|
Art. XXV. Hubert de Sevrac, a Romance of the eighteenth Century. By Mrs Robinson. 3 vols. 12mo. 950 pages. Price 13s. 6d. sewed. Hookham and Co. 1796.
Mrs. Robinson writes so rapidly, that she scarcely gives herself time to digest her story into a plot, or to allow those incidents gradually to grow out of it., which are the fruit of matured invention. She certainly possesses considerable abilities; but she seems to have fallen into an errour, common to people of lively fancy, and to think herself so happily gifted by nature, that her first thoughts will answer her purpose. The consequence is obvious; her sentences are often confused, entangled with superfluous words, half-expressed sentiments, and false ornaments.
In writing the present romance Mrs Radcliffe appears to be her model; and she deserves to rank as one of her most successful imitators: still the characters are so imperfectly sketched, the incidents so unconnected, the changes of scene so frequent, that interest is seldom excited, and curiosity flags.
After this account we shall not be expected to give the outlines of such an imperfect tale; the object of it is apparently benevolent, but it has no centre out of which the moral, that the vices of the rich produce the crimes of the poor, could naturally emanate.
It is but just, however, to observe, before dismissing the article, that some of the descriptions are evidently sketched by a poet, and irradiations of fancy flash through the surrounding perplexity, sufficient to persuade us, that she could write better, were she once convinced, that the writing of a good book is no easy task. [complete]
Provided by Julie A. Shaffer, September 1999.
|
