a life-like picture of the end of the most stirring and heroic period of our national history."--_Queen_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

A MARCH IN THE RANKS.

By Jessie Fothergill.

"Ever since Mies Jessie Fothergill wrote her admirable first novel, 'The First Violin,' one has looked forward to her succeeding books with interest. The present one is a pleasant book, well-written, well-conceived. A book that is written in good sensible English, and wherein the characters are mostly gentlefolk and 'behave as sich,' is not to be met with every day, and consequently deserves a considerable meed or praise."--_World_.

"The characters are so brightly and vividly conceived, and the complications which go to make up the story are so natural, so inevitable, and yet so fresh, that the interest awakened by the opening of the tale never declines until the close, but rather, as is fitting, becomes richer and deeper."--_Academy_.

NINETTE.

By the Author of 'Vera,' 'Blue Roses,' Etc.

"A story of sustained power from beginning to end, it is put together according to the true principles of art; moreover, we congratulate the author upon her hero and heroine. Ninette, in her simple untaught rectitude of conduct, her innate modesty, and child-like faith, recalls some of the happiest touches in the Lucia of the immortal 'Promessi Sposi.'"--_Church Quarterly Review_.

"'Ninette' is something more than a novel; it is a careful and elaborate study of life among the Provençal hills, and, as such, deserves special attention. It is a pretty tale of true love, with its usual accompaniments of difficulty and trouble, which are all overcome in the long run."--_Library World_.

"'Ninette' is evidently based on long and intimate acquaintance with French rural districts, is excellently written, and cannot fail to please."--_Scotsman_.

A CROOKED PATH.

By Mrs. Alexander.

"'A Crooked Path' is, to say the least, as good a novel as the best of the many good novels which Mrs. Alexander has written; indeed, most people, even those who remember 'The Wooing O't.' will consider it the most satisfactory of them all, as a piece of literary work, as well as the most interesting as a story. Starting from a point so common as the suppression of a will, the reader before long finds himself following her into the least expected yet the most natural developments, reaching poetical justice at the end by equally natural and equally unlooked-for means. The portraiture is invariably adequate, and the background well-filled."--_Graphic_.

ONE REASON WHY.

By Beatrice Whitby.

"Our old friend the governess makes a re-entry into fiction under the auspices of Beatrice Whitby in 'One Reason Why.' Readers generally, however, will take a great deal more interest, for once, in the children than in their instructress. 'Bay' and 'Ellie' are charmingly natural additions to the children of novel-land; so much so, that there is a period when one dreads a death-bed scene for one of them--a fear which is happily unfulfilled. The name of the authoress will be remembered by many in conjunction with 'The Awakening of Mary Fenwick.'"--_Graphic_.

"Every page of 'One Reason Why' shows the mark of a fresh, vigorous mind. The style is good--in some parts excellent. It is clear, expressive, and often rhythmic."--_Scotsman_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

MAHME NOUSIE.

By G. Manville Fenn.

"Mr. Manville Fenn has the gift of not only seeing truth, but of drawing it picturesquely. His portrait of Mahme Nousie is faithful as well as touching. Like all her race she is a being of one idea, and that idea is her child. To keep her away from the island, to have her brought up as a lady, it is for this that Nousie has opened a cabaret for the negroes and has sat at the receipt of custom herself. Of course she never once thinks of the shock that the girl must undergo when she is plunged suddenly into such a position, she never thinks about anything but the fact that she is to have her child again. Her gradual awakening, and the struggles of both mother and daughter to hide their pain, are finely told. So is the story of how they both remained 'faithful unto death.' History has a power to charm which is often lacking in tales of higher pretensions."--_Saturday Review_.

THE IDES OF MARCH.

By G. M. Robins.

"'The Idea of March' is a capital book. The plot does not depend for its interest upon anything more fantastic than an old gentleman's belief that a family curse will take effect unless his son marries by a given date. The complications which arise from this son's being really in love with a girl whom he believes to have treated his friend, Captain Disney, vary badly, and getting engaged to another girl, who transfers her affections to the same Captain Disney, are skilfully worked out, while the dialogue is, in parts, extremely bright, and the description of the founding of the Norchester branch of the Women's Sanitary League really funny."--_Literary World_.

