ZILLAH*.
LITERARY SPECTATOR.
ZILLAH is a Jewish story ; and the period which it illustrates is that which elapses between the closing of the Old Testament and
the opening of the New. It ends with the downfal of Antigonus, and the conquest of Jerusalem by Herod, assisted by a Roman army. Antony at Rome, and Cleopatra at Alexandria, appear upon the scene, together with many other personages well known
in classical history. Mr. HORACE SMITH'S object has been, as in his other works of this kind, to communicate a knowledge of man-
ners, feelings, and habits—partly also of events, belonging to an interesting epoch. He could not have chosen one where at least the field was more open—perhaps not one that presented so many advantages and opportunities to the novelist. The rofnanee of the most romantic history of the world, that of the Jews, is too nearly allied-to sacred truths to have become a common topic of illustra-
tion: but assuredly it is singular, that among a people which by habit and duty pays such devotion to the book of the Jews, so little attention should have been given to set their history and man- ners in a popular form. The object of the Bible is not to describe the Jews, and it does not describe them. It consists of so many unconnected books : its chronology, being not a necessary part in a didactic sense, is so obscure that the notions usually derived from it of the Hebrew nation are commonly confused and imperfect. Yet of all the clergymen who are bound to devote so much of their attention to our religious ancestors, as they may be called, not one has ever started up able and willing to invest Jewish history with its true Oriental splendour. Among all the ecclesiastical authors we have had, the Jews have never found a ROBERTSON: and now that one short period of their history lives over again in the pages of a modern, it is indebted to a layman for its selection.
Principally for the reason implied in the above paragraph,
Zillah has pleased us. It is written by one who has taken great pains
with Jewish lore; and when his book is looked upon as a collection of sketches of Jewish manners during a certain period of agitating interest, it is entitled to great praise. As we have said, Jerusalem and its temple here live over again ; and numberless characters and
customs that we saw before "through a glass, darkly," become in its pages as familiar and intelligible as objects of daily occurrence. We give the author credit for conveying a tolerably accurate picture of the Holy City, of the occupations and amusements of its people, and of the most marked traits of difference between its great sects. This is a species of resurrection. It is, however, a delicate and a difficult task to re-create a people and all their ways : perhaps it has never been performed. The passions and the ap- petites of our nature being unchangeable, a writer cannot err very far if he make an old Jewess a gossip, or a young Jew a coxcomb, though perhaps there may be no proof in Holy Writ of the ex- istence of these characters in Judaea. The great art, however, is not to infuse too much of the common nature ; but, by those strokes which genius combined with study alone can, give, throw in, inci- dentally, without effort, and springing from the nature of concep- tion itself, some trait, some hue, some colouring, which stamps the picture, with individuality, or nationality, with a force not the less powerful because we are unconscious of the impulse it gives. SHARSPEARE'S Roman rabble are not Roman at all : his coblers and tailors are the coblers and tailors of Jack Cade : this is a fault which destroys the illusion, and revolts the reader of a "tale of eld." We could point out frequent instances where our author has failed in this point ; but since this is a charge applying to the work only as a novel, and as we have far graver charges to make against it in that light, we shall sink the less in the greater.
