The Press. — London, England, 1857-07-04 00:00:00

—against landlords who trembled for their privacy and farmers who trembled for their flocks—against educated ignorance, which contented itself with repeating that the thing could never be, and vulgar ignorance, which saw in the steam-engine the result of diabolical agency, and believed that where it passed the air was tainted and birds dropped dead in their flight. The majority of our readers can recollect the storm of hostility and ridicule with which railroads were all but uni versally received, but few, perhaps, remember as they ought that the man who almost alone, and for a time quite so, breasted that torrent of legal and scientific abuse, was the humble and self-educated labourer, George Stephenson. Mr Stephenson realised a large fortune, and happily kept aloof from the railway m tnia of '45. He resided in his latter years at Tapton, near Chesterfield, where he cultivated pines and cucumbers with all the energy of his youth. The simplicity of his character remained unimpaired to the last ; and he died. universally lamented by the neighbouring pow•, on the 12th of August, 1648, in the 67th year of his age. 1. Cuthbert St. Elute, M.P. ; or, Passages in the Life of a Politician. London: Hurst and Blackett. 2. The Two Aristocracies. By Mrs. Gore. London : Hurst and Blackett. 3. Anne Sherwood ; or, the Social Institutions of England. London : Bentley. 4. Guy Livingston ; or, " Thorough." London : J. W. Parker and Son. 1. The author of " Cuthbert St. Elme " has not done more in his present work than estab lish a claim to be classed among successful novelists—his exact place yet remains to be fixed. He is deficient in constructive skill, nor does he at present display that power of subtle observation combined with te nacity of mental grasp without which no one can collect the elements of human character, keep them steadily before his mind, and east them into a congruous whole. But ho possesses the faculty of description in a very high degree ; and, as carelessness of con struction is a fault which time and industry may mend, we feel justified in predicting for him considerable popularity as a tale-writer. The story which he has to tell he tells well. He is never tedious, unless now and then in a politi cal dissertation ; and his narrative bustles along to the end without permitting our in terest to flag. In proof of the above assertions we would point to the characters of the young lady, Ida, and her idiot brother, together with the Russian Baron Kirralevski. These are surely all most unskilful contrivances for help ing out the plot. The meeting of the hero with MA, although we are told it exercised great influence on his character, does not lead to his doing any one thing which he would not have done otherwise. The idiot boy is, if we may so speak, a diabolus ex machina, which shares the superfluity of the whole episode. Ho prevents a marriage which never need have been contemplated at all, and the possi bility of which does not in any way affect the progress of the story. With regard to the baron, all that he does might have been done as well by a far less mysterious agent ; and the secrecy in which his motives are enveloped rather provoke impatience than stimulate curiosity. There is no one in the book who deserves the name of a " character "; and, as far as knowledge of life is concerned, the ter mination of Norah's escapade is so wholly oppo-ed to experience, and so entirely without any cause to account fur it as an exception, that we cannot but think the author has com mitted a grave error of judgment in thus seek ing to make his peace with morality at the eleventh hour. But if we regard the book as many pic tures instead of one, we cannot fail to be struck with the extreme beauty of par ticular passages, and the careful finish of details. As a specimen, we will offer the scene in which Norah, a youthful belle, brought up in the enjoyment of every pleasure which money and fashion can bestow, is described THE PRESS, Jut 4, 1857. sitting alone in a g,irret when deserted by her seducer, and reduced to dependence on her own maid : Noah's lodging was in a house which, though not abso lutely shabby, bore few traces of the luxury to which she had been aceustomed. And the sight of the guilty Norah was enowth to move her cousin's pity. She still wore the black velvet dress that at the lieston ball had elicited such passionate ad miration. lint the smooth cheek that on that night glowed with the beauty of health and guilty excitement, was wan and pale. The flashing eye was sunken and dull. In lieu of the gorgeous flowers and the brilliant orals tnents, a thin, shabby silk mantle of her maid's had been thrown carelessly over her shoulders, to bring some life to the languid circulation. 