The Press. — London, England, 1858-11-06 00:00:00

E PRES S, NOVEMBER 6, 1858. T H Sylvan Holt's Daughter. By Holme Lee In Three Vols. London : Smith, Elder, a nd Co. T H E reputation achieved by the authoress of Gilbert Massenger " was one not to be lightly imperilled. In that remarkable story we saw the promise of high excellence. An earnestness of Prime, a hi g h conception of duty, and the faculty o f g raphic descr i pt i on were visible throughout. Compressed within the limits of one volume, the plot was substantial enough to support the in cidents and the dialogue. There were no gaps. And the story had a unity and compactness in which our three-volume novels are now too often deficient. A perusal of " Sylvan Holt's Daughter" induces us to regret that the author should not have adhered to the dimensions which prove d so successful in " Thorney-hall," as well as "Gilbert Massenger." The present novel is more diffuse, and, in consequence, often halting. Several chapters are introduced which not only do not help out the story, but throw no light upon the characters. With the character of Sylvan Holt himself the authoress has taken great pains, yet she fails to excite our interest in him to any commensurate degree. The hero, Colonel Fielding, like many other heroes, is com monplace. Jacky, the old servant, is cleverly drawn; and the hand that depicted Oscar must, we think, have been familiar with the nose of some canine favourite. Still there is no one person in the book who will abide in the memory of her readers, and. become, like Gilbert Massenger, a typal character. Margaret herself; the daughter, is a beautiful and glowing creation—fresh and dewy, like her own heath bells. But the other characters in the book are far too much subordinated to this one prominent figure, and the effect produced is almost that of a biography rather than of the complex affair we commonly understand by a novel. Holme Lee has given us a very in teresting character, but not a very interesting tale, which she has suffered to run itself dry at the conclusion like a brook in summer, without taking the trouble to fill up various portions, neces sary not less to the completeness of the picture than to the gratification of the reader's curiosity. We shall not on this occasion offer to our readers anything like an analysis of the three volumes. A brief summary of the leading points will be sufficient. Sylvan Holt himself is a wealthy misanthrope, and Margaret his only child. Their residence is at Wildwood-hall, among the dales of Cumberland ; and there Margaret grows up untamed and untutored except in the accomplishments of boyhood. She is an excellent rider and an indomitable walker, usually goes out with her father on the 11th of August, and occasionally knocks over a brace or two herself. But for one refined and accomplished friend in a neighbouring vil lage, Mrs. Clervaux, she would probably have developed into a sort of female Cymon. This lady contrives to keep alive certain feminine habits until such time as the fated cavalier makes his appearance, in the shape of Colonel Fielding, a distinguished officer and man of the world, captivated by the character of Margaret, who in return falls passionately in love with him. Straightway, the orthodox results ensue. The )(Jung lady becomes " conscious of her dtfects," desirous to learn the accomplishments becoming to her sex, &c. &c., sets to work in earnest to ac quire them, and, by the time she is married, may be considered pretty well up to the mark, with the exception of her ignorance of dancing. That Margaret's rea l hardihood, however, does not in the least succumb to the influence of her new sensations, the following little episode will show. Iler father and lover are riding home late at night. She happens to be walking home at the same hour armed with a pistol and accompanied b y a bloodh ound , as a protection against the disorderly characters which a neighbouring fair has scattered over the adjoining country. The dog's growl warns her that danger is near, and presently she discovers that some men are lurking in the underwood where the two ffcntlenien, whom she already hears approaching, must Pam :---- She immediately ran forward, relying on Oscar for her ° wn Protection, and rescind the mouth of the glade just a% the moonlight showed her father coming through the hri 'llelate followed by Colonel Fielding At the saw in uant, and before she had time to utter her warning. ill " Wail tired from the wood and four loan rushed out I P 4 " 11, The foremost htstanuSy ittawytteil w Mi. Sylvan Holt's bridle, bat he brought his beery handled whip down upon his assailant's head, and Faustus, startled by the shot, wheeling round and plunging violently, he was shaken off, and Oscar springing fiercely upon