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 d. Congenital anomalies
ANS: C
Unintentional injuries (accidents) are the leading cause of death after age 1 year through
adolescence. Congenital anomalies are the leading cause of death in those younger than 1
year. Cancer ranks either second or fourth, depending on the age group, and heart disease
ranks fifth in the majority of the age groups.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Remember TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Planning
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Health Promotion and Maintenance

4. Which factor most impacts the type of injury a child is susceptible to, according to the
child’s age?
a. Physical health of the child
b. Developmental level of the child
c. Educational level of the child
d. Number of responsible adults in the home
ANS: B
The child’s developmental stage determines the type of injury that is likely to occur. The
child’s physical health may facilitate the child’s recovery from an injury but does not
impact the type of injury. Educational level is related to developmental level, but it is not
as important as the child’s developmental level in determining the type of injury. The
number of responsible adults in the home may affect the number of unintentional injuries,
but the type of injury is related to the child’s developmental stage.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Planning
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Health Promotion and Maintenance

5. A nurse on a pediatric unit is practicing family-centered care. Which is most descriptive of

the care the nurse is delivering?
a. Taking over total care of the child to reduce stress on the family
b. Encouraging family dependence on health care systems
c. Recognizing that the family is the constant in a child’s life
d. Excluding families from the decision-making process
ANS: C
The three key components of family-centered care are respect, collaboration, and support.
Family-centered care recognizes the family as the constant in the child’s life. Taking over
total care does not include the family in the process and may increase stress instead of
reducing stress. The family should be enabled and empowered to work with the health care
system. The family is expected to be part of the decision-making process.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand

TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Implementation
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Health Promotion and Maintenance

6. Which intervention would the nurse include when providing atraumatic care?
a. Prepare the child for separation from parents during hospitalization by reviewing a
video.
b. Prepare the child before any unfamiliar treatment or procedure.
c. Help the child accept the loss of control associated with hospitalization.
 d. Help the child accept pain that is connected with a treatment or procedure.
ANS: B
Preparing the child for any unfamiliar treatments, controlling pain, allowing privacy,
providing play activities for expression of fear and aggression, providing choices, and
respecting cultural differences are components of atraumatic care. In the provision of
atraumatic care, the separation of child from parents during hospitalization is minimized.
The nurse should promote a sense of control for the child. Preventing and minimizing
bodily injury and pain are major components of atraumatic care.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand

TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Implementation
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Psychosocial Integrity

7. Which is suggestive that a nurse has a nontherapeutic relationship with a patient and
family?
a. Staff is concerned about the nurse’s closeness with the patient and family.
b. Staff assignments allow the nurse to care for same patient and family over an
extended time.
c. Nurse is able to withdraw emotionally when emotional overload occurs but still
remains committed.
d. Nurse uses teaching skills to instruct patient and family rather than doing
everything for them.
ANS: A
A clue to a nontherapeutic staff-patient relationship is concern by other staff members.
Allowing the nurse to care for the same patient over time would be therapeutic for the
patient and family. Nurses who are able to somewhat withdraw emotionally can protect
themselves while providing therapeutic care. Nurses using teaching skills to instruct
patient and family will assist in transitioning the child and family to self-care.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Analyze TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process:

Assessment
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Psychosocial Integrity

8. Which is descriptive of clinical reasoning?

a. A simple developmental process
b. A cognitive process used to analyze data
c. Based on deliberate and irrational thought
d. Assists individuals in guessing which is most appropriate
ANS: B
Clinical reasoning is a complex, developmental process based on rational and deliberate
thought. Clinical reasoning is not a developmental process. Clinical reasoning is based on
rational and deliberate thought. Clinical reasoning is not a guessing process.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Planning
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Safe and Effective Care Environment: Management of Care

9. A nurse makes the decision to apply a topical anesthetic to a child’s skin before drawing
blood. Which ethical principle is the nurse demonstrating?
a. Autonomy
 b. Beneficence
c. Justice
d. Truthfulness
ANS: B
Beneficence is the obligation to promote the patient’s well-being. Applying a topical
anesthetic before drawing blood promotes reducing the discomfort of the venipuncture.
Autonomy is the patient’s right to be self-governing. Justice is the concept of fairness.
Truthfulness is the concept of honesty.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand

TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Implementation
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Physiological Integrity

10. Which action by the nurse demonstrates use of evidence-based practice (EBP)?
a. Gathering equipment for a procedure
b. Documenting changes in a patient’s status
c. Questioning the practice of daily central line dressing changes
d. Clarifying a physician’s prescription for morphine
ANS: C
The nurse who questions the daily central line dressing change is ascertaining whether
clinical interventions result in positive outcomes for patients. This demonstrates EBP,
which implies questioning why something is effective and whether a better approach
exists. Gathering equipment for a procedure and documenting changes in a patient’s status
are practices that follow established guidelines. Clarifying a physician’s prescription for
morphine constitutes safe nursing care.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Apply TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process:

Evaluation
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Safe and Effective Care Environment: Management of Care

11. A nurse is admitting a toddler to the hospital and the parents state they will need to leave
for a brief period. Which type of nursing diagnosis would the nurse formulate for this
child?
a. Risk for anxiety
b. Anxiety
c. Readiness for enhanced coping
d. Ineffective coping
ANS: A
A potential problem is categorized as a risk. The toddler has a risk to become anxious
when the parents leave. Nursing interventions will be geared toward reducing the risk. The
child is not showing current anxiety or ineffective coping. The child is not at a point for
readiness for enhanced coping, especially because the parents will be leaving.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Apply TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Diagnosis
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Health Promotion and Maintenance

12. Which depicts accurate documentation for a dressing change on a child who has an
appendectomy incision?
 a. Dressing change to appendectomy incision completed, child tolerated procedure
well, parent present
b. No complications noted during dressing change to appendectomy incision
c. Appendectomy incision non-reddened, sutures intact, no drainage noted on old
dressing, new dressing applied, procedure tolerated well by child
d. No changes to appendectomy incisional area, dressing changed, child complained
of pain during procedure, new dressing clean, dry and intact
ANS: C
The nurse should document assessments and reassessments. Appearance of the incision
described in objective terms should be included during a dressing change. The nurse
should document patient’s response and the outcomes of the care provided. In this
example, these include drainage on the old dressing, the application of the new dressing,
and the child’s response. The other statements partially fulfill the requirements of
documenting assessments and reassessments, patient’s response, and outcome, but do not
include all three.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Analyze

TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Implementation
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Safe and Effective Care Environment: Management of Care

13. A nurse is planning a class on accident prevention for parents of toddlers. Which safety
topic is the priority for this class?
a. Correct use of car seat restraints
b. Safety crossing the street
c. Helmet use when riding a bicycle
d. Poison control numbers
ANS: A
Motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) continue to be the most common cause of death in
children older than 1 year, therefore the priority topic is appropriate use of car seat
restraints. Safety crossing the street and bicycle helmet use are topics that should be
included for preschool parents but are not priorities for parents of toddlers. Information
about poison control is important for parents of toddlers and would be a safety topic to
include but is not the priority over appropriate use of car seat restraints.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Apply TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Planning
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Health Promotion and Maintenance

