The Last Days of Pompeii [antikvár]

EDITOR'S NOTE"The Last Days of Pompeii,'' Lytton's most famous novel has, with three or four others, fully sustained its fame on to our own day. In it his idea of historical romance, that is, romance interwoven in actual history (as stated in his preface to "Harold") is worked out with great particularity. It is antiquity made vivacious and all but modern. Three characteristic books by the author, " Eugene Aram," " Godolphin," and "The Pilgrims of the Rhine" had appeared in 1832 and 1833. In the following year, after a stay in Rome and Naples, where it was chiefly written, " The Last Days of Pompeii " was published, a book which, in the words of his biographer, " involved society in the raptures of an immense sensation." This was the first of his Italian novels, to be followed by " Rienzi." One critic has remarked on "the sound archaeology of ' The Last Days of Pompeii,'" so that visitors assume, as a matter of course, the genuine identity of the houses of Diomed and Glaucus, and give themselves up to the received illusion when the guide points out the rich form of Julia impressed on the lava walls of the cellar where she had sought refuge." However, Lytton's story does not live by its antiquarian knowledge, less satisfying to-day than at thé time of its writing, but by his verve and resource as a novel-writer. It is worth note that a disastrous eruption of Mount Vesuvius was taking place when the book appeared, Naples itself narrowly escaping destruction.The following is a list of Lord Lytton's works :Ismael, and other Poems, 1820 ; Delmour, or the Tale of a Sylphid, and other Poems, 1823 ; Sculpture (Cambridge Prize Poem), 1825 ; Weeds and Wild Flowers (Poems, etc.), privately printed, 1825;