Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton was immensely popular with the reading public and wrote a stream of bestselling novels which earned him a considerable fortune. He coined the phrases "the great unwashed," "pursuit of the almighty dollar," "the pen is mightier than the sword," "dweller on the threshold," as well as the well-known opening line "It was a dark and stormy night." One of the peculiarities of Bulwer was his passion for occult studies. They had a charm for him early in life, and he pursued them with the earnestness which characterized his pursuit of other studies. He became absorbed in wizard lore; he equipped himself with magical implements, -- with rods for transmitting influence, and crystal balls in which to discern coming scenes and persons; and communed with spiritualists and mediums. The fruit of these mystic studies is seen in _Zanoni_ and "A strange Story," romances which were a labor of love to the author, and into which he threw all the power he possessed, -- power re-enforced by multifarious reading and an instinctive appreciation of Oriental thought.