'there was the same Norah in the came dress. But how altered the circumstances! how different the accessories! Maniere% had made room for flippery ; high hopes and a spotless fame tarnished, and as the perishable texture. She was sitting over the embers of a scanty wood fire, contained in a common, unpolished iron stove. On the sofa lay some articles of linen, just retnrned from the laundress, the bill pinned ou the top of them. The arm chair on which she sat was torn in more places than one, leaving visible the hemp padding. On the stove stood a phial and a common earthenware cup, containing a plated tesapoon, of which the black metal substratum was ap parent at the edges. Near her on a small table, uneasy on its legs, was placed a small black japanned tray, with a brown porcelain teapot, and a cup, saucer, and spoon, scarcely matching those on the chimney. A new and gently carpet threw into relief these dingy objects, though the portion near the fireplace was littered with dust and embers, ignorant of the broom. In either corner of the room farthest from the windows stood tall articles of furniture, serving the triple purpose of closet, sideboard, and writing-table. A few paintings adorned the paper on the walls, likewise renewed for the full season. They were had copies of well-known Italian pictures—portraits of Machiavelli, Dante, Alfieri, the Madonna della Seggiola, the Beatrice, and a likeness of the master of the house. The artistic decoration was completed by a few alabaster statuettes—the Venus fly-spotted and yellow, the Slave deprived of his thorn-bearing foot, which lay quietly by his aide on the console. Everything bespoke neglect and the absence of attendance. " Cuthbert St. Elme " is not, as the title would seem to signify, a political novel Politics are introduced as a means of exhibit ing the hero in a certain phase. But none of the workings of English political life—none of the social problems which await the solu tion of statesmen—none of the great events which form epochs in our constitutional his- tory—are introduced or discussed. Of foreign politics, however, the author seems to have some knowledge, and some of his comparisons between Belgium, France, and England will perhaps be thought interesting. It is the thankless office of criticism to dwell more upon faults than beauties ; but we hasten to assure our readers that " Cuthbert St. Elme" is a book to be read, and decidedly one of " the novels " of the day. 2 The effect predicted of pouring new wine into old bottles is analogous to that of in fusing new ideas into old minds. In " The Two Aristocracies " Mrs. Gore has penned a deliberative comparison between the successful manufacturer and the here ditary gentleman, from every point of view assigning the advantage to the former. The mercantile hero is a better one than the gentleman hero, and the gentleman scoundrel a worse one than the mercantile scoundrel. Ve are asked to believe, for instance, that the extreme weakness, folly, and stupidity of the " Herberts of Weald," stated to be an old country family in the south of England, and their servility to Lord Ullesmere, are average characteristics of the English country gentry ; while, on the other hand, old Lambert is, we suppose, to be taken as the type of the English merchant The " view " is essentially false, and the adoption of it in the face of such facts as the few last years have witnessed argues either great mental perversity or equally foolish spite. Who are the leading philanthropists of the pre sent day, and who have been the leading swin dlers ? Will Mrs. Gore do us the favour to an swer that question literally, and then explain upon what principle she has written " The Two Aristocracies "? We are truly sorry to have been driven to find fault with an old favourite like Mrs. Gore, more especially as some of those qualities which first won her popularity are as brilliantly displayed as ever. Her social satire is keen and searching, and she is a formidable exposer of domestic and conventional humbug. The fallowing passage deserves to he widely circulated : Some superannuated reader of these pages may recall to mind how, during the popularity of Hannah More's " Ccelebs," society eras overrun by Lnciass. Every young 657 lady on her preferment was modelled after that exemplary heroine. Di Vernon, too, created a legion of imitators; till drtven from the field by the more feminine Georgys of Mr. Ward's " Tremaine ;" and as a tolerable original is better than the hest copy, most of these artificially-drilled damsels would have been preferable in a natural state. But when the popularity of what is called the Serious novel