The Press. — London, England, 1857-05-23 00:00:00

510 many of his former personages are grouped' around her. Dr. and Mrs. Proudie, Mr. Slope, the Quiverfuls, and Mr. Arabia are among the new importations, and are all drawn with more or less skill. Mr. Slope would appear to be the character on which our author has laboured with the greatest gratification to himself. Ho conies down to Barchester as the new bishop's chaplain, and the special favourite of the new bishop's wife, Mrs. Proudie. He is a clever, oily, ambitious, hypocritical, and vulgar man. The clergy of the diocese, accustomed to Dr. Grantley, Mr. Harding, and others of the same stamp, regard him with loathing ; and though he at first makes a few converts among the Barchester ladies, tries hard for the deanery. and is even tem porarily successful in a rebellion against his patroness, ho is at last driven from the field with disgrace, though not with loss, as he retires to the metropolis, marries a sugar baker's widow,and becomes a popularpreacher. The signora —daughter of one of the prebends, and divorced from an Italian husband—is merely introduced for the purpose of contrast ing the Evangelical Slope with the ultra-High- Church Mr. Arabia, when both are fur the time under the influence of her charms. The latter gentleman, however, is destined to high honours in the career of both love and ambi• lion, which we shall leave our readers to dis cover for themselves. The best drawn character in the book is, in our opinion, Dr. Grantley, the archdeacon. Pompons, but kindly—sincerely religious, yet a friend to sociability and huma nity—liking to have his own way, yet liking his friends even still better—a fine, honest, portly old parson of the days gone by, he enlists our warmest sympathies, and awakens some, alas useless, regrets. Eleanor is love able and pleasant, but gifted with a perversity surpassing that of woman. Nor do we think that either she or the equally misguided Mr. Arabin are portraits that evince genuine know ledge of the world. Mr. Trollope exaggerates human infirmity. When men are in love, no doubt they are suspicious ; but they suspect even their own suspicions, and do not take things for granted quite so easily as Mr. Arabia does. This is a common fault with all but the highest class of novel-writers. Unable to detect the innermost workings of the human heart, they are driven to father their events upon the must impossible and clumsy devices. 2. " Nightshade " is another ecclesiastical novel. The title is symbolical. The cha racters, plot, and incidents of this elaborate fiction all turn upon the evils of the Church of Rome. The scene is laid in our own time. We are introduced to life in convents, to ecclesiastical matters in Rome, to Ribbon conspirators in Ireland, and to aris tocratic society in London. Mr. Johnston has a graceful scholarly style, and he possesses a refined mind, but we think that he would have succeeded better as an essayist on " Popery " than as a novelist illustrating its evils His characters want animation : he describes when he should dramatise; he reflects when he should record. His critical powers may have been developed to the partial injury of his creative faculties. The names of the characters and places betray the strokes of an exaggerating limner. We have " Mr. M'Envie," " St. Slander," "the " borough of " Buyemall," " Mr. Tractate," and so forth. We are reminded, also, of the evils inseparable from all controversial novels. The characters are made to act according to rule, and to peeform good or commit evil in order to support the author's theory. Admit ting t) the fullest extent the great evils of the Romanist Church and creed, still we must recollect that human natiire should be the special study of a novelist. For example, a certain Charles Annandale stands in the way of two reverend plotters, and they resolve to get lion over to Ireland for the purpose of being assassinated by the Ribbon Society. Here is the way they discuss the " little a Hair ": can never rest till that man is disposed of," said Mr. Prynn visitor, his lips being tightly Impressed, and his brow contracted. agree with you ; he has d me ns much mischief." " He must be disposed of. and quickly." " That is rather more difficult to accomplish in England than is Rome." THE PRESS. " More difficult, indeed, but not impossible." " And yet—" said Mr. I'rynna, muiingly, his hand rest ing on the sermon which he was to preach from the pulpit of his church next Sunday. " Well? " " Suppose he could be got over to Ireland." " By our Lady! a capital suggestion; shall I ask the Provincial ?" "So I could counsel; it might be done after our usual manner." " Certainly, a pressing letter from Mr. Baring —yes, that is his agent's name. Where is O'Toole's letter ?