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    NOTICES OE BOOKS. 4l7

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    Memoirs Of Hacjiel, By Madame De B -. Hu...

    success was tlie triumph , of art over nature , and might teach , a great lesson to those who rely on external _aecejssories for the development

    of genius . With this wondrous talent , and the various characters she had

    created , living in our memory , —with the knowledge besides of what her birth , education , and surroundings had been , which led us to be

    indulgent in our expectations ; prepared too , as we were , to hear of her as a good daughter and a generous sister , we sat down with

    great interest to a memoir of her life , written , as we understand , by an intimate acquaintance . The following passage in the preface

    seemed as though the biographer were entering upon her task with some sense of the tender delicacy and reverent compassion it so

    much needed . tious artiste " When biograp , are trumpeted the her faults the reader and hy the errors must tongue of hear one of malice in who mind attained , or the hinted here so at hi in g b h y which a the rank conscien she as was an

    born and passed , her early youth , —the intoxicating influence sp of unexpected fame society and of opulenc the low e , , — the the ignorant bewildering and vul effect gar of , to the that sudden of and the weariness transition most hig from that h bred the the ,

    educated , and aristocratic of the land , —the satiety prompt and constitutionall to fulfilment personif of y the frail ever mo y organisation st wish violent soon broug and of the wearing ht being with it passions who , —the was nervousl constantl let us y not irritable y calle then d

    wonder upon that her y aspirations towards the good and the beautiful ; were often followed natureso b powerfull y no results sustained , —that the hfortune creature should so richl not y have endowed been by uniforml prodigal

    great , , and that blemishes y should y have darkene , d her finest traits . " y This will be the work of a Mend we thought , and therefore ,

    while just and impartial , will still give us that brighter and clearer , because nearer viewwhich we would fain have of such an artist as

    , Rachel . And yet we had read the life of Lord Byron by his intimate associateMr . Thomas Moore ; which has since been avenged with

    such true , poetical justice by the revelations of vanity and meanness chronicled of the biographer by his admirer and friend Lord John

    Russell ; of Lord Byron ( again ) and Shelley by their companion Mr . Trelawney , who only degrades his subject a little less than

    himself ; and later still of Shelley , by his constant companion and friend , Mr . Hogg , who , in spite of laudatory phrases , does his best to

    represent his hero as a fool . Truly we ought to have been better prepared . " Ifc was not an enemy who did me this dishonor . . .

    but it was thou mine own familiar friend . " There is an old story of a man who , after expressing great admiration of another , added ,

    " But I ought to say that I never knew his intimate friends ; " " doubtless had he done so , the glory would have been dimmed and the

    whiteness stained-Had this life been written by an enemy , we might have discredited

    itbut the reluctant admissions of a friend must , we are apt to argue , be , trueand so we turn over page after page , and find Rachel stripped

    of the halo , which our admiration had cast round her ; the graver

    blots on her character ostentatiously admitted for the purpose of

    Notices Oe Books. 4l7

    NOTICES OE BOOKS . 4 _l 7

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Aug. 1, 1858, page 417, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01081858/page/57/