The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-23 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The House by the Churchyard. By I. Sheridan
Le Fanu. 3 vols. Tinsley.
The readers of the Lublin Magazine have already
become acquainted with this interesting story. It
is one that partakes of the romantic in no common
degree, and the various complicated incidents are
described iu a very skilful manner. The style also
is most animated, and the reader will find much to
direct and entertain, as well as graver subjects to
arrest his notice. It is impossible to give a sketch
of the story, as it is so very elaborate, but the chief
point is that one man was suspected of a murder
that another committed, and that other was sup-
posed dead till he suddenly appeared on the scene
of action, under an assumed name. The circum-
stances which led to his detection are related at
some length, and it is an act of retributive justice
that the very means which the wretch adopted to
screen his guilt were the cause of his villainy being
discovered. Some of the incidents are most excit-
ing, and Mervyn, as the unfortunate young Lord
Dunoran was called, had a most anxious time in
searching out the dark secret that shrouded his
father's memory. He persevered, in the face of ap-
parently insuperable difficulties, and at last his
efforts were crowned with success. The manner in
which Dr. Stark at last diecovered the guilty man
is most ingeniously disclosed, and this part of the
narrative has in it something of the awful that will
doubtless attract many readers who love the hor-
rible. Apart from these sombre details we meet
with some simpler and more pleasing accounts of
life. Lilies, " Lilly" as she is called, is a gentle
young creature, who attracts one greatly by her
simple style, and yet she possesses firmness too
when she is placed in a position of trial. The short
but touching records of her last moments contain
much that is sad yet pleasing in their truthfulness,
and the poor old rector, watching his treasure fad-
ing away, yet striving to hope against hope, is one
of those pictures of mortality that all must recog-
nise as too often encountered. The passage which
describes her death is called, "In which Christiana
goes over," and her departure was as easy and tran-
quil as the last moments of her who was taken for
an image of it. The return of Nutter to his home,
after his most dangerous position, as being accused
of Sturk's murder, is also most impressive, and the
natural delight of such a meeting is truly toned
down to a quiet sort of awe, which gave a solemn
reality to the scene. Poor little Sa►ly Nutter, as she
was called, in the excitement of the hour, became a
sort of heroine, and indeed she had gone through so
many trials that it was not surprising that even her
facile mind had become roused to a different state
of feeling to what her former placid life had
created. "And so for a rapturous hour it
seemed as if they had passed the dark valley
and were immortal, and no more pain, sorrow,
or separation for them. And perhaps these
blessed illusions are permitted now and again to mor-
tals like momentary gleams of Paradise, and distant
views of the Delectable Mountains, to cheer poor
pilgrims with a foretaste of those meetings beyond
the river where the separated and beloved shall em-
brace." Another true delineation is poor Mrs.
Sturk. Her agony at her husband's sad deathbed
is painfully lifelike, as also the wild flashes of hope
which occasionally lighted the dismal scene, but it
was only the hope that keeps alive despair that
came into that chamber where she kept so long her
anxious watch, and where the grim destroyer at
last seized his prey. The sad havoc that one
thoroughly unprincipled and reckless man occasions
wherever he goes is well exemplified in these stir-
ring pages. The family of Lord Dunoran were dis-
graced, and its heir wandering about the world
with a forfeiture pronounced against his property.
Then when the fated being reappears on the scene
into many households he turned peace into discord,
and brought mourning for joy. Mrs. Sturk was
made wretched for life, after suffering so much
anxiety first. Then the Nutters were plunged into
great trouble, and so were many others. Inter-
spersed with these grave events there are some
more lively news and amusing anecdotes. Lieut.
Puddock is a comic character, the like of which does
not often enliven the fictions of nowadays, and Miss
Magnolia is another character in her way quite as
edifying. Her encounters with Firework O'Fla-
herty are ludicrous, and yet so smartly told, that
they gain attention. At the end of the story we
leurn that this sparring couple did not put a truce
to their warfare when they were united, but no
serious consequences ensued from their differences.
Their Celtic virtues descended to their children, and
" one of the finest grenadiers who lay in his red-
coat and sash within the French lines on the field
of Waterloo, in that great bivouac which knows no
reveille save the last trumpet, was a scion of that
fine military stock." This story is one that can be
recommended to the reader who loves excitement,
and there are also attractions of other kinds to be
met with in its pages. It can be taken up with
the certainty of meeting with a narrative that com-
bines varied entertainment, and the style is viva-
cious and sparkling in the extreme.