SOURCE: "Fiction, Early and Late," in The Eulogy of Richard Jefferies, Longmans, Green and Co., 1888, pp. 145-62.

Besant was a prolific English novelist, historian, and critic who used fiction to exposé and denounce the social evils of late-Victorian England. In the excerpt below, Besant discusses the failure ofJefferies's early novels.

The Scarlet Shawl was published in July, 1874, in one volume. As the work is stated on the title-page to have advanced to a second edition, one of two things is certain—namely, either the book appealed to a large number of readers, or the editions were very small indeed. I incline, myself, to the latter opinion.

Great as is the admiration of Jefferies' readers for his best and noblest work, it must be frankly confessed that, regarded as a story-teller, he is not successful. Why this is so we will presently inquire. As regards this, his earliest serious...