composing the arch to revolve round the magnetic pole of the earth, giving them the motion from east to west, or from west to east, which the components of the arch are observed to have.”

The principal difficulties and deficiencies of this hypothesis, which was first suggested by De la Rive, are that it makes no attempt to account for the origin of such an electrical discharge, and that it is difficult to understand how an electric current can traverse vast spaces of the almost perfect vacuum which must exist at the distance from the earth (many hundreds of miles) which is attained by the magnetic curves, since, in the best vacuums of our Sprengel pumps, discharge will not take place even across the interval of a few centimetres. It is not, however, certain that stellar space is an insulator, and it is possible, moreover, that the auroral currents do not follow the magnetic curves through their whole course, since electric discharge is always in the path of least resistance, and this is modified not only by the magnetic forces, but by atmospheric density, and it is possible that on attaining a certain height the current may proceed horizontally on a stratum of least resistance. It need create no surprise that the discharge is generally invisible in the intermediate zone of low latitudes, since this is well accounted for not only by the large surface over which it is spread at great heights, but because this part of its course is at right angles to the line of sight, while in higher latitudes we look at the streamers almost "end-on," and thus have before our eyes a very great depth of luminous gases. It is common enough, too, in discharges in rarefied gases to see the two poles surrounded by luminous auræ, while the intermediate space is almost or quite dark, or consists of luminous disks or striæ separated by dark spaces. It seems probable that this "glow" discharge in rarefied gases is really a sort of electrical convection, which is propagated comparatively slowly, and from particle to particle; and that the striæ are surfaces at which the difference of potential of the moving molecules is so great as to cause discharge between them, while in the intermediate dark spaces the electric force is carried mechanically and silently by the particles moving in regular currents under the repulsive and attractive forces of electrification. On this hypothesis the auroral discharge becomes comprehensible, since we have only to suppose that the electricity is carried mechanically, as it were, through the vacuous spaces, which, if they contain no matter to conduct electricity, can contain none to impede the motion of the molecules. It is, moreover, by no means certain that the bright rays indicate actual currents. They may simply consist of matter rendered luminous in the arches, and projected by magnetic or electrical repulsion in the curves of magnetic force, since Varley (Roy. Soc. Proc., xix. 236) shows that when a glow discharge in a vacuum tube is brought within the field of a powerful magnet, the magnetic curves are illuminated beyond the electrodes between which the discharge is taking place as well as within the path of the current; and also that this illumination is caused by moving particles of matter, since it deflected a balanced plate of talc on which it was caused to impinge. It has also been shown that in electrical discharges in air at ordinary pressures, while the spark itself was unaffected by the magnet, it was surrounded by a luminous cloud or aura, which was drawn into the magnetic curves, and which might also be separated from the spark by blowing upon it. It is evident, therefore, that any mechanical force may separate the luminous particles from the electric discharge which produces them. With regard to the geographical distribution of aurora, hical dis- Prof. Loomis (Sill. Jour., xxxi.) has laid down a series of zones of equal auroral frequency, and in Petermann's Mittheilungen for October 1874, Prof. Fritz has given a

eogra

-ibution.

chart embodying the results of his extensive researches on the same subject. He finds, like Prof. Loomis, that the frequency of auroral display does not continue to increase to the pole, but reaches a maximum in a zone which, for the northern hemisphere, passes through the Faroe Islands, reaches its most southern point, about 57°, nearly south of Greenland, passes over Nain on the Labrador coast, then tends northwards, across Hudson's Bay (60° N. lat.), and through great Bear Lake, and leaves the American continent slightly south of Point Barrow. It then skirts the northern coast of Asia, reaching its most northerly point, about 76° N., near Cape Taimyr, passing through the north of Nova Zembla, and skirting the N.W. coast of Norway. Not only are auroral displays less frequent in Iceland and Greenland than further south, but it is found that while south of this zone aurora appear usually to the north of the observer, north of it they are generally to the south, and within it, north or south indifferently. South of this lie other zones approximately parallel to it, and of constantly diminishing frequency. That in which the average yearly number of auroræ is 100 passes through the Drontheim, the Orkneys, and the Hebrides, and reaches the American coast just north of Newfoundland. South of this the frequency diminishes rather rapidly. At Edinburgh the annual average is 30, at York 10, in Normandy 5; while at Gibraltar the average is about 1 in ten years. These curves, which Prof. Fritz calls isochasmen, are nearly normal to the magnetic meridians, and bear a close relation to the curves of equal magnetic inclination, especially with those laid down by Hansteen in 1730, while they noticeably diverge in some places from those of Sabine of 1840. They also approximate to the isobaric curves of Schouw, and Prof. Fritz remarks that the curves of greater frequency tend towards the region of lowest atmospheric pressure. It is not unlikely that there may be such a connection, since Prof. Airy has showed a relation between barometric and magnetic disturbances.

