The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-30 00:00:00

LITERA TURE

EVELYN ; or a Journey from Stockholm to Rome
in 1847-48. By Miss Bunbury. 2 Vols.
These two very delightful volumes combine the
attractions of a book of travels and a novel, and the
combination produces a happy effect. We dwell on
the peculiarities of the countries through which we
pass without being condemned to the formal routine
of a voyage of discovery, and we become, incidentally
as it were, acquainted with the characters and his-
tories of our companions without for a moment being
led to suppose that the relation of their histories is
the object of our journey. Truth and fiction are so
admirably interwoven, that it is impossible to define
where the "actual" ends and the "ideal" begins.
These volumes would seem to be a journal of Miss
Banbury's tour in 1847 and 1848, and the de-
scriptions of many of the scenes and incidents
are evidently truthful. But the " journey," as we
see from the title-page, is only a secondary conside-
ration ; the fortunes of Evelyn are our chief subject of
interest. Evelyn is in every way fitted for a heroine
of romance, she has bright golden hair, she is always
dressed in white, and we do not remember that her
surname is ever once mentioned. She is wandering
alone throughout the world, in possession of a
"secret" which she may reveal to no one. Such is
Evelyn when our authoress finds her ; she takes pity
on her unprotected state, and the authoress and the
heroine journey together from Stockholm to Rome.
Romantic (in the novel reader's sense of the term)
and improbable as is the situation of Evelyn, it is
simply described, and her own character is so beautiful
and so natural that we forget the unnaturalness of her
position, and only see and appreciate the tinge ofromance
which her presence infuses into the narrative. What
we like best in this work is the unaffected easy style in
which it is written. No matter what the subject
may be, and the subjects touched upon are most
various, whether a love story—and there are no less
than three such interesting episodes in the two
volumes ; or a political discussion—and there are not
a few such naturally occasioned by the state of
Europe, then on the eve of revolution (for the fol-
lowing sentence might have been applied to a wider
field than Venice, which was the spot so apostro-
phised :—" The strong heel of a vast consolidated
power is pressed upon thy heart ; but that heart is
now heaving beneath it; its life is returning, and at
this moment who can tell what may not be on the
morrow ?")—whether it be some amusing traveller's
adventure or a graphic description of some town or
village, or sketches of various compagnons de voyage,
it is all one to Miss Bunbury's pen—it runs on in the
same natural and delightful manner that makes the
reader quite at home with the authoress and the
heroes and heroines, and the scenes which she de-
scribes. Having said enough of the mysterious
Evelyn to enlist for her the sympathy of all lovers
of the marvellous, and having spoken of the charming
manner in which her story is narrated, we pass over
the remainder of the dramatis persone,—the good-
hearted, good-humoured uncle and aunt Patrick, and
their gifted nephew Albert, travelling far and wide
in search of health and life even, while the best elixir
is by his side, but withheld from his grasp; the
noble baron, Oscar, the hopeless lover of Evelyn, and
the gentle Lilla, who would fain be in her place.
We pass over these and many other remarkable per-
sonages, and with a few specimens of the various at-
tractions we have enumerated, we will take leave of
Miss Bunbury till " next time," which we hope will
not be very far distant. Here is a travelling adven-
ture more amusing, doubtless, to the reader than to
the actors. Their guide-book had told the travellers
that "at Mrs. Todd's hotel, at Gottenburg, all the
household speaks English," this being a great desi-
deratum to persons unacquainted with Swedish—to
Mrs. Todd's they went., A young woman was sum-
moned to attend them.
" The young woman regarded us with all the quiet
gravity or her nation, when in repose; I saw she was
made over to us, and with a smile, I said—
"' You speak English, min flika?'
" Yes,' she answered.
" I nodded bath to her and Evelyn, and feeling quite
at home now, we entered the inn.
" ' As they all speak Engli.h here, we can get any
thing; shall I order cutlets and tea, Evelyn?'
" Very well.'
" Can you give us tea?' I asked of the tall flika.
" Yes,' she replied, very gravely.
"' And some mutton cutlets?'
Yes.'

