THE EXAMINER ON PUFFERY.

THE PUFFING SYSTEM.

In exemplification of the honesty or the critical judgment of the Press, we copy a string of eulogies, published in an advertisement, of a nonsensical story, called Miserrimus.

This is the impassioned work of a man of talent. It is more like a wild ode than a romance, the action is single, the progress fearful, and the denouement terrific.—Me- tropolitan, We have neglected our duty In omitting to notice earlier this extraordinary work.— The Town.

When it is translated into French (and we hereby give the hint to some French litte- rateur who understands English) it will exceed in popularity, in Paris, all that Santo, Sue, or Roch, ever indited of the horrible.* . . Of a far higher reach in intellect it takes convulsive grasp upon the attention athousandfuld morefirm and undetachable than any conferred by i the must potent charm of their charnel-house.—Spectator.. It is strikingly original, forcible, and interesting.—Literary Gazette. We dare say it will be discovered that Miserrimus is the production of some established writer.—The Atlas.

It is written with great power ; and, consequently, is read with ravenous acidity.— Sunday Times.

Some portions of the story are such as Goethe himself in some It of morbid enthu- siasm might have embodied in poetical prose.—Court Journal. It abounds in subtle and piercing views of the darker and more tragic passions.— New Monthly Magazine.

We have road with feelings of sincere gratcation a small voliime under the above title.—The Critic.

Universally has praise been bestowed on this striking and novel fiction.—Literary Gazette, 2d notice.

To which of these discriminating judges shall the palm be given ? We think to The Critic, who has "read with feelings of sincere gratification," the tale, which, according to the Spectator, " takes a convulsive grasp upon the atten- tion a thousandfold more firm and undetachable than any conferred by the most potent charm of the French charnel-house I" " Progress fearful, denouement terrific !" says the Metropolitan ; " forcible and interesting," quoth the Lite- rary Gazette ; "extraordinary !" interjects the Town; Goethe himself, in morbid enthusiasm," tattles the Court Journal; " subtle and piercing," ob- serves The New :Monthly ; " written with great power, read with ravenous avidity," declares the Sunday Times; " the production of some established writer," dares say the Atlas ; " universally praised," winds up the Literary Gazette.

For our parts, having toiled through the farrago of balderdash and extrava- gance, we had nothing to say upon it but to copy the title-page—Miserrimus Hookharn ; for it seemed to us that the publisher was miserrzmus. Fine as the above extracts are, they are surpassed by the commendation which a publication called The Ghost passes on itself :— " On horror's head horrors aceurnulate."—THE G From—This awful book of marvels continues to excite the terror, of the United Kingdom while its engravings have an appal- ling effect on the mind of the fascinated purchaser.

This " terror of the United Kingdom," and " appalling effect on the fasci- nated purchaser," beats " the convulsive grasp " of the Spectator.

The editor of the Examiner is bent upon attacking the system of Puffery : he would expose the dishonesty or the want of critical judgment in the Press. We admire the zeal of the reformer, but we pity the blindness of the writer, who, as specimens of the honesty or the critical judgment of the Press, submits the broken and disjointed fragments of such half sentences of book notices as the advertiser could twist to his purpose. ZADIG, we know, was nearly sacrificed to a few half lines of a copy of verses; and it has been said, give me but two lines of a letter, and I will hang the writer. The Editor of the Examiner is not so young a critic, that he has not seen some of his most virulent attacks converted into eulogy : an ingenious advertiser, by the aid of the grand figure elision, can at any moment convert the bitterest censure into a pro- portionate intensity of praise. Miserrimus Examiner! all this is well known to him ; and yet, in spite of his knowledge,—and in spite moreover of an habitual experience of the Spectator since its commencement, than which no journal could ever claim a more thorough independence, a more earnest determination to do justice, —he lays hold of a broken sentence in a puff, as an example of the honesty or the critical judgment of the Press ! What the publisher of Miserrimus may have picked out from our critique, may be seen above, just as the Examiner in his simplicity adopted it. What the entire sentence really is, we copy below, from the Spectator of February 2, 1833.

"It is paying the author no compliment to say, that when his work is trans- kited into French (and we hereby give the hint to some French litterateur who understands English), it will exceed in popularity in the French capital all that Japin, Sue, or Rocb, ever indited of the horrible. It is quite as abominable as their Morgues, their galvanized corpses, their venereal hospitals, and all the other physical monstrosities they have introduced into literature, and yet of a far higher reach in intellect : it takes a convulsive grasp upon the attention, a thou- uudfold more firm and undetachable than any conferred by the most potent

charm of their ebarnelhouse."

Thus we see, that a comparative censure, by being detaches? from the subject of comparison, has been turned into praise. VAR° Mor4.La Peau de Chagrin, the Morgue, and the similar compo- sitions of the Livre de Cent-et-Un, we have always taken occa- sion to censure. Nay, we first applied the name which the school of these writers now goes by in France,-:-the Galvanic or Convul- sive school ; and hence that metaphor which appears to have offended the refined taste of the polished -Examiner. It is of this school of writers that the author of Misertimus is a pupil : some of its professors have a power which is not of nature, but of art abused ; they do not create new beings, but they resuscitate the dead by means of a sort of intellectual galvanic battery ; and hence the epithet convulsive—the grasp is such as the corpse gives when animated by the artificial life of electricity. There may be some incorrectness in the construction of the phrase—we won't stickle for a word.

In a previous part of the critique, we had unfavourably charac- terized Miserrimus. Our notice could not have induced any but the morbid to read it. On the other hand, the Examiner at- tempted to read the book; found it, according to its notion of books, " nonsensical," and therefore inscribed on its columns " Miser- rimus Hook ham, Miserrimus Hookham !"—and this was the whole of the critique. This is very easy criticism ; and if we con- sulted merely our ease, many judgments could we produce in single lines of equal significance. But, alas ! we are troubled with a critical conscience, and feel bound to say, not merely whether we like the book, but what claims it has upon the liking of others.

They who wish to see how very different the effect conveyed by the mutilated sentence of the Spectator critique on Miserrimus,. is from that of the entire article, are referred to the Number pub- lished on the 2d February of this year.