The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-14 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Iron, Cousin ' • or, Mutual Influence. By
Mary Cowden Clarke, Author of " The Girlhood
of Shakspeare's Heroines," kc. Routledge.
This is a very interesting story. The incidents
are ingeniously narrated, and the events occur in
a natural and. truth-like manner. The Squire, with
his good-natured, easy character, was just the sort
of person to go on heedlessly from day to day, un-
thinking of the morrow, and unmindful of the exi-
gencies of future demands. Kate Ireton, the
heroine, is a delightful being, full of enthusiasm,
energy, and intelligence. In the delineation of
this truly natural disposition the authoress has
been eminently successful. We meet with no sen-
timental maiden and no romantic damsel, but a
genuine woman. Her great fault was wilfulness,
but it was one easily accounted for and readily ex-
cused under her circumstances. Her uncle, the
good old Squire, thought of nothing else in the
world before his niece. He wished her to be happy,
supremely happy, and he erred in judgment, not
in feeling. Kate was happy 'for a time, but not
with the joy that lasts. She amused herself with
the eager excitement of a young and ardent nature,
impatient of remonstrance and indignant at con-
trol. The only person who did not yield a ready
compliance to her wishes was Fermor Worthington
—" the Iron Cousin," as Kate playfully styled
him, in consequence of their relationship and his
being of a lofty and commanding temper. With
this latter individual the young heroine kept up a
perpetual skirmish. After many misunderstand-
ings and mistakes on all sides, Fermor went abroad.
During his absence the Squire, Heathcote, died
suddenly. As he had left no will of his personal
property, all went to the heir in entail, and the
unfortunate object of his solicitude in life was by
his death reduced to beggary. Kate Ireton, how-
ever, possessed a spirit which, although overbear-
ing in prosperity, was strong in adversity. She
supported herself, and was as calm and collected in
trouble as she had been sportive and fearless in
gayer hours. After great troubles and hindrances,
she was enabled to establish herself in a small com-
petency in the village near which she had once re-
sided in a style of princely magnificence. Fermor
Worthington returned to find his valued cousin as
nearly perfect as seemed possible. Trial had re-
moved the only unworthy attributes of her noble
character. Solitude and reflection had taught her
wisdom that all her uncle's wealth could never
have procured her. Fermor Worthington himself
had somewhat softened down in the interim. His
wanner had lost that sternness and harshness
which had before been its chief defects. A more
attractive heroine than Kate Ireton can hardly be
imagined, and it is therefore with pleasurable feel-
ings that the reader beholds a brighter future rise
before her at the conclusion of the story. The
" Iron Cousin" may well sustain the fame of the
authoress by the elevation of its sentiments, the
ability of its descriptions, and the charm of its
pathos and expression.

Philip Rollo ; or, the Scottish. Musketeers. By
James Grant, Author of the " Romance of War,"
" Jane Seton," ch. 2 vols. Routledge.

This novel is of the romantic style in incident
and personages. The hero is neglected by his
family, and accordingly abandons his home and
country, and sets out with a cousin to join the
Scottish forces, then abroad assisting Christian,
king of Denmark. He met with a variety of re-
markable adventures, and when made prisoner by
the enemy's forces on one occasion he was taken
to the mansion of a Count, whose acquaintance he
had previously made during the war. He was here
introduced to his host's daughters Ernestine and
Gabrielle. He contrived to escape, and, the tide of
fortune changing, the fair sisters were afterwards
made captive by Rollo's friends. Philip was soli-
citous to return them the kindness they had pre-
viously shown to him in trouble, but the impru-
dent maidens left his protection, and set off to seek
their father, whom they believed dying. A very
interesting scene takes place when Ernestine, the
most spirited of the two, contrives to make the
brigand who had betrayed them swallow the drug
he had prepared for her. She then escape], and
soon made her way back to her captors, but also
her friends. Poor Gabrielle, the other victim, was
not so fortunate. She was murdered by the wretch
who had devised the scheme of getting the sisters
away to fulfil his own purposes of self-aggrandise-
ment. The termination is more satisfactory than
the reader expects, for Ernestine, who is reported
dead from cholera, to the great joy of her father,
and Philip Rollo recovers suddenly, having only,
fallen into a stupor. The party returned to Scot-
land, where, in their native land, they endeavoured
to forget the stormy scenes they had passed through
in foreign countries.

