About this time, Sir Lytton, sated with his success as a novelist broke new ground in a five-act play, of LaValliere,' which w as acted in 1t36, but w as on the whole a dramatic failure. In ]837 returning to the novel, he published 'Ernest Maltravers ;' a con tinuation of which, entitled ' Alice, or the Mysteries,' subsequentli appeared. In the same year he published a book of classical researel and disquisition in two volumes, entitled 'Athens : its Rise and Fall with t iews of the Literature, &c., of the Athenian People ;' a wort some of the materials for which be had collected while at Cambridge In 1838 appeared 'Leila, or the Siege of and ' Calderon tie Courtier,' wells, of fiction of a lighter order. Meantime, nothing daunted by his former ill success in the drama, Sir Lytton had returnee to the tame literary field, and produced in succession two five-ac plays, 'The Lady of Lyons, or Love and Pride,' and ' Richelieu, or th both of which had a great success, and both of whiel retain their hold on the stage as among the moat popular of ou modern acting-plays. Passing over a series of works of fiction an description entitle 1 and Morning," Day and Night," Light and Shadows; and ' Glimmer and we come to Sir next important novel, his Zanoni,' a tale of the supernatural and th magical, published In 1842. in the earn° year Sir Edward, stil ambitious of the fame of a poet as well as of a novelist, gave to th 'Eva, the IlliOruenen Marriage; and other Tales and Poems Subsequent poetical compositions were ' 7 he New Timon ' (1846) any King (1848), both of which were published anonymously, i order that preconceptions of the author might not interfere with th inblie appreciation of their merits as poems, but which (tha public asily detecting the authorship) were evestually acknowledged. As a loot however, except in the drama, Sir Edward has never taken co iigh a place in critical estimation as be has done as a novelist. 19 his walk his powers seem inexhaustible; his latest novels—' The Last if the Barons," Harold, or the Last of the Saxon Kings," Lucretia, ir the Children of Night," The Caxtons,' and ' My Novel, or Varieties if English Life each and all, been as eagerly received as any if their predecessors. The last two, differing from moat of their pro lecessors in being novels of English domestic life, appeared originally n 'Blackwood's Magazine,' where also appeared a series of translations rom the 'Poems and Ballade of Schiller,' republished collectively n 1844.
It was in 1844 that Enlwer, succeeding by his death to the tstates of Knebsworth, &e. (worth, it is said. 2,000/. a year), exchanged .ry royal licence the surname of Bulwer,' which be had hitherto borne, 'or that of Bulwer Lytton,' which he now bears. At the date of this teetesion to his wealth and social influence however he was no longer n parliament, having lost his seat for Lincoln at the election of 1841. As was natural, tho rich baronet of Iinebsworth felt this exclusion more than the comparatively poor author could have done; and tecordingly, while plying his pen busily in the production of the two last-mentioned of the above novels (both of them written after his recession to the Knebsworth property), he was again directing his ittentiou towards active politics. Chau;e in the circumstances of the :ountry co-operatiog with inner and outer changes more immediately affecting himself, had so modified his views in politics, that it was as a Conservative, or Protectionist, that he now sought to return to parliament. In 1847 he was again an unsuccessful candidate for Lincoln ; and it was not till July 1852 that (having in the previous year explained his Protectionist views in A Letter to John Bull, Esq., on Affairs connected with his ',elided Property And the Persons who Live Thereon ') he re-entered the House of Commons as member for the county of Herts. He still represents this county in parliament, and has of late taken a leading part iu the debates of the house and in the councils of his party, auguring his elevation to a high place in the administration, should events bring that party again into power. His political opinions and position are thus briefly indicated in the ' Parliamentary Companion' for ]855:—"Concurs in the general policy espoused by Lord Derby; would the income-tax, and 'mitigate' the duties on malt, tea, and soap; 'some years ago advocated the ballot, but, seeing its utter inefficacy in France and America, can no longer defend that theory ;' will support education on a religious basis, and vets for a repeal of the blaynooth grant."
