The Press.
London, England, 1857-12-19 00:00:00

given us a very aniusiug„and probably very
popular, stcry.
There are three young men and three young
ladies upon whom our interest is centred.
Henry Norman and Alaric Tudor are clerks
in the " Weights and Measures" Office, and
Charley Tudor, cousin of the aforesaid, in the
" Internal Navigation" Office. At Surbiton
Cottage, on the banks of the Thames, dwells
Mrs. Woodward, a widow lady, with three
charming daughters, Gertrude, Linda, and
Katie. The principle of evil is personified
in the character of the Hon. Undecimus Scott,
an aristocratic speculator and swindler, who
provides the misery ; and as there is no good
genius, who plays the Deus ex niachina and
purveys the antidote, that gentleman's machi-
nations are attended with a most unfortunate
degree of success. These are the principal
dramatis persona, but there are numerous
minor characters, all carefully finished. A
roguish old usurer, who preys upon small fry ;
a pretty barmaid, who nearly entraps one of
the three servants of the Crown, several spe-
cimens of the latter, from the highest to the
lowest grade, and a few fashionable people—
are grouped round the central figures with
much skill, and produce a pleasant variety.
With the respective characters of the heroes
and heroines we are perfectly familiar. Henry
Norman—proud, reserved, and honest—with
an excellent heart but only a middling head,
distanced at first by Alaric Tudor, the
clever ambitious man, oscillating dange-
rously between his waning love of principle
and his growing love of power, but found
at the close of the book to exemplify the
old adage that honesty is the best policy
—Charley, the regular fast man, a cross be-
tween Bob Sawyer and Harry Foker, who
smokes the strongest tobacco, drinks the most
beer, goes oftenest to the Casino, and owes the
most money of any of his set, but is finally re-
formed by the influence of a virtuous attach-
ment—Gertrude, proud, self-reliant, and beau-
tiful—Linda, gentle, ductile, and pretty—Katie,
gay, spirited, and witty—are all old acquain-
tances with whom we can always shake hands
at the nearest circulating library.
The " Three Clerks " is evidently intended
to be a novel " upon" the Civil Service, and
displays practical knowledge on the subject.
But we must warn our readers that if they
expect to find it a controversial novel they will
be disappointed. Mr. Trollop° carefully
guards himself from expressing any decided
opinion upon the recent reforms. He rallies
the old school on their slowness, and the new
school on their pedantry, but abstains from
committing himself to either. The spirit in
which these topics are discussed will, perhaps,
be understood from the following scene, in
which Mr. Oldeschole, the chief of the In-
ternal Navigation Office, about to be abolished,
is interrogated by a newly-appointed commis-
sioner :
They asked him all manner of questions ; but there
was one question which they put to him, day after day, for
four days, that nearly drove him mad. It was always put
by that horrid young lynx-eyed new commissioner, who
sat there with his hair brushed high from off his fore-
bead, peering out of his capacious excellently washed
abht collars, a personification of conscious official zeal.
" And now, Mr. Oldeschole, if you have had leisure to
consider the question more fully, perhaps you can define
to us what is the—hum—hrn—the use—hum—h-m—hm
—the exact use of the Internal Navigation Office ?"
And then Sir Warwick would go on looking through
his millstone as though now he really bad a hope of seeing
something, and Sir Gregory would lean back in his chair,
and rubbing his hands slowly over each other, like a great
Akinetos as he was, wait leisurely for Mr. Oldeschole's
answer, or rather for his no answer.
What a question was this to ask of a man who had
pent all his life in the Internal Navigation Office? 0
reader! should it chance that thou art a clergyman,
imagine what it would be to thee, siert thou asked what
is the exact use of the Church of England, and that, too,
by some stubborn catechist whom thou wert bound to
answer; or, if a lady, happy in a husband and family,
say, what would be thy feelings if demanded to define
the exact use of matrimony ? Use! Is it not all iu all
to thee ?
Mr. Oldeschole felt a hearty inward conviction that his
office had been of eery great use. In the first place, had
he not drawn from it a thousand a year for the last five
and twenty years? had it not gisen maintenance and em-
ployment to many waithy men who might perhaps have
found it difficult to obtain maintenance elsewhere ? had
it not always been an office, a public office of note and
reputareputation,putson, with proper work assigned to it? The use of
it—the exact use of it? Mr. Oldeschole at last declared,
with some indignation in his tone, that ho btul been there
fori forty y ii• 1 knew well that the dice was ytity