The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-20 00:00:00

LITERATURE,

THACKERAY'S NEW WORK.
The History of Henry Esmond, Esq., a Colonel
the Reign of her Majesty Queen Anne. Written
by himself. Printed by Smith and Elder, over
against St. Peter's Church, in Cornhill. 3 vols.
The readers of " Pendennis," the lovers of
Vanity Fair," have been grievously disappointed.
this season. o new novel from their favourite
author ! No pleasant hours passed in the com-
panionship of William Makepeace Thackeray I
Somewhile since they were beguiled with a delusive
hope that such a pleasure was in store for them.
They looked forward to some new satire on the
faults and follies of Vanity Fair, redeemed,
perhaps, with more softening touches than were
visible in the former exposition. They anticipated
—but no matter what they anticipated ; they have
met with, as we have said, a grievous disappoint-
ment. In the place of their old familiar friend, with
his easy style and lively sarcasm, they find themselves
suddenly face to face with a stranger, habited
in unusual garb, addressing them in unaccustomed
speech. The effect is similar to that which we
have most of us experienced when the servant,
throwing open the door, pronounces some familiar
name : we rise, hasten forward to welcome some
dear friend, and, lo and behold ! an unknown
visitor presents himself ! The air of empresseinent
changes into constraint, cold formal bows take the
place of more cordial salutations, and, do what we
will, embarrassment is perceptible on both sides.
Mentally we feel wroth with the innocent cause of
the mistake, and heartily wish that Colonel Esmond
had sent up his own card instead of substituting
that of our old friend Thackeray ! Regrets are
useless now, however ; the introduction is effected,
the acquaintance has commenced, and we must
make the best we can of our new visitor.
In the ars celare artery!, Mr. Thackeray has here
assuredly proved himself a proficient. This is not
a disguise, but an absolute transformation. In
saying this, however, we intend only a very quali-
fied compliment. There are disguises, habitual
among authors, which sit gracefully and lightly as
his lady's scarf round the knight's accoutrements,
which adorn, but do not encumber the wearer.
Not so with the livery of Queen Anne, as assumed
by Mr. Thackeray. In that grim attire,
every natural grace is lost. But why are
we speaking of Mr. Thackeray ? He is not
in this hemisphere ; he is now beyond the
Atlantic, and his spirit is not in this book • it
is the production of Colonel Esmond. With
Colonel Esmond, then, we have to deal, and let us
deal with him accordingly. Henry Esmond is by
right the Lord Viscount Castlewood, but the world
is suffered to remain in ignorance of this fact.
The marriage of his parents had been at first
known only to a few, and when Henry becomes
aware that such an event had taken place, he re-
fuses, from an exaggerated generosity, to deprive
his benefactors of their imagined rights. In his
youth,
after his father's death, he had been kindly
festered by the then Lord Castlewood, a cousin of his
father's ; he had been the playfellow and tutor of his
lordship's children, Francis and Beatrix; and when
Lord Castlewood is killed in a duel, and Henry be-
comes aware of his own rights, he has not the heart to
dispossess the children of his patrons. He suffers
Francis to lord it as Viscount Castlewood, and only
aspires, himself, as the crowning ambition of his
life, to win favour in the eyes of Beatrix, the object
of his unavailing adoration. The history which oc-
cupies the three volumes, gives, in the first place,
a detailed account of the author's childhood and
youth, hinting at secret intrigues, having the
restoration of James 11. for their object, in
which Esmond's father and his second wife are
implicated ; then, on the death of Esmond's
parent and the succession of his cousin,
an attractive picture is given of the domestic life at
Cas tlewood under the new rule. The attractive
portions of the picture, however, soon fade away ;
some pages follow which will chill the hearts of the
sentimental unless they meet the author's asser-
tions with an emphatic denial in the outset. This
is one of the occasional instances in which the
censor of " Vanity Fair" appears to guide the pen of
Colonel Esmond, as he gives with a masterly hand,
an undoubtedly clever and cold-blooded analysis of
the gradual decay and death of Love—a history of the
decline and fall of the idol from its shrine—in fact,
an elaborate illustration of that sad and beautiful
thought of Mrs. Hemans :
" to make idols, and to find them clay,
And to bewail that worship."
Lady Castlewood, on her first introduction to us,
is young, considerably younger than her husband,
beautiful, and gifted in no common degree. Lord
Castlewood is a kind-hearted man, indulgent to
others, but most indulgent to himself, and far in-
ferior in abilities to his wife, who regards him,
notwithstanding, with a passionate devotion.
Gradually, however, Lord Castlewood wearies
of his lady's society, the chase and the
wine-cup are his delights ; and as, in his indul-
gence of the latter, he sinks lower yet beneath her
level, Lady Castlewood sadly awakes from her de-
lusion. Her disappointed heart turns for conso-
lation 'towards Esmond, her youthful protege.
This affection is however a profound secret to all,
and is only made apparent to the astute reader by
the most covert hints. One passage, indeed,
exhibits the author's power ; it reveals no
mean knowledge of the depths of the human
heart, and considerable adroitness in their
delineation. We allude to that passage when,
on her husband's death, Lady Castlewood
visits Henry in prison, where he is confined for
having been one of Lord Castlewood's seconds, in
the duel which cost him his life. Esmond, full of
sorrow for the death of his friend, full of gratitude
and sympathy for his lady, and knowing, in
his own heart, that he has just sacrificed his right-
ful inheritance in order to benefit the children of
his patron,—Henry, feeling all this, is grieved
and amazed when the widow, weeping for her
husband, overwhelms him with indignant re-
proaches for having taken part in the fatal duel.
In the vehemence of her sorrow and anger Esmond
only sees unjust displeasure; but in every word
the reader perceives the wrestling of a heart divided
against itself. The old love for her husband,
aroused by his sudden death, and her dawning
affection for Henry, filling her with remorse, she
gives vent to her self-reproaches in reproaching
him ; but every word of anger is an unconscious
avowal of love. Estranged for a while from
his old friends, Henry Esmond enters the army,
and takes part in the celebrated victories of
Marlborough. These campaigns and the incidents
relating to them are detailed with almost weari-
some particularity, varied by occasional visits
to England, where Esmond resumes his in-
tercourse with the Castlewood family, and
assays to obtain a victory, more difficult than
any of Marborough's, over the unconquerable
heart of Beatrix. No two characters could be more
dissimilar than those of the mother and daughter.
Lady Castlewood is gentle and submissive, and
overflowing with tenderness; Beatrix is proud and
ambitious, her heart is a stranger to love, and her
hope is to surmount her beautiful face with a
coronet. How can the nameless Esmond affect