It will be noticed that, eastward from England, the isochasmic curves tend rapidly northward, Archangel being only on the same auroral parallel as Newcastle. Prof. Fritz points out that they bear some relation to the limit of perpetual ice, tending most southward where, as in North America, the ice limit comes furthest south. He also endeavours to establish some connection between the periods of maximum of aurora and those of the formation of ice, and considers ice as one of the most important local causes which influence their distribution. He quotes a curious fact mentioned by several Arctic voyagers, that aurora was most frequently seen when open water was in sight, and usually rather in the direction of the water than of the magnetic north. In this connection it may be well to remind our readers that the water of the Arctic regions is always warmer than the ice fields, and must cause upward currents of damp air. For the southern hemisphere there are not yet sufficient observations to make any determination of geographical distribution.

time.

With regard to distribution in time Loomis and Fritz Distribuand Wolf have shown that there are periodical maxima tion in about every ten or eleven years, and that these maxima coincide both with those of sun spots, and of magnetic disturbance. The following are Fritz and Wolf's dates of maxima :—

1107; Langworth, Huxham, Hallet, and Callendrini, Phil. Trans. xxxiv. 132, 150; Mairan, Traité de l'Aurore Boréale, 1733, 1754; Weidler, De Aurora Boreali, 4to; Wargentin, Phil. Trans. 1751, p. 126, 1752, p. 169, 1753, p. 85; Bergmann, Schw. Abh., 200, 251; Wiedeburg, Ueber die Nordlichter, 8vo, Jena, 1771; Hüpsch, Untersuchung des Nordlichts, 8vo, Cologne, 1778; Van Swinden, Recueil de Mémoires, Hague, 1784; Cavallo, Phil. Trans. 1781, p. 329; Wilke, "Von den Neuesten Erklärungen des Nordlichts, Schwedisches Mus., 8vo, Wismar, 1783; Hey, Wollaston, Hutchinson, Franklin, Pigott, and Cavendish, Phil. Trans. 1790, pp. 32, 47, 101; Dalton's Meteorological Observations, 1793, pp. 54, 153; Chiminello, "On a Luminous Arch.," Soc. Ital., vii. 153; Loomis, "Electrical and Magnetic Relations," Sill. Jour. 2d ser., xxxii. 324, xxxiv. 34, Sept. 1870; on "Catalogue, Geog. dist., Sun spots," &c., ibid., 3d ser. v. 245, &c.; B. V. Marsh, Electrical Theory," ibid. 3d. ser., xxxi. 311; Oettingen and Vogel on "Spectrum," Pogg. Ann., cxlvi.

284, 569; Galle and Sirks on "Crown," ibid., cxlvi. 133, cxlix. 112; Silbermann, Comptes Rendus, lxviii. 1049, 1120, 1140, 1164; Prof. Fritz, "Geog. Distrib.," Petermann's Mitt., Oct. 1874; Zehfuss, Physikalische Theorie, Adelman, Frankfort; Balfour Stewart, Phil. Mag. 4th ser., xxxix. 59; A. S. Davis, ibid., xl. 33; C. Piazzi Smyth, Ed. Ast. Observations, xiii. R. 85, Phil. Mag., 4th ser., xlix., Jan. 1875; A. S. Herschel, Nat., iii. 6; Sir W. R. Grove and J. R. Capron, ibid., 28; Webb, Glaisher, &c., “Daylight Auroræ," ibid., 104, 126, 348, 510, iv. 209, &c; Heis, "Auroras at Melbourne,' ibid., iv. 213; Prof. C. A. Young, ibid., iv. 345; Kirkwood, "Periodicity," ibid., iv. 505; H. R. Procter, ibid., iii. 7, 346, &c.; P. E. Chase, "On Auroras and Gravitating Currents," ibid., iv. 497; H. A. Newton, "Height," Sill. Jour. 2d ser., xxxix. 286, 371; Angström, Pogg. Ann. ("Jubelband ") and Nat., x. 211; J. R. Capron, "Spectrum," Phil. Mag., 4th ser., xlix., April 1875. (H. R. P.)

