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life. Both George Eliot and George Sand had learned that provincial life is more intense, if more monotonous and simple, than the busy life of towns. Amid the turmoil of cities, existence passes through a series of shallows, as it were; whereas in the country the emotions are collected into one deep pool, which pours forth tumultuously if once disturbed. Throughout these novels of memory, as they may be termed, the incidents and tone have a tragic ring about them which is wanting in the majority of novels dealing with London life. Only in the Brontës, and perhaps in Mrs. Gaskell, do we find anything like the depth of earnestness displayed in these novels of George Eliot. Much of their piquancy depends on the contrast between the subject-matter and the manifold reflections to which it gives rise. While the subject is entirely obsolete, the reflections are in accord with the most advanced thought of the day. Every one knows something of the scenery and the characters amid which these novels are placed. The rich fields of Loamshire and their owners and cultivators in the early years of this century form the common background of these tragedies of human life. Generally speaking, they treat of the influence of adverse circumstance on the inner life of the actors.