Like Sidonia he moves among them not to
feel with them but to understand and learn from them. Such sympathy as
he had was either purely sensuous, as for youth and beauty and all kinds
of comeliness; or purely intellectual, as for intelligence,
artificiality, servility, meanness. And as his essence was satirical, as
he was naturally irreverent and contemptuous, it follows that he is best
and strongest in the act of punishment not of reward. His passion for
youth was beautiful, but it did not make him strong. His scorn for
things contemptible, his hate for things hateful, are at times too bitter
even for those who think with him; but in these lay his force--they
filled his brain with light, and they touched his lips with fire. The
wretched Rigby is far more vigorous and life-like than the amiable
Coningsby; Tom Cogit--a sketch, but a sketch of genius--is infinitely
more interesting than May Dacre or even the Young Duke; Tancred is a good
fellow, and very real and true in his goodness, but contrast him with
Fakredeen! And after his knaves, his fools, his tricksters, the most
striking figures in his gallery are those whom he has considered from a
purely intellectual point of view: either kindly, as Sidonia, or coolly,
as Lord Monmouth, but always calmly and with no point of passion in his
regard: the Eskdales, Villebecques, Ormsbys, Bessos, Marneys, Meltons,
and Mirabels, the Bohuns and St. Aldegondes and Grandisons, the Tadpoles
and the Tapers, the dominant and subaltern humanity of the world. All
these are drawn with peculiar boldness of line, precision of touch, and
clearness of intention. And as with his men so is it with his women: the
finest are not those he likes best but those who interested him most.
Male and female, his eccentrics surpass his commonplaces. He had a great
regard for girls, and his attitude towards them, or such of them as he
elected heroines, was mostly one of adoration--magnificent yet a little
awkward and strained. With women, married women, he had vastly more in
common: he could admire, study, divine, without having to feign a warmer
feeling; and while his girls are poor albeit splendid young persons, his
matrons are usually delightful. Edith Millbank is not a very striking
figure in _Coningsby_; but her appearance in _Tancred_--well, you have
only to compare it to the resurrection of Laura Bell, as Mrs. Pendennis
to see how good it is.

His Style.

Now and then the writing is