The Sun.
London, England, 1834-09-16 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Or
COLB URN S MODERN N 0 ?ELISTS.
Tas R0.1[411'02 of, RLIZ LIFT. 3 Vas. iiv o.
It is quits clear that novels of this kind are read by
somebody, or they would not be multiplied upon us at
this fearful rate ; but who or what these somebodies
May be, whether black, brown, or fair, is another
question, and one which, luckily for our prophetic
• repute, we are not called upon to answer. The cheap-
ness of the publication,--twelve shillings for three
v
_n,,ttnes, bound—vouches for many readers, for in no
other Way could the expense be'defrayed to the book-
seller.
The " Romance of Real Life," instead of being a
single story, as the name would seem to imply, is in
fact
a collection of tales, ranging through the various
degrees. of the literary barometer from good to indif-
ferent,
never sinking so low in the scale as to be posi-
1141Y bad, and seldom, if ever, rising so high as excel-
ce• Of mere incident there is enough and to spare,
wen.th
some traces of French origin, but the dramatis
perso
ism are feebly drawn, and the language, though
ometimes
elegant, is never powerful. The plots, with
few exceptions, are singularly lachrymose ; one would
think the fair authoress,—all authoresses are fair,—
had set out with a determination of playing upon her
readers
Launcelot promises to do upon poor, old,
blind Gobbo,—" mark now, how I will raise the
t
and less than a pailfull would not do justice
such lamentable catastrophes. We hate these tra-
!erdles in prose. The object of a book, which does not
42tend to teach any thing, is, or ought to be, amuse-
ment,itti and how people are to be amused by reading of
e else than death-beds and broken-hearts, through
three dismal volumes, is a mystery above our, compre-
hension, It strongly reminds us of Incledon s idea of
Tonalls pleasure ; " come," said Charles to his friend,
cur Sunday
in an unusually didactic mood, " let us spend,
Sunday rationally, and read the Newgate Calendar.
bel the catalogue of minor defects may be remem-
Iv re' a desperate determination to admire hills, and
4°4, and rocks, and " all that sort of thing," some-
at we suspect, against the grain. It is too vehe-
pa" and too obtrusive to be genuine. Thus, in the
sk-riscilYstri of her zeal, she professes to " loathe the
ti" of the dampschiffe parading its formal ugliness
yP ,on the bosom of the most picturesque of rivers ;"
9 notwithstanding all this display of a love for nature,
thl
• of the
steam-boat must have added to the beauty
~f tne scene, even under the German name of a
loi i:MPschiffe," which, however, we are willing to al-
-B°lnds anything but pleasant to the ear.
after all, may be deemed a sorry account of a
en't that has been much read, and not less eulogized
the eattnot help it. But having, in justice to the au-
sha:ess, ants broadly stated the fact of her popularity,
will have less reason to quarrel with us for our
pant of admiration.

THE NURSERY GOVERNESS.
1346
lithe By ELIZABETII N.9PIER.
d after her cleath by Colonel C. J. Napier. C.B.
Th T. and W. Boone. London, 1834.
Litt e Influence of women on society, both direct and
of r.aet, is so extensive, it goe3sofarinto all the relations
ti i Ilpe, that every thing which tends to their aniclio-
ana is of the highest importance to the statesman
m
tu the philosopher. Their character in a great mea-
r
e forms the character of men. Where the one, in
ttoY nation, is
unprincipled, luxurious—given to show
eft,' light pleasures—the other will invariably be found
e fenlinate, debauched, and slothful. It is impossible for
r tv°lnen of a country to be weak and vicious, and
mirmen at the same time to be virtuous and high-
d•e There is no instance of such a thing in his-
exit" old or modern, though we have more than one
to Pie of a nation having been inspired, and kindled
thellobler feelings, by their women. It behoves us,
tiolin' to look narrowly and jealously after the educa-
a those upon whom the social character so mainly
ends, and to take especial care that the good seed. is
sPoilt by neglected or erroneous culture. Widely
;4 ,tis Conviction has obtained amongst us, it has not
of -feriallY been acted upon, or has led to the adoption
to tha7 and mischievous principles. The whole sys-
pro Of our education tends to throw woman out of her
thinl3" sphere ; it gives her a partial knowledge of
t gs, which cannot by any possibility be applied to
the aarCuties of her station, while all that more particu-
gards the wife or the mother is either neglected,
tr a rexttat hest
made a secondary object. We act by them
tet4aietlY as the slave-dealer of the East does by his
slaves, teaching them every sort of showy ac-
tjaisilinent, every allurement to dazzle the eye and
<grate the heart, and with the same object—that
sojtillaY fetch a higher price in the market. If, with
the a system, the English women prove useful, as
1: always are splendid and ornamental members
Ish-neietY, we must thank their own innate goodness,
Otis too pure to be depraved. They owe nothing to
,
net thousands,
° our boasted education, though it may have
and made a torture of their childhood.
