=LEVER, Charles.= Born (1806) in Dublin, of English parentage; graduated at T.C.D. Wrote much for the NATIONAL MAGAZINE, the D.U. MAGAZINE, BLACKWOOD’S, the CORNHILL, &c. Consul in Spezzia, 1858, and at Trieste, 1867. Here he died in 1872. Is by far the greatest of that group of writers who, by education and sympathies, are identified with the English element in Ireland. He was untouched by the Gaelic spirit, was a Tory in politics, and a Protestant. “His imagination,” says Mr. Krans, “did not enable him to see with the eyes of the Catholic gentry or the peasantry. He knew only one class of peasants well—servants and retainers, and he only knew them on the side they turned out to their masters. Most of his peasants are more than half stage-Irishmen.” He had no sympathy with the religious aspirations of Catholics, and his pictures of their religious life are sometimes offensive. These are his limitations. On the other hand, his books are invariably clean and fresh, free from vulgarity, morbidness, and mere sensationalism. His first four books overflow with animal spirits, reckless gaiety, and fun. It has been well remarked by his biographer, W. J. Fitzpatrick, that his genius was much more French than English. After _Hinton_ he is more serious, more attentive to plot-weaving, and to careful character-drawing. His books give a wonderful series of pictures of Irish life from the days of Grattan’s Parliament to the Famine of 1846. Many of these pictures, though true to certain aspects of Irish life, create a false impression by directing the eye almost exclusively to what is grotesque and whimsical. Lever’s portrait gallery is one of the finest in fiction. It includes the dashing young soldiers of the earlier books; the comic characters, an endless series; diplomatists, doctors, lawyers, politicians, usurers, valetudinarians, aristocrats, typical Irish squires, adventurers, braggarts, spendthrifts, nearly all definite and convincing. See Art, in BLACKWOOD, Apr., 1862, and in DUBL. REV., 1872, Vol. 70, p. 379. Also Edmund Downey’s book, _Charles Lever: his Life and Letters_. Many of Lever’s novels were originally published in shilling monthly parts, with two illustrations by “Phiz” (Hablot K. Browne), and had as great a vogue as those of Dickens. There have been many editions since by _Routledge_ (3_s._ 6_d._) and _Chapman & Hall_ (2_s._), with and without illustrations, but the finest ever issued is:— ⸺ COMPLETE NOVELS. Edited by the Novelist’s Daughter. Thirty-seven Vols. (_Downey_). Publ. £19 18_s._ Cloth. 1897-9. The only complete and uniform ed. of Lever. Contains all the original steel engravings and etchings by “Phiz” and Cruikshank, and many ill. by Luke Fildes and other artists. Ed. and annotated by means of unpublished memoranda found among Author’s papers. Lever’s prefaces are printed, and bibliographical notes appended to each story. ⸺ HARRY LORREQUER. Pp. 380. (N.Y.: _Dutton_). 1.00. [1839].