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 critics have claimed to discover pictures of eminent persons with whom she was acquainted: some have even believed that in the ideal heroine "Consuelo" they could perceive a representation of the famous Madame Viardot.

"Consuelo," although one of the most diffuse, is by many considered the best among George Sand's novels. There is power in it; but its incidents seem to us extravagant and its personages unreal. At present we care less for ideal characters and improbable adventures, and more for delineations of men and women, with their weaknesses and their strength, such as may be found among ourselves. Those of George Sand's works which will longest be read are narratives like "André," "La Marquise," and the pleasant tales to which we have referred. In them her heroes and heroines are studied from the life, and the scenery amid which they are placed is such as she had herself visited in her travels, or—and this far oftener—that which lay close around her own home, in her fair and fertile native province.