et
oa it
"t, however, be imagined that we are of that
*ern- fashioned school, which would willingly confine
thott4ll to the duties of a nurse or a housekeeper—
t4gi,'l; the knowledge and the practice of both are
ttt
io'll---but we do think there is a part of her edu-
-I°lol more important than accomplishments,
41Ittj:tteetly compatible with their acquisition—and
ner moral education. It is to this—under-
le% t,dlag the phrase in its most comprehensive
shot at our earliest attention should be given ; it
teb be the basis and substance of our sys-
-1.11. etiti 'Le actual building itself, while accomplish-
bigN ' ,very kind should be no more than the flut-
be s
Inior'et N
absurd
of the finished capital. Nothing can
- than the idea that, because a woman
abed to be useful, she must, therefore, be igno-
lbat ae e hand which can ply the needle need not on
4Orte,
lie°olllit be less familiar with the harp or the piano-
Otpple: is there any reascii why the mind, which
aboc•e ,t. with the mysteries of chemistry, should be
Or po4nrlYing a re cipe for the manufacture of a pye
*lore g• But, as example always carr.es with it
eight than precept,we will borrow two 11.r.ppy
strati°
" °IN supplied by Colonel Napier in a note
Zrroation of the opinions held by the authoress of
do „lata 4, find the following statement in the famous
41;t1806:11T.' Cross no Crown,' page 468, 14th edi..
heater
The late Princess E lizabeth of the Rhine, of
histre a memorial in this discourse,. her virtue giving
frees . her name than her quality, whichyet was of
life as
" e 14 the German empire, she chose a
"as alw, ate mid .
-next th jeer 'Jest suited to the
.study and singleditation she
ttginnte e air, Irld to ; and the chiefest diversieon,. she took,
b`tirehit es Anita:. in some such plain and houssulferti enter-
e net es
we,tng', ,S-c. She had a small territory which she
eoL, :.'1 ,that she showed herself fit fora greater,
her uut spr_
_?lae tables no sumptuou tab e Inghe
her o.,verefe' he of the poor; abstemious herself,
More 1111:1 lm
a;,fohid of all vain ornaments. I must need
and
sa
her often fl,i.v°r.le prospect, her eye was to a better
a_e
itance than can be found below, and
and
d
learning 4 to de
jud , of hip the greatness of her Courts, an the
mar. So wnlellods, owhich she was an extraordinary
the P see *hat the
also „1.4 rineeisf practises ofh work did not
adrniriti.e,xarno,
more
neglect her books. We have
I„,orke_oie Mr*. of Elizabeth
modern times. The celebrated and
neph r as she Was Carter was. as excellent a plain
Aew'sfor cou Learned ; while that lady educated,, her
All this *9e, she made an,./. mended all their
ears, yet it
the Is one
may sound very shocking to aristocratic
—oner th of those vulgar truths, with which
world is getti eY are acquainted the better. The
'of their ng heartily sick of their 6:s.clusiveness and
their hei,,pretensions, which have no better ground than
interest
(of soc. ..g More •
iety, impudent and less useful than the rest
434a-ve no -r them the Nursery-Governess will
as a matter of course, they will don-

sider the subject too insignificant to occupy their atten-
tion, and they will hurry from such light puerile read-
ing to the severer study of the last new novel of
fashionable life. There are others who will think dif-
ferently, and who will pause with delight on the very
threshold of the work. We allude to the dedi-
cation, addressed by Colonel Napier to his young
daughters. It is a pleasing specimen of this class of
composition, and does equal credit to the head and
heart of the author, whose name has long been familiar
to the public by his splendid history of the war in the
Peninsula. Simple, concise, and eloquent, it touches
with affectionate regard on the memory of the late Mrs.
Napier, the writer of this pamphlet, and hits that
happy medium so difficult to be observed on such a
subject, expressing enough for the sincerest regret
without tempting too far the patience of the reader,
who, as he is less interested, is sure to be more fasti-
dious. So admirably does this tribute to departed
worth explain the object of the work, that we despair
of doing equal justice to it by any version of our own :
" This little treatise contains principles, and without prin-
ciples we can neither govern ourselves nor others. The con-
tents are, therefore, applicable to all situations in life, to the
government of a kingdom, or to the government of a nursery.