him bore him to the ground in a moment. Two of the others, evidently cowed by the addition of the ferocious dog to the number of their intended prey, stood irresolute, while the fourth, a very big and powerfully bni►t man, having got possession of the colonel's bridle, was loudly threatening him with instant death if he did not at once give up all the valuables he had about him. Margaret perceived that he had a weapon in hishand, but of what nature she could not discover, and quick as thought she drew out her pistol and fired, hitting him in the shoulder. He dropped his uplifted arm with a yell of pain and was turning round to revenge himself, when Margaret gave Oscar a word, and he, having apparently mauled his first antagonist to his heart's content, left him on the ground and assailed the wounded man, whose pistol, for such it was, he fired at the dog as he seized him, but in effectually. " Call your dog off, he'll throttle me ! " gurgled he with the addition of an oath, and using his weapon to en deavour to beat off the animal ; but Oscar's blood was now at savage boiling point, and he held him fast, growling dangerously until ho overpowered and dragged him to the ground. Several shots were fired from under cover of the wood by the other two ruffians, bat none of them successfully, and seeing themselves foiled in their murderous intentions they decamped in all haste, leaving their comrades to fend for themselves as best or worst they could. Margaret is afterwards questioned on the subject by Mrs. Clervaux " Bin, first, tell mo about this affray at Wildfoot last night, for a moat wonderful exaggerated account has come down to us here. For instance, somebody says that you shot a man ! " " So I did—shot him in the shoulder," replied Margaret quietly. " You bloodthirsty little heathen ! what did you do that for ?" And Margaret proceeded to tell her tale. After this we are not surprised at hearing that when Margaret ultimately joins her husband in India her skill as a markswoman was of very considerable service to him. We must now inform our readers that in the house of both bride and bridegroom there is a skeleton. Margaret's mother had eloped from her father %%hen Margaret was an infant, and Sylvan Holt had killed the seducer in her presence. Cobnel Fielding had once been ardently attached to a certain Frances Stanley, now Mrs. Hamilton, who had returned his passion, but been forced into a wealthy marriage by her parents. Neither of them can forget those early days, though in the case of the Colonel there is no surviving senti ment strong enough in reality to have caused Margaret uneasiness. however, he unfortunately determines to conceal all the circumstances from her, and it is the mischief flowing from this mis take that constitutes the catastrophe of the story. From the first-mentioned affair, however, no re sults follow at all in proportion to its magnitude, and as far as it is employed to bring out the cha racter of Margaret we think it is employed badly. The whole scene in which Margaret is made acquainted with her mother's conduct seems to us overwrought, even when all allowance is made for the effects of a masculine education on an impulsive female nature. It would seem that novelists of character, as distinguished from those of manners or adventure, are bound to be specially on their guard against the danger of prolixity. The master hand which by a few bold strokes can place whole characters before us, is bestowed upon few. And such re presentations of our ideas as have to be carefully and elaborately constructed, as, at the best, they fall short of the effect produced by the former method, so they naturally tempt the author into an effort to rival it by longer and fuller descrip tions. Hence we have heroes and heroines turned and twisted about in every conceivable attitude, and put through their paces so often that both eye and ear become fatigued. Now, we still believe that the authoress of the volumes before us is under no necessity of relying upon this process—that she is capable of bolder and briefer characterization than we find in " Sylvan Holt's Daughter." She has also full command over all the resources to which the English do mestic novel, so deservedly grateful to the taste of M. Guizot, is indebted for its excellence. While at the same time she is quite free from the slightest taint of that mawkishness by which too many of them are pervaded. Did we think less highly than we do of this lady's qualifications, we should have been more sparing of our criti cisms. We have touched upon what appears to us shortcomings as one would touch generous and noble steed with a spur; and we only trust our remarks may be rseatred in the spirit In which ague want, for although we miss the grim power N.) vious works, there