upstairs-it is an invaluable possession. The author who can write Lord before his name on the title page is sure of a sale for his work; the presence of that brief word in that spot is worth more than Dukes and Earls sprinkled broadcast through the rest of the volumes; it is a guarantee that the descriptions of high life are genuine, a surety that since the imperious countess in the book says to the family solicitor-"now that this business is transacted, you are at liberty to withdraw "- imperious countesses in May-fair and Belgravian palaces, and in moated castles of feudal antiquity, do really and truly so address their legal advisers. Whereas when we take up plain Mr. Brown's or simple Mr. Robinson's novel, what security have we (the public) that some ignoble plebeian charlatan (audaciously thinking that at heart and in the marrow of their natures, a merchant's wife and a peer's lady are much alike, and that they make love, intrigue, quarrel with their husbands, bully their children, run in debt, and squabble with their friends much in one and the same fashion) is not passing off upon us the miserable ambitions and airs of his trumpery connections, (in fact, connections no better than our own) as those of distinguished, and illustrious, and noble--not to say royal— circles? Mary-le-bone loves a lord, and when it goes to Mudie's it has preference for a lord's book over a commoner's, and rightly too, for if the book is a good one, Mary-le-bone (who is really a very intelligent creature) is agreeably surprised, and if it is nonsense, as every now and then by some accident a noble author's book is, still is it not a lord's nonsense, and of the best style of insipidity? and in reading it does not Mary-le-bone get a taste of May-fair?

Of the many gentlemen, members of aristocratic families, who from time to time present the world with a book that can never be said to be really forgotten because it is never altogether heard of, the Honourable Henry Coke is a favourite specimen. In any previous age his novels would

have created a sensation; but now so plentifully do polished, elegant, and adroit writers abound, they only cause him to be known in the clubs and cliques as a gentleman of refinement, education, pleasant humour, and lively wit; a reputation that is doubtless an agreeable and useful addition to the éclat that surrounds him as the Earl of Liecester's brother.

Mr. Coke's works are "Vienna in 1848," "A Ride over the Rocky Mountains of Oregon and California," "High and Low" a novel, and "A Will and A Way" a novel.

WILKIE COLLINS.

THE distinguished son and biographer of William Collins, R. A., was born in London in 1825. Besides his excellent life of his father he has produced "Antonina, or the Fall of Rome. A Romance of the fifth century,' "Rambles beyond Railways," "Bazil; a story of modern life," "Mr. Wray's Cash Box," "Hide and Seek," and "After Dark," &c. &c. He is also the author of two very remarkable dramas, "The Lighthouse" and "The Frozen Deep," which have been performed several times by Mr. Charles Dickens's amateur theatrical corps. "The Lighthouse" has also been put on the stage with success at the Olympic Theatre.

It is needless to say that Mr. Wilkie Collins is generally regarded as a man of commanding genius, and one destined to occupy a principal place in the republic of letters. For some time past his writings would lead one to think him as morbidly enamoured of the horrible and revolting as Edgar A. Poe, but we believe that in composing his terrible stories of crime and passion he is only passing through a phase of mental existence, that will be followed by the production of far nobler works than any that have as yet come from his pen.

DUDLEY COSTELLO.

THE distinct works of this very delightful writer are, we believe, few in number; but he has been a prolific contributor to some of our best magazines. His "Stories from a Screen," published in 1855, are familiar to all readers of light literature, and though they are widely circulated they are not less widely admired.

LOUISA STUART COSTELLO.

THE literary existence of this lady has been of considerable duration and marked with many honours. The "Songs of a Stranger," were published in 1825, and since then novels, memoirs, and books of travel have come in lavish abundance from her pen. There is often heard a clamour that room ought to be made for female practitioners in the arts monopolized by men; but those who raise it are frequently unaware how many ladies are systematically employed in art, and the higher departments of industrial occupation.

Certainly, in the literature of their country, the women of England have full play and encouragement; and as long as they continue to work in their present style we sincerely trust that they may maintain their footing in the guild of authors.

The best known of this writer's novels are "Catherine de Medicis," "Clara Fane," "Gabrielle," and "The Queen's Prisoner."

G. CROLY, L.L.D.-CATHERINE CROWE.

GEORGE CROLY, L.L.D,

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THE celebrated rector of St. Stephen's with Benet's, Walbrook, was born in Dublin in 1785, and after receiving his education in Trinity College, in that capital, came to London to maintain on this side of the channel the reputation of Irish genius for richness and versatility as a poet, novelist, journalist, dramatic writer, and popular preacher. The "Tales of the Great St. Bernard," "Salathiel," and "Marston," have been so universally read and admired by both gentle and simple, that it would be impertinent here to insist on their author's prominent qualities as a novelist. In politics Dr. Croly has been throughout his long and useful life a consistent and zealous Tory; as a journalist he for many years rendered important services to his party, but the reward he has reaped for his long continued exertions is neglect; the only crumb of preferment that has fallen to his lot, the living of St. Stephen's, was thrown to him from the Whig table. In the pulpit this venerable clergyman is still amongst the most popular and admired of metropolitan preachers.

CATHERINE CROWE.

THIS gifted and accomplished writer was born in Borough Green, county of Kent. Her maiden name, which was Stevens, she relinquished in 1822, on her marriage with Lieutenant-Colonel Crowe. She made her début in literature with the publication of her tragedy, entitled "Aristodemus," which effort at dramatic composition has been followed at intervals by several works of fiction, such as "Manorial Rights," "The Adventures of Susan Hopley," "Lilly Dawson." "The Adventures of a Beauty," "Linny Lockwood," &c. &c. Besides these novels and a capital

tale for children, "Pippie's Warning, or Mind your Tempers," she has translated "The History of a German Clairvoyante,' and in her "Night side of Nature," and "Light and Darkness, or Mysteries of Life" has presented materials for endless pleasure to lovers of the vaguely horrible, and those, who feeling there are not enough mysteries in nature's works, find a harmless recreation in imagining marvels and terrors where they do not exist in reality.

THOMAS DE QUINCEY.

MR. DE QUINCEY has a wide and enviable reputation which, like that of his early friend, Coleridge, is due, rather to the influence he has had on his personal acquaintance, than to his works which, though striking from their originality of thought, and scholarly elegance of style, are not of themselves sufficient to account for the high esteem in which the author of the "Confessions of an English Opium Eater," is held by the most enlightened of his own country and Germany. Apart from almost innumerable articles on literature, philosophy, and various subjects intimately connected with the science of political economy, contributed to the Encyclopædia Brittanica, and to Blackwood's, Tait's, and the London Magazines, Mr. De Quincey's principal performances are, "The English Opium Eater," "The Logic of Political Economy," "Selections, grave and gay," and a novel entitled "Klosterheim; or the Masque."

Of these works the general reader is most familiar with the "English Opium Eater," a work of which it is impossible to speak without enthusiasm, or to think without fear. It is, in truth, as dangerous as it is fascinating. It was written, we doubt not, with an honest desire to restrain the careless from indulgence in the pernicious drug which in