The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-18 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Grace Lee. By Julia Kavanagh. 3 vole. Smith,
Elder, and Co.
Miss Kavanagh's abilities, both as a romancist
and an historical writer, are already well known.
Her first and least ambitious work was a tale for
the young, entitled "The Three Paths," which
showed the different results of a rash and head-
strong disposition,, a cunning and crafty temper,
and a prudent and well-principled line of action.
Her next tale, " Madeleine," was the touching re-
cord of the struggles and sufferings of a young girl
of Auvergne, who, alone and almost unaided, raised
and maintained an hospital in her native village.
Her next attempt was an historical one, and though
the subject selected was not the most pleasing, it
was executed with great ability. It was on " Wo-
man in France during the Eighteenth Century."
She subsequently produced more pleasing records
of feminine achievements in her " Women of
Christianity," a brief account of some of the most
illustrious of the many remarkable for their piety,
benevolence, and heroism. " Nathalie," her only
novel, possessed much interest and originality.
The two chief characters *ere drawn with much
ability. This ability the reader will not fail to re-
cognise in the pages of "Grace Lee," though of all
her works of fiction it is the least pleasing. This is
partly to be ascribed to the striking improbability of
some of the incidents, but chiefly to the two
chief actors in the drama—the hero and heroine
—John Owen and Grace Lee. Grace herself, with
her learning, her talents, her generosity, and
all her other virtues, has something about her not
quite feminine, an I, consequently, not quite at-
tractive. Her intellect seems to have a greater in-
fluence than her heart. In moments of danger and
distress, or of excited feeling she is always ready
with her clever speeches—never discomposed,ne. never
off her guard. Noat that want of self-control is to
tempt for the. vicissitud
be commended as
but in the case of Grace one
twbelivetr, shea
virtue,esf
foerrtuanecotuerabegedoesuspicosend:
b does not see the con-
ctroonitroofllefdee.linn
sidered a very remarkable chsaeyrancee e oftr
af
ne feeling
wn ge to
ho
should
ed
lay claim to be CO-
imagine that her prototype was not very easily met
with. She is certainly the
very interesting person
in the book, for the hero fallsfar jihortof.dthe
heroic standard. Without adoptinge old
that heroes and heroines should be pieces of l
unin-
teresting perfection, to secure the reader's interest
they should have some distinguished traits, some
noble qualities, to awake admiration. It is not the
moroseness and reserve of John Owen that dete-
riorate his character, for sometimes these reserved
and haughty characters are the most attractive; but
he seems to have no firm and settled purpose, no
high and ennobling aspirations. Had be remained
true to his ambition even, and instead of retreating
to the Welsh hills, remained and fought the battle
of life with energy and determination, the reader
could have forgiven him all his faults of mind and
manner. But he surrenders the fight, at least for
a time, and falls in love with Grace Lee. Had he
only been constant to his vehement affection, he
might yet have awoke sympathy ; but when he
forsakes his idol on so frivolous a pretext, and
hastily formsfirst one engagement and then another
the reader loses all patience, and begins to awake to
a sense of the ludicrous. Many incidents in the
plot are very unpleasing, and we feel the less
inclined to tolerate them from an authoress who so
plainly shows us she could do better if she tried.
Where are the gentle and pious attributes of
Madeleine —where all the graceful, feminine
qualities of Nathalie, always charming, even in her
caprices ? The chronicler of the " Women of
Christianity" has no need to give us such a brusque
and independent lady as her model heroine ; and
as for a hero, it will be hard indeed if she cannot
surpass John Owen. The talents of the author are
evident, however, not only in the construction of
the book, which, to say the least of it, displays
much ingenuity and originality, but in the elo-
quence of the style and the fervour of the descrip-
tions, as the following extract will show. It is
from the conclusion, when John Owen is meditat-
ing on his fruitless search for Grace, who has been
lost to him for seven years through his own folly
and pride :
" The thought he had so long repelled came and pre-
vailed in that hour.
" Grace is dead,' he though', stopping short.
' Grace is dead, ay, I feel and I know it ;' the grave
has closed on her. Where ?—how T—l know not ; I
shall never know. Unconsciously I may tread on the
,-arth that hides all I have vainly coveted to possess,
Oh that with me, too, it were over, that this unquiet
fever of life were still, and I sleeping somewhere by her
side, a deep, a long slumber. Happy ! thrice happy are
ye, ye dead !'
" And for the first time for years, ambition, that
master-passion of his life, folded her wings, and, wearied
of her long flight, pined for repose.
" But brief was the rest of that ardent heart. Strong
in his will, he recalled Grace ; he bade her return, not
pale, but vivid as the light of day ; not dead, but over-
flowing with the fulness of life. He looked at the setting
sun ; the dread round orb slowly sank down to a yellow
horizon, encircling the dark earth like a golden zone,
then melting in the hollow air into vast depths of palest
blue. But below all was splPridour, all was light, and
flame ; a wooded slope was still a forest of bronze and
gold, a tame field a purple sea ; the dust-worn way a path
of light leading to a buri,ing world. In that fervid glow
he sought the loved and lost image be had ever known,
all warmth and all light, and again, with passionate long-
ing, there rose an inward cry from t,le depths of his
heart, an unuttered voice that said : ' Come back, Grace,
come back ! '
" Suddenly he breathed deep. - Dream or truth, he
saw and heard her. He sa if an isolated dwelling, a
poor home, rising bare and lone by the road side, an
open door, a narrow room, with boarded floor, with
white-washed walls, with gilt-edged books on a low
shelf, with bright crimson and yellow flowers in the
window, with the rich sunlight streaming in ; and half
lost in the evening gloom, an old man who sat grey and
blind in a deep arm-chair, whilst in the bright red light
a woman leaning back on a low seat with a heavy book
on her knees, read in a clear, musical voice, in a foreign
tongue, a tongue long dead and unspoken, a strain of
full and ancient verse."

