New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-12-30
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
SECOND PART OF BULwER's LIFE.

life ut the point where the autoDosi"Ph1
0s25I. and carries it on. in this instament OF the
work. TO the year 1881. He shows us Bulwer there
fore between the ages Of twenty-five and twenty
eight. short but important period which saw the
+ransfornatiou of the fashionable and sentimental
louneer into q handwriting man OF letters,
h-iIliant and successful novelist, the father OF
family. and member of Parliament. Ofthe aJmes-
tie difficulties which became the talk OF tic "orH'
and of which the echoes seem TO be still Tev" ber-
ating in London Lord Lytton is not yet cal ed npoh
TO give an account, although the causes of much
unhappiness are already discernbe in the Driei
wears of concord which followed the marriage and
enough is disclosed to arouse our concern LOT the
unfortunate son who feels it his duty to become the
historiographer of his parents quarrels. lie Will
have to smart for his venture. Already the English
press teens with menaces; for Lady Lytton' hOt
having much else to bequeath, appears to have left
her executor all her family letters and her com
batiye temper A fresh outbreak of the old scandal
may be expected therefore after the biography mas
proceeled a little further For the present we are
at peace.
We left Young Bulwer in Paris living handsomely
but not extravagantly on generous allowance from
his mother and alternating the pleasures OF the best
society of the Faub6urg st. German with fits OF
morbid and romantic seclusiOn, in which he ell
couraged q melancholy temperament and DroOded
DAYS which seems to have been the true grand
passion of his life. 1t may be that the marriage
which he considered the greatest of his msfortunes
WINS in reality the foundation of his fame for it was
the means of suddenly breaking up the fantastic
habits of dreamer and diettante, and subjecting
him at the most critical period of his youth to the
sevele but valuable discipline of writing for bread
This was precisely the training he needed to
strengthen his character and chasten his exubersnt
imagination. He had just completed his twenty
second year when he met Rosina Wheeler in Lon
don. She was q year older than Bulwer, remark
ably beautiful, interesting in her character and
manners and especially interesting to susceptible
and tender hearted young man because she was I'M
fortunate. Her parents had been separated lare we
never to hear the last of the unhappy marriages i'll
the Bulwer connection D; her father, an Irish
SQUIRE was dead her mother, who had cast her of,
was living at Caen the bel esprit of little group OF
socialists and free-thnkers to the support OF whose
doctrines she devoted her purse and her pen. 1t
was natural that Bulwers mother should not aP-
prove of the nearly pennIless daughter of such Il
house as wife for her favorite son, especially ~
Edwards own fortune was only $1,000, and his
habits were those of gentleman of leisure. In con-
sequence of her objections the growing intimacy be-
tween the two young people was broken of, and
Bulwer returned to Paris to escape from an inlu
Lord Lytton distinctly informs us, with as much
delicacy of phrase the case permits, that Miss
Wheeler called his father back, and held him fast
until he felt that not only his own happiness but
her social prospects involved in the affair lie
was still embarrassed however, by promise to his
mother:
In this unsettled state of mind, pride, if not
prudence, would probably have weaned him by de
grees from all lingering hopes and wishes associated
with Miss Wheeler, had he received from her dis
tnct assurance that she was resolved not to marry
him without his mothers approval, or under con-
ditons entailng on him an almost total sacrlhce OF
his income. No such announcement came in aid of
his struggle; yet, even without it, the struggle
might perhaps have been successful had his mothers
recognition of it been of kind to make him feel
that she appreciated and commlserated the pang It
cost him. The most sensible woman, however u
sure to mismanage her interests when she is COM
pletely under the influence of her feelings; and the
love of mother is often as jealous as that OF mis-
tress. My grandmother was too deeply hurt in her
own affection 10 sympathze with my fathers attach
ment to Miss Wheeler or to treat with much tend
proved to her, at every moment, how strong was
the dominion already established over her sons
heart by an influence hostile to her own.
Smarting from a sense of unrecogniZed sacrifice |
and conscious that by the woman he loved his flight
was regarded as a deserton, my father i'm one of
those sudden and fatal impulses which so often de-
eide the destiny of an entire lel returned to Miss
Wheeler. The only capacity in which no could re-
betrOthed lover; and from this moment his course
however painful might be the progress, or disas-
not by his affection only but by every sentiment Of
honor duty and devotion.
The wedding took place August 90, 1927. Mrs.
Bulwer Lytton was not present at the ceremony,
and maintained for long time obstinate atti-
tude of resentment, overcome at last by the afec
tionate and dutful behavior of the son. seconded it
lie clear by the sensible conduct of the young wife
Lord Lytton says:
II is but just to the memory of my grandmother Ia
should mention in connection with this correspond
ence what believe to have been the main cause of
her resentment at my fathers marriage. She had o
strong sentiment of justice and an intense perhaps
an OldtashiOned, appreciation Of the seltsubordln
ating service due 10 that private sovereignty, the
Family from every one Of its members and subjects.
This feeling was to herself, an established principle
of conduct; and guided by it, she considered,
rightly or wrongly that her daughter-in-law, when
made aware of her objection to the marriage and
my fathers pecuniary position i'll regard to it, ought
to have released him from bis engagement. She did
not, perhaps, sufficiently realize the practical fu
tility of release which would not have been recog
nized OF accepted by him. But it will be here
sufferers from O union which flor this and other
reaSons) had been to her q source of extreme veX-
tas usual with herr self-sacrihcng.
Bulwer had, of course, surrendered on his mar
Tiage the allowance from his mother. His own in
come and his wife's combined did not amount to
moro than $500 year. The wife had no knowledge
of money and mo taste for domestic cares but Bull
wer was good manager, and he did not hesitate to
hire a comfortable country-place In OxfOrdshire,
and 60 TO work as literary drudge. So great was
his industry and so accurate his judgment of the
sort Of productions which were marketable. that in
the third year of his marriage he free from debt
and living in London at the rate Of about e. 900
year the chief part of which expenditure must have
been covered by the proceeds of literary labor. His
acknowledged publications represented only part
Of his work, for he was an active anonymous con-
tribator to reviews, magazines and newspapers.
He resolutely resisted the allurement of those de-
partments of literature which most attracted him.
In its lowest and obscuroSt regions he toed unre-
mittingly. The single object Tor which he wrote