The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-11 00:00:00

LIT EBATURE.

Vivia ; a ,Tournal. By Mrs. J. Elphhistone Dal-
rymple. Dedicated to Sir E. Bulwer Lytton.
2 vols. Hurst and Blackett.
It is long since so pleasing and fascinating a:novel
has been presented to the public. A spirit kindred
to its name seems to pervade its pages, fresh,
vigorous and brilliant. Its style is characterised
alternately by melancholy and vivacity; while the
retrospective twilight in which the scenes appear
renders them solemn and subdued. The writer of
the Journal is a lady who employs the evening of
her days in collecting and arranging the many
interesting and exciting details- in which she was
concerned- in life's meridian. However, although
she had been sister, wife, and mother, it is not in
connection with any of these ties that she appears
before us. Her own immediate circle soon passed
away from her. Her husband and children died;
her brother went away to India while she was a
child, and she never saw him again. Mrs. Lyle
was one of those beings, however, who have always
some objects in whom to centre their regard, and
to whom to devote th-ir services and attentions.
So entire was her sympathy for her adopted child-
ren that the reader forgets in her excitement and
eagerness for their welfare that they are not really
her own. The career of Vivia, the heroine, and
the god-daughter of Mrs. Lyle, was an extraordi-:
nary one. She was born to rank and fortune, but
circumstances which alienated her advantares of
wealth also shut her out from participating in the
sphere she seemed formed to grace and adorn. In
her god-mother and guardian she had ,always a
friend and a solace. She . needed her; fOr every
one else seemed to desert her. Her brother
plunged into all sorts of extravagance; and
she was forced to leave their .beautiful paternal
estate. A heavier trial than this, he to whom she
had attached herself with all the devotion of a
young girl's first affection, suddenly left her for
one who had been till within a few weeks a
stranger, and who bad professed for her a sisterly
sympathy and regard. In the description of this
dramatic portion of the narrative the authoress has
shown great skill. Blanche, the traitress, stealing iu
serpent-like into the midst of the little circle in
which she, a stranger, had been taken in—Godfrey,
his eyes sharpened by jealousy, driven wild by the
injustice done to his sister, and at the same time
prevented by overwhelming obligations from taking
that high and commanding course his feelings dic-
tated—Mrs. Lyle herself, seeing all, or suspecting
all at least, had no legal or natural right to inter-
fere; she was only the friend of the family, and she
felt it would only hasten instead of retarding the
catastrophe. Vivia herself, above all, claims atten-
tion. She was aware of the danger before any one
else had thought of it ; but with the knowledge
came also the conviction of despair. As nothing
was wrong openly, and .no visible demonstration
was apparent, it was impossible for her to speak or
to act without compromising her purity and pro-
priety of demeanour. Still, not many could have
equalled Vivia, in her calm endurance. She made
no one her confidant, and she betrayed no sign of
her heavy trouble. She went about with a serene
and smiling manner. Outwardly there was a re-
semblance in those two young maidens dwelling to-
gether. Blanche and Vivia were similar in being
cheerful and composed. In what consisted the in-
ward difference how great a gulf lay between the
two hypocrisies their fellow-mortals could hardly
estimate. One hiding her evil designs under the
mask :of friendliness, the other concealing by a
powerful control the sorrow and shame that pos-
sessed her, fearing no enemy so much as her own
heart. When at last, the blow fell suddenly, Vivia,
though overcome, was not surprised ; and when she
could calm herself a little, she felt3that hers was,
after all, the gain,. and Blanche's the loss. She
for a few brief years of early youth might mourn,
but only for herself ; for the unworthy object of
her attachment she could not feel respect, but with
every sigh of disappointment would come a sensa-
tion of relief at the fate she had escaped. Blanche,
on the contrary, had united herself to one who had
forfeited the good opinion of every honest man
from that time, and she was set out on a course
with misery for her guide, and sooner or later an
awful goal to be the termination. To add to the
dilemma in which all parties were placed, Blanche
was the niece of Mrs. Lyle, the daughter of her
only brother, who sent. her home, when he was
dying, for his sister to -adopt. It was a sad be-
quest, for a brother so long estranged from his
family, to leave to his sister, who had always been
wishing to hear of him, or from him, for long
years. Mingled with disappointment in the mind
of Mrs. Lyle there was a feeling of reproach that
she should have allowed her niece to be in the
way of her other child, the far dearer one, whom
she watched over from her earliest existence. Per-
haps it was the kuowle lge of this that first lel the
far-seeing Blanche to step in to mar all peace.
She angrily taunted her aunt, in one of their dis-

Mutes, with the fact that a stranvr was dearer to
her than the child of her own blood, and the bitter
spirit with which this was uttered showed that it
was no newly-formed complaint. It was a change,
but a sad one, for the unhappy Vivia, ' to have to
leave her mother's house to strangers, and return
to live with Mrs. Lyle, at the residence of the lat-
ter, the Grange. After such a glowing summer of
life and love, it was hard to turn away in winter
from the shadows of past pleasures. After a cheer-
ful little circle had been assembled around her,
Vivia had to go as an outcast from hope, and home,
and happiness. " The Christmas of this year was a
trying one indeed, but we knew that the sott green
leaves of coming spring Nv,re even then folded up
in the bare and d,B Aatoloiking branches—we triel
to look hopefully forward, knowing that the dark-
est cloud which over s4adows human life may often
appear the brightest to the angels who watch over
us from the sunward side of heaven."