—a pressing letter from Mr. Baring, with a hint about an important discovery, which ma 3, mean anything or nothing, but which he will at once connect with the case of the Welpoles, will bring Annandale over to Ireland, and then—" "'Then he will be fair game, and a good mark while the nights are long," said the Reverend Mr. Prynne. "It would be worth a journey to Dublin to get this Annandale finally disposed of." " That it would." " By the favour of our Provincial I shall go ; and our brave brethren of the Ribbon Society will gallantly carry out our secret orders." "That they will ; but we must be cautious that the con• nection between these Ribbonmen and the Society of Jesus be not discovered." " How should it, reverend priest of the Anglican Church ?" said Mr. Prynne's visitor. These effects are too strong, and are only a daubing caricature of the intellectually subtle craft and misapplied ingenuity of the Society of Jesus. There are some smart passages in this volume affecting to describe high political life, but they read too like leading articles chopped up into dialogues. We shall select a specimen. There was a dinuer-party given for a certain Lord Oxborough. It is thus described : Lord Castieford never could get his eldest son to declare what party he intended joining %hen he became Lord ()thorough, M.P. Would he join the Tories ? No ; they sympathised too much with the foreign despots. The Whigs? No ; they were a family party, faithful to each other, and faithless to the country. The Conservatives? No; they bad absolutely nothing to recommend them. They reminded him of a sentry standing guard, with a rusty gun, over the ruins of a house that had been first pillaged and then burnt. Well, would he join th Radicals, then? Surely he was not going to bring disgrace on his order by uniting himself with the extreme Democratic party, who were prepared to demolish the House of Lords, not having befcre their eyes the fear of coronets ? Oh ! no ; of course he would not juin the Radicals; the Radicals were just like hungry rat s , ca pi ta l for destroying the foundations of every possible edifice, and caring for nothing at all, so that they themselves could get plenty of good eating. Lord Castleford, therefore, did not know what to make of the young lord. In his time, he said, men were con tented to adopt their father's political creed, and were ready to join his party and fight for it. " And pray what is your political creed my lord ? " " Mine? why really I don't know ; I never thought about it. I don't mean my individual creed, I mean as a general rule—fathers in general and sons in general." " So after all I am adopting your political creed ; you have none, neither have I." " Well, well' think about it; talk to our first•rate men ; make up your mind, and then act." Rather smart writing, but the talk is not natural. The party meet together, and then the pros and cons. of the opposite sides are discussed in summary fashion :-- " When do you take your seat, Lord Oxborough ? " asked the distinguished Conservative member we have already made the acquaintance of. " Next week , I believe." "On which side dOyn; purpose sitting ? " " What should you advise me to do ?" asked the young Member of Parliament. " I—really ; well, of :course, I should say to join our side." " the Conservative ? " " Yes ; the Conservative side." " Any important questions interesting your party just now ? ' " Not particularly; we are watching the movements of the Government. We mean to take advantage of them whenever we catch them tripping." " Ah ! then you mean to act as a sort of parliamentary detective party ?" " We mean to take upon ourselves the guardianship of the Constitution ; our political opponents are labouring to destroy the noble fabric that was built by the wibtluin of our ancestors." " And your policy ?" " Will depend upon circumstances." "Yes ; I think I understand the plan of operations which the Conservative party mean to pursue. Watch their opponents, and whatever they propose, suggest the very opposite." "You are right. Lord Oxborough," said a Whig Minister, across the table; '• you have exactly described the policy of the Conservative party." " And pray what may be the policy of the Whigs, my lord ? " " Why, electoral reform, extension of education, and a liberal and enlightened policy