Mr. Copeland lectured last evening on "Certain Contemporary Novelists," choosing Howells, Blackmore and George Meredith as examples.

Professor Norton well characterized Howells at an authors' meeting which was held in Boston some seven years ago when he said "And as I came up I met Lemuel Barker on the stairs." In Howells we see one of the few representatives of what is called the new method, who have made themselves famous among English speaking people. In spite of all that is said about the prejudice and obstinacy of our English brothers, it is from the American people that Howells has received the severest opposition in his efforts to carry out this new method. It was in Howells's criticism, the setting forth of his own principles and in his own legitimate practice that he encountered the most violent displeasure of Americans.

He forced his theory even so far as to claim that the new method was the only right method of writing. As a novelist he was an artist, but in criticism he was narrow-minded and bigotted. He wrote too much, too many pages of mere detailed description. In this way he has fallen into the trap of Psychology, making his characters tell what they think instead of trusting to their individuality to demonstrate their thoughts. He might well have relied on this feature of his characters, for no one knew better than he how to make mere paper men and women talk.

In his early literary efforts he deals only with small families, like a beginner who does not feel sure of his footing. "A Foregone Conclusion," with its Italian flavor and charm, is representative of this period of his writing. He later handled more numerous characters, surrounded by more complicated circumstances. In this class of his writings he introduces together with realistic detail, a type which is brought out and emphasized by his skill in individualizing character. "A Modern Instance" is an example of this style of novel and although furiously attacked for the grim and sordid tastes which it details, is yet to be considered one of his best three books. A man who can draw such characters as we find in "A Modern Instance" and make them live and move in the sordid environment of a third rate journalism certainly did not merit the storm of abuse which greeted his masterpiece. It is to such works as this that future generations will turn to obtain a true picture of the commonplace American business man of 1880.

George Meredith still holds by the old theories and practices in his novels, so that it is a pleasure to see such a master handling old methods. In Beauchamp's Career and Diana of the Cross Ways we see the effects of passion, poetry and strength so commingled as to form a maize or thicket of difficulties similar to those which we encounter in Carlyle and Browning.

In Lorna Doone we have a book which charms us all at first reading but which we would not care to read through a second time. It is beautiful but to a certain extent dull.