"'The Idea of March,' in spite of its classical name, is a story of the present time, and a very good one, full of lively conversation, which carries us merrily on, and not without a fund of deeper feeling and higher principal."--_Guardian_.

PART OF THE PROPERTY.

By Beatrice Whitby.

"The book is a thoroughly good one. The theme is fairly familiar--the rebellion of a spirited girl against a match which has been arranged for her without her knowledge or consent; her resentment at being treated, not as a woman with, a heart and will, but as 'part of the property'; and her final discovery, which is led up to with real dramatic skill, that the thing against which her whole nature had risen in revolt has become the one desire of her heart. The mutual relations each to each of the impetuous Hedge, her self-willed, stubborn grandfather, who has arranged the match, and her lover Jocelyn, with his loyal, devoted, sweetly-balanced nature, are portrayed with fine truth of insight; but perhaps the author's greatest triumph is the portrait of Mrs. Lindsay, who, with the knowledge of the terrible skeleton in the cupboard of her apparently happy home, wears so bravely the mask of light gaiety as to deceive everybody but the one man who knows her secret. It is refreshing to read a novel in which there is not a trace of slipshod work."

CASPAR BROOKE'S DAUGHTER.

By Adeline Sergeant.

"'Caspar Brooke's Daughter' is as good as other stories from the same hand--perhaps better, it is not of the sort that has much really marked originality or force of style, yet there is a good deal of clever treatment in it It was quite on the cards that Caspar himself might prove a bore or a prig or something else equally annoying. His daughter, too--the fair and innocent convent-bred girl--would in some hands have been really tedious. The difficulties of the leading situation--a daughter obliged to pass from one parent to another on account of their 'incompatibility'--are cleverly conveyed. The wife's as well as the husband's part is treated with feeling and reticence--qualities which towards the end disappear to a certain extent. It is a story in some ways--not in all--above the average."--_Athenæum_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

JANET.

By Mrs. Oliphant.

"'Janet' is one of the ablest of the author's recent novels; perhaps the ablest book of the kind that she has produced since the Carlingford series; and its ability is all the more striking because, while the character material is so simple, it is made to yield, without any forced manipulation, a product of story which is rich in strong dramatic situations."--_Manchester Examiner_.

"Mrs. Oliphant's hand has lost none of its cunning, despite her extraordinary--and, one would think, exhausting--industry. 'Janet' may fairly rank among the best of her recent productions."--_St. James's Gazette_.

"'Janet' is really an exciting story, and contains a great deal more plot and incident than has been the case in any of Mrs. Oliphant's recent novels. The character sketches are worthy of their authorship."--_Queen_.

A RAINBOW AT NIGHT.

By the Author of 'Mistress Beatrice Cope.'

"In common, we should imagine, with a large circle of novel-readers, we have been rather impatiently looking forward to the time when M. E. Le Clerc, the author of 'Mistress Beatrice Cope,' would produce a successor to that singularly interesting and charming tale. 'A Rainbow at Night,' though it certainly lacks the romantic and dramatic character, combined with the flavour of a fascinating period, which gave special distinction to its forerunner, has no trace of falling off in the essential matters of construction, portraiture, and style."--_Graphic_.

"Thanks to an interesting plot and a graphic as well as refined manner, 'A Rainbow at Night,' when once commenced, will not readily be laid aside."--_Morning Post_.

IN THE SUNTIME OF HER YOUTH.

By Beatrice Whitby.

"A description of a home stripped by the cold wind of poverty of all its comforts, but which remains home still. The careless optimism of the head of the family would be incredible, if we did not know how men exist full of responsibilities yet free from solicitudes, and who tread with a jaunty step the very verge of ruin; his inconsolable widow would be equally improbable, if we did not meet every day with women who devote themselves to such idols or clay. The characters of their charming children, whose penury we deplore do not deteriorate, as often happens in that cruel ordeal. A sense of fairness pervades the book which is rarely found in the work of a lady. There is interest in it from first to last, and its pathos is relieved by touches of true humour."--_Illustrated London News_.

