The history of Mr.Meredith's career and reputation, during the half century which passed between the appearance of _Richard Feverel_ and his death, has a certain obvious resemblance to that of Browning's, but with some differences.

His work at once arrested attention, but it did not at once in all, or in many, cases fix it, even with critical readers: and for a long time the general public turned an obstinately deaf ear.

He followed _The Ordeal_ itself--a study of very freely and deeply drawn character; of incident sometimes unusual and always unusually told; of elaborate and disconcerting epigram or rather of style saturated with epigrammatic quality; and of a strange ironic persiflage permeating thought, picture, and expression in the same way--unhastingly but unrestingly with others.

_Evan Harrington_ (1861) is generally lighter in tone; and should be taken in connection with the ten years later _Harry Richmond_ as an example of what may be called a sort of new picaresque novel--the subjects being exalted from the gutter--at least the street gutter--to higher stories of the novel house.

_Emilia in England_ (1864), later called _Sandra Belloni_, and its sequel _Vittoria_ (1866), embody, especially the latter, the Italomania of the mid-century.