The Press.
London, England, 1857-05-23 00:00:00

510

many of his former personages are grouped'
around her. Dr. and Mrs. Proudie, Mr. Slope,
the Quiverfuls, and Mr. Arabia are among the
new importations, and are all drawn with
more or less skill. Mr. Slope would appear
to be the character on which our author has
laboured with the greatest gratification to
himself. Ho conies down to Barchester as
the new bishop's chaplain, and the special
favourite of the new bishop's wife, Mrs. Proudie.
He is a clever, oily, ambitious, hypocritical,
and vulgar man. The clergy of the diocese,
accustomed to Dr. Grantley, Mr. Harding,
and others of the same stamp, regard him with
loathing ; and though he at first makes a
few converts among the Barchester ladies,
tries hard for the deanery. and is even tem-
porarily successful in a rebellion against his
patroness, ho is at last driven from the field
with disgrace, though not with loss, as he
retires to the metropolis, marries a sugar-
baker's widow,and becomes a popularpreacher.
The signora—daughter of one of the prebends,
and divorced from an Italian husband—is
merely introduced for the purpose of contrast-
ing the Evangelical Slope with the ultra-High-
Church Mr. Arabia, when both are fur the
time under the influence of her charms. The
latter gentleman, however, is destined to high
honours in the career of both love and ambi•
lion, which we shall leave our readers to dis-
cover for themselves. The best drawn character
in the book is, in our opinion, Dr. Grantley, the
archdeacon. Pompons, but kindly—sincerely
religious, yet a friend to sociability and huma-
nity—liking to have his own way, yet liking
his friends even still better—a fine, honest,
portly old parson of the days gone by, he
enlists our warmest sympathies, and awakens
some, alas useless, regrets. Eleanor is love-
able and pleasant, but gifted with a perversity
surpassing that of woman. Nor do we think
that either she or the equally misguided Mr.
Arabin are portraits that evince genuine know-
ledge of the world. Mr. Trollope exaggerates
human infirmity. When men are in love, no
doubt they are suspicious ; but they suspect
even their own suspicions, and do not take
things for granted quite so easily as Mr.
Arabia does. This is a common fault with all
but the highest class of novel-writers. Unable
to detect the innermost workings of the
human heart, they are driven to father their
events upon the must impossible and clumsy
devices.

2. " Nightshade " is another ecclesiastical
novel. The title is symbolical. The cha-
racters, plot, and incidents of this elaborate
fiction all turn upon the evils of the
Church of Rome. The scene is laid in
our own time. We are introduced to life in
convents, to ecclesiastical matters in Rome,
to Ribbon conspirators in Ireland, and to aris-
tocratic society in London. Mr. Johnston
has a graceful scholarly style, and he possesses
a refined mind, but we think that he would
have succeeded better as an essayist on
" Popery " than as a novelist illustrating its
evils His characters want animation : he
describes when he should dramatise; he
reflects when he should record. His critical
powers may have been developed to the
partial injury of his creative faculties. The
names of the characters and places betray
the strokes of an exaggerating limner.
We have " Mr. M'Envie," " St. Slander," "the
" borough of " Buyemall," " Mr. Tractate,"
and so forth. We are reminded, also, of the
evils inseparable from all controversial novels.
The characters are made to act according to
rule, and to peeform good or commit evil in
order to support the author's theory. Admit-
ting t) the fullest extent the great evils of the
Romanist Church and creed, still we must
recollect that human natiire should be the
special study of a novelist. For example, a
certain Charles Annandale stands in the way
of two reverend plotters, and they resolve
to get lion over to Ireland for the purpose
of being assassinated by the Ribbon Society.
Here is the way they discuss the " little
a Hair ":

can never rest till that man is disposed of," said Mr.
Prynn visitor, his lips being tightly Impressed, and his
brow contracted.
agree with you ; he has d me ns much mischief."
" He must be disposed of. and quickly."
" That is rather more difficult to accomplish in England
than is Rome."

THE PRESS.

