Mrs. Stowe.The only other book that has attracted much notice is Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's Sunny Memories. Such persons as can fix their attention on anything at all in this hot weather, have felt bound to read these volumes; but the critics have, with pretty considerable unanimity, 'pooh-poohed' the whole production. Perhaps they expected too much. Perhaps they feel inclined to revenge on Mrs. Stowe the fact, that they were carried away a couple of years ago by popular enthusiasm into elevating her a good deal about her merits. Uncle Tom has taken a deserved place in our literature; but it is not the place which its admirers at first endeavoured to force it into. At any rate, Sunny Memories answers nobody's expectations; for the whole two volumes prove nothing but what might have been proved in a very few pages—namely, that the authoress egotises very agreeably, and was marvellously delighted with the reception she met with in England.—Chambers' Journal. |