"What does that mean?" PISISTRATITS (smiling) -- "That every man has some coloring matter within him, to give his own tinge to --" "His own novel," interrupted my father. _"Contentus peragis!"_ During the latter part of this dialogue, Blanche had sewn together three quires of the best Bath paper, and she now placed them on a little table before me, with her own inkstand and steel pen. My mother put her finger to her lip, and said, "Hush!" my father returned to the cradle of the AEsas; Captain Roland leaned his cheek on his hand, and gazed abstractedly on the fire; Mr. Squills fell into a placid doze; and, after three sighs that would have melted a heart of stone, I rushed into -- MY NOVEL.

Author Biography

Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, PC (1803 - 1873) was an English novelist, poet, playwright and politician. He was immensely popular with the reading public and wrote a stream of bestselling novels which earned him a considerable fortune. He coined the phrases "the great unwashed," "pursuit of the almighty dollar," "the pen is mightier than the sword," "dweller on the threshold" and the well-known opening line "It was a dark and stormy night."