manners, reserved in society, but fond of it, and easily drawn toward those who shine in it, naturally generous and warmhearted, keenly perceptive of the ridiculous, of a very original turn of mind, shrewd and sensible, a close observer of character, with a profound admiration and respect for the memory of his illustrious father, the qualities of this young nobleman were calculated to render him a favorite in such circles as those of Gore House, and with those who presided over them.

FROM THE MARQUIS OF DOURO.

"Tuesday. "MY DEAR LADY BLESSINGTON,-I have shown your verses to the most brilliant German professor in the world, and he can make nothing of them. I therefore restore them to you, resisting the temptation to compose a translation, which certainly never could be detected. Yours sincerely,

"DOURO."

CHAPTER X.

SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON.

EDWARD LYTTON BULWER, born in 1805, the third son of William Earle Bulwer, Esq., of Heydon Hall and Wood Dalling, Norfolk (brigadier general), by his marriage in 1798 with Elizabeth Barbara, daughter and sole heiress of Richard Warburton Lytton, Esq., of Knebworth Park, Herts,* succeeded to the Knebworth estates by the will of his mother, who died the 19th of December, 1844, and taking the surname of Lytton by sign manual, became the representative of his mother's family, and the head of the two other ancient houses of Lytton of Knebworth, and of Robinson or Norreys.

In 1838, on account of his literary merit, he was created a baronet. He married, 29th of August, 1827, Rosina, only surviving daughter of Francis Wheeler, Esq., of Lizzard Connel, coun

* This venerable lady, Mrs. Elizabeth Barbara Bulwer Lytton, died at her house, in Upper Seymour Street, at the age of seventy, 19th of December, 1844. There is no trait in the character of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton more remarkable or creditable than that of strong filial attachment, with all its feelings of high respect and tender affection, which, at every period of his career, he appears to have entertained for his mother.

ty Limerick, and had issue, Edward Robert, born 8th of November, 1832, and a daughter, named Emily Elizabeth, deceased. Bulwer's precocious poetical talents, like those of Byron, manifested themselves before he was seven years of age. He was placed at private schools in the neighborhood of Knebworth at an early age; was for some time under the care of private tutors preparatory to his being sent to college, and completed his education at Cambridge. He wrote a poem on "Sculpture" while he was at college, which obtained the prize for poetry. One of his earliest productions was a collection of small poems "Weeds and Wild Flowers"-which was printed in 1826, when he was twenty-one years of age, but was not published. This production was followed by "O'Neil, the Rebel," in 1827. His next work was 66 Falkland;" but the name and fame of Bulwer only became known after the publication of "Pelham," in 1828. A writer in Bentley's Miscellany, apparently conversant with Bulwer's labors, and acquainted with his habits and modes of application to study, observes, "Bulwer worked his way to eminence-worked it through failure, through ridicule. His facility is only the result of practice and study. He wrote at first very slowly, and with great difficulty; but he resolved. to master the stubborn instrument of thought, and mastered it. He has practiced writing as an art, and has re-written some of his essays, unpublished, nine or ten times over. Another habit will show the advantage of continuous application. He only

The "Disowned" was published in 1829, and "Paul Clifford" in 1830. At various intervals from the latter date appeared "Eugene Aram," "The Siamese Twins, a serio-comic Poem," ," "Conversations of an Ambitious Student," "England and the English," "The Pilgrims of the Rhine," "The Last Days of Pompeu," an historico-descriptive novel, "The Crisis," a political brochure, "Rienzi, or the Tribune," "The Duchess de la Valiere," a drama, "The Lady of Lyons," a drama, "Richelieu," a drama, "Money," a drama, "Ernest Maltravers," "Alice, or the Mysteries," "Athens," "Leila, or the Siege of Grenada," "Calderon, the Courtier," "Night and Morning," "Day and Night," "Last of the Barons," " "Zanoni," "Eva, the Ill-omened Marriage, and other Tales and Poems," "Harold," "Lucretia," "The New Timon" and "King Arthur" [two politico-satirical poems without the author's name]. "Letters to John Bull" in favor of protection, and a drama, written for private representation, "Not so Bad as we Seem," were followed by two of his latest and best novels, "The Caxtons" and "My Novel."

VOL. II.-H

writes about three hours a day, from ten in the morning till one-seldom later. The evenings, when alone, are devoted to reading, scarcely ever to writing. Yet what an amount of good hard labor has resulted from these three hours. He writes very rapidly, averaging twenty pages a day of novel print."

