The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-01 00:00:00

211 EIV MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

In the present chapters of Mr. Hook's " Fathers
and Sons," we find Mrs. Smylar—what an apt
na.ne for a sly, intriguing housekeeper to an elderly
widower !—manceuvering with a tact and ingenuity
that might become the most wily diplomatist. This
character is clearly a favourite with the author, and
accordingly he lavishes all his strength on her,
drawing out her peculiarities through that best pus•
Bible medium, dialogue. " Sketches of Modern
Character" are by Mrs. Gore ; and the present
subjects of her analysis, " Plausible People"—a nu-
merous race, and always well to do in the world.
How true is this remark, " your plausible forks are
the fatted kine of this world. They insinuate
themselves like the weasel into the meal-tub ; and

reynard, their stealthy steps make an unexpected
way into the hen-roost. While your ears are still
fascinated by their gentle protestations, you find
they have been picking your locks or your pocket.
You hear a patriot praising himself for more than
Spartan virtue, watching your eye all the time for
a favourable opportunity to escape up the back
stairs, and sneak into the presence of royalty.
The next time you see him, he will be on the
Treasury bench !" It is by an assumption of
sanctity, however, that plausible people achieve
their greatest triumphs. By cultivating a long,
solemn phiz, and chaunting psalms through the
nose at a conventicle, they win the ear of some
rich, pious old maid, whose sole remaining corn-
forts are prayers Laid the brandy-bottle in the
corner-cupboard, marry her, spend all her fortune,
and then take ship for America, where plausibility is
sure to make a livelihood. There arc various classes
of plausible people, some of a lesser, some of a deeper
die, in point of hypocrisy ; but the worst form they
can assume, is when they graft the Saint
upon the attorney. This last is a character
which makes as close an approximation to pure
diabolism as the imperfect limits of human nature
will allow. " Early English and German Dramas"
is a heavy, prolix essay, stuffed full of matters which
few or none care a straw about. " Ambition" is a

readable article, but some of the instances which
the writer adduces, are rather those of vanity, than
ambition. There is a wide distinction between the
two passions. Ambition is an all-engrossing prin-
ciple of action, which proposes to itself the achieve-
ment of some great, particular end ; which knows
neither ebb nor flow ; but presses boldly forward,
through a thousand difficulties, to the goal ; vanity
is a shallow, inconsistent impulse, ever fluctuating,
ever changing its direction, ever haunted by mis-
trust, and, as a necessary consequence, ever ending
in bitterest disappointment. Sometimes, however,
though but seldom, we see the two passions com-
bined in the same individual—as in Lord Chatham,
for instance, who though among the most ambi-
tious, was also among the vainest of mankind.
Foreign Sporting ' is by Nimrod. It is too
strictly professional. The " Life and Adventures
of Charles Chesterfield " will hardly raise the re-
putation of Mrs. Trollope, whose chief object in
writing it seems to have been, to fill up space. The
majority of her dialogues are very poor, constantly
aiming at effect, and as constantly missing it.
Some account of the late Mr. Dodge " is lively,
and not devoid of humour, though the humour is
more that of words than of ideas. The closing
portions are by far the best. An " Evening with
M. Thiers'
is happily tinned. We would quote the
whole of this article, did space and time permit,