14. A nurse is collecting subjective and objective information about target populations to
diagnose problems based on community needs. This describes which step in the
community nursing process?
a. Planning
b. Diagnosis
c. Assessment
d. Establishing objectives
ANS: C
 Assessment is a continuous process that operates at all phases of problem solving and is
the foundation for decision making. Assessment involves multiple nursing skills and
consists of the purposeful collection, classification, and analysis of data from a variety of
sources. Diagnosing is the next step of the nursing process when the problem is identified.
The nurse should establish objectives for the activity before starting the nursing process.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Remember TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process:

Assessment
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Safe and Effective Care Environment: Management of Care

15. A nurse has established several health programs, such as bicycle safety, to improve the
health status of a target population. This describes which step in the community nursing
process?
a. Planning
b. Evaluation
c. Assessment
d. Implementation
ANS: D
The nurse working with the community to put into practice a program to reach community
goals is the implementation phase of the community nursing process. Planning involves
designing the program to meet community-centered goals. The evaluation stage would
determine the effectiveness of the program. During the assessment phase, the nurse would
identify the resources necessary and the barriers that would interfere with implementation.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Apply

TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process: Implementation
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Safe and Effective Care Environment: Management of Care

16. When communicating with other professionals, which is important for the nurse to do?
a. Ask others what they want to know.
b. Share everything known about the family.
c. Restrict communication to clinically relevant information.
d. Recognize that confidentiality is not possible.
ANS: C
The nurse will need to share, through both oral and written communication, clinically
relevant information with other involved health professionals. Asking others what they
want to know and sharing everything known about the family is inappropriate. Patients
have a right to confidentiality. The nurse is not permitted to share information about
clients, except clinically relevant information that pertains to the child’s care.
Confidentiality permits the disclosure of information to other health professionals on a
need-to-know basis.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Apply

TOP: Integrated Process: Communication and Documentation
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Safe and Effective Care Environment: Management of Care

17. A nurse is formulating a clinical question for evidence-based practice. Place in sequential
order the steps the nurse should use to clarify the scope of the problem and clinical topic of
interest:
 1. Intervention
2. Outcome
3. Population
4. Time
5. Comparison
a. 4, 5, 1, 2, 1
b. 5, 2, 3, 4, 1
c. 3, 1, 5, 2, 4
d. 2, 3, 1, 5, 4
ANS: C
When formulating a clinical question for evidence-based practice, the nurse would follow
a concise, organized way that allows for clear answers. Good clinical questions should be
asked in the PICOT (population, intervention, comparison, outcome, time) format to assist
with clarity and literature searching. PICOT questions assist with clarifying the scope of
the problem and clinical topic of interest.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process:

Assessment
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Health Promotion and Maintenance

MULTIPLE RESPONSE

1. The following account for nearly half of all deaths in infants younger than 1 year? (Select
all that apply.)
a. Congenital anomalies
b. Sudden infant death syndrome
c. Respiratory distress syndrome
d. Bacterial sepsis of the newborn
e. Disorders relating to short gestation
ANS: A, B, E
Congenital anomalies, disorders relating to short gestation and unspecified LBW, newborn
affected by maternal complications of pregnancy, and sudden infant death syndrome—
accounted for about half (49.8%) of all deaths of infants younger than 1 year old (Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017a).

DIF: Cognitive Level: Remember TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process:

Assessment
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Health Promotion and Maintenance

2. Which behaviors by the nurse indicate a therapeutic relationship with children and
families? (Select all that apply.)
a. Spending off-duty time with children and families
b. Asking questions if families are not participating in the care
c. Clarifying information for families
d. Buying toys for a hospitalized child
e. Learning about the family’s religious preferences
ANS: B, C, E
 Asking questions if families are not participating in the care, clarifying information for
families, and learning about the family’s religious preferences are positive actions and
foster therapeutic relationships with children and families. Spending off-duty time with
children and families and buying toys for a hospitalized child are negative actions and
indicate overinvolvement with children and families, which is nontherapeutic.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Understand TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process:

Assessment
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Psychosocial Integrity

3. Which behaviors by the nurse indicate non-therapeutic relationship with children and
families? (Select all that apply.)
a. Visits family on days off.
b. Provides a calming influence
c. Purchases clothes and toys for the child.
d. Communication is open and two-way.
e. Strives to empower families.
ANS: A, C
A home care nurse can establish therapeutic nurse-family boundaries by negotiating house
rules and ensuring that communication is open and two-way. Visiting the family of off-
duty days and buying expensive gifts for the child would be boundary crossing and
nontherapeutic.

DIF: Cognitive Level: Analyze TOP: Integrated Process: Nursing Process:

Evaluation
MSC: Area of Client Needs: Psychosocial Integrity
Random documents with unrelated
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 Doth thro’ the soul its tenderness diffuse,
E’en as the glow, from morning’s sun light streaming,
Smiles o’er the earth, and tempereth its hues
Oh! gentle love, thy spirit o’er us beaming,
 Doth thro’ the soul its tenderness diffuse,
A magic all have felt and feel, how e’er they struggle to conceal
A magic all have felt and feel, how e’er they struggle to
conceal,
Or as the dew upon the flowrets sleeping,
Over the leaves a distillation rains,
Which tho’ the day dissolve its pearly weeping,
Still in their heart reviving them remains.
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

PARTRIDGE SHOOTING.
Concluded.

Unless there be continual rain, or it be the depth of winter, birds

will visit their basking place some time in the course of the day,
whether the sun shine or not. The basking place is generally, but not
invariably, on the sunny side of the hedge. Birds may be most easily
approached in fine weather. All kinds of birds lie better in small
enclosures than in large ones, that is, when the cover in each is
alike. It need scarcely be added, that the more bushy the brambles,
or the higher the grass the more closely will lie the game.
A person who knows how to walk up to a bird will obtain more
shots than one who does not, especially in windy weather. Birds will
not only allow the shooter to approach nearer to them when he
faces the wind, but they present on rising, a fairer mark.
When the legs of a bird fired at fall, it is almost a certain proof
that it is struck in a vital part. A bird so struck should be narrowly
watched, when, in most instances, it will be seen, after flying about
a hundred yards if a grouse, or fifty yards if a partridge, to tower or
spire in the air, and fall down dead. When only one leg falls, the bird
should be watched, but in the latter case, it generally happens that
the leg or thigh only has been struck. Any bird that flinches, on
being fired at, or whose feathers are in the least disordered, should
be marked down, and followed. Grouse more frequently fly away
wounded than partridges. Grouse are often recovered several
hundred yards from the gun.
Until November or December, young grouse, black-game,
partridges, and pheasants, may be distinguished from old ones by
the lower beak not being strong enough to bear the weight of their
bodies. The lower beak of an old partridge is strong enough to
sustain the weight of a brace of birds; but a young bird cannot be
raised by the lower beak without the lower beak bending under the
weight.
The number of birds in a covey varies much, perhaps the average
may be from ten to fifteen. In some years, when the coveys are
larger after a fine hatching season, it is not uncommon to see
upward of twenty birds in a covey; and sometimes after a wet
season, ten birds may be deemed a fair covey. Birds are most
numerous after a dry summer. When there are thunder-storms about
midsummer, great numbers of young birds are drowned. The young
birds have many enemies besides the elements, such as cats, young
dogs, hawks, foxes, and vermin of different descriptions. When the
eggs are taken, or the young birds destroyed soon after leaving the
shell, there will be a second hatch. Sportsmen often meet with
second hatches in September, when the old birds rise screaming,
and generally alight within fifty yards, as if to induce the young birds
to follow. In that case the fair sportsman will not fire at the old birds,
but will call in his dogs and leave the ground. At such times he
should look well after the young dogs, as, when they see the birds
running, they are apt to snatch up such of them as cannot get out of
the way. The very young birds are called cheepers, from their
uttering a scream as they rise. Full grown birds never scream as
they rise, except when the young ones are helpless, nor do young
birds after they are large enough for the table.
There are shooters who acquire an unsportsman-like habit of
firing at a covey immediately as it rises, before the birds are fairly on
the wing, and, thus without aiming at any individual bird, bring down
two or three. And sometimes they will make a foul shot by flanking a
covey; the birds being on the wing, come upon them suddenly, and
make a simultaneous wheel; they take them on the turn, when, for a
moment—and but for a moment—half the covey are in a line, and
floor them rank and file. These are tricks allied to poaching, and
almost as reprehensible as shooting at birds on the ground, which is
nothing less than high treason.
 The cock partridge is distinguished from the hen by the brown
feathers which form a crescent, or horse-shoe, as it is sometimes
called, on the breast.
The pointer is decidedly the best dog for partridge shooting.
The dog should fall when the gun is fired, and remain down until
he is told to seek, when he should point the dead bird. A pointer
that drops to shot, becomes an excellent retriever.
The dog should be taught to obey the eye and the hand, rather
than the voice. A dog that will do so is invaluable, in open grounds,
when birds are wild.
Whenever speaking to a dog, whether encouragingly or
reprovingly, the sportsman should endeavor to look what he means,
and the dog will understand him. The dog will understand the look,
if he does not the words. The sportsman should never, with a smile
on his countenance, punish a dog; nor commend him when he has
done well, but with an apparent hearty good will: the dog will then
take an interest in obeying him.
 REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS.

