The Press.
London, England, 1856-11-15 00:00:00

till at last she hardly finds a single human
being, with the exception of a tavorite cousin,
Susan Graham, from whose society she derives
any happiness. In this state of mind she is
induced to accept an offer of marriage from
Claude Egerton, a young gentleman of large
fortune and excellent principles, who is repre-
sented as loving her truly, deeply, and ge-
nerously. Helen's notions of freedom do not,
however, agree with those of her lover, and
after some months of courtship, perpetually
interrupted by quarrels upon trivial subjects,
the match is finally broken off just as Helen
begins to discover she liked Claude better
than she thought she did. In the next part
of the story the acquaintance between Claude
and Susan is drawn much closer, and the
interest of the reader is highly excited
by the uncertainty which involves its issue.
Susan is in love with Claude, but up to
the last chapter we are iu doubt about the
sentiments of the hero, who ultimately turns
out faithful to his first love, her character
having now been purified and strengthened by
a long course of domestic trials. In this
portion of her tale the authoress has dis-
played consummate skill. The uncertainty of
which we speak is not the mere conventional
uncertainty of fiction which the reader can
always dispel by the slightest mental effort ;
we are really kept in doubt of the authoress's
own intention till such time as she chooses to
reveal it. And this power of exciting genuine
suspense and curiosity must be acknowledged
to be one of the highest, as it is also one of
the rarest, merits of novel-writing.
In Miss Sewell's characters the principal
merit is their complete and careful finish. No
opportunity of eliciting a trait is ever lost ;
the by-play, as it would he termed on the
stage, is perfect. No person, moreover, is in-
troduced without a purpose, and the most in-
significant do something to help the story
forward. From Claude and Helen and Susan,
down to Mrs. Graham, her uncle, and her
other two daughters—from them to Sir Henry
and Lady Clare, and thence to Madame Rein-
hardt, Captain Mordaunt, and other infe-
rior performers, the action descends by a well-
regulated scale, and is so artfully contrived
that we never feel sensible of any declension
of interest. The most pleasing character of
the number is perhaps that of the old admiral,
Mrs. Graham's uncle, whose last illness and
death-bed are described with affecting truth-
fulness. Susan Graham enlists from the first
our truest sympathies, but her career is in
many respects too painful to be attractive to
novel-readers. Characters like Claude, of
course, command our respect, but they do not
serve to make virtue amiable. It' Miss Sewell
would see an instance in which the highest
moral and Christian greatness is combined
with a soft and human temperament, let her
study the features of Mr. Holme Lee's " John
Halifax." It may be said that Claude's hard.
ness was a necessary conductor to Helen's
pride and petulance. But we say that Claude
is too prominent and influential a character to
be dealt with in this way ; and that, at all
events, if we concede this point, sufficient
pains are not taken to show that his harshness
was a fault. Miss Sewell has a dangerous
leaning towards this kind of male characters,
though we must do her the justice to say that
she puts into the mouth of the admiral one of
the best reflections on this subject that we
have often met with. "If you don't take
" care," he says to Claude, " you'll begin by
" acting coldness, and you'll end by feeling it."
The method of moral teaching adopted by
Miss Sewell, both in " Ivors " and her other
stories, i' sufficient to account for their popu-
larity. She loves to dwell on the conflict of
superior natures with the ordinary trials of
life ; to point out the dangers which beset a
warm imagination, a strong will, or a generous
heart ; and to warn us what mere apparent
trifles may put a whole life-time out of
joint, and corrupt the most splendid gifts.
This is a method which all can understand,
for all undergo trials, and all believe them-
selves in some points superior to their fellows.
Of the utility of this system we are, however,
more than doubtful. There aro dispositions,
perhaps, to which it may be beneficial, but we
are compelled to assert our belief that its
general tendency is pernicious, by setting