The Sun.
London, England, 1840-08-11 00:00:00

STANDARD NOVELS, No. LXXX.

Bentley, London. 1840.
Mr. T. Hood's novel of " Tylney Hall" whieh
first made its appearance in the year 1834, is here
republished in the commodious form of one volume ;
and the work being thus again brought under our
notice, we have renewed our acquaintance with some
of its leading dramatis personae ; but with the
exception of " Unlucky Joe," whose character is
the most natural, and the best sustained in the tale,
we have found little to interest us. In his eager.
ness to produce effect, and to keep his readers in •
cessantly on the broad grin, Mr. Hood quite
loses sight of propriety. His whole cockney fam►ly
of the Twiggs, for instance, with their pastoral
pic-nic and its disastrous results, are mere carica-
tures, though it is but fair to state that many of the
scenes in which they are made to figure, are hit off
with irresistible humour. As for the romantic
Indiana, with her lofty airs and her piebald
phraseology, she is a dull, solemn failure, sug-
gested evidently by Meg Merrilies, and executed in
a style worthy only of the Minerva Press. The
fact ►s, Mr. Hood cannot paint character easily
and naturally, for he is too fond of grimacing and
posture-making, and seems to think that simplicity
is but another term for insipidity. In sketching
short, detached humourous scenes, however, he ex-
hibits very considerable cleverness, as his " Sketches
on the Road," and some of his incidents. in " Up
the Rhine" abundantly testify. But other and
higher requisites are necessary to accomplish the
novelist ; and these he has not.

FIELDING'S WORKS.
Washbourne, London, 1840.
Fielding's works in one volume ! We scarce',
expected to see this, for hitherto they have filled
ten thick volumes, of which " Tom Jones " alone
occupied not less than four. Doubtless, our
readers will suppose that the type in the
present compact edition must necessarily be so
small as to be scarcely legible, except by means
of a microscope ; but this is not the case ; on the
contrary, it is clear and distinct as day, and makes
no greater demand on one's spectacles than " the
last new novel." The Editor of the work is Mr.
Roscoe, who prefaces it with a brief memoir of the
author, and some critical remarks on the nature
and tendency of his writings, from which we extract
this passage :—" Fielding must be allowed to have
possessedm
re i
n e thell
her completevarvin artvarying
Imof e
moods
do
sm;m eufn gp
in eNnv tnlgl Nn
eaw-
views of moral truth and character, which he drew
with equal skill and pathos pictures of joy or sorrow.
This is somewhat loose and inappropriate criticism.
Fielding had little or no command over the pa-
thetic ; indeed we cannot recollect one single scene
in his novels calculated to draw forth a tear, though
in his " Amelia" he strove hard to rouse the
reader's sensibilities. Smollett occasionally exhibits
pathos ; and in Richardson's " Clarissa" it abounds
in a high degree—indeed the story is perfectly
saturated with it, especially the last volume ;
but Fielding seldom attempts it, and never
with success. Again, we cannot agree with
Mr. Roscoe that this eminent novelist " has
the art of communing with Nature in all her
varying moods." So far was this from being the
case, that his range of character was remarkably
limited, being chiefly confined to homely country
life. When he soars above this, and attempts to
delineate the fop or demirep of fashion, he usually
overcharges his canvas with colour, as in the in-
stances of Lady Booby and Lady Bellaston ; and vie
no longer recognise that perfect ease and truth of
portraiture which we admired in his Black Georges,
his Tow-wouses, Partridges, and Squire "Westerns.
The most perfect character Fielding ever drew
—and Mr. Roscoe cannot be a warmer admirer
of this one than we are —is his Parson
Adams, which Goldsmith has imitated in his
1110ria.1\e1:
" Vicar of Wakefield, and which yet remains,
and is long likely to remain, unequalled in the
language, whether we regard the originality of the
c
conception, or the skill, minT: hope iNlr. lto
minuteness,
'e
harmonious
l
keeping of the details.s 1: labours with Fielding,
1
but give us tertlF? ,Richardson,
aned willour
not conclude his ed ito
other sterling writers of fictions in the same conve-
nient foam,

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