SIR RALPH ESHER
Is distinguished. by several peculiarities, which render it difficult for us to make up our minds on the subject of its merits. It is not a novel—and it was intended to be one of those white forge- ries, the Biographies Imaginaires, which have in several instances deceived so agreeably and instructively : but the politic haste of the publisher could not permit the name of the author to lie con- cealed; hence the work comes before us in an equivocal shape,— the author taking the most sedulous pains to conceal the modern- ness of his work, and the bookseller all the time proclaiming the name of LEIGH HUNT. We regret that we had not Sir Ralph Esher placed before us without any knowledge of its true pater- nity it would have pleased us to try the effect of a style we have long been familiar with, apart from the influence of prejudices and previous associations. The nature of these we have some diffi- culty in stating. We admire the talents and ingenuity of LEIGH HUNT, while we cannot read his works with pleasure. There is, or we fancy there is, a tone of affected volatility, an elaborate smartness, or jauntiness, to use a word of his own, about all he writes, for which we cannot repress our distaste. Had the work appeared as from an unknown author, we should have had the sa- tisfliction of bringing this, we may almost call it disgust, to a fair and impartial test. As it is, we must make up our minds with all the justice and charity that nature and education have so largely endowed us with.
Sir Ralph Esher, then, is a supposed autobiography of a cour- tier of CHARLES the Second's time ; and includes the memoirs of his friend Sir Philip Herne, a graver and somewhat more impor- tant person than Sir Ralph himself, and whose adventures are at least more romantic. The incidents in the lives of these (retitle- men lead the author through the principal part of the protectorate of CROMWELL and the reign of the Restored Monarch,—not so much by details of historical events (though the Plague, and the Fire, and a Dutch sea-fight are included), as by sketches of cha-. meter, life, and scenes in all kinds of society. The attempt, in- deed, has been to infuse the whole spirit of the times into three volumes ; and, according to the author's view of it, he has suc- ceeded. This is no compilation from chronicle and pamphlet, like many historical novels, which have not been without their fame, but a true living and thinking over of the times, by one who has really taken uncommon pains to master thoroughly all that is left -us of their odious history. Such is the completeness with which the air of originality and contemporaneousness is assumed, that, had the style been that of almost any other person than this writer, we might have thought for a moment we had got hold of a more gallant GRAMMONT or a more romantic PEPYS. But LEIGH Hu Nr must always be LEIGH HUNT, whether he writes of the days of CHARLES or of GEORGE: we discover the identical man in every turn of every sentence, in every opinion, in every view of every event. There is something so peculiar in his writing, that we cannot suppose we should ever have closed the book without recognizing him; but we should like to have tried, and are vexed at Mr. COLBURN for not permitting us the plea- sure of reading twenty or thirty pages at least, without the pre- sence of that mixed feeling with which we approach all that this very able writer composes. What the qualities are which always excite a certain bilious sensation within us over his pages, we scarcely know how to distinguish or analyze. We have called them affectation and jauntiness; but though such words give a general, they do net convey a distinct notion. Let us see what an example or two will do in clearing our ideas.
In describing a lady, he says— "The figure, without taking leave of the proper slenderness of waist and temperate elegance throughout, was more buxom," &c. Vol. III. p.74.
"Temperate elegance" is a phrase which may have a meaning, or may not, according to the fancy of the reader: the author abounds in such new combinations of words, which are mostly of doubtful interpretation, but which, we charitably suppose, have some idea attached to them in the writer's own mind. But what shall we say of the personification of a lady's waist taking leave of a proper slenderness? ' The idea here is clear,—the writer wishes to hit the exact interval between too thin and too stout; and he likens it to that moment when we part and are yet not gone. Here is fancy or liveliness ; but is it not of that affected and elabo- rate kind, which, when often repeated, 'produces a painful sensa- tion in the reader?
Again- " Grammont should not have praised a woman's eyes after abusing her nose. Ile should have reconciled her by some allusion, which should have been none, to the defect itself; or shown, by a delicate undervaluing of it, that it was not in the way." Vol. III. p. 19.
This is what the author calls "real refinement:" we suspect it to be, as it is expressed, real nonsense. The affectation is hero that of catching something exceedingly subtile—of seizing d dif- ference to a shade: the fine substance escapes, and there remain nothing but some clumsy phrases, the signs that an effort has been made.
A book all written in this style would be insufferable, were it not for the numerous happy and sunshiny places, which, though not without the moles and spots of affectation, looking like the once fashionable mouches upon a lady's face, neutralize their ef- fect. Many whole chapters might be pointed out of extreme cleverness in Sir Ralph Esher; and the greater incidents, such as the sea-fight with Opdam, are admirably described. The exceed- ing familiarity with which the author writes of all the historical characters, and the lively pictures he sets before us of their ordi- nary and undress habits, show a considerable power of dramatic description; but the pleasing effect is too often marred by an ex- aggeration of this very merit. He gets too familiar with his sub- ject, and often the last touch sends us back with an incredulus odi : the stroke may be one of art, but is too artful, and imme- diately deprives us of our momentary illusion. The details of Pe ',vs are valuable because they are true : in Sir Ralph Esher they are not only Valueless from possessing no authority, but odious from their pettiness, and disagreeable as continually re- calling the idea of the author. After satisfying a kind of critical discontent which beset us on laying down the book, let us answer another strong demand—on the part of conscience, by recommending the work to general pe- rusal. It is written by a most amiable man, who has been in his time of great usefulness, and who possesses remarkable abilities. The fact is, that in Sir Ralph Esher there is ten times the talent contained. in the ordinary novels of the day.
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