The Press.
London, England, 1858-11-06 00:00:00

E PRES S, NOVEMBER 6, 1858.

T H

Sylvan Holt's Daughter. By Holme Lee
In Three Vols. London : Smith, Elder,

and Co.
THE reputation achieved by the authoress of
Gilbert Massenger " was one not to be lightly
imperilled. In that remarkable story we saw the
promise of high excellence. An earnestness of
Prime, a high conception of duty, and the faculty
of graphic description were visible throughout.
Compressed within the limits of one volume, the
plot was substantial enough to support the in-
cidents and the dialogue. There were no gaps.
And the story had a unity and compactness
in which our three-volume novels are now too
often deficient. A perusal of " Sylvan Holt's
Daughter" induces us to regret that the author
should not have adhered to the dimensions which
proved so successful in " Thorney-hall," as well
as "Gilbert Massenger." The present novel is
more diffuse, and, in consequence, often halting.
Several chapters are introduced which not only
do not help out the story, but throw no light
upon the characters. With the character of
Sylvan Holt himself the authoress has taken
great pains, yet she fails to excite our interest
in him to any commensurate degree. The hero,
Colonel Fielding, like many other heroes, is com-
monplace. Jacky, the old servant, is cleverly
drawn; and the hand that depicted Oscar
must, we think, have been familiar with the
nose of some canine favourite. Still there is
no one person in the book who will abide in
the memory of her readers, and. become, like
Gilbert Massenger, a typal character. Margaret
herself; the daughter, is a beautiful and glowing
creation—fresh and dewy, like her own heath-
bells. But the other characters in the book
are far too much subordinated to this one
prominent figure, and the effect produced is
almost that of a biography rather than of
the complex affair we commonly understand
by a novel. Holme Lee has given us a very in-
teresting character, but not a very interesting tale,
which she has suffered to run itself dry at the
conclusion like a brook in summer, without taking
the trouble to fill up various portions, neces-
sary not less to the completeness of the picture
than to the gratification of the reader's curiosity.
We shall not on this occasion offer to our
readers anything like an analysis of the three
volumes. A brief summary of the leading points
will be sufficient. Sylvan Holt himself is a
wealthy misanthrope, and Margaret his only
child. Their residence is at Wildwood-hall,
among the dales of Cumberland ; and there
Margaret grows up untamed and untutored
except in the accomplishments of boyhood.
She is an excellent rider and an indomitable
walker, usually goes out with her father on the
11th of August, and occasionally knocks over
a brace or two herself. But for one refined
and accomplished friend in a neighbouring vil-
lage, Mrs. Clervaux, she would probably have
developed into a sort of female Cymon. This
lady contrives to keep alive certain feminine
habits until such time as the fated cavalier makes
his appearance, in the shape of Colonel Fielding,
a distinguished officer and man of the world,
captivated by the character of Margaret, who in
return falls passionately in love with him.
Straightway, the orthodox results ensue. The
)(Jung lady becomes " conscious of her dtfects,"
desirous to learn the accomplishments becoming
to her sex, &c. &c., sets to work in earnest to ac-
quire them, and, by the time she is married, may
be considered pretty well up to the mark, with
the exception of her ignorance of dancing. That
Margaret's real hardihood, however, does not in
the least succumb to the influence of her new
sensations, the following little episode will show.
Iler father and lover are riding home late at
night. She happens to be walking home at the
same hour armed with a pistol and accompanied
by a bloodhound,
as a protection against the
disorderly
characters which a neighbouring fair
has scattered over the adjoining country. The
dog's growl warns her that danger is near, and
presently she discovers that some men are lurking
in the underwood where the two ffcntlenien,
whom she already hears approaching, must
Pam :----

She immediately ran forward, relying on Oscar for her
°wn Protection, and rescind the mouth of the glade just
a% the moonlight showed her father coming through the
hri'llelate followed by Colonel Fielding At the saw
inuant, and before she had time to utter her warning. ill" Wail tired from the wood and four loan rushed out
IP4 "11, The foremost htstanuSy ittawytteil w Mi.

Sylvan Holt's bridle, bat he brought his beery handled
whip down upon his assailant's head, and Faustus,
startled by the shot, wheeling round and plunging
violently, he was shaken off, and Oscar springing fiercely
upon him bore him to the ground in a moment. Two of
the others, evidently cowed by the addition of the ferocious
dog to the number of their intended prey, stood irresolute,
while the fourth, a very big and powerfully bni►t man,
having got possession of the colonel's bridle, was loudly
threatening him with instant death if he did not at once
give up all the valuables he had about him. Margaret
perceived that he had a weapon in hishand, but of what
nature she could not discover, and quick as thought she
drew out her pistol and fired, hitting him in the shoulder.
He dropped his uplifted arm with a yell of pain and was
turning round to revenge himself, when Margaret gave
Oscar a word, and he, having apparently mauled his
first antagonist to his heart's content, left him on the
ground and assailed the wounded man, whose pistol, for
such it was, he fired at the dog as he seized him, but in-
effectually.
" Call your dog off, he'll throttle me ! " gurgled he with
the addition of an oath, and using his weapon to en-
deavour to beat off the animal ; but Oscar's blood was
now at savage boiling point, and he held him fast,
growling dangerously until ho overpowered and dragged
him to the ground. Several shots were fired from under
cover of the wood by the other two ruffians, bat none of
them successfully, and seeing themselves foiled in their
murderous intentions they decamped in all haste, leaving
their comrades to fend for themselves as best or worst
they could.

