NEW NOVELS. * A GOOD deal of ability, and of ability
not ill fitted for fiction, is marred in Framleigh kall by a mistaken idea of the .hero. The writer may not have much actual knowledge of life, or that in- stinctive perception of human nature which seems to supersede knowledge, or to manage with very little of it. But there is a clear metaphysical conception of character, and a steady consist- ency in maintaining it, even when a deviation would be more popular with the novel reader. There is moreover, a faculty in exhibiting sciences, albeit both the substance of the scenes and the style of exhibition verge upon the melodramatic. Above all, the writer has the power of telling a story ; which, with more attractive elements, might have led to a narrative of sustained interest. The attempt to make cowardice—not only physical but to a great extent moral cowardice—the distinguishing trait which is to excite the reader's sympathy and attention for a hero through three volumes, fails from inherent defect. It is of small import- ance, in an abstract sense, whether a constitutional infirmity he rightly an object of contempt, which in childhood and in boyhood tells hes from a morbid dread of the consequences of truth,aMI, in manhood runs away from the enemy's fire but in a practical sense, which is what the imaginative writer has to do with, man- kind associate pity, indifference, or contempt, with mental weak- ness, much more cowardice. It is of no uss heaping up acquire" asayratleigh Hall. A Novel. In three volumes. Published by Hurst and mket The Galley Stave and his Daughter. A Tale founded on French Protestan.l. History. By Mrs. D. P. Thompson. Author of" The Reformation in Dingle. Published by Madden and Oldham, Dublin ; Hamilton and Adams, London. , The Beignsng Beauty. By Georgians Lady Chatterton. Author of " We is its Realities," Aro. .lizthree volumes. Published by Hurst and Blaokett. mots, accomplishments, virtues, if the hero is placed in a posi- ' tion where they are all marred by cowardice pure and simple. For Maurice Delamere is not an example of moral courage tri- umphing over physical or nervous weakness—in fact he has a certain kind of dogged endurance, from a dread of exposing the • hievons authors of his pain, and, thus risking its increase ; nor can the weakness be always resolved into a dread of conse- quences; for he sometimes does daring things under violent ner- Tone irritation or excitement ; as, towards the last, he rescues his eemy and rival from a fire, not only at the risk of his own life, but suffering also great -bodily agony from the fiery floor. But these are the exceptional traits of Maurice : cowardice is his na- ture at the beginning, and so continues to the end ; for though his conduct at the fire satisfies his hitherto dissatisfied father and. his pitying friends, we doubt whether it will convince the reader of any realchange in his nature. A metaphysical congruity is maintained by the author. The father of Maurice Sir Arthur Delamere is painted as a strict man, not well adapted to cure his son's weakness, supposing it curable ; his aunt and his mother screen and encourage this weakness owing to his father's severity ; and there is an ill-conditioned Eton boy whom Maurice has offended, and who persecutes him at school, and through his after life, in a manner only found in fiction. His father on an absurd notion of curing Maurice forces him into the army, and similar incidents naturally contribute to increase or at least to display his failing. But consistency is of small account when the subject is not fitted for treatment at all. Cul bone? is the question that arises. Maurice appears to us the same character at last as at first, but were he really changed it would be a more singularity—singular in the disease, singular in the cure.
The qualities of the writer already alluded to give more interest to the story: than might have been expected, though the narrative contains mistakes analogous to the choice of the hero. The per- -secutor Grenville is too much like the common-stock melodra- matic personage of the novel—a kind of diluted diemon^ in the form of a plausible man of fashion. The moral of fagging at :public schools was probably in the writer's mind ; but the scene is laid half a century ago, and the practices of those days are not those of our days. The manners the thoughts, the style, the everything in short of the book belongs to the present age ; they should have resembled those of the early part of the century.
Mrs. D. P. Thompson's historical tale of The Galley Slave and Ale Daughter, has moreover, a touch of theology and speculation. She has an idea that had Ienry the Fourth of France stuck to his Huguenot creed, he might have founded a Protestant line of French kings, established a Protestant kingdom, and then the whole history of the modern world would have been changed. Among other occurrences that would not have occurred would have been the composition of this tale of Protestant persecution under Louis the Fourteenth after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. The scheme of the book is obvious and common ; but is well enough designed to exhibit the evil days in which the scene is laid. Du Adoudon, a Huguenot noble, prefers his religion to worldly prosperity, and is made -with his family a victim to his faith. His chateau is plundered ; he is sent to the galleys ; his wife dies; his children escape to Geneva and go through a va- riety of fortunes connected with the religious wars and doings of the time. The same dryness, in a romantic and dramatic sense, which drove the writer upon a common plan has prevented her from vividly filling it up. Her book is -technically able. Scenes are contrived to exhibit particular sections of the persecutions of the Protestants; the arts and. blandishments of the Romanists are exhibited where violence fails ; the general feelings of the period in France have been well apprehended ; and justice is rendered to the king ; for quite as much is put upon Madame de Maintenon and his ministers as they probably deserved. Every fact of an historical character can be supported by historical reference ; the actual brutalities and cruelties of the French Romanists are rather under than overstated ; and original documents or their sub- 'stance are occasionally brought forward. The scenes are not de- void of force ; but there is a want of life ; or if art and thought give a momentary flash, it soon passes. As long as description avails, the ability and knowledge of Mrs. Thompson uphold her. She wants the genius for dialogue and action. The arrival of the family of Du Moudon at Geneva with the corpse of their mother, leaving their father a prisoner in France, will give an idea of the Writer's better style.
