ter, so the memory of Lady Blessington is kept alive in literary circles by her niece, Miss Power, who, besides editing for two years "The Keepsake," and writing a memoir of her aunt, has published "Evelyn Forrester, a Woman's Story," and another novel. From the means we have as yet had of judging of Miss Power's capabilities as a writer, we should say that she will be rather injured than benefited by associating her name and genius with her aunt; for unquestionably 66 Evelyn Forrester" is altogether superior to any work of fiction that proceeded from Lady Blessington's pen.

CHARLES READE, D.C.L. (BARRISTER), &c. &c.

THIS gentleman was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, of which society he is at the present time a fellow. In the year 1835 he went through the edifying ceremony of taking his B.A. degree. In 1842 he obtained the higher distinction of being elected to [one of the Vinerian fellowships; and at the commencement of the following year, having kept his terms at Lincoln's Inn, he was called to the bar.

With the exception of "Jane Eyre" and "Uncle Tom's Cabin," it may be safely asserted that no novel, not published in numbers, has of late years created such a sensation as Mr. Reade's "It is Never too Late to Mend." Besides this wonderful production, which has already been accepted as "a standard work," Mr. Reade is the author of other tales of singular force and merit, well known to the readers of" Christie Johnson," "Peg Woffington," "White Lies," and "Cream;" and in conjunction with Mr. Tom Taylor, he has presented dramatic literature with "Masks and Faces," "The King's Rival," and "Two Loves and a Life,"

MAYNE REID.

THE author of "The Rifle Rangers," "The Scalp Hunters," "The White Chief," and numerous other works, was born in 1818, in the North of Ireland. The career of this excellent writer and gallant soldier, in daring adventure and shifting fortune, has surpassed all that romance has imagined for its most dashing and eccentric heroes. His early education for the Presbyterian Church, his excursions on the Red River, his experiences as a writer at Philadelphia, the desperate gallantry with which he led the forlorn hope at Chapultepec, and the brilliant style in which he disappointed all his friends, who believed him to have been killed, by rising from the battle-field to carry off as his bride the richest heiress of Mexico, are only a few features of that stormy course which Captain Mayne Reid has run, to the utter astonishment of us quiet mortals, whose lives are written in our tradesmen's bills.

LEITCH RITCHIE.

WE should much like to enter at length into the consideration of the genius of this graphic writer of fiction, for he is unquestionably one of the leading literary personages of his time, and we owe him no small debt of gratitude for amusement and instruction; but the general design of this work, and our want of space, compel us only to briefly mention his name. To enumerate all his achievements would be difficult, for besides being an industrious writer of articles and essays for journals and magazines, and a successful editor, he has produced between thirty and forty original volumes. Those who have read "Head Pieces and Tail Pieces," "Tales and Confessions," "Schinderhannes, the Robber of the Rhine," "The Game of Life," "The

Magician," and "Weryfoot Common,” need no assurance of their author being a highly gifted writer.

Mr. Ritchie was born at the commencement of the present century in Greenock, and has for some years acted as editor of Messrs. W. and R. Chambers' "Journal" at Edinburgh.

ELIZABETH SEWELL.

THE literary fecundity of the female authors of the present century is positively marvellous, and can never be surpassed. In former times we have had a Duchess of Newcastle and an Aphra Behn occupying themselves assiduously at the desk, but here, in this age of wonders, we have dozens, scores, ay hundreds of ladies, accomplished, well read, reflective, witty, and facile with the pen, producing in a month " a bulk of copy" which either of the above-mentioned femmes d'esprit would have wanted a year to manufacture. At such a prodigious rate are books—and good books too-poured forth from female pens, that we would undertake to furnish an enormous library with those that have been published in this country during the last fifty years. The cases of Lady Morgan, Mrs. Gore, Mrs. Trollope, Miss Yonge, and Miss Sewell, indicate that this task would be of no difficult accomplishment.

In thirteen years, Miss Sewell has given us sixteen separate works. Her tales are universal favourites, being liked even by those who do not concur in many of the opinions and sentiments on minor religious subjects contained in them. It would be unfair to classify them with "religious novels," for religious novels as a rule are very dull, notwithstanding their bitterness of personal satire, and very feeble, notwithstanding their acrimony; whereas Miss Sewell's stories, pure of the slightest approach to dogma

tism and cant, are gentle, womanly, and vigorous pictures of life, in which the views of the school to which the authoress belongs, are never obtruded on our notice, but only appear as a soft, solemn light, hallowing to her all objects of human interest. The names of them it is scarcely necessary to repeat, for it can hardly be that any one will read this page who is not well acqainted with "Amy Herbert," "Gertrude," "Laneton Parsonage," "Margaret Percival," "Katherine Ashton," "Cleve Hall," &c., &c.

The mention of Miss Sewell's name brings to mind that of her brother, the Rev. William Sewell, B.D., who has edited several of her works. This wise and good man may also be regarded as belonging to the fraternity of novelists, for "Hawkestone; a tale of and for England in 184-," was written by him, though we believe he has never formally claimed the parentage of it.

CATHERINE SINCLAIR.

MISS SINCLAIR, who has long been a chief ornament of the truly intellectual society of Edinburgh, was born in Charlotte Square, in that city, on the 17th of April, 1800. Her father was the energetic and famous Right Hon. Sir John Sinclair, Bart., and her mother was Diana, daughter of Lord Macdonald of the Isles.

Though Miss Sinclair published at an earlier date her charming books for children, "Charlie Seymour," and "The Lives of the Caesars," it was not till after the death of her father that she strenuously applied herself to authorship. Her first novel, "Modern Accomplishments," was followed in due course by "Modern Society," "Hill and Valley," "Scotland and the Scotch," "Holiday House," "The Journey of Life," "The Business of Life," "Sir Edward Graham," "Modern Flirtations," "Lord and Lady Harcourt,"

"Beatrice," "Cross Purposes," and "The Kaleidoscope of Anecdotes and Aphorisms." This collection of works, varied in style and objects, entitles Miss Sinclair to the reputation of being amongst the best, as she unquestionably is, amongst the most popular, of English female writers.

For some time the energies of this lady have been devoted to the supervision of a benevolent institution for the widows of officers in the army. Thus the list of her good works is not made up solely of those which have passed through the presses of printing offices.

FRANCIS E. SMEDLEY.

MR. SMEDLEY is a young writer; but as he has none of the faults of youth, his want of age is something in his favour. With the dash and broad humour of Lever, he has a delicate playfulness and a manly tenderness, which the author of "Harry Lorrequer" cannot be said to possess. Mr. Smedley is a good judge of a horse, and on paper he can manage a vicious rasper to perfection, but he knows yet more about women, and if his writings may be trusted would not find it difficult to curb the wildest of them. He has a strong, sturdy, boisterous love of the ridiculous, but his laughter is by no means all for practical jokes; perhaps he is in his happiest and most pleasant humour when he indulges in a tone of sly, naïve, half-subdued merriment. He has written well, but his genius has not yet done justice to itself. His principal works are "Frank Fairlegh, or Scenes from the Life of a Private Pupil," published in 1850, and "Harry Coverdale's Courtship, and all that came of it," published in 1854-55. Besides these admirable novels, he is the author of an excellent Christmas story, and of numerous sketches and tales, published in various maga