1838.] [.238 3 







MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 







EUGENE ARAM. BY THE AUTHOR OF PELHAM. 



THE high estimation which Mr. Bulwer enjoys among what are denominated 

 " the Reading Public," renders every new publication of his a most desirable 

 acquisition. As a novelist he ranks with the highest. If there is a writer of 

 fiction at the present day, when that kind of writing has arrived at an extra- 

 ordinary degree of perfection, worthy of pre-eminence where so many are excel- 

 lent, we should consider the author of Pelham as possessing a fair claim to that 

 distinction. Sir Walter Scott may have produced fictions of a more romantic 

 beauty, Mr. Cooper may have described scenes of more intense interest, and Mr. 

 Godwin may have rivetted our attention to his stirring narratives, with a stronger 

 and more commanding power ; but the volumes of Mr. Bulwer are imbued with 

 a deeper tone of philosophy, and possess more pretensions to thought and reflec- 

 tion than those of his great contemporaries (if we except Mr. Godwin). Hiai 

 fame rests more upon the merit of his works, than upon their number. Of his 

 first novel, which we believe was " Falkland," we have but little recollection ; 

 the publication of " Pelham," immediately produced for him that elevated 

 degree of celebrity, which more recent productions of his pen have continued 

 and increased. " The Disowned," and " Devereux," if they have not obtained 

 an equal share of popularity, possess merits which alone would have entitled 

 their author to a durable and honourable fame. " Paul Clifford," though of a 

 very different character from his former volumes, is marked by a strong power 

 of satire and humour. The author has shewn himself as much at home with 

 the habits and peculiarities of the lower orders, as he had previously done in his 

 delineations of character in a more exalted society. His notions of men and 

 things are marked by originality and truth ; his development of the good and 

 evil of human nature, the " mingled yarn," of which stuff our lives are spun, is 

 drawn with a spirit of wise and just observance ; the gentle feelings of humanity, 

 and the darker passions of the heart, are thrown over the picture, like the 

 chiaro-scuro of the most skilful artist, and blended into one grand and harmo- 

 nious whole ; and beneath the surface lies an under-current of reflection and 

 philosophy scattering golden meanings, and treasures of thought and poetry as 

 sparkling as the sands of Pactolus. 



The rank which the author holds in society, has given him many opportunities 

 of becoming familiar with its construction and character ; with the invisible links 

 which connect the foundation-stone buried in the soil, with the magnificent 

 sculpture placed upon the top of the column ; and his insight into the hidden 

 principles which govern men's actions, he has proved to us to be as great as the 

 advantages he possessed of its study. He lays bare the human heart to all men's 

 eyes, not by a sudden withdrawal of those innumerable coverings which conceal 

 it from the world ; but its many motives arid feelings, and passions, and desires, 

 and aspirations, are, like the fabrics and cloths that envelope an Egyptian 

 mummy, gradually unfolded, and the nakedness of its nature lies exposed before 

 us. He weaves upon the ground- work of fact, a fiction of glorious colouring, 

 and splendid texture, which, like the famed productions of oriental magnificence, 

 is woven in with precious things, the treasures of other men's gathering. The 

 great charm of Sir Walter Scott's writings lies in their romance : it is so mixed 

 up and blended with its characters that we see it, are dazzled by it, and acknow- 

 ledge the glamoury of the " Wizard of the North ;" but Mr. Bulwer relies not 

 so much upon the romance of fiction, as the romance of truth. Imagination 

 colours the one, and knowledge of human nature produces the other. With the 

 Author of Pelham, truth is the quarry out of which, like the great sculptors of 

 old, he chisels forms rivalling the perfection of nature : with the Author of 

 Waverley Romance is the Philosopher's stone which turns all it touches into 

 gold. 



Joined to these powers the author possesses a spirit imbued with profound 



