The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. II., No. 2, January, 1836Various
General
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. II., No. 2, January, 1836
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
Of the numerous personages who figure in the book, some are really
excellent--some horrible. The historical characters are, without
exception, well drawn. The portraits of Cornwallis, Gates, and Marion,
are vivid realities--those of De Kalb and the Claverhouse-like
Tarleton positively unsurpassed by any similar delineations within our
knowledge. The fictitious existences in "The Partisan" will not bear
examination. Singleton is about as much of a non-entity as most other
heroes of our acquaintance. His uncle is no better. Proctor, the
British Colonel, is cut out in buckram. Sergeant Hastings, the tory,
is badly drawn from a bad model. Young Humphries is a
braggadocio--Lance Frampton is an idiot--and Doctor Oakenburg is an
ass. Goggle is another miserable addition to the list of those
anomalies so swarming in fiction, who are represented as having
vicious principles, for no other reason than because they have ugly
faces. Of the females we can hardly speak in a more favorable manner.
Bella, the innkeeper's daughter is, we suppose, very much like an
innkeeper's daughter. Mrs. Blonay, Goggle's mother, is a hag worth
hanging. Emily, Singleton's sister, is not what we would wish her. Too
much stress is laid upon the interesting features of the consumption
which destroys her; and the whole chapter of abrupt sentimentality, in
which we are introduced to her sepulchre before having notice of her
death, is in the very worst style of times _un peu passés_. Katharine
Walton is somewhat better than either of the ladies above mentioned.
In the beginning of the book, however, we are disgusted with that
excessive prudishness which will not admit of a lover's hand resting
for a moment upon her own--in the conclusion, we are provoked to a
smile when she throws herself into the arms of the same lover, without
even waiting for his consent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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