The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-05 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

, I gustaee Conyers. A Novel. By James Hannay,
author of " Singleton Fontenoy," " Satire and
Satirists," sic. 3 vols. Hurst and Blackett.
We have here presented a stirring and sparkling
romance, whose dashing and vigorous style seems
kindred to the element chosen for the theatre of
its exploits—" The open sea ; the blue, the fresh,
the ever free"—and whose spirit exhibits a fire
and animation worthy of the chroniclers of those
" hearts of oak " who are born to rifle over the
• mighty waters. The story relates the adventures
of a clever 'and enthusiastic youth, who early de-
voted himself to his idol—the sea. " Those who
go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their busi-
ness in great waters " were ever the objects of his
envy and admiration, and to serve under
"The flag that braved a thousand years
The battle and the treeze"
was his day dream and his night vision; as to be
enrolled in the band of naval heroes was the pin-
nacle of his early ambition and the bow of promise
to his after years. The feelings he experienced on
first giving a definite expression to his wishes are
well described. It is said that there is no way of
accounting for the mysterious longing that 'seizes
some for the sea than by supposing that some men
are born sailors as others are born poets. " Their
case is like that of the sea-bird, which has been
hatched fai away among the rocks and caves.
When it comes to its strength, the nameless Want
seizes it ; it rises into.the air, and, with a sure
instinct, makes for the eternal waters. These sea-
urchins of England have the sea-bird's eagerness ;
they must follow their instincts or they pine. The
geniuS whispers your part is there. Come what
may you and tile sea have a part to play together;
it has been arranged from the beginning of the
world, and you must fulfil your destiny." Yet
Eustace Conyers was to learn, as all must, that
there is disappointment in the realisation of the
most cherished plans, and all was not sunshine with
him when he first joined the service. To put up
with hardships and rough usage he expected, and
to be misunderstood and kept back in his course ;
but he did not expect to meet with the chill of in-
difference when he was burning with enthusiaim,
and to see all around, or a great many, regard as.
a business employment, or% dull task, the profes-
sion that he believed the vocation of heroes and
the passport to glory—
" The spirit of your fathers
Shall start from every wave ;
The deck it was their field of fame,
And ocean was their grave."
Such was the tenour of Eustace's thoughts when he ,
became a son of the sea. His youthful heart that
had glowed with fervour where " Blake and mighty
Nelson fell," sunk within him at the uncongenial
nature of his companions. He was fortunate' in
having for a friend Walter Lindsay, who could
sympathise with his feelings while discouraging
their indulgence. He led him to look on his
work with his own exalted vision, to measure it
by his own lofty standard, without regarding or
regretting that others did not or would not act
likewise. By this judicious training, Lindsay pre-
vented the young enthusiast from becoming unjust
to others, or unfair to himself. Eustace had his
reward. Where he had fixed his labour, there was
his mind's energy ethployed, and his heart's devo-
tion centred. The interest increases when
Eustace and his friend Lindsay join the
" lovely Lotus," whose noble and honourable
commander, " Montfichet," was a striking contrast
to the smooth and uncertain "Moggy." Here
Eustace distinguished himself by saving the life of
his persecuting enemy, the first lieutenant, who
was for ever annoying him by petty tyranny and
unfounded charges. This incident increased his
popularity among a community ever ready to ad-
mire the noble and generous as to applaud the
free and daring. A painful ordeal had to be
passed througli by the Lotus and her crew. She
was ordered to the coast of Africa. This was in-
deed a touchstone to naval ardour, and a refining
fire to put aside the false from the true in the de-
clarations of attachment and devotion for the ser-
vice. It is truly observed that the sufferings of
those whose record is, "Died on the coast," is not
duly appreciated, nor are their services rightly esti-
mated. "Let the Englishman honour those gallant
gentlemen, for they lived and died, not with the
inspiration of all Europe looking on, but far away
among rank dews and barbarians, where body and
soul are alike weary, and were faithful to England
when England was little thinking of them. To
follow Collingwood's or Nelson's pendant into the
smoke rising from a shattered and ruined enemy's
fleet, the thought of it kindles the spirit as with a
ray of sunlight ; but to lay down your life in the
sweltering steerage of a 10-gun brig, with mawkish
water nauseating your lips, think of those fine fel-
lows, oh countrymen, and do a little stroke of wor-
ship in honour of the unsuccessful and unknown
brave." Eustace met with a singular adventure.
He was entrusted with the care of a captured
schooner which was detected in the slave trade.
By mischance he was given a very bad selection
from the Lotus' men. After some time they con-
certed with the crew of the schooner and mutinied. 1
The unfortunate Eustace was confined in the cabin
for several days, and his sufferings may be ima-
gined. To die far away from the presence of
friends or even honourable enemies, with no pros-
pect of his name being cleared before the members
of his profession, or the memory of his death being
softened to the hearts of his family. At last he
found the door open one morning, and rushed on
deck. Here all was deserted, and lie de-
termined to try for himself. " He was at bay;"
he thought that he represented the brave men of
the Lotus, and was the descendant of a family that
had adventured much by flood and field. In a
small boat he contrived to reach a shore at some
distance. This proved to be Brazil, where he was
happy in meeting with an enlightened friend in
Don Emanuel, a proprietor of a large estate there..
He found an agreeable resting-place in his man-
sion from the perils of the deep, and the plots and
manceuvres of which he had been the object, and
to which he had nearly fallen a victim. Eustace
Conyers was ambitious of becoming a hero, but he
was not desirous of being a martyr ; and while hi!
would joyfully have yielded his spirit in battle,
"Looking proudly to Heaven from the death-bed of fame,"
he was not averse to find himself on terra firma,
having narrowly escaped murder on the high seas,
without even the prospect of a trial " looming in
the distance," in which his countrymen might have
dealt justice for his untimely fate. After a short
time in the fascinating presence of the delightful
Don Emanuel, Eustace rejoined his beloved
" Lotus," where he was fairly and kindly received
by his commander, Montfichet, who carried his
lofty ideas of honour, and his principles derived from
a long line of august ancestors, into the details of
his daily life, and the concerns of his noble profes-
sion. After some hard service, during which some
gay spirits were consigned to African graves, the
good ship was recalled to her native England,
where a new era is entered upon by our hero. He
left an inexperienced boy, but he returned an in-
telligent and observant young man, eager as ever,
but more stedfast, and as kind-hearted, but more
noble-minded. His home was delightful, but
soon new charms were found to fascinate the re-
cently-returned wanderer. Elizabeth Sycamore
was the graceful heroine whose presence was to
gladden the bright scenes of his regained paradise,
and to shed over his existence that mellowed
splendour and prismatic beauty which renown
when he had sought it and family affection when
he had rejoiced in it, had not as yet foreshadowed
or foretold. For his energetic and practical temper
a magic spell was woven in the serene superiority
and calm unworldliness of the heiress of the Sy-
camores. He regarded her as something pure and
perfect from the coarse and actual. "Her eyes are
like the fishpools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-
rabbin," he exclaimed to a friend, thus showing by
so exalted a metaphor how high her image was set
up in his mental vision, and with what great
thoughts he pondered over it. Succeeding duties
and difficulties are then introduced, to make out
what is called romance, but what all know too
well might as well be named reality. The skill of
the intellect may refine and, emblazon with the
splendour of rhetoric and oratory, the treasures of
the fancy may adorn and ornament with the jewels
and precious stones of imagery, while genius gives
vitality to fancied creations, and makes sparkling by
its lustre and glorious by its touch ; but the truths
of time are eternal, and nature is the same whether
we chronicle her in joy or sorrow, hope or despair,
because finished and fashioned with a master hand,
because a master mind has shown how the noble
spirit bears suffering, and the pure heart has seen
heaven through the vista of its tears, the trials of
the upborne soul and the consolations of the trust-
ing one are not imaginary. In the nameless mar-
tyrs of the world there have been many prototypes
there are and will be. In the present instance Eus-
tace Conyers met with what might have been seen
and expected all along. Tho mistake was that he, as
well as the rest of his fellow-creatures, only looked
to the present, not to the future. To use the lan-
guage of his vocation, in the calm and lull he for-
got that stories might lower, and he, unheeding and 1
unprepared, might find himself "drifting among the
breakers." In the following passages of.thoesenalrorva-e
tive many striking characters may be met with.
Mr. Conyers, the father of Eustace, whose
for the ancient and romantic was touching and i
teresting, although out of date and antiquated. Mr-
.
1
Sycamore is graphically described as a man of
utilitarian ideas, notions, plans,
As a boy he asked—" Wh t
butterfly I" " A ship t
navigation laws." 46A t and principles.
suggeas
evidasnotthheinguse
poe o a
but fthe
was a hurdy-gurdy,"

