MRS. STEWARD'S CATHERINE ERLOF. * THE scene of this novel is
laid in-Germany, during the stormy times of the Thirty Years War, when the armies of Gustavus,Wal- lenstein, Tilly, and others, devastated the country armed with • Catherine Brief; a Novel. By Mm. Steward. Author of "The riodhitice.". "The Mascaranhis," Ike. 80. In three volumes. Published by Newby. a legitimate commission, and various amateurs, both noble and ig- noble, did business on their own account, in a manner quite as ef- fective as any regular practitioners. To the historical and social elements of interest dependent upon wars, conspiracies, and ban- ditti on a large scale, -Mrs. Steward has added a foreign and a mercantile element, the latter in a princely way. Wernzel, the merchant of Hamburg, is a representative of those political and soldier traders of the Haase Towns who (but at a somewhat earlier period) waged wars and negotiated treaties as well as conducted speculations." His adopted children and the heroes of the story are "exiles of Erin," sons of a Roman Catholic merchant of Dub- lin, and connexions of the great Earl of Tyrone ; Francis Tirrel, the elder son, being under the ban of the English Government for re- bellion. The heroine of the tale is Catherine Erlof, the daughter of Wernzers sister, and a Bohemian noble of very questionable character and pursuits. The elder Tirrel falls in love with this lady, much to Wernzers dissatisfaction, who likes neither his niece nor her father. In a fit of anger, the merchant-prince bequeaths the whole of his property to Hugh Tirrel, the younger brother; but with verbal directions to Hugh as regards Francis which the rather cautious and careful Hugh does not eventually carry out in their spirit. The still more romantic parts involve Wernzel s mysterious murder, a suspicion attaching to Catherine her trial, condemnation, and escape ; with various troubles and adventures, till the.whole winds up with a conclusion of poetical justice.
The historical and social elements of the novel have both fresh- ness and interest ; they carry the reader among men, actions, and scenery, that are not haeknied in romance, and. are remarkable for manners, characters, and incidents. Of the times Mrs. Steward has a sufficient knowledge, and she has formed a just not to say a philosophical estimation of them. The romantic parts are not so good as the historical. The incidents and adventures seem derived from the novelist's conventional ideas of Germany during the six- teenth century, rather than from a true apprehension of the social annals of the time. The concomitants are historical, but the prin- cipal figures do not always harmonize. This is not of much con- sequence to the reader for amusement, as the graver scenes, what- ever may be thought of them critically, are frequently full of inte- rest and hold the reader in suspense. The lighter scenes, with whie.h the story is duly interlarded after the manner of a melo- drama or old-fashioned romance, do not rise to this merit. They contribute very little to the progress of the story; and. their exhi- bition of the grotesque and humorous in character, though some- times pretty well done is fatiguing, because it reminds us of what we have been familiar with from our earliest reading in fiction. In short, Mrs. Steward has had recourse to other romances for the matter of her fiction, and in her general treatment has followed too closely- the example of Scott. From study and practice she understands her business, but exercises it somewhat too much as a business. She resembles those actors of experience who play their wt well, and. not unfrequently compass scenes of great interest, but who upon. the whole must be pronounced. conventional rather than original performers.
The history proper of the-time is rather spoken of than presented in its great events ; but Wallenstein is an actor both, in life and death, as he is connected by old friendship with Wernzel, and by family ties with Wernzel and the Tirrels. The following scene first introduces him to the reader. Francis Tirrel and an Irish follower are engaged in a wild exploit of exploration among wild mountains ; which terminates with miners, magician, banditti, a castle, and all the usual accompaniments of German romance.
"Foiled in the grander aim, he now determined to examine the interior of the hovel near the mine. The ground apartment contained nothing but a rusty smelting-stove, an iron bowl, a broken saw, and a lantern. 'firrel ascended a rude stair, or rather ladder, to an upper chamber' which was even more destitute than the room beneath. The only object distinguish- able from floor, roof, and side-planks, was a bundle, or pack, lying in a cor- ner. Impelled by some instinctive recooni tion, he was approaching it, when a sound which rushed up the defile with a grand, warlike swell, -made him spring to the window. A troop of Jfigers, wearing the uniform and cog- nizance of Friedlanders, was winding through the defile—it had the appear- ance of a hunting-party. Two trumpeters, obeying a command given in a clear, powerful voice, stood tranquilly by the wayside awakening the echoes with their gilded horns while the gallant cavalcade wayside, on. The steel- rimmed caps of the Jiigers were touched with ethereal colours as they flashed through the slant sunbeams ; the horses threw back their manes impatient of the tardy pace to which their progress was restrained by the Obstructions of the bridle-road, their necks arched and eyes strained to 'brilliancy. "As Francis gazed on the inspiriting sight, he felt a rush of that thril- ling impulse for feats of arms which was interwoven with the elements of his existence. Suddenly the troop halted; a cavalier detached himself from the party, spurred his horse over the rock-ledge, galloped up the roadway to the platform, and began to reconnoitre the heights. He waved his hand, and the chasseurs went forward : the clank of their horses' hoofs died away, but the cavalier still continued leisurely to survey the ground with the eye of a tactitian. He was full in front of Tirrel, on the further side of the shaft, and looking fixedly at the rock-tower, while he reined in his charger with a composure that bordered upon negligence. His deep- seated piercing eyes expressed more than the mere gaze of observation ; they seemed pursuing, through the mazes of thought, the links which con- nected a series of bold and extensive operations. The face of this individual was haggard and pale, and was characterized by an earnest and mournful austerity, which seemed impressed on it leas by a turn of mind habitually morose' than by some corroding disappointment, and gave him the stamp of mature and furrowed age ; but as he raised his grey castor to scan with more freedom the surrounding heights, his hair being lard back in front, a grand, bold forehead was displayed—stem indeed, from a perpendicular indentation between the brows, but in the upper region full and unwrinkled, bearing out the conjecture which assigned to him any number of years between forty and fifty. It was a front well fitted to 'threaten and command.' His large aquiline nose, the downward curve of his month, shaded by thick black moustaches, the prominence of his nether lip heightened by a tuft of jetty