Margaret is afterwards questioned on the subject
by Mrs. Clervaux

" Bin, first, tell mo about this affray at Wildfoot last
night, for a moat wonderful exaggerated account has come
down to us here. For instance, somebody says that you
shot a man ! "

" So I did—shot him in the shoulder," replied Margaret
quietly.
" You bloodthirsty little heathen ! what did you do that
for ?" And Margaret proceeded to tell her tale.

After this we are not surprised at hearing that
when Margaret ultimately joins her husband in
India her skill as a markswoman was of very
considerable service to him.
We must now inform our readers that in the
house of both bride and bridegroom there is a
skeleton. Margaret's mother had eloped from
her father %%hen Margaret was an infant, and
Sylvan Holt had killed the seducer in her presence.
Cobnel Fielding had once been ardently attached
to a certain Frances Stanley, now Mrs. Hamilton,
who had returned his passion, but been forced
into a wealthy marriage by her parents. Neither
of them can forget those early days, though in the
case of the Colonel there is no surviving senti-
ment strong enough in reality to have caused
Margaret uneasiness. however, he unfortunately
determines to conceal all the circumstances from
her, and it is the mischief flowing from this mis-
take that constitutes the catastrophe of the story.
From the first-mentioned affair, however, no re-
sults follow at all in proportion to its magnitude,
and as far as it is employed to bring out the cha-
racter of Margaret we think it is employed badly.
The whole scene in which Margaret is made
acquainted with her mother's conduct seems to
us overwrought, even when all allowance is
made for the effects of a masculine education
on an impulsive female nature.
It would seem that novelists of character, as
distinguished from those of manners or adventure,
are bound to be specially on their guard against
the danger of prolixity. The master hand which
by a few bold strokes can place whole characters
before us, is bestowed upon few. And such re-
presentations of our ideas as have to be carefully
and elaborately constructed, as, at the best, they
fall short of the effect produced by the former
method, so they naturally tempt the author into
an effort to rival it by longer and fuller descrip-
tions. Hence we have heroes and heroines
turned and twisted about in every conceivable
attitude, and put through their paces so often
that both eye and ear become fatigued. Now,
we still believe that the authoress of the volumes
before us is under no necessity of relying upon
this process—that she is capable of bolder and
briefer characterization than we find in " Sylvan
Holt's Daughter." She has also full command
over all the resources to which the English do-
mestic novel, so deservedly grateful to the taste
of M. Guizot, is indebted for its excellence.
While at the same time she is quite free from the
slightest taint of that mawkishness by which too
many of them are pervaded. Did we think less
highly than we do of this lady's qualifications,
we should have been more sparing of our criti-
cisms. We have touched upon what appears
to us shortcomings as one would touch
generous and noble steed with a spur; and we
only trust our remarks may be rseatred in
the spirit In which ague want, for although

we miss the grim power N.)
vious works, there is much
" Sylvan Holt's Daughter,"
and refined, much that i:
natural.

British Columbia, Einiyratioi
By W. Parker Snow. Lon&
and Spence.

rich marked her pre-
that is attractive in
much that is graceful
fresh, healthy, and

awl Our Colonies
: Piper, Stephenson,

WE confess to a slight feeling f disappointment on
perusing this little pamphlet, notwithstanding its
singular opportuneness and tl. ability with which it
is written. It would certain y have been more
generally useful, had the autho eschewed generali-
ties, and confined himself to I. is and matters of
detail with which his own expert nos rendered him
peculiarly capable of dealing. till, we are grateful
even for small mercies, and an thankful for any
crumbs of information that ma fall from the lips
of such an observant and prac ical man as Mr.
Parker Snow. On one point, ind. d, he appears to
be somewhat too sanguine. He . xpresses a belief
that ere long the voyage to Briti h Columbia will
be made round the northern extremity of the Ame-
rican continent. Admitting that tl its course may be
practicable, it is by no means a desirable one in the
interests of our Canadian possessio as. Perhaps the
greatest benefit likely to accrue from the discovery
of gold in British Columbia will be the development
of the river navigation and the west capabilities of
those fine provinces. But we can hardly imagine
that many emigrants wiil be indu.3ed to tempt the
perils of an Arctic voyage, even with the hope of
reaching the new El Dorado at les a coat than by a
land journey. But we fully agree v ith Mr. Snow
that the more secure, if at first longer, road to
wealth is not by digging tor gold, b. it by providing
food and clothing in exchange for th. 3 precious ore.
In other words, they who will derive the most sub-
stantial gain are not the actual gold -hunters, but
storekeepers and cultivators of the lan d. It is not,
however, as yet an attractive colony fe r any but de-
sperate or at least adventurous men . 'the most
frightful privations, incessant and often times almost
hopeless toil, and scarcity of food bor lering upon
starvation, await the original settlers. "Even in
" Melbourne," says Mr. Snow, " where, a local go.
" vernment had existed for some years, and great
" means were at hand, starvation, disease, death, and
" unimagined misery were things frequei itly known.
" I have seen scores of persons sleeping about the
" wharfs, and in iron boilers, packing-ca ses, or on
" the bare earth. I have witnessed scenes of suffer-
" ing amongst the newly arrived im'nigi ants that
" beggar description, and I have almost daily heard
" of, or read, or seen deaths either from violence,
" from reckless carelessness, from iodden disease,
"or from broken heart. What, then, must it be now
"in British Columbia?" The picture is not attrac-
tive, but it will not prevent many thousands c.f daring
spirits from tempting the bold adventure. Phough
too brief and discursive, Mr. Snow's little work will
be found interesting to all who meditate a tlig front
their fatherland. And we are happy to observe that
he proposes to deliver a series or lectures on the
subject of emigration. There is no man better
qualified to do it justice.