The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-09 00:00:00

LITERATURE.
LUCRETIA; or THE CHILDREN OF NIGHT.- --
3 Vols. By Sir Edward Rawer Lytton: 2
On the publication of his romance entitled " The
Last of the Barons," Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton
announced his intention of therewith terminating his
career as a novelist. That determination he has rot
relinquished ; he has yielded again to the dominant
influence of his imagination ; as he himself hunicure
ously observes in his apologetic preface, "bad habitsig
are stronger than good intentions. Never, we w
undertake to say, has a half-pronaise--been broken
a manner more to the satisfaction of the lovers ot
literature. We should, indeed, have had sufficient
cause to grieve in the event of such a man proving
obdurate in such a resolution. We should have
grieved that a mind so eminently distinguished for its
capacities, a mind so peculiarly creative and sYlnPs'
th t __ec, a mind so essentially wsthetical in its character,
so prone to the adoration of the beautiful and gods
could have lapsed into a mute and inglorious lu..
lence. We should have grieved that that imaginal°
remained idle, or incommunicative, which had
.0°
vividly revived to our imaginations the domestic 111-
`erests and civic pomps of Herculaneum, the strur
files of the last Tribune for Roman liberty, the solemn
and pathetic mysteries of the Rosecrutians, thebrillientt
but ominous youth of our third Richard. It was,°ll
conceivable to us, however, that an intellect ail"
had hitherto evinced such an inexhaustible fertilitp
and such an assiduous inventiveness, coulhae:n°...ll
altogether unoccupied. We felt assured frnll'
its germination of thought (a germination wilich
as spontaneous as it was prodigal, and as mobile as
it
as spontaneous), that mind would continue to IT
,vas,
quire some medium for its effusion ; that if the old
channel were dammed up, a new one Wola.on.,
opened ; that there would be an increase of Jon.
petuosity in consequence of that temporary reteru'h
Sir Edward Bulwer almost acknowledges so aneoo.
ot
the observations prefixed to his present prodne:'the
He confesses that in resigning the costume att.
romancist, he aspired to the wand of the dra°a
He was sated with the triumphs of a Boccaecio,After
yearned for the popularity of a Terence.,.. 0 it
various " unpublished and imperfect attemP'A be
Edward abandoned his new ambition. I fount% I
says, that my conceptions were too wide, or thaiia
wanted the faculty of concentration. Theft intro'
avowals remind us somewhat of that pleasant„l,ner to
duction written by Mr. Sergeant Talfourd, e"'" here
his tragedy of lon or of the Athenian Captive, w the
that master-poet shrives himself to the public en ter,
score of his futile attempts as a school-boy T 111335 tist
ID
With Sir Edward Bulwer, however, the failtue
have arisen more from fastidiousness than ineellfolial
Of this his admirable contributions to our nie s be
drama are a sufficient testimony. Neverthe'esr's 0
avouches his dissatisfaction with his recent laboubodi
a playwright, and his final determination to etilic I, be
his ideas in " that species of composition to which 8„a
was familiar." When we remember the eloqUenicr he
impassioned poetry of his Richelieu, we shro
t
almost inclined to regret this ultimate resolutoA ;nos
for our remembrance of the more eloquent sll.`! and
impassioned prose of his "Days Last of f°lllPh ent
elb
°f
" Rienzi." We should regret his relinqu":„,, re-
the stage for the publishing-office, if, whilef;dy of
membered the grace and tenderness of The „tilos °}l
Lyons, we did not remember likewise the PifsatlS:!".
"Night and Morning ;" the melancholy of " 7pr,
vers," and the charming discursiveness of tl'e fof
owned." 'We should scarcely feel coluPensatbat We'
the
have
notoss forgotten
ganother h playe wit likeo f !aut. oleito
energy of " Eugene Aram," and''retihheaulles's tclhibsellsfialavoile;
lanies of "Paul Clifford." We could give t° •„setead °f
a million dramas: like; the Sea Captai.nt the gioSt
one volume of such a work as " Zanonl"
Altogethgeirri
exquisite romance of modern times. - of
therefore, we are rejoiced at the final decision
nreeell
Bulwer Lytton, and we gladly receive
otbleijretia
fiction as a guarantee of his sincerity.
---it I partial)!
is a most loathsome and repulsive story ever 1"
the most loathsome and repulsive story' We it
with;
but it is inculcative of the holiest trinttuhe', is
illustrative of the angelic whiteness °f varthe In°,t
dictated by a love of the purest moralitY 7those evm°
genial benevolence. We are not ers'...,l-infonY. ree,.
conceive that the ortral of vice 's" ost grog."'
lwaeheo(lilyi-leprroejesudaincdia , and who regard them
a an-
lheroines, Lord ur content hat
Harlowes, as the only fit subjectf6ifroltrbileo'eruCiarPlsis:
think
tion. We cannot induce ourselves
utac°
virtue requires t be puffed like a qk Pill °rlys
right
charlatanical oino tment. It is, if we remember &ion
Mr. Dickens who, in his preface to the third
lost
of " Oliver Twist," impugns these cavillers .6X'sri.
the representation of criminals as hypocrites Oa le
;tion
sees. Why—not to speak it irreverently —if the° ben-
of sin and depravity were to be regarded as reP re-I.f, the
sible, the holiest book would be discarded.
narration of enormities were to render a sorl‘i,ei-be
crable, all history, ancient and modern, w°ll-4il
comprised in the expurgatory index." If the "A;
ings and atrocities of nasyikinct .. were never to 1),,;r:
pietedo,,oui 'views of life would be partial and u,t:
sided, we should be liabje to endless disappointment;
there would be no salutary warnings against.teuirr:
tion. It can never be repeated too frequently t‘i
the danger of such productions'exists—in the
not in the matter, in the deductions not in the d::
in the clothing of the vice, not in the vice itself.
Sir Edward has beautifully said, parapfirneingill
couplet of Fletcher's, "Every human act, valor
th;
is an angel to guide or to warn ; and the deeds ciao
worst have messages from heaven to the listening ciao
of the best." It is because they have clothed sin as
an aspect of fascination, and painted ruffianivserted
heroical, that the French novelists have Per more
their high capacity, and rendered their vvritingslevity
dangerous than panders and procuresses. is the t old
of Charles Paul de Kock which invests his brillieo
inventive genius with an air so peculiarly perni jt
°4 och
is because profligacy is rouged and padded widalverous
ionsummate art by George Sand, that its nu,
rode's•
and distorted hideousness is forgotten by herhich this
No more striking exampl.e of the extent to scc"ed tlnia
vile deception may be carried can he ache death o.a•f
iAtEnh
dterorr vicious
ncntsi
ho,c,ua
aps
reldbnooufvtti
liaefit nsaieloquent
ctneednaern drEidnuseeegiecinvicepti
seductive
ioeurnneblientfiit
xea;
dal it e de:mis
tosans
as
St. Jerome is said to have beenu
in the form of beautiful o VVhil tempted lever, we
rsoyeet
maintain that it is well forw
us to conternPA`erTitie, but
as surrounded, not only by goodness sou' 000.16:
also by evil and crime, we cannot but af 'most 1°
that there are deeds of such enormous spat!, of their
conceivable atrocity, that the mere possibinv such $
perpetration should never be even hinted tit'
wards the
deed is the incestuous act mentioned O utter
and tile the
conclusion of " Tom Jones,"
ante of which is a lasting disgrace 0 the
immortal memory of Fielding. 1/P°oostienf
verge of such another enormity did the lure best °
of Sir Edward B. Lytton hover when, to tar
_nee in
our recollection, he hinted at a similar occu " filtb•
" Alice." By avoiding such pitfalls, andsedboYf sal
fully depicting society as variously compo don'
and criminals through all the intermediate g
rotty.
the

