was possible for him to associate a staid and sensible New England matron with Venus and Minerva?  What would he say of a writer who should gravely tell us that Washington’s features were those of the cloud-compelling Jupiter, not of Mars, slayer of men,—­and that Franklin’s countenance resembled that of the wily Ulysses, not that of the far-ruling Agamemnon?  We might fill this paper with passages like the one we have quoted.  What is the use of this kind of writing?  It does not convey any 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.