Mr. BOADEN hag given us another of his Theatrical Biographies,
Mrs. Joni) AN is his preient rubject. It is pleasing:to us to reflect,, that we have, in onetime, done all that lay in. our power to dis- courage this Writer.' -.His books are grave .sins: - They combine.. every thing odious in literature. -He is, in the first place, empty; headed, not being gifted -with an idea. He is, next, a pretender, and given to pomposity ; a kind of consequence of his emptiness. Then; he is grossly servile; his adulation is fulsome.- 'Above all, he is an inveterate punster; and writes a style so tortuous and in- volved, that it is impossible to understand him, even where he has picked up an idea, not his own. Mrs. JORDAN is no more the subject of the biography, than any other celebrated actor or actress of the time... There is nothing disclosed respecting her, Which has not appeared -in the newspapers usque ad nauseam ; andif Mr. BOA- DEN, had had anything to tell, we should have recommended him to keepit th himself. - Mrs. loan/lies name is printed at.the head of thebook because she Was the mistress of the reigning Monareh.. Iiiidthe Duke Of YOMi lived, Mr. BOADEN would have become the biographer of 111,tait: as it is, he has tried. his band at a sketch of:W., eut Of respect to the late Royal Duke's. pro—xiirnity to the throne.' When When there shall be a high &Man& for puns without point, Mr BOADEN may stand a chance of being nd- Mirixtibisilivei without life, his playa without TO Che'MWmn fid let hini-be dried well, or be will rue* light fire or singe fowl! _ We have been greatly disappointed in Nowrlicarv's Life of TITIAN: it is merely a collection of the undigested materials of the historical biographer, chronologically arranged, and interspersed with a few connectingchapters and passages of narrative and remark. - The scope of the author appears to have included the " Times " as well . as the " Life " of TITIAN; and we are accordingly favoured with notices of persons belonging to the period, who have but a re- mote connexion with the subject. This circumstance, added to the crudity of the matter, renders the Life of TITIAN a mere thread on which is strung an ill-arranged assortment of fragments, mostly col- lected from other writers onart. Moreover, there is a voluminous correspondence of VASARI and PETER ARETIN. The Life of TITIAN, even with these interpolations, concludes with the twenty- second chapter (nearly the end of the first volume), though he is brought out to die in the twenty-seventh.. The remaining two chapters of the first volume consist of "Letters to Michael An- gelo," by VASARI, and remarks" on the Encouragement of Art in England and Italy." What the second volume was to consist of, we were at a loss to surmise. We find that it opens with two chapters more of " Letters and Papers relating to Michael Angelo ;" and at chapter twenty-eighth begins another Life of TITIAN! under the title of" Illustrations of his Life and Works, from RinoLin, Trcozzi, and others," beginning with hisPirth, going all through his career over the same ground, and touching upon the same subjects, until his death. These " Illustrations" - are in fact a connected history, much more consecutive and better written than the first Life.
Neither does the quality of the matter compensate for the in- felicity of the arrangement. We expected a few striking thoughts from the biographer of TITIAN, which we do not find in these volumes. Mr. HAELITT must have robbed Ma. NORTFICOTE of all his fine sayings, in the " Conversations " between them, recently published ; for there are very few in the present work Whatever may be the cause, there is as little originality as could possibly be given to such a book ; the curious manner of treating the subject, to which we have already alluded, being the most original part of it. There is a book, entitled "Notices of the Life and Works of Titian," by Sir ABRAHAM HUME, which we took occasion to notice a month or two since, that contains nearly as much matter appertaining to the bipg,raphy of TITIAN as these two volumes. -That unpre- tending work, which does•not profess to contain any original matter, possesses infinitely more utility and interest than these two rambling and miscellaneous volumes. . , - A very fine portrait of TITIAN, which we. have not before seen engraved, is prefixed to this work. It is a profile„representing him in. his full age. The finely.-formed,00se.,.promment eye ana add Sagacity of expression, seen characteristic . of the man. It is, with one little exceptionimbli istoo technical to be noticed in this department, beautifully-engrayed.
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