" Gampier addressed himself to the soldier on guard. It was not neces- sary to say who and what they were ; ho briefly asked the way to the leonsignator.' "Elize shrank with horror from the idea that the funereal car should plough its way, through the crowd flowing in the same direction. She bade Gampier turn aside beneath the shelter of sonic court or archway, where he might remain, while she ascertained where they were to abide.
"Taking Claire with her, she proceeded on foot, and soon became one of the agitated multitude of persons waiting for admission into the office of the Conaignator. Being in the dress of a peasant, there was nothing to distin- guish her from the others. She had to abide the jostling and driving of the crowd, all anxious to effect an entrance with as little delay as possible. " At last their turn came. Claire and Elize found themselves in the pre- sence of the official, who, man of feeling as he was, and full of commiaera- gen for the fugitives, was obliged to hurry through each case with more of the despatch of business than the tenderness of compassion, dispensing to the destitute their allotted " elemie eve," telling them off in hands to the guides who were to conduct them to the granges provided for their accommo- dation, and forward those of a better rank to the "Town Council," with ,whorn it rested to give " billet de logement" upon some of the many private 'families who opened their hearts and houses for the wanderers.
"When Elise and Claire entered, the Consignator did not even raise his head, but, continuing his entries, he demanded- " Your number, name, and occupation.' "Claire answered, quickly, 'Du Menden, of /deaden, three in number, and three servants.'
At the sound of the aristocratic accent of the boy, the Consignator looked up, scanned the parties for a moment, shrugged his shoulders, shook his head, and signing to a gene d'arme--' The Private Committee.' "Prompt in obedience, the soldier saluted Claire. This way, Mes- sieurs.' Elize mechanically followed. They passed through a private door, out into a back street, along its ill-paved trottoir, for several momenta at a rapid pace, then through a porte coehbre, and up a broad stair into an anteroom, where many soldiers were on guard—then still forward through other rooms; the strength of Elize, who was breathless with woe, weariness, and excitement, failing every moment. "At length her conductor, pausing in a dark, wainscotted apartment, respectfully begged they would wait there, while he informed the committee of their arrival. He soon returned and desired they would follow him.
"Summoning up her energies, and collecting her every power, 'Elize entered the room, where six of the Syndics were engaged in earnest con- versation. They had many previous days sat in grave deliberation on the unprecedented condition of the town. The letter of Louis, threatening signal vengeance,' if the authorities continued to harbour' his re- bellious subjects, had been forwarded to them by the French Ambassador, Du Pre: "It was matter of debate whether they had the power to resist, as they had the will ! Much had they deliberated, and broken up an hour before, after having come to the resolution to obey God, who saith—" Let my out- casts dwell with thee, and be a covert to them from the face of the spoiler,' rather than the dictates of an unworthy terror, and to leave the conse- quences with Him. A few of the members, however, had retired, ere se- turning to their homes, to converse more privately on topics of such absorb- ing interest. These the messenger of the Consignator reached, and Claire and Elize were ushered into their presence.
"'My children,' said the President, your name is not unknown to us ; but as it cannot be that you require pecuniary assistance of us, say what you seek at our hands.'
Elise rose from the seat they had given her ; she began—' We petition,' the accents trembled on her lips= a grave !'—She stopped. As the word reached her own ear, all the sore woe it expressed seemed, for the first time to rush over and crush her. She stretched out her arms in an attitude of entreaty, uttered a cry of agony, and sunk insensible on the ground. "The aged men, filled with compassion, came round her ; they raised her. One, with the tenderness of a father, took her in his arms, and lai& her on a couch ; but when, after some minutes, no signs of returning oon- sciousness appeared, Henri Arnaud, for it was he' the hero of Vaudois story, hesitated not to which of the many open houses he would convey her. Re thought only of one ; and telling the terrified Claire to follow him, he lifted the unconscious Elize, and bore her to Madame D'Aubign6.
There is no lack of variety in Lady Chatterton's Reigning Beauty. We have to begin with no less than three regular love affairs, with a fourth connected with the well-worn incident of a rightful heir wrongfully removed. The practised reader will readily comprehend the complexity, possibly perplexity, which these elements produce when fully elaborated ; but there is in addition, a lost will, and the narrator of the story, an old go'ver- ness, has an unrequited affection of her own. Still, spite of all this material, the effect is rather that of the essay than the novel, because Lady Chatterton's genius is rather adapted to reflection or description than to the dramatic narrative which fiction requires. She has an elegant if somewhat feeble style, when the theme re- quires strength. She has a keen eye for points of character, especially of Irish character, as well as for the features of land- scape. Her moral conceptions are for the most part just, and her reflections and observations true ; but she lacks the power of embodying her ideas, and even of conceiving the right embodi- ment of deep passion, much less of realizing it. Hence the Reigning Beauty, though quiet and agreeable reading, is-some- what slow.
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