Character and Characteristic Men. By Edwin P. - Whipple. (Bo s t o n, Ticknor and
Fields ; London, Trilbner.)—Mr. Whipple writes or lectureS pleasantly, and has always an anecdote at hand to keep his audience in a good humour. But he shows a tad want of grapple, and roams vaguely over the surface of character. The man who can say that Thackeray had lost the sense of kingly natures, that Ethel Newcome is an ambitions failure, and that Madame d'Ivry is Blanche Amory grown up, shows that he is unable to appreciate the manliness and, truth of our greatest novelist, and has no power of tracing the subtle distinctions of his character-painting. We think, too, that Mr. Whipple has utterly failed to grasp the individuality of Robespierre, and that in treating of Napoleon he has been led astray by two specimens of rant and. bluster. Some of his stories, however, are good, and will tempt readers to dip into his pages. Thus he mentions the Captain of a man-of-war who, when requested by the chaplain to let service be read on Sunday, said, "Well Mr. —, you had better begin next Sunday, as I suppose this thing must be done as long as Christianity is about." To be sure, Mr. Whipple forgets that by one of the Articles of War the service must be read every Sunday. Then he tells, too, of an American lawyer who had to defend a clergyman, and who was constantly assured by his client's friends that he was innocent. One of them said that an angel had appeared to hint the night before and assured him of the fact. "Very important evidence," said the lawyer, "but can you subposna that angel ?" Stories such as this are well enough in a lecture, but the lecturer ought not to mistake them for character.
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