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ed as his murderers.
GINES, a robber and thief-taker, instrument of Falkland's vengeance upon Caleb.
MR. RAYMOND, an "Arcadian" captain of robbers.
LARKINS, one of his band.
AN OLD HAG, housekeeper to the robbers.
A GAOLER.
MISS PEGGY, the gaoler's daughter.
MRS. MARNEY, a poor gentlewoman, Caleb's friend in distress.
MR. SPURREL, a friend who informs on Caleb.
MRS. DENISON, a cultivated lady with whom Caleb is for a while on friendly terms.
INTRODUCTION
The reputation of WILLIAM GODWIN as a social philosopher, and the merits of his famous novel, "Caleb Williams," have been for more than a century the subject of extreme divergencies of judgment among critics. "The first systematic anarchist," as he is called by Professor Saintsbury, aroused bitter contention with his writings during his own lifetime, and his opponents have remained so prejudiced that even the staid bibliographer Allibone, in his "Dictionary of English Literature," a place where one would think the most flagitious author safe from animosity, speaks of Godwin's private life in terms that are little less than scurrilous. Over against this persistent acrimony may be put the fine eulogy of Mr. C. Kegan Paul, his biographer, to represent the favourable judgment of our own time, whilst I will venture to quote one remarkable passage that voices the opinions of many among Godwin's most eminent contemporaries.
In "The Letters of Charles Lamb," Sir T.N. Talfourd says:
"Indifferent altogether to the politics of the age, Lamb could not help being struck with productions of its newborn energies so remarkable as the works and the character of Godwin. He seemed to realise in himself what Wordsworth long afterwards described, 'the central calm at the heart of all agitation.' Through the medium of his mind the stormy convulsions of society were seen 'silent as in a picture.' Paradoxes the most daring wore the air of deliberate wisdom as he pronounced them. He foretold t