166 



Literary and Critical Pro'emiunt 



who has a particular claim on the gratitude 

 of young collectors, by thus furnishing 

 them with a cheap, commodious, and cor- 

 rect, guide in the selection of their classical 

 library. 



Critical applause is not required in re- 

 gard to three volumes of Public Cliaracters 

 of all Nalions, because such a body of in- 

 teresting facts, as a work of necessary re- 

 ference, must find its way into every lite- 

 rary family as rapidly as our Miscellany. 

 It is sufficient to observe, that it contains 

 impartial and neatly drawn Memoirs of 

 nearly 3000 living persons in every walk 

 of life; and therefore addresses itself to the 

 curiosity of millions, all of whom it must 

 gratify and instruct in various decrees. 



There are occasional traces of clever- 

 ness, in a little volume of Stories lately 

 published, entitled, December Tales ; but, 

 upon the whole, it would, perhaps, have 

 been more judicious in the author to have 

 suffered them to remain in his portfolio. 

 They are in many instances deficient both 

 in interest and good taste ; and the reader, 

 when he closes the volume, feels inclined 

 to ask the question cui bono? "The Falls 

 of Ohiopyle" is, |)erhaps, the best tale in 

 the volume, and " The Test of Affection" 

 decidedly the worst. In all of them there 

 is a want of simplicity, and an appearance 

 of attempt and constraint in th.e style. It 

 is singular that, in the articles at the enl 

 of the volume, called " Recollections," 

 the writer should criticise exactly the 

 same works which have lately been no- 

 ticed in the Retrospective Review ; 

 works, too, of rare occurrence, and which 

 are seldom found in the bands of the ordi- 

 nary reader. When the author tells ns, 

 " that he has just closed, and placed upon 

 the shelf, a book, the perusal of which had 

 been a considerable fund of entertainment 

 to him, the Epistola Obscuroium Virorum," 

 we apprehend he mistook the volume ; 

 and that he had, in fact, just placed upon 

 the shelf the fifth volume of the Retro- 

 spective Review. 



We may expect that the various works, 

 in which tlie character, manners, and his- 

 tory, both public and private, of the Em- 

 peror Napoleon, have been, of late, minutely 

 delineated and narrated, will at length fix 

 the opinion of the world upon that sub- 

 ject, and remove the strange misconcep- 

 tions and gross delusions which have been 

 so long and so generally entertained. 

 The Journal of the Private Life and Conver- 

 sations of the Emperor Napoteor. at Siii7it 

 Helena, by the Count de Las Cases, is 

 full of interesting details, and is highly 

 valuable, as presenting a faithful picture 

 of Napoleon in the seclusion of domestic 

 life, drawn by one who enjoyed the best 

 opportunities, from the confidential fami- 

 liarity with which he was treated, of con- 

 templating the featuics of the original, 

 and catching their genuine expression. 



[March 1, 

 The testimony given by the Count, is, we 

 scarcely need to say, highly favourable to 

 his deceased master. In its general tenor, 

 and in the impression which it leaves on 

 the reader's mind, it strikingly supports 

 the volumes of Mr. O'Meara; and thus, 

 indirectly, afibrds additional grounds for 

 the confidence with which their contents 

 have been received by the public. The 

 exposures, which that gentleman had the 

 boldness to make, might have been ex- 

 pected to draw down upon him, long since, 

 all the rancour and scurrility of those to 

 whom the recollection of the treatment of 

 Napoleon in his exile must be as worm- 

 wood. It IS surprising that their attack 

 has been so long postponed ; but we find it, 

 at last, made by a simultaneous arrange- 

 ment iu the Court of King's Bench on the 

 one hand, and in the Quarterly Review on 

 the other. With respect to the first, we 

 have our doubts whether the matter will 

 ever find its way before a jury. As to 

 the article in the Review, the sum of 

 the argument is, not that the details of the 

 conversations with Napoleon are in the 

 slightest degree impeached in point of 

 fidelity, for they are expressly stated to 

 be, in the Reviewer's opinion, substan- 

 tially correct; but, that Mr. O'Meara 

 connived at the secret correspondence of 

 the exiles, and acted in breach of his trust, 

 and contrary to the established regula- 

 tions. The situation of Mr. O'Meara 

 was a very difiicult one; and no man 

 alive could, probably, in such a position, 

 have held the balance even between his 

 conflicting duties. It is, however, strictly 

 due to Mr. O'Meara, that the judgment 

 of the public should be suspended, until 

 he has had an opportunity of answering 

 the charges, which are here urged against 

 him, with an asperity and eager violence, 

 in which, alone, we should find strong 

 grounds for hesitation and suspicion. As 

 far as regards the attempt of the Reviewer 

 to remove the stigma from the character of 

 the measures pursued respecting Na- 

 poleon, we think he wholly fails; aud we 

 consider his only success to consist in the 

 variety and force of his vituperation, 

 which, from long practice and happy natu- 

 ral powers, he is able to administer with 

 no little dexterity and effect. We cannot 

 quit the subject of Napoleon, without ad- 

 vertint; to the publication of his Memoirs o/ 

 the History (f France, dnrins, his reign, dic- 

 tated by him at St. Helena, to Counts 

 Montholon, Bertrand, &c. and printed 

 from the original manuscript, which com- 

 mand the most intense interest, and are 

 of inestimable value as materials for the 

 future historian. 



We announced, in our last number, the 

 publication of another addition to the ap- 

 parently interminable series of Scotch 

 novels, which recur, at stated periods, 

 with a regularity on which we may make 



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