Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
expression , with the belief that he possessed all the powers of a great artist , who was never able to express on canvas all that he felt excellent and perfect in his art . He considered himself , as he expressed it , " a man of great powers , excited to an art which limits their exercise ; " and in this belief , doubtless , was concealed the secret of all his many disappointments , and vain aspirations after excellence and perfection . That Haydon was a man of genius no one will question ; but he was also a
being of a very peculiar temperament ; and there are many passages in his life , which might have been just as well passed over ancl forgotten . The work , however , is full of anecdote , and abounds in interesting notices of men and events , which will always cause it to be read even by those who may be inclined to think less of the unfortunate painter than Mr . Tom Taylor himself does . From the charmed pen of the author of " Vanity Fair , " * we have the
substance of a series of lectures , delivered in England , Scotland , and the United States of America , on . the English humorists of the last century . To call this a lively and interesting work , is to give but a very faint idea of its excellence in point of style , truthfulness , and powerful portraiture of the times and men of which it treats . Mr . Thackeray introduces us not only to individuals , but also places us in the midst of the times in which they lived and had their being ; he makes us sympathise with their sufferings , when shrinking from the neglect , or ma } 'hap from the withering sarcasm , of their contemporaries , as well as with their delight Avhen triumphing over rival wits ; in excess of joy at having proved themselves
victorious in the gay struggles of humour , for which the last century was famous . As a matter of dry fact , it may perhaps be said , that Mr . Thackeray has too high an opinion of the morality and intellect of the times o £ which he writes . Confining himself to the most brilliant men of the age , he seems apt to conclude that the general intellectual standard of the nation was equally high , forgetting , apparently , that those , of whom his sketches are real portraits , shone as bright particular stars in a firmament ,
which had little that was either particularly dazzling or truly imposing to recommend it . To all those , howevei-, who have the taste to appreciate , and the sense to understand the sound feeling , delicate irony , and profound knowledge of human life , with which every page of this charming book is full , its perusal is a treat , enhanced by the information ancl instruction it affords , and rendered all the more attractive by being conveyed iu a style which is simple Avithout being bold , aud familiar Avithout
being careless or flippant . From Mr . Thackeray ' s humorists we then turn to two masterly essays , by the late Mr . Napier , on Sir Walter Ealeigk and Lord Bacon , f which for clearness and simplicity are , in our opinion , almost unequalled . It is not , perhaps , fair to give to these admirable sketches the authoritative title of biographies ; yet they possess in the highest degree the essential characteristics of all good memoir-writing , namely , sound and solid information , derived from a careful examination of authorities , and an earnest mode of communicating it . We wish we could say as much for Dr . Vaughan ' s " Wycliffe , " t which ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
expression , with the belief that he possessed all the powers of a great artist , who was never able to express on canvas all that he felt excellent and perfect in his art . He considered himself , as he expressed it , " a man of great powers , excited to an art which limits their exercise ; " and in this belief , doubtless , was concealed the secret of all his many disappointments , and vain aspirations after excellence and perfection . That Haydon was a man of genius no one will question ; but he was also a
being of a very peculiar temperament ; and there are many passages in his life , which might have been just as well passed over ancl forgotten . The work , however , is full of anecdote , and abounds in interesting notices of men and events , which will always cause it to be read even by those who may be inclined to think less of the unfortunate painter than Mr . Tom Taylor himself does . From the charmed pen of the author of " Vanity Fair , " * we have the
substance of a series of lectures , delivered in England , Scotland , and the United States of America , on . the English humorists of the last century . To call this a lively and interesting work , is to give but a very faint idea of its excellence in point of style , truthfulness , and powerful portraiture of the times and men of which it treats . Mr . Thackeray introduces us not only to individuals , but also places us in the midst of the times in which they lived and had their being ; he makes us sympathise with their sufferings , when shrinking from the neglect , or ma } 'hap from the withering sarcasm , of their contemporaries , as well as with their delight Avhen triumphing over rival wits ; in excess of joy at having proved themselves
victorious in the gay struggles of humour , for which the last century was famous . As a matter of dry fact , it may perhaps be said , that Mr . Thackeray has too high an opinion of the morality and intellect of the times o £ which he writes . Confining himself to the most brilliant men of the age , he seems apt to conclude that the general intellectual standard of the nation was equally high , forgetting , apparently , that those , of whom his sketches are real portraits , shone as bright particular stars in a firmament ,
which had little that was either particularly dazzling or truly imposing to recommend it . To all those , howevei-, who have the taste to appreciate , and the sense to understand the sound feeling , delicate irony , and profound knowledge of human life , with which every page of this charming book is full , its perusal is a treat , enhanced by the information ancl instruction it affords , and rendered all the more attractive by being conveyed iu a style which is simple Avithout being bold , aud familiar Avithout
being careless or flippant . From Mr . Thackeray ' s humorists we then turn to two masterly essays , by the late Mr . Napier , on Sir Walter Ealeigk and Lord Bacon , f which for clearness and simplicity are , in our opinion , almost unequalled . It is not , perhaps , fair to give to these admirable sketches the authoritative title of biographies ; yet they possess in the highest degree the essential characteristics of all good memoir-writing , namely , sound and solid information , derived from a careful examination of authorities , and an earnest mode of communicating it . We wish we could say as much for Dr . Vaughan ' s " Wycliffe , " t which ,