k. All historical novels--except
Scott's and Kingsley's--are a weariness to the flesh, and when the
history is so remote from any association with modern feeling, even Mr.
Disraeli's vivacity is not able to convert shadows into substances. An
opposite error disturbs one's appreciation of 'Venetia.' Byron and
Shelley were altogether too near to the writer to be made into heroes of
fiction. The portraits are pale beside the originals; and though Lord
Cadurcis and Marmion Herbert may have been happier men than their
prototypes, they are certainly not so interesting. 'Henrietta Temple'
and 'Contarini Fleming' may count as Mr. Disraeli's most satisfactory
performances. He has worked without any secondary political purpose, and
has, therefore, produced more harmonious results. The aim is ambitious,
but consistent. 'Contarini Fleming' is the record of the development of
a poetic nature--a theme, as we are told, 'virgin in the imaginative
literature of every country.' The praises of Goethe, of Beckford, and of
Heine gave a legitimate satisfaction to its author. 'Henrietta Temple'
professes to be a love-story pure and simple. Love and poetry are
certainly themes worthy of the highest art; and if Disraeli's art be not
the highest, it is more effective when freed from the old alloy. The
same intellectual temperament is indeed perceptible, though in this
different field it does not produce quite the same results. One
prominent tendency connects all his stories. When 'Lothair' made its
appearance, critics were puzzled, not only by the old problem as to the
seriousness of the writer, but by the extraordinary love of glitter.
Were the palaces and priceless jewels and vast landed estates,
distributed with such reckless profusion amongst the characters,
intended as a covert satire upon the vulgar English worship of wealth,
or did they imply a genuine instinct for the sumptuous? Disraeli would
apparently parody the old epitaph, and write upon the monument of every
ducal millionaire, 'Of such are the kingdom of heaven.' Vast landed
estates and the Christian virtues, according to him, naturally go
together; and he never dismisses a hero without giving him such a letter
of credit as Sidonia bestowed upon Tancred. 'If the youth who bears this
requires advances, let him have as much gold as would make the
right-hand lion, on the first step of the throne of Solomon the king;
and if he wants more, let him have as much as would form the lion that