True, he endeavours to
distinguish between them by giving them such different Christian
names as John, Henry, Charles, and so forth, but the result is
bound to be confusing. Sometimes, indeed, he does not even bother
to distinguish between their Christian names. Thus we have three
Henry Smiths, who appear to have mixed themselves up even in the
author's mind. He tells us that Colonel Henry's chief recreation
is "the study of the things around him," but it sounds much more
like that of the Reverend Henry, whose opportunities in the
pulpit would be considerably greater. It is the same with the
Thomsons, the Williamses and others. When once he hits upon one
of these popular names, he is carried away for several pages, and
insists on calling everybody Thomson. But occasionally he has an
inspiration. Temistocle Zammit is a good name, though the humour
of calling a famous musician Zimbalist is perhaps a little too
obvious.
In conclusion, one can say that while our author's merits are
many, his faults are of no great moment. Certainly he handles his
love-scenes badly. Many of his characters are married but he
tells us little of the early scenes of courtship, and says
nothing of any previous engagements which were afterwards broken
off. Also, he is apparently incapable of describing a child,
unless it is the offspring of titled persons and will itself
succeed to the title; even then he prefers to dismiss it in a
parenthesis.
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