The New Literature [pp. 219-231]

1857.]
THE NEW LITERATURE.*
miserable existence without exciting a
pang of pity, or a sigh of remorse. Or,
we are introduced, it may be, into an unnatur al and unreal world, in which
though there be upon its inhabitants the
blight of sin, yet its streams of felicity
are perennial and its sweets ever enduring:-a world of life and light, with no
source for its origin and no adequate
cause for its continued existence. What
a display of talent in the coteries of
fashion? If we shall visit them, we will
find the sparkle of wit, the frolic of
humour, and the play of satire-all
actively enlisted, not always in the advancement of truth, but making what
efforts they may for its annihilation. At
the best, society, ordinarily so called, is
but a contrivance for the assassination of
time!-"time, destined to perish by a
mightier hand, but men are willing to assist in its destruction!"t
If we turn to the professions and busi ness pursuits of life, we shall discover the
frequent and vast efforts of talent in build ing up the wrong and pulling down the
right. We are not inclined to echo the
slanders perpetrated against one of the
professions -particularly.'e cannot
entertain the opinion uttered by some,
even of respectable attainments, that no
man can be a lawyer and a Christian I
Yet, how few of the legal profession are
numbered among Christ's people? How
few have studied the truly " higher law'
of his kingdom, and have deemed it more
honour to fill the lowest seat at his table
than to gain a heritage of fame! Of
It is a gratifying feature of the times
that so much talent is effectively employed
in the service of Truth. A priori, we
should presume that talent had always
been thus employed-that true talent
would spurn the service of Error, and
would cast off its livery as a hated and
despicable master. Yet how deceptive
such an opinion. Tested by the actual
condition of things, it would appear that
talent had engaged its noblest offices to
every other purpose save the defence of
truth,-that for this alone it had disdained to use its powers, or, if to use
them at all, to do so inefficiently and
feebly. What a display of talent, for example, in the department of Fictioncharacterizing by the term every species
of literature presenting false or exaggerated views of life? IHow much of thrilling eloquence, of dramatic ability, of
powerful narrative? If we may trust
ourself to read the pages of modern
novelists of this type, we shall find our
cheeks suffused with weeping over imaginary wrongs, while our ears are deaf and
our sensibilities unawakened to the cry
for bread at our doors, or the petition for
relief on our streets. Or, if our novelist
author has seasoned his dish for the mental palate with the ordinary condiments
of latter-day fiction, we shall discover in
ourself an unwonted eagerness for the
success of well-polished villainy, while
the victim of his vices, but recently
adorned with the virtues of womanly
modesty and the graces of refined and
delicate sentiment, is left to eke out her
* I. Confessions of a Converted Infidel; with Lights and Shadows of Itinerant Life, and Mis cellaneous Sketches. By Rev. JoHN BAYLEY, of the Virginia Annual Conference. Third
Edition. New York: M. W. Dodd, Publisher. 1856. [Stevenson & Evans, Nashville
Tennessee; L. M. Lee, Richmond, Va.
II. Marriage as it is, and as it should be. By the same. 1857.
III. The Rifle, Axe and Saddle-Bags, and other Lectures. By WILLIAM HENRY MILBURN, with
Introduction by Rev. J. McCLINTOCK, D.D. New York: Derby & Jackson, Publishers.
1857. [Thomas J. Starke, Richmond, Va.
t John Foster.
219