writer's talent, and we cannot refrain from thinking that their more
frequent introduction would have increased the success of the work--that
is, if we may be allowed to judge from the specimens with which the author
has here favoured us.

But we are getting somewhat too critical, and consequently as much out of
our element as modern aeronauts, who are no sooner in the air than they
seem to think of their descent. We shall not, however, impair the pleasure
of the reader by giving him a foretaste of the whole plot of _Penelope_;
but we shall rather confine ourselves to a few portrait-specimens of
characters, whose _drawing_ will, we hope, _attract_ the general reader;
presuming, as we do, that its claims to his attention will be found to
outweigh dozens of the scandalous chronicles of high fashion. We are not
told whether the parties ate with silver or steel forks, or burned wax or
tallow; but those characters must be indeed poorly drawn which do not
enable the reader to satisfy himself about such trifles, allowing that he
thinks them worth his study.

An outline of the characters may not be unacceptable. The scene lies
principally in the villages of Neverden and Smatterton; and between their
rectors Dr. Greendale and Mr. Darnley, and their families; the Earl of
Smatterton, of Smatterton Hall; Lord Spoonbill, his son; Sir George
Aimwell, of Neverden Hall; _Penelope Primrose_, the heroine, who is placed
by her father under the care of Dr. Greendale, whilst Mr. Primrose seeks
to repair his fortune in the Indies; and Robert Darnley, Penelope's suitor,
also for sometime in the Indies, who is thwarted in his views by Lord
Spoonbill, and a creature named colonel Crop, &c.

In the early part of the narrative, Dr. Greendale dies, and Penelope is
removed from Smatterton to London, where she is to be brought out as a