" More difficult, indeed, but not impossible."
" And yet—" said Mr. I'rynna, muiingly, his hand rest-
ing on the sermon which he was to preach from the pulpit
of his church next Sunday.
" Well? "
" Suppose he could be got over to Ireland."
" By our Lady! a capital suggestion; shall I ask the
Provincial ?"
"So I could counsel; it might be done after our usual
manner."
" Certainly, a pressing letter from Mr. Baring—yes,
that is his agent's name. Where is O'Toole's letter ?—a
pressing letter from Mr. Baring, with a hint about an
important discovery, which ma 3, mean anything or
nothing, but which he will at once connect with the case
of the Welpoles, will bring Annandale over to Ireland, and
then—"
"'Then he will be fair game, and a good mark while the
nights are long," said the Reverend Mr. Prynne.
"It would be worth a journey to Dublin to get this
Annandale finally disposed of."
" That it would."
" By the favour of our Provincial I shall go ; and our
brave brethren of the Ribbon Society will gallantly carry
out our secret orders."
"That they will ; but we must be cautious that the con•
nection between these Ribbonmen and the Society of Jesus
be not discovered."
" How should it, reverend priest of the Anglican
Church ?" said Mr. Prynne's visitor.

These effects are too strong, and are only a
daubing caricature of the intellectually subtle
craft and misapplied ingenuity of the Society
of Jesus. There are some smart passages in this
volume affecting to describe high political life,
but they read too like leading articles chopped
up into dialogues. We shall select a specimen.
There was a dinuer-party given for a certain
Lord Oxborough. It is thus described :
Lord Castieford never could get his eldest son to declare
what party he intended joining %hen he became Lord
()thorough, M.P. Would he join the Tories ? No ; they
sympathised too much with the foreign despots. The
Whigs? No ; they were a family party, faithful to each
other, and faithless to the country. The Conservatives?
No; they bad absolutely nothing to recommend them.
They reminded him of a sentry standing guard, with a
rusty gun, over the ruins of a house that had been first
pillaged and then burnt.

Well, would he join th Radicals, then? Surely he was
not going to bring disgrace on his order by uniting
himself with the extreme Democratic party, who were
prepared to demolish the House of Lords, not having
befcre their eyes the fear of coronets ? Oh ! no ; of
course he would not juin the Radicals; the Radicals
were just like hungry rats, capital for destroying the
foundations of every possible edifice, and caring for
nothing at all, so that they themselves could get plenty of
good eating.
Lord Castleford, therefore, did not know what to make
of the young lord. In his time, he said, men were con-
tented to adopt their father's political creed, and were ready
to join his party and fight for it.
" And pray what is your political creed my lord ? "
" Mine? why really I don't know ; I never thought
about it. I don't mean my individual creed, I mean as a
general rule—fathers in general and sons in general."
" So after all I am adopting your political creed ; you
have none, neither have I."

" Well, well' think about it; talk to our first•rate men ;
make up your mind, and then act."

Rather smart writing, but the talk is not
natural. The party meet together, and then
the pros and cons. of the opposite sides are
discussed in summary fashion :--
" When do you take your seat, Lord Oxborough ? "
asked the distinguished Conservative member we have
already made the acquaintance of.
" Next week, I believe."

"On which side dOyn; purpose sitting ? "
" What should you advise me to do ?" asked the young
Member of Parliament.

" I—really ; well, of :course, I should say to join our
side."
" the Conservative ? "

" Yes ; the Conservative side."
" Any important questions interesting your party just
now ? '

" Not particularly; we are watching the movements of
the Government. We mean to take advantage of them
whenever we catch them tripping."
" Ah ! then you mean to act as a sort of parliamentary
detective party ?"

" We mean to take upon ourselves the guardianship of
the Constitution ; our political opponents are labouring to
destroy the noble fabric that was built by the wibtluin of
our ancestors."

" And your policy ?"
" Will depend upon circumstances."
"Yes ; I think I understand the plan of operations
which the Conservative party mean to pursue. Watch
their opponents, and whatever they propose, suggest the
very opposite."
"You are right. Lord Oxborough," said a Whig Minister,
across the table; '• you have exactly described the policy of
the Conservative party."
" And pray what may be the policy of the Whigs, my
lord ? "

" Why, electoral reform, extension of education, and a
liberal and enlightened policy at home and abroad."
" Will you educate the people, or extend the franchise
as the first measure ?"