“Night and Morning.” A Novel. By the author of Pelham,

Rienzi, Eugene Aram, &c. 2 vols. Re-published by
Harper & Brothers, New York.

The Right Hon. Charles Leopold Beaufort, of Beaufort Court,

England, a proud and misanthropical old bachelor, with a rental of
twenty thousand pounds, has two nephews, Philip and Robert
Beaufort. The former, who is the elder of the two, and heir-apparent
to the uncle’s estate, is thoughtless and generous, with unsteady
principles. The latter is a crafty man-of-the-world, whose only
honesty consists in appearing honest—a scrupulous decorist. Philip,
in love with Catharine Morton, the daughter of a tradesman, and in
fear of his aristocratic uncle’s displeasure, is married clandestinely, in
a remote village of Wales, by a quondam college friend, to whom he
had presented a living—the Rev. Caleb Price. The better to keep the
secret, a very old Welshman, certain soon to die, and William Smith,
Philip’s servant, are the sole witnesses of the ceremony. This
performed, Smith is hired to bury himself in Australia until called for,
while the deaf man dies as expected. Some time having elapsed,
Philip, dreading accident to the register, writes to Caleb for an
attested copy of the record. Caleb is too ill to make it, but employs a
neighboring curate, Morgan Jones, to make and attest it, and
despatches it, just before dying, to Philip, who, fearing his wife’s
impatience of the concealment required, deposites the document,
without her knowledge, in a secret drawer of a bureau. The register
itself is afterwards accidentally destroyed. Catharine has soon two
children—first Philip, the hero of the novel, and then Sydney. For
their sakes she bravely endures the stigma upon her character. She
continues to live openly with her husband as his mistress, bearing
her maiden name of Morton; and the uncle, whose nerves would
have been shocked at a mis-alliance, and who would have
disinherited its perpetrator, winks at what he considers the venial
vice. The old gentleman lives on for sixteen years, and yet no
disclosure is made. At last he dies, bequeathing his property to his
eldest nephew, as was anticipated. The latter prepares forthwith to
own Catharine as his wife; relates to his brother the facts of the
clandestine marriage; speaks of the secreted document, without
designating the place of deposit; is disbelieved by that person
entirely; mounts his horse to make arrangements for a second
wedding, and for proving the first; is thrown, breaks his neck, and
expires without uttering a word. Catharine, ignorant of the secret
drawer (although aware that a record had been secreted), failing to
find William Smith, and trusting her cause to an unskilful lawyer, is
unable to prove her marriage, but in the effort to do so makes an
enemy of Robert Beaufort, who takes possession of the estate as
heir at law. Thus the strict precautions taken by the father to
preserve his secret during the uncle’s life, frustrate the wife in her
attempts to develop it after his death, and the sons are still
considered illegitimate. This is the pivot of the story. Its incidents are
made up of the struggles of the young men with their fate, but
chiefly of the endeavors of the elder, Philip, to demonstrate the
marriage and redeem the good name of his mother. This he finally
accomplishes, (after her death, and after a host of vicissitudes
experienced in his own person) by the accidental return of William
Smith, and by the discovery of an additional witness in Morgan
Jones, who made the extract from the register, and to whom the
rightful heir is guided by this long-sought document itself, obtained
from the hands of Robert Beaufort, (who had found it in the
bureau,) through the instrumentality of one Fanny, the heroine, and
in the end the wife of the hero.
We do not give this as the plot of “Night and Morning,” but as the
ground-work of the plot; which latter, woven from the incidents
above mentioned, is in itself exceedingly complex. The ground-work,
as will be seen, is of no very original character—it is even absurdly
common-place. We are not asserting too much when we say that
every second novel since the flood has turned upon some series of
hopeless efforts, either to establish legitimacy, or to prove a will, or
to get possession of a great sum of money most unjustly withheld,
or to find out a ragamuffin of a father, who had been much better
left unfound. But, saying nothing of the basis upon which this story
has been erected, the story itself is, in many respects, worthy its
contriver.
The word “plot,” as commonly accepted, conveys but an
indefinite meaning. Most persons think of it as of simple complexity;
and into this error even so fine a critic as Augustus William Schlegel
has obviously fallen, when he confounds its idea with that of the
mere intrigue in which the Spanish dramas of Cervantes and
Calderon abound. But the greatest involution of incident will not
result in plot; which, properly defined, is that in which no part can
be displaced without ruin to the whole. It may be described as a
building so dependently constructed, that to change the position of a
single brick is to overthrow the entire fabric. In this definition and
description, we of course refer only to that infinite perfection which
the true artist bears ever in mind—that unattainable goal to which
his eyes are always directed, but of the possibility of attaining which
he still endeavors, if wise, to cheat himself into the belief. The
reading world, however, is satisfied with a less rigid construction of
the term. It is content to think that plot a good one, in which none
of the leading incidents can be removed without detriment to the
mass. Here indeed is a material difference; and in this view of the
case the plot of “Night and Morning” is decidedly excellent. Speaking
comparatively, and in regard to stories similarly composed, it is one
of the best. This the author has evidently designed to make it. For
this purpose he has taxed his powers to the utmost. Every page
bears marks of excessive elaboration, all tending to one point—a
perfect adaptation of the very numerous atoms of a very unusually
involute story. The better to attain his object he has resorted to the
expedient of writing his book backwards. This is a simple thing in
itself, but may not be generally understood. An example will best
convey the idea. Drawing near the dénouement of his tale, our
novelist had proceeded so far as to render it necessary that means
should be devised for the discovery of the missing marriage record.
This record is in the old bureau—this bureau is at Fernside, originally
the seat of Philip’s father, but now in possession of one Lord
Lilburne, a member of Robert Beaufort’s family. Two things now
strike the writer—first, that the retrieval of the hero’s fortune should
be brought about by no less a personage than the heroine—by some
lady who should in the end be his bride—and, secondly, that this
lady must procure access to Fernside. Up to this period in the
narrative, it had been the design to make Camilla Beaufort, Philip’s
cousin, the heroine; but in such case, the cousin and Lord Lilburne
being friends, the document must have been obtained by fair
means; whereas foul means are the most dramatic. There would
have been no difficulties to overcome in introducing Camilla into the
house in question. She would have merely rung the bell and walked
in. Moreover, in getting the paper, she would have had no chance of
getting up a scene. This lady is therefore dropped as the heroine;
Mr. Bulwer retraces his steps, creates Fanny, brings Philip to love her,
and employs Lilburne, (a courtly villain, invented for all the high dirty
work, as De Burgh Smith for all the low dirty work of the story,)
employs Lilburne to abduct her to Fernside, where the capture of the
document is at length (more dramatically than naturally) contrived.
In short, these latter incidents were emendations, and their really
episodical character is easily traced by the critic. What appears first
in the published book, was last in the original MS. Many of the most
striking portions of the novel were interleaved in the same manner—
thus giving to after-thought that air of premeditation which is so
pleasing. Effect seems to follow cause in the most natural and in the
most provident manner, but, in the true construction, the cause (and
here we commit no bull) is absolutely brought about by the effect.
The many brief, and seemingly insulated chapters met with in the
course of the narrative, are the interposed after-thoughts in
question.
So careful has been our author in this working-up of his story—in
this nice dovetailing of its constituent parts—that it is difficult to
detect a blemish in any portion. What he has intended to do he has
done well; and his main intention, as we have before hinted, was
perfection of plot. A few defects, indeed, we note; and note them
chiefly to show the skill with which that narrative is wrought, where
such blemishes are the sole ones.
In the first place, there are some descriptive passages such as
the love adventures of Caleb Price, the account of Gawtrey’s early
life, prefaced by that of his grandfather, and the dinner-scene at
Love’s, which scarcely come within the category of matters tending
to develop the main events. These things, in short, might have been
omitted with advantage (because without detriment) to the whole.
At page 254, vol. 2, we perceive the first indications of
slovenliness, (arising no doubt from the writer’s anxiety to conclude
his task) in an incident utterly without aim, and composed at
random. We mean the relapse of Philip into a second illness when
nursed by Fanny through the first, at the house of old Gawtrey.
At page 21, vol. 1, we are told that Caleb Price, having received
from his friend Beaufort a certain letter (whose contents would have
been important in the subsequent attempts to establish Catharine’s
claim) held it over the flame of the candle, and that “as the paper
dropped on the carpetless floor, Mr. Jones prudently set thereon the
broad sole of his boot, and the maid servant brushed it into the
grate.”
“Ah, trample it out; hurry it among the ashes. The last as the
rest,” said Caleb, hoarsely. “Friendship, fortune, hope, love, life—a
little flame—and then—and then—”
“Don’t be uneasy—it’s quite out,” said Mr. Jones.
Now this is related with much emphasis; and, upon reading it, we
resolved to hold in memory that this important paper, although torn,
was still unburned, and that its fragments had been thrown into a
vacant grate. In fact, it was the design of the novelist to re-produce
these fragments in the dénouement—a design which he has
forgotten to carry out.
 We have defined the word “plot,” in a definition of our own to be
sure, but in one which we do not the less consider substantially
correct; and we have said that it has been a main point with Mr.
Bulwer in this his last novel, “Night and Morning,” to work up his plot
as near perfection as possible. We have asserted, too, that his
design is well accomplished; but we do not the less assert that it has
