NINETEENTH CENTURY NOVELS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 300, 27 December 1878, Page 4

NINETEENTH CENTURY NOVELS.

How very few books of the present day can ba placed in youthful bands ! They mostly treat of indelicate suljectß, however much veiled in highly colored language ; they are spioed with double eniejidres aud seasoned with innuendoj full of descriptions of fast life, the habits, customs, manner?, dresses, jewellery, carriages, horse?, and houses of questionable members of society ; qf tbe entertainments tbey give, the society they tffect, the money tbey spend, the fashions they set, their friends and their friends' friends—this ia all part of the present day novelist's stock-in-trade. It is almost impossible to take up a novel without finding som'e, mention of the clbsb termed demimonde, and the lives tbey lead. The, heroes of fiction, too, now, how in ten bo. ly abeurd they are ! What wonderfql creations these stalwart guardsmen, witb v .Bt frames, cleanly-cut features, hansome as tbose of Adonis or Antinous, and ÜBUBlly compared to tbe one or the other, answerini to sneb soulri quels ks "Baby," "Curly," "Infant," "Pet" — men crible wiih debt, fascinating jet cruel, with tbe strepgth and coarseness of a bargee united lo the polish and the refinement of a fiuished gentleman. These worthies, too, are depicted with an astonishing taste for man-millinery, evinced by their wearing seed-pearl trimmed dressing-gowns, and haying their rooms furnished as luxuriously as the boudoir of a duchess. These are the men people are expected to read about with interest ! The most astonishing part of all being that the public do read such trashy and, in many instances, believe tbat tbe descriptions given in novels of such men and women are real. It would be amusing, were it not shocking and revolting, to think that people write, and read, such pernicious nonsense ; our pity for those who read, and are entertained, by such books is only equalled by our disgust and contempt for those who write thera. "Worse than all is the fact that our lady novelists persistently — ot course there are many honorable exceptions — cboose risque subjects, and descant on such topics with a minuteness of detail which is surprising. Many books now written by women are not fit for indiscriminate reading— a sure test they cannot le read out loud in the home circle. Why? Because of this fashionable following of the taste of the day, which causes such a rush of refined immoral writing to emanate from pens which should be used in raising, instead of lowering, the public mind.-— Charing Cross Magazine.