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is- the ' war of ' toNtieet ;—3 t wiH not , at first , he very boisterous in its operations 9 but , if protracted by your obstinacy , w ^ vilt overtake you in appalling and destructive thunder . " Sapientibus satis ! Valete ! !** Pp . 39—41 .
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GENERAL LITERATURE . Art . VI . —Five Years of Youth ; or Sense and Sentiment . By Harriet Martineau . London : Darton and Harvey . J 831 . We owe some explanation to our readers and the author for not having yet noticed Miss Harriet Marti neau's appeal to Roman Catholics on behalf of Unitariauism , entitled ' * The Universal Faith of the Christian Church , dednced from the Sacred Records . " We were
about to review it when the somewhat Startling fact transpired of her having carried off the other premiums offered by the Association Committee for tracts addressed to the Mahometans and the Jews . We shall not now stop to inquire , how it happened that onr ministers would not or could not prevent the honour of championing the cause of pure Christianity against the whole theological world from devolving on a young lady .
However that may be , she has * won the honour , and well deserves to wear it . We intend to wait , if the time employed in bringing out the other prize essays be not too long for our patience , until all three are before the public , that we may be able at once to observe the different lights in which the same great truths are placed , in order to gain the attention of minds so differently pre occupied as those of the classes to which these tracts are severally addressed .
There must be considerable versatility in the talent which can move in such different directions , with a fair prospect of success in all : and meanwhile , to strengthen this impression of her versatility , of which other proofs had been previously given , AH » t » Martiueau diversines her colloquies with muftis , priests ,
and rabbins , by calling the young around her to listen to a tale of youth , its pleasures and its griefe , its trials * failures , triumphs—and that judgment of Providence by which in thljj life , internally , if not externally , it receives according to i « 9 deaerti . - We confe ** we like Miss Ma * tineau *«
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productions in the higher walks both of truth and fiction , and would rather hare read more Essays on the Education of the Human Race , or more Traditions of Palestine , than the work now before us . Those for whom it is intended will , probably , be of a different opinion ; and it may be a great blessing to them that they
are . We will not aualyzc the story , that its effect may not be diminished upon them , nor have we space for extracts . We shall briefly enumerate what we regard as its excellencies and its- imperfections . The book is full of incidents , some
relating to childhood , others to advanced life ; some playful , and others touching ; some homely , and others extraordinary - but almost all bearing the stamp of nature and of reality ; exciting a lively interest , fixing themselves in the memoryy and promising to bear good fruit in the character and the conduct . The
characters in the story are generally well drawn , and supported throughout with great propriety and consistency . The style both of the narrative and the dialogue is more easy and flowing than any other of Miss Martin eau ' 3 productions with which this can be brought , into comparison ; some of them have exhibited a deficiency in this quality , which , in the present instance , she seems completely to have overcome . The picture of intellectual and moral retribution .
which forms the catastrophe of the tale * is impressively delineated . The imperfections we take to be , that some of the anecdotes are not sufficiently inwrought into the very substance of the story , do not seem to be vitally connected with the characters and the narrative , are imbeds ded in it , but not amalgamated with it : that the moral failure of the younger sister is not analyzed nor accounted for with sufficient distinctness : and that the
author seems wholly to have relied on niere delineation for moral effect , without interweaving sufficiently those practical directions which should guide her youthful readers in the arduous task of self-correction and selfrgovernmeot . Miss Martineau must pay the tax on her attainments and per fan nances , of
having even her lighter productions more strictly scrutinized than they would have been had they come from an undistinguished pen . Notwithstanding these qualifications of oor praise , we have uo , doubt that the object stated in her preface wilfc be fully answered , and that **¦ not only motherless daughters may bft interested by a narrative which . c # m £ a >
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558 Critical Notice * . — -Miscellaneous .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1831, page 538, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2600/page/34/
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