and meanings of simple homely life. Adam Bede penetrates deep into the elemental feelings of human kind. Yet upon her psychological method, and upon her frequent introduction of generalizing and theoretical matter are based the strongest criticisms upon her work from a literary point of view. Feeling and sentiment are sometimes brought in when unnecessary, and the story becomes a study in psychology. The characters are not drawn by insisting upon characteristic and salient points-we have no mental picture of any one of them such as we have of Becky Sharp or of Mr. Micawber-but analysis, description, discussion, comment, all are given, and through the bulk of the material, some of it extraneous, we get a view of the character. The author imposes upon the reader the task of selecting the significant and important points. A large amount of discussion and comment upon subjects suggested by the story is introduced in the author's person. The reader is never allowed to forget his own or the author's personality, and the feeling is always present that the actors are not working the story out for themselves. Inconsistencies of character are sometimes allowed, in one or two instances what seem to be impossibilities are introduced into the plot, the style is not sufficiently formed, and the seriousness of the author is too evident. George Eliot realized these limitations as well as the reader, and said, concerning her greatest: "It is my way (rather too much so, perhaps) to urge the human sanctities through tragedy-through pity and terror, as well as admiration and delight." But it is not fair to judge the entire works of Eliot by Adam Bede, great as it is. It displays much of the great power which the author possessed; its limitations are not characteristic of all her works. Wide knowledge of life, wide and deep sympathy, a unique humor, great seriousness, and high purpose,-these are constant characteristics. George Eliot was careless of literary fame; she gave her life to teach the great lesson of sympathy with all mankind. SUBJECTS FOR ESSAYS AND CLASS. 1. Write a review of Adam Bede. 2. What can be said of its plot. 3. By what methods are the characters drawn? 4. What are the elements, if any, in 'Adam Bede' which show it is the work of a woman? 5. Consider in connection with George Eliot's life, the life and work of George Henry Lewes. 6. Criticise George Eliot's style, 7. Is there justification for the statement that her works are too subjective and lack restraint? 8. Is George Eliot's method of emphasizing her moral purpose in writing the most effective? 9. What was the effect on her work of modern science ;-of her religious ideas? 10. Compare Dowden's conception of George Eliot in his 'Victorian Literature' essay with Lanier's as given in his 'English Novel.' REFFRENCES. 'Adam Bede' should be carefully read or re-read. It is published by F. M. Lupton, New York, in 'The Elite Series' (paper), and is sold for ten cents. A good (cloth) edition in Burt's 'Home Library' costs forty-five cents. The standard edition of George Eliot's novels is published by William Blackwood & Sons, London and Edinburgh. All biographies of George Eliot follow Mr. Cross's Life (Blackwood and Harpers, 1885. 3 Vols.) The biography recommended for this course is that by Oscar Browning in the 'Great Writers' Series, published by Walter Scott, London, at 1s. 6d. It is sold in America for thirty-five cents. F. W. H. Myers and Madame Belloc have given excellent descriptions of George Eliot's personality. LECTURE VI. The Modern Novel. ('Waverley,' 1814, to Adam Bede,' 1859.) 66 Poetry may kindle a loftier fire; the drama may rivet the attention more firmly; science may open a wider horizon, and philosophy may touch a deeper spring, but no works are so penetrating or so persuasive, enter so many houses, or attract so many readers, as the romance or novel of modern times." "And in proportion as the good novel is the best, so is the bad novel the worst of instructors; but the work of the successful novelist, if pure in style, elevating in thought, and true in its sentiment, is the best of blessings to the Christian home, which the bad writer would debase and defile."-From a sermon preached by the Dean of Westminster in the Abbey, at the funeral of Charles Dickens. The average modern reader choosing to read many things of many sorts, must be content to read hastily, superficially and without much thought. The choice may not be of the wisest, but so long as it is conscious and deliberate one has the smaller cause to find fault. If, however, the choice is unconscious, the results unrealized and the reader accepts superficiality as soundness, it is a kindness to acquaint him with the true condition of affairs. If one is superficial,and there sometimes seems to be no escape-let the condition be realized, bettered if it can be, accepted if it must. Nothing teaches appreciation of criticism like doing a piece of it for one's self. First, realizing that literary methods are by no means those of ordinary life, that individual taste is not a safe criterion of judgment unless it is well trained, that carefulness and accuracy are as necessary to criticism as sympathy and appreciation, then with profit can be studied in novel reading, the technique of an author, his method in telling his story, his use of material, the influence of his personality upon his work; the influence of reading, and practice