been conceived and executed in error.
The interest of plot, referring, as it does, to cultivated thought in
the reader, and appealing to considerations analogous with those
which are the essence of sculptural taste, is by no means a popular
interest; although it has the peculiarity of being appreciated in its
atoms by all, while in its totality of beauty it is comprehended but by
the few. The pleasure which the many derive from it is disjointed,
ineffective, and evanescent; and even in the case of the critical
reader it is a pleasure which may be purchased too dearly. A good
tale maybe written without it. Some of the finest fictions in the world
have neglected it altogether. We see nothing of it in Gil Blas, in the
Pilgrim’s Progress, or in Robinson Crusoe. Thus it is not an essential
in story-telling at all; although, well-managed, within proper limits, it
is a thing to be desired. At best it is but a secondary and rigidly
artistical merit, for which no merit of a higher class—no merit
founded in nature—should be sacrificed. But in the book before us
much is sacrificed for its sake, and every thing is rendered
subservient to its purposes. So excessive is, here, the involution of
circumstances, that it has been found impossible to dwell for more
than a brief period upon any particular one. The writer seems in a
perpetual flurry to accomplish what, in autorical parlance, is called
“bringing up one’s time.” He flounders in the vain attempt to keep all
his multitudinous incidents at one and the same moment before the
eye. His ability has been sadly taxed in the effort—but more sadly
the time and temper of the reader. No sooner do we begin to take
some slight degree of interest in some cursorily-sketched event, than
we are hurried off to some other, for which a new feeling is to be
built up, only to be tumbled down, forthwith, as before. And thus,
since there is no sufficiently continuous scene in the whole novel, it
results that there is not a strongly effective one. Time not being
given us in which to become absorbed, we are only permitted to
admire, while we are not the less chilled, tantalised, wearied, and
displeased. Nature, with natural interest, has been given up a bond-
maiden to an elaborate, but still to a misconceived, perverted, and
most unsatisfactory Art.
Very little reflection might have sufficed to convince Mr. Bulwer
that narratives, even one fourth so long as the one now lying upon
our table, are essentially inadapted to that nice and complex
adjustment of incident at which he has made this desperate attempt.
In the wire-drawn romances which have been so long fashionable,
(God only knows how or why) the pleasure we derive (if any) is a
composite one, and made up of the respective sums of the various
pleasurable sentiments experienced in perusal. Without excessive
and fatiguing exertion, inconsistent with legitimate interest, the mind
cannot comprehend at one time, and in one survey, the numerous
individual items which go to establish the whole. Thus the high ideal
sense of the unique is sure to be wanting:—for, however absolute in
itself be the unity of the novel, it must inevitably fail of appreciation.
We speak now of that species of unity which is alone worth the
attention of the critic—the unity or totality of effect.
But we could never bring ourselves to attach any idea of merit to
mere length in the abstract. A long story does not appear to us
necessarily twice as good as one only half so long. The ordinary talk
about “continuous and sustained effort” is pure twaddle and nothing
more. Perseverance is one thing and genius is another—whatever
Buffon or Hogarth may assert to the contrary—and notwithstanding
that, in many passages of the dogmatical literature of old Rome,
such phrases as “diligentia maxima,” “diligentia mirabilis,” can be
construed only as “great talent” or “wonderful ability.” Now if the
author of “Ernest Maltravers,” implicitly following authority like les
moutons de Panurge, will persist in writing long romances because
long romances have been written before—if, in short, he cannot be
satisfied with the brief tale (a species of composition which admits of
the highest development of artistical power in alliance with the
wildest vigor of imagination)—he must then content himself,
perforce, with a more simply and more rigidly narrative form.
And here, could he see these comments upon a work which,
(estimating it, as is the wont of all artists of his calibre, by the labor
which it has cost him,) he considers his chef d’œuvre, he would
assure us, with a smile, that it is precisely because the book is not
narrative, and is dramatic, that he holds it in so lofty an esteem.
Now in regard to its being dramatic, we should reply that, so far as
the radical and ineradicable deficiencies of the drama go—it is. This
continual and vexatious shifting of scene, with a view of bringing up
events to the time being, originated at a period when books were
not; and in fact, had the drama not preceded books, it might never
have succeeded them—we might, and probably should, never have
had a drama at all. By the frequent “bringing up” of his events the
dramatist strove to supply, as well as he could, the want of the
combining, arranging, and especially of the commenting power, now
in possession of the narrative author. No doubt it was a deep but
vague sense of this want which brought into birth the Greek chorus
—a thing altogether apart from the drama itself—never upon the
stage—and representing, or personifying, the expression of the
sympathy of the audience in the matters transacted.
In brief, while the drama of colloquy, vivacious and breathing of
life, is well adopted into narration, the drama of action and passion
will always prove, when employed beyond due limits, a source of
embarrassment to the narrator, and it can afford him, at best,
nothing which he does not already possess in full force. We have
spoken upon this head much at length; for we remember that, in
some preface to one of his previous novels, (some preface in which
he endeavored to pre-reason and pre-coax us into admiration of
what was to follow—a bad practice,) Mr. Bulwer was at great pains
to insist upon the peculiar merits of what he even then termed the
dramatic conduct of his story. The simple truth was that, then as
now, he had merely concentrated into his book all the necessary
evils of the stage.
 Giving up his attention to the one point upon which we have
commented, our novelist has failed to do himself justice in others.
The overstrained effort at perfection of plot has seduced him into
absurd sacrifices of verisimilitude, as regards the connexion of his
dramatis personæ each with each, and each with the main events.
However incidental be the appearance of any personage upon the
stage, this personage is sure to be linked in, will I nill I, with the
matters in hand. Philip, on the stage-coach, for example, converses
with but one individual, William Gawtrey; yet this man’s fate (not
subsequently but previously) is interwoven into that of Philip himself,
through the latter’s relationship to Lilburne. The hero goes to his
mother’s grave, and there comes in contact with this Gawtrey’s
father. He meets Fanny, and Fanny happens to be also involved in his
destiny (a pet word, conveying a pet idea of the author’s) through
her relationship to Lilburne. The witness in the case of his mother’s
marriage is missing, and this individual turns up at last in the brother
of that very Charles De Burgh Smith with whom so perfectly
accidental an intimacy has already been established. The wronged
heir proceeds at random to look for a lawyer, and stumbles at once
upon the precise one who had figured before in the story, and who
knows all about previous investigations. Setting out in search of
Liancourt, the first person he sees is that gentleman himself.
Entering a horse-bazaar in a remote portion of the country, the
steed up for sale at the exact moment of his entrance is recognised
as the pet of his better days. Now our quarrel with these
coincidences is not that they sometimes, but that they everlastingly
occur, and that nothing occurs besides. We find no fault with Philip
for chancing, at the identically proper moment, upon the identical
men, women, and horses necessary for his own ends and the ends
of the story—but we do think it excessively hard that he should
never happen upon anything else.
In delineation of character, our artist has done little worth notice.
His highest merit in this respect is, with a solitary exception, the
negative one of not having subjected himself to dispraise. Catharine
and Camilla are—pretty well in their way. Philip is very much like all
other heroes—perhaps a little more stiff, a little more obstinate, and
a little more desperately unlucky than the generality of his class.
Sydney is drawn with truth. Plaskwith, Plimmins, and the Mortons,
just sufficiently caricatured, are very good outline copies from the
shaded originals of Dickens. Of Gawtrey—father and son,—of De
Burgh Smith, of Robert Beaufort and of Lilburne, what is it possible
to say, except that they belong to that extensive firm of Gawtrey,
Smith, Beaufort, Lilburne and company, which has figured in every
novel since the days of Charles Grandison, and which is doomed to
the same eternal configuration till romance-writing shall be no more?
For Fanny the author distinctly avows a partiality; and he does
not err in his preference. We have observed, in some previous
review, that original characters, so called, can only be critically
praised as such, either when presenting qualities known in real life,
but never before depicted (a combination nearly impossible) or when
presenting qualities which, although unknown, or even known to be
hypothetical, are so skilfully adapted to the circumstances around
them, that our sense of fitness is not offended, and we find
ourselves seeking a reason why those things might not have been
which we are still satisfied are not. Fanny appertains to this latter
class of originality—which in itself belongs to the loftier regions of
the Ideal. Her first movements in the story, before her conception
(which we have already characterized as an after-thought) had
assumed distinct shape in the brain of the author, are altogether
ineffective and frivolous. They consist of the unmeaning affectation
and rhodomontade with which it is customary to invest the lunatic in
common-place fiction. But the subsequent effects of love upon her
mental development are finely imagined and richly painted; and,
although reason teaches us their impossibility, yet it is sufficient for
the purposes of the artist that fancy delights in believing them
possible.
Mr. Bulwer has been often and justly charged with defects of
style; but the charges have been sadly deficient in specification, and
for the most part have confounded the idea of mere language with
that of style itself, although the former is no more the latter, than an
oak is a forest, or than a word is a thought. Without pausing to
define what a little reflection will enable any reader to define for
