DISRAELI.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1948, 2 April 1875, Page 4

DISRAELI.

'Perhaps the statesman the least generally known in France is Mr 'Disraeli, and yet fewer possess the.features of character calculated to make him most sympathetic with the' French—such as undaunted courage, self-confidence, and literary audacity. M. Q.uesnel draws the attention of his countrymen to Mr Disraelis novels, a fevr of which have been translated into French. In the cultivated circles of French society, novels are at a discount; the contrary; is in JJngland. Judged then by this latter standard, Mi 1 Disraeli is here considered to haTe won a merited place in literature. It is in the form of novels that his thoughts vrere developed and his obscure name became popular; the medium through which lie ptit: himself in communication with his age and his country, and it is in the spirit of his wprks that is to be found miucli of the secret of his power. It is said that a novelist always writes his own biography in his productions; the pages of invention being the confidants of intimate thought, the records of the numerous incidents of his daily life. In Disraeli's novels, one perceives his emotions, the enconiums for friends, and the satire for enemies. Mr Disraeli has the rare genius of irony, and it is difficult, to know where commence and where finish with him the serions and the burlesque, so imperceptible is the line that separates, them. Gravity is succeeded by sarcasm, and irony by melancholy. Art has with him become nature, and he is not only a perfect Englishman, but a thorough type of the Semitic race. His intimate life, extending over a period .of fifty years, commences with Vivian Grey and terminates with Lothair. The former is full of virgin ideas and images, of ardour and defiance of genius; the latter is a young, man also, but an aged personage at the same time under blond locks. Between these two periods of work and of age, the author's works are to be classed, comprising 1827-1840, the artistic ; and 1844-47, the artistic and social periods. Lothair only shows the author in decadence, while his laurels must ever repute on Coningsby, Tancred, and the Sybil. *" Contafini Flemihg, where romance, love* and poetry are - detailed, do not represent Disraeli's salient qualities; Henrietta Temple owed its success more to a doubtful taste than to real merit, and the theme is considered more suited for a comedy than a novel; however, in all his youthful works, Disraeli's qualities show themselves less than his defects—too high coloring, emphatic eloquence, ob•curity of object in view, and deficiency of real sense. But he illustrates at the fame time the invariable rule, that defects impinge on qualities;. It is in his second period, in Coningsby, Tancred, and Sybil, that we discover under the novelist, a thinker, a philosopher, and in a certain degree, the statesman. They represent as he himself avows, his personal views on political, social, and religious subjects. The heroes of the Sybil would secure him the suffrages of the populace, but later, what cruel disappointment. A writer has the privilege to express what he desires and hopes, but the Minister's duty is simply to do what he can. Tancred is in point of imagination, an astonishing work; it lays down, that all religious knowledge proceeds from inspiration,, that inspiration is a direct manifestation from God, that these manifestations can only take place in Palestine, and that God reTeals them only to .his: chosen Semitics. In the pursuit of ibis ideal religion-across the world, Tancred becomes but a fantastic, religious tale. Disraeli has put most o! himself into Coningsby; it is here the übiquitous Sidonia arrives at, the climax of universal knowledge and sagacity. As in bis other novels; there "is here no conclusion, but that whien leaves the author master of the application; this ought not to form a grave re* proach, since such conclusions, whether scientific, religous, social or political, are from their very nature, habitually adjourned. As sum total, itia very difficult to know, so varied, and contradictory are they, what are the dominant tendencies of Disraeli's novels. In a social ptint of riew, he is a stron/j cotitemplator of institutions, customs, amd orthodoxy; in point of view philosophic, he appears penetrated with faith in human perfectibility, while sceptical about progress. All his young men are full of talent, enamoured with science and wisdom, covetous of glory and renown; his poets scale the heavens, and his ideal heroines live at once in moral and material splendors; all is gold, embroidery, pearls, diamonds, parks and palaces for his heroes. He belongs to the Venetian and Flemish schools, where painters must have velvets and silk*, luxurious clothing, golden hair and pearl necklaces, to embellish their pictures. Disraeli only underwtands love upon a bed of roses, with a diadem of precious stones, and in an orange grove. His principal characters are usually dukes and princes, or at least nabob*, armed as in Monte Christo with mysterious power. His heroines tither are, or are about becoming peeresses or princesses of " The Thousand and One Nights" pattern. The more prominent the personage in scene, the more he is rich j thiß superlative Sidonia has unknown and exhaustless treasures. Despite his irony, Disraeli in this respect intends less to ridicule the English love for riches, than to yield" to the Oriental element in hi* character; he was born with a taste for gold, pearls, diamonds, purple and fine linen, pomps and grandeurs. He thus becomes more a poet than a philosopher, but a poet at once voluptuous and mystic. His young men are moral athletes, doubting nothing, believing to know all things, and to undertake everything. Their presumption is charming, because it is a farce; and it is by stnaagtti of intelligence, of work, and of courage, JDisraeli has succeeded both as a statesman and a litterateur,— -Paris Conttpondrot.