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Article REVIEW OF LITERATURE. ← Page 2 of 3 →
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Review Of Literature.
Men of Character . By Douglas Jerrold . 3 Vols . Colburn . —Brother Douglas Jerrold!—in a language thou knowest and likest , " we greet thee well , " with the ( Masonic number of ) three volumes , emblematic of something , not all , that is in thee . In thy manifold presentments of Brother , bard , and dramatist , we have long known ancl admired thee , and admitted to thy personal acquaintance in and out of the Craft , hail thee in thnew capacity with renewed leasure .
y p Thus far our own hailing sign—now comes the sterner duty of the critic Thou knowest that dictum which has been so long stereotyped on the cover of the blue and yellow Edinburgh— " Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitor "—on that we mean to act , omitting altogether but as a faint reminiscence , the claims of brotherhood—well then—AVe have our favourites among the stories , the principal of which are Jack Runnymede ancl John Applejohn .
All the writings of Mr . Jerrold have this advantage over the mass of novels ancl works of fiction of the clay , that in addition to a keen perception of their style of character , and the shades which are required to complete it , they are hig hly moral lessons in the conduct of life , while beneath his sarcastic pen , runs an under-current of deep ancl thoughtful ability . For often , when he seems to sneer , he does so from the promptings of a mind desirous for the improvement of its species ; it may be
said of him that his satire " circum prcecordia ludit , " and if it stings it is not without a consolatory balm . Mr . Jerrold here makes his first way among the fictionists of the day , and b y this work alone has entitled himself to a high place among them . His style of writing is , no doubt , known to the majority of our readers , from the articles which have appeared in this Review and in Other contemporary periodicalsa few of the stories thus collected
; together have appeared in Blackwood and the New Monthly ; but the greater part ( ancl let us add the better ) make their first appearance in their present shape . A simple incident may from circumstance give rise to the loftiest conceptions , and from one of the simplest occurring to the author , the public are indebted to the " character of John Applejohn . "
Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi . 3 A ^ ols . Bentley . —Boz , in so many respects the inimitable Boz , has undertaken a fearful task in editing these memoirs ; we do not hesitate to say that he has failed in giving to us , the contemporaries of Joe , that which we expected . Alas ! how could he—Boz ancl Joe never met ; hacl they been acquainted they would have been worthy of each other . Grimaldi was , it is true , a clown , by profession ; but he was a gentleman in private ; we knew him well , ancl
could many " a tale unfold . " In the volumes before us , we have too much of the " ills to which flesh is heir to ; " with too little of the frolic , humour , ancl raciness which was expected , and which could have embellished the memoirs of our departed friend .
Private Correspondence of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough . In 2 vols . Henry Colburn , London . —To those who are fond of peeping behind the scenes , albeit the play may have been of bye-gone years , and the actors now no more , this pleasant , gossipping , and withal amply particular work , will be most welcome . Many a dry and musty record must have been pored over , before this living essence , this emanation of many minds , could have been extracted from that which pertained to the physically dead : and the anonymous author has accomplished
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of Literature.
Men of Character . By Douglas Jerrold . 3 Vols . Colburn . —Brother Douglas Jerrold!—in a language thou knowest and likest , " we greet thee well , " with the ( Masonic number of ) three volumes , emblematic of something , not all , that is in thee . In thy manifold presentments of Brother , bard , and dramatist , we have long known ancl admired thee , and admitted to thy personal acquaintance in and out of the Craft , hail thee in thnew capacity with renewed leasure .
y p Thus far our own hailing sign—now comes the sterner duty of the critic Thou knowest that dictum which has been so long stereotyped on the cover of the blue and yellow Edinburgh— " Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitor "—on that we mean to act , omitting altogether but as a faint reminiscence , the claims of brotherhood—well then—AVe have our favourites among the stories , the principal of which are Jack Runnymede ancl John Applejohn .
All the writings of Mr . Jerrold have this advantage over the mass of novels ancl works of fiction of the clay , that in addition to a keen perception of their style of character , and the shades which are required to complete it , they are hig hly moral lessons in the conduct of life , while beneath his sarcastic pen , runs an under-current of deep ancl thoughtful ability . For often , when he seems to sneer , he does so from the promptings of a mind desirous for the improvement of its species ; it may be
said of him that his satire " circum prcecordia ludit , " and if it stings it is not without a consolatory balm . Mr . Jerrold here makes his first way among the fictionists of the day , and b y this work alone has entitled himself to a high place among them . His style of writing is , no doubt , known to the majority of our readers , from the articles which have appeared in this Review and in Other contemporary periodicalsa few of the stories thus collected
; together have appeared in Blackwood and the New Monthly ; but the greater part ( ancl let us add the better ) make their first appearance in their present shape . A simple incident may from circumstance give rise to the loftiest conceptions , and from one of the simplest occurring to the author , the public are indebted to the " character of John Applejohn . "
Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi . 3 A ^ ols . Bentley . —Boz , in so many respects the inimitable Boz , has undertaken a fearful task in editing these memoirs ; we do not hesitate to say that he has failed in giving to us , the contemporaries of Joe , that which we expected . Alas ! how could he—Boz ancl Joe never met ; hacl they been acquainted they would have been worthy of each other . Grimaldi was , it is true , a clown , by profession ; but he was a gentleman in private ; we knew him well , ancl
could many " a tale unfold . " In the volumes before us , we have too much of the " ills to which flesh is heir to ; " with too little of the frolic , humour , ancl raciness which was expected , and which could have embellished the memoirs of our departed friend .
Private Correspondence of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough . In 2 vols . Henry Colburn , London . —To those who are fond of peeping behind the scenes , albeit the play may have been of bye-gone years , and the actors now no more , this pleasant , gossipping , and withal amply particular work , will be most welcome . Many a dry and musty record must have been pored over , before this living essence , this emanation of many minds , could have been extracted from that which pertained to the physically dead : and the anonymous author has accomplished