The Press.
London, England, 1857-08-15 00:00:00

THE P li, E S AUGUST 15, 1857.

We hear that this book has driven all the
aristocratic young ladies in London wild
with admiration for its noble author. We wish
" them, or one or either or any of them," every
success ; but if congenialities of temperament
and. sympathies of travel are to be taken into
account, there is a " party " who has a prior
claim. It need scarcely be said that we allude
to the junior of the two " Unprotected
Females in Norway."

NEW NOVELS.

1. A Woman's Story. By Mrs. S. C. Hail.

London : Hurst and Blackett.
3. Life and its Realities. By Lady Chatterton.

London : Hurst and Blackett.
3. Lucien Playfuir. By Thomas Mackern.

London : Smith and Elder.
4. Leonora dOreo. By G. P. R. James.
London: Newby.
5. The Athelings. By Margaret Oliphant.

London : Blackwoods.
6. Tom Burke. By Charles Lever. London :
Chapman and Hall.
1. The first tale upon our list is written by an
old popular favourite, and, we doubt not, will
he recognised as worthy of her former produc•
Lions. "A Woman's Story" bears unm►stake-
ably the stamp of intellectual power. Possibly
it is to some extent deficient in that grace and
softness which frequently lends a charm to
lady writers even where more solid attractions
are wanting, but none can deny that it is
written by a woman of real literary capacity
and considerable vigour of thought. There is
no silliness in it. It is sometimes, perhaps,
dry, but never empty or frivolous. Helen
Lyndsey, the heroine, is a young lady who
takes to literature as a means both of paying
her father's debts and securing her own inde-
pendence. She becomes the authoress of a
successful tragedy, and the reading of the
play in the greenroom and subsequent de-
meanour of the company is decidedly the
cream of the story. It is no detraction from
Mrs. Hall's merits to point out that this scene
has been drawn before by a hand which it is
not'easy to surpass—we mean the author of
" Gilbert Gurney." But her own picture bears
the impress of originality, and we acquit her
most readily of anything resembling plagia-
rism. The villain of the piece, a certain Mr.
Marley, is a rather mysterious character, and
the secret that binds him and Helen together
is, perhaps, a little too far-fetched.
2. "Life and its Realities" has less power
than " A Woman's Story," but more softness
and more interest. The character of Lucy is
drawn with great skill. She is a true woman,
and we are made to sympathise with her
fortunes just as we should with those of any
pretty woman in real life whose charms pre-
vented us from investigating her conduct too
closely. The principal error in this novel
is, we think. the [number of characters in-
troduced. We have, indeed, three genera-
tions before us, and the interest completely
passes away from the original heroine long
before the end of the story. This is a defect
of art, and must always prevent any fiction
from enthralling our attention. But it by no
means hinders it from being extremely read-
able. We learn to take an interest in Lady
Chatterton's characters as they pass before us,
and we do not pause to inquire how far the
unity of the tale may be violated by their
appearance. The incident of the haunted
room is worked with considerable melodra-
matic force, and the apparition of the murdered
child is so managed as to leave us in doubt
of the authoress's own opinion of the subject
till such time as she chooses to clear it up
for us. This is a very high and very rare
merit. Lady Chattcrton's style is pleasant
and polished, and the stream of her story is
kept clear from superfluous moralising, in
which we are sorry to say lady writers are
rather too apt to indulge.
3. " Lucien Play fair " is a story we cannot
make much out of—it is confused and wordy.
But the author has some graphic power, and
various scenes in the three volumes are drawn
with much vividness. Mr. Mackern is clearly
a man of some thought and reflection, but we
question if novel-writing be his forte.

