264 HUNGARIAN LITERATORE in which he expressed the poetry of viliage life even better than his master had done. The hero is a peasa:nt lad who in consequence of his unhappy love for a ficle-minded girl becomes an idler and a black sheep, but who is ennobled again by his newly waken ed love for a gentle, true-hearted maiden. In the social drama, the most . important ·follower of Szigligeti was GREGORY CSI KY (1842- 189 1). His literary activity was of a curious character. He wrote a book on canon law, and one on Catholic matrimonial law, and also some very successful plays. For some time he was a Catholic priest but later on left the order. Csiky was more a man of logic than of sentiment ; he had a genius for discerning the characteristic features of his subjects and for constructing powerful plots. His characters often remind us of Dickens, so full are they of life and individuality. He achieved his first great success with the play : The PrQletariat (1879). When the play was over, and the audience clarnoured for th e author, some one shouted to hím : 11 Forward l You are on the right path." ln this drama the most successful feature was the miUeu. Every one who has lived in a large town knows such a society of parasite adventurers and broken-down creatures, and these ali stand before us, drawn with striking realism. Th e central figure is the "saintly wido w," who gives herself out as the widow of a martyrd hero of the revolution. People believe in her and help her pecuniarily, so much so that she is able to mai utain an entire office in which her petitions for assis tance are prepare d. In reality, however, the "saintly widow " is neither a saint nor a widow, but quite the reverse. At her side we see a friend who is worthy of her, a
