E381027C. Findens’ Tableaux (1839).
The Morning Chronicle, 27 October 1838, p. 3.
As reprinted in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 4, 404–405.
This is a title which much awaken the sympathies of every man having a spark of domestic feeling in his composition. The “Womanly Virtues”—how excellent, how pure-toned, how never-failing are they! and sad indeed must be his heart or his lot in life who does not confess with enthusiasm their charming and beneficial influence in one or other of the relations of mother, wife, sister, or daughter, to say nothing of the more distant and casual spheres in which these fairest and best of God’s creatures cross our every-day path, to enrich its joys and temper its acerbities? The theme is indeed a mine of rich materials for the artist, the poet, and the philosopher, and one at the same time so homely and comforting in its endless fireside associations, that in congratulating the proprietors of the present very handsome volume in having adopted it, we can only express our surprise that it had never been thought of before amongst the endless projects for annuals and drawing room scrapbooks with which the town has been so inundated of late. Delays, however, are not always “dangerous,” and when they bring the hand of the authoress of “Our Village” to bear upon a subject in every way so well adapted to her genius, the result is one for congratulation. There is no living writer who tells with more persuasive truthfulness, in the absence of all maudlin affectation of sentiment, a tale of real life than Miss Mitford—there is no one who can point a homely moral with more terseness and elegance—and none, we are sure, who can paint with a more graceful colouring the lights and shadows, the virtues, the passions, and the weaknesses of her own sex. Miss Mitford is ably assisted in the present work by several writers whose productions deserve a more lasting reputation than that afforded by the generality of annuals, amongst which, however, we cannot class the work before us, inasmuch as it puts forth pretensions to completeness and design which is at once an original and enhancing feature. Prose and poetry—romance and fact—domestic life and chivalrous adventure—the grave, the gay, the pathetic, and the terrible are happily blended to give illustration to the various impulses of female character; and although the tales, twelve in number, are for the most part short, there are none of them devoid of point, whilst some of them exhibit much dramatic interest. “The Romaunt of the Page,” by Miss Barrett, is full of fancy and originality, and, with a pathetic termination, highly picturesque. “The Minstrel of Provence,” by the author of “Provence and the Rhone,” is a poem of considerable length, and no slight merits. It contains many very beautiful passages, and its general style is pure and elegant. “The Novice,” by Amelia Opie, is an interesting story of a young lady’s narrow escape from the black veil. There are three pieces by the accomplished editor, namely, “The Buccaneer,” a tale of crime and blood; “The Baron’s Daughter,” a sketch of a light and satirical character; and a “Story of the Woods,” a striking incident of Indian gratitude in the back woods of the American settlements. From the first-mentioned of these we extract the following prettily written passage.
[The review continues with an extract from “The Buccaneer” by Mary Russell Mitford; this we omit.]
We have now to speak of the embellishments to this handsome volume. They are, like the stories, twelve in number; and graceful, soft, and exquisite are the various forms of female beauty which they portray. We will not stop to make selections from so much intellectual loveliness, and sure we are that our readers will excuse us from the task when by trying it themselves they prove its difficulty. We will only add that the artist has well and worthily studied his subjects, and that the engravers have done him and them full justice. The binding, moreover, is about the most rich and beautiful we have ever seen; and altogether a more fascinating or acceptable present we could hardly offer to any of our fair friends than the volume which we now commend to their hands.
Reviewed:
Findens’ Tableaux, ed. M.R. Mitford, London: 1839.
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