The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-16 00:00:00

THE SUN, 'LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 16, 1863,

MARKETS—This Day.

bags from Rotterdam, 100 tons from Dtnkirk, 100 tons
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LITE,.:ATURE,

Verner's Pride. By Mrs. Henry Wood, Author of
" East Lynne," " Mrs. Haliburton's Troubles,"
&c. 3 vole. Bradbury and Evans.
The authoress of this work has become one of our
most famous novelists. Her great success is chiefly
owi►:g to her accurate descriptions of life. It is sel-
dom that we meet with such faithful representations
of men and manners as in these works, and it is
to be questioned if, in this peculiar branch of her
vocation, she could be surpassed. This book is
not pleasing in its narrative portion, since it con-
cerns a set of characters who are quite beyond
the pale of sympathy, with but one or two ex-
ceptions. It gains upon us, however, as we pro-
ceed, and when the interest reaches its height,
the reader is borne along irresistibly to the close.
Sybilla's character is singularly well drawn. We
see before us an extremely selfish woman. Sel-
fishness is the root of her nature, the mainspring
of her actions, and the desire of her heart. This
sin is one of the most obnoxious to the better
feelings of human nature, and hence it is with
almost a sensation of satisfaction that we see her
unworthy objects frustrated, and her mean wishes
fall short of their accomplishments. It is a strik-
ing instance of retributive justice when she is
turned out of Verner's Pride. She had married
twice, with the sole object of becoming mistress
of that fair domain. She had outraged the first
principles of an honest and honourable nature,
by openly declaring her secret wishes that her
first husband might prove to be alive, and come
back to ciaim her, so that, at any rate, she might
keep the property. All went against her. She
was turned out. Lionel bore the shock with equa-
nimity ; he was grieved, but looked not on riches
and worldly goods as the only end of existence.
He was a man who thought them the adjuncts of life,
not its essentials. Sybilla fretted herself into her
grave; and such was her conduct, that her death
must have been a relief to all connected with her.
Another person who received a terrible warning from
this catastrophe was Dr. West. This unprincipled man
had insisted on his daughter marrying Frederick,
because he had been witness to the will which had
bequeathed to him the estate instead of Lionel.
Then, when he found that there was a codicil which
restored the property to its rightful heir, he had
contrived to possess himself of the document. He
met with a series of rebukes for his crimes. First
of all, he lost the codicil, and then, after the death
of Frederick, Sybilla married Lionel, who took
possession of Verner's Pride under the belief that
both the brothers Massingbird had died in Austra-
lia. The elder one, John, however, was not dead,
and returned to claim his rights. If Dr. West
could have produced the codicil he might have still
kept his daughter in possession ; but as it was, she
was turned out to die. In her last moments she
sent a message to her father telling him that this
sad reverse had killed her. Little did she know it
was all her father's doings. Dr. West had a heavy
burden to bear, which was the more bitter as he had
brought it upon himself by wilfully and profanely
tampering with things beyond his ken. No one
ever took the regulation of affairs out of the hands
of Providence without rueing the day he commit-
ted the grievous error. Had Dr. West let things
alone they would really have been for the best as
regarded Sybilla's worldly interest; and if they
had not, she would never have missed a grandeur.
she did not know of by experience. Another mis-
take, the root of all similar actions, is making such
splendour and wealth the one thing needful in life.
Riches gained by tampering with wills never
prosper even in this world. Their doom seems
written on their face, and the lai gest fortunes gained
by doubtful means are squandered away before the
astonished sight of men. Dr. West and his daughter
might well reflect when too late on their impotent
desires, and acknowledge the falsity of their hopes
and the sin of their wishes. It has been truly
written,—

" In all your plans of future life be wise,
He builds too low who builds beneath the skies."

Truly was this axiom carried out in the life and
death of this guilty pair. As a contrast to the
glare and glitter of the yoangest daughter, the two
elder ones really merit regard. Poor, simple well-
meaning creatures, who passed a dull, uncared-for
existence, they were honest and upright, and did
the best they could with their small means. " Jan"

Verner, the brother of Lionel, is a very quaint cha-
racter. There is something very refreshing in his
open, honest style after the subterfuges of some and
the wilful deceit of others. His scorn of appear-
ances and his contempt of the frippery of fashion,
exaggerated as they are, gain our sympathy when
we see such fearful evidetces of the errors they may
lead their votaries to commit when they are indis-

criminately sought after, and madly worshipped
The liberality with which he gave out of his smal
means was a reproof to the stinginess of some
around him. Frederick Massingbird is the villain
of the piece. He is early removed from the stage,
which is a good thing, but the evil he committed
lived after him. He had been concerned in a nefa-
farious transaction before he left, and the commital
of it had been imputed to Lionel. Hence it was
that old Mr. Verner had altered his will in favour
of his stepson, instead of leaving the property to its
rightful heir, his nephew. Lionel had a double
claim, as it h.ppened ; his father having
been older than hia uncle, but the original
proprietor had favoured his second son to the ex-
clusion of his grandchild, Lionel's father being
dead. Some might suggest that this entanglement
of claims and relationships is too complicated for
real life, and indeed these confusions may not often
occur, but the merit is the same in the picturing
of scenes and delineation of characters. It is nor
when walking in the beaten track along the cool,
sequestered vale of life that the passions of men are
roused to their full fury, or their prejudices enabled
to mar their own fortunes and stand in the way of
other's advancement; sin does not intrude with its
deadly snares, the tempter does not whisper of
earthly gains to be had by stratagem, and worldly
benefits that wait upon the craft of the cunning
or the wile of the destroyer. Yet if the absence of
these dangers prevents the occasion of trial, neither
does it afford scope for the exercise of the grander
qualities of human nature. It is also in such con-
flicts that the good shines forth, and he who has
overcome can alone wear the conqueror's crown.
Thus, when the novelist would relate a stirring nar-
rative, and present us with a glowing transcript of
life, he must talce for subject one of those exciting
passages of existence where men and women, under
the influence of excitement, and wouNd up by the
pressure of circumstances, seem to alternate their
acticns as if they were now possessed by evil spirits
and anon led on by the guidance of their guardian
angels. The authoress has chosen an appropriate
sphere for the exercise of such qualities, since no-
thing can for so long a time inflame and irritate a
number of persona as the tenure of an estate, or the
posses3ion of a large property. There is no sacred
warning more ignored from the cradle to the grave
than the one which reminds the heirs of mortality
that they brought nothing into the world, neither
can they carry anything out. They persist in
getting and hoarding, or, failing that, throw con-
science to the winds, and attempt to obtain by
fraudulent means the opulence they cannot secure
in the ordinary way. " Verner's Pride" is a first-
rate novel in its breadth of outline and brilliancy of
description. lts exciting events, its spirited scenes,
and its vivid details, all contribute to its triumph as
a whole. The style is always natural, whoeverron
appears on the scene. Whether the actors are
ey
are
the village green or in the gilded
It is unne•
311 most apt representations of rtehai ls
o'rk, as all who
ceasary to predict a successbforits
authoress will be
study attentively a novel y
nterest it awakens and
sure of the result.
host
lsafeloo
the admiration the renown of the writer,
must infallibly ten
the
n the minds of its readers
welcome reception of the
aledmthire
herald the welcome reception of the
I while they
ver skill in construction of no ordinary
work wherever s
rethation of character W •
hich few
aytion it exctihttoees
kind, or a ready app
possess can arouse attention or win regard. per_
aps this work may not be among the most bril-
liant, but it is certainly worthy to rank with its
predecessors, and will prove an object of attraction to
many lovers of fiction weary of the monotony of
the daily romances prepared for their perusal,