The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-06-17
Literary.

TIE ARTISTS DREAM. A. Novel, By Ellerton
,Vincent.~ New York Carleton &'Co. Charles
- ton John Russell.
1.-The Artists Dream" has not impressed
us very powerfully. Why it is called "a
novel" it is difficult TO imagine, for it is
lacking in nearly every essential of that
species of literature. II has neither plot,
dialogue nor "situation, and might have
been brought to an lend at any one of the
fifty -one chapters that compose il, without
perceptible injury to the slight thread Of
story which runs through them without
connecting them in any unity other than
that of dullness.
A party of young ladies and gentlemen,
together with several children, occupy
themselves in discussing and quoting poetry,
history philosophy and my ythology, mar
vellous impartiality, and apparently with
no other aim than to instruct the reader and
each other, and to exc out the three hun
dred. and seventy-two pages whichlare nee-
essary TO swell the volume TO the regulation
size. Some of the chapters read like weak
.dilutions of "Peter Farley" and "Magnalrs
Questions" while others might have been
quoted verbatim from any handbook of art
on the writer's shelves. Here is spcci-
men of familiar conversation between one
,ef the children and her governess, and is
a fair indication of both the style and ma
terial of the book:
elbow many men did General WASHING
TON employ in the siege of Yorktown 2"
2 "Sixtecn thousand French aud Americans.
Lord CORVALLIS had strongly fortified
Yorktown and Gloucester Point; but the
allied forces soon made his army feel the
effects of their batteries. A frigatc of
forty-four guns and several large vessels
were set on fire by their shells and rcd-hot
balls. They assaulted and carried the en-
emy's works, and reduced them TO such an
extremity that Earl CORVALLIS deter
mined, if possible, to escape to New York.
He failed, and was compelled to surrender
Yorktown and Gloucester, with their garri-
sons, to the commander chief. The loss
of the Americans during the siege was three
hundred in killed and wounded. That of
the enemy FIVE hundred and fifty-four, and
seven thousand prisoners"
Rather q long-winded answer; but the
young lady seems TO like it, for we have
page after page of the same didactic con-
versation on every conceivable subject.
Perhaps our readers may be inclined to
think that the book offers convenient and
popular mode of acquiring information on
the topics treated of; but unfortunately Mr..
or Miss ELLEnToN VINoENT's ideas on history
are, some of them, 80 peculiar that VIC hes
itate to recommend the book oven in this
respect. For instance, wo learn that "lhc
reign" of ANNE BoLEYN sled to the cstab-
lishment of the Protestant religion in Eng
land,"-that WASHINGTON was q greater
general than NAroLEoN,-that C.EsAn's
habits were dcpraved; with various other
pieces of information as striking as they
are original. Nearly third of the book
is made up of poetical quotations, some of
them very good, others infinitely poor
"IIohenlinden" and '.Thc Burial of Sir
JOHN MooRE' are quoted in full. They
NAV he now Lo some of the readers of the
book.
AS VIC have said before, the story is lite
rally nil. The characters intcrmarry every
now and then, by way of reviviug the ilng-
ging interest, and die, for the most part, in
tho last three or four chapters. Altogether
we can say of the book, in words which
sum up admirably its cxcellenccs and its
defects, that "what there is true in it is OF
new, and what there is new in it is not true. !"