Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1870-01-19
LORD LYTTON.

| LORD LYTTON, better known to Amer.
! lean readers as Bulwer, the name under
which he first became famous I'm litera-
/ ture, was born in 1906. 1t Is said that he
obtained from his mother, a clever and
| accomplished woman, more of his early
| teaching than boys generally receive
| from their mothers. He was of a stu
diOus and rather pensive disposition in
| youth, and was wont to pass much time
! at KnebWOrth, thirty miles north of Lon
I don, the old ancestral seat of his family;
and he has described, with affectiOnate
! minuteness, the rOOmy and stately di-
mensiOns of that Elizabethan mansion,
and the cool verdure of the park, with its
trees, and the placid sheet of water, up
on the sedgy brink of which he used to
lie and dream the waking visions of en-
thusiastic bOyhOOd. He entered Trinity
Hall, Cambridge, where he paid more at
tentiOn to the classics than to mathe-
matics, and won the ChancellOr's prize
for an English poem on Sculpture"
On leaving the university he travelled
extensively in his own country and in
Europe.
He became an author at an early age.
The list of his published novels begins in
1927 with "Falkland;n and from that
time he wrote one or two every year.
"Pelham;n tHThe DisOWned,n - HDever-
euX,u ''Paul Clifford y Eugene Aram, !"
and many others, followed each other in
rapid succession, and each met with q
fiattering measure of popularity. In lS-
Sc he first entered the lists rs a dramatic
writer 'The Duchess De Ia VALERIE"
was a failure; but t'The Lady of Lyonsn
and "Richelieu" were very successful,
and have ever since kept possession of
the stage as popular acting plays. "Mon-
ey," alater comedy, was also very well
received. His attempts at original poet
~ have not been very suecessful; "The
New TimOn;" a satirical poem, and
"King Arthur" " an epic, both published
anonymously, the latter in 1919, were
cOldly received; but his translatiOns from
legends in the "LOst Tales of Miletus,n
and his recent translation of the "Odes5
Of Horace, display poetic feeling and tai
ent Of a very high order.
Lord LyttOn's substantial reputation
viii rest upon works of very different
character from his earlier novels, the
tone Of which was too often not merely
questionable. sPelham; or, the COnfes-
siOns of a Gentleman" and ''The Dis
Owned' would scarcely be admitted now
into "well-regulatedu family library;
while in "Paul Clifford" he plunged in
to the lowest haunts of vice and vulgar
villiainy, where he literally fell among
thieves by his own wilfUl fault. But the
works that are most characteristic of
Lord TyttOnis mind, and at the same
time the most popular among his read
ers, are f'The CaXtOns" and "AIy Novel"
The first named is, it is true, half an i'm
itatiOn Of "TristTam Shandy," and half
rather commonplace though always
interesting narrative; but "Aly Novel;
is work of thorough originality and en-
during popularity. The author who
thought this book worth an affectiOnate
dedication to his brother, may be assum-
ed to have meant, by its title, that he
put it forth as his own genuine view Of
the "Varieties in English Life" 1T is
totally unlike every thing else he has
written. A better book, in the spirit
which it breathes, in the tone which 1t
sounds, in the repOse of feeling, the
breadth of contemplation, the purity Of
style, has been written by no English
novelist of our day. The inhabitants of
the rural village Of HaZeldean; the /
Squire's family; good ParsOn Dale and |
his quick-tempered wife; DR.. RiccabOc- |
ca, the Italian exile, with his quaint 1
sagacity ard his QuiEOtic Oddity, are
perfectly alive; while the folk in Lon
dOn-AIr. A ldley EgeTtOn, the states
man; Harley L'Estrange, his ge1er0I is /
eccentric friend; the ambitious schemer, /
Randall Leslie; wild John Burley, the /
hack writer; strong Richard Avenel, the /
Radical who has been in America-seem 4
almost equally real. His novel "What !
will He DOwith It'' is greatly inferior to
either of the preceding. Lord LyttOn's
latest work is a sprightly comedy in
rhyme, entitled, "WalpOle; or, Every
Man has his Price," which will appear
in the FEBRUARY Number of H0Hper'S
Mdgdzine.
In 1888, Mr.. Bulwer's literary and so
cial distinction, added to his constant at
tachment to the Liberal party, induced
Lord MelbOurne's government to confer
a baro1e .cy upon him; and in 1913, by
royal permission, he took the name of
LyttOn, instead Of Bulwer, for his sur
name, ON coming into possession, by his
will, of the estates i'm HeTtfOrtl-
shire, to which she was sole heiress. The
LyttOns, formerly the RObinsons, were
IN ancient Denbighshire family, allied
to the TudOrs, and to the old sovereign
princes of North Wales. In 1852 Sir
Edward Bulwer Lytton, having attach
I'd himself to the Conservative party, |
.hough in many points a Liberal was
'eturned to Parliament for the county Of
after ten years absence from
political life. He was Secretary Of State
or the Colonies in Lord Derby's second |
Ministry, in 1858; and in 1866, when 5
lord Derby was again Premier, Sir Ed I
ward was raised to the PeeTage.
Lord Lytton, having been married in Z
s27, has son, the Hon. Edward Rob- 1
rt Bulwer Lytton, born in 1881, whose
,oetical works, bearing the assumed I
lame of "Owen Meredith" have been I
eceived with much favor. He is Eng z
IN, Ct,,,,., 20 nv Of 7 rrro ffon nj VinDD q