&c., dTc. " The one thing the world wanted wa
comnitm sense." From such a man not much rea
son or feeling could be expected, and he was r
stumbling block in the march of Eustace's eaglt
course, and the terror of his daughter's quiete
steps. With such materials for working out hi
structure it is not surprising that the author bat
produced an interesting and -entertaining story.
It shows real life, and demonstrates right feeling.
The most considerable portion is devoted to the
contemplation and representation of naval affairs,
which is a study that has always been consonant
to the tastes and congenial to the spirit of a
country

"-Whose march is o'er the mountain wave,
Whose home is on the deep."

The Louvre. •By Bayle St. John. Chapman and

Hall.

• A very agreeable and instructive volume, con-
taining a large amount of original matter obtained
from the most reliable sources and presented in an
attractive manner. Besides a very copious bio-
graphy of that vast and gorgeous museum of art,
in which the creative energies of many ages and
nations are attested, the elite, of its contents are
pointed out in their respective localities, and criti-
cised in a fearless but genial spirit—a good idea
being at the same time given of the treatment of
art in France. The narrative is interspersed with
anecdotes and personal reminiscences ; and two
lithographed ground plans of the building lend
their aid to a comprehension of its all but incom-
prehensible intricacies.
A

n ccount of the Life, Opinions, and Writings
of John Milton, By Thomas Keightley. Chap-
man and Hall.
Somewhere about a quarter of a century ago,
the author tells us, he conceived the idea of en-
deavouring to render the noble poetry of Milton
more intelligible, .and, consequently, more attrac-
tive and. useful o readers in general, and the re-
sult is an annotated edition of the, poems now in
the press, and the present volume, which is chiefly
but by no means exclusively, intended and adapted
to serve' as a companion or introduction to it.
The work is divided into thresietiopanli "settings;thefirstfobrito-h
graphical ; the second expo
the' poet's opinions by quotations from his
writings, with explanatory and critical re-
marks ; and the • third illustrative of the mean-
ing: and beauties of Milton's writings both
in prose and verse ; a learned and able "
th e In-
troduction to The Paradise Lost" concluding
volume. Mr. Keightley is at no pains to conceal
his 'admiration of the illustrious poet—an admira-
tion, however, characterised and modified by much
learning, discrimination, and critical acumen.
Without pledging ourselves for the correctness of
all his conclusions and opinions, critical and other-
wise, from some of which we decidedly, dissent, we
feel bound to accord him the merit of having per-
formed his task with commendable skill and fidelity,
and to have produced a work well calculated to
further the important object he has so long had in
view.