Letitia Elizabeth Landon

“ To apply a sneer to ourselves, is a distinction, particularly when there is the right to grumble at it. This was a luxury fully enjoyed on the first appearance of "Vivian Grey." In that work there were one or two characters complete moral investigations;—the Marquis, whose very existence was a ceremony—the Marchioness's, an indolent indulgence—and Cleveland's, one of those secrets which this world can never solve. On the other side of the grave, we may learn why the glorious mind, the noble purpose, the lofty eloquence, are given—and in vain. ”

“ No young man, with one touch of the eager or ambitious in his career, ever read that work without strong excitement; and the effect it took was what power ever takes,—it made enemies, because it made, envy,—and also because satire, take what shape it will, is always unwelcome. Even while enjoying a laugh at others, people have a little secret fear of the laugh coming home,—their turn may be the next ”

“ There is one of those touches in the description of the review, which marks the first-rate conceiver of character. The eye of the daughter of a high-born and martial race flashes at the warlike pageantry. The descendant of Maria Theresa is keenly alive to the "pomp and circumstance of glorious war;" and in truth there is nothing more exciting than a discharge of artillery. The physical effect is wonderful when along the air "leaps the live thunder;"—it brings with it an awe mingled with conscious power, while the spirits are completely carried away by the mighty music. ”

“ D'Israeli's mind is his command over the grotesque. Nature has her fantasies that few know how to seize. In the material world, they are shown by strange combinations; rocks, caverns, and trees, are fashioned after the wildest caprices. In the mind of man this wayward fancy is equally evident,—out of it grows the eccentric and the humourist ”

“ B. D'Israeli is the eldest son of the celebrated author of the "Curiosities of Literature," a work which has called more thought out of gratification than almost any that we know. We are not however among those who believe in the influence of circumstance over mind, and are not therefore about to dwell on any probability of the father's pursuits having biassed those of the son. ”