It is a great thing, no doubt, as has been said, from a certain point of view--that of _pastime_--that the reading of a novel should be easy and pleasant.

But perhaps this is not all that you are entitled to ask of it.

And as Mr.
Payn began with _Poems_, and some other suggestive books, I am inclined to think that perhaps he did _not_ always regard literature as a thing of the kind of a superior railway sandwich.
It is quite certain that, in his beginning, Mr.William Black entertained no such idea; for his actual _debuts_ were something like what long afterwards were called problem-novels, and _In Silk Attire_ (1869), _Kilmeny_ (1870), and the charming _Daughter of Heth_ (1871) attempted a great deal besides mere amusement.

It is true that no one of them--not even the last--could be called an entire success: a "little more powder" was wanted to send the shots home, and such flight as they achieved did not even seem to be aimed at any distinct and worthy object.

But fortunately for his pocket, unfortunately for his fame, he hit the public taste of the time with a sort of guidebook-novel in _The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton_ (1872) and _A Princess of Thule_ (1873), and was naturally tempted to continue it, or to branch off only into not very strong stories of society.