"Like a vision come to him at his bidding from the
depths of the west, he saw her through the flood of living
gold that flowed behind and around her."

"The sea-worn mariner that has found land, the tra-
veller that rests alter the burning desert crossed, never
knew so deep a sense of freshness and repose as this
wearied man of the world in that moment. Ah, love I
there is something in thee beyond the light fondness of
youthful lovers ! Thy spring is all hope, thy summer
is all life, but deeper in its ardour, more beautiful in its
mingled passion and strength is thine autumn."

Mr. Truefitt, of the Burlington Arcade, has enlight-
ened the public as to the objects and purposes of his
really exquisitely decorated salon—namely, "A Toilet
Club," new in its essential characteristics and select in
its subscribers. A something of this kind was much
wanted at the west,,and we know of no one better able
to carry it out in its integrity than Truefitt, who has a
perfect right, in the abundance of his appliances, to give
his patrons the novelty and comfort of apartments fit
for royalty itself.
GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY OF CANADA.—The statement
in the recent advices from Canada that the Provincial
Government may probably be induced to withdraw their
support from the proposal for.a fresh grant of 900,0001.
to the Grand Trunk Railway is affirmed by the best in-
formed persons on this side'to be wholly erroneous. The
measure is understood to have been made the subject of
a fierce party contest, and it will consequently serve as
the pretext for political attacks and personal vitupera-
tion ; but, with regard to its ultimate success, no doubt
appears be entertained. At the same time, thoerkpsosoif
tive allegation in these advices that the entire
w
the line will be stopped unless the demand btheitbcoount-
tractors be complied with is also stated W w
foundation. Assertions to that effect baysenbyeeannbwoludbeclye
disseminated in the province, but thre cowi p
mthheld, they will
that, whether the grant be magee
aTuodr on willto
open 255 miles in August or
fr
mpotzenirocbekrvinuexe
tt,o
have carried the line through o
UNDER-
in one or two years from that ddintseA.-7
RAILWAY
SPEEDY CONSTRUCTIOI!
great deal is o.saFid about the extraordinarily
short —A.
short time in which the Crimean Railway has been exy
gene;
cuted—and deservedirsio. But it is not, perhaps,
known matter of which the English nation has
rally to be proud—that the same parties
also jest
(Messrs. Pecata and Co.) have just terminated, and within
the three years, the last important link that was wanted.
to complete the line of rail from London to the Mediter-
ranean Sea. Its length is 160 miles, between the cities
of
Lyons and Avignon. It is a double road, of first
class, with stations complete. On it there are from four
to six miles of tunnelling. It passes through some stu-
and spans with fine bridges
pendous granite cuttings,
three of the largest rivers in France.
of 1852 before the fits
THE MAILS.— god
sip Was ted was the middle
mail steam -ship Atrato, Tow, May 17.--The Royal
Captain Woolley, left this after-
noon with the fortnightly mails for the West Indies
and Pacific, 55 passengers, 7,0001. in specie, 4,000/.
value in jewellery, and a full general cargo. The Tay,
with the homeward
portion of the above mails, is , ex-
pected daily.
The
steamer Madrid, Peninsular and Oriental Company's
ViCaptain Cook, with the mails for
Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon Cadi • and Gibraltar, sailed
this afternoon with 33 'passengers, 13,7521. in specie
for Lisbon and 22,4001. for Cadiz—total, 36,1521.,
besides the usual cargo. The Iberia, Captain Christian,
with the next homeward portion of. these mails, is ex-
pected about the 25th inst: The Euxine, Captain Weeks,
from Alexandria, Malta, and Giblallar, with the India
and Mediterranean mails, is -looked for •
leave
et
wtihteh2tre
inst. The Sultan, Captain BuentY,.:w
India and Mediterranean mails on the 20th. The Iberia,
should she return in time, will convey the Peninsular
mails of the 27th. The Tagus, Captain Joy, lately re-
turned from the India and Mediterranean station, is
undergoing repairs previous to resuming her duties on
the. Peninsular route. The United States' mail steam-
ship St. Louis, Captain Wotton, with dates from New
York to the sth inst., is expected to strive on 'rids'
Of 6061'40 •