The Press.
London, England, 1858-08-28 00:00:00

823

cular of the Melroses ? It is plain that an entire
sentence has been omitted. The writers then
proceed :
IJlred, the eldest and best, thought Miss Florence
rather more flighty than was quite in accordance with a
feminine reserve they had read of in books : but in society
she was generally called " u capital girl ; one who was sure
to make an evening piss off well ; " while her sister was
pronounced a very nice girl, but far inferior, having at one
time been reported as about to enter a convent immediately,
as a Sister of Mercy, subsided into the somewhat languid
assistant of an Evangelical Minister, seeking in the reli—
gious dissipation of Bible meetings, missionary soirees ,
&c., something of the same thing which attracted Miss
Florence into a gayer round of balls, parties, and concerts.
Under the guidance of her reverend friend, Miss Edith
had been a much more quiet person than ever during the
last few months, and seemed to delight in the contrast
which appeared between herself and her sister, and con-
triving, unconsciously, to deepen it by a much plainer mode
of dress than Florence usually adopted.
here are good ideas and conceptions of character
spoiled by ridiculous and culpable want of syn-
tax. "As a Sister of Mercy, subsided into," &c.,
cannot be made sense without the interposition of
omitted words, " though she afterwards," &c.
Then Miss Florence Melrose's portrait is taken
thus

----- -
Many persons would have thought this necessary, had
they seen Miss Florence's costume, as she entered thw
drawing•room; she seemed to be dressed with minute
carefulness, and in much the same materials as a French
doll, and gave the idea that her exquisitely fitting blue silk
dress, with its wide flounces, and large bell-shaped sleeves,
must have been sown on, so impossible was it to discover a
single hook or eye. A. band of blue velvet passed across
the top of her forehead, seeming to confine a shower of
very light curls, and depended in long ends to her waist.
It was a standing joke, that. a wag had once attempted to
count the number of bows Miss Florence Melrose carried
on her person, and found the number thereof to be thirteen;
to wit— _ _

1 in her hair.
in front of her "jacket."
1 at the back.
3 one at the close of each flounce.
2 depending in streamers of hull a yard from
her shoulders.
2 at the elbows.
2 at the wrists.

13
Which last hal a troublesome habit of dipping into her
soup plate and tea-cup, and invading her neighbours'
favourite dishes ; even at this hour she hail not thought it
necessary to wear a pair of under•sleeves, but seemed rather
fond of displaying the white rounded arms, profusely
covered with glittering bracelets. The finish" to her cos-
tume was given by the gold chain, to which was attached a
Geneva watch, too small to go well, and the Chatelaine,
where hung the miscellaneous collection of little gold
charms and counter-charms, miniature fire-arms, an arm-
chair, a gribiron and a watch key, a Cross, and a tea-kettle,
and half* dozen lockets filled with hair of every possible
colour, and engraven with nearly all the letters of the
alphabet, as initials.
There are vivacity and good sketching talents
there shown, and what the writers want is a
careful study of syntax, and a close perusal of
Blair's judicious advice on the art of constructing
sentences. A practised fictionist would make a
capital novel by retouching the composition, and
omitting some of the chapters in " Leighton
Manor." The numerous mistakes of the work
are thus explained in the " L'Envoi" :
Dear readcrs,fitrewell ! We have brought our little book
to an end ; and it has been a great source of amusement
to the family of a Manor House—its Authors—as each has
in turn seized the pen and written whatever occurred to
them, often conveying the favourite characters of each other
into situations from whence they could scarcely be extri-
cated without some difficult adap:ation of circumstances.

But how, we would ask of those who will think it their
duty to crush this our poor little butterfly upon the wheel
of severe criticism, was it possible for us to produce a more
elaborate performance? We took for our watchword the
French proverb, " ['our porter legereruent la vie 11 faut
glisser stir Bien des chores," and applying it to authorship,
went on as fast as we could with the stream of events sup-
posed to occur in the very retired family of Leighton Manor
House. We could not stop to enter into the minutia; of
our scenes—the assemblage of gentle critics gathered night
after night round the blazing fire ; and no time was allotted
to those who wrote, as " the book " was among the amuse-
ments, not the duties, of the Christmas Holidays.

The explanation here almost disarms criticism,
but we should advise the authoresses not again to
rush into print without more care in grammar
and syntax. Let them consider themselves as
apprentice fictionists, and they may succeed in
future attempts. They have much liveliness of
mind and pleasantness of fancy, and they have
talent for perceiving character. With judicious
aid they might be highly improved.
2. "My Three Aunts" is not a first attempt,
and we rather think that the authoress has im-
proved on " Long, Long Ago," She has still
teiglenc7 to itlclulge too much in rctrospiOTFl