in writing upon his style; whether or not it is easy, lucid and vigorous; how his characters are drawn, whether they are typical or individual, characteristic or caricatures. In the case of the special study of this course it is possible, to deduce, with a knowledge of the eighteenth century novel upon which to base it, the conclusion that from the beginning of our period to its end, the novel has tended away from a somewhat indefinite and romantic treatment, from an aristocratic point of view of general or historical stories of action, to a more definite and realistic study from a democratic point of view, of the character of individuals. A knowledge of the novel after the early nineteenth century period makes it possible to add the statement that the movement went further toward psychological analysis of mind, the study of human "problems" of all sorts, and the diagnosis of moral disease; that there has been a side reaction in the direction of the old romantic novel of action. The study of novels should teach caution against the over use of the imagination as well as realization of the privilege we enjoy by being let into the greatest thoughts of great men. One should be warned against evil and stimulated to noble action by Scott, to high ambition by Bulwer-Lytton, to broad knowledge of life by Thackeray, to great human sympathy by Dickens and to reverent thoughtfulness by George Eliot. "As one lamp lights another, nor grows less, So nobleness enkindleth nobleness." -James Russell Lowell. SUBJECTS FOR ESSAYS AND CLASS. 1. Write from any point of view a review of one of the novels studied. 2. Compare and contrast the five novels studied with regard to either plot, characters, incidents, or style. 3. Note in any single novel, the relative importance of plot, characters, style, and the influence of the author's personality. 4. How are the five novels to be classified with regard to realism and romanticism? 5. Justify one or two of the particulars in the statement of the tendency of the novel in our period. 6. What is the literary place of the novel as related to romance, poetry, and the drama? 7. What are some literary tests of a good novel? 8. Should the primary purpose of a novel be moral or artistic? 9. What is the value of the novel in life? 10. Why should the novel be " the distinctive literary form of the day ?" REFERENCES. For certain ideas concerning the growth and nature of English Fiction one may well read W. E. Simond's 'Introduction to the Study of English Fiction,' Heath & Co., 1894, and Sidney Lanier's 'The English Novel,' Scribner's, revised edition, 1897. In response to personal inquiry the leturer will be glad to make suggestions for reading and study subsequent to the course. 3. The Making of a Federal Republic. W. C. WEBSTER, M. A., . 4. English History as Illustrated by Shakespeare's Plays. BEVERLEY E. 5. The Development of the United States. E. D. WARFIELD, LL. D., 6. American Authors. J. H. PENNIMAN, B. A., 7. Florentine History. W. HUDSON SHAW, M. A., 8. Art of Music. HUGH A. CLARKE, Mus. D., 9. Prose Writers of the Nineteenth Century. H. W. ROLFE, M. A., 46 13. Causes of National Prosperity. EDWARD T. DEVINE, Ph. D., 14. Development of American Nationality. J. L. STEWART, Ph. B., 15. History of American Literature. R. E. THOMPSON, S. T. D., 16. History of Venice. W. HUDSON SHAW, M. A., 17. English Social Reformers. W. HUDSON SHAW, M. A., 18. Birth of American Institutions. EDWIN E. SPARKS, M. A., 19. American Political History. L. P. POWELL, B. A., 20. United States History. C. F. A. CURRIER, C. No. 1. The Protestant Reformation. J. H. DUBBS, D. D., 2. Shakespeare. HOMER B. SPRAGUE, Ph. D., ៩ ៥ ៥ ៖ ៥ ៖ ៥ ៖ ៖ ៖ ៖ ៖ ៖ ៖ ៖ ៖ ៖ ៖ ៖ ៖ 4. Topics in Algebra. EDWIN S. CRAWLEY, B. S., 25 5. Milton, Paradise Lost and Goldsmith. HOMER B. SPRAGUE, Ph. D., 7. Reformation, Historically Considered. C. M. ANDREWS, Ph. D., 66 14. Experimental Psychology. LIGHTNER WITMER, Ph. D., SERIES D. 1894-95. D. No. 1. Early English Literature. W. CLarke Robinson, Ph. D., ... 66 15. Citizenship and Government. EDWARD T. DEVINE, Ph. D. 8. Some Formative Influences in the History of the American Union. JOHN 9. English Novelists. JOSIAH H. PENNIMAN, B. A., 10. Literary Study of Homer. WM. C. LAWTON, B. A., 12. Comparative Religion. R. E. THOMPSON, S. T. D., ΤΟ ΤΟ 15 15 10 ΤΟ 15 15 ... 3. Money and Banking. ROBERT ELLIS THOMPSON, S. T. D., 66 4. Poetry and Romance in New England. WILLiam Cranston LAWTON, B.A., 5. Development of Classical Music from Palestrina to Beethoven. THOMAS 66 6. Bayard Taylor and his Friends. ALBERT H. SMYTH, B. A., . " 7. First Quarter of the Nineteenth Century in the United States. JOHN BACH 8. Representative English Authors of the Nineteenth Century. HENRY W. ROLFE, M. A., 9. The Poetry of the Nineteenth Century-Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, " 10. The Making of England, 449-1215. W. HUDSON SHAW, M. A., " 11. Mediæval England, 1215-1514 W. HUDSON SHAW, M. A., 66 12. English History. EDWARD P. CHEYNEY, M. A., . 44 66 13. The American Railway. EMORY R. JOHNSON, Ph. D., "6 14. The American Citizen. ALBERT A. BIRD, Ph. D., . 86 15. Special Studies in English Literature. Alfred Cope GARRETT, Ph. D., " 16. Certain Poets and Prose Writers of New England. HENRY W. ROLFE, 18 Current Topics. LINDLEY Miller KeasbEY, Ph. D., " 20 Between the Two Wars-1812-1860. HENRY W. ELSON, M. A., 20 25 ΤΟ ΤΟ ΤΟ ΤΟ * Out of Print. |