Lord Samuel suggests that "there might be a vogue in
Ruskin as there was likely to be in Meredith and as there had been in Trollope." There might, of course, but I find parts of the sugges- tion surprising. In the case of Ruskin it would mean a fundamental reversal of public taste. The bookshops in Charing Cross Road are littered with Sesame and Lilies, Ethics of the Dust and the rest of them at sixpence a copy, and toto all appearance finding no buyers at
that. As for Meredith, X it hard to believe in any boom in his works. Certainly the public that clutches eagerly at any Trollope would be the last to stomach Meredith with his artificialities and stilted periods. Trollope is easy and emollient reading ; Meredith, to me at any rate, is irritating reading. There may be a special and con- siderable public for Meredith, but I take leave to doubt it. pulus.
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