The purpose of Dove/on, or the Man of Many Impulses,
is not very clear; though, from the hero being contrasted with a man of sense, and always acting successfully upon impulse himself, we imagine the author wishes to prove that imagination is as good a guide as reason in the conduct of life. The form of the work is autobiographical ; and the earlier part is devoted to a tedious and particular account of the formation of Doveton's mind. The other part, in which his " impulses" acquire a great friend, and a wife, and render him the instrument of establishing the gentle birth and large fortune of his betrothed and her brother, have more novel interest, but that is all. As a picture of actual life and human character, the whole is improbable and exaggerated, with- out sufficient power in composition to redeem its incongruities. There is some ability in the author of Jerningham, but fiction is not his forte.
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