I will give you an example of what I mean by general prin-
ciples. We are told in the following pages that presence of
mind may be improved, and that the best way to strengthen
this useful and very essential quality is, on hearing of any
sudden accident,, to ask yourself ' what could I or ought Ito
have done?' The Emperor Napoleon said that P. General,
marching at the head of an army, should constantly ask him-
self, If I were now to be attacked what should Ido ?' Here
then we find a principle ;' the principle of preparing our
minds by previous reflection for prompt decision and imme-
diate action, when the moment for action arrives, and we find
this principle applied, in one instance to a Governess, and in
the other to a General—and to both with equal propriety. I
will give you another example—you are told in this book
that you should settle at once to do that which every
one, I suppose, means to be done, &c.' Here is the prin-
ciple of -arecision inculcated. Let us again listen to Na-
poleon. He says, that when he gave orders to his cavalry
to charge, if they had their cloaks on, and that he saw
them stop, to take off these impediments to the free use of
their swords, he countermanded his orders; ' for,' said he,
when men lose the time for action, in making preparations,
they seldom succeed ; if they are in earnest they go to work
at once.' The principle inculcated is, do at once that which
is to be done, whether in the nursery, or in the field of battle,
or anywhere else. To give you one or two more illustrations
—you will find among the general principles of this book, that
of, working with the means which you have under your
hand.' This it so intimately connected with doing at once
whatever is to be done,' that they may almost be called the
same. The one is to do ; the other, how to do. The last
proves our resources of mind, and a person without resource
is of little Korth. I recollect an able chymist saying to me
one day, ' When I see people begin to study chymistry with-
out any apparatus but a broken wine-glass, a vial, and an old
saucepan, I always feel assured that they will succeed ; but
when they begin by purchasing a ' portable laboratory,' and
such gim-cracks, I give them up for fools.' You will be told
by grave, amiable, moderate folks, who love a gentle cowl e
between a little right and a little wrong, for fear their neigh-
bours should call them violent, that this speech was an exagge-
ration on the part of Mr. W—. Believe them not—it is
a true picture "
Nothing can be happier than the principle, or the
manner of its illustration, and the whole book is in
the same tone. The maxims that it exhibits are few
in number, easy to be understood, and not hard to be
practised ; but they contain the perfect rudiments of
moral education, and she who is so thoroughly imbued
with them as to make them her rule of conduct will
shine in any society, however defective in accomplish-

ments. To note only a few leading features, we may
hint that the author's observations on the force of
habit might be useful to many who have long since
escaped from the nursery, and who would feel them-
selves prodigiously offended by the being told they
had any thing to learn. A lesson of equal value iv
offered in her remarks on the effect of example, chil-
dren being formed, and those of .rnaturer ago being
strongly impressed by imitation ; but, above all, we
agree with the shrewd monitress, that the mind should
be taught to work its own instruction. This maxim is
replete with good sense, evincing that keen insight
into human nature which seems to be an innate gift
with women, as much peculiar to them as the superior
delicacy of their conformation.
No doubt there is a class of readers, and that not a

small one, who will be inclined to say, " all that is in
this pamphlet we knew before." It may be so ; yet
there may be some involuntary deception in the idea
notwithstanding, for it is in the very essence of truth
to seem familiar, even when it comes in the newest
shape, and may be called most original ; it is, from its
nature, so obvious, so palpable, that we can with diffi-
culty bring ourselves to believe we are hearing it for
the first time, and our ready perception of it deceives
us into the notion of a previous acquaintance. It
matters, however, very little whether the component
parts of this system be or be not new ; all that we
have to ask ourselves is, whether the whole is based
upon just principles, and is so combined as to answer
the end proposed ? We should reply unhesitatingly in
the affirmative, and are so convinced of its utility, that
we would strongly recommend it to the diligent study
of every female who has the care of a family, either as
a mother or a governess.
Of the amiable and gifted authoress who has be-
queathed this legacy to her children we might be
tempted to speak, were her death, as we understand it,
of less recent occurrence ; but even praises, in such a
ease, are afflicting : nor are they needed here ; in this
little treatise she has written her own epitaph, and,
unlike the records of the tombstone, it is at once an
eulogy and its justification.