The second High Priest of the temple, or Sagan ofJerusalem, is commissioned by King Antigonus to go on a secret embassy to Rome, the object of which is to alienate the triumvirs from the cause of Herod: He departs from the Holy City in company with his daughter Zillah, and Gabriel, a kinsman and bankrupt jew- eller, to whose care is committed the precious deposite of gems with which the Jews propose to purchase the favour of Marc An- tony. An interest is endeavoured to be communicated to this journey by the contrast between the habits and feelings of a Jewish high priest and the manners and superstitions of the Roman Pagans. The Sagan is an upright and a respectable character, devoted to his faith, and every inch a Jew. Being of a warm temperament, he does not hesitate to express his indignation against the corrupt and idolatrous practices it is his • fortune to encounter ;—an imprudence which at Brundusium excites the
wrath of a rabble ; from.which the priest, his kinsman, and the beautiful Jewish maiden, are saved only by the good-nature of the Roman prmtor of the place, who contrives their escape. At Rome, a succession of accidents awaits them. Marc Antony falls in love with the beautiful Zillah ; and, neglecting his meretricious Vo- lumnia, insulting his virtuous Octavia, and- forgetting the be- witching Cleopatra, he takes her off by stratagem. Mighty and fierce is the wrath of the high priest. A providential fire burns down the temple of Cybele, in which Zillah is confined, and she makes her escape. The embassy having at the same time failed, and Gabriel the jeweller having been tricked out of his gems by a Greek parasite, the party seek safety in flight. Shipwreck, pirates, slavery, and banditti, are encountered in the route ; and being finally overcome, much to the joy of all, the Holy City is reached once more ;—not, however, to be enjoyed in repose. Jerusalem
* Zillah, a Tale of the Holy City. By the Author of "Brambletye House," the "Tor Hill," "Reuben .Apsley," tke. 4 vols. London, 1829. ColbUrn. is quickly beleaguered ; and after some martial exploits of Zillah, and a fierce resistance on the part of her countrymen, it falls into the power of Herod and the Romans. Zillah had however se- cured a lover in the Roman camp—one Felix Fabricius, a dream- ing young soldier, whom she converts to Judaism. This person
secures a retreat for the Sagan and his daughter, somewhere in the plains of Syria, which the High Priest calls Beth-Gatnel, or the Place of Recompense. This love story scarcely assumes an amor- ous complexion, and wholly fails to excite any interest. It indeed occurs late, and to the disappointment of the legitimate expecta- tion of the reader. For, from the first, we are haunted by a most mystical personage, who takes a peculiar interest in the heroine: sometimes he is called Esau, the Man of the Wilderness, who runs about screaming prophecies ; sometimes he is a glorious young knight, outstripping the wind with a famous black Arabian ; anon he is attuning a sackbut at the dead of night, under the windows of the beautiful daughter of the High Priest ; anon he is a bandit, and ravages the country under the name of Jareb the Avenger. We are entitled to think that this is "all for love,"—it turns out to be "all for nothing:" the gentleman has been in love with a lady who is dead, and is now again in love with another ; it is not, how- ever, Zillah, but her cousin, a person we never hear of till the close of the book.. Of all the awkward botchings-up at the end of a tale, from Mrs. RADCLIFFE IO Sir WALTER SCOTT, this of Zillah is the most lamentable we have ever seen ; and we are only not angry at the clumsiness of the author because he had utterly failed in creating any concern in the fate of his imaginary personages. It will be vain to look for any invention in the characters of the novel. Mr. H. SMITH, though a man of education, taste, and in- formation, is not equal to this part of his task. The power of con- ceiving original character is a faculty of itself : we can say no more than that Mr. SMITH has it not, but that as far as art and industry can supply the want of natural gifts, lie does supply them. It is certain that he so far succeeds, by the aid of labour and the exer- cise of taste, in compiling a novel which at least deceives the public into the delusive notion that they are or ought to be delighted with his productions : we believe that there is a considerable demand for his novels, and we have conversed with individuals who have declared that they have received as much pleasure from the pe rusal of them as they did from the works of Sir WALTER SCOTT There is no arguing such a question. There are people who would relish MOZART and the most inferior composer with equal gratification : either they are persons destitute of receiving pleasut e from the sweeter and rarer charms of music, or they are those who take a pleasure in something which is common to all composers, to the neglect of the more peculiar sources of delight. There is not another man breathing who could write Old _Mortality or the Antiquary; but we declare that we are not acquainted with a single individual of literary habits and a cultivated taste, who could not have written Brambletye House, Tor Hill, or Zillah. At the same time, viewing the last as a work of information on a most interesting subject, presented in a very agneable form, we recommend its perusal to all persons of leisure. The religious world especially ought to congratulate themselves on its appear- ance: they are usually debarred from the pleasure of reading works of imagination—here is one which might be preached from the pulpit ; it is a "sacred performance," and as legitimate in a church as a piece of HANDEL or HORSLEY. It may throw light upon the Scriptures ; it may even make the searching of them- a lighter, task ; while the most scrupulous reader cannot con- demn the author for having rashly or profanely approached sub- jects which he might deem could not be handled without impiety in a work of fiction.
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