The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-23 00:00:00

LITERA TITRE:

Eveltne. By the author of Forest Keep." 3 vols.

Hurst and Blackett.

This is a most romantic story that is sure to
charm all lovers of the exciting class cf fiction. The
adventures of Eveline Warburton are most extra=
ordinary, and they are related with great skill, so
that, improbable as some of the occurrences may
appear when critically scanned over by a captious
observer, the reader goes on through the stirring
scenes without questioning their vraisemblance.
The longing desire of Eveline to go to Italy was
one of those natural instincts that often reveal
themselves to the surprise of those who do not
know all the attendant circumstances of the case.
The child of the South yearned to be under her
native skies, and though she had been taken away
at a very early age, still some dim and uncertain
memories seemed to float around her. Louis
Harley is a fine character, and worthy to be the
hero of a romance. His bold defence of Eveline
when she was accused of murder at the beginning
claims our notice and wins for him our regard ; and
as we proceed and watch his onward course we are
more and more impressed with his spirit, his kind-
ness, and his superior abilities. The adventures of
Miss Warburton are romantic in the extreme,
but she gets mixed up with a set who
are in themselves surrounded by extraordi-
nary circumstances. Miss Elton's life was
a very strange one, and her secret marriage quite
one of the old days of deep mystery in romance and
thrilling tales of love and stratagem. Espina is
the villain of the piece, and he is sketched with
great adroitness. The cunning and craftiness of this
men would have rendered him a fit emissary of the
secret tribunal in the days of its dark Inquisition.
Bad as he is, we feel more contempt, however, for
the Duke of Valdoli, who sat in his cabinet plotting
and planning evil to all who came in his way, and
then summoned his envoys and despatched them
hither and thither with strict charge to stop at
nothing, and to respect no life that stood in the way
of their executing his desires. It is satisfactory to
find that such a wretch was at last foiled in many of
his attempts, and it was only retributive justice
that caused his death by the hand of him whom he
had trained in villany, Giulo Espina. At last a
brighter day seemed to dawn on the much perse-
cuted friends, and we leave them at the conclusion
of the narrative apparently safe from persecution
and secure from danger. To all who appreciate a
romantic novel this one will occasion great pleasure,
and it can unhesitatingly be recommended to their
perusal. In depth of sentiment and exciting inte-
rest it possesses advantages that few tales of the
present day offer. This is not a sensation story,
but a romantic one of a superior class, and as
such it is sure to be welcomed in many circles.
Even where its chronicles may be called too
visionary or dreamy in their tone, its ability must
be recognised, and Espina and the Back-veiled
One are enough in themselves to testify to the
merit of the author who has placed them in his
stirring pages.

