Charles Reade was born in 1814 in England. He used his writings to attack the social injustices of his time. Before becoming a writer Reade studied for the bar and then sold violins. The Cloister and the Hearth written in 1861 is his best known work. This novel tells the story of Father Desiderius Erasmus. He is a man torn between religious celibacy and his romantic love for a woman forbidden to him.

This edition contains the three most important works of Charles Reade (1814 1884). Reade adapted the social purpose and concern for detail of the realistic novel to the stage. He was much concerned with poverty, the brutality of the prison regime of his time and the abuse of mental asylums. He assigned a specially important role to women in his plays, choosing to write for the charismatic actresses of his day. Masks and Faces (1852) is concerned with the public image and private life of a leading Covent Garden actress; The Courier of Lyons (1854) is based upon a real case of mistaken...

VISCOUNT IPSDEN, aged twenty-five, income eighteen thousand pounds per year, constitution equine, was unhappy! This might surprise some people; but there are certain blessings, the non-possession of which makes more people discontented than their possession renders happy.

VISCOUNT IPSDEN, aged twenty-five, income eighteen thousand pounds per year, constitution equine, was unhappy! This might surprise some people; but there are certain blessings, the non-possession of which makes more people discontented than their possession renders happy.

Charles Reade was born in 1814 in England. He used his writings to attack the social injustices of his time. Before becoming a writer Reade studied for the bar and then sold violins. White Lies was based on a French drama by Auguste Maquet. Reade bought the right to turn the drama into a novel. Reade often used other people's work. He believed that ideas could be bought like merchandise. Because Reade did not acknowledge the original authors he was often accused of plagiarism.

A gentleman in the prime of life stood with his elbow on the broad mantel-piece, and made himself agreeable to a young lady, seated a little way off, playing at work. To the ear he was only conversing, but his eyes dwelt on her with loving admiration all the time. Her posture was favorable to this furtive inspection, for she leaned her fair head over her work with a pretty, modest, demure air, that seemed to say, "I suspect I am being admired: I will not look to see: I might have to check it."