MEMOIRS OF VIDOCQ,
THE CELEBRATED AGENT OF THE FRENCH POLICE.
"But it is not our province or intention to enter into a discussion of
the veracity of Vidocq's Memoirs: be they true or false; were they
purely fiction from the first chapter to the last, they would, from
fertility of invention, knowledge of human nature, and ease of style,
rank only second to the novels of Le Sage. The first volume is perhaps
more replete with interest, because the hero is the leading actor in
every scene; but in the subsequent portions, when he gives the
narrative of others, we cannot but admire the power and graphic talent
of the author. Sergeant Bellerose is scarcely inferior to the Sergeant
Kite of Farquhar and the episodes of Court and Raoul, and that of
Adele d'Escara, are surpassed in description, depth of feeling, and
pathos, by no work of romance with which we are acquainted."
_From the Boston Traveller._
"MEMOIRS OF VIDOCQ.--He who reads this book, being previously
unacquainted with the mystery of iniquity, will find himself
introduced at once into a new world: but it is a world which must be
known only to be avoided. Never before was such a mass of depravity
opened to the mind of inquiry in a single volume. It was well said by
Byron, "truth is strange, stranger than fiction." Whoever passes
through the details of this singular exposition, supposing it to
contain correct delineations of fact, will be satisfied of the
justness of this remark.
"The details of the varied scenes through which he has passed in
private and public life, surpass all the creations of fancy, and all
the delineations of fact, from the wonderful relations of the Arabian
Nights to the renowned exploits of Mr. Lemuel Gulliver; and from the
extraordinary sufferings and escapes of the celebrated Baron Trenck to
the still more marvellous exploits of the famous Mr. Thomas Thumb.
"It would seem, on following this singular writer through his
adventures, as if all the crimes of which human nature is capable, all
the horrors of which the universe has heard, all the astonishing
incidents which history can dovelop or imagination portray, all the
cold-blooded malice of the assassin, and all the varied machinations
of the most ingenious and systematic practitioners in the school of
vice, in all its varied departments, had been crowded into the life of
a single individual, or come beneath his cognizance. The lover of
mystery, who delights to "sup upon horrors," the admirer of romance,
who is pleased with the heightened pictures of the most fanciful
imagination, and the inquirer into the policy of crime and its
prevention, may here have their utmost curiosity satiated.
"Vidocq, during the early portion of his life, was personally
initiated into all the mysteries of crime, and becoming afterward a
pardoned man, and an active and successful agent of the French police
in the city of Paris, "girt with its silent crimes," as well as its
tumultuous depravities, becomes a fit person to delineate its scenes
of vice, depravity, and guilt. His work is a study for the novelist,
the annalist, the philosopher, and the Christian. But it is a work
which should be read with a guarded mind; with it disposition to
profit by its lessons, and to avoid scenes which have little
enjoyment, and which invariably end in misery."
In Two Volumes 12mo.
THE HAMILTONS.
By the Author of "MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS."
"This is a fashionable novel, and of the highest grade."--_Athenæum._
"Mrs. Gore is undeniably one of the wittiest writers of the present
day. 'The Hamiltons' is a most lively, clever, and entertaining
work."--_Lit. Gaz._
"The design of the book is new, and the execution excellent."--_Exam._
In Two Volumes, 12mo.