Three Famous Women

The three greatest novelista of our time are wornen - George Eliot in England, Harriet Beecher Stowe in America, and George Sand in France. Each, may be excelled. in some respects by other writers; they have less humor than Dickens ; do not nárrate as vividly as Scott ; are less picturesque than one writer; have less power of tragedy than another. But in that supreme force of genius which penetrates and impresses the soul, they are unsurpassed. Mr. Stowe's 'Uncle Tom' was a genuine inspiraLion, net a work of calculation or wilt The book appeared, and all mankind began to discuss slavery. Some of George Sand's early books are not to be recommended, but her later ones are not only unobjectionable, but give lis a nobler type of womanhood than can be found since Shakespeare. Like his Portia, they combine intellect, purity, conscience and tenderness. They devote themselves to lowly duties with a self-sacrifice which claims no uierit. and pretenda to no superiority. The soul is that of an angel ; the life one of humble duty. Her plots are very simple, her characters few, and an artistic unity keeps all parts from excess. The power of George Eliot over her readers appears from the way in which her characters are discussed, as if they were real men and women. Y et 1 think it must be admitted that lier books, instead. of improving, like George Sand, degenerate. They become more empty of conviction, pose and