general concern and lasting importance into the sphere of
habitual thought, that the only preservative against this fatal tendency
is to be found. It is the power of doing this which forms the chief charm
of the highest society in every country, and renders it in truth every
where the same. A man of the world will find himself equally at home, and
conversation flow at once with equal ease, in the higher saloons of London
or Paris, of Rome or Vienna, of Warsaw or St Petersburg. But he will find
it scarcely possible to keep up conversation for a quarter of an hour in
the _bourgeois_ circle of any of these capitals. It is the same with
literature; and especially that wide and important branch of literature
which, aiming at the exciting of interest, or delineating of manners,
should in an especial manner be guarded against the degradation consequent
on a narrow restriction of its subjects to matters only of local concern.

The prodigious success and widespread popularity which have attended some
of the most able novels of this new school of romance in late years, as
well as the great ability which their composition evinces, must not blind
our eyes to the degrading tendency of such compositions upon the national
literature. Immediate circulation, great profit to the bookseller, a
dazzling reputation to the author, are by no means to be relied on as the
heralds of lasting fame. In cases innumerable, they have proved the
reverse. Still less are they to be considered as proofs that the writer,
be his abilities what they may, has worthily performed his mission, or
elevated himself to the exalted level of which his art is susceptible. The
most pernicious romances and poems that ever appeared have often been
ushered into the world by the most unbounded immediate applause; witness
the _Nouvelle Heloise_ of Rousseau, and _Pucelle_ of Voltaire. It was just
their dangerous and seductive qualities which gave them their success.
Rousseau knew this well. He addressed himself with skill and perfect
knowledge of the age to its passions and vices:--"J'ai vu les moeurs de
mon temps, et j'ai publie ces lettres," were the first words of his
_Nouvelle Heloise_. In the school we have mentioned, there is nothing
immoral or improper; but is there any thing elevating or improving? The
true test of real excellence is not immediate success but durable fame; it
is to be found not in the popularity of circulating shops, or reading
clubs, but in the shel