The Press. — London, England, 1855-07-14 00:00:00

JULY 14, 1855. the busier scenes of the amusements of life. At first " being out," is enough. _ . It is only later that more definite objects of happiness arise, and too often to the detriment of that early thrill of joy, which made existence alone a glorious elysium. Genevieve, as she stood for the first time within the pale of that world from which she had hitherto been ex cluded, was precisely in this state of feeling. She neither looked backwards nor forwards, but enjoyed the present with all the intensity of delight of which her enthusialstic nature was capable. Genevieve has many admirers, and among them Lord St. Clare, one of those personages who seem euperflcial from their extreme quietude, hut whose nature is strong and their affections deep. Their tranquil intellect shows little ripple on the surface, but flows with a broad and steady current. Sparing of speech, careless in manner, and wholly unde monstrative, nothing more is at first to be seen in such persons than easy good nature. They like to romp with children, to spin Bobby's top, and mend Ned's horse as often as he breaks it. They can do wonderful things with a pen-knife, but you do not suspect that tinder their idle air they often conceal accomplishments of the highest order. Some such being as one of these is Lord St. Clare ; and it shows the authoress's close observa tion of society that she should have caught and treated this style of character with so much exactitude. At the close of the second volume we tested the hook by speculating what the conclusion might be, and then found how firm a hold it obtained of the mind. Laura and Sir Aubrey cannot live much longer together, that is clear. But how will they part? A certain Lord Eardley—a character nicely contrasted with that of St. Clare—has paid her great attention. What a perilous state for a lovely and impulsive woman to be in ! Her father's affairs are hurrying to a crisis—he will soon have no shelter to offer her. What will she do? And what will become of Sir Aubrey ? He is so avaricious that he becomes wedded to the gaming-table at Baden, and falls into auspicious hands. Will he lose his fortune, or break his neck hunting, or retire into the country to hoard till the end of the chapter ? And the pretty Genevieve, what will become of her when it is discovered that her father is a ruined and disgraced man? St. Clare has hardly yet raised his eyes to hers, and he is very sensible, and understands his own worth in the world's estimation. Our speculations were all vain. The book must be read to the last before its marrow can be extracted. The authoress possesses to perfection the art of representing the comparatively minor distresses of social life with dramatic effect. The return by Sir Aubrey of the packages which his wife had ordered from Paris, with the hysterics of the waiting-maid, and the " consternation" of Laura, are told with a parti cularity scarcely exceeded by that noticeable in the works of Richardson himself. So when Laura's pet spaniel is shot by Sir Aubrey for getting into his cover, the calamity is related with expressions proper to the deepest dis tress and horror. The waiting-woman, " bursting into tears, laid the body upon the " lap of her mistress. It was already stiff " and cold." Tears fall in torrents from Laura's eyes, "as she bent over the body." She " convulsively strained the cold body of " poor Blanche to her breast, and, after one " more passionate caress, she laid the body " carefully down upon her bed." Other little incidents, which however here, as in the actual world, materially contribute to the action of life, are told with the same kind of minuteness, and materially contribute to that impression of reality which the book conveys. But that Mrs. Maberly is capable of writing with real pathos every one will acknowledge who reads that touching account of the last agony of a breaking heart, commencing at p 159, vol iii. It is one long eloquent sigh, which seems to have been penned without a pause, and which, for the time it lasts, keeps the reader's mind in a tumult of distress. Then for gentler feeling, surely the passage is a sweet one commencing at p. 315 of the same volute. When the eyes of lovers swimming with tender emotion meet—when the cheek pales, and the hands tremble—when there is a moment of breathless suspense, and they know not themselves whether they are to part THE PRESS. for ever, or only for a short period preparatory to their lasting union, we discern at once what will happen ; but we like nevertheless to see the play of young fresh hearts faithfully delineated over and over again, as each spring we delight to hail the rising flowers that speak of earth's gladness and of coming summer. We have noticed one fault shared by this book in common with others of its class. We must hint at another. Mrs. Maberly has thought it necessary to introduce a vulgarly fine family, that of Mrs. Somersett Brown, to set off the better the refinement