The New Timon. A Romance of London. Philadelphia: Carey & Hart. 1 vol. 12mo.
This poem has excited no inconsiderable interest in London. It is reprinted from the third English edition. Bulwer has been mentioned as the probable author, but this must be a mistake, unless Bulwer has essentially changed his literary opinions. Wordsworth, Keats and Tennyson, each of whom the author of “Pelham” has warmly praised, the author of “Timon” most ignorantly and pertly ridicules. The poem, it must be admitted, has much merit. It is written in a vigorous style, contains numerous passages of flashing description, much keen portraiture of prominent English politicians, and many beautiful scenes of pathos and passion. The pith and nerve of the verse, the half-misanthropic, half-romantic tone of the sentiment, the frequent allusion to contemporary events and persons, and the bitter sharpness of the satire on social evils,—often remind the reader of Byron. The work evidences a brilliant and restless intellect, ill at ease with the manners and institutions of society, scornful, dogmatic and perverse, but quite felicitous in running keen observations into the moulds of fancy and wit. Kinglake, the author of Eothen, might have written it. The author’s character is a composite, made up of Diogenes and Alcibiades.
Memoirs of the Life of Addison. By Miss Aiken. Philadelphia: Carey & Hart. 1 vol. 12mo.
The publishers of this volume have started a “Library for the People,” of which the Life of Addison constitutes No. 5. It makes a volume of about 300 pages, elegantly printed. The price is only fifty cents, or one-fourteenth of the cost of the English edition. All the mistakes of the English edition, so acutely pointed out by Macaulay, have been corrected in the American reprint. The work is well written, and introduces us to a most interesting period of English literature and history. The correspondence of Addison confers great value upon the work. Most of the letters were never before printed. The beautiful character of the subject, joined to the immense influence which his writings have exerted on English letters and manners, give to the details of his virtuous and well-spent life a peculiar interest and charm. A volume which introduces us so completely to Addison, and strengthens that affectionate companionship with him, which his works may have commenced, cannot fail to be popular.
The Poetry of Wit and Humor. Selected from the English Poets. With an Illustrative Essay, and Critical Comments. By Leigh Hunt. 1 vol. 12mo.
The matter of this book will ensure its success. It contains extracts from Chaucer, Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher, Suckling, Dryden, Pope, Goldsmith and Wolcot, with running comments on the authors and on particular passages of the poems. The essay on Wit and Humor, though it does not exhaust the topic, is ingenious, and pleasantly illustrated. We do not think that in the case of a few of the authors, Hunt has hit upon the happiest selections. Few, for example, would obtain an idea of the comic genius of Fletcher from the specimens quoted in the volume. The task, however, was a difficult one to perform; and the editor, in compiling an entertaining volume, has done all that perhaps could be expected, in the limited space to which he was confined.
The Island Bride, and other Poems. By James F. Colman. Boston: Wm. D. Ticknor & Co. 1 vol. 12mo.