The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-05 00:00:00

LITERATURE,

Chronicles of Carlingford. Salem Chapel. 2 vole.
Blackwood : Edinburgh and London.
This work has already proved one of the agree-
Coes of Blackwood's Magazine, and many readers
will rejoice at this opportunity of reading it in a
completed form. It is a book that eminently re-
pays perusal, containing many scenes of an unusual
character, and being written throughout in an ear-
nest and impressive manner. Vincent, the hero, is
a young Nonconformist minister, who does not en-
gage our interest very deeply at the first, but as we
proceed we like him bettcr. He was unfortunate'
in the sphere in which he wasplaced and the uncon-
genial atmosphere that surrounded him in Carling-
ford. This sad state of affairs, which afterwards
became an evil of great magnitude, and finally re-
sulted in his abrupt withdrawal, is gradually un-
folded to us, and skilfully introduced. So it is with
all the great changes in human affairs ; slowly,
sadly, but surely the evil day comes, and some,
hoping against hope, would not see its advent, but
the presage of its dark dawn had visited many
minds before the final crash drove away doubts
and dim forebodings, to give place to the certainty
of despair and the agony of conviction. Vincent
was an excitable, enthusiastic, young man, full of
energy, and devoted to a refined existence. lie
found himself located among coarse and material
natures, with no care beyond narrow confines and
limited boundaries, and never heeding about ele-
vating themselves. When he was carried away
with lofty thoughts and high-wrought ideas, their
greatest conception was how to fill the chapel. He
fondly imagined and ardently desired to lead the
hearts of his hearers to the contemplation of
the highest good that human thought can take
cognisance of, and dwell on the noblest theme that
the grandeur of human intellect can comprehend.
It was not to be. Besides these trials, there were a
hundred daily petty personal annoyances that in-
tervened, "and weighed his burdened spirit down
with the cumbering dust of earth." Carlingford was
a very quiet place, but still had some society. Into
the elite of this poor Vincent had fancied he must
enter. He was thus not prepared, we are told, "to
circulate among his flock, and to say grace at Mrs.
Brown's teas, and get up services to amuse the con-
gregation. Somehow the tone of public writing
has changed of late days. Scarcely a newspaper
writer condescends now to address men who are
not " free" of society, and learned in all its ways.
the Times and the Magazines take it for granted
that all their readers dine out at splendid
tables, and are used to a solemn attendant behind
their chair. Young Vincent was one of those who
accept the flattering inplication. The first " tea"
to which he went was a sad blow to the young
preacher. After the wretched entertainment, with
its pretensions and prejudices, had jarred upon his
mind, it is no wonder we are told that " the unfor-
tunate young mangroaned in spirit, only deeper and
deeper humiliation seemed in store for him. Was
it he the first prize man at Homerton who was sup-
posed to be already smitten by the pink charms of
Phoebe Tozer ?" This young lady was the daughter
of a butterman, one of the chief deacons of the com-
munity. He was a worthy man, quite a bright
particular exception to his fellows, and his honest
and steady support was of great service to Vincent,
when trouble came in various forms upon him.
Even in this dull place, however, Vincent contrived
to weave out a romance for himself wherewith to
beguile the tedium of his dark days, and to bring
fairy land into his prosy life. He met by chance a
beautiful young widow, when visiting a peculiar
member of his congregation. Lady Western's in-
fluence irradiated his gloomy path, and the wilder-
ness of his world seemed to bloom like the rose.
"He went home with an unspeakable elation, long-
ing, and excitement, and at the same time with a
vain floating idea in his mind that thus inspired no
height of eloquence was impossible to him, and that
triumph of every kind was inevitable. He went
home and got his writing-desk, and plunged into
his lecture, nothing doubting that he could transfer
to his work that glorious tumult of his thoughts ;
and with his paper before him wrote three words
and sat three hours staring into the roseate air, and
dreaming dreams as wild as any Arabian tale.