of her other figures. All that concerns this family is mere caricature. The vulgarity and pretension are carried too far—a strange fault in a writer so chaste as this lads is in general. She must have met with very unfavorable specimens of middle-class people, if she conceives the Somersett Bro‘sns, with their wretched little cockney villa, to faithfully represent them. It is true that persons whose lives have been devoted to the making and saving of money, must from the very nature of their pursuits usually lack refinement of nature, and that their manners usually appear in ludicrous contrast with those of truly good society. But the papas are not all sullen and sottish ; the mammas all scheming; nor the daughters all plain and affected. Pretension is no doubt the fault of the class, but very rarely is it. exhibited in so offensive and burlesque a shape as we find it represented here in the family of the Somer sett Browns. There are many degrees of earth in the world between delf and porcelain. Making all allowance for these faults, the tale is still a most attractive one—quiet in its general character, but elegant and natural, and with the great merit of highly-finished social portraiture. The continental scenes are all good. The scene in the shop of Her mann Frank at Brussels, for example, would make a pretty picture if our artists would only condescend to sometimes look for subjects in modern fiction. PERIODICAL LITERATURE. WE have three Quarterly Reviews on our table, one of them, the National, being a first number. It is de signed, apparently, to represent the principles and opinions of—to use its own words—" that section of " the Anglican clergy, as yet unhappily a small one, " which ranks itself neither under the banners of " High nor Low Church." To that section, it is said Mr. Kingsley belongs, " with his master and " friend, Mr. Maurice ;" and if any section of their brethren can claim to rank them in their line, " it " is probably that one which, for want of a better " name, has been styled the Broad Church,' of " which Dr. Arnold is usually considered the prophttes." The doctrines of this Maurice-Kingsley school are somewhat obscurely expressed Ita teaching is inspired by one fundamental and com prehensive belief, that the " Kingdom of God " is not to be looked for in a future state, but lies round about us here, and is visible in all that beautifies, ennobles, and sanctifies life. A long article, the principal one in the number, is devoted to the novels and poems of Mr. Kingsley, who is said to hold common ground with both Dickens and Thackeray, but who is set above them as a describer of nature, and still more by the moral purpose of his works. At the close of the article the principles and the position of the Maurice-Kingsley school are more emphatically stated : It is to the honour of the Church of England that in Dr. Arnold, Mr. Maurice, Mr. Kingsley, and others of their school, she has found clergymen to point the way, by following which, if by any road whatever, that standing point may be attained, through their teaching, namely, that here, in this world, round about us, in our daily life at home, in our dealings with each other out of doors, is to be found the kingdom of God; and that 'he true func tion of the preacher, the teacher, and the worker, is to reveal the law of this kingdom, and bring all into citizen ship thereof. It remains to be seen how the Church of England will view this teaching and its prophets. She looked an kindly on Arnold ; she has deprived Mr. Maurice of his professorship at her pet college ; she listens, puzzled and uneasy, to the trumpet blasts of Kingsley; and views with alarm, but, as yet, without venturing a formal protest, the efforts of these teachers and others like them among the working men of our towns who have hitherto refused alto gether to listen to her teaching. All her antecedents lead us to fear that she will end by rejecting these, her most devoted and far most useful sons, from her pale, as she did John Wesley. The theology of this school is represented, we may assume, in the article on Ewald's " Life of Christ." It does not seem to greatly differ from what is essen- 671 tially the rationalistic system of Bauer and Stream. As regards the miraculous portions of the Bible nar ratives, the reviewer would admit : That there are some narrations, for example, In the Bible—as that of the passage of the Red Sea, and the similar one of the first crosaitg of the Jordan under Joshua—which may, with great probability, be reduced under the old rationalistic mode of interpretation, as exhi biting a common fact made wonderful by the natural exag geration of tradition ; some, again, like the temptation, and perhaps the transfiguration of Jesus, which mast be regarded as mythic or symbolical embodiments of a cer tain idea or belief; and, lastly, others, such as the innu merable instances of healing and restorative power, described in the New Testament, which allow of no un forced explanation that excludes