A brighter and better future was indeed in store
for the 'deserving heroine than she or her friends
supposed. It is not often that the novelist is suc-
cessful in delineating the rise and progress of a
second attachment. It is not likely that it should
often be genuine in real life ; but there are cases,
and this one here met with is pre-eminently one in
which it seems natural 'and truthful. Vivid had
been engaged so soon that her emotions and im-
pulses were hardly defined to herself even—she
loved deeply, but still with a girlish feeling ; she
had not studied the nature of her sentiment, and,
as we have seen, she had not long preserved respect
for the character of her lover. When once her
confidence was gone, she gave up the place in her
heart, she uprooted the unworthy idol, and, though
she felt grieved to hear of his subsequent misfor-
tunes, it was with pity not " akin to love" that she
contemplated his career. Had he acted honour-
ably, had he avowed to her the change in his at-
tachment, and gone away for a time before pro-
posing to Blanche—had he shunned both and de-
parted, she would have felt differently. It is
probable that then his image would never have
been dethroned in her fancy, that to the last hour
of her life it would have lingered iu the freshest
and purest tablets of her memory, keeping alive in
old age the vitality of youth, and shining with a
lustre that will outlast bodily and mental decay.
However, no halo of imagination, and no light of
reason, could throw a charm or shed a glory in the
path of the false one, who, in one short hour, sat by
her side full of a lover's eager vows and protesta-
tions, and then hastened to the fatal rendezvous
with her enemy.. After the lapse occasioned by
so much suffering, it was not against the law of
natural feelings that she should again form an at-
tachment. She could not be so excited again, it
is true, but she was more earnest ; she began se-
condly, where she had the first time left off, with
respect. She was charmed with Lord Clarenham,
everything fascinated her, but constant companion-
ship showed the thorn in the roses; she could not
look up to or appreciate his character. With his
different. Long
cousin, on the contrary, al
she had.
friend,off and
_espected hi
badefmorireedtheafiursd t eirgagem.e_nt_lw
mawebarsokaen
afterwards became in-
to develope - more the
Dudley Clarenliam. It
or exactly what
at in-
timacy, aaccyq2l aainndtanc onlye served which..
steep ascent for affection
hnda
slmoweriatnodf
srosmuapnpcoese d to care for.
itinsshatentriouvlteienitn worthv
aoa
re
es
unworldly
accordance
ah
ne
cr
eo
with
t hi
e
But Vivia was no sentiment:dist then. Her fairy
palace had crumbled, and her golden apples turned
to dust and ashes. Of the eartla--earthy had been
her first engagement. In a second she sought for
reality, and idealism ; for what would he dura-
ble for time, and desirable in its influence for eter-
nity; that should have abtiai
lsi:oehreasnteeupoornchofanr(yee-
spect and congeniality, that
could affect or destroy. This being a memoir, our
farewell is not taken at the altar, and we are en-
abled to see that Vivia was not mistaken in her
choice. After many years there was still light
shining iu her path, and glory beaming on her
prospects. Mary Herbert is a very engaging cha-
racter, not rendered too good as some superior in-
dividuals appear in real life, but honest and
straightforward in her life and actions. Her last
hours are given in the conclusion in a touching
manner. She was a friend to all in distress and
suffering ; her fate was not very prosperous, but
she made her happiness by soothing the misery of
others, and in relieving their poverty she found her
riches. A pure and perfect faith in what is good
and great seems to animate the spirits and exalt
the thoughts of the authoress. In the final passage
she exhorts her readers to energy and devotion.
" On, fellow-pilgrims ! travellers on the mysteriotr
highway, whose course leads through thelk"ronxt
river to the gates of the heavenly city, Walk
bravely and fearlessly ! and in the great
life, though you may often ettuable, oftext._""24
1-P141411- Ecres ba wauded welPl44lo o.oll*
-

will at length be more than conquerors.' la
such a cause enthusiasm is not misplaced, and with
such sentiments eloquence has a theme for its exer-
cise and an end for its powers, than which none
could be better or more lasting. "Vi via" contains
reflections and principles that distinguish it as one
of the standard efforts that appear occasionally
amid.the.host.of transitory and ephemeral fictions
of the day. It is not written for any peculiar
epoch or individual class. All may derive instruc-
tion and interest from its
_pages, and the talent
grace and beauty to its delineation
possesses an attraction that will be
charmfutaunred as the present.
whichthes a mgiev aiens tih e