"one of the best examples of the philosophical romance in English literature". Shorthouse dedicated John Inglesant to Rawdon Levett, his friend and fellow teacher at King Edward's School, Birmingham. Other admirers of the work included T. H. Huxley, Charlotte Yonge and Edmund Gosse. He was invited to breakfast at 10 Downing Street by the Prime Minister, Gladstone. The book sold 9000 copies in its first year. Other works Shorthouse's other novels, The Little Schoolmaster Mark (1883), Sir Percival (1886), The Countess Eve (1888), A Teacher of the Violin (1888) and Blanche, Lady Falaise (1891) have some of the same characteristics, but were less successful than the first. Shorthouse also wrote literary essays, including one called "The Platonism of Wordsworth". The Life, Letters, and Literary Remains of J. H. Shorthouse were edited by the author's wife and published in 1905. A biographical study of Shorthouse appeared in 1995. Notes References External links A Teacher of the Violin and Other Stories (1888) 1834 births 1903 deaths People from Birmingham, West Midlands English male novelists 19th-century English novelists 19th-century male writers Victorian novelists English historical novelists Writers of historical fiction set in the early modern period