Such was the first effort of that chance encounter,
in which the personages were not Lady Western
and the poor Dissenting minister, but Beauty and
Love, perennial hero and heroine of the romance
that never ends." Brief, bright, and inglorious
was this fitful fever of his mind, for Lady Western
thought nothing of him; but out of kindness partly,
and partly because he was kind to her humble
friend, she noticed him a little with that fascinating
manner so few could resist. His first disappoint-
ment occurred when she asked him to a little sum-
mer fete at her house. He went there delighted
and returned despairing. Lady Western hardly
noticed him, and her company imitated her neglect-
" Nobody wanted him, they stared at him, and
asked questions who he was. When he at length
nerved himself to speak to his next neighbour,
he met with a courteous response, and no-
thing more. Society was not cruel, or repul-
sive, or severely exclusive, but simply did
not know him, could not make out who he was, and
was now talking that conversation of a limited
sphere full of personal allusions into which no
stranger could enter. Instead of the ineffable hour
he expected, an embarrassing unbearable tedium
was the lot of thejoor Dissenting minister by
himself among the beauty, wit, and fashion of
Carlingford.'' This is an apt sketch of the fate of
many an unfortun ate individual who finds out too
late that there is no solitude so dreary and dis-
heartening as a crowd, and to be a nobody among
sombodies of every shade is a forlorn species and
a funereal representation of mirth. Vincent then
turned his thoughts to his profession. "This
resolution rose and swelled into that heroic region
which youth always attains so easily. He accepted
Salem with all the heat of passion at that moment.
His be the task to raise it and its pastor into a
common fame." Fired with this zeal and actuated
by this fervour, he produced a series of lectures
which shook society in Carlingford to its very
foundation. A man of decided ability cannot be in
any position of responsibility without making his
presence felt, and exhibiting in some form or other
his talent. He was misunderstood, unappreciated
and finally disliked by the majority, but Vincent had
his hour of triumph, he was hailed victor in the
contest of aspirants to the favour of the congrega-
tion, he was crowned in the capitol of Carlingford
as their hero, their orator, and their regenerator.
In the midst of these excitements a dark page of
domestic misery is unfolded, and we are introduced
to Vincent's mother. This lady is the most interest-
ing person of the story. She is genuine, unaffected,
and self-restraining. In the time of trial she was
calm, when bearing the burden of as bitter a
calamity as could crush a mother's spirit, and
weigh.her in the dust, the mysterious loss of her i
young and lovely daughter, she was still watchful I
over the interests of her son, and careful of many
things needed to maintain the dignity of our social
position and the general
working f othe springs of
daily existence. It is a great mistake to suppose
that those possessed of deep feeling cannot think of
anything but indulging their selfish sorrow in a
time of calamity. The truth is far otherwise and
widely different. Those whose flee
natures suffer
the most acutely are the most capable of self com-
mand, and is the day of distress they will
a meet the
emergency and rise to the height that is due, not
from prostration of mind, but from innate great-
ness of soul. The world bas done its worst, but it
cannot deprive them of a strength that it
neither gives nor takes away, the strength that is
accorded to those who have overcome the world by
their trust in its Maker, and who regard not the
frowns or smiles of men as the decisive elements of
a struggle in which they put their trust and find
their rest in God. Of such a class was Mrs. Vin-
cent, and no one here met with can excel her in
her claims on our respect and reverence. She had
not been wise in the confidence that she put in the
faithless wretch who had despoiled her home of its
treasure, and sa cruelly treated his own family.
But then, when the blow had fallen, this timid
woman proved herself worthy of being the mother
of a minister, and so conducted herself us to win
back some of the regard that had been gradually
departing from her son. When her son in his im-

petuosity scorned her minute attention to trivial
matters, how much greater was she in her day of
small things than he in his intemperate haste and
frenzied complaints. Vincent was not of the stuff
of which heroes are made_ He was too easily in-
fluenced by passing events, too veheu ent in his
demonstrations, had too little control ever his pas-
sions ; but Mrs. Vincent was different—under many
another circumstance she would have been called
a heroine. As it was, she played a part and ful-
filled a role that is numerous but little noticed ;
powerful for good, it is not synonymous with great-
ness, few trouble themselves with such lives, and
none mourn for such deaths. The nameless martyrs
of earth are an unnoticed throng, their sufferings
are not sympathised with, nor are their wrongs re-
dressed ; but this sad earth would be sadder with-
out them, this dark life gloomier if they existed
not, and their recognition, if delayed, will not be
denied where alone approval shall be lasting, and
the winner can never find his gain turn to loss, nor
his treasures prove illusory. The quiet town was
in a stir, the secluded lodgings became the centre of
attraction, and the simple rooms of Vincent were
transformed into the theatre where was enacted en
exciting drama, that threatened at one time to be-
come a tragedy. A romance of real life always
outdoes the stage effects in the mind of the looker-
on, and demure and dowdy Carlingford held up its
head in excitement till the nine days' wonder was
over. To add to the confusion in the mind of Vin-
cent, the man who had been engaged to his sister
under false pretences was the brother of Lady
Western, and the husband of her strange friend,
Mrs. Hildyard. Colonel Mildmay was indeed a
villain of the darkest and deepest dye;
he preyed upon widows and orphans, and
cared for no one but himself and the gratifi-
cation of his base desires and unworthy tastes. To
complicate matters still more, he had assumed the
name of a man to whom Lady Western had long been
attached, Mr. Fordham, and when asking questions
of this man's character, as the supposed lover of his
sister, Vincent had referred to her, she said he was
one to be trusted through life even unto death.