himself, we may say that the chief constituent of a good style (a
constituent which, in the case of Washington Irving, has been
mistaken for the thing constituted) is what artists have agreed to
denominate tone. The writer who, varying this as occasion may
require, well adapts it to the fluctuations of his narrative,
accomplishes an important object in style. Mr. Bulwer’s tone is
always correct; and so great is the virtue of this quality that he can
scarcely be termed, upon the whole, a bad stylist.
His mere English is grossly defective—turgid, involved, and
ungrammatical. There is scarcely a page of “Night and Morning”
upon which a school-boy could not detect at least half a dozen
instances of faulty construction. Sentences such as this are
continually occurring—“And at last silenced, if not convinced, his
eyes closed, and the tears yet wet upon their lashes, fell asleep.”
Here, strictly speaking, it is the eyes which “fell asleep,” and which
were “silent if not convinced.” The pronoun, “he,” is wanting for the
verb “fell.” The whole would read better thus—“And at last, silent, if
not convinced, he closed his eyes, and fell asleep with the tears yet
on the lashes.” It will be seen that, besides other modifications, we
have changed “upon” into “on,” and omitted “wet” as superfluous
when applied to tear; who ever heard of a dry one? The sentence in
question, which occurs at page 83, vol. 1, was the first which
arrested our attention on opening the book at random; but its errors
are sufficiently illustrative of the character of those faults of
phraseology in which the work abounds, and which have arisen, not
so much through carelessness, as from a peculiar bias in the mind of
the writer, leading him, per force, into involution, whether here in
style, or elsewhere in plot. The beauty of simplicity is not that which
can be appreciated by Mr. Bulwer; and whatever may be the true
merits of his intelligence, the merit of luminous and precise thought
is evidently not one of the number.
At page 194, vol. 1, we have this—“I am not what you seem to
suppose—exactly a swindler, certainly not a robber.” Here, to make
himself intelligible, the speaker should have repeated the words “I
am not,” before “exactly.” As it stands, the sentence does not imply
that “I am not exactly a swindler, &c.” but (if anything) that the
person addressed, imagined me to be certainly not a robber but
exactly a swindler—an implication which it was not intended to
convey. Such awkwardness in a practised writer would be
inconceivable, did we not refer in memory to that moral bias of
which we have just spoken. Our readers will of course examine the
English of “Night and Morning” for themselves. From the evidence of
one or two sentences we cannot expect them to form a judgment in
the premises. Dreading indeed the suspicion of unfairness, we had
pencilled item after item for comment—but we have abandoned the
task in despair. It would be an endless labor to proceed with
examples. In fact it is folly to particularize where the blunders would
be the rule, and the grammar the exception.
Sir Lytton has one desperate mannerism of which we would be
glad to see him well rid—a fashion of beginning short sentences,
after very long ones, with the phrase “So there,” or something
equivalent, and this too, when there is no sequence in the matter to
warrant the use of the word “So.” Thus, at page 136, vol. I,—“So
there they sat on the cold stone, these two orphans;” at page 179,
—“So there by the calm banks of the placid lake, the youngest born
of Catharine passed his tranquil days,”—and just below, on the same
page,—“So thus was he severed from both his protectors, Arthur
and Philip;” and at page 241, vol. II,—“So there sat the old man,”
&c. &c.—and in innumerable other instances throughout the work.
Among the niäiseries of his style we may mention the
coxcombical use of little French sentences, without the shadow of an
excuse for their employment. At page 22, vol. 2, in the scene at the
counterfeiter’s cellar, what can be more nonsensical than Gawtrey’s
“C’est juste; buvez donc, cher ami,”—“C’est juste; buvez donc, vieux
rénard,”—and “Ce n’est pas vrai; buvez donc Monsieur Favart?” Why
should these platitudes be alone given in French, when it is obvious
that the entire conversation was carried on in that tongue? And,
again, when, at page 49, Fanny exclaims—“Méchant, every one dies
to Fanny!”—why could not this heroine have as well confined herself
to one language? At page 38, the climax of absurdity, in this respect,
is fairly capped; and it is difficult to keep one’s countenance, when
we read of a Parisian cobbler breathing his last in a garret, and
screaming out “Je m’étouffe—Air!”
Whenever a startling incident is recorded, our novelist seems to
make it a point of conscience that somebody should “fall insensible.”
Thus at page 172, vol. 1,—“ ‘My brother, my brother, they have taken
thee from me,’ cried Philip, and he fell insensible,”—and at page 38,
vol. 2, “ ‘I was unkind to him at the last,’ and with these words she
fell upon the corpse insensible,” &c. &c. There is a great deal too
much of this. An occasional swoon is a thing of no consequence, but
“even Stamboul must have an end,” and Mr. Bulwer should make an
end of his syncopes.
Again. That gentlemen and ladies, when called upon to give
alms, or to defray some trifling incidental expense, are in the
invariable habit of giving the whole contents of their purses without
examination, and, moreover, of “throwing” the purse into the
bargain, is an idea most erroneously entertained. At page 55, vol. 1,
we are told that Philip, “as he spoke, slid his purse into the woman’s
hand.” At page 110, “a hint for money restored Beaufort to his
recollection, and he flung his purse into the nearest hand
outstretched to receive it.” At page 87, “Lilburne tossed his purse
into the hands of his valet, whose face seems to lose its anxious
embarrassment at the touch of the gold.” It is true that the “anxious
embarrassment” of any valet out of a novel, would have been rather
increased than diminished by having a purse of gold tossed at his
head—but what we wish our readers to observe, is that magnificent
contempt of filthy lucre with which the characters of Sir Edward
Lytton Bulwer “fling,” “slide,” “toss,” and tumble whole purses of
money about!
But the predominant and most important failing of the author of
“Devereux,” in point of style, is an absolute mania for metaphor—
metaphor always running into allegory. Pure allegory is at all times
an abomination—a remnant of antique barbarism—appealing only to
our faculties of comparison, without even a remote interest for our
reason, or for our fancy. Metaphor, its softened image, has
indisputable force when sparingly and skilfully employed. Vigorous
writers use it rarely indeed. Mr. Bulwer is all metaphor or all allegory
—mixed metaphor and unsustained allegory—and nothing if neither.
He cannot express a dozen consecutive sentences in an honest and
manly manner. He is the king-coxcomb of figures-of-speech. His rage
for personification is really ludicrous. The simplest noun becomes
animate in his hands. Never, by any accident, does he write even so
ordinary a word as time, or temper, or talent, without the capital T.
Seldom, indeed, is he content with the dignity and mysticism thus
imposed;—for the most part it is Time, Temper and Talent. Nor does
the common-place character of anything which he wishes to
personify exclude it from the prosopopeia. At page 256, volume 1,
we have some profound rigmarole, seriously urged, about piemen
crying “all hot! all hot!” “in the ear of Infant and Ragged Hunger,”
thus written; and, at page 207, there is something positively
transcendental all about LAW—a very little thing in itself, in some
cases—but which Mr. Bulwer, in his book, has thought proper to
make quite as big as we have printed it above. Who cannot fancy
him, in the former instance, saying to himself, as he gnaws the top
of his quill, “that is a fine thought!” and exclaiming in the latter, as
he puts his finger to the side of his nose, “ah, how very fine an idea
that is!”
This absurdity, indeed, is chiefly observable in those philosophical
discussions with which he is in the wicked habit of interspersing his
fictions, and springs only from a rabid anxiety to look wise—to
appear profound—even when wisdom is quite out of place, and
profundity the quintessence of folly. A “still small voice” has
whispered in his ear that, as to the real matter of fact, he is shallow
—a whisper which he does not intend to believe, and which, by dint
of loud talking in parables, he hopes to prevent from reaching the
ears of the public. Now, in truth, the public, great-gander as it is, is
content to swallow his romance without much examination, but
cannot help turning up its nose at his logic.
 “The men of sense,” says Helvetius, “those idols of the
unthinking, are very inferior to the men of passions. It is the strong
passions which, rescuing us from Sloth, can alone impart to us that
continuous and earnest attention necessary to great intellectual
efforts”—Understanding the word “efforts” in its legitimate force,
and not confounding it altogether with achievements, we may well
apply to Mr. Bulwer the philosopher’s remark, thence deducing the
secret of his success as a novelist. He is emphatically the man “of
passions.” With an intellect rather well balanced than lofty, he has
not full claim to the title of a man of genius. Urged by the burning
desire of doing much, he has certainly done something. Elaborate
even to fault, he will never write a bad book, and has once or twice
been upon the point of concocting a good one. It is the custom to
call him a fine writer, but in doing so we should judge him less by an
artistical standard of excellence, than by comparison with the
drivellers who surround him. To Scott he is altogether inferior, except
in that mock and tawdry philosophy which the Caledonian had the
discretion to avoid, and the courage to contemn. In pathos, humour,
and verisimilitude he is unequal to Dickens; surpassing him only in
general knowledge, and in the sentiment of Art. Of James he is more
than the equal at all points. While he could never fall as low as
D’Israeli has occasionally fallen, neither himself, nor any of those
whom we have mentioned, have ever risen nearly so high as that
very gifted and very extraordinary man.
In regard to “Night and Morning” we cannot agree with that
critical opinion which considers it the best novel of its author. It is
only not his worst. It is not as good as Eugene Aram, nor as Rienzi—
and is not at all comparable with Ernest Maltravers. Upon the whole
it is a good book. Its merits beyond doubt overbalance its defects,
and if we have not dwelt upon the former with as much unction as
upon the latter, it is because the Bulwerian beauties are precisely of
that secondary character which never fails of the fullest public
appreciation.
 “Sketches of Conspicuous Living Characters of France.”
Translated by R. M. Walsh. Lea and Blanchard.

