It is impossible to guess how Mr. Kipling will fare if
he ventures on one of the usual novels, of the orthodox
length. Few men have succeeded both in the conte and
the novel. Mr. Bret Harte is limited to the conte ; M. Guy
de Maupassant is probably at his best in it. Scott wrote
but three or four short tales, and only one of these is a
masterpiece. Poe never attempted a novel. Hawthorne
is almost alone in his command of both kinds. We can
live only in the hope that Mr. Kipling, so skilled in so
many species of the conte, so vigorous in so many kinds
of verse, will also be triumphant in the novel : though it
seems unlikely that its scene can be in England, and
though it is certain that a writer who so cuts to the quick will
not be happy with the novel's almost inevitable " padding."
Mr. Kipling's longest effort, " The Light which Failed," can,
perhaps, hardly be considered a test or touchstone of his
powers as a novelist. The central interest is not so power-
ful, the characters are not so sympathetic, as are the
interest and the characters of his short pieces. Many of
these persons we have met so often that they are not
mere passing acquaintances, but already find in us the
loyalty due to old friends.
PRINTED BY

WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITKDj

LONDON AND BECCLES.
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