MISS BOUVERIE.

By Mrs. Molesworth.

"Mrs. Molesworth has long established a reputation as one of the freshest and most graceful of contemporaneous writers of light fiction; but in 'Miss Bouverie' she has surpassed herself, and it is no exaggeration to say that this is one of the prettiest stories which as appeared for years."--_Morning Post_.

"Everyone knows Mrs. Molesworth by her exquisite Christmas stories for children, and can guess that any novel she writes is interesting, without sensationalism. The refinement which pervades all Mrs. Molesworth's stories comes evidently from a pure, spiritual nature, which unconsciously raises the reader's tone of thought, without any approach to didactic writing."--_Spectator_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

FROM HARVEST TO HAYTIME.

By the Author of 'Two English Girls.'

"The accomplished author of 'Two English Girls' has produced another novel of considerable merit. The story is one of a rural district in England, into which there introduces himself one day a foot-sore, hungry, sick tramp, who turns out to be a young man of education and consideration, whose career in the past is strange, and whose career in the future the author has depicted as stranger still. The writer is successful chiefly in the excellent life-like pictures which she presents of Rose Purley, the young lady who manages the farm, and of the village doctor, Gabriel Armstrong. The book is one which may be read with pleasure."--_Scotsman_.

THE WINNING OF MAY.

By the Author of 'Dr. Edith Romney.'

"It is the writing of one who is determined, by dint of conscientious and painstaking work; to win success from that portion of the public that does not look for the brilliant achievements of genius, but can recognise meritorious work. The tale is an agreeable one, and the character of Mr. Beresford is admirably drawn, showing considerable insight and understanding. The author has a steady mastery over the story she wishes to tell, and she tells it clearly and eloquently, without hesitation and without prolixity. The book has this merit--the first merit of a novel--that the reader is interested in the people rather than the plot, and that he watches the development of character rather than that of event."--_Literary World_.

SIR ANTHONY.

By Adeline Sergeant.

"Sir Anthony introduces two mysterious children, Henry and Elfrida, into his house, and compels his wife, whom he dislikes, to protect and virtually adopt them. In due course he tells these children, in his own vigorous Anglo-Saxon, 'You two are my eldest son and daughter, lawfully begotten of my wife, once Mary Derrick, and known afterwards as Mary Paston. You will be Sir Henry Kesterton when I die, and Elfrida is heiress to her grandmother's money and jewels.' Lady Kesterton overheard this terrible statement. He repeats it in a still more offensive form. Thereupon she gives him an overdose of chloral and fights desperately, and with temporary success, for what she regards as the rights of her children, but especially of her son Gerard. Failure overtakes her, and Elfrida, though not poor Henry, comes by her own. The plot is good and thoroughly sustained from first to last."--_Academy_.

THUNDERBOLT.

By the Rev. J. Middleton Macdonald.

"'Thunderbolt' is an Australian rival of Claude Duval and Mr. Macdonald records his daring feats with unflagging verve. Never was police officer more defied nor bewildered than the Major Devereux, of brilliant Indian reputation, who, in the Australian bush, finds that to catch a robber of Thunderbolt's temperament and ability requires local knowledge as well as other gifts undreamt-of by the Hussar officer. Thunderbolt goes to races under the Major's nose, dances in the houses of his friends, robs Her Majesty's mails and diverse banks, but conducts himself with (on occasion) the chivalrous courtesy that characterised his prototype. His tragical end is told with spirit, while the book has excellent descriptions of Australian life, both in town and country."--_Morning Post_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

MARY FENWICK'S DAUGHTER.

By Beatrice Whitby.