AURUNGÁBÁD, or AURANGABAD, a city of India, in the native state of Haidarábád, or the Nizám's dominions, situated in 19° 51′ N. lat., and 75° 21′ E. long., 138 miles from Púna, 207 from Bombay via Púna, and 270 from Haidarábád. It was founded about the year 1620, under the name of Gurka, by Malik Ambar, an Abyssinian, who had risen from the condition of a slave to great influence. Subsequently it became the capital of the Moghul conquests in the south of India. Aurungzebe made it the seat of his government during his viceroyalty of the Deccan, and gave it the name of Aurungábád. It thus grew into the principal city of an extensive province of the same name, stretching westward to the sea, and comprehending nearly the whole of the territory now comprised within the northern division of the presidency of Bombay. Aurungábád long continued to be the capital of the succession of potentates bearing the modern title of Nizám, after those chiefs became independent of Dehli. They abandoned it subsequently, and transferred their capital to Haidarábád, when the town at once began to decline. It is now greatly fallen from its ancient grandeur. The city is but halfpeopled, and is half in ruins, presenting everywhere the melancholy appearances of desertion and decay. The population is, however, still considerable, and in the bázár, which is very extensive, various rich commodities, particularly silks and shawls, are exposed for sale. The walls of the town are similar in their construction to those of all the other cities in this quarter of India, being rather low, with round towers.

AURUNGZEBE, one of the greatest of the Moghul emperors of Hindustan, was the third son of Shah Jehan, and was born in October 1618. His original name, Mahomet, was changed by his father, with whom he was a favourite, into Aurungzebe, meaning ornament of the throne, and at a later time he assumed the additional titles of Mohi-eddin, reviver of religion, and Alam-gir, conqueror of the world. At a very early age, and throughout his whole life, he manifested profound religious feeling, perhaps instilled into him in the course of his education under some of the strictest Mahometan doctors. He was employed, while very young, in some of his father's expeditions into the country beyond the Indus, gave promise of considerable military talents, and was appointed to the command of an army directed against the Usbeks. In this campaign he was not completely successful, and soon after was transferred to the army engaged in the Deccan. Here he gained several victories, and in conjunction with the famous general, Meer Jumla, who had deserted from the king of Golconda, he seized and plundered the town of Haidarábád, which belonged to that monarch. His father's express orders prevented Aurungzebe from following up this success, and, not long after, the sudden and alarming illness of Shah Jehan turned his thoughts in another direction. Of Shah Jehan's four sons, the eldest,

Dara, a brave and honourable prince, but disliked by the Mussulmans on account of his liberality of thought, had a natural right to the throne. Accordingly, on the illness of his father, he at once seized the reins of government and established himself at Dehli. The second son, Soojah, governor of Bengal, a dissolute and sensual prince, was dissatisfied, and raised an army to dispute the throne with Dara. The keen eye of Aurungzebe saw in this conjuncture of events a favourable opportunity for realising his own ambitious schemes. His religious exercises and temperate habits gave him, in popular estimation, a great superiority over his brothers, but he was too politic to put forward his claims openly. He made overtures to his younger brother Murad, governor of Guzerat, representing that neither of their elder brothers was worthy of the kingdom, that he himself had no temporal ambition, and desired only to place a fit monarch on the throne, and then to devote himself to religious exercises and make the pilgrimage to Mecca. He therefore proposed to unite his forces to those of Murad, who would thus have no difficulty in making himself master of the empire while the two elder brothers were divided by their own strife. Murad was completely deceived by these crafty representations, and at once accepted the offer. Their united armies then moved northward. Meanwhile Shah Jehan had recovered, and though Dara resigned the crown he had seized, the other brothers professed not to believe in their father's recovery, and still pressed on. Soojah was defeated by Dara's son, but the imperial forces under Jesswunt Singh were completely routed by the united armies of Aurungzebe and Murad. Dara in person took the field against his brothers, but was defeated and compelled to fly. Aurungzebe then, by a clever stroke of policy, seized the person of his father, and threw him into confinement, in which he was kept for the remaining eight years of his life. Murad was soon removed by assassination, and the way being thus cleared, Aurungzebe, with affected reluctance, ascended the throne in August 1658. He quickly freed himself from all other competitors for the imperial power. Dara, who again invaded Guzerat, was defeated and closely pursued, and was given up by the native chief with whom he had taken refuge. He was brought to Dehli, exhibited to the people, and assassinated. Soojah, who had been a second time defeated near Allahabad, was attacked by the imperial forces under Meer Jumla and Mahomet, Aurungzebe's eldest son, who, however, deserted and joined his uncle. Soojah was defeated and fled to Aracan, where he perished; Mahomet was captured, thrown into the fortress of Gwalior, and died after seven years' confinement. No similar contest disturbed Aurungzebe's long reign of forty-six years, which has been celebrated, though with doubtful justice, as the most brilliant period in the history of Hindustan. empire certainly was wealthy and of enormous extent, for there were successively added to it the rich kingdoms of

