rtue and _ton_, and who was but the cast-off mistress of a
lord. Mr. Bulwer's philosophy is his Mrs. Tibbs; he thrusts her forward
into the company of her betters, as if her rank and reputation never
admitted of a question. To all his literary undertakings this goddess of
his accompanies him; what a cracked, battered truly she is! with a
person and morals that would suit Vinegar yard, and a chastity that
would be hooted in Drury Lane.
The morality which Mr. Bulwer has acquired in his researches, political
and metaphysical, is of the most extraordinary nature. For one who is
always preaching of Truth of Beauty, the dulness of his moral sense is
perfectly ludicrous. He cannot see that the hero into whose mouth he
places his favourite metaphysical gabble--his dissertations about the
stars, the passions, the Greek plays, and what not--his eternal whine
about what he calls the good and the beautiful--is a fellow as mean and
paltry as can be well imagined; a man of rant, and not of action;
foolishly infirm of purpose, and strong only in desire; whose beautiful
is a tawdry strumpet, and whose good would be crime in the eyes of an
honest man. So much for the portrait of Ernest Maltravers: as for the
artist, we cannot conceive a man to have failed more completely. He
wishes to paint an amiable man, and he succeeds in drawing a scoundrel:
he says he will give us the likeness of a genius, and it is only the
picture of a _humbug_.
Ernest Maltravers is an eccentric and enthusiastic young man, to whom we
are introduced upon his return from a German university. Fond of wild
adventure and solitary rambles, we find him upon a heath, wandering
alone, tired, and benighted. The two first chapters of the book are in
Mr. Bulwer's very best manner; the description of the lone hut to which
the lad comes--the ruffian who inhabits it--the designs which he has
upon the life of his new guest, and the manner in which his daughter
defeats them, are told with admirable liveliness and effect. The young
man escapes, and with him the girl who had prevented his murder. Both
are young, interesting, and tender hearted; she loves but him, and would
die of starvation without him. Ernest Maltravers cannot resist the claim
of so unprotected a creature; he hires a cottage for her, and a
writing-master. He is a young man of genius, and generous dispositions; he
is a Christian, and instructs the ignorant Alice in the awful truth of his
religion; moreover he is
|