" Be so good as to get them directly, with fresh
bread and butter, and some boiled milk.'
" Yes.' She stood as if waiting for a more luxuriant
order; but as I turned away, she did so too.
" Evelyn lay down on her bed, I took possession of
the red sofa. Being accustomed to Austrian, Tyrolese,
and German waiter'•, we were naturally patient, and let
our Swedes take their time; but when a whole hour had
passed, my longing for tea became irresistible.
" Will it never come?' I eriel
" I v.iih you would call for it,' said Evelyn's languid
voice, from the inner room. Fortunately there was a
bell, and a bell-rope. In answer to its summons came
a different flika, who was an exception to the English..
speaking household of Mrs. Todd.
She poured forth a flood of soft words, not one of
which I understood; and finding I did not respond to
her eloquence, the non-English-speaking Swede came
nearer, and repeated the same at my ear.
"' She means,' said Evelyn, to tell you that the
flika who speaks Eaglish will come presently.'
" ' Oh, then, we will wait,' I answered, thinking she
might as well understand my language as I hers; but in
addition I nodded my head, and uttered the word, which
in Swedish signifies good, but looks irreverent in our
eye—'ged.'
" She went away, and we waited.
flow very ridiculous,' I said, it is to coma to a
country without understanding the language, though no
one thinks of learning that of Sweden."

. .
" ' But, Evelyn, is this "tea and chops " to come
at all?'

" Pray ring again; perhaps our good English genius
is now at hand.'
" But I thought all the household spoke English
well;' so with a heavy sigh I rose off the sofa and rang
again.

" In, to our joy, came the English-speaking flika.
" Have ou got the tea and cutlets ready ?'
" Yes.'
Will you bring them, then, directly ?'
" ' Ycs.'
" We waited again.

" It is ncce.iaiiry to have patience,' said Evelyn;
you know in Sweden it is hard to get anything after
&tic. o'clock.'

" Yes; but I would not eat a morsel in the boat to-
day, because I knew that here, where all the household
spoke English, we could have even what they thought
were our national whims satisfied.'

" Try to sleep,' said Evelyn, still in her dormitory.
" ' I cannot, I am so hungry.'
" I got up and rang again; in came the grave tall
Swede.

" ' We are tired waiting for this tea and cutlets.'
" ' Yes.'

" ' Is yes the only word of English you can say?'
" ' Yes.'

" A heavy burst of laughter, much as I dislike the
words, followed the last yes' we extracted from the
English speaking member of this English-speaking
household. Our tea and cutlets, alas! were somewhere,
I suppose, in the kingdom of Utopia."

From a very interesting conversation on the relative
peculiarities of England and Denmark, we extract one
very significant passage :
" Poor little Denmark, which you have heard Ger-
mans a hundred times say ought not to be a separate
kingdom, allots twenty thousand two hundred and
twenty pounds to the advancement of science and litera-
ture; and one thousand six hundred and sixty-six
pounds to paying the travelling expenses of young artists
and men of genius, like Thorwaldsen and Andersen, both
of whom were sent to Rome; where you know the
former, after a long struggle, was brought into notice by
an Englishman: thus Denmark gives her literary and
scientific sons their first push, launches them on the sea
of life with an oar to begin the struggle; and if, like
Thorwaldsen, they mount its waves triumphantly, wel-
comes them back with open arms."
To which it is bitterly, but alas ! too truthfully,
rejoined—" Denmark gave her lowly son a pension,
and lent him wings to climb ; in England it would
have been more politic or patriotic to have let him
die, and to have pensioned his widow or his child."
The following very beautiful definition of the intel-
lectual happiness of life is given to Albert (the in•
valid genius of whom we have spoken) on his de-
parture for his momentous journey :
" Is such the end, then,' I said with bitterness, for
which you would prolong my life ? '
" 'lt is ; but if it were attained, I do not say I should
desire to prolong it no further. Oh no! I believe that
the intellects and faculties, powers or principles, which
God has given us, can be trained and cultivated in this
life, so as to lead to a proportionate development in that
which is to succeed it ; and that as their measure is
reached here will be the fulness or scantiness of their
measure hereafter. Therefore, do an apprenticeship
a longlifeappearstotomae
a great blessing, when it is made
thing of nought, this
life a boon that is almost better withdrawn, provided
pious people do,I cannot
i worlds
a think, as some most
ha
higher state of btein
can feel our peace is made with
that in resigning it we
t thisg.
restore to us the exercise
blessed saerifice was offered to
God through the atonement of the Redeemer. That
of our immortal powers, to open to us the entrance to
-
God which the fall of man from his high estate had
closed ; but this time state is only the school of the
spirit, and this mortal breath but the germ of an im-
mortal existence ; as it grows here it must
grow
be-
stowed upon it, will be its expansion in a state, the nature
here-
after ; and I believe that, according to the culture
of which is us yet to us unknown.
" would wish you to live, Albert, and not only to
'anguish out a precarious existence, but,
if God's will
might so be done, to live in the full exercise of your in-
tellectual powers, and in the full enjoyment of those
large capacities with which you are endowed ; to live so
that such genius as God has given you might be raised
and purifi, d ; yet such talents as you possess aspire to
more than all that even three score years and ten, at
their best estate, can achieve.'
" Beatrice ceased, yet I was silent; but MU then a new
light broke in 04 a darkened soul."