The

Bajapore and Golconda, and the barren province of Assam, | but it was internally decaying, and ready to crumble away before the first vigorous assault. Two causes principally had tended to weaken the Moghul power. The one was the intense bigotry and intolerant policy of Aurungzebe, which had alienated the Hindus and roused the fierce animosity of the haughty Rajputs. The other was the rise and rapid growth of the Mahratta power. Under their able leader, Sevaji, these daring freebooters plundered in every direction, nor could all Aurungzebe's efforts avail to subdue them. At the close of the long contests between them, the Moghul power was weaker, the Mahratta stronger than at first. Still the personal ability and influence of the emperor were sufficient to keep his realms intact during his own life. His last years were embittered by remorse, by gloomy forebodings, and by constant suspicion, for he had always been in the habit of employing a system of espionage, and only then experienced its evil effects. He died, on the 21st February 1707, at Ahmadnagar, while engaged on an extensive but unfortunate expedition against the Mahrattas.

AUSCHWITZ, or OSWIECIM, a town in Galicia, Austria, on the right bank of the Sola, a tributary of the Wechsel, 33 miles W.S.W. of Cracow. It has a population of up. wards of 3800, and carries on a trade in salt. Previous to the first partition of Poland in 1773, it was the seat of a dukedom, which had been united by Sigismund Augustus with the duchy of Zator in 1564.

AUSCULTATION (auscultare, to listen), a term in medicine, applied to the method employed by physicians for determining, by the sense of hearing, the condition of certain internal organs. The ancient physicians appear to have practised a kind of auscultation, by which they were able to detect the presence of air or fluids in the cavities of the chest and abdomen. Still no general application of this method of investigation was resorted to, or was indeed possible, till the advance of the study of anatomy led to correct ideas regarding the locality, structure, and uses of the various organs of the body, and to the alterations produced in them by disease. In 1761 Auenbrugger of Vienna introduced the art of percussion in reference more especially to diseases of the chest. This consisted in tapping with the fingers the surface of the body, so as to elicit sounds by which the comparative resonance of the subjacent parts or organs might be estimated. Auenbrugger's method attracted but little attention, till Corvisart, in 1808, demonstrated its great practical importance; and then its employment in the diagnosis of affections of the chest soon became general. Percussion was originally practised in the manner above mentioned (immediate percussion), but subsequently the method of mediate percussion was introduced by Piorry, and is that now largely adopted. It is accomplished by placing upon the spot to be examined some solid substance named a pleximeter (stroke-measurer), upon which the percussion strokes are made either with the fingers or with a small hammer tipped with india-rubber. The pleximeter consists of a thin oval piece of ivory; but one or more fingers of the left hand applied flat upon the part answer equally well, and this is the method which most physicians adopt. Percussion must be regarded as a necessary part of auscultation, particularly in relation to the examination of the chest ; for the physician who has made himself acquainted with the normal condition of that part of the body in reference to percussion is thus able to recognise by the ear alterations of resonance produced by disease. But percussion alone, however important in diagnosis, could manifestly convey only limited and imperfect information, for it could never indicate the nature or extent of functional disturbance, or distinguish between different forms of disease, even in