Among Sir Edward Lytton's more recent writings, In addition to the Caxtuns ' and 'My Novel,' may be mentioned The Confessions of a Water-Patient, in a letter to W. H. Ainsworth, Esq.,' published in 1845, when the author, having received a wonderful renovation of his own health at a water-cure establishment, desired to recommend the same therapeutist treatment to others, and especially to men of letters, whose constitutions might be shattered by over-work. Another recent work of a different nature is 'Not so bad as we seem, or many Sides to a Question,' it tive-act comedy, originally written for the benefit of the Guild of Literature and Art. The play was acted in London and in various British towue by amateur actors, under the management of Mr. Dickens; and since its publication in 1852, it has been acted on the regular stage. Besides the proceeds of this play, the Guild has received from Sir Edward an additional gift in the shape of a piece of land, as a site for a projected hospital for decayed and aged artists and literary men. In 1852 Sir Edward delivered a lecture to the Royston Mechanics Institution, published with the title of 'Outlines of the Early History of the East;' and in 1854, having been elected first honorary president of the associated societies of the University of Edinburgh, he visited Edinburgh, and delivered an 'Inaugural Address' to the students, which has also been published. At the very moment of our writing this notice (December 1856) another Scottish University— that of Glasgow—has conferred on him a similar honour, by electing him its lord rector ; in which office he succeeds a splendid list of predecessors.
In a retrospect of Sir Edward Bulwer career, the first thing that strikes one is his prodigious industry and voluminousness as an author. He is yet only in his fifty-second year, and has seen fourteen years of active parliamentary life, and yet he has given to the world upwards of forty distinct works, most of them originally in three volumes. No poor author labouring Incessantly for subsistence could have worked harder than this man of patrician descent, born the heir to a large fortune. Next, what strikes one is the great versatility of talent displayed amid all this quantity of work. Besides novels of all orders—the historical, the sentimental, the fashionable, the domestic, the romantic, and the mysterious—we have dramas, non-dramatic poems, translations, essays, historical disquisitions, political pamphlets, and lectures and speeches. The author may not have attained equal success in all these kinds of literature, nor in those in which he has succeeded best—prose-fiction and the dratua—may he have satisfied the preconceptions of some critics as to the highest possibilities of matter and art in these departments; but the fact of such varied and brilliant accomplishments, such breadth of achieved success, would alone entitle the author to his distinguished place in English literature.
And thus it is that, while among the most popular authors in Britain since Scott, he is pethaps of recent English authors the one whose works are best known on the Continent. His novels are read in trans lations not only in France, Germany, aka, hut in the remote parts of Hungary. In America he is as popular as with us; and this, though Emerson, repeating a charge also made amongst ourselves, has said of him that he " is distinguished for his reverence of intellect as a temporality, and appeals to the worldly ambition of the student"—in which however according to the same critic, he but shares a spirit inherent in most English literature.
In 1827, Sir Edward, then Mr. Bulwer, married Rosins, only surviving daughter of Francis Wheeler, Esq., of Lizzard-Connell, Limerick, Ire land. This lady has also led a literary career, being the authoress of the following novels—' Chevely, or the Man of Honour' (1839); The Budget of the Bubble Family' (1840); 'Bianca Capello,' a historical romance (1842) ; 'Memoirs of a Muscovite,' a story of modern Italian life (1844); and 'The Peer's Daughters," Behind the Scenes,' and ' The School for Husbands, or the Life and Times of Moliere.' Of two children of Sir Edward and Lady Bulwer Lytton, one, a daughter, died in early youth ; the other, a son and the heir to his father's estates, was attached to the British embassy at Florence, and has recently (1856) proved the inheritance of literary genius, by a volume entitled 'Clytemnestra, the Earl's Daughter, and other Poems,' which was warmly received by the critics.