The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 13, No. 360, March 14, 1829Various
General
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 13, No. 360, March 14, 1829
Various
Popular literature -- Great Britain -- Periodicals
A new edition of this very useful and attractive volume has just
appeared, re-edited by Mr. Britton, who, by his extensive architectural
knowledge, as well as by his popular style of imparting that knowledge,
is calculated to produce a better "Picture of London" than any other
writer within our acquaintance. The introduction is, of course, the most
novel part of this edition, and as it enables Mr. Britton to embody much
authentic information on the public works now in progress, we have
abridged a few of these details, which will be found in a Supplement
published with the present Number. The _Picture of London_ was, we
believe, first printed in 1806; and the extensive patronage which it
has enjoyed during twenty-two years has been well deserved by its
progressive completeness.
* * * * *
THE SELECTOR;
AND
LITERARY NOTICES OF
_NEW WORKS._
* * * * *
RANK AND TALENT.
_By the Author of Penelope, or Love's Labour Lost._
In our last volume we devoted nearly six of our columns to an outline of
the predecessor of the present work, or the novel of _Penelope_. We
there stated our opinion of the author's talents in a peculiar style of
novel-writing--a sort of mixture of satire and fashion, without the
starchness of the one, or the silly affectation of the other--abounding
in well-drawn pictures of real life, free from caricature, and teeming
with home-truths, in themselves of such plainness and ready application,
as to make precept and example follow on with near approaches to
probability and truth.
The author's _forte_ unquestionably lies in this species of
writing, and his "_Rank and Talent_" will, we think, bear us out in
this opinion. The story or canvass of the novel is simple, and well
prepared for his sketches and finished portraits of character. They
belong to fashionable and middle life, and the conceits and
eccentricities, as well as the straightforward integrity of their
stations are illustrated with peculiar force. Sound moral and knowledge
of the world are occasionally introduced with great tact, for the author
is no stranger to the inmost workings and recesses of the human heart;
and he adapts these lessons, and dovetails them with the narrative, in a
clever and agreeable style.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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