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444 has not been more awake to the tremendous power the novel possesses as an engine for the dissemination of opinion: but more of this when we come to "Paul Clifford."

To return to "Devereux." The character of the hero seems to us to be one of Mr. Bulwer's most powerful and original conceptions: the influence of circumstances upon nature is finely and profoundly traced. "Devereux" is imaginative, affectionate, passionate by nature; worldly, cold, and guarded in his crust of circumstance. The poetry inherent, and the philosophy acquired, are exquisitely developed. We never could read the account of his boyhood without the most intense interest,—the warm love of the child thrown back upon itself by unkind coldness and unjust preference. We shall only say, fortunate are those who do not sympathise with the affectionate, yet unloved boy, whose heart becomes sullen as sadness always does when utterly unshared. There is terrible injustice in the treatment of children: how arbitrary is the authority exercised over them! How much does the anger or the fondness lavished upon them depend on the temper of the moment! What a contradiction between the much we expect them to acquire, and the little we expect them to observe! At one time they are to learn all that demands comprehension and industry,—(think how much pure abstract knowledge a child is expected to master;) and then, at another period, they are treated like a machine, that neither sees nor hears; or, at least, seeing and hearing as one who understandeth not; saving that memory is a most faith less faculty, a mirror in which a man looks, and "straightway forgetteth what manner of man he is," or was. Our own experience might teach us a different lesson. But preference, and its consequence, neglect, is the child's most cruel wrong. The bitter feeling of comparing our own lot with another's, will come quite soon enough without its being taught in infancy. Early injustice is like the thread of silk planted with the tulip—it colours all the after leaves. Its influence runs through all Devereux's future character; the warm emotions concealed—the affectionate temper checked—restraint deepening into reserve, and self-dependance hardening into self-reliance, are all traced with the accuracy of an anatomist, and with a beauty even beyond their truth. The awakening of all his better nature under the affection of his uncle, and that kind old uncle himself, are transcripts from one of the very best and dearest pages of human life. As for Sir William, we do not insist upon every reader liking him as much as we do ourselves; but we must own, if they do not, we shall have a very bad opinion of them. It is curious to mark the likeness of position and the dissimilarity of character be tween Pelham and Devereux: both are young, noble, panting, first for pleasure, next for worldly distinction; and both are fops, "mandarins of the first class;" but still how different. Pelham's worldliness is the philosophy of his calm, calculating, yet high nature: that of Devereux, on the contrary, is a disguise and a security. The coxcombry of Pelham is like a cast from his features; that of Devereux is a mask to his face. The difference is imagination in the one, the want of it in the other. This is especially shown in their love:—love, which, if but an episode in the active life of man, is a lasting influence in his ideal one. We do not think the most susceptible