The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-03-03

TnereG not n COin That is not 0Ougnt and naU0WeQ
In the cause Of nations with a soldiers blood
BeGuteant. ToIments and dssthl
Pauline. That voicel Thou art
[Pduline rtshes into his arms.
As might be expected, his Lordship's senti-
ment does not transcend his language. Love
is his most frequent theme. His notion of
that master passion is, however, the notion
incident to puberty. 1t is admittedly irresis'
tible; but he does not conceive it possible for
a man or woman really to lovo except from
motives of personal admiration. de is
ignorant that titles and high rank
have been the exciting cause of love
as profound and intense as what is pro-
duced by physical beauty. Men have sa-
crificed themselves for love of princesses of
whom they were personally ignorant; and it
is we'll known that the traditional idea about
titles and rank is as eficacious with some in
bepettipg love as golden locks or bright eyes
are with others. In delineating the other
passions Lord Lytton is similarly faulty. He
is full as well in his novels as in his plays, of
a sort of passions but it is the passion which
Frenchmen, more especially, effect when they
do not feel it. We have glow without fire
light without heat.
But there is another and more important
point to be considered.
In the conception and presentation of cha
racter, his Lordship is deficient. He does not
give us characters, but characterizations. His
types arc traditional his treatment is tradi-
tional, and the sentiments with which he
endows them are traditional His sounding
line does not reach the depths and shoals of
our nature. but sinks no further than the sur
face currents. The Arthur of his epio is an
impossible hero. In prose fiction the Gentle
man Waite of his best novel is a dilution of
Sternes immortal hero of Shandean mould,
though bearing the impress of the Bulwer
mint. Even ''Richelieu," the most effective
of his stage characters, has no real individu-
ality. / do not object to the representation
because it is not the Richelieu of history and
the memoirs of the time. Mr.. Carlyle, in his
work on the French Revolution, introduces
us to gallery of portraits which have little
resemblance to the personages with whose
names they are labelled. But they are men
and women. Their dress is diaphanous
and we may see the texture of their
skin. They breathe and live; and we anti
cipate their speech and action. Lord Lyttou
had no such creative power; his men and
women are people with whom we cannot
claim relationship; they are artificial; they
are spurious; they have none of those mani
fold complex shadings we find inseparable
from persons in real life. The tints and tones
of character which make q man himself
and no other have been forgotten by the
artist, or his colors have failed him at the
moment they were needed.
Lord Lytton s success as dramatist is due
to his ability in making common place senti-
ment agreeable to the commonplace mind.
His plays find response in the hearts of young
people of imperfect education. His work, de-
ficient in high qualities, is sufficiently elevated
to make an audience believe themselves capa.
BILE of understanding high things, and sutf
ciently mean to permit their comprehendine
what is placed before them. To say Lord
Lytton is great dramatist would be beyond
the truth He has the executive tempera
ment of an artist, and his production
whether poem, play, or novel, has {
mechanical regularity of form; but ht
wants the power of giving life to that form
He is not philosopher, as he supposes him
self to be; and his worldly wisdom, conveyed
in high-foating language, is more often false
than true. All, however, will be ready t.
admit he is an admirable man. The courage
and perseverance he has shown are great, ant
his example is ennobling, and whatever OPT
nion we may hold as to the value of his ac
complishments, he must have the credit O
being a notable example of those rare minds
whose capabilities equal their capacities
None of his talents has been unused.