Poems (1803, 4to); and a novel, entitled Despotism; or, the Fall of the Jesuits (1811, 2 vols. 8vo). I have also before me the curious Rabelaisian piece, commonly attributed to D'Israeli, entitled Flim-Flams; or, the Life and Error's of my Uncle and his Friends. With Illustrations and Obscurities by Messieurs Tag, Rag and Bobtail. A literary romance (London, Murray, 3 vols. 12mo, 1806). This very curious medley is profusely illustrated by clever satirical etchings, by Richard Dagley, author of Death's Doings (2 vols, 8vo, 1827), and to the "curious reader" is well worth the trouble and cost of acquisition.
The work may be described as an account of a supposed Uncle by a supposed Nephew. It does not profess to give a life of this worthy, but an account of his character and pursuits. The class of individuals to whom the author states that he belonged, has, not unhappily, the appellation of "Philos," or lovers of anything, bestowed upon them. This uncle, described as having a face like a snipe, and a very small receptacle for brains in his skull, is conducted in the narrative through almost every walk of Literature and Philosophy; attaching himself rather to that which is new, than to that which is useful. The tone of satire is not ill-natured, and even the allusions to particular persons are hardly of a nature to give offence. There is a large amount of learning in the notes, where the authority will be found for all the absurdities ridiculed.
The unfortunate J. Selby Watson—the awful termination of whose social career was brought before us some years ago—would throw some doubt upon the authorship of this book, which he characterizes as "a production filled with pointless attempts at satirical description and dialogue, and abortive efforts at wit, and written altogether in a style and manner utterly at variance with D'Israeli's acknowledged works."[1] These remarks, however, are especially in allusion to the passage in which Professor Porson is ridiculed (vol. iii. p. 262), which Mr. Watson would ascribe to Edward Dubois.[2]
D'Israeli had doubtless met with the rare work of J. Pierius Valerianus, De Literatorum Infelicitate (Venetiis, 1620),[3] or the curious lines by Thomas Heywood, De dura et misera sorte Poetarum.[4] These may have not improbably suggested to him his treatises on the Quarrels and Calamities of Authors—titles which hardly convey a just idea of the wide range of literary history which they embrace. To the collected edition of these is now appended the Inquiry into the Literary and Political Character of James the First, including a Sketch of his Age.
I have spoken of D'Israelis early education at Amsterdam and Leyden. There can be little doubt, even if we had not the internal evidence of his later works in support of the belief, that, inspired by the Jewish influence of these cities, no less than by his own tastes and family traditions, he became deeply initiated in Hebrew and Rabbinical literature. Upon a mind like his the works of Maimonides, Moses Ben Mizraim, Aben Ezra, Manasseh Ben Israel, and Moses Mendelssohn, would have a deep and abiding influence; and taking the last great writer as a model—the Jews say "from Moses to Moses there is none like Moses,"—he was wise enough to escape the snares of Rabbinism and
- ↑ Life of Porson, by J. Selby Watson, p. 383.
- ↑ Author of The Wreath (1799); My Pocket-Book (1807); died Jan. 10th, 1850.
- ↑ Reprinted by Sir Egerton Brydges (Genevæ, 1821, 8vo).
- ↑ Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels, 1635, folio, p. 245.
