New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1856-11-19

| every body laughs AZ the ludicroas nanny, the
| parvebu ostenta,ion, and the pocheech glitter OF
the foolish and ex,ravsgsnt people Who were a'med
at. The irony with which they were rd,cnled was
! excellent. The invention VI incidents and hshs
remarkably & rifle. The fun was always dUertsDg,
but restrained within due limits, and never broad
| srmg into farce Above all the satire WAS honest,
discovering an earnest, noble design. But the per-
s'nsges sre hardly characters. They lay 6gares
which serve as q center or nucleus to the sketches,
ard not creations. They are drawn from the out
SIDE, by their external features and COSTUME, and
pot irem their inward lie. They are external signs
of certain Classes, and not living types. They were
constructed by the fancy, and not grown Of tho i'm
asiration In this respect they differ from Thack-
| eray's sketches in the same kind. He, too, gives
TIE outside look snd movement, but the wonderful
triumph of his art that in giving you the outside
,ou Get the psi de also. His every day eyes are
clairyoyant eyes. He sppears 10 looA at the form
only. whereas be looks sheer down INTO the sub
stance.
remarkable evidence OF the genial se"d
buuor Of these sketches that, severe as they are
unon certain forms of social life, they haze given
so little ofense. One finds them on the drawing
room tables of Mrs. Po'ipbar herself, aud M.
Booty openly procla'ms their merits az the QUO
Let us hope that such people really appreciate tn's
| excellence, and do not parade their opinions I"
foil to the general suspicion that they are the sar'
| get of the suthors merrinent.
None Of Mr.. Curtis's books, however, Is, IN cur
judgment destined to so high position in htera-
ture as the last IL is the first volume OF com
| plete uniform edition to be issued by Messrs DIX
| 4 Edwards As the successive chapters havsaQ-
peared in 1" Putnam" we have been more and moro
convinced that il would take rank as the authors
masterpiece. 1t will not likely be so popular -
some of the others, but il must win It's way 10 the
admiration of large circle Of readers. For sub
tie and refined fancy, for delicate humOr, for nso
appreciation Of character, for gorgeous cvanescent
beauty, as Of sunsets fading away into shAdowy
lands, for graceful ease OF manner, for quiet sat
fearful pathos, which weayes into the beaming Sum-
mer garlands of poesy and life little leaf OF rue,
and for that test of philosophy, which the heart
teaches TO the thoughtful miDd-wben 1t mnsss Of
the contrasted mysteries of our human existence
it is a composition of surprising claims with
great deal of that imaginative charm which fasci-
mates us in Hawthorne, it has none OF HE weri and
preteInatural gloom. 1t is as genial and lambert
in the play of it's tances, as the snnshne,
though like the sunshine, it is often hccaed aud
darkened BY dance Of shadows. That medlti'
tive recluse the hero of 1.-THE silent, tender,
dreaming white-crayated book keeper, We find tho
moot exquisite of poets the tenderest OF lovers tho
most gorgeous of painters and the truest OF moral
lists. lie bias touch OF Jaques in him, AMI Of old
Dobbip, and of Miles Coverdale, and OF Harold
| skimpole and of Goldsmith's Gentleman in Black,
and of Sir Philip Sydney, of rennyson, and oil toe
Opium Eater. His heart 10 soft as any womans,
his conscience clear as the crystal laAe, while his
mind is all sblaze with tropical radiance and
bloom. How genially be enjoys the dinners which
others eat, and how sadly yet BEAUTIFULLY he dgess
them into All edying moral How grandly CLEAN
his Spanish castles, which sand, not like keats s.,
looking IN the foam Of perious seas, but large aud
fair in Il luminous golden atmosphere, htt'e hay
and dreamy, perhaps, like the Indian Summer, but
where no gales blow and there are no tempests :
How in the reyerent aud mystic strain OF Words
wori himself, be sits by the Shore and asks
"where is tie land to which yon Snip mu.tgo"
or sails in stately gspeons to a more Indian India
shirrDg The Happy Isles, While the sea means or
dances round with many voices What wonderful
sp.ctaces are they bestrd the Dose Of poor It'd
bottom-baying all the virtues of Ithlriels spear,
Diogenes' lamp, and Prospcros wand, and the great
Carpuncle, beside special sgic Of their OVID,
which the most potent wizards Of Faire might on.
Wy. What motley chimerical crew, too, is that
which nayigates the Flying Dutchman-ncver
striking SAIL but going ever forward with resstIess
motion through m'sty ars-Of odorous paim-coaAf,
along polar icebergs, under all temperatures and
zones-wbile the musty decks arc crowded viii
grot.sque aud gbosty figures with Salathiel, Num-
chausen, Captain Synmss, and Paraeelsus--and
Monks looking after the kingdom Of Prester John,
and gold-hulsers of EldoradO, and poets yearning
for wlthered wreaths, and youth roaming eagerly
for The III cbanted Islands, or vainly seeking tho
fountain Of oblivion-and a thousand other fansas-
tie characters who float onward without end to ward
the impossible bourne The macy. coloring prism
of the homes, book-keeper shows all these, and
more; and while lDger with him in the mighty
II aim of Dreams we feel that 1t il not all dream,
but that inrnost truth Of life is they& whispering
10 US ever "the still sad music of humanity"
In general estimate Of Mr. Curtis's powers, if
We Lad space 10 make il, we should assign the first
rank to biz sumptuous and fertile in agination. He
il by DO means deficient in any Of the usual eodow.
nents Of the artistic na,ure-possesses a qack
Feasibility, clear insight intellectual ssgac,ty and