"This is one of the most delightful novels we have read for a long time. 'Bab' Fenwick is an 'out of doors' kind of girl, full of spirit, wit, go, and sin, both original and acquired. Her lover, Jack, is all that a hero should be, and great and magnanimous as he is, finds some difficulty in forgiving the _insouciante_ mistress all her little sins of omission and commission. When she finally shoots him in the leg--by accident--the real tragedy of the story begins. The whole is admirable, if a little long."--_Black and White_.

ROBERT CARROLL.

By the Author of 'Mistress Beatrice Cope.'

"M. E. Le Clerc devotes herself to historic fiction, and her success is sufficient to justify her in the occasional production of stories like 'Mistress Beatrice Cope' and 'Robert Carroll.' Beatrice Cope was a Jacobite's daughter, so far as memory serves, and Robert Carroll was the son of a Jacobite baronet, who played and lost his stake at Preston, fighting for the Old Pretender. Of course the hero loved a maiden whose father was a loyal servant of King George, and, almost equally of course, one of this maiden's brothers was a Jacobite. A second brother, by the way, appears as a lad of sixteen in the spring of 1714, and as a wounded colonel of cavalry on the morrow of the fight at Preston, less than two years later--rapid promotion even for those days, though certainly not impossible. The author has taken pains to be accurate in her references to the events of the time, and her blend of fact and fiction is romantic enough."--_Athenæum_.

THE HUSBAND OF ONE WIFE.

By the Author of 'Some Married Fellows.'

"It is a comfort to turn from the slipshod English and the tiresome slang of many modern novels to the easy and cultured style of 'The Husband of One Wife,' and we have been thoroughly interested in the story, as well as pleased with the manner in which it is told. As for Mrs. Goldenour, afterwards Mrs. Garfoyle, afterwards Mrs. Pengelley, she is certainly one of the most attractive as well as one of the most provoking of heroines, and Mrs. Venn has succeeded admirably in describing her under both aspects. The scene of the dinner-party, and the description of the bishop's horror at its magnificence is very clover. We are very glad to meet several old friends again, especially Mrs. Gruter, who is severe and amusing as ever. Altogether we feel that Mrs. Venn's novels are books to which we can confidently look forward with pleasure."--_Guardian_.

BROTHER GABRIEL.

By M. Betham-Edwards.

"The story will be followed with unfaltering interest. Nor is anything short of unmixed praise due to several of the episodes and separate incidents of which it is composed. The principal characters--Delmar, Zoe's cousin and lover--stand out in decided and life-like relief. In the sketches of scenery, especially those of the coast of Brittany and the aspect of its sea, both in calm and storm. Miss Betham-Edwards need not fear comparison with the best masters of the art."--_Spectator_.

"The book is one that maybe read with pleasure; it is fluently, flowingly, carefully written; and It contains very pleasant sketches of character."--_Academy_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

A MATTER OF SKILL.

By Beatrice Whitby.

"Miss Whitby essays a lighter vein than usual in her collection of stories, entitled 'A Matter of Skill.' But she writes with the same excellence and freedom, and all these miniature love-stories will be cordially welcomed. Lovely woman appears in these pages in a variety of moods, humorous and pathetic, and occasionally she seems not a little 'uncertain, coy, and hard to please.' The title story, showing how a stately girl is captured, after a good deal of trouble, by a short and common-place young man, is very amusing; and there are other sketches in which it is interesting to follow the wiles of Mother Eve ere she has come to years of discretion."--_Academy_.

JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.

By Mrs. Craik.

"The new and cheaper edition of this interesting work will doubtless meet with great success. John Halifax, the hero of this most beautiful story, is no ordinary hero, and this his history is no ordinary book. It is a full-length portrait of a true gentleman, one of nature's own nobility. It is also the history of a home, and a thoroughly English one. The work abounds in incident, and many of the scenes are full of graphic power and true pathos. It is a book that few will read without becoming wiser and better."--_Scotsman_.

A LIFE FOR A LIFE.

By Mrs. Craik.

