ncients," two vols. 8vo. 1809; and
"Designs of Modern Costume," folio, 1812: in which he displayed high
classical attainments and love of the picturesque.

Mr. Hope, however, subsequently appeared before the literary world in a
work which at once places him in the highest list of eloquent writers
and superior men--viz. _Anastasius; or, the Memoirs of a Modern
Greek_: published in the year 1819. There are, indeed, few books in
the English language which contain passages of greater power, feeling,
and eloquence than this work, which delineate frailty and vice with
more energy and acuteness, or describe historical scenes with such
bold imagery and such glowing language. We remember the opinion of
a writer in the Edinburgh Review, soon after the publication of
_Anastasius_. With a degree of pleasantry and acumen peculiar
to northern criticism, he asks, "Where has Mr. Hope hidden all his
eloquence and poetry up to this hour? How is it that he has, all of a
sudden, burst out into descriptions which would not disgrace the pen
of Tacitus, and displayed a depth of feeling and vigour of imagination
which Lord Byron could not excel? We do not shrink from one syllable of
this eulogy." The subjects upon which Mr. Hope had previously written
were not calculated to call forth his eloquent feeling; and, such
excellence was not expected from him, who, to use the harmless satire
of the Edinburgh reviewer, "meditated muffineers and planned pokers."

This was no praise of party: contemporary criticism universally allowed
_Anastasius_ to be a work in which great and extraordinary talent
is evinced. It abounds in sublime passages--in sense--in knowledge of
history, and in knowledge of human character;--and the rapid sale of
three editions has proved these superior characteristics to have been
amply recognised by the reading public. The work in its fourth edition
still enjoys a good sale. In each reprint the nicety of the writer is
traceable: the corrections and alterations in the metaphysical portions
on such passages as illustrate points of character, are elaborated with
exquisite skill, and fresh turns of scholarly elegance are observable
throughout each volume of the work. Memory has probably in some
instances enabled the author to re-touch his pictures of Eastern
scenery, and rearrange his grouping of particular incidents. What a
delightful labour of leisure must this have been for so ingenious a
mind! One of his similes--a weeping lady