meaning; there is no beauty in it; it
increases the size and price of books; it corrupts the taste of the
young, is offensive to persons of good sense, and mortifying to
those who take pride in the literary reputation of their country. It
is the bane of our literature. Many of our prose-writers constantly
put language upon paper the use of which in ordinary life would be
received by a court as evidence of insanity. If they do so for
display, they take the readiest course to defeat their purpose. There
is nothing so fascinating as simplicity and earnestness. A writer
who has an object, and goes right on to accomplish it, will compel
the attention of his readers. But it seems, that in art, as well as
in morals and politics, the plainest truths are the last to be
understood.

We make these strictures with reluctance. This biography, in many
respects, is valuable, and Mr. Randall might easily have made it
interesting. He had a subject worthy of any pen, and an abundance of
new material. He does not lack skill. His unstudied passages, though
never elegant, are well enough. He is industrious. Though we must
dissent from some of his conclusions, he is entitled to the praise
of being accurate, and is free from prejudice,--except that amiable
prejudice which has been well called the _lues Boswelliana_.[1]
His delineations of famous personages, though marked by the faults of
which we have spoken, show quite unusual perception of character. He
has a thorough appreciation of Jefferson's noblest characteristics,
and an honorable sympathy with the philosophy of which Jefferson was
a teacher.

[Footnote 1: _The Life of Thomas Jefferson_. By HENRY S. RANDALL, LL.
D. In three volumes. New York: Derby & Jackson. 1858.]

With resources and qualifications like these, he might have produced
a biography which the country would have received with gratitude,
and which would have conferred an enviable reputation upon him; as
it is, through his neglect of a few wholesome rules which he must
have learned when a school-boy, the years of labor he has spent over
this book will go for nothing, and the hopes he has built upon it
will be disappointed.

There is much conflict of opinion as to the character of Jefferson,
and the value of his services. We doubt whether there is another
person in our history, as to whom there still exists so strong a
feeling of dislike on the one hand, and of admiration on the other.
By some he is regarded as a theor