hair, and the moodful gaze of his dark penetrating eyes, gave to his whole aspect a character of imperious, solemn, and impenetrable stateliness. The style of his array confirmed the idea of superiority given by his de- meanour. He wore a tight buff sureoat buttoned to the throat, and a crim- son scarf, both richly embroidered, an enamelled gorget or rather throat. collar, beneath which was suspended the order of the Golden Fleece and a silver horn richly enchased. His fawn-coloured boots, armed with gold spurs, joined the full trunk-hose above the knee, and his embroidered gloves widening in gauntlet fashion reached nearly to his elbows. A short crimson cloak was slung upon his back, to which descended, as he gazed upwards, the long red plume that arched his hat ; a rapier with a bar-hilt elaborately embossed was suspended from his belt, and pistol handles of the same orna- mental workmanship peeped from his holsters. His horse-trappings were in keeping with his personal equipment, and displayed a scrupulous attention not only to the correspondence of greatness but also to its trivial accessories, could anything trivial be connected with the chill severity of a mien before which the most fearless might have trembled.
"The examination of this remarkable personage had diverted Tirrer a atten- tion from another and more alarming object, which, as if drawn from its lair by the trumpet-clang, had just then presented itself—a creature wear- ing the semblance of a shaggy bear was coiling itself up from the mine-shaft, scrambling at and grappling the broken stone-work and quoins of the pit. The back of the monster was towards Francis ; who prepared his pistols, and stood on the alert ; but apprehensive, lest the animal should make a spring upon the unconscious cavalier, he rushed to the door of the hut, and was about to give the alarm, when a human head shook off the cowl of the rough mantle, and the Luker, creeping, as if fearful of the slightest rustle, crouched behind the pile of broken tools and logs which formed a sort of palisade round that part of the shaft between him and the cavalier. The latter had let his rein fall carelessly, taken a tablet from his vest, and, as might be in- ferred from the occasional upward glancing of his eyes, was sketching the rock-tower. Francis, concealed by the brushwood fence, stole behind the old pine-tree, from which position he could take complete advantage of circum- stances. The skulker, still upon his knees, cautiously placed a musketeer' beside him, and fumbled in his vest, while he scrutinized the crevices of his hiding-place for a convenient shot-hole. Francis was breathlessly ob- servant; the cavalier, within arm's length of the pit, was still engrossed with his tablets, and the noble horse stood without moving a limb. "The three personages of the scene were but a few paces from each other, and nearly in a line : the lurker had thrice placed his land on the gun and withdrawn it hurriedly—his position made aim uncertain. As if struck by another device, he now drew from his belt a tuck, or long dagger, gathered in his wide shaggy cloak, crouched upon his feet, and seemed prepared to act the part of tauridor. The cavalier threw back his head, to note a higher feature of the landscape ; his hat fell—he stooped to recover it—the lurker made a spring, grasped the arm extended by the cavalier, and tried to drag him from his saddle ; the dagger, at the same time, was aimed at the horse- man's breast ; but before it deacended the assassin himself was laid prostrate —a pistol-ball had entered his right shoulder.
"Shaking off the clutch of the wounded man, the cavalier recovered his seat, gathered the reins, drew a pistol from his holster, then calmly Surveyed the actors of the fray—the one lying on his back, senseless and bleeding pro- fusely, the other, with a composure of aspect skin to his own, standing near the robber, holding in one hand his discharged pistol, in the other the plumed castor of the horseman.
"'Young man,' said the cavalier, replacing his hat, I am your debtor : you have saved me from the blow of a vulgar ruffian. My life was not in peril,' be added, with a tranquil elevation of his brows, and looking fixedly but without the slightest flush of anger at the upturned face of the robber. I know that miscreant; he was whipped and branded by my order, for the vilest practices. Mount behind me, youth ; there may be other skillkers on the prowl ; mount—five minutes and we reach my guards ; they wait near you ravine. That mania known to be in league with a desperado who holds the miners of 'this district in his pay.'
" thank you,' said Francis ; 'but I pray you, ride on •' you are the mark ; I have nothing to tempt attack—here- is no gem for target,' he pointed to his breast : ride on, sir, pray you, ride on ; I have a companion
among these rocks; we are more than. a match for dastards he looked at the wounded man, and started. " cannot atop to parley with thee, youth,' said the cavalier, detaching his gorget as he spoke and extending it to Francis ; you will fall in *with stragglers of my trait:, who should have been up before now : present them this; it will secure protection. Take it, youth; farewelL'
"He blew his horn, gave his horse the spur, and before echo had laid down the note, was lost to aight.
"Francis had mechanically extended his hand and received the gorget he made no obeisance but gazed vacantly at letters which traced the words Albrecht von Waldsiein,' and the motto Invite invidia.' "
Previous page
