Peterson's Magazine ( Philadelphia )
August 1860, XXXVIII:2, p160.
Lucile by Owen Meredith . 1 vol.16 mo. Boston: Ticknor & Fields – The author of this new poem is the eldest son of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, who has been known to literary circles, for some time, under the assumed name of Owen Meredith. “Lucile” is his most pretentious work, and is not without high merit; but it will never raise its author to the same level as Byron, Scott, or even Campbell. There are quite too many pages for the subject matter. When will young writers learn to condense? Even the diffuse Byron, when he has written a hundred lines, stopped and cut them down to twenty. Goldsmith was often a day in turning out five couplets. The comparative haste with which “Lucile” has been composed has crowded it with jingle, and so does serious injury to the author's reputation, for there are really fine bits scattered here and there through the poem, which show what young Bulwer might do with care.
Last revised: 20 August 2010