the presence of some energy above what is ordinarily possessed by man. The saving clause, as to the supernatural element of Scripture, is surely too insignificant to be worth much pains to preserve. The Review is remarkable as another evidence of that rationalistic influence, disguised under many names and shapes, which is at work in the bosom of the Church itself. To an ordinary observer it does not appear in what essen tial particular Mr. Maurice's " Kingdom of God" (as here interpreted) differs from what is commonly known as Pantheism. The other articles are marked by that essayist kind of ability which now seems common to all our edu cated classes. The first paper, on " Administrative Reform," is very acute, and congratulates the country "on having abandoned or postponed the demand for organic changes, in favour of one for Administrative Reform." This is the faith of political Conservatism. The paper on "International Duties " is less satis factory, as it seems to justify the war with Russia on the ground of the immense progress made by that country during the last century. There is force, however, in the following passage : Unhappy Hungary! Who can now doubt the fatal loss of opportunity by England in the spring of 1849, through the yet clinging curse of the non•intt•rvention doctrine ? For how much of the present entanglement of Europe must Lord Palmerston himself feel that these few cold words of his are answerable ! VISCOUNT PALMERSTON TO MS. BUCHANAN. (Extract.) Foreign Office, May 17, 1849. Much as her Majesty's Government regret this interference of Russia, the causes which have led to It, and the effects which It may produce, they nevertheless have not considered the °cos- WWI to be one which at present calls for any formal expression of the opinions of Great Britain on the matter. When the appropriator of Poland heard that Great Britain had no opinion to express about the invasion and political extinction of Hungary, he might well suppose that the West had ceased to care about the East—that Bucharest was as open to him as Hermanstadt—and that constitutional England, which suffered him to hunt from city to city the Parliament of Pesth, would let him do as he liked with the Divan of Constantinople. THE Quarterly, in opposition to most of its younger contemporaries, eschews the discussion of principles either political or religious, and confines itself to practical subjects. Biographical sketches are given of Archdeacon Hare and of Sydney Smith. The " Circulation of the Blood " is treated in one paper, and the " Romans at Colchester " in another, and the "Feast of the Conception "in a third. One of the most amusing essays is that on " Advertise ments," tracing their progress from the first estab lishment of newspapers in this country. The poli tical article on the "Objects of the War" is an exposition of the Vienna Conference, including a review of the proceedings in connection with the startling disclosures made by Lord John Russell. We are glad to find that the Quarterly gives vigorous expression to what is now the universal sentiment as regards his conduct.. These weighty sentences are of greater force, as the Quarterly has of late care fully kept aloof from all sanction of the political action of the Conservative party : From the first amongst the most ardent advocates for the war, Lord John Russell was sent to Vienna to negotiate the terms of peace. We have now his own confirmation of Count hood's statement that not only did " he show himself inclined" towards the Austrian proposal for the settlement of the third point, but that he actually " under took to recommend the same to his Government with all his influence." It was generally rumoured, on his return to this country, that he professed the strongest desire for peace on the conditions ofiered at the Conferences, and the deepest repugnance to the continuation of the war. Public opinion, however, declared itself openly and un mistakably against him. All England felt that the ac ceptance of such terms, and the withdrawal of our baffled armies from Sebastopol, would be the seal of national defeat and national disgrace. Lord John Russell, the true type of the statesmen of the day, rose in the House of Commons, denounced those very terms of peace, repu diated with indignation any participation in the sentiments of those whom, after his declaration to Count !tool, had he been honest, he ought to have joined, solemnly warned the country against the impending dangers of Russian ambi tion, declared " that the fortifications of Bomarsund would give Russia complete predominence over the Baltic, and that neither Denmark, nor Sweden, nor any other power, would ever hold a finger against her in that sea," described the wide-spread influence acquired by Russia over Ger many, and proved to the country that no peace could be safe or honourable, no security could be obtained fur free dom or civiliaation, until this fatal preponderance of Russia should cease to exist. And yet this is the statesman who, 1