The Sun.
London, England, 1837-06-15 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

VE NE TIA. 3 Vols.
Colburn, London, 1837.
" Venetia" is Mr. D'lsraeli's best novel. If it have
not the smartness and variety of Vivian Grey, or the wit,
eloquence, and earnest feeling of the Young Duke, yet
it possesses, what neither of its brilliant predecessors_
can lay claim to, a profound insight into character, and
a power of shrewdly speculating on motives, the result
of keen observation, and a naturally acute judgment,'
chastened and disciplined by experience. These well'
wearing qualities are particularly conspicuous in the
delineation of Lady Annabel Herbert, one of the fev,
portraits in modern fiction that we may venture to can,
original. There is no assumption or over-charged
colouring in this character ; the oils are laid on through'
out with consummate skill, and, consequently, produe,
an effect which the author may possibly equal, but wit'
never surpass. That he has had an original in big
eye while painting this portrait is evident ; for by 9°d
process of mere fancy could he have given such vi!'
reality to the stern, high-minded pride, for ever struggling
with the promptings of a warm and susceptible heart
and the strange blending of a literal, matter-of-fact
derstanding, with a capacity for relishing the g, Sublime
and Beautiful" in nature and art, that go to make up the
character of Annabel Herbert. This lady, .we shot
inform our readers, has been married, while scaree)
yet escaped from her teens, to a young and enthusiastic
poet, by name Herbert, whose visionary theories °f
religion and morality, enforced as they are in a series
of eloquent works, which strike at the very roots' °';
society, have the effect of nroducing a separation be'
tween the newly-wedded pair, and ultimately of exiling
the husband from England. After the lapse of Iraq
years, however—during which Lady Annabel has per-
suaded herself that Herbert is the hardened reprobate
which the world has long proclaimed him to be, though
in reality his only fault was his enthusiastic philittv
thropy---a reconciliation takes place between the parties:
and they live together with their daughter Venetia
in uninterrupted happiness, till the death of Herbert
by the foundering of his yacht in a fierce Mediterranean
squall. In one of the many conversations that take
place between them, while living in their seclusion
among the Euganean hills, the characters of bust)°a,
and wife are brought out in a few unforced, dramatic
touches, which remind us of Scott in his best moments'
The parties are talking of Don Quixote :
" There," said Herbert, as he closed the book in a fit ofen;
tbusiasm, "in my opinion, Don Quixote was the best man that
ever lived."

" But he did not ever live!" replied Lady Annabel, wing'
In these few emphatic words the great secret of the
long estrangement between husband and wife is laid
open to us. They cannot understand, or enter into'
each other's feelings. The one views every th,irig
through the medium of the imagination ; the owe't.
through that of a literal, though highly cultivated, on"
derstanding. In the eye of Herbert, the Knight f
La Mancha was a bona fide reality ; while the colder
and more common-place mind of Lady Annabel conk'
not get beyond the fact that he was the mere ingeniells
creation of Cervantes. Mr. D'lsraeli is remarkable for
the tact with which he throws off these characteristic
touches, making his personages describe themselves,
instead of himself describing them ; and no where 25
this tact more visible than in " Venetia." As for hiS
Lord Cadurcis, however, he is a mere embodying
the flattering sketch drawn by Lord Byron of himself,
in Mr. Moore's Memoirs. We cannot say that we I°
all sympathise with this character ; for who, that bag
a heart in its right place, can sympathise with 'l(be
is
sublime sorrows of selfishness and egotism ? There
so much real suffering in this hard-working world 0f
ours, endured without a murmur, and with a contintou5
e
moral fortitude to which his Lordship seems to have
been a stranger, that we cannot afford to expend our
sympathies on a man, one half of whose griefs We'
the results of dissipation, and the other half of dYs;
pepsin. Lord Cadurcis, alias Byron, had few greater
causes of grief than such as might have been removed
by the seasonable application of an ounce of Gleuber
salts.

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THE CHILDS' FIRST BOOK OF MANIG-
A LITTLE BOOK FOR LITTLE READERS'
Dorton, London, 1837.
Two clever little elementary books, well digesTa.
and neatly got up, as respects paper, print, binding'