those organs which it had proved to be in an abnormal condition, while in other cases, and notably in many affections of the heart, it could afford no assistance whatever. In 1819 the distinguished French physician, Laennec, introduced the method of auscultation by means of the stethoscope (σros, the chest, and σKOTÉw, to examine), with which his name stands permanently associated. For some time previously, physicians, more especially in the hospitals of Paris, had been in the habit of applying the ear over the region of the heart for the purpose of listening to the sounds of that organ, and it was in the employment of this method that Laennec conceived the idea that these sounds might be better conveyed through the medium of some solid body interposed between his ear and the patient's chest. He accordingly, by way of experiment, rolled up a quire of paper into the form of a cylinder and applied it in the manner just mentioned, when he found, as he states, that he was able to perceive the action of the heart more distinctly than he had ever been able to do by the immediate application of his ear. He thence inferred that not merely the heart's sounds, but also those of other organs of the chest might be brought within reach of the ear by some such instrument, and he, therefore, had constructed the wooden cylinder, or stethoscope, which bears his name. This consisted of a cylindrical piece of wood, about 12 inches long, with a narrow perforation from end to end, the extremity for applying to the chest having a movable piece of conical form fitting into the cylinder, which was withdrawn by the physician while listening to the sounds of respiration, the complete instrument being used for examining the sounds of the voice and those of the heart. This instrument, though rendered portable by being made to screw into two halves, was inconveniently large and heavy, and was subsequently modified by Piorry to the form now generally used of a thin narrow cylinder of about 7 inches long, with an expansion at one end for applying to the chest, and a more or less flattened surface at the other for the ear of the listener. Having ascertained by careful observation the sounds elicited on auscultation of the healthy chest, Laennec studied the modifications of these as produced by disease; and by comparing cases with one another, and especially by investigating the state of the affected parts after death, he was able, in his celebrated Traité de l'Auscultation médiate, to lay the foundation for a rational system of diagnosis of the great classes of pulmonary and heart complaints. It does not, however, appear to be the case, as Laennec supposed, that mediate auscultation by the stethoscope is superior in an acoustic point of view to immediate auscultation by the unaided ear. On the contrary, sounds are heard louder by the latter than by the former method. Nevertheless, the stethoscope possesses special advantages, among the chief of which are that by its use particular areas can be examined and compared with greater accuracy; that it can be applied to all parts of the chest, and that it can be used in all cases where, from the sex or the bodily condition of the patient, the direct application of the ear is inadmissible. On the other hand, immediate auscultation is to be preferred in the examination of young children, who are readily frightened by the sight, and still more by the pressure upon them, of the stethoscope.

The whole subject of auscultation has been greatly elaborated since the time of Laennec, and while some of his opinions have been found to require modification, continued investigation only serves more clearly to demonstrate the value of this method of diagnosis, and to elicit fresh and more accurate results from its employment. Although much remains to be done ir the way of the correct interpretation of the phenomen observed in auscultation, yet the facts already established are among the most important

acquisitions in the whole domain of practical medicine. | The numerous diseases affecting the lungs can now be recognised and discriminated from each other with a precision which, but for auscultation and the stethoscope, would have been altogether unattainable, a point which bears most intimately upon the treatment of this great and common class of ailments. The same holds good in the case of the heart, whose varied and often complex forms of disease can, by auscultation, be identified with striking accuracy. But in addition to these its main uses, auscultation is found to render great assistance in the investigation of many obscure internal affections, such as aneurisms and certain diseases of the oesophagus and stomach. To the accoucheur the stethoscope yields valuable aid in the detection of some forms of uterine tumours, and especially in the diagnosis of pregnancy, the auscultatory evidence afforded at a particular stage by the sounds of the foetal heart being by far the most reliable of the many signs of that condition.

(J. O. A.) AUSONIUS, DECIMUS MAGNUS, a Roman poet of the 4th century, was the son of an eminent physician, and born at Burdigala (Bordeaux) about 310 A.D. His education was conducted with unusual care, either because his genius was very promising, or because the scheme of his nativity, which had been cast by his maternal grandfather, was found to promise great fame and advancement. He made extraordinary progress in classical learning; and, after completing his studies at Toulouse, he practised for a time at the bar in his native place. At the age of thirty he became a teacher of grammar, and soon afterwards was promoted to the professorship of rhetoric. In this office he acquired so great a reputation that he was appointed preceptor to Gratian, the Emperor Valentinian's son. The rewards and honours conferred on him for the faithful discharge of his duties, prove the truth of Juvenal's maxim-that when Fortune pleases she can raise a man from the humble rank of rhetorician to the dignity of consul. He was appointed consul by the Emperor Gratian in the year 379, after having filled other important offices; for besides the dignity of quæstor, to which he had been nominated by Valentinian, he was made præfect of Latium, of Libya, and of Gaul, after that prince's death. His speech, returning thanks to Gratian on his promotion to the consulship, is a good specimen of high-flown rhetorical flattery. The time of his death is uncertain, but he was alive in 388, and probably survived till about 394. From references in his works he appears to have been a convert to Christianity.

