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SCULPTURE AND PAINTING.
When Roland returned to the Luxembourg, the clock of the palace marked one hour and a quarter after mid-day.
The First Consul was working with Bourrienne.
If we were merely writing a novel, we should hasten to its close, and in order to get there more expeditiously we should neglect certain details, which, we are told, historical figures can do without.

That is not our opinion.

From the day we first put pen to paper--now some thirty years ago--whether our thought were concentrated on a drama, or whether it spread itself into a novel, we have had a double end--to instruct and to amuse.
And we say instruct first, for amusement has never been to our mind anything but a mask for instruction.

Have we succeeded?
We think so.
Before long we shall have covered with our narratives an enormous period of time; between the "Comtesse de Salisbury" and the "Comte de Monte-Cristo" five centuries and a half are comprised.