the novelist may best fulfil his mission ; he -Lt-literfr
hope to add his own adornments to that light
in
ture which our eminent author has apostroP..o car
this work as—" that grace and flower Wisinghalo", with
lure, that best philosophy of all, huma 11' the
• - through tete

gentle art, making - us wise
humorus, elevated through the Passilos)
der in the affections of our kind !" (Vol. ii• 4;ribiog
acting thus, morever, they are merely traP:ust 6%.,
faithfully from the book of Nature, for be ni
quisite saying never forgotten (vol. iii. 280 author
is the shadow of good !" In " Lucretia the, coo
has endeavoured to exemplify the infamy f Olt
the divine excellence of virtue, and the folly °r 000
he has designated " the principal vice" of °llO tbsit.
generation—lmpatience. " I hold," he Or', OP
the greatest friend to man is labour' were
knowledge without toil, if posEible,
viiedge
worthless ; that toil in pursuit of knfite cos.:
is the best knowledge:we can attain ; that itself;
tinuous effort for fame is nobler than fan' • de'

chat it is wealth suddenly acquired wh-,, ,iU
serving of homage, but the virtues whir ai,llo
exercises in the slow pursuit of wealth—°e; in ill
so called forth, the 'self-denials so iroP°se-s:clio°l.
word, that Labour and Patience are the fro! dona ill
masters on earth." There is a profound vvis bition6
those sentences, and it is well that in this liforotlell
age there is one mind adventurous enoug,h realli,
those unwelcome truths. The necessity vwc.deoceo
exists for toil and patience is most forcibly 0400010
in this fiction, but it is evidenced through be iv
more repulsive and more monstrous than t . a
morbid imagination could well conceive. grtiy vii,
cliff never delineated characters so extravagl loore
lainous, Monk Lewis never described deeds °,idi
odious darkness, than the characters and deeoe clis-
are contained in "Lucretia." `fie should 110,1 itf
carded the book as a detestable caricature of hanl2l3the
but that Sir Edward solemnly assures
took
preface that the crimes therein related " t°"isr the
within the last seventeen years." So vases we
infamy of the chief personages in the stors,
-r species'
conclude its perusal with a shudder these n ire, of
In tracking the hideous careers of these uorud"gerned
Night we are baffled at the total and IT. e_3,
blackness of their natures; we cannot
.nls7l„ the
their historian himself remarks, vfoel"!..A the
monster vanished into the mortaltrou_"psture
phenomena that seemed aberrations
nf from h
are
erne
arreaxtpeldaiinnett'i's
romance
ee
hecifrecuunindseae..u.cpe2so,
stialib-ictisfil
—and we have the author's guarantee that
macatrukallAyvhtiliehe caseh—as
us ever.Y rke
never quits the world—it surrounds . is more 1 ,
The heroine, herself, Lucretia Clavering,
hell-born. Lady Macbeth has the p „rico. 16.
."e'lesecwahnerive eulltt:rlPtrheahtelldirobligetrereecii
a demon in the form of a woman thancuosnrimiaieoth.cilgic;i:eoso:t
and the gentleness of a seraph,
ghoule At its repast could not be. a x