C. BELL."

I have hesitated a little, before inserting the following extract
from a letter to Mr. Williams, but it is strikingly
characteristic; and the criticism contained in it is, from that
circumstance, so interesting (whether we agree with it or not),
that I have determined to do so, though I thereby displace the
chronological order of the letters, in order to complete this
portion of a correspondence which is very valuable, as showing
the purely intellectual side of her character.

To W. S. WILLIAMS, BSQ.

"April 26th, 1848.

"My dear Sir,--I have now read 'Rose, Blanche, and Violet,' and I
will tell you, as well as I can, what I think of it. Whether it
is an improvement on 'Ranthorpe' I do not know, for I liked
'Ranthorpe' much; but, at any rate, it contains more of a good
thing. I find in it the same power, but more fully developed.

"The author's character is seen in every page, which makes the
book interesting--far more interesting than any story could do;
but it is what the writer himself says that attracts far more
than what he puts into the mouths of his characters. G. H. Lewes
is, to my perception, decidedly the most original character in
the book. . . . The didactic passages seem to me the best--far
the best--in the work; very acute, very profound, are some of the
views there given, and very clearly they are offered to the