Thus encouraged Vincent did not prcceed with the
same despatch he might otherwise have done, and
the dark mystery took place. The whole of this
exciting passage of the story is most artistically
sketched forth, and the interest becomes most intense
as it proceeds to depict one fearful scene after an-
other. While Susan was still in danger a new
trouble came. The greatest discontent prevailed
among the congregation of Salem Chapel, and the
direst displeasure arose against their young mini-
ster, and they resolved to dismiss him. Vincent
was equal to the emergency, and met it calm and
unmoved. When Tozer came into his pulpit to
give notice of a call to a meeting that had been sur-
reptitiously determined upon, he apprehended the
charge as a war-horse sniffs the combat afar, " He
rose, with the paper in his hand, and faced the con-
gregation, where he no longer saw one face, but
had suddenly woke up to behold his battle-ground
and field of warfare, in which everything dear to
him was assailed." He told the people of this meet-
ing about to be convened for Monday, and then, in his
own name, summoned them to a similar assemblage
on Tuesday. This was throwing down the gaunt-
let, not picking it up, and the same spirit sustained
him. Though the hostile assemblage did not de-
cide against him on Monday, still on Tuesday he
carried out his purpose and executed his resolve.
At the appointed hour he appeared and told the
astonished, bewildered, and repentant throng that
he was going to leave them, and that he was not
minister of Salem from that night. In this hour of
voluntary deposition, Vincent came out grand, he
called forth the admiration of his friends, and won
even the applause of his enemies. He whose short
career had been beset 'with conflicts, ended in a
burst of triumph. "Half of Carlingford sat in
tears to hear Mr. Vincent's last sermon. Such a
discourse had never been heard in Salem." So it
often occurs in real life, when a man shrinks from
an evil, it doubles in proportion and deepens in in-
tensity, but let him boldly meet it and bravely re-
sist, and the chances are ten to one that he comes
out of the contest more than conqueror. So it
proved with our hero, and he prospered
more after leaving Salem, which never
could have suited him. At the last
we are told of some bright prospect in the future to
make Vincent's home again bright and his life en-
joyable. Through the course of these volumes, we
find him encircled by cares and encompassed by
difficulties; it seems but meet that after our acquaint-
ance with him is over, other influences, more graci-
ous and more happy, should preside over his destiny
than the sombre spirits that haunted his career at
Carlingford. " Salem Chapel" is a peculiar story,
that goes out of the common in its way of telling
how things occurred and events took place. But
the monotony of such details are not at all tedious as
they are so admirably exact in their counterpart of
real life. Human nature must be faithfully repre-
sented, or else a story is of no avail. The many
diverse and conflicting interests at stake in the
quiet little town are brought into juxtaposition
with consummate adroitness and great dexterity of
plan and purpose. We are shown the evil result of
bigotry, the sad effects of passion, the dreadful con-
sequences of selfishness, and the awful wages of
sin. In all these momentous occurrences, there
is occasion to notice the good representation of the
several characters, and the contrary effects wrought
on different persons by the same event. Rachel was
maddened to fury, while Mrs. Vincent was calm and
dignified. The Salem congregation could not con-
tain themselves in their impulsive zeal, but their
minister met them composed in solemn state. So on
through the course of the " Chronicles of Carling-
ford," now so graphically described, and the ad-
ventures of "Salem Chapel," which are here recorded
in a form that has made them famous. The skill
with which the greater part of these volumes has
been drawn up will render them attractive studies for
those who may not care for a romance, but who will
nevertheless be glad to meet with some sketches of
individuals that seem to belong to human nature
in its foibles and its faith, and to hear of events
that may be taking place around us to-day, or have
been occuring yesterday, and which are sure to be
enacted oft and again during all the to-morrows of
this sad and suffering world. New names may be
found, but the prototypes for craft and cruelty,
passion and prejudice, love and hatred, are all seen
not very far off; and this story has achieved a
great success in affording us so true a glimpse of
life, and so apt an illustration of the conse-
quences of evil actions. The painful family of sin,
more hideous than their queen, attend on the vale
of years beneath, and will soon gather in a harvest
of death to the delinquent, and also bring sadness
to all concerned or connected with him. Colonel
Mildmay's wrong was ever present in his wife's
misery and his child's affliction, his sister's sorrow
and his friend's betrayal. Many pictures appear
of a descriptive nature in the course of these pages,
which may be recommended to those who wish for
a solid work of fiction, whose purpose is beyond
the amusement of an idle hour, or the pastime of a
giddy circle, since it seeks to convey a lesson under
the guise of an effective story, and to illustrate an
endeavour with the eloquence of earnest language.
