The Sun.
London, England, 1838-03-17 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

JERROLD'S MEN OF CHARACTER. —3 Vols.
Colburn, London, 1838.
A. few of these tales have already appeared in Black-
Wood's Magazine," where they were much admired, espe-
cially the clever dramatic story of " Job Pippins," but the
Majority of them are now published for the first time. We
have read them with attention, and, on the whole, have
been pleased ; but our satisfaction has not been without
alloy. Though throughout the volumes there are abundant
evidences of vigor, yet that vigor too often degenerates
Into coarseness, and, for the most part, is of a repelling,
tather than of a conciliatory or attractive character. Mr.
Jerrold is too prone to look on the dark side of human na-
ture, and to play the part of an over-rigid moralist. In
-1113 delineation of character, he is severe even to
Monastic harshness, and scorns to make allowances
Tor circumstances or situation. Thus, in his spirited
tale of ‘4 John Applejohn," he has introduced to us a
Party of reckless, mischief-loving, young Aristocrats about
town, on whom he has expended all his powers of ascetic
sarcasm, and whom he has taken prodigious pains to point
out as objects fit only for the scorn and loathing of his
readers, darkening all their lineaments, and exaggerating
all their eccentricities, till they assume the semblance of
Positive moral deformities ; when the severest justice might
Well have been satisfied with making them the theme of
oast', good-humoured ridicule. We instance this scene,
because it is in Mr. Jerrold's most marked and emphatic
Manner, and because it is one of those which lie has elabo-
rated with the greatest care. That it is pointed and epi-
grantatic, and occasionally humorous, full of quaint con-
ceit, and throughout of vigor, we grant ; but we protest
against its spirit, which is harsh and bitterly contemptuous,
When it should have been light, and airy, and tolerant in the
"alit!' of its humor. Mr. Jerrold will no doubt plead the
”thority
of the cynical Swift in justification of his acerbity ;
but surely to launch the lightnings of scorching sarcasm
against a giddy-pated sprig of fashion, for so more heinous
enormity than that of wrenching off door-knockers, and elop-
ing Ivith wooden Highlanders from tobacconists' shops, is not
to imitate, but to travestie the Dean's manner 1. But we wil-
lingly turn to the brighter side of our author's genius,
Who possesses a rude, masculine vigor of understand-
ing, very novel and welcome in these days of crazy
sentimentalism. He shows also much dramatic tact in
bringing out the peculiarities of character, leaving his
personages to speak for themselves, and evolve their
cwn idiosyncracy, instead of adopting the narrative form,
and speaking for them. Moreover, he has much energy s
and animation of style, and has the rare art of so
tricking out a common-place thought as to give it quite
the air of a novelty. He is not, however, remarkable for
skill in constructing plots, or grouping together incidents.
His stories are too often improbable in their nature ; and
he hurries them to a conclusion without the slightest re-
gard to propriety. In the tale of " John Applejohn," for
instance, we imagine that we are just in the middle of it,
and that one or two characters who have been vaguely
alluded to in the first chapters, are about to be formally
Introduced to us, when, 10, we find we are at the end
However, despite this blemish—which, after all, is a trivial
one --" Men of Character" is a production of very consider-
able merit, and gives promise that when time and e xperi-
tienee, which rarely fail to bring toleration in their train,
unless, indeed, a man is as incurable a cynic as Diogenes,
shall have mellowed the tone, and softened off the sharp
angles of Mr. Jerrold's satire, he will produce a work that
the world." will not willingly let die."