her ? In vain he wins distinction in the army-
in vain for years he alternately pursues her with
perseverance or retires in despair. At length a
bold scheme suggests itself to the Colonel. All the
Castlewood family are Jacobites at heart, and Bea-
trix is the most zealous of the number. As the death
of Queen Anne draws near, the Legitimists grow
doubly anxious for the succession of the old line,
and Esmond proposes to bring over secretly the
exiled Prince, the son of James 11., and the brother
of Queen Anne. Young Lord Castlewood is abroad,
and has been gained over by the exiles ; in his com-
pany, using his passports, the Prince travels to
England. The old servants have been dismissed
from the London residence of Lady Castle-
wood, and no one remains who remembers the
features of the young lord. The strangers arrive,
the Prince passes for Lord Castlewood, remain-
ing at home on account of ill health, and receiving
visits only from those who are in the secret. Es-
mond and Lord Castlewood attend on the royal
guest, and great is the indignation, and cruel are
the tortures of the brother and lover, as they witness
the undisguised admiration of the Prince for the
fair Beatrix. The lady is sent home to
Castlewood ; the Prince has had an interview
with Queen Anne, the plot of the conspirators
progresses, the day of the grand attempt ar-
rives— all is ready for the coup de main
which shall transfer the Crown to the brows of
the " rightful" King, when the principal personage
is found wanting! The Prince has disappeared.
He has followed Beatrix to Castlewood. Her
brother and Esmond pursue him, the latter breaks
his sword in the royal presence, and renounces his
allegiance, and reads the Prince such a lesson on
the laws of honour, as for the time impresses and
converts him. The trio return to London, and
as they enter, they hear, for the first time,
that announcement which has since become
so strangely proverbial, " Queen Anne is
dead !" From their carriages they listen to
the proclamation of King George I. The disap-
pointed " Pretender" retires from the kingdom.
Beatrix follows him ; her fate Esmond scorns to
tell, but his love—the love of so many years' dura-
. tion—has perished. It ceased to exist the mo-
ment when Esmond discovered that she gave direct
encouragement to the advances of the royal lover.
The sequel of the'story jars upon the feelings of the
• romance reader. Esmond, taught by experience to,
value the abiding affection of his " dear mistress,,,
makes her his wife! Although Lady Castlewood's gen -
tleness and self-abnegation have won the reader's
sym-
pathy, her marriage with the lover of her own Baugh,