It proclaims not its meaning trumpet-tongued, but
gently whispers with a still small voice of the
blessed influence of that spirit of wisdom which
leads through ways of pleasantness and peace, until
its path becomes bright and brighter in the light
of the perfect day.

Memoirs of Christina, Queen of Sweden. By Henry

Woodhead. 2 vols. Hurst and Blackett.

An unusual degree of interest always attaches
itself to a youthful Queen Regnant, and this feel-
ing is naturally heightened when, as in the case of
Elizabeth of England and Christina of Sweden, the
sceptre of a great kingdom falls into a feminine
hand at a crisis of the national history. In both
these instances there was no lack of firmness in the
grasp or of capacity in the administration, and
however much credit may be due to the able coun-
cillors who surrounded their thrones, it would be
unfair to attribute the vigour of Elizabeth or the
toleration of Christina exclusively to the influences
of Burleigh or Oxenstein. The Swedish princess
is said to have attentively studied the character of
our English Queen, and possibly to have derived
f ro
m her the impression that strength of rule must,

necessarily be associated with a rough and mas
culine manner. But, however similar in other
respects, there was certainly one very import-
ant particular in which the two maiden Queens
differed. Elizabeth tantalised her Ministers and
people for many years by her reluctance to no-
minate her successor; she could not endure
the thought of relinquishing her dearly loved
power. Christina, on the contrary, during the few
short years of her reign, was impatient to resign
the crown, and declared her intention three years
before she actually fulfilled it, although induced to
postpone its accomplishment by the entreaties of
those around her. Sweden at the time of her acces-
sion held a very different position in the European
scale to what it does now. The fame of Gustavus
Adolphus extended throughout the civilised world,
Napoleon has since placed him in the very first rank
of military commanders, and his death at Lutzen,
by postponing the conclusion of the Thirty Years'
War exercised a powerful influence on Euro-
pean politics. His daughter, who inherited his
talents and judgment, though not his steadiness,
was still in the first years of childhood at his death.
His faithful Minister and friend, 0 zenstien,
acquitted himself of the trust reposed in him most
scrupulously, aided by the rest of the Regency ; and
the young princess received an education which
left her one -of the most learned women in
Europe, and whose only fault was that it taxed too
severely her delicate health. Her mother was con-
sidered incompetent to take charge of her, and in
accordance with the wish of the lamented King,
Christina was committed to the care of her aunt,
who was in every way worthy of the trust. Un-
fortunately she died when the young princess was
just entering her girlhood, committing her family
on her death-bed to her niece's favour and protec-
tion. " Never," says her biographer, "was a dying
injunction more faithfully observed than this last.
Christina resigned her crown to Catherine's son,
and resigned the man she loved to Catherine's
daughter." Whether these acts were due to her
veneration for her aunt, or to motives of policy, it
is certain that Christina deeply felt the loss of the
Princess, and was thus deprived of her only judi-
cious female friend and adviser. But, notwith-
standing her habitual disregard for the graces of
her sex, and her affectation of manly tastes and
habits, Christina was not destitute of refinement, as
the encouragement she gave to men of arts and
letters testifies. Taste and manners were at a very
low ebb in Sweden at the time of her accession,
and knowledge was not much higher. She did
good service to her nation by introducing a better
state of things. The uncultivated state of the coun-
try previously is shown by the fact that two of
the most important measures of the Regency were
the improvement of the roads and the formation of
a regular post. She invited men of learning from
France, Italy, and Holland, and every week she
held an assembly of the most famous wits and
scholars. More substantial benefits were conferred
by Christina on her kingdom by her love of peace;
she was always slow to engage in conflicts, and
ready to come to fair and reasonable terms with
an adversary. Her greatest achievement, how-
ever, was the active part she took in bringing
about the the peace of Westphalia. Her anxiety
on this point reflects the higher honour upon her,
because Sweden was by no means the greatest
sufferer in the war, and to some classes it was
a positive advantage. It is remarkable that this
Peace was the first recognition of that principle of
the balance of power which has become so
favourite a dogma with modern statesmen.
