New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-04-20
Tile nE1n NOrELLST

II j. not easy Ia estimate the late Earl of Bea-
con,hcd simply rs man of letters, for the
obvious reason that hc usually put his politics,
or what passed with him for politics, into his
books, Not devoid of Imagination. not without
some constructive skill, nor entirely incapable
of personal portIaiturc. he created nothing, and
hi, action goes on ~ if the figure, which AMI
mated it had mystcriously stepped ont of the
frame, of photographs. The political discus
sion, which cumbcr the pages and interrupt the
flow of the narrative alc among thr drcallc-t
ever PIT into the mouths of beings presumed Il"
bc human. There l. II suggt stlon that politics
are something UNNECESSARILY profound, some
thing my ,tcIiou,ly tran,ccndcn'al, instead OF
being. ~ they really are. differences quite ma
tcrial about potato crops and the taxes on beer
Everybody seems TO be- trying to puzzle every
body else Men and women talk ~ if their
whole, cuisines, WAS to show how sharp they are.
\ dreamy and indefinite film i spread over
practical points. Coarse questions are dressed
up like prize oxen bcdcchcd with many culorcd
ribbons, and the Government of England
which l. really tie most practical affair IN the
world j. abused or suppoIcd - If # were the
government OF "a philosophical academy, the
future husinc,, of who>c pupil, would be- 4"
preach 10 the world the >uhllclic> of Thomas
Auuina, ur the wirc-drwn distinctions of ABB
Land Even If the political nov 81 Of the DI>racl
school were in the least consistent with the laws
of literary ant, it would hc in danger of lap>ng
into dulnoss PamphlctccIiug j. not novel
writing The contests of politicians have not
and never will have the hcroical elevation
which is not only desirable but absolutely cS,cn-
tial in romance. There must bc something
done, as well as something talked. There must
| be definite motives and contests which are at
least as substantial as games at cards
No estimate of DIsraci's literary work can he
other than superficial and unsatisfactory which
leaves ont the fact that personally he was not
a man of literary instincts. His books, from
"Vivian Grey " To Endymion," were not meant
| to be vcritable novels in the sense in which
tom Jones or "Gil Bias is a novel. Their
purpose was ultcri0r, and had nothing whatever
| 10 do with literary success which the writer
| doubtless held to be very cheap. Their form
| was convenient and it was employed, but If IT
| had been necessary their author would ~ cheer
| fully have engaged i'll cOttOn-splnning rs in
| writing and printing books. What he wanted
was not to dcincatc human nature in general,
but his own in particular his wants and aspira-
| tons his cleyerncss, not in writing, but i'll do
ing something else-in managing parties and in
| leading men. 1t was not a real book which was
| to be created-it was this party to be encoun-
tered, or that person to be shouldcred, set aside
or made ridiculous while the author became
venerable beyond his years and noble beyond
his birth. Everything which we have thus far
said is illustrated i'll the first chapter of Endy-
mion," novel which three months ago every
body was reading; which three years hence will
| have utterly lost the color and perfume which
so many saw and smct in it, becoming no moro
than Il faded and bedraggled nosegay without
FORM tint, or fructifying seed.
A not very ill-natured critic might say of Mr..
D'Israei's novels that their brilliancy is that of
the cheap chains and scarf-pins which adorn tho
persons of we'll whiskered and well waistcoated
snobs and he might add that too often their
atmosphere, in spite of the magnitude of their
proportions, is that Of penny steamer running
TO Kew Gardens of Sunday morning. There
were great faults of taste in the earlier work,
and such as they were then they remained to
tho last. Zenobia leans back upon = q brilliant