We have found the great majority of them exceedingly exhilarating
reading, and, if our limits admitted an extended examination, we feel
sure that the result of the analysis would be the eliciting of
unexpected merits rather than the detection of hidden defects.
* * * * *
_Say and Seal_. By the Author of "Wide, Wide World," and the Author
of "Dollars and Cents." In Two Volumes. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott
& Co.
Another story from "Elizabeth Wetherell" is a welcome addition to our
scanty stock of American, novels. Our real American novels may be
counted on our fingers, while the tales that claim the name may be
weighed by the ton. At the present time, we count Hawthorne among our
novelists, and Mrs. Stowe, and perhaps Curtis, since his "Trumps";
but as for our thousand and one unrivalled authors, "whose matchless
knowledge of the human heart and wonderful powers of delineation
place them far above Dickens or Thackeray," they are all, from
Sylvanus Cobb, Junior, down to Ned Buntline and Gilmore Simms,
beneath serious notice, and may be left to the easy verdict of the
readers of the cheap magazines and illustrated newspapers, in whose
columns they have gained a world-wide obscurity.
Pages:
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349