The public are much indebted to Mr. Walsh for this book, which is
one of unusual interest and value. It is a translation from the French,
of fifteen biographical and critical sketches, written, and originally
published in weekly numbers at Paris, by some one who styles
himself “un homme de rien”—the better to conceal the fact,
perhaps, that he is really un homme de beaucoup. Whatever,
unhappily, may be the case with ourselves, or in England, it is clear
that in the capital of France, at least,—that hot-bed of journalism,
and Paradise of journalists—nobody has any right to call himself
“nobody,” while wielding so vigorous and vivacious a pen as the
author of these articles.
We are told in the Preface to the present translation that they
met with the greatest success, upon their first appearance, and were
considered by the Parisians as perfectly authentic in their statement
of facts, and “as impartial in their appreciation of the different
personages sketched as could be desired.” “As impartial, &c.” means,
we presume, entirely so; for in matters of this kind an absolute
impartiality, of course, is all, but still the least “that could be
desired.”
Mr. Walsh farther assures us that Châteaubriand wrote the author
a letter “of a highly complimentary tenor” which was published, but
of which the translator, “unfortunately, does not happen to have a
copy in his possession.” A more unfortunate circumstance is that Mr.
W. should have thought it necessary to bolster a book which needs
no bolstering, by the authority of any name, however great; and the
most unfortunate thing of all, so far as regards the weight of the
authority, is that Châteaubriand himself is belauded ad nauseam in
those very pages to the inditer of which he sent that letter of the
“complimentary tenor.” When any body shall puff us, as this Mr.
Nobody has bepuffed the author of The Martyrs, we will send them a
letter “of a complimentary tenor” too. We do not mean to decry the
general merit of the book, or the candor of him who composed it.
We wish merely to observe that Châteaubriand, under the
circumstances, cannot be received as evidence of the one, nor his
biography as instance of the other.
These sketches of men now playing important parts in the great
drama of French affairs would be interesting, if only from their
subjects. We have here biographies, (sufficiently full) of Thiers,
Châteaubriand, Laffitte, Guizot, Lamartine, Soult, Berryer, De La
Mennais, Hugo, Dupin, Béranger, Odillon Barrot, Arago, George
Sand, and the Duke De Broglie. We are most pleased with those of
Thiers, Hugo, Sand, Arago, and Béranger.
Among many good stories of Thiers, this is told. A prize had been
offered by the Academy of Aix for the best eulogium on
Vauvenargues. Thiers, then quite a boy, sent a M. S. It was deemed
excellent; but the author being suspected, and no other candidate
deserving the palm, the committee, rather than award it to a
Jacobin, postponed their decision for a year. At the expiration of this
time our youth’s article again made its appearance, but, meanwhile,
a production had arrived from Paris which was thought far better.
The judges were rejoiced. They were no longer under the cruel
necessity of giving the first honor to a Jacobin—but felt bound to
present him with the second. The name of the Parisian victor was
unsealed. It was that of Thiers—Monsieur Tonson come again. He
had been at great pains to mystify the committee; (other
committees of the same kind more frequently reverse affairs and
mystify the public) the M. S. had been copied in a strange hand, and
been sent from Aix to Paris and from Paris to Aix. Thus our little
friend obtained both the main prize and the accessit.
An anecdote somewhat similar is related of Victor Hugo. In 1817,
the Academy offered a premium for the best poem on the
advantages of study. Hugo entered the lists. His piece was
considered worthiest, but was rejected because a falsehood was
supposed to be implied in the concluding lines, which ran thus:—

