Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1829-05-05
S1ab t9,
n III,
"THE. DISOWNED.'

Reader-have you read 1.-The Disowned" the no.
blcst production of the imagination of this teemng
and fruitful literary age? in which the profoundest
thought is mingled with aiielicate and charmihr wit
consummatc skill in human passions with agreeable
hction and the sublimest morality recommended i'll
eloquenee that never before Illuminated the page of
the novelist IF you have not, we tell you in the
hackneyed, but appropriate phrase .you have great
pleasure TO come" We do not advise you to hasten
the enjoyment, but rather to hoard it for timc and
feed your imagination with the agreeable expectation,
since so much of happiness exists in expectation
The following extract from page 81 of the End
volume, we quote as specimen of the eloquence of
"The Disowned," and to our, perhaps erroneous,
taste, 1t seems unsurpassed by Mossillon or Chalmers
Passages equally fine shine through the whole work
"orduunt," properly, the hero of the piece, falls in
to deep poverty, is forsaken by the world his wife
and child dying before his eyes of starvation. In
this state ne is tempted to crime, by engaged in
extensive fraud, who wants conidant aud an assis
tant. Schemes promising immediate and unbounded
wealth. and safety from detection are unfolded to him
he is reminded of tho cruelty and injustice of the
world to his resentment, of his starving wife
and child, that sophistry might find apology for
duty In vain Nothing can move his inlexible
virtue His triumph gives occasion to the quotation,
which we make not merely for it's eoaucnce, but for
its tru,-if indeed there Is an any eloquence apart
from truth.
"But VIRTUE has resources buried III itself; which
we know not, till the invading hour calls them from
their retreats. Surrounded by hosts without, and
when nature itself turned traitor is its most deadly
enemy within; 1t assumes a new and superhunian
power, which Is greater than nature itself. Whatc-
yer be its crccd-whntcyer be its sect--roln whntc-
yer segment of the Globe its orisons arise, VIR-
Tue is Gods Empire, and from his throne of thrones
be will defend it. The orbs Of Creation the Islands
of light which float in myriade on the ocean of the
Universe; suns that have number pouring light
upon worlds that untrayelled by the wings of Sera
pm, spread through the depths of space without end
these are to the eye of God, but the creatures Of
lesser eyertion of his power born blaze to testify
his power, and to perish But VIRTUE is more pre-
cious than all worlds-an emanation, an essence of
Himsclf-nore ethereal than the ange!s--more du-
rable than the palaces of Heaven the nightiest
master piece of him who set the stars upon their
courses, and filled Chaos with an Universe! Though
cast into this distant EARTH and struggling the dim
arena of human heart, all things above are spectators
OF ITS conflicts enlisted in its The angels
have their charge it; the banners of arch angels
al on its side; and from sphere to sphere, through
the limltabe Ether, and round the impenetrable
dar kness, at the feet of God its triumph is hymned
by harps, which strung to the gores of its Crea-
tor :"
"The Disowned,' is by the author of sPeIham,"
but more powerful work. Pursuing the fashion of
Junus, and the great Wizard of the North" the
author has srouded himself in darkness. 1t is the
fashion of the time, and Poltic since mystery imparts
interest to Whatever it conceals DIsraei the youn-
ger Ia chrstianized Jew and Theodore Hook have
shared the credit Of authorship, between them, but
Hook is now almost universally acknowledged as the
author.