Portland gazette and Maine advertiser., 1814-04-25

and stability to character be drawn from
these sources Do they in short " give
order to virtue and confidence to truth :"
think no judicious reader having exten.
sive acquaintance with romances and nov.
els will give an affirmative answer to these
queries.
What then can be said Of such great
portion OF Books by which the present age
is SO distinguished! Many are insipid mar.
rA,ives Of common events, estate, hat, un-
profitable" not having stamdna enough
even to kill time, the greatest enemy some
people have. Some are licentious and dam
gerous companions calculated to inAame
the passions and corrupt the heart. Others
are indeed faithful delineations of common
life and manners, not elevated too far above
the reach OF imitation, but frequently dis.
closing sences that excite dangerous, if
not impure emotions in their readers.
Fielding and Smollet have been long and
deservedly popular writer's OF a species that
may be classed as comick novels. They
have given US in most Of their characters
and incidents very exact representation OF
the changes of "many colourcd life
They are evidently the result of accurate
observation and deep reflection; OF thor
ough knowledge Of mankind and the various
workings Of the human heart Yet few
will rise from the perusal Of these novels
with more elevated notions of moral rec,i-
tude and Intellectual purity. Many charac.
tiers have their vices Sc: OF with SO many
good actions that we are hardly allowed to
believe vice itself odious. A good heart and
ine feelings are cloak for baseness and
depravity, and an accomplished rake is often
made the mcst respectable character in the
book.
Peregrine Pickle and Roderick Random
are works of great merit il We try them by
the standard OF ability in the writer. They
certainly display great vi, and ingenuity in
the adaptation OF language and sen,imen, to
the characters Represented. Yet the heroes
OF bis novels have generally more vicss than
virtues. Tie character of Rod, rick Ran
dom has scarcely great, good or honorable
trait
But novels of this description have yield
ed much in popularity to another species
full OF the marvellous, wonderful and hor-
rifck. Mrs. RackliE has an imagination
full Of "shadows, clouds ard darkness"
Her novels have frightened young girls and
old ones into mos, delightful horror, with
her old Castles. dark winding passages, ma.
zy labyrinihs, clanking chains, lamps and
creaking hinges, till they "sse ghosts in
clouds or hear them in the wind Yet
nothing can be said against the moral ten
dency OF her novels. There is nothing cal.
culaied to weaken religious or moral prin.
cip.es.
Like the Vicar Of Wake field, (of which
nothing but praise ought ever to be spokcn)
Miss Burney's Mrs D'Arblay) novels are
Of pure and unexceptionsble character
They are exact and faithful copies Of the
"li,ing manners as they rise; sometimes
perhaps TOO minute, but never tedious.
/ he later novels of Misses Portets and
Miss Owenson have had their reign. rhad-
deus undoubtedly displays greatness, tried
by the sevelest school, adversely. The vir.
tues OF Thaddcus are of sublime and eie-
waited character, perhaps impracticably rig
id. and above The reach Of human imper.ec-1
tion. Yet there can be no injury in holding
up high standards for imitation.
Miss Owenson's writings are OF cast
that can claim but little indulgence to minor
faults, when theis general effect is Of such
doubtful if no, dang tendency. There
is in all her novels righteousness that
must make sober reader wonder that la
DIV ConId have written them A Iiceniious