brought the artless school into vogue, the incessant prattle of naive young ladies, especially in country houses, became as serious a nuisance as the twittering aviaries at the Zoological. It WlB even proposed by some crusty bachelor, that, as it is now a matter of penalty for factory chimneys to consume their own smoke, every large family should he required to consume its own prattle, on peril of a massacre of the Innocents. Charles Lamb, one of the most zealous guardians of the spontaneity of the human character, inveighs against the " coxcombry of book taught charity." And the hypocrisies of book taught naiveté are unquestionably prominent among the failings of' modern Miss•hood. Where parents and a daughter or two reside together, the practicality of the elders keeps within bounds the deluge of mi'k and water; and the ties of human affection, closer drawn, admit of no imposture. But a family of "charming girls" like the Herberta, prattling in society only of school•feasts and fl innel club', dear papa and dear mamma, dearest Sophy and darling Anne, and some delightful preacher for whose mediaeval church they are embroidering altar cloths, and for whoes missionary fancy-fair they are scrubbing. brushing sketchy landscapes,—but whose talk about them- selves is embittered with malice, hatred, and all unchari• tableness, is a terrible snare. 3. " Anne Sherwood " is a story of governess life, written in a style of bold and powerful invective that might have become a !female Juvenal. We have not read a novel now for a very long time which bore an equally deep impress of truth. Every stage of the governess's career, and every scene of her daily life, is graven in letters of fire ;—the weary search for situations—the insolence and extortion of agents—the contumely and harsh ness which render the appointment when obtained only one shade more bearable than starvation or suicide—the insulting attentions of gentlemen of fashion only lending new stings to the insulting comments of ladies of fashion— together with the few bright exceptions which not even this dark phase of human existence is entirely without—then the gradual success which a fine intellect and a resolute will begin to achieve—passion changed to respect, con tempt to fear, indifference to love—till at length the despised teacher walks as mistress through the proud halls which had witnessed her deepest humiliation, triumphs over all her enemies, and avenges the wrongs of her sisterhood. Such—the course of Anne Sher wood's career—is told by the authoress with a vividness and graphic power which at once mark out her volumes as one of the most remarkable publications of the present Peason. We should add that all through this wonderful exposure of the hardships and sorrows of the governess, a moral is still kept in view most skilfully adapted to counteract the bad effects arising from a display of successful pride and almost unfeminine tenacity of purpose. While punishing all who had insulted her, Anne Sherwood punishes herself still more severely, and is made ere the end to feel in her very heart's core the full force of an admonition never yet found nugatory, that " vengeance is mine." The rare art with which this 1•"sson is intertwined with incidents all calculated to make us forget it is one of the most striking merits of the story. The following extract is from a scene in which the heroine was summoned down from the school room to make sport for a blasé party of fashionable ladies and gentlemen. Perhaps the idea is in itself rather• a libel on that class, but the author has evidently suffered great provocation, and there cannot be two opinions of the literary merits of the passage : Anne was plainly dressed in black silk. The messes of her jetty hair were twined round her head somewhat in the fashion of a turban, and gave an additional paleness to her cheeks, shaded with lashes of unusual darkness. Goaded by what she considered an unwarra 'table exercise of authority, Anne had determined to yield to a rept .st amounting, in fact, to a command; but in doing so, to evince that she considered her admission to Lady Adelaide's salon only such as a professional artist might com mand. She felt, too, perhaps, a proud consciousness that she could and would surpass what might be expected from her, and would leave no room, by elation or servility, for receiving insults like those which had been heaped on Miss Dobson. Sydney ( while Anne was making a hasty preparation for her appearance in public) bad inform* d her of the mock ovation which had greeted the companion's entrée. When Anne Sherwood entered the drawing-room, she bowed to the circle, precisely as if she had been s hired performer, but noticed no one in particular. i