"We are always glad to welcome this author. She writes from her own convictions, and she has the power not only to conceive clearly what it is that she wishes to say, but to express it in language effective and vigorous. In 'A Life for a Life' she Is fortunate in a good subject, and she has produced a work of strong effect The reader, having read the book through for the story, will be apt (if he be of our persuasion) to return and read again many pages and passages with greater pleasure than on a first perusal. The whole book is replete with a graceful, tender delicacy; and, in addition to its other merits, it is written in good careful English."--_Athenæum_.

CHRISTIAN'S MISTAKE.

By Mrs. Craik.

"A more charming story, to our taste, has rarely been written. Within the compass of a single volume the writer has hit off a circle of varied characters, all true to nature--some true to the highest nature--and she has entangled them in a story which keeps us in suspense till the knot is happily and gracefully resolved; while, at the same time, a pathetic interest is sustained by an art of which it would be difficult to analyse the secret. It is a choice gift to be able thus to render human nature so truly, to penetrate its depths with such a searching sagacity, and to illuminate them with a radiance so eminently the writer's own."--_The Times_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

A NOBLE LIFE.

By Mrs. Craik.

"Few men and no women will read 'A Noble Life' without feeling themselves the better for the effort."--_Spectator_.

"A beautifully written and touching tale. It is a noble book."--_Morning Post_.

"'A Noble Life' is remarkable for the high types of character it presents, and the skill with which they are made to work out a story of powerful and pathetic interest."--_Daily News_.

THE WOMAN'S KINGDOM.

By Mrs. Craik.

"'The Woman's Kingdom' sustains the author's reputation as a writer of the purest and noblest kind of domestic stories."--_Athenæum_.

"'The Woman's Kingdom' is remarkable for its romantic interest. The characters are masterpieces. Edna is worthy of the hand that drew John Halifax."--_Morning Post_.

A BRAVE LADY.

By Mrs. Craik.

"A very good novel, showing a tender sympathy with human nature, and permeated: by a pure and noble spirit."--_Examiner_.

"A most charming story."--_Standard_.

"We earnestly recommend this novel. It is a special and worthy specimen of the author's remarkable powers. The reader's attention never for a moment flags."--_Post_.

MISTRESS AND MAID.

By Mrs. Craik.

"A good, wholesome book, as pleasant to read as it is instructive."--_Athenæum_.

"This book is written with the same true-hearted earnestness as 'John Halifax.' The spirit of the whole work is excellent."--_Examiner_.

"A charming tale charmingly told."--_Standard_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

YOUNG MRS. JARDINE.

By Mrs. Craik.

"'Young Mrs. Jardine' is a pretty story, written in pure English."--_The Times_.

"There is much good feeling in this book. It is pleasant and wholesome."--_Athenæum_.

"A book that all should read. Whilst it is quite the equal of any of its predecessors in elevation of thought or style, it is perhaps their superior in interest of plot and dramatic intensity. The characters are admirably delineated, and the dialogue is natural and clear."--_Morning Post_.

HANNAH.

By Mrs. Craik.

"A powerful novel of social and domestic life. One of the most successful efforts of a successful novelist."--_Daily News_.

"A very pleasant, healthy story, well and artistically told. The book is sure of a wide circle of readers. The character of Hannah is one of rare beauty."--_Standard_.

NOTHING NEW.

By Mrs. Craik.

"'Nothing New' displays all those superior merits which have made 'John Halifax' one of the most popular novels of the day."--_Morning Post_.

"The reader will find these narratives calculated to remind him of that truth and energy of human portraiture, that spell over human affections and emotions, which have stamped this author as one of the first novelists of our day."--_John Bull_.

IN TIME TO COME.

By Eleanor Holmes.

"'In Time to Come,' by Miss Eleanor Holmes, merits a good place among one-volume novels. The theme is interesting, the characters who work it out have been observantly studied and carefully drawn, and the sequel justifies what at the first blush seems rather a vague title."--_Dundee Advertiser_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

THE UNKIND WORD.

By Mrs. Craik.