7rue as Steel. By Walter Thornbury. 3 vole.
Hurst and Blackett.
Mr. Thornbury is a versatile and indefatigable
writer. He has tried in turn biography, art,
essays, ballads, and historical novels, and has in
each undertaking been more or less successful. His
least fortunate efforts have been made in verse; in
prose he is always animated and vigorous. The
merits of his style are a little marred by a slight
tinge of affectation and self-complacency, but these
errors may, let us hope, wear out with time. Mr.
Thornbury is, as his readers are well aware, familiar
not only with the events and characters of the
middle ages, which are common to most readers,
but with the inner life, the thoughts, words, and
ways of the men of those bygone days. He is never
at a loss in the labyrinth which might puzzle many
writers less complete and accurate in their informa-
tion. In the work before us he has stepped aside
from the fashion in which the sensation element so
largely predominates, and has set before us once
again the story of a true German hero in the time
of Charles V., who is already known to many
through the medium of his own autobiography,
written, like many a more celebrated work, to he
guile the tedious hours of captivity. Sir Goetz de
Berchlingen, the Knight of the Iron Hand, has
formed the hero of Goethe's celebrated tragedy,
which bears his 14 me, and which, together with the
autobiography referred to, has largely as-
sisted Mr. Thornbury. His work is some-
what diffuse and occasionally tedious in its
descriptions, especially at the commencement.
Afterwayds, when the reader gets more into the
bookspirit of the and becomes interested in the
charactlers,
,he can better forgive the digressions.
The old knight himself, chief among the Free
Knights of Geimany, is introduced to us returning
frOm one of those warlike forays in which he and
his companions were constantly engaged in the asser-
tion of their traditional rights. He is worshipped
by his retainers, and appears as the fitting head of
castle, estate, and family. Soon, however, this
happy home is broken up by the treachery of flat
Bishop of Bamberg, one of the knight's most insi
(lions and deadly foes. His eldest and favourite son
Robert, a young and stalwart knight, is drawn into
the toils of the beautiful murderess Olympia Orsini.
niece of the bishop. For her he forsakes father,
home, and friends, to be repaid at last by degrada-
tion and ruin. Meanwhile the old knight's career
sees many startling changes. He goes to the young
Emperor to plead the cause of himself and his com-
panions, and is favourably received, but again the
treacherous bishop outwits him, and he is dis-
missed from his second audience in disgrace. He
subsequently was induced to join the peasants in
their wild outbreaks by the plea that they wanted
a vigorous leader to restrain the atrocities com-
mitted by the fanatics. Disgusted with their savage
and barbarous conduct the brave old knight soon
left them in disgust, and afterwards fell into the
hands of one of his bitterest enemies. He lan-
guished six years in prison, tended by his faithful
wife, who obtained leave to share and lighten the
captivity which pressed so heavily on one who
had been half his life in the saddle. At length
the Emperor, who had long been favourably in-
clined to him, agreed to listen to the represents.
tions of his friends, and granted him freedom. But
when a joyful band brought the glad tidings to the
prisoner the captive was already free. Death
had anticipated the clemency of the Emperor,
and the heart of the brave old warrior was as cold
as his iron hand. Though the story of its hero fills
the chief part of the talo there are many minor
points of interest. It can scarcely be called a love-
story, yet the fatal love of the unfortunate Robert,
and the story of the bold young herald George, and
his pretty cousin, are skilful4 interwoven. Very
touching too, ie the scene when the disgraced knight
Robert von Berchlingen, deprived of the tokens of
knighthood by the treacherous bishop, his golden
spurs hacked from his heels by the meanest of his
serving men, suddenly meets the father so deeply
offended and forsaken in a situation even more
perilous than his own. The old knight who would
not hear the name of his faithless son when in the
hour of prosperity and triumph, now joyfully wel-
comes the fallen penitent. Their reunion is but
brief, for they are surrounded by enemies, and
Robert falls in the endeavour to save his father.
Dame Catherine and her household are a pleasing
contrast to the darker scenes of war and blood-
shed among which the story leads ns.
M. Thombury has given us a life-like
and stirring picture of times whose daily events
are well nigh forgotten, or only remembered by the
,tudents of musty folios. His work will probably
find less favour with the mere novel reader than
a sentimental fiction, but its undercurrent of truth
will give it a far greater attraction in the eyes of
those who love to study our weak and fallible
nature in its highest forms. Mr. Thornbury has
selected a motto which happily pourtrays the
character of his hero, who in those stormy times
suffered neither prince nor peasant to bend his
notions of right—
love the man whom dart nor stone
; Nor rabble's mud could scare,
Who feared not, though he seemed alone,
Knowing that Gucl was there,
In vain from rolling multitudes the angry murmurs
broke,
For they were of the bulrush tribe, and he was of the
oak."
Such a character is but too rare at any time, rarer

perhaps in these days than in the rough free-
spoken days of the Knight of the Iron Hand. There
is too much clipping down of the right—too much
palliation for the wrong among us, a confusion of
good and evil which loses sight of the broad mark
between. The career of one whose tongue was ss
honest as his sword was true, whose integrity was
as unshaken as his courage, is no unfitting lesson
for our timid vacillating age, with its half convic-
tions and its fear of calling virtue and vice by their
right names. The English public are indebted to
Mr. Thornbury for evoking this valiant shade of
the old soldier to whom he justly applies the words
of Carlyle, as one " whose birthright it was to be
the servant of virtue, goodness, and God, and in
such service to be without fee or reward."

Tales of all Countries. Second series. By
Anthony Trollop°. Chapman and Hall.

These short stories have been republished from
various periodicals. They form an amusing little
work on the whole, and are well calculated to in-
terest the reader who wishes to be entertained
without entering on a volume of more extended
scope. They are written throughout in tl- at spark-
..

ling style for which their author is fattens. Some
of the sketches are most ludicrous, as for instance,
that of " The Man who kept his Money in a Box.
This is one of those incidents that sometimes occur
in real life, and seem really to take place in order
to confound the wisdom of the wise. The various
impressions that arose in consequence of the un-
lucky mistake are well detailed, and take the reader
by surprise at the last. " The Parson's Daughter of
Oxney Calne," is a peculiar narrative of quite a
different class. Patience Woolsworthy was a
sensible and spirited girl, and it would be well for
many if they followed her example and drew back
in time from engagements that did not promise well
for their future happiness. There is, altogether,
much to engage attention in this book, and it is
sure to prove satisfactory to those in search of light
reading for leisure hours.