The Press.
London, England, 1854-07-22 00:00:00

SATURDAY,

of Missolonghi, than which a more gallant re-
sistance is not recorded in military annals. It
is the intelligence and ambition of the Greek
race, contrasted with the degraded position
which they occupy under the Turks, that com-
plicates the Eastern question. Its ultimate
solution no man can foresee, and the historian
who deals with the past and present wisely
abstains from predicting the future.

Transmutation; or, the. Lord and the Lout. By
N. or M. London : Chapman and Hall.
NOVELS in a single volume are rarely success-
ful. Dramatic play of character must have
adequate space for its exhibition, and short
fictions read like mere " tales " for a maga-
zine. By a peculiar style of execution, the
author of " Peg Woffington" and " Christie
Johnston" succeeded in producing consider-
able effect with a limited space, but Mr. Reade's
talent for describing in dialogue falls to few
authors. In "Transmutation " the writer has
crowded a startling variety of incidents into
one volume, evidently modelled on the con-
densed plan adopted by Mr. Reade. "The
Lord and the Lout " is the history of a couple
of changelings. Between the old Earl of
Rycot, and Harston (a neighbouring miller)
there has existed a feud. Lord Rycot is a
pattern of " the wicked old peer " who so
often appears iu works of fiction, and he mar-
ries, late in life, a heartless beauty. Their
offspring is a ricketty child, whose body is
frail and feeble. Simultaneously with the
birth of Lord Rycot's heir, the miller has a
vigorous child born to him, and a village doc-
tor, one Peter Prosset, out of pure good na-
ture (as the story. runs in the novel), changes .
the children, putting the "lord" in the place
of the "lout; and vice versa, and the pseudo
Lord Hilton grows up to be heir to Lord Rycot.
The real lord lives on at the mill a capricious
weakling, prone to vindittive passions, in the
gratification of which he slays a gamekeeper
of Lord Rycot. By a combination of circum-
stances, there are strong suspicions that Lord
Hilton himself murdered the gamekeeper, and
the young peer is committed to gaol, amidst
popular execration, but, as the author inartis•
tically shows us his innocence, we aro not
harrowed by the noble's lord's sufferings.
Prosset at last resolves to disclose the facts
of the whole ease, under the pressure of con-
science, but, just as the magistrate is at hand
to take his deposition, the old doctor is struck
with paralysis, so as to enable the author to
conclude his story by leaving the pseudo peer
in possession of his title and estates.
Such a story is too unreal to excite deep in-
terest, and it exhibits too many of the stale
artifices of novelists, besides failing in moral
purpose. Portions of it are pleasingly written.
There is a striking scene between the young
lord and his confidential legal adviser, who
firmly believes that his client is guilty of the
murder ; and with a more natural plot the
writer might have been successful in rousing
our interest.
The process of " transmutation " by which
Peter Prosset puts " the lout " in the place
of " the lord " is thus described :
" 'Twill be dead before morning," muttered the doctor,
raising it in his bony hand, and examining it as a naturalist
would an insect : " and then what will become of Rycot
and its castle ?—Yonder whimsical fool, under her silken
hangings, has not stamina to become again a mother; and
disappointment and disgust will drive the earl from the
spot. The tyranny of Brownsell will be renewed; the
village return to its wallowing in the mire. As to
myself--"
But to do Peter Prosset justice, it was by no means him-
self who figured highest in his list of victims to arise from
the death of Lord Hilton. And they were more than he
well knew how to count. The old man's mind was shaken
by the rapid incidents of that eventful night. His heart
was opened ; the impulses of his officious nature were
astir ; and Satan was of course at hand to whisper that,
by the exercise of his own ingenuity and adroitness, he
might, perhaps, still repair the injuries inflicted by Provi-
dence upon the neighbourhood.
"To do a great right, do a little wrong,"
insinuated the Evil one. "Supply at once an heir to Ilycot
Castle, and relieve the poor widower of an additional charge
on his helpless household. A good act—a great act—an set
worthy of Peter Prosset,—at once a good Samaritan and an
enlightened philosopher."
He listened—who does not ?—to the suggestion of the
tempter ! Not a moment was to be lost. The room con-
taining the children was utterly deserted. So scanty was
the primitive apparel of both infants, that there was little
difficulty in effecting a change of raiment ; and having with
tremulous hands accomplished the tranamuuition, and