NEW Novnns.* NINE, pairs of lovers, Ave of whom double
their parts so as to make up a total of fourteen love stories, and these fourteen resolving themselves after the requiiite course of vicissitudes and perplexi- ties into the maximum number of first marriages' allowed by law among so many couples, for no deaths and remarriages occur in the group—the deuce is in it if all this is not matter enough for 'a novel of such 'mederate length as Mary Bertrand. Though stretched out 'by the artifices of the printer into threevolumes, this novel might easily' be comprised in one volume of the ordi nary form.; the'atithor his not been guilty either of prolixity or surplusage. If he have erred at all, it is rather in the 'opposite direction, by crowHinethe -scene with so many moving figures, and not suffioientlyenabling the spectator in all instances to dis7 tinguish th‘ir-lseteral evolutions. From this cause; we have sometirimsWt etirrinifiss at a loss for a moment to identify some ofotheoloVeri+irlieski'iertunes we have been watching; and, we m'ay-,Itlieitetel*liffegi'Ven to them less quick sympathy than the ardent, atitttendertidds, of their -feelings doubtless deserved. We hittrevirperienced no' such difficulty, however, with respect to the principal persons' ins-the 'story, thunki fe their wellmarked idio- synerasies andthe eate'Which the author has taken to make them known' tens intus -et-lin cute. Nearly the whole of the first vo- • ifiirit Bertrand. ,itiOirTrZcieis 'Meredith. In three, volumes. Published, by
Hurst and Blackit; .s..Vir•ff •
Grandmother's Ifonex, 44 13ktbe,,Autbor of "One and Twenty," " Wildflower," 11 " Woodleigh," Sic. In 40 Volumes. Published by Hurst and Blackett. Woman't remptalian: ' A Novel. Edited by the Hon. Mrs. Ralph Dutton. In three volumes. Published by Hurst and Blackest. lurae is devoted to this process, Mary Bertrifidand her cousin Claude are set before ua in a clear light long ere the love-making begins, and we are given plainly ,tio understand that their warm mutnaL, affeeticuk-is only of a, brotherly and sisterly kind, and likely to remain so. 'Mr. Grey; the hero of the tale, soon comes upon the scene, a stately gentleman of great force , of intellect and character, whose grave and re- served demeanour, betokens that spine by-gene " conflict of pas- sion still ranklie in his memory. A chit to this mystery is, af- forded by the accidental production of .a portrait in crayons of a female head, which, makes.. 4PeP i.P11Ff443ion on, Claude's sus- ceptible imagination, and reminds luiti of Tennyson's' ideal por- finitnf 'Cleopatra. It isthat of his unknown. cousin Bertha, who is destined to, work much woe for him as she haa already done; and may do again, for Philip Grey. Under the influence of Mary's attractions, the latter begins to creep out of his shell, an there ensue some pleasant prolusions of love-making which lead to a formal proposal on .his part, and its decided rejection by Mary, who has already replied in a similar manner to the suit Of his rival, a... philaAdering Irishman. karY's objection to Mr: Grey is that hehas not A whole heart to give her, and she very properly refuses- to , content herself with anything leas. This is the state of affairs at theclose. of the first volume, and whether will ever be in a condition to- offer sucha heart as Mary requires, and hew she will treat his offer- if he make it, are ques- tions worth solving. Novel readers, whose tastes are simple enough to enjoy an agreeable narrative without any pseudo- philosophical condiments, will do well to look for the solution in the -author's pages. Hia-narne„Fra.neis Meredith, is new to us and we shall be glad to meet with it again, though we do not lieve it is a real name, or that its pretended. owner is indeed a country parson. Surely, we think,. a Soupcon of a petticoat peeps engagingly, out under the surplice.
Grandmother's 211-oneY is the fifth novel of an anonymous writer, who early in her career, achieved no .common reputation; and has always continued to maintain and extend it by. a con- scientious use of her rare poivers. In these Scribbling days; when authors who have won,the public ear are beset by sotnatiy temptations to write crudely and hastily, especial thalks are due to those who husband, their strength that they Mitypiit it forth worthily for the delight and profit of their' readers. , The author of Wild/lower, Ifroodleigh, and the novel before us has' alwayS done this, and therefore she never disappoints our expectotions. One novel of hers may, Vett,er than another, but all- are racy and good, fresh and Vigorbui in conception, 'and finished with the easy. fOrce and precision of a Masterhand. This quality of ekecn tion is alluringly Shown in Grandmother's Mo.ney„tivetting the attention, and imparting a lively air of reality to its interesting Story, and its-striking portraithres of character. Aniorig the most conspicuous of these is GrandinotherT herself, a very remarkable old lady indeed, rich, close-fiated; qUeer-tempered, and 'eccentric,
extreme in love and hatred, and both. Before we are introduced to her she has, in fifty years, made and burned more than as Many wills, and she will probably add a few More to the number before we have seen the Ind of her. When Barbara Bloyce, who tells the story of her " Money," saw her first in the gloomy old house in Stamford Street, 141ackfriare, this was her appearance:— .