"The author of 'John Halifax' has written many fascinating stories, but we can call to mind nothing from her pen that has a more enduring charm than the graceful sketches in this work. Such a character as Jessie stands out from a crowd of heroines as the type of all that is truly noble, pure, and womanly."--_United Service Magazine_.

DALEFOLK.

By Alice Rea.

"'Dalefolk' tells of the effect produced on a simple and impressible people by a terrific curse, pronounced by a half-insane clergyman on a parishioner whom he believes to have written an anonymous letter of complaint to the Bishop of the diocese The cloud of mingled awe and repulsion that rests on the family for two generations is forcibly described. But this is only a background for a series of capital sketches of life as it was among the West Cumberland dalesmen at a period--this is the only note of time--when the diocese was ruled from Chester instead of, as now, from Carlisle. The author evidently writes from full acquaintance with her subject, and brings out in vivid colours the quaint, old festivities, the dancings, and wrestlings, and card-playings, the great gatherings for shearings and 'salvings,' all of them excuses for genial and unstinted hospitalities, and renewals of kind, neighbourly feeling and good-fellowship, which were so needed among the loneliness and isolation which were of necessity the habitual lot of the occupiers of the great sheep farms. She is equally happy in entering into the ways of thought and feeling which must have been characteristic of the primitive and simple folk to whom the reader is introduced in her pleasant pages."--_Guardian_.

STUDIES FROM LIFE.

By Mrs. Craik.

"These studies are truthful and vivid pictures of life, often earnest, always full of right feeling, and occasionally lightened by touches of quiet genial humour. The volume is remarkable for thought, sound sense, shrewd observation, and kind and sympathetic feeling for all things good and beautiful."--_Morning Post_.

A WOMAN'S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN.

By Mrs. Craik.

"A book of sound counsel It is one of the most sensible works of its kind, well written, true-hearted, and altogether practical. Whoever wishes to give advice to a young lady may thank the author for means of doing so."--_Examiner_.

"These thoughts are worthy of the earnest and enlightened mind, the all-embracing charity and well-earned reputation of the author of 'John Halifax.'"--_Standard_.

"This excellent book is characterised by good sense, good taste, and feeling, and is written in an earnest, philanthropic, as well as practical spirit."--_Morning Post_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

BEATRICE WHITBY'S NOVELS.

EACH IN ONE VOLUME CROWN 8vo--3s. 6d.

THE AWAKENING OF MARY FENWICK.

ONE REASON WHY.

"The governess makes a re-entry into fiction under the auspices of Beatrice Whitby in 'One Reason Why.' Readers generally, however, will take a great deal more interest, for once, in the children than in their instructress. 'Bay' and 'Ellie' are charmingly natural additions to the children of novel-land; so much so, that there is a period when one dreads a death-bed scene for one of them--a fear which is happily unfulfilled."--_Graphic_.

PART OF THE PROPERTY.

IN THE SUNTIME OF HER YOUTH.

"A description of a home stripped by the cold wind of poverty of all its comforts, but which remains home still. The careless optimism of the head of the family would be incredible, if we did not know how men exist full of responsibilities yet free from solicitudes, and who tread with a jaunty step the very verge of ruin; his inconsolable widow would be equally improbable, if we did not meet every day with women who devote themselves to such idols of clay. There is interest in it from first to last, and its pathos is relieved by touches of true humour."--_Illustrated London News_.

MARY FENWICK'S DAUGHTER.

A MATTER OF SKILL.

"Lovely woman appears in these pages in a variety of moods, humorous and pathetic, and occasionally she seems not a little 'uncertain, coy, and hard to please.' The title story showing how a stately girl is captured, after a good deal of trouble, by a short and common-place young man, is very amusing; and there are other sketches in which it is interesting to follow the wiles of Mother Eve ere she has come to years of discretion."--_Academy_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

MRS. CRAIK'S NOVELS

_Each in One Volume, Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN.