Christina inherited her father's courage and
independent spirit. She was well fitted to rule,
for the eccentricities that made her ridicu-
lous in private life did not interfere with her just
and wise administration of the affairs of the State.
The resolve to abdicate, formed so soon after her
coming of age, and declared the year after the ex-
travagant ceremonial of her coronation, was the
more extraordinary when we consider how well
adapted her position was to the gratification of her
tastes. One of the reasons she assigned for it was
her desire to cultivate literature more at leisure,
forgetting, as the anther remarks, how much of the
ready admiration of men of genius was given to the
Queen, not to the woman, however gifted. Another
cause is found in the state of the finances, for
Christina, however skilful in mathematics, does
not appear to have been by any means a good
financier. By her first act she had confirmed the
alienation of some of the Crown lands by the Re-
gency, and refusing from a mistaken sense of hon-
our to reclaim them, the consequence was continual
embarrassment. Last, but not, least among her
motives was the change in her religion, for though
Christina was not one of those who
" Threw Crowns for rosaries away;
An empire for a cell,"
yet as the profession of the Catholic faith was for-
bidden to a Swedish monarch, it undoubtedly had
a great influenee over her. Her biographer adds to
these the restless desire to do something startling
which should increase the admiration felt for her
many rare qualities. He is throughout her staunch
partisan, admitting her follies and foibles, but de-
fending her from all graver charges. He asserts
that few eminent persons have had less justice
done to them by posterity than Christina, for the
majority of the lives published have either been
" extravagantly hostile, or unreasonably eulogistic."
This defect he strives to remedy by a fair and tem-
perate work, founded on authentic documents.
Christina's abdication was neither productive of
benefit to her country nor to. herself. " Three
kings succeeded her, each of whom possessed great
military genius, but their incessant wars impover-
ished their country, lost the fairest portion of their
territory, and reduced Sweden to the position of a
third-rate power." The reign of her immediate
successor and cousin, Charles Gustavus, which
only lasted five years, was an incessant cam-
paign ; his son, though a prince of great
ability, was continually involved in war; while
the martial history of Charles XII. is as well
known from its misfortunes as its successes. Of
the ex-Queen herself her biographer writes—.
"There is little doubt that she soon began and
never ceased to repent of the step she had taken.
Far from enjoying:the coveted repose, she was more
than ever absorbed in politics, when she could no
longer interfere in them with dignity. Her literary
meetings lost half their joyousness from the time
that they were no longer her relaxation from the
duties of government. She must often have thought
of the merry conversations, when the greatest
scholars of Europe sought a word or a smile from
her." The two most celebrated examples of
monarchs laying down their crowns have, says the
writer, little in common with hers. Diocletian and
Charles V, were exhausted by the fatigues of war
and the cares of state. Christina was but twenty-
eight when she abandoned her sovereignty. She
was beloved by her people, and her reign had been
singularly successful. The rest of her long life, for
she survived her abdication for thirty-five years,
she spent chiefly at Rome. She visited France,
where she was concerned in the discreditable
tragedy of Monaldesehi, and afterwards returned to
her native land, where the reception she met with at
not
xab Itl. notable
wasinn
the hands of the Government affords one of the
most
sitnapnrcipneeeswiof human ingratitude. The
Regency h
principally
of
the minority
Charles
had been the recipients of her favour, yet their con-
duct to the ex-Queen was marked by every possible
insult. They issued a proclamation forbidding her
the exereise of her religion during her stay, a right
they dared not refuse to foreign ambassadors ; they
forbade her to be present at any meeting of the
States, and announced that it would be necessary
ordersroingdi s to Stock-
holm toc
thek-
to take extraordinary precautions about the young
hkolm king's health.
heoesulrtihe; metAs hershe withwas e
to dismiss
proceeding
carriage thhei s
gave affront,
orders
rd e r
s andt
o
QCauteheonlicrpefruiessetdwtheo attended her. The indignant
although it was near submitmidnight
dnightto
preparetzz forshe insptasansteddeparture.
through Theeurproeuopnldeedof
her
country
affec-
tion and regret, and Christina withdrew from the
with every demonstration of
in spite
oshfebhad once ruled with the dignity that,
daughter of Ge her
setcacveznt
Ar i cdiotli
pe sh,
ualwaysT
eclllutnhge tKing,"o the
she said, in taking leave of the Swedish Count who
escorted her, " that my pride will keep me from