Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
days of the " Georges , " this novel will be a welcome surprise . It is well written , lacking neither incident nor interest , aud sufficiently connected with the history and the dramatis personce of the period to savour of reality . It moreover possesses the charm of dialogue between persons with whose names , history , and conduct we are all more or less familiar ; and it is some credit to thc author to have done neither violence to their characters , nor to have placed them in situations which they would never
have filled . There is probability in all they say and do ; and if we are at a loss for any distinct authority of what they did do , nobody at least can say that that which the author says they did is untrue , or that that which he or she puts into their mouths never came out of them . In poetry , there is literally nothing deserving of attention or notice but a volume with a somewhat sad title , by Walter Savage Landor . " The Last Fruit off an Old Tree , " * is indeed suggestive of much that is
melancholy . Though the fruit is full ripe , and indeed in its prime , so far as its intrinsic excellence is concerned , we are forcibly reminded that the tree whereon it grew is old , and that , in the ordinary course of nature , its last fruit-bearing season is rapidly passing away . We regret it sincerely , for with manly courage the veteran poet has , through a long life , fought the battle of liberty , imparting by the magic of his rhymes , a new courage to the oppressed , and holding tip to scorn and everlasting censure the memory
of the oppressor ancl the tyrant . Landor ' s fame will endure long after the recollection of the scenes which have so often called forth his eloquent indignation , shall have passed away ; and the present volume will last as a record of the pure thoughts , and generous feelings , which filled the
head and heart of him who was ever ready to kindle with enthusiasm at the sight of noble deeds , or to glow Avith generous indignation at the recital of foul wrongs . We have also , Avhat we rather think is a re-issue of a vigorous epic , published several years ago , under the title of " The Fall of Nineveh , " f by Mr . Edwin Atherstone . Grand as the subject is , the writer has risen even equal to it , and in the gorgeous flowing style , rich conceptions , and
graceful melody of the poem , we recognise the work of a man thoroughly and conscientiously impressed with the magnitude of the undertaking , and determined that it shall lack nothing which imagination can suggest , enthusiasm dictate , or judgment sanction . During the last quarter , the second and third volumes of Mr . Ruskin ' s "Stones of Venice" have afforded matter for the gentlemen who write on the fine arts in the pages of our contemporaries ; but the tone of
indiscriminate adulation has been somewhat modified . Even those little learned people to Avhom is consigned the inquiry into subjects calling for some previous study and thought , have begun to suspect that they were not altogether on a sound foundation . As to the volumes themselves , they are entitled " The Sea Stories , " and "The Fall , " and are marked not only by the same beauty of word-painting and engraved illustrations , but also by the same " dogmatism " of tone . From any earnest thinker like Mr . Ruskin ,
much is to be learned , provided the seductions of style , and the wayward episodes of opinion , be properly regarded . There are few writers as to whom the duty of a Reviewer is more important , for there is none who , whether Mr . Ruskin be right or wrong , is so inconsistent . He has , nevertheless , supplied matter which one day , in the hands of others , will be turned to good account .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
days of the " Georges , " this novel will be a welcome surprise . It is well written , lacking neither incident nor interest , aud sufficiently connected with the history and the dramatis personce of the period to savour of reality . It moreover possesses the charm of dialogue between persons with whose names , history , and conduct we are all more or less familiar ; and it is some credit to thc author to have done neither violence to their characters , nor to have placed them in situations which they would never
have filled . There is probability in all they say and do ; and if we are at a loss for any distinct authority of what they did do , nobody at least can say that that which the author says they did is untrue , or that that which he or she puts into their mouths never came out of them . In poetry , there is literally nothing deserving of attention or notice but a volume with a somewhat sad title , by Walter Savage Landor . " The Last Fruit off an Old Tree , " * is indeed suggestive of much that is
melancholy . Though the fruit is full ripe , and indeed in its prime , so far as its intrinsic excellence is concerned , we are forcibly reminded that the tree whereon it grew is old , and that , in the ordinary course of nature , its last fruit-bearing season is rapidly passing away . We regret it sincerely , for with manly courage the veteran poet has , through a long life , fought the battle of liberty , imparting by the magic of his rhymes , a new courage to the oppressed , and holding tip to scorn and everlasting censure the memory
of the oppressor ancl the tyrant . Landor ' s fame will endure long after the recollection of the scenes which have so often called forth his eloquent indignation , shall have passed away ; and the present volume will last as a record of the pure thoughts , and generous feelings , which filled the
head and heart of him who was ever ready to kindle with enthusiasm at the sight of noble deeds , or to glow Avith generous indignation at the recital of foul wrongs . We have also , Avhat we rather think is a re-issue of a vigorous epic , published several years ago , under the title of " The Fall of Nineveh , " f by Mr . Edwin Atherstone . Grand as the subject is , the writer has risen even equal to it , and in the gorgeous flowing style , rich conceptions , and
graceful melody of the poem , we recognise the work of a man thoroughly and conscientiously impressed with the magnitude of the undertaking , and determined that it shall lack nothing which imagination can suggest , enthusiasm dictate , or judgment sanction . During the last quarter , the second and third volumes of Mr . Ruskin ' s "Stones of Venice" have afforded matter for the gentlemen who write on the fine arts in the pages of our contemporaries ; but the tone of
indiscriminate adulation has been somewhat modified . Even those little learned people to Avhom is consigned the inquiry into subjects calling for some previous study and thought , have begun to suspect that they were not altogether on a sound foundation . As to the volumes themselves , they are entitled " The Sea Stories , " and "The Fall , " and are marked not only by the same beauty of word-painting and engraved illustrations , but also by the same " dogmatism " of tone . From any earnest thinker like Mr . Ruskin ,
much is to be learned , provided the seductions of style , and the wayward episodes of opinion , be properly regarded . There are few writers as to whom the duty of a Reviewer is more important , for there is none who , whether Mr . Ruskin be right or wrong , is so inconsistent . He has , nevertheless , supplied matter which one day , in the hands of others , will be turned to good account .