It seems as if Lord Lytton, in this new book of his, had found the form most natural to his talent.

In some ways, indeed, it may be held inferior to _Chronicles and Characters_; we look in vain for anything like the terrible intensity of the night-scene in _Irene_, or for any such passages of massive and memorable writing as appeared, here and there, in the earlier work, and made it not altogether unworthy of its model, Hugo's _Legend of the Ages_.

But it becomes evident, on the most hasty retrospect, that this earlier work was a step on the way towards the later.

It seems as if the author had been feeling about for his definite medium, and was already, in the language of the child's game, growing hot.

There are many pieces in _Chronicles and Characters_ that might be detached from their original setting, and embodied, as they stand, among the _Fables in Song_.
For the term Fable is not very easy to define rigorously.