JOHN INGLESANT, by J. Henry Short house, a well-known novel first published in 1881 belongs to the type of fiction represented by Kingsley's (Hypatia' and Pater's 'Marius the Epicurean.' The author called it a °philo sophical romance," designing it to be a means of presenting philosophy under the guise of fiction. The method is generally that of Reade's 'The Cloister and the Hearth,' by which is un rolled a panorama of the life of a period in various lands. 'John Inglesant' is, however, concerned far less with a brilliant picture of personalities and customs in many countries than with expositions of dominant religious and political ideas. The hero from whom the book takes its name is the descendant of a family es tablished' and enriched during the religious transformations of Henry VIII, but his own time is that of the Commonwealth. Educated under the influence of a Jesuit with a view to future services to the Roman Church, he be comes an important member of King Charles's entourage and as such not only sheds his blood in the Royalist cause but meets representatives of nearly all the English factions and sects.
As a confidential emissary of the king, he barely escapes suffering his master's fate. On his , release from two years' imprisonment he goes to France, where he mingles with the Royalist refugees and becomes acquainted with important types of French religious thought. An important mission leads him to Italy, where he remains for several years, influenced by and influencing, as well as merely observing, the intricate play of religious politics and faiths, of character and custom, until his final return to England. Throughout the chief end of the novel is to represent a cross-section in several countries of a dominant interest and to expand various views, to such a degree, indeed, that the personal characters are very much obscured and the people become rather types and mouth pieces than individuals.