"The new and cheaper edition of this interesting work will doubtless meet with great success. John Halifax, the hero of this most beautiful story, is no ordinary hero, and this his history is no ordinary book. It is a full-length portrait of a true gentleman, one of nature's own nobility. It is also the history of a home, and a thoroughly English one. The work abounds in incident, and is full of graphic power and true pathos. It is a book that few will read without becoming wiser and better."--_Scotsman_.

A LIFE FOR A LIFE.

"We are always glad to welcome this author. She writes from her own convictions, and she has the power not only to conceive clearly what it is that she wishes to say but to express it in language effective and vigorous. In 'A Life for a Life' she is fortunate in a good subject, and she has produced a work of strong effect. The reader, having read the book through for the story, will be apt (if he be of our persuasion) to return and read again many pages and passages with greater pleasure than on a first perusal. The whole book is replete with a graceful, tender delicacy; and in addition to the other merits, it is written in good careful English."--_Athenæum_.

CHRISTIAN'S MISTAKE.

"A more charming story, to our taste, has rarely been written. Within the compass of a single volume the writer has hit off a circle of varied characters, all true to nature--some true to the highest nature--and she has entangled them in a story which keeps us in suspense till the knot is happily and gracefully resolved; while, at the same time, a pathetic interest is sustained by an art of which it would be difficult to analyse the secret It is a choice gift to be able thus to render human nature so truly, to penetrate its depths with such a searching sagacity, and to illuminate them with a radiance so eminently the writer's own."--_The Times_.

A NOBLE LIFE.

"This is one of those pleasant tales in which the author of 'John Halifax' speaks out of a generous heart the purest truths of life."--_Examiner_.

"Few men, and no women, will read 'A Noble Life' without finding themselves the better."--_Spectator_.

"A story of powerful and pathetic interest."--_Daily News_.

THE WOMAN'S KINGDOM.

"'The Woman's Kingdom' sustains the author's reputation as a writer of the purest and noblest kind of domestic stories. The novelist's lesson is given with admirable force and sweetness."--_Athenæum_.

"'The Woman's Kingdom' is remarkable for its romantic interest. The characters are masterpieces Edna is worthy of the hand that drew John Halifax."--_Post_.

A BRAVE LADY.

"A very good novel, showing a tender sympathy with human nature, and permeated by a pure and noble spirit."--_Examiner_.

"A most charming story."--_Standard_.

"We earnestly recommend this novel It is a special and worthy specimen of the author's remarkable powers. The reader's attention never for a moment flags."--_Post_.

MISTRESS AND MAID.

"A good, wholesome book, as pleasant to read as it is instructive."--_Athenæum_.

"This book is written with the same true-hearted earnestness as 'John Halifax.' The spirit of the whole work is excellent."--_Examiner_.

"A charming tale charmingly told."--_Standard_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

MRS. CRAIK'S NOVELS

_Each in One Volume Crown Octavo, 3s. 6d._

YOUNG MRS. JARDINE.

"'Young Mrs. Jardine' is a pretty story, written in pure English."--_The Times_.

"There is much good feeling in this book. It is pleasant and wholesome."--_Athenæum_.

"A book that all should read. Whilst it is quite the equal of any of its predecessors in elevation of thought and style, it is perhaps their superior in interest of plot and dramatic intensity. The characters are admirably delineated, and the dialogue is natural and clear."--_Morning Post_.

HANNAH.

"A powerful novel of social and domestic life. One of the moat successful efforts of a successful novelist."--_Daily News_.

"A very pleasant, healthy story, well and artistically told. The book is sure of a wide circle of readers. The character of Hannah is one of rare beauty."--_Standard_.

NOTHING NEW.

"'Nothing New' displays all those superior merits which have made 'John Halifax' one of the most popular works of the day."--_Post_.

THE UNKIND WORD.

"The author of 'John Halifax' has written many fascinating stories, but we can call to mind nothing from her pen that has a more enduring charm than the graceful sketches in this work, such a character as Jessie stands out from a crowd of heroines as the type of all that is truly noble, pure, and womanly."--_United Service Magazine_.

STUDIES FROM LIFE.