Of his prose writings, there are extant the Actio ad Gratianum, the Perioche (or summaries) in Iliadem et Odysseam, and one or two of the Epistola. The principal pieces in verse are the Epigrammata, some of which are extremely felicitous; the Parentalia and Commemoratio Professorum Burdigalensium, which give interesting details concerning his relations and literary friends; the Epistolæ; and, finally, the Idyllia, a collection of twenty small poems, the most famous of which are the Cento Nuptialis, a selection of obscene lines from Virgil, and the Mosella, a descriptive poem on the river Moselle, containing some good passages. Ausonius was rather a man of letters than a poet; his wide reading supplied him with materials for verse, but his works exhibit no traces of a true poetic spirit; even his versification, though ingenious, is frequently defective. The best editions of his works are those of Tollius (Amsterdam, 1669), and Souchay (Paris, 1730), and the Bipontine (1785). The Mosella has been edited separately by Böcking (1828, 1842).

AUSPICIA. See AUGURS.

AUSSIG, AUSSYENAD, or LABEM, a town of Austria, in Bohemia, situated in a mountainous district, at the confluence of the Bila and the Elbe. It carries on a large manufacture of woollen wares, linen, paper, &c. Its chemical works alone give employment to 500 operatives, and about 600 boats are annually built in its yards. Besides a considerable trade in grain, fruit, mineral-waters, and

wood, there is a large export of coal from the neighbouring mines. Aussig, once strongly fortified, was destroyed by the Hussites in 1426, burned down in 1583, and captured by the Swedes in 1639. Population, 10,933.

AUSTEN, JANE, one of the most distinguished modern. British novelists, was born December 16, 1775, at the parsonage of Steventon, in Hampshire, of which place her father was for many years rector. Her life was singularly tranquil and void of incident, so that but few facts are known concerning her from which an idea of her character can be formed. She was tall and attractive in person, and of an extremely kind and gentle disposition. Under her father's care she received a sound education, though she had few of the modern accomplishments. She had a fair acquaintance with English literature, her favourite authors being Richardson, Johnson, Cowper, and Crabbe; she knew French well and Italian slightly, had some taste for music, and was noted for her skill in needlework. She was a particular favourite with all her younger relatives, especially on account of her wonderful power of extemporising long and circumstantial narratives. At a very early age she seems to have begun to exercise her faculty for composition, and wrote several short tales and fragments of larger works, some of which have been found among her papers. These first essays are written in a remarkably pure and vigorous style, and are not unworthy of her later reputation. In 1796 her first large work, Pride and Prejudice, was begun and completed in about ten months; Sense and Sensibility and Northanger Abbey were written soon after, during 1797 and 1798. Many years elapsed before these works were published, for the first attempts to introduce them to the public were badly received. Pride and Prejudice was summarily rejected by Mr Cadell; Northanger Abbey was sold for £10 to a Bath publisher, but was never printed, and, many years after, was bought back by the author. From 1801 to 1805 the Austen family resided in Bath, they then removed to Southampton, and finally, in 1809, settled at Chawton. There Miss Austen, who for some years had written nothing, resumed her pen, and began to prepare for publication her early novels. Sense and Sensibility was published in 1811, Pride and Prejudice in 1813, Mansfield Park in 1814, Emma in 1816. These four were anonymous. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion appeared together under Miss Austen's name in 1818, after her death. Early in 1816 her health had begun to give way; her strength gradually declined, and on the 18th July 1817, she died at Winchester, whither she had removed for change of air and scenery. She was buried in the cathedral of that town.

Miss Austen's works at the time of their appearance were on the whole well received, and brought her considerable reputation,-more, indeed, than she had herself anticipated; but their full merits were not then so generally recognised as they have since been. The novels most popular at that time belonged to the class of which Mrs Radcliffe's Udolpho, Godwin's St Leon or Caleb Williams, and Lewis's Monk are the best known representatives. Against this style of fiction Miss Austen from the first set her face; she had a remarkably keen sense of humour, and the ludicrous aspect of these thrilling incidents, mysterious situations, and unnatural characters, presented itself very strongly to her mind. Northanger Abbey, one of her earliest productions, is a clever and well-sustained parody on romances of this type. She did not, however, confine herself to mere negative criticism, but resolved to show that the interest of readers could be roused and sustained by a story absolutely free from the whole machinery of romance and exaggerated sentiment, but presenting an accurately-drawn picture of quiet, natural life. This task she accomplished with complete success; she was the first