The Press.
London, England, 1854-05-27 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

Alas ! poor public ! Rather, alas for poor
authors judged by shopmen who measure
style by the yard, and decide on pretensions
by the rules of stationary !
The publication of " Pelham " was a memo-
rable event in its author's life. Such success
would have intoxicated feebler minds and
induced indolence. But the master-spring of
Sir Edward Lytton's genius is a species of
inspiring energy that glows with the love of
labour, and pursues the conquest of difficulty.
His understanding is remarkable for its artis-
tic plasticity and its power. Lithe and supple
creatures are not often athletic and strong. It
is seldom that a sculptor has the thews of a
stonecutter. The Hindoo-like facility with
which a Gladstonian nature can twist itself
into mental postures indicates absence of
tenacity. We smile at the jugglery, but we
would be sorry to have a facility for contor-
tions at the loss of masculine grasp. In Sir
Edward Lytton may be discerned a union of
the qualities given by ethnologists to opposite
races. He has a Gaelic freshness of fancy
and versatility of mind joined to Anglo-Saxon
force. Unless he possessed this opposition of
powers, happily blended in one person, he
never could have won such an amazing variety
of success. A more varied crown than a
wreath of laurels should symbolise his tri-
umphs in the literary arena. Tho catalogue
of his performances is his most suggestive
chaplet.
We doubt whether our memory can accu-
rately state the names of all his works, and we
are certain that to criticise them adequately
would demand too much space. Let us observe
the mere extent of space covered by his toil. As
Fictionist, from " Pelham " to " The Caxtons,"
the enumeration of his novels is as long as
the lists of the teeming James and the prolific
Gore. As Historian, his " Rise and Fall of
Athens " appears even still more brilliant
when we recollect that it was composed before
Grote had facilitated the labours of writers
treating of Hellenic themes. As Essayist, his
" Student " attests his thoughtful habits in
early manhood ; while " England and the
English" displays rare knowledge of logical
facts with shrewd common sense and Voltairian
grace of style. As Reviewer, the Edinburgh,
the Westminster, and the Foreign Quarterly
contain a variety of contributions from his
versatile and most vivacious pen.* As a poli-
tical writer his pamphlets have had success
without parallel in our days. We have the
twenty second edition of one of them before
us. As Dramatist, his plays are perennial in
the playbills, and their names might be kept
stereotyped. As Poet, his " King Arthur," if
published in Germany, would have set pro-
fessors lecturing, and would have fascinated
those students who worship the intellectual
beauty. His "New Timon" abounded in ad-
mirable passages. As Translator, his version
of Schiller extorted praise from the most
churlish critics. As Member of Parliament, he
successfully engaged the attention of the
Legislature to the question of the drama ;
and he has made some really admirable
speeches. As Journalist—but hold! we are
out of breath, and must pause.
Such a quantity of work is astonishing when
we recollect that Sir Edward Lytton is still in
the prime of life. The extent of his labours will
be better seen on remarking how some of his
contemporaries, who are only mere novelists,
completely fail when they attempt to write
for the stage or seek to win political laurels.
It will appear still larger if we look upon the
quality of his labours ; and, with every abate-
ment that just criticism could fairly make, we
have no doubt that many of his masterpieces
will stand the test of time. His style, and the
ideal creation enshrined in it, will always
make his name classical in our literature,
however readers may in differ their shades of
appreciation. His works, through the agency
of Mr.Routledge, are now open to the humblest
member of the community ; and right glad are
we to see that the artist has worked like a
man for a nation of true men, whose mascu
line Anglo-Saxon natures can appreciate his
energetic mind.

• We may cite the criticism on "Sir Thomas Browne;"
"Review of English Literature" (art. Chateaubriand); " Fors•
ter's Goldsmith," in the Edinburgh; "Bolingbroke" (WM-
minder); the poet " Gray" (OW); and " Reign of Tenor," hi
the Foreign Quarterly; besides others.

495

Not the least literary triumph of this va-
riously-endowed nature is that its productions,
teeming with academic grace and so refined in
style, have won such vast popularity. Ho
counts his suffrages by the million, and his
pen has nought to fear from the ballot-box
of a literary senate bound down by clas-
sical precedents. But though a popular
he is not what we might call a platform author.
He does not cater to the merely emotional
sympathies of his readers, and look for heroes
and heroines in infantine humanity ; nor do
we find in his works any of that (how shall we
designate it ?)pathos of the pocket-handkerchief
wrung from the streaming eyes of mammas who
like to see printed descriptions of "their
" little darlings." We could desire that the
reign of novels for the nursery came to an end
and that masculine sense was in old English
style allowed to predominate over the effemi-
nate susceptibility of fictiouists, whose literary
mission, lucrative and puling, appears to
be no higher in its aims than opening a shop
for sentimentalism, extracting tears from the
sympathies, and shillings from the purses, of
the weaker sex.

The West Indies, Before and Since Slave Eman-
cipation. By John Davy, M.D. London :
Cash.
DR. DAVY is a fair witness, and, as his book
proves, has spared no pains in collecting ma-
terials. Perhaps this extreme laboriousness
affects injuriously the value of his personal
observation, for in reading his remarks it is
difficult to ascertain how far they are founded
on what he saw or heard on the spot, how far
on blue-books and official reports, perused
afterwards at home. In any case the work is
useful, not from originality, nor the power of
an attractive style, but from the judicial im-
partiality of the writer, and his skill in bringing
together within a small compass facts scat-
tered over many larger publications. The
account giver. of separate islands is chiefly
interesting to those who have visited or intend
to visit them. Description of natural objects
can only be made agreeable by peculiar graphic
power ; but his general conclusions on the
state of the West Indies are, both politically
and socially, important. He points out in a
concluding chapter the principal defects exist-
ing within his experience.
1. Extreme neglect, in towns and villages.
of sanitary precautions. In this respect no
language of condemnation can be too strong.
Nearly every West Indian town is built, for
mercantile purposes, on the seashore ; that is,
on the lowest available level ; none are
drained,* or provided with sewers, or properly
supplied with water ; and the dirt and dis-
comfort that prevail in all are excessive.
Hence disease, exacerbated by the climate,
which wrongly bears the whole blame. Per
contra, it should be said that the negro is little
susceptible of infection ; that European resi-
dents invariably live in the country ; and that
English troops are quartered in barracks aloof
from the native population. The same com-
plaint of deficient cleanliness applies to many
of the hospitals, whore it is even more objec-
tionable. Indian towns present a similar
spectacle ; but in the West legislators have
not to grapple with the Oriental prejudice
against interference with their domestic
habits.

2. Unsatisfactory relations between em-
ployer and employed. On this head Dr. Davy
echoes the language of all who have written
or spoken on the subject. He complains of
the " unguarded and precipitate manner in
" which emancipation was effected," and hints
at legislative remedies. But what remedies?
The evil seems beyond their reach. The
labourer works only when he pleases, which is
not often, and lives in habitual idleness. This
cannot be prevented except by taking from
him his freedom of action, which would be a
return to slavery. Immigration—the most
practical remedy hitherto suggested—Dr. Davy
rather discountenances, as costly, ephemeral,
and tending to alienate instead of civilising
the African natives. He would colonise as
follows :—Supersede European troops by na-
tives, as is done on the African coast ; enlist
them for a definite term, and at its expiration

• The settlements of British anima Wes szospisd.