"These studies are truthful and vivid pictures of life, often earnest, always full of right feeling and occasionally lightened by touches of quiet genial humour. The volume is remarkable for thought, sound sense, shrewd observation, and kind and sympathetic feeling for all things good and beautiful."--_Post_.

A WOMAN'S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN.

"A book of sound counsel. It is one of the most sensible works of its kind, well written true-hearted, and altogether practical. Whoever wishes to give advice to a young lady may thank the author for means of doing so."--_Examiner_.

"These thoughts are worthy of the earnest and enlightened mind, the all-embracing charity, and the well-earned reputation of the author of 'John Halifax.'"--_Standard_.

"This excellent book is characterised by good sense, good taste, and feeling, and is written in an earnest, philanthropic, as well as practical spirit."--_Post_.

HIS LITTLE MOTHER.

"'His Little Mother' is the story of a sister's self-sacrifice from her childhood until her early death, worn out in her brother's and his children's service. It is a pathetic story as the author tells it. The beauty of the girl's devotion is described with many tender touches, and the question of short-sighted though loving foolishness is kept in the background. The volume is written in a pleasant informal manner, and contains many tender generous thoughts, and not a few practical ones. It is a book that will be read with interest, and that cannot be lightly forgotten."--_St. James's Gazette_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

EDNA LYALL'S NOVELS

EACH IN ONE VOLUME CROWN 8vo--SIX SHILLINGS.

DONOVAN: A MODERN ENGLISHMAN.

"This is a very admirable work. The reader is from the first carried away by the gallant unconventionality of its author. 'Donovan' is a very excellent novel; but it is something more and better. It should do as much good as the best sermon ever written or delivered extempore. The story is told with a grand simplicity, an unconscious poetry of eloquence which stirs the very depths of the heart. One of the main excellencies of this novel is the delicacy of touch with which the author shows her most delightful characters to be after all human beings, and not angels before their time."--_Standard_.

WE TWO.

"There is artistic realism both in the conception and the delineation of the personages; the action and interest are unflaggingly sustained from first to last, and the book is pervaded by an atmosphere of elevated, earnest thought."--_Scotsman_.

IN THE GOLDEN DAYS.

"Miss Lyall has given us a vigorous study of such life and character as are really worth reading about. The central figure of her story is Algernon Sydney; and this figure she invests with a singular dignity and power. He always appears with effect, but no liberties are taken with the facts of his life.'"--_Spectator_.

KNIGHT-ERRANT.

"The plot, and, indeed, the whole story, is gracefully fresh and very charming; there is a wide humanity in the book that cannot fail to accomplish its author's purpose."--_Literary World_.

WON BY WAITING.

"The Dean's daughters are perfectly real characters--the learned Cornelia especially;--the little Impulsive French heroine, who endures their cold hospitality and at last wins their affection, is thoroughly charming; while throughout the book there runs a golden thread of pure brotherly and sisterly love, which pleasantly reminds us that the making and marring of marriage is not, after all, the sum total of real life."--_Academy_.

A HARDY NORSEMAN.

"All the quiet humour we praised in 'Donovan' is to be found in the new story. And the humour, though never demonstrative, has a charm of its own. It is not Edna Lyall's plan to give her readers much elaborate description, but when she does describe scenery her picture is always alive with vividness and grace."--_Athenæum_.

TO RIGHT THE WRONG.

"We are glad to welcome Miss Lyall back after her long abstraction from the fields of prosperous, popular authorship which she had tilled so successfully. She again affronts her public with a very serious work of fiction indeed, and succeeds very well in that thorny path of the historical novel in which so many have failed before her. That 'glory of warrior, glory of orator, glory of song,' John Hampden, lives again, to a certain extent, in that dim half light of posthumous research and loving and enthusiastic imagination which is all the novelist can do for these great figures of the past, resurrected to make the plot of a modern novel."--_Black and White_.

LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED.

* * * * *

Transcriber Note

Images were moved to avoid splitting paragraphs. Some paragraphs were split to insert the Sidenotes.