Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1852-12-03
Gbc Dailp nireinian
Bulwer-MisceiIany and Gossip.

pertinent and well stated that we think our
readers will be pleased to see II at length:
"Bulwer Iytton's great effort is TO unite in
himself the gentlemen of fashion aud high
breeding with the author of iirst.rae literary
reputation; aud, like most extrayagantauempts
il would appear ridiculous were hls literary
triumphs less complete. Upon the vii, poet,
writer of plays and novels. and orator, he
would inoculate the owncrof knebworth Park,
dispensing county hospltahtles aud the man OF
fashion III London, receiving onlv WIS at his
table. He has s,riven through HE TO effect
this combination, and IN great measure he has
succeeded. The sumptuous fellow common
er of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, contIlved to
make driving his own horses. and similar &C.
crntricities, compatible with winning the nnl-
,ersity prize f,r the best English poem The
gentry ef fIIerclordshlrc were not long ago IN
vtcd to our Mmcenas's country seat, and the
entertainment included theatrical representa-
tion of his own play, just as II was also acted
by his amateur literary friends before the
Queen, at Devonshire House. Feeling sin.
sympathy for the trials Of artistic hle, he
would express 1t like a ieudal cheita,n, and so
he approp letes from his domain site Tor an
hospital for decayed men of letters and art -
When he has few friends 10 dine with him IN
London, the party might consist OF Ialonrd
Macready Dickens, D'Orsay, (but that ho is
dead,) and perhaps young American author.
who has been introduced, and Is there upon
trial AS he is essentially refined and iastldi
ons, you will probably find that he has fur
nished the rooms ofhls house IN accordance
with the tastes Of the Tudor, the LOUIS Qua
torze, and other historical cras; and, being iul-
ly indulgent to his Imagination In the effort Of
composition, he has been said 10 write III op-
propriate costume, and even through the fumes
ofopiate. In the country houses Of his nc
quaintance you may possibly be shown some
sacred apartment in which the confession OF
Aubrey in 'DeverenX,' was written at md
night, in cow, with skull on thes table; or
the black -bugled bed curtains. within which
the author Of JRchelieu' rested his inspired
brow. In estimating both the intellectual
character and writings of Bulwer Lyiton, II rs
impossible TO avoid comparison betwxt HIM
and Byron. Even the circumstances OF their
private lives are strikngly similar. Their ar
istocratic lineage; their great dependence in
early years upon n mother; their unfortunate
matrimonial come xon their attachment To a
daughter III both cases, though from different
causes, frustrated; their personal vanity, warm
temper, and egotism; even their nonentIty ~
IatHamenlj also suhury hlRn hhd generous
qualities and feelings which have undoubtedly
distinguished them both. And these peculiar
tiles of life and disposition have tnctured the
prose Of the one and the poetry Of the other
Each has shown morbid desire to put on a
dress, and be the hero Of poem or tale. 'ChlIde
Harold the Corsar,' &c, were vehicles fol
the personal confessions of their author; Pel
ham, The Student &c, are selfIikcnesses o
their artist This habit is Incompatible will
attaining the last highest step which genius /
entitled TO reach 1t is attributable, no doubt
in these two cases, to that self exaggeratloI
which the hereditary privileges Of wealth an'
station are apt 10 engendcr, and which onl,
experience and seli-examinaton can allay.-
Byron was cut off before he became wise; but
as johnson said of Goldsmith, with reference
10 different subject, we predict that Bulwel
Lytton is coming right The later produc
lions of his pen have been more free from The
pedantry inseperable from drawing inspiration
too much from within The scholarly cut
throat and elegant adultress, we may hope
are henceforth abandoned to the canaiHe 0
literature; ard his works seem to be acquiring
that breadth and depth which can make then
worthy OF coming from great master of tn
English tongue"
EnwT EyuIpIrIoN -Our aychanue ppr