The Press.
London, England, 1857-04-25 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

treatment are sufficiently novel, to prevent their
literary rank being tolerably well determined alter
the issue of one or two volumes. Occasionally a
new school of writers will arise whose merits steal
very slowly upon the public mind, and whose ad-
mirers will naturally take every opportunity of
urging their claims upon the world. No one of the
writers whose works now lie before us, however
excellent, can be brought under this description ;
and in their ease, accordingly, the cheap issue of
their stories can only be taken as the natural con-
firmation of that approval which was passed on them
at their first appearance.
Mr. Lever may be said to have taken the public
by storm with his dashing Irish stories of " Charles
O'Malley," "Jack Hinton," and " Harry Lorrequer."
They rose at once into first-class popularity as tales
of fun and adventure. The exaggerated style of in-
cident in which they abound, though slightly grazed
by the good-humoured satire of the " Prize Novelist',"
has not proved any serious drawback. The Ireland of
fifty years ago is looked upon as a wild country
of perpetual romance and wonders, and stories that
would be laughed down, if told of Leicestershire and
Kent, have not seemed to violate probability when
the scene was Tipperary or Galway. Ireland was
privileged ; she was allowed ungrudgingly to be the
fertile mother of ludicrous blunders, dashing ex-
ploits, immense intcxication, and constant duelling.
Drawing largely upon his credit, Mr. Lever pranced
a series of stories which will probably long maintain
their eminence, and in his own walk he may be
declared without a rival. He has also claims to
be considered an historical novelist. Old Irish
manners have wellnigh passed away. The polite
and scholarly old priest from Salamanca, or St.
Omers, has given place to the coarser alumni of
Maynooth. The Encumbered Estates Court has
made havoc with the claret loving, fox•hunting
squires; and the famine has, alas, decimated " the
" finest peasantry in the world." If Ireland has
become a wiser country, it has undoubtedly become
a sadder one. Mr. Laver can well afford to rest upon his
laurels. With the exception of the one inimitable
story of Captain Blake—perhaps the best of its
class, and in humour superior to Lever's—no other
novel of Irish life can be put in comparison with his
own. And we are very glad to see our old friends
reappearing in this cheap and accessible form.
We have so lately had occasion to review Mr.
Reade at some length, that it will be the less neces-
sary to dwell upon his Peculiarities at present. We
said, in our notice of " Never Too Late to Mend,"
that Mr. Reade had fallen short of the promise
given by his former works ; and certainly, on the re-
perusal of "Christie Johnson," we find that opinion
corroborated. In this short story there is a wonder-
ful concentration of power and pathos. Lord
Ipsden's interview with Jess Rutherford is masterly.
But these great beauties are disfigured by great in-
equalities. Mr. Reade's mannerisms are most pro-
minent and offensive, and he is deficient in the art
of connection, the callida junctura, which the novel
requires even more rigidly than the drama.
"Christie Johnson" is but a series of disconnected
scenes. But the shortness of the whole prevents
our feeling this defect as keenly as in a tale of the
same length as his last. Of " Peg Wotfington " much
the same may be said. In both stories the author is
perpetually summing up his incidents, and, in the
expressive language of street-boys, " reckoning up "
his characters. This is troublesome land tedious.
But " Peg Woffington " shares the merit of being
written with that sprightly energy and reality of por-
traiture which constitutes the charm and accounts
for the popularity of all Mr. Reade's writings. The
scene in which the heroine personates Mrs. Brace-
girdle is a triumph of skill.
Of "John Halifax" we can only say we are un-
feignedly glad that it should be one of the works
chosen for cheap reissue. It is one of the noblest
stories among modern works of fiction. Its defects,
perhaps, consist in a slight over delicacy of senti-
ment, and a somewhat too censorious tone towards
the aristocracy. But these are very minute faults.
The interest of the story is enthralling, the charac-
ters admirably sustained, and the moral excellent.
Of Mr. Hodgson's series of " Household Novels,"
of which five appear to have been published, we have
only at present received three. Margaret Catchpole
is now a household word. We have reperused her
strange story with as much interest as ever, and
its reappearance in this shape cannot fail of being
_ _

highly racceptable to the putdic. Of Mr. G. P.
James and Captain Mayne Reid we cannot hope to
say anything fresh. The former gent!ernan may
well rest content with his extensive popularity. Nor
are we of that class who profess to be unable to
admire his style of fiction. Some of his earlier
novels are decidedly superior to much of that litera-
ture which obtains extensive circulation at present,
and there is a tone of purity and refinement about
all that he writes which well fits his works to form
part of a series like the present, which, we are told,
is intended to aid in " carrying out the views of
" those distinguished men who have lately addressed

SATURDAY,

" large numbers on the subject of education." we
know of nothing in "Arrah Neil " which calls for
separate notice.
If boys' books are very difficult to write, one who
has succeeded in pleasing them so well as the author
of " Rifle Rangers " deserves all encouragement.
We heartily commend Mr. Hodgson's choice in
selecting his works, and feel sure that the diffusion
of this class of literature will do much to purify and
elevate the tastes of the lower orders.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.—Apnth O.
BOOKS.

Russia after the War. By Selina Banbury. 2 vols.
Hurst and Blacken.
John Halifax, Gentleman. By the Author of " The Heed
of the Family," &c. Hurst and Blackett.
The Roue Pass ; or, Englishmen in the Highlands. By
Erick Mackenzie, 3 vols. Smith and Elder.
Poems. By Mrs. F. P. Fellows. Smith and /Oder.
Systematic Philosophy. Smith and Elder.
Stories and Sketches. By James Ryan. Smith and Elder.
The Last Judgment. A Poem. Longman and Co.
The Nature and Purpose of God as Revealed in the Apocalypse.
Glenwood a}fanor•House• A Novel. By Esther Bakewell.

Hall and Virtue.
The Abbey, and other Poems. By T. N. Beasley. J. Madden.
Toot Brown's Schooldays. By An Old Boy. Mactuillau

and Co.
The Fortunes of Glencore. By Charles Lever. 3 vols.
Chapman and Hall.
A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry
of Greid Britain and Ireland. By Sir Bernard Burke.
Hurst ana Blaokett.

,Vusir.