" Estensiou of the- frs.nchise must come first, I befievo."

SATURDAY,

" Will this benefit the country, or your party, my lord ? "
" Oh ! of course we desire to promote the welfare of the
people."
By maintaining the Whigs in office, I suppose," said
Lard o:borough.

There is affected vivacity in this " breaky" com-
position. Mr. Johnston has no strokes of rich
humour or arch raillery, though there is much
talent occasionally shown for sharp literary
sneers. The author's talents are those rather
of a reviewer, or a political pamphleteer than
the gifts of a fictionist. A dissertation from
his pen on the present progress and various
ramifications of the Church of Rome might he
a valuable work, and we think that it would
add more to his literary fame than his present
performance, which is much too purely pole-
mical to please.
3. " Below the Surface "—a novel, we be•
lieve, by Sir Arthur Elton—bears out the title
well. The surface here depicted is as smiling
as anything can well be. A young man, Oliver
Nugent, the descendant of an ancient and
illustrious home, living and farming the re-
mains of his ancestral estate—healthy, hand-
some, cultivated, and out of debt ; Mr. and
Lady Maud Usherwood, with their three
pretty and affectionate daughters, and plenty
of money in his immediate neighbourhood ;
Sir Reginald Clinton, a reformed baronet, with
high artistic tastes, and nothing to stint their
gratification, would at first sight seem to con-
stitute a tableau over which undisturbed
felicity must hover. Such, however, is very far
from being the case. Nugent marries Gertrude,
the eldest Miss Usherwood, and very nearly
embarks for America, under the persuasion of
her infidelity. Behind all the splendour of the
Usherwood family lurks the demon of railway
speculation, which brings them face to face
with ruin ; and the envied Sir Reginald has a
heart torn by remorse for a wife whom he has
cruelly driven from him in his early youth,
and a child that seems lost to him for ever.
How all these events arise, what misery they
create, and how they are finally disposed of, it
is not for us to describe ; they are well narrated
by Sir Arthur, and the incidents which con-
nect them naturally and dramatically intro-
duced. All the provincial scenes, with which
he is doubtless familiar, are vividly repre-
sented. The lunatic asylum in which poor
Lady Clinton has perished—the workhouse
where her body is immured—the turn out of
the yeomanry—and the bursting of Nugent's
breakwater, are pictures executed with con-
siderable spirit and exactness. For a first
attempt, as we believe this to be, " Below the
Surface " must be stamped as a decided
Success.

4. " Glenwood Manor" is a tale written with
smile stiffness, though not without marks of
power. The authoress has a strong grasp of
the subject, though she has not yet acquired
the polish of style, or the art of arrangement.
Like a clever but inexperienced actress, who
can imitate deep emotions, but has ►►ot yet
mastered the stage walk. Both Mr. and Mrs.
Kingley, and Helen, are characters well
conceived, but imperfectly executed. Mate-
rials are wasted, and superfluous characters
introduced. The idea of the money hoard
and Helen's impl►cation in the robbery is ex-
cellent; yet for some reason we fail to watch
the progress of events with any absorbing
interest. Still we are inclined to think that
the authoress of " Glenwood Manor" has the
resources of a novelist in her, if she gives herself
time, and studies the rules of this species of
composition.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.--MAY 18.
Boo Ks.
The Stale Policy of Modern Europe.

Two vols.
The Wreckers. Three vole. Longmans.
Sampson Lowe and Co.
Good is Everything. A Tale. By Mrs. Foot. Two vols.
Hurst lackett.
A Visit to Salt Lake. By William Chandless.and SmPith and
ld
Remarks on the Differences in Shakespeare's Versifica E
tioner..
The Camel.
J. W. Parker and Son.
Hurst and Blackett.
Amusing Poetry. Edited by Shirley Brooks. Lambert

and Co.
At Home and Abroad. By Miss Pardoe. Lambert and Co.

PAMPHLETS.
Sul so Bad as they Seem. W. and F. Cash---A Treatise on
Firearms. W. H. Dalton—Womru and Work. Bosworth
and Co.—The Great Sermons of Me Great Preachers. Ward
and Lock—hthimo of Suez Ship Canal. J. Weale.

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