4. " Leonora d'Orco " possesses most of
Mr. James's stereotyped faults and merits.
It is marked by the inveterate mannerism, the
boarding-school morality, and the mechanical
action, which have, nevertheless, been unable
to drown the substantial counterbalancing
attractions of the author of. " Richelieu,"
" Harry Masterton," and " The Gipsy." Vivid
descriptive powers, a truly English love of
nature, and great gentleness and purity, are
the qualities which have achieved for Mr.
James an enduring popularity, and which
exist more or less in the pages of " Leonora
d'Orco." The scene of the present story is in
Italy, during the last decade of the fifteenth
century, which witnessed Charles the Eighth's
invasion of Naples, and the commencement of
Ctesar Borgia's career. The two lovers are for
a while separated by the machinations of a
vindictive retainer, who intercepts Leonora's
letters to her Lorenzo, who returns with the
French King across the Alps. They are
brought together again after a decent interval,
and fairly married in the last page but one of
the third volume. There are the usual number
of assassinations and intrigues—of mountain
gorges threaded by brilliant cavalcades—and
dark-souled men who sometimes look upon
the stars and meditate on infinity. As a.
broad picture it may, perhaps, represent with
sufficient accuracy the aspect of Italian life at
that period. The costumes are carefully
painted ; and the characters move through
their allotted parts without any violation of
the stage proprieties. Mr. James, however,
shines most in English stories and quiet home
scenery. His best novels, of which we may
say with justice that they form a school of
their own, and will be read with great interest
while novels continue to be read at all, are of
this character, and oa this particular ground
wo think he has no rivals.
5. " The Athelings, or the Three Gifts,"
lately reprinted front Blacktenod's Magazine,
is not as a story equal to that which preceded it
in the same periodical—we mean " Zaidee"—
but it is a very charming story nevertheless.
There is a soft, warm, sunny effect about the
whole production which is inexpressibly at-
tractive. The two girls are really loveable
creations. In their muslin dresses and simple
bonnets, their artless grace and lithe gesture,
as described walking through the streets
of London, or sauntering on the lawn at Mrs.
Edgerly's villa—they form the prettiest picture
we have met with either in art or reality for a
long time. The young authoress is the most
interesting of the two. Marian is rather too
much of a child ; and her love for Louis grows
up rather too suddenly. But the growth of
the affection between Agnes and Lionel
Rivers is depicted with consummate skill.
The latter character himself we cannot help
thinking rather a failure : he is drawn as a
man of high intellect, profound learning, and
unconquerable zeal, who passes from Tracta-
rianisin to scepticism, and from scepticism hack
to faith in the simple tenets of Christianity. But
Mrs. Oliphant will excuse us for saying that a
character of this sort appears to be a little out
of her depth. Psychological analysis is fre-
quently attempted by ladies, but rarely with
success. They are learned in the workings of
the heart—they can read with accuracy the
foibles or the virtues which are the product
of the moral part—hut they are, from the
natural results of their education, entirely at
sea when they try to handle the perplexities
or inconsistencies of a metaphysical mind.
But in such a character as Charley, again,

" the big boy," the authoress is excellent.
Mrs. Atheling, Miss Anastasia, Mrs Edgerly,
are all finished and lifelike portraits ; Mr.
Endicott, too, the American lion-hunter, is an
excellent specimen of a class that is half
amusing and half offensive ; Louis, his little
sister, and Lord Winterbourne, not perhaps
quite so natural, but still forcible and striking.
The plot is sufficiently good, and the story
revolves round it in a style that evinces
genuine constructive talent.
6. There cannot be a greater contrast than
between the quiet story of " The Athelings "
and the dashing military adventures of Mr.
Lever's hero. We are not those who profess
to observe in " Tom Burke " the first syino-
toms of decadence in Mr. Lever. It is true
that there is less Irish fun and anecdote ; but

we think the spirit-stirring descriptions of the
" grand army" more than compensate for
their absence. The L•ish are a peculiarly
military people, and in our opinion the three
best narrators of the more exciting scenes of
warfare at the present day are Irishmen
Maxwell, Lever, and Napier. Nothing can bo
finer, in our opinion, than the battle of Auster-
litz in "Tom Burke " ; while the ordinary
camp life of those reckless and enthusiastic
soldiers is painted by one who evidently ap-
preciates to the full the temperament of the
true professional soldier—of the man who
sees in his sword his only means of subsist-
ence, and his only instrument of advance—
whose uniform is his only dress, and whose
regiment is his only home. As a whole story,
"Tom Burke" is less interesting, perhaps,
than Mr. Lever's three preceding tales, prin-
cipally from the absence of a regular heroine
—like a landscape without a river, or a palace
without a garden. But we deny that it
evinces any decay of genuine power, and
must be accepted as a proof of the versatility
and not the decline of Mr. Lever's genius.