390: Novels by the Author of Headlong Hail. [Aragin, 
of that school of ethics which teaches its disciples to look only on the 
gloomy side of things, which in the external forms of nature can discern 
nothing but a foul and perishable process of corruption, and which in- 
culcates the pernicious doctrine that man, even in his most elevated con-. 
dition, is but a passive instrument in the hands of the great principle of 
evil. Moreover it is a useful tale, inasmuch as it ridicules that now. 
almost exploded system of transcendental philosophy which Mr. Cole- 
ridge has for years been doing his best to engraft on the staple literature 
of England 
« Maid Marian” is a lively, entertaining Sylvan story, with this be-~ 
setting defect, that throughout the narrative the author has mistaken his 
forte. His genius is any thing but sylvan: he lacks an eye for nature, 
and is at home only where he grapples with the quaint absurdities of 
learning. His “ Robin Hood” and his “Maid Marian,” his “ Friar Tuck,” 
his “ Little John,” and his “ Scarlett,” are the creations not of nature but 
of art. They want the freshness — the vividness —the individuality of 
real life, and force on our minds a dangerous recollection of the pastoral 
sketches in “ Ivanhoe.” But this, we may here observe, is the leading 
fault of all Mr. Peacock’s heroes and heroines. They are not men or 
women, but opinions personified ; each individual being, in his or her 
person, the representative of some abstract truth or quaint pedantic anos 
maly. They smell of the schools, and are tainted with the miasma of meta- 
physics. In consequence of this defect, the range of our author’s invention 
is limited ; for though the varieties of human nature are inexhaustible, 
those of art are necessarily confined. Sir W. Scott, in this respect, stands 
out in fine contrast to Mr. Peacock, and confirms the truth of our remark. 
His characters are all drawn from life ; just as he himself has seen them, 
so has he described them,, embellished, of course, and heightened by the 
magic touches of afancy, such asShakspeare only has surpassed, and hence 
his power of creation has been bounded only by his experience. With 
the author of “ Melincourt”—or, as he delights to style himself, of 
“ Headlong Hall”—the case is altogether different; he has drawn all 
his characters, their feelings, prejudices, opinions, &c. from books ; with 
nature he has had little or nothing to do. He is, therefore, perpetually, 
though we are bound in justice to add, agreeably, repeating himself. 
His Mr. Flosky, the transcendental philosopher, is the mere echo of Mr, 
Moly Mystic, the Cimmerian metaphysician ; Mr: Foster,*the Perfecti- 
bilian, is a Variorum edition “ longe auctior et emendatior” of Mr: 
Forester, the enthusiast ; and the origin of Mr. Glowry, the sentimen- 
talist, may be found in Mr. Hippy, the hypochondriac. To such an 
excess does Mr. Peacock carry his love of learning, so completely is his 
mind saturated with classic lore, that his very style partakes of this pe- 
culiarity ; and though, in his latter fictions, it is purely English, just, in 
short, what it ought to be, in his former ones the idiom is, in many, 
instances Latin ; the phraseology especially so. No one who reads his 
« Headlong Hall” will fail to perceive this characteristic feature. 
It may here seem a strange remark to hazard, but we cannot help fancy- 
ing that Mr. Peacock is the man of all others to enjoy a clever Christmas 
pantomime. With the tumblings—and the twistings—and the rollings one 
over the other, which constitute so much of the fun of this species of 
dramatic amusement, our author is perfectly familiar. No man makes 
so much of the downfall of a fat oily monk, or an equally plethorie 
churchman. His. incidents:of this nature—and he is never tired of dex 
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