Consequently, I have been compelled, here and there,
to insert authors of only mediocre merit. In other cases, again, I
have not hesitated to omit works by writers of acknowledged
position when these have seemed below the author's usual standard,
and where no gap had to be filled. I would instance the James II.-
William III. period. Here Stanley Weyman and "Edna Lyall" might
have been represented, but, there being no dearth of good novels
dealing with both the above reigns, I did not deem it advisable to
call in these popular writers at the point which has been very
generally considered their lowest. I mention this to show that
omissions do not necessarily mean ignorance, though, in covering
such an immense ground, I cannot doubt that romances worthy of a
place in my list have been overlooked.
I think many will be surprised to find how large a proportion of
our best writers (English and American) have entered the domain of
Historical or Semi-Historical Romance. Scott, Thackeray, Dickens,
George Eliot, Charlotte Bronte, George Meredith, R. L. Stevenson,
Hawthorne, Peacock, Charles Kingsley, Henry Kingsley, Charles
Reade, Anthony Trollope, Mrs.
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