VIENNA AND THE AUSTRIANS. 2 Vats.
London, Bentley, 1838.
Mrs. Trollope's views of the Austrian character, and
Austrian system of government, differ widely from those
adopted by most preceding travellers. Prince Metter-
nich's policy she seems to think faultless ; and certainly
she is not very far wrong as far as his government of Austria
is concerned ; but his system presses hard upon the Italian
States, and the majority of the tributary provinces, Which
are held to their allegiance rather by coercion than cle-
mency. On this point, however, our author refrains from
giving a decided opinion, contenting herself instead with
expatiating on the blessings which the native Austrians en-
-4(1 under the sway of the most adroit and experienced
statesman of the age. Mrs. Trollope frequently met this
'lllustrious individual in private society, and describes him
48 8 gentleman of the most polished manners and pre-
Possessing exterior. " I had expected to see," she says,
bc4 so on onl gu
y a distinished man, but one who bore the impress of
1 his brow, and neither the seeing nor hearing Prince Metter-
tnch can ever have disappointed any one; his whole person, counte-
nance, and demeanor, are indicative of high station, commanding
in-
tellect, and very finished elegance. He led me to dinner, and I had
the advantage of his conversation while it lasted ; for the table was not
°Yoas round, but as large as king Arthur's, rendering general conver-
sation nof course impossible. The Prince is of middle height, rather thin
tn otherwise, with handsome and regular features; his hair is quite
grey, and the prevailing expression of his countenance is that of mild
bnand evolence ; but in his light, blue eyes, there is a character of deep
and
earnest thoughtfulness that is exceedingly remarkable. His person
manners are eminently dignified and graceful; and there is,
dmhoarei
more-
over,
told , such an air of calm, philosophical tranquillity in his aspect, that
07e w
ho
cout of a hundred gentlemen, selected at hazard, to. selectthe
or twenty.five years had held a steady and unvacillatmg course,
tottered,
all beyond the circle of his influence had blundered, trembled, and
I am very sure I should have made no mistake."
Trollope's sketches of society in Vienna, of its va-
limis places of public amusement, and the domestic habits
and manners of its beau monde, into whose magic circle she
l'as, it
, seems, admitted, through the influence of the
Princess
Ambassador, who brought her acquainted with
andrneess INletternich, her husband's third wife, " a young
lovely
woman, with a piquante sauciness of manner,
softened by a smile of exceeding sweetness ;"—these sketches
are
hit off, not coldly and formally, in a gentleman-usher
sort of style, but in a spirit remarkable for its freshness and
liveliness. But, indeed, throughout her volumes, Mrs.
Trollope describes with singular felicity of touch. Her
conceptions are quick and forcible, and she has the power
of embodying them in language equally graphic and energetic.
Tier account of her voyage down the Danube in a ricketty,
amphibious vessel, half barge, half boat, which was ,con-
stantly manifesting a perverse disposition to tumble to
Pieces, is full of picturesque power, especially those portions
of it which describe the scenery of the river, some of which
i 8 calculated to make that of the Rhine " hide its diminished
head." Mrs. Trollope has an eye for ruins ; and the old
castellated and monastic edifices of the Durrenstein and its
l'eighbourhood—a locality characterized by more than alpine
gloom and grandeur—frown and look awful in her pages,
like the ivied Rhenish castles in the verse of Byron. Of
a far different, but not less striking character, are our
authoress's descriptions of social life, as she witnessed it
among the lower classes in the secondary German States.
Here her humour comes into play, and she fearlessly gives
vent to it, though without degenerating into caricature,—
that fatal rock on which comic genius is so apt to split. We
should not omit to mention, in closing our hasty notice of
these delightful volumes, the excellence of the embellish-
' Inents with which they are profusely studded. These are
drawn and etched by Hervieu—a clever artist, whose illus-
trations are warm and glowing with life. His sketches
taken on the spot, of the murderer in his dungeon, with the
nlidnight lamp dimly gleaming on his pale, and almost
sPectral, face ; and of the solitary gasthaus among the
Passes of the Tyrolean mountains, with the romantic back-
ground of wood and rock, seen through the half-open door
of the hut, display considerable skill and vigor of execution.

THOUGHTS OF THE TIMES.
Longman, London, 1838.
Mr. Brown, to whom we are indebted for this instructive
little volume, is a gentleman who, it is plain to perceive,
Possesses an enlarged and well-instructed mind, whose main
staple is sound common-sense. His " Thoughts" are not
remarkable for their depth, nor yet for their originality ;
still they are the results of long and diligent meditation,
and
-as such, are entitled to our respect. Those "on His-
tory" are, we think, the best, because they are the most
carefully digested, and the most indicative of various
scholarship. The author, however, considerably overrates
the moral influence of Jefferson in Europe. Washington
411(1 Franklin—the former, especially—exercised an influ-
!nee infinitely more commanding. With all his matter-of-
fact tastes, and constant parade of downright, worldly sa-
aeitY, Jefferson was little better than a dreamer—a
visionary—whose one recipe for all existing social evils, was
the establishment of democracies in the most revolutionary
sense of the term. Thus he would have regenerated
Austria and Prussia, and shed the light of political know-
ledge on the benighted Russian serf—that is to say, acting
on the true
Homoepathical principle, he would have cured
one evil by the infliction of another ten thousand times
wet
likese* Mr. Brown's " Thoughts on Poetry" are scholar-
and graceful, but they do not pierce to the marrow of