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Kumara Times, Issue 542, 22 June 1878, Page 4

I should be glad to hear that Mr Falconer had been misunderstood, and that he did not include the admirers of standard English novelists in his category ; but as he made no exception, it is left to the public to assume that the lecturer condemns the works of those famous novelists Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, Thackerhy, Kulgsley, Charlotte Brontb, &c., &c. Mr Falconer must be very poorly read in

English literature if he can find nothing in the works of these and many other 1 English authors to elevate the mind. Is there nothing in the story of the death of “ Poor Joe” to touch the hardest heart? or in the sufferings of “ Jane Eyre” “Smike”or in the tyranny of “Squeers,” to arouse genuine sympathy and righteous indignation in the heart of every reader ? I say that there is much. It is to be hoped that no one will adopt Mr Falconer’s , -opinions too hastily. The reading Jof well-written and pure novels is calculated to be productive of a very large amount of good. The authors I have mentioned above are but a small fraction of those that might be named, but they are quite •' sufficient in the present case ; and if Mr Falconer can show that their works are injurious and tend to make their readers useless members of society, then I will be the first to cry “ peccavi.” Ido not for a moment wish to defend all novel readers—far from it ; there are good and bad in all comxhunities, and 1 am well aware that many persons are accustomed to fill their heads with the veriest trash written in any language. But I take the part of those who read what is wholesome, and derive instruction and amusement from it. If Mr Falconer had taken as his subject the works of some of our standard novelists, and pointed out and explained (if he is sufficiently versed in. them to do so) the beauties to be found in them, he would have done infinitely more good than he has by lecturing against them.—l am, &c., “ Facta non Verba. ” Kumara 19th June, 1878.