I very much question the fact that Sir Edward restricts his literary labor to three hours a day. I am very sure that if double the amount of time were given to the performance of the same amount of labor as he must go through, mind and body would suffer less from its accomplishment. The composition of a work, and the transcription of MS. to the extent of twenty printed pages in three hours, is too much for a continuance of many days; the time allowed for the labor is too short for its performance, without an excessive wear and tear of mental and physical energies.

A writer in Fraser's Magazine, reviewing Sir B. Brodie's "Psychological Inquiries," makes the following observations on mental labor:

"Cuvier was usually engaged for seven hours daily in his scientific researches, these not having been of a nature to require continuous thought; and Sir Walter Scott devoted about six hours daily to literary composition, and then his mind was in a state to enjoy lighter pursuits afterward. When, however, after his misfortunes, he allowed himself no relaxation, there can be little doubt, as Eubulus observes, that his over-exertion contributed, as much as the moral suffering he endured, to the production of the disease of the brain which ultimately caused his death.

“One day, when he was thus exerting himself beyond his powers, Sir Walter said to Captain Basil Hall, who also suffered and died from disease in the brain,

666

"How many hours can you work?' "Six,' answered the captain.

"But can't you put on the spurs?'

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If I do, the horse won't go.'

"So much the better for you,' said Scott, with a sigh. When I put on the spurs, the horse will go well enough; but it is killing the horse.""

The fact is, it is as impossible to lay down rules for the management of the mind and the regulation of its labor as it is for the management of the body and the uses and application of its powers. The same amount of labor of the mind that one man could endure during six hours of the day, for a considerable time, without detriment to his health, bodily or physical, would prove fatal to another in half that period.

Sir Bulwer Lytton first entered Parliament for St. Ives, and next represented Lincoln.

From 1841 to 1852 he remained out of Parliament, and in the latter year was returned for his native county, Hertford.

Few English writers, whose compositions consist chiefly of works of imagination, have attained such an eminence in literature as he has done. From "Pelham" to "My Novel," we have a series of works, extending to about fifty volumes, any one of which productions might suffice to make a reputation for an ordinary novelist.

But it is to the aggregate of the works of Sir E. B. Lytton we must look for the evidences of those remarkable intellectual qualities which are destined to make the productions of a man of his stamp live in after ages.

The author's consciousness of possessing such qualities is not only sufficiently evident in those novels-it is rather prominently obtrusive in some of them. But the author can not be more fully persuaded of the fact than his readers, that his writings are destined to influence his times, and that living proofs of his intellectual powers will long survive the latter.

One of the most characteristic features of Bulwer's writings is the singular combination of worldly experience—a perfect knowledge of life, and especially of life in the upper circles of society, a thorough acquaintance with its selfishness and specious fallacies-s —ses misères et ses bassesses, with the vast amount of genuine poetry that prevails in his prose writings. With the exception of Scott's novels, "Ivanhoe" and "The Bride of Lammermoor" especially, no works of fiction in the English language abound with so many passages of true poetry as the novels of Bulwer. The greatest misfortune that the republic of letters

has suffered, perhaps, for the past twenty years, is the calamity of Bulwer belonging to the aristocracy and to politics, being a baronet, a member of Parliament, and a man of a plentiful estate. Intellectual gifts like his, of the highest order, were never given for some sections only of society, that are highly favored and peculiarly privileged, but for mankind at large, and for greater and higher purposes than providing entertainment for the leisure hours of the upper classes. They were given for the promotion of higher interests than those material ones of the Manchester school of philosophy, and the aims and ends of a Godless spirit of utilitarianism, pretending to care for poverty, and to be actuated and directed by Christian motives. They were given to advance the true interests of the masses of the people of his own land especially; to enable him to contribute to their enlightenment, to spiritualize and purify their minds, and to elevate their condition, physical as well as moral.

If I am not greatly mistaken, this opinion peeps through many pages of every work of fiction that has been published by Sir E. B. Lytton during the past twelve or fifteen years. Like all men of great intellectual endowments, the consciousness of the existence of those powers, and the sense of the great obligations they impose on their possessor, are continually struggling for expression, and unconsciously find it frequently in his writings.

We are reminded in them perpetually that the author has the power, and knows that he possesses it, of doing greater and better things in literature than any that he has attempted or achieved.

The popularity of this prolific author has endured for upward of twenty years. For one reader of his works prepared to cavil with their merits, twenty will be found to admire them. No man who ever occupied the position that Sir E. B. Lytton has done in literary life, considering the fame he has acquired, coming frequently before the public, and always with claims to notice that rather force themselves on attention than solicit an indulgent reception, and insinuate themselves into the good graces of the public, has escaped more lightly the penalty of notoriety-that tax of envy and censure which pre-eminent