statesman and party is revealed in the kind of reception given to the great general. The author is alluding to recent events, when with bitter irony he tells how Zrinyi gets into debt and accepts the post of bank manager to some Jewish bankers, who set a great value upon ancient Hungarian names.
The most witty novelist who has appeared since the death of Arany is Francis Herczeg (born 1863). He has written dramas as well as novels, but is at his best in the short story. The character of his talent may be briefly described by saying that he is an ironical observer of mankind. He has a keen scent for the foibles of men and women, especially of the latter, but he does not regard these weaknesses with either indignation or indifference; he looks at them from a point of view of some elevation and is not blind to their humorous side. He sets before us with remarkable truth the types to be met in our streets every day. His characters seem to live before our eyes, so real and living are the features with which he has invested them. His inventiveness and fancy are not so great as those of Jókai, but his powers of observation, his excellent taste and spirituel attitude towards life, assure him a distinguished place, not only amongst Hungarian authors. Herczeg is sparing of words, sobre as the French would say. In his short stories, full of irony, we see the poetical spirit of a modern man of the world. He is an idealist without illusions.
Perhaps the Bohemian world of journalists has never been so truly painted as in Herczeg's novel, András and Andor, which is full of satirical observations.
Besides stories dealing with modern town life, like The Gyurkovics Girls, in which the characters seem to be living
