e of the human heart and wonderful powers of delineation
place them far above Dickens or Thackeray," they are all, from
Sylvanus Cobb, Junior, down to Ned Buntline and Gilmore Simms,
beneath serious notice, and may be left to the easy verdict of the
readers of the cheap magazines and illustrated newspapers, in whose
columns they have gained a world-wide obscurity. Miss Warner's books
have always a genuine flavor of originality, and an acute, living
appreciation of Yankee character, that give them a right to rank,
unchallenged, as real and valuable novels. In their simplicity, their
freshness, their quiet humor and not less quiet fun, their frequent
narrowness and stiffness, and their deep and true religious
sentiment, they have the real essence of the New England character.

In every novel there are three principal elements,--the Hero, the
Heroine, the Villain,--all three gracefully blending, in the Plot. We
cannot especially congratulate our authors upon their Hero. In a
favorite farce, the slightly bewildered Mr. Lullaby observes
musingly, "Brown? Brown? That name sounds familiar! I must have heard
that name before! I'll swear I've heard that name before!" We have a
dim consciousness of having met "Mr. Linden" before, albeit under a
different name. A certain Mr. Humphreys, whom we remember of old,
strongly resembles him: so does one Mr. Guy Carleton. We were very
well pleased with our old friend Humphreys, (or Carleton,) and would
by no means hint at any reluctance to meet him again; but a new
novel, by its very announcement, implies a new hero,--and if we come
upon a plain family-party, when fondly hoping for an introduction to
some distinguished stranger, we may be excused for thinking ourselves
hardly treated. Is it so infallible a sign of superiority, moreover,
to speak constantly in riddles? This Sphinx-like style is eminently
characteristic of Mr. Linden. Then again, our authors have been too
ambitious. They laboriously assert Mr. Linden to be a marvel of
learning,--a man of vast and curious literary attainments: but all
that their hero does to maintain this reputation and vindicate their
opinion is to quote trite passages of poetry, which are all very
well, but which every gentleman of ordinary cultivation is expected
to know, and which no gentleman of ordinary cultivation is expected
to quote,--things that are remembered only to be avoided as utterly
threadbare. One unfortunate instance may be found at the beg