Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1848-05-19
EVENING, MAY II, 1913.
New Books.

DoMBEY g. Son lies upon our table entire
Our readers have had touch of the quality of
this tale We commenced publishing it in our
weekly, some months ago. and shall not soon for
get the hubbub it kicked up among some of our
subscribers, a portion of whom seem to have
had prcsentiment that we were embarkng on
an unknown and shoreless sea without compass
or rudder. 1t pouid have been nice undertake
ing, truly, to publish the whole of it, seria,im,
in the columns Of an ordinary-szed country pa
per. five had persevered, we should have seen
the last Of it, (devotng the usual space to such
matters) about the fourth of July, lS56.--and
found ourselves with whole tale but an abbre.
waited SUBSCRIPTION list! The able and saga.
cous Editor Of the Albany Erening journal, we
remember, snubbed our subscribers consumed
w." and impeached both their taste and iudg-
ment, and our courage, because some of them
Gin Brandon SCI held meeting and voted Dom
hey and Son away from us, and we submitted.
We remember, too, that the Journal threw out
certain dsparaging inuendoes, connecting the
GOODNESS of our climate with the alleged cold
ness of our blood, in Vermont, thereby adopting
the philosophy Of Lord Byron, that
Their love can scarce deserve the name -;
and plainly intmating, Of the torrid regions about
Albany, that
"Ours is like the lava flood
That boils in Etnas breast Of flame"
and thereupon citing the rash adventure he had
undertaken, Of printing Dombey g. Son in his
paper, as an instance and proof of the latter and
our disseminating that same as an instance and
nroof nf fha Tho Tn,,rD1I a1s puofnI
several passages of exquisite tenderness and
truthful delineation Of character, and matchless
beauty of description, such as are often found
in the writings of Dickens, and these he used to
confound and mortify us But we knew then
how many envelopements of mere husks had to
be cleared away to get at such grain, and we
foresaw that Dombey g. Son, written on the spur
of necessity, and without systematic plot, would
be striking illustration of the parable of the
bushel of chaff--but we said nothing, because
we couldn't prore anything. The proof is now
before us; and we may ask the journal if il
will be likely to snap up the first number of the
neat tale ''to be continued which pours itsel
from the teeming brain of Dickens ! Not tha
Uombey e. Son does not contain "pearls anC
precious stones" but they have to be dug fol
and dived AFTER in mountains of mere earth
and oceans of mere water. There are portions
of it Of indispensable genius and beauty
worthy the creator of little Nell and the broth
ers Cheeryble;' but there are portions, too, but lit
tie better than the best passages in the Monikins
We don't wish to complain Of this per Sc;
only makes the tale an unsuitable one for thu
newspapers, without detracting from It's genera
merit as book. A newspaper story should be lik'
a running brook--always lively and sparkling
(though, of course, not always shallom). Their
is no room in newspaper for what Carlyle call
the " Geographic mortar" the filings up and elk
ings out of story -. But we are gettn
prosy. We do wish the Albany journal woul
"do the polite thing" by us, however, in rcgar
to Dombey g. Son - which, by the way, ma
be found at EDWARDS, where every body wi
buy it, of course.