Moi qui, toujours fuyant les cités et les cours,

De trois lustres à peine ai vu finir le cours.
The Academy would not believe that any one under twenty-five
years of age had written so fine a poem, and, supposing a
mystification designed, thought to punish the author by refusing him
the prize. Informed of the facts, Hugo hastened to show the
certificate of his birth to the reporter, M. Raynouard; but it was too
late—the premium had been awarded.
Of Laffitte many remarkable incidents are narrated evincing the
noble liberality of his disposition.
In the notice of Berryer it is said that, a letter being addressed by
the Duchess of Berry to the legitimists of Paris, to inform them of
her arrival, it was accompanied by a long note in cypher, the key of
which she had forgotten to give. “The penetrating mind of Berryer,”
says our biographer, “soon discovered it. It was this phrase
substituted for the twenty-four letters of the alphabet—Le
gouvernement provisoire.”
All this is very well as an anecdote; but we cannot understand
the extraordinary penetration required in the matter. The phrase “Le
gouvernement provisoire” is French, and the note in cypher was
addressed to Frenchmen. The difficulty of decyphering may well be
supposed much greater had the key been in a foreign tongue; yet
any one who will take the trouble may address us a note, in the
same manner as here proposed, and the key-phrase may be either
in French, Italian, Spanish, German, Latin or Greek, (or in any of the
dialects of these languages), and we pledge ourselves for the
solution of the riddle. The experiment may afford our readers some
amusement—let them try it.
But we are rambling from our theme. The genius of Arago is
finely painted, and the character of his quackery put in a true light.
The straight-forward, plainly-written critical comments upon this
philosopher, as well as upon George Sand, and that absurd
antithesis-hunter, Victor Hugo, please us far more than that mere
cant and rhapsody in which the biographer involves himself when
speaking of Châteaubriand and Lamartine. We have observed that all
great authors who fall occasionally into the sins of ranting and
raving, meet with critics who think the only way to elucidate, is to
out-rant and out-rave them. A beautiful confusion of thought of
course ensues, which it is truly refreshing to contemplate.
The account of George Sand (Madame Dudevant) is full of
piquancy and spirit. The writer, by dint of a little chicanery, obtained
access, it seems, to her boudoir, with an opportunity of sketching
her in dishabille. He found her in a gentleman’s frock coat, smoking
a cigar.
Speaking of the equivocal costume affected by this lady, Mr.
Walsh, in a foot-note, comments upon a nice distinction made once
by a soldier on duty at the Chamber of Deputies. Madame D.,
habited in male attire, was making her way into the gallery, when
the man, presenting his musket before her, cried out “Monsieur, les
dames ne passent pas par ici!”
But we regret that our space will not allow us to cull even a few
of the good things with which the book abounds. The whole volume
is exceedingly piquant, and replete with that racy wit which is so
peculiarly French as to make us believe it a consequence of the
tournure of the language itself. But if a Frenchman is invariably witty,
he is not the less everlastingly bombastic; and these memoirs are
decidedly French. What can we do but smile when we hear any one
talk about Châteaubriand’s Essay upon English Poetry, with his
Translation of Milton! as a task which he alone was qualified to
execute!—or when we read page after page in which Lamartine is
discoursed of as “a noble child, with flaxen locks,” “disporting upon
the banks of the Seine,” “picking up Grecian lyres dropped by the
mild Chenier,” “enriching them with Christian chords,” and “ravishing
the world with new melodies!” What can we do but laugh outright at
such phrases as the “sympathetic swan-like cries,” and the “singular
lyric precocity of the crystal soul”—of such an ass as the author of
Bug-Jargal?
So far as mere translation goes, the volume now before us is, in
some respects, not very well done. Too little care has been taken in
rendering the French idioms by English equivalents; and, because a
French writer, through the impulses of his vivacity, cannot avoid
telling, in the present tense, a story of the past, it does not follow
that such a misusage of language is consonant with the graver
genius of the Saxon. Mr. Walsh is always too literal, although
sufficiently correct. He should not employ, however, even in
translation, such queer words as “to legitimate,” meaning “to
legitimatize,” or “to fulmine,” meaning “to fulminate.”
At page 211, the force of the compound “l’homme-calembourg”
is not conveyed by the words “the punster,” even when we italicize
the. The walking-pun, perhaps, is an analogous phrase which might
be more properly employed.
There is some odd mistake at page 274, where the translator
speaks of measuring the diameter of the earth by measuring its
rays. We presume the word in the original is rayons; if so we can
only translate it by the Latin radii. No doubt a radius, literally, is a
ray; but science has its own terms, and will employ them. We should
like to see either Mr. Walsh or Monsieur Arago (or both together)
trying to measure a ray of the earth.
The mechanical execution of the book is good, saving a thousand
outrageous typographical blunders, and that lithograph of Thiers. We
have no doubt in the world that this gentleman (who ran away
during the three days and hid himself in the woods of
Montmorency), is a somewhat dirty, insignificant little fellow, and so
be it; but we will never be brought to believe that any individual in
Christendom ever did or could look half as saucy, or as greasy, as
does “Monsieur Mirabeau-mouche” in that picture.