is much " Sylvan Holt's Daughter," and refined, much that i: natural. British Columbia, Einiyratioi By W. Parker Snow. Lon& and Spence. rich marked her pre that is attractive in much that is graceful fresh, healthy, and awl Our Colonies : Piper, Stephenson, WE confess to a slight feeling f disappointment on perusing this little pamphlet, notwithstanding its singular opportuneness and tl. ability with which it is written. It would certain y have been more generally useful, had the autho eschewed generali ties, and confined himself to I. is and matters of detail with which his own expert nos rendered him peculiarly capable of dealing. till, we are grateful even for small mercies, and an thankful for any crumbs of information that ma fall from the lips of such an observant and prac ical man as Mr. Parker Snow. On one point, ind. d, he appears to be somewhat too sanguine. He . xpresses a belief that ere long the voyage to Briti h Columbia will be made round the northern extremity of the Ame rican continent. Admitting that tl its course may be practicable, it is by no means a desirable one in the interests of our Canadian possessio as. Perhaps the greatest benefit likely to accrue from the discovery of gold in British Columbia will be the development of the river navigation and the west capabilities of those fine provinces. But we can hardly imagine that many emigrants wiil be indu.3ed to tempt the perils of an Arctic voyage, even with the hope of reaching the new El Dorado at les a coat than by a land journey. But we fully agree v ith Mr. Snow that the more secure, if at first longer, road to wealth is not by digging tor gold, b. it by providing food and clothing in exchange for th. 3 precious ore. In other words, they who will derive the most sub stantial gain are not the actual gold -hunters, but storekeepers and cultivators of the lan d. It is not, however, as yet an attractive colony fe r any but de sperate or at least adventurous men . 'the most frightful privations, incessant and often times almost hopeless toil, and scarcity of food bor lering upon starvation, await the original settlers. "Even in " Melbourne," says Mr. Snow, " where , a local go. " vernment had existed for some years, and great " means were at hand, starvation, disease, death, and " unimagined misery were things frequei itly known. " I have seen scores of persons sleeping about the " wharfs, and in iron boilers, packing-ca ses, or on " the bare earth. I have witnessed scenes of suffer " ing amongst the newly arrived im'nigi ants that " beggar description, and I have almost daily heard " of, or read, or seen deaths either from violence, " from reckless carelessness, from iodden disease, "or from broken heart. What, then, must it be now "in British Columbia?" The picture is not attrac tive, but it will not prevent many thousands c.f daring spirits from tempting the bold adventure. Phough too brief and discursive, Mr. Snow's little work will be found interesting to all who meditate a tlig front their fatherland. And we are happy to obser ve that he proposes to deliver a series or lectures on the subject of emigration. There is no man better qualified to do it justice. PERIODICAL LITERATURE. THE November number of the North British Review reached us too late to enable us to give any detailed criticism of its contents in our publication of this week, and we regret that at this moment time and space compel us to confine ourselves to directing attention in general terms to the many able snd interesting articles which it contains. That upon the commercial condition and prospects of Franoe is full of useful information, and bears the imprsss of great care and correctness of thought. The novels of Miss Moloch, the authoress of "John Halifax, Gentleman," and other well known work., have furnished occas;on for an essay upon the imagina tions of teen and women, which will be read with tbe greatest pleasure by all classes, and which evinces great delicacy of perception and great knowledge of mental processes. But probably the mist interest ing contribution at the present moment is a remark ably clear and able exposition of submarine tele graphs, of their successes and reverses, of the progress of science in their regard, and of their present position and prospects. The articles upon German Church Historians and upon Aquatic Zoology will also be read with Lreat interest and advantage. Blackwood as usual give': us this month ales:;ec number of articles of grater substance and fink'2 than his contemporaries. The first paper, u reviow of Mr. Buckle's famous Book, through a laudable desire to be temperate, ip in our opinion fsr too lenient to that gentleman's errors. It is aiincoit see, after the particular railaakra and t pa ban .:posed, bow Ow revlowar o4t) bring bigossu