Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1840-1842, 1842-04-14
BULwER,s NEW NOVEL.

AS every one has read or is now reading this en-
nous production, the following notice Off bv the
Savannah Republican. will not be out of place.
"IANoHI-Br SIR +. l.. BULwFR.-This is nsr-
maps the mos, wonderful effort Of the creative 90,
mus oi us author IL Is wild. fearful brilliant tale
-iull OF the subliinest Observation-Disclosures alike
with IT'S sublImaed truths, and its damnnble false
hoods-not mere vulgar lee of the earth. but the
pollutions oil transcendent genius SOARING far
up towards the great fountain Of lieh, and
uouuns ITS soiIed pInions in the very face OF
heaven /anoni Is saga PHILOSOPHER
roscruclan-a physican-an herbalist-the
wandering Jew, perhaps. and more likely, still.
the DeVI himself. His memory runs back be-
yohh all living genetaiions-hs knowledge ex-
cceds all Ie1rnlng of the schools, and his power
IS little short Of omnipotence. Such is the n,,b.
loss skeleton which the author clothes up IN yest-
ture OF brightest mortal beauty, clustering round
aus head at the same time all the hottest md most
divine attributes Of which VIC have any contention.
welding at his will the sweetest charities of social
iie, ana oonsummate mastery over the widest and
most turbulent human passions And all for
what That he may trample under foot, what
the author is pleased to term the trite common
places OF this poor subIunary existence. He
scorns nature, and boldly Rvows that those ara
mere Iourneymen-mechnnics, who fol-
low 90 her lame common sense track. lie eXhotts
all the students and the lovers of the ideal and the
beautiful To master nature, and make her the mar
ble from which the loveliest ptions of poetrv
ana The arts are To omnnate. In his introduction
The following sentence occurs with regard to Shaks-
pearo The poet who has never once drawn n
character To he met with IN actual life-who has
never once descended to n passion ,hst is false or
parsonage who is real From this 3lradoIich
opinion of the great master, pretty correct notion
may he drawn Of that ideal of which he dscourses
so learNclly. IL is an ideal confcssedy not found
ed upo" characters in real life and were his subj
mated nfstical notions wholly confined 10 his mrin
and sublime flights Of fancy there nigh not be So
mneh harm IN them but these glorious creutures|
OF n gorgeous but diseased Imagination, ARE armed
with human passions like ourselves, and claim our
earnest Sympathes, rs we'll as seize upon and com
mnnd our wonder and admiration. These trans
cendent heroes Of mystic philosophy and profound
earning sonr almost into Heaven-pollute our
hottest things-and descend at will into those mys
terles over which God has placed barrier over
turning IN their career amidst this insane insDta-
ton every thing that IS sanctifed by Heaven or
revered by man. Murder, seduction and adultery,
are oil that IS TO lie found Of the natural and the
'ToaP in these volumes.
"But, what shall we say OF the heorino -thas
wild, sweet child Of music and poetry, Viola Pr
saul Her father is the leader Of the orchestra az
Naples, and is himself dreamy disciple discouTs-
ing sweet poetry from his old cremons, with wheel
no eats nj Undertaking TO II all the time and sleep
ing with u AZ night huggirg II the while. When he
- angry, tho cat gut and rosin fly, and when he ~
pleased, rich heavenly sounds float over the town
so that even music mad people ARE charmed. Sue
10 tho father Of Viola, what could she be, but lone
lovely flower, destined one might suppose, to
waste its sweets upon tho desert air but Il not So
She IS neutrality-suspicious. a musician herself
She becomes the idol Of tho oporn house, until az
length this angel discovered by his Satanic ma jestY
junior, the hero Of the piece He tempis her, as hs
great archetypo OF old did mother Eve, and like
mother Eve, she falls, but the concluding portions
are too disgusting to be thus disrobed Of the mere
trcious drapery IN which he clothes tho characters
Of this new play, which ought to ba named Genus
run mad Asod John Bunyan would have sid
Ianon reveals delicious paradise, but II IL Hes-
van without God-it is a Mahomean Rlysum.
however much Of the scenery and the drapery has
been stolen from Chrisendom."