The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-01-20

A great man has passed away from the
world of letters Tor more than o quarter Of
a century Bulwer Lytton has been one of the
prominent literary favorites Of the English
reading public. A man of talent rather than
o man of genius, highly cultivated tasteful,
industrious and fired with literary ambition,
he fought for and won his place in the front
rank of literary Englishmen. His efforts were
numerous and varied. He tried the romantic
novel, and he almost equalled Scott He tried
the society novel, and his success was gener-
ously admitted. He tried history, and his un-
finished work on Athens gave proof that devo-
ton to historical study might have given him
q place side by side with Hume and Gibbon,
and Macaulay and Grote. He tried poetry,
and if his success as novelist had been less
his poetry would have commanded the atten-
ton of larger and more sincere circle of adj
mirers. He attempted the drama, when many
had failed and when failure on his part would
have been dangerous, and his LADY of
Lyons" promises to keep its hold of the stage
SO long as light comedy is cared for by an
English-speaking audience. He tried his
hand as On essayist, and, although he had not
the ease and polish of Addison, the rough
strength of Henry Rogers, or the brilliancy
and vigor of Macaulay, he gave abundant evil
dence that he was man of large knowledge,
of liberal views and of great powers of express
sion. His published speeches are not nu-
merous, but his addresses to the associated
institutions of the University of Edinburgh
and to the students at the University of Glas-
gov, as well as some of his Parliamentary ora
tions, show that, although he had not the easy
and ready utterance of Burke, he was not far
behind him as master Of eloqu ent language.
Few men have tried so much and done so we'll.
If he had attempted less his success could
scarcely have been less great, but he might
have left deeper impression on English liter
AZURE. 1t was not in the man to be a leader
of thought in the sense in which Goethe was
leader, or Coleridge or Carlyle but he has
left us some novels which in the great future
will take their place side by side with the best
novels Of Scott and some poetry which will
be as lasting as English speech. He was
not o Thackeray; he was not Dick
ems; but his Eugene Aram,'' his "Last
Days of Pompeii," his "Zanoni," will be read
and admired so long as there is a taste for
VANITY Fair or for "David Copperfeld."
Having reached the ripe age of sixty-seven, it
cannot be said that Lord Lytton died young,
but it is not unfair to say that in the whole
course of the nineteenth century few men have
welded the pen with more persevering indus
try or with greater success 1t cannot be said
that he has left the world any great legacy of
thought, that he has made it either much bet
ter or much WISER but that he has con-
tributed to the world happiness and given ON
impulse to the cultivation of literature must
be admitted, and such man cannot be said
to have lived in vain. He had won his lau-
rels before Dickens commanded attention and
before Thackeray was known. The illustrious
three, the friends and teachers of our younger
years, are gone When shall we see their
like again? Full Of years and full of honors,
Bulwer has laid his pen aside and gone to his
rest. For the pleasure he has given us let as
be grateful The impulse he has given to the
cultivation of literature let us try to catch.
The example he has left behind him, so far as
that example is worthy, let us endeavor to
| initiate.