in a brilliant society, although one belonging to a yet undiscovered
world. Women whose political influence changes the map of Europe,
irresistible Catholic priests are mingled with impudent adventurers and
professional toad-eaters. And over every thing is cast, by d'Israeli's
Eastern imagination, a glamour of unlimited wealth, of numberless
coronets, and of soaring ambitions. The political career of the Earl of
Beaconsfield is one of the most remarkable in history, and even his
opponents cannot withhold admiration from the great abilities and
undaunted resolution which brought that career to its triumphant close.
But the novels of the Earl of Beaconsfield have little value beyond
their reflection of his dreams and his ambition.

Among the most famous writers of fiction of the nineteenth century will
always be mentioned the name of Sir Bulwer Lytton. More than any other
writer, he studied and developed the novel as a form of literature.
Almost every novelist has taken some special field and has confined
himself to that. Dickens, George Eliot, Thackeray made occasional
incursions on historic ground, but still their chief work was expended
upon the novel of life and manners. Lytton attempted, and successfully,
every department of fiction. In "Zanoni," he gave to the world a novel
of fancy; in "Pelham" and "The Disowned," fashionable novels: in "Paul
Clifford," a criminal novel; in "Rienzi," "Harold," "The Last of the
Barons," historical novels; in "What Will He Do With It?" a novel of
familiar life. And he brought to each variety of fiction the same
artistic sense, the same knowledge of the world, and keen observation.
To describe English life in all its phases, he was particularly fitted.
Born in a high rank, he was perfectly at home in his descriptions of
the upper classes, and never slow in exposing their vices. His studies
of men took so universal a form that he became familiar even with the
slang terms of pickpockets and house-breakers. "What Will He Do With