at home and abroad." " Will you educate the people, or extend the franchise as the first measure ?" " Estensiou of the- frs.nchise must come first, I befievo." SATURDAY, " Will this benefit the country, or your party, my lord ? " " Oh ! of course we desire to promote the welfare of the people." By maintaining the Whigs in office, I suppose," said Lard o:borough. There is affected vivacity in this " breaky" com position. Mr. Johnston has no strokes of rich humour or arch raillery, though there is much talent occasionally shown for sharp literary sneers. The author's talents are those rather of a reviewer, or a political pamphleteer than the gifts of a fictionist. A dissertation from his pen on the present progress and various ramifications of the Church of Rome might he a valuable work, and we think that it would add more to his literary fame than his present performance, which is much too purely pole mical to please. 3. " Below the Surface "—a novel, we be• lieve, by Sir Arthur Elton—bears out the title well. The surface here depicted is as smiling as anything can well be. A young man, Oliver Nugent, the descendant of an ancient and illustrious home, living and farming the re mains of his ancestral estate—healthy, hand some, cultivated, and out of debt ; Mr. and Lady Maud Usherwood, with their three pretty and affectionate daughters, and plenty of money in his immediate neighbourhood ; Sir Reginald Clinton, a reformed baronet, with high artistic tastes, and nothing to stint their gratification, would at first sight seem to con stitute a tableau over which undisturbed felicity must hover. Such, however, is very far from bein g the case. Nugent ma rr i es G ertru d e, the eldest Miss Usherwood, and very nearly embarks for America, under the persuasion of her infidelity. Behind all the splendour of the Usherwood family lurks the demon of railway speculation, which brings them face to face with ruin ; and the envied Sir Reginald has a heart torn by remorse for a wife whom he has cruelly driven from him in his early youth, and a child that seems lost to him for ever. How all these events arise, what misery they create, and how they are finally disposed of, it is not for us to describe ; they are well narrated by Sir Arthur, and the incidents which con nect them naturally and dramatically intro duced. All the provincial scenes, with which he is doubtless familiar, are vividly repre sented. The lunatic asylum in which poor Lady Clinton has perished—the workhouse where her body is immured—the turn out of the yeomanry—and the bursting of Nugent's breakwater, are pictures executed with con siderable spirit and exactness. For a first attempt, as we believe this to be, " Below the Surface " must be stamped as a decided Success. 4. " Glenwood Manor" is a tale written with smile stiffness, though not without marks of power. The authoress has a strong grasp of the subject, though she has not yet acquired the polish of style, or the art of arrangement. Like a clever but inexperienced actress, who can imitate deep emotions, but has ►►ot yet mastered the stage walk. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kingley, and Helen, are characters well conceived, but imperfectly executed. Mate- rials are wasted, and superfluous characters introduced. The idea of the money hoard and Helen's impl►cation in the robbery is ex cellent; yet for some reason we fail to watch the progress of events with any absorbing interest. Still we are inclined to think that the authoress of " Glenwood Manor" has the resources of a novelist in her, if she gives herself time, and studies the rules of this species of composition. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. --MAY 18. Boo Ks. The Stale Policy of Modern Europe. Two vols. The Wreckers. Three v o l e . Longmans. Sampson Lowe and Co. Good is Everythi ng . A T ale. By Mrs. Foot. Two vols. Hurst lackett. A Visit to S a lt L a k e. B y William Chandless. and Sm P ith and ld Remarks on th e Di ff erences in Shakespeare ' s Versifica E tioner.. The Cam e l. J. W. Parker and Son. Hurst and Blackett. Amusing Poetry. Edi te d b y Shirley Brooks. Lambert and Co. At Home and Abroad. By Miss Pardoe. Lambert and Co. PAMPHLETS. Sul so Bad as they Seem. W. and F. Cash---A Treatise on Firearms. W. H. Dalton—Womru and Work. Bosworth and Co.—The Great Sermons of Me Great Preachers. Ward and Lock—hthimo of Suez Ship Canal. J. Weale. • .-..kV4AVJAIIia VI um zrancru 211 311 ry er 111 us he Id nt le- e• le er ld - d- Ld Ly 1; th it LC ly 3f Ly a l 6 1, it (I 11 )f 6 11 If ) t i. •