" She-Was a toll old lady in a faded grey silk dress—a pale-faced, sharp= featared lady, the expression on whose Countenance was not a cheering one: 'There was somettiieg at. the clear per eyes,' the Malted nose, the thin pursed lips, which indicated a decision of character not often seen on the, features of a woman of fourscore and odd years. Looking at the face' intently, one could fancy the owner had ,fought ter Way, through much opposition, trouble, pain, for many weary years-,-fought on. unflinchingly for her own way, and gained it. Whether yanning her way and subduing the will of others had madoher a happy. woman, I .knownot, but it was not
a happy looking face." • • • •
No, the fight had ,been unnatural; and the victory has turned a wholesome heart to gall—all save one spot in which are garnered up the poor old creature's last hopes of requited affection. She has two grandsons about- her whom she bullies and despises; a third is "scorching in India," and gives her no concern; a fourth, a noble fellow, as grand in brain and heart as. George Stevenson, is a workman in a pin manufactory. He is the only child of her dar- ling daughter who had married against her will, and she makes it her daily business to search the Times for his -name, in hopes to light upon some delightful ..paragraph that shall assure her he
has been hanged, 'or- at least charged with capital felony, man- slaughter, orpot-stealing.. 'Bat she has a grand-daughter Alice, Whom she hives and spoils without measure, because she is the daughter of the only son of her's who turned Cute gentleman. Such
at 'least is the way in which the old lady chooses to acoount for her cdoating fondness, .for Alice' ,but the-truth is she loves the girl for -the she . bears to the daughter whom she
cannot forgive in her 'grave, and whose son is the object of her' al- Most insane hatred. "Alice was certainly fond of her grand- mother, was the only relation, perhaps, who loved her for herself,
and had never even thought of her money" ; and no one could helPiloving Alice' in spite of:her faults which were provoking enough; but woe-to the aching heart. Of eighty-three whose last venture of love was embarked in SO ill trimmed a vessel. It wee a fearful hazard ; what was the issue of it minit,be seen in the original record..
Woman's Temptations it a fashionable novel of the first water, written by one who belongs to the world she pourtrays, and who
may be presumed to speak its idiom and reflect its ways with spontaneous accuracy. It is quite exempt from the silliness that is the predominant characteristic of the class to which it belongs ; and there is even a good deal of sound sense in its matter presented in a readable manner. But the novel, though displaying some literary ability, is of little literary value, so absurdly has the author failed to work out her own purpose, which we take to have been that she Should exemplify the evils which may ensue from allowing young ladies of
to become too intimate with their brothers' tutors. The Countess of Bournemouth commits this indiscretion ; her daughter, Lady Geraldine, likes the tutor, and the comparisons Ike makes between him and the young noblemen who visit at her father's house are decidedly in his favour. Now Lady Geraldine is a girl of quick wit and high spirit, and, therefore, it must be inferred either that Mr. Lowrance is really endowed with the virtues and graces she imputes to him, or that he has tact enough to feign them successfully. Undoubtedly he possessed some sterling qualities, for these had been severely tested at the university, where be had maintained himself upon the narrowest means until he won a scholarship. As further evidence of his fortitude, discretion, and social aptitude, we are told that, in the midst of the pinching and striving life he led at Oxford, " his d looks, and a certain fascination peculiarly his own, brought into the notice of a set considerably above him in rank and wealth, though, with admirable resolution, he refused to join in their expensive pleasures." He had courage, too, and manly energy, for he saved the life of a drowning young lord, whose father rewarded him with the promise of a living, and an introduction meanwhile to Lady Bournemouth as a tutor for her younger son. Such is the Mr. Lawrance who appears at the opening of the story ; the Mr. Lawrance of the sequel is quite a different man, and that not alone circumstantially and in appearance, but in- trinsically and absolutely. There is a radical and irreconcilable opposition between the two characters. The tyranny of Lady fieraldine's parents compels her to choose for her husband either the Earl of Silverton, who is a beast in prsesenti, or the tutor, who is a beast in futuro, and she elopes with the latter. Of course it is the duty of a fashionable novelist to visit this mon- abous impropriety with the severest punishment, and, therefore, the offender is to be made to feel that in marrying the tutor she has fallen into worse hands even than Lord Silverton's. To this end, the second Mr. Lawrance is brought on the scene, who is cer- tainly not the man to whom Lady Geraldine gave her hand. Say that the latter was unprincipled, selfish, hard-hearted, and that his wife was not likely to be a very happy woman, still it remains certain that the man was not a downright fool, that he was not stone-blind to his own interest, or incapable of complying for its sake with the commonest exigencies of decorum. The man who is certified by the author as having possessed " a certain Fascination peculiarly his own," and tact enough to make his society acceptable to his superiors in rank and wealth, could not have been so changed by his marriage as to be unable to open his mouth in any company without making himself insufferably odious and ridiculous. The misery which befals Lady Geraldine as this man's wife does not follow in logical sequence from the premises ; it is the arbitrary work of the author, who has, there- fore, entirely failed to prove her case. For anything she has shown to the contrary, it maybe expedient that the daughters of earls should condescend to an intimacy with their brother's tutors, and even, in some instances, that they should marry them.
Previous page
