Art. 29. The Young Exiles, or, Correspondence of some Juvenile Emigrants. A Work intended for the Entertainment and Instruction of Youth.
author: Elizabeth Moody
source date: September 1800

Elizabeth Moody Art. 29. The Young Exiles, or, Correspondence of some Juvenile Emigrants. A Work intended for the Entertainment and Instruction of Youth. From the French of Madame de Genlis. 12mo. 3 vols. 12s. Boards. Wright. 1799. [The Monthly Review , second series, vol. 33, September 1800, pp. 101-102. Benjamin Nangle identifies Elizabeth Moody as the author of this review from an editor's marked copy of The Monthly Review . See Nangle, The Montly Review, Second Series, 1790-1815: Indexes of Contributors and Articles , Clarendon Press, 1955. Jonathan Pinkerton and Mary A. Waters prepared this edition for The Criticism Archive .]

It is generally with pleasure that we renew our acquaintace with this elegant and ingenious author, from whose writings the public have at various periods received that entertainment and profit which a lively imagination, and a well-cultivated understanding, necessarily produce to the reader who possesses similar qualities. The letters before us, through addressed to young persons, and written principally for their amusement and instruction, are by no means so frivolous as to preclude those of maturer years from a participation of the repast; for they are both moral and entertaining, and are interspersed with a variety of interesting anecdotes. Circumstances and situations of individuals, during the perils and horrors of the French revolution, are described with such pathos and energetic sensibility, as must excite the interest and engage the attention of the humane reader.

The adventures of the little emigrant, Eugene de Vilmore, a boy nine years old, and written by himself at that age, are rather more improbable than even the generality of fictitious details: but we cease to wonder at the many instances of foresight in this infant man, when we become acquainted with the superior sagacity of his little female companion Lolotte, a girl six years of age, who was the partner of his exile. This little girl, hearing that there was a scarcity of bread in France, by frequently begging from a charitable miller a handful of flour, at length collects a sufficient quantity to fill a sack, which she sends as a present to her governess in France. This provident disposition in the little Lolotte induces us to imagine that she must have been a descendant of the Patriarch Joseph. There are many other examples of extraordinary wisdom in very young people:—which almost tempt us to exclaim, "Ah! why did they emigrate?—Surely they had before this settled the Government of France, if the older heads had consigned the power to the younger."

It will be supposed that, in the adventures of emigrants, politics could not be wholly avoided: but those that are introduced are of the most accommodating kind; such as, in these disturbed times, will be thought to merit praise. Vehemence shewn in political argument, especially by females, is well exposed, and treated with merited severity.

The translation is faithful; and, with the exception of a few inelegancies, such as—Lolotte being reared at the castle—casting her teeth—'tis a pity—oweing a grudge—and a few more phrases not to be found in polished English,—it may be said to do justice to the original.