" (tc., 3 vols.
My
Saunders and Otley.
oFrei,enAcisutahnodr ofi la' Acquaintance. By P. G. Pat-
These volumes belong to a class of wprks
.whieb_h
has lately- increased in number. Saco° critics
jeo
It is demurred that literary men will
On principle.
never be able to indulge in social unreserve with
' t and perhaps with reason, to their publication,
on
their friends, if their words and peculiarities are
treasured up for the subsequent information of the
public. Others affirm that authors are public cha-
racters, and that every detail of their life and con-
versation is the privilege of their admirers or
critics. Setting aside this disputed point, few will
deny that the present work is written in a suffi-
ciently impartial spirit, and that it contains many
interesting remarks and anecdotes. It professes to
be a collection of " memorials, mind portraits,
and personal recollections of deceased celebrities of
the nineteenth century, with selections from their
unpublished letters." Among these memorials we
find many well-known names. The following is a
list of the chief sketches :—Charles Lamb, Camp-
bell, Lady Blessington, Plumer Ward, H. and J.
Smith, William Hazlitt, and Laman Blanchard,
with some recollections of Richard Brinsley Sheri-
dan. The latter include some selections from un-
published papers, which do not seem likely to en-
hance the author's reputation. Among some
curious incidents mentioned is the fact that the
famous Rejected Addresses really deserved their
title, having been rejected by several publishers
successively, " not one being willing to take upon
himself the risk of publishing, amounting to some
twenty or thirty pounds whereas, after it had
gone through something like a dozen editions, its
fortunate
copyright authors l a
r g solde sumthe
of
money remaining,
i believe
te rm f a
the
thousand pounds, and the volume has since reached
a thirty-first edition." Perhaps it is not generally
known that the last novel of Mr. Plumer Ward,
" De Clifford ; or, the Constant Man," was written
when he was between seventy-five and seventy-six
years of age. It must be remembered that it was
published in four thickly-printed volumes, equal,
it is observed, to mole than two ordinary novels of
the present day. Many such anecdotes or pieces
of information will be found iu these volumes,
which, if not possessing the highest qualities of
style or subject, will afford the reader much enter-
tainment, and serve to
Occupy agreeably au idle
hour.

Ambrose the Sculptor. An Autobiography of Artist
, Author of " Christa-
-Ini g iht thand Elder.
bLeilflee..,,ByTMwros.voCiasr. twsr
This work is not, as its title would lead us to
suppose, entirely devoted to art.
It partakes more
fromthe m
of the
o,
whichof
is
a romance,,, st l
ne
e as may be judged
,
as a seal upon
fire, Which hath a
arm ; for love is
strong as death ; jealousy is cruel as the grave ;
the coals thereof are coals of
thine heart, as a seal upon thine
most vehement flame." Ambrose Arnold, the
autobiographer, is born in Italy, his father a reck-
less genius, his mother a virtuous and devoted
parent, who, nevertheless, is the cause of great un-
happiness to her son. He inherits his father's
genius for sculpture, and after his death in a quar-
rel he studies at the house of Vitelli, an old friend
and distinguished teacher. He becomes attached
to Carmen Vitelli, his master's only daughter, a
prima donna at the Opera. Before he has con-
fessed his feelings, Carmen becomes seriously ill,
and Ambrose is summoned by his mother to accom-
pany her to England. She is of an old Welsh
family, and her only brother has at last forgiven
her imprudent marriage, and invited her and her
son to come and live with him. They accordingly
depart, to the great mortification of Ambrose, and
Carmen, who has lost her voice from illness, accom-
panies her father to Havana. There they aro both
seized with yellow fever, and the father dies. Car-
men is also reported to be dead. Meanwhile, Am-
brose hearing this report is persuaded by his
mother on her deathbed to marry his cousin Lilith,
his uncle's only child and heiress. On the eve of
the wedding-day he discovers that Carmen lives ;
and feeling himself committed to her from a letter
he had written to her father, the unhappy sculptor
is placed in a most awkward position. Lilith ex-
tricates him from it by assuring him that he is in
honour bound to Carmen, who, poor and destitute,
has arrived in Europe. To the indignation of his
uncle he breaks off the engagement with Lilith,
departs from Wales, and marries Carmen. They
live happily for some tirae, but doubts, jealousies,
and misfortunes arise, and they emigrate to Ame-
rica. After some years they return, and after many
complicated events Carmen poisons herself from
jealousy of Lilith. Ambrose subsequently rises to
eminence in his profession, and at length ends his
career full of honours. _

It will thus be seen that those who expect to
find in this work a record of the toils and triumphs,
the oaerizge Nooses the artist, will bi;