Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
tourists ; but even then Mr . Watson draws more from memory of what others have written and said upon the subject , than from his own observation , and not unfrequently betrays a most unaccountable carelessness in his descriptions , pardonable enough in a private journal , but not exactly to be tolerated in a published work ; and this is the more to be regretted , as it is evident he has the power as well as the information , if he would
only make a proper use of both , of imparting additional interest to his travels by just taking the pains to note accurately what he did see , and quote correctly from authentic sources such things as he did not see ; but which he , nevertheless , thinks it necessary to describe . The author of the " Rambles of a Naturalist , " on the other hand , is as careful as Mr . Watson is the reverse . " Every thought and observation is accurately notedand whether it be a landscape or a hytewe be certain that
, zoop , may the description is a true one . Moreover , Mr . Gosse has had the good taste to make his book a readable one to non-naturalist readers ; and thus he tempts those , who probably would only take it up to enliven an idle moment , to continue its perusal , in the hope and with the feeling that they are really learning a good deal of what they knew nothing beforehand , aud thus laying the foundations of what may be a source of leasure and gratification at some future moment
p . _ Of all books , novels are the most difficult to review ; first , because without we give the whole tale , extracts are , generally speaking , wholly without interest , and the fine bits , if they do not happen to have a decidedly intimate connection with the thread of the story , are always " skipped ; " and secondly , because it is unfair to take the merit of telling
the tale out of the author ' s mouth by comprising it all into one or two octavo pages—a matter of no very great difficulty at the best of times , or Avith the works of the best authors . We shall , therefore , confine our critical notices of such as have meteor-like appeared during the last three mouths , to a comparative estimate of their respective merits , with some few observations upon their faults and excellencies . And first in order , we will draw our readers' attention to " Cranford , " * by the authoress of "
" Mary Barton , " than which a more delicately pencilled sketch of men , women , and of manners , with all of which we are most of us more or less acquainted , does not exist anywhere or in any language . This is high praise ; but we feel it to be richly earned . " Cranford" is not a romantic novel ; but is a tale of every-day interest , and a startling picture of life in its best reality , with all its weaknesses , with all its goodness , and with all its truthfulness . It lacksperhapsthe descriptions
, , gorgeous , the intricate plot , and the studied fantoccini attitudes , which distinguish the orthodox romances of the day ; but it more thau replaces all these by the unpretending simplicity of its style , the more than accurate expression given to the feelings of a class of people with whom we are all in the habit of associating , but of whose excellent qualities , alas ! we know but little ; and the variety of the natural pictures of life , which it so modestly submits to our criticism and kindnessIn ite of ourselves we feel
. sp interested in all that is said , done , and felt in the quiet little town of Cranford—we sympathize with the dear old spinsters when , in spite of all their precautions , they let out their little foibles and vanities , and who make up the sum total of all the active life in the place—we listen to their quiet talk , we grieve with them over the bustle and hurry in which Bumble , the adjacent town , " only twenty miles removed by rail , " appears
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
tourists ; but even then Mr . Watson draws more from memory of what others have written and said upon the subject , than from his own observation , and not unfrequently betrays a most unaccountable carelessness in his descriptions , pardonable enough in a private journal , but not exactly to be tolerated in a published work ; and this is the more to be regretted , as it is evident he has the power as well as the information , if he would
only make a proper use of both , of imparting additional interest to his travels by just taking the pains to note accurately what he did see , and quote correctly from authentic sources such things as he did not see ; but which he , nevertheless , thinks it necessary to describe . The author of the " Rambles of a Naturalist , " on the other hand , is as careful as Mr . Watson is the reverse . " Every thought and observation is accurately notedand whether it be a landscape or a hytewe be certain that
, zoop , may the description is a true one . Moreover , Mr . Gosse has had the good taste to make his book a readable one to non-naturalist readers ; and thus he tempts those , who probably would only take it up to enliven an idle moment , to continue its perusal , in the hope and with the feeling that they are really learning a good deal of what they knew nothing beforehand , aud thus laying the foundations of what may be a source of leasure and gratification at some future moment
p . _ Of all books , novels are the most difficult to review ; first , because without we give the whole tale , extracts are , generally speaking , wholly without interest , and the fine bits , if they do not happen to have a decidedly intimate connection with the thread of the story , are always " skipped ; " and secondly , because it is unfair to take the merit of telling
the tale out of the author ' s mouth by comprising it all into one or two octavo pages—a matter of no very great difficulty at the best of times , or Avith the works of the best authors . We shall , therefore , confine our critical notices of such as have meteor-like appeared during the last three mouths , to a comparative estimate of their respective merits , with some few observations upon their faults and excellencies . And first in order , we will draw our readers' attention to " Cranford , " * by the authoress of "
" Mary Barton , " than which a more delicately pencilled sketch of men , women , and of manners , with all of which we are most of us more or less acquainted , does not exist anywhere or in any language . This is high praise ; but we feel it to be richly earned . " Cranford" is not a romantic novel ; but is a tale of every-day interest , and a startling picture of life in its best reality , with all its weaknesses , with all its goodness , and with all its truthfulness . It lacksperhapsthe descriptions
, , gorgeous , the intricate plot , and the studied fantoccini attitudes , which distinguish the orthodox romances of the day ; but it more thau replaces all these by the unpretending simplicity of its style , the more than accurate expression given to the feelings of a class of people with whom we are all in the habit of associating , but of whose excellent qualities , alas ! we know but little ; and the variety of the natural pictures of life , which it so modestly submits to our criticism and kindnessIn ite of ourselves we feel
. sp interested in all that is said , done , and felt in the quiet little town of Cranford—we sympathize with the dear old spinsters when , in spite of all their precautions , they let out their little foibles and vanities , and who make up the sum total of all the active life in the place—we listen to their quiet talk , we grieve with them over the bustle and hurry in which Bumble , the adjacent town , " only twenty miles removed by rail , " appears