“Heads of the People: or Portraits of the English.” Drawn by

Kenny Meadows. With Original Essays by Distinguished
Writers. Carey & Hart.

The design of this book is among the number of those which are
obviously good—and the book itself is, upon the whole, an amusing
one. It might have been better, no doubt. With designs by
Cruikshanks, and letter-press by the best of the English literati, how
glorious a work might have been concocted “upon this hint!” Not
that some of the names here found are not among the best—but we
should have had the Dii majorum gentium exclusively—one paper
from each. These papers, too, should have been written with some
uniformity of manner, or of plan, and have confined themselves to
racy and truthful delineation of that character which is peculiarly
British, while the engravings should have been careful embodiments
of the text. As it is, the publication has something of a hap-hazard,
and, if the truth must be told, of a catchpenny air, which makes very
much against it, notwithstanding the exceeding merit of several of
the essays, and of three or four of the designs. The preface seems
to have been written by some one who had a proper sense of what
the volume should be, but affords no indication of what it really is.
There are twenty-six “Heads” in all. Some of them are pure
caricatures without merit—“The Creditor,” for example, and “The
Debtor,” (injudiciously placed as frontispieces), The “Diner-Out,” The
“Sentimental Singer,” “The Man of Many Goes” and “The Printer’s
Devil.” Others are equally caricatures, but of so vivid and truth-
preserving an exaggeration, that we admire without scruple:—we
allude to “The Lion of the Party,” “The Waiter,” “The Linen-Draper’s
Assistant” and “The Stock-Broker.” Some are full of natural truth—for
instance “The Young Lord,” “The Dress-Maker,” “The Young Squire,”
“The Basket Woman,” “Captain Rook” and “Mr. Pigeon.” “The Last
Go” is the best thing in the volume—combining the extreme of the
ludicrous with absolute fidelity. “The Fashionable Authoress,” “The
Cockney” and “The Family Governess” are tame and unmeaning. The
rest have no particular merit or demerit. About the whole there is a
great deal of bad drawing, which we know not whether to attribute
to the designer or engraver.
The same variety of value is observable in the text. In general
the articles are not very creditable; although one or two are of
surpassing excellence. The longest called “Tavern Heads” (illustrated
by seven or eight sketches) is a rambling, disjointed narrative in
imitation of Dickens, and written probably by the author of a clever
production entitled “Pickwick Abroad,” never yet republished, we
believe, in this country. The paper called “Captain Rook and Mr.
Pigeon,” and superscribed with the name of William Thackeray, is
one of the finest specimens of easily-mingled humor and wit we
have ever had the pleasure of perusing.

“The Flying Dutchman.” By the author of Gentleman Jack. 2

vols. Carey & Hart.

The legend of the Flying Dutchman has long since been worn
out, and its attempted resuscitation by this author has, as he should
have known, proved an entire failure. Indeed we have rarely read a
less creditable novel than this. The characters are strange; the
incidents unnatural; and the descriptions of the mighty deep
surpassed by nine out of ten of our ordinary sea-writers. The
tyranny which formerly existed, and indeed still exists in a measure,
in the British navy is, however, sketched with a bold pencil; but with
this single redeeming trait, the public, much less the critics, will
scarcely be satisfied. The desertion of Ramsay on the Island; his
miraculous meeting with the very one he wished to meet, Angela;
the whole farcical story, of the deception practised in the appearance
of the Flying Dutchman’s frigate; the singular preservation of Capt.
Livingston from drowning, when cast overboard unseen at night;
and the clap-trap of the trial scene, when the aforesaid captain and
the corporal appear so unexpectedly, furnish a series of
improbabilities only to be endured by a novel-reader of sufficient
voracity to gorge, shark-like, any and everything, no matter what.

“Patchwork.” By Capt. Basil Hall. 2 vols. Lea & Blanchard.

Captain Hall is one of the most agreeable of writers. We like him

for the same reason that we like a good drawing-room
conversationist—there is such a pleasure in listening to his elegant
nothings. Not that the captain is unable to be profound. He has, on
the contrary, some reputation for science. But in his hands even the
most trifling personal adventures become interesting from the very
piquancy with which they are told.
The present work is made up of a series of desultory sketches of
travels, in every quarter of the globe, and extending through a
period of nearly thirty years. You almost forget yourself as you read,
and fancy that you are listening to an oral narrative from Capt. Hall
in person. In the most charming manner possible you are
transported from the glaciers of the Alps to the waters of the Pacific,
and then whisked back again to old Europe, and hurried to Vesuvius,
Malta, and Etna in pleasing succession. The descriptions of these
various places, mingled with scientific observations, and narratives of
personal adventures, form altogether one of the pleasantest books
for after-dinner perusal, especially on a sunny April day, when,
reposed at length upon a sofa, beside an open casement, with the
birds carolling without, and the balmy spring breathing across us, we
forget, for a while, the dull business of life.

“Georgia Illustrated.” W. & W. C. Richards, Penfield, Ga.

This is a praiseworthy work, and reflects high credit on all

concerned in it. The views are selected with taste, and give us a
high opinion of the scenery of Georgia. They are accompanied by a
letter-press description, from the pen of the editor, W. C. Richards.
The engravings are executed in excellent style by Messrs. Rawdon,
Wright, Hatch and Smillie. Such works cannot be too extensively
patronised. They encourage the arts; foster a love for the beautiful;
and acquaint the public with some of the loveliest gems of our native
scenery. Was it not a disgrace to our country that both “Hinton’s
Topography” and the still later “American Scenery,” emanated wholly
from England—the capital embarked, the sketchers and engravers
employed, and even the place of publication being English?
 FASHIONS FOR APRIL 1841 FOR GRAHAM’S MAGAZINE.

Transcriber’s Notes:
Table of Contents has been added for reader convenience. Archaic
spellings and hyphenation have been retained. Obvious punctuation
and typesetting errors have been corrected without note. A cover
was created for this ebook and is placed in the public domain.

[The end of Graham’s Magazine, Vol. XVIII, No. 4, April 1841,

George R. Graham, Editor]
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAHAM'S
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