The Sun.
London, England, 1841-03-27 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

COMPTON AUDLEY. 3 Voss.
Bentley, London, 1841.
The heroine of this love-tale is one of those
barley-sugary young ladies, all sweetness, soft-
ness, and sensibility, whose hearts, though con-
stantly threatening to break beneath the burden
of affliction, yet prove on trial to be as tough as
the drumstick of a turkey. Lady Constance—for
such is the baptismal appellative of this suscepti-
ble young gentle woman—is of course highly born,
and exquisitely beautiful ; and equally as a mat-
ter of course she falls in love with a young man,
by name Dudley Ravensworth, who has u a pro-
fusion of dark brown hair, fine large (lark eyes,
and a frank, open, and ingenuous countenance."
The parties had first become acquainted while
rambling among the sequestered shades of Gra-
ham Castle, and there was "an undefined and
strange intelligence which informed them that
they were growing inexpressibly dear to each
other." But unluckily the parents of these
enamoured turtles had no notion of their
billing and cooing with impunity ; and ac-
cordingly, the mother of Lady Constance
insisted on her dismissing her sweet-heart ex-
tempore, and marrying a middle-aged aristocrat,
Lord Atherley—who, we must honestly confess,
is a man very much to our taste, for he is repre-
sented as possessing sound common sense, es-
chewing sentiment, and having an enlightened
appreciation of the comforts of a good dinner.
With considerable difficulty, and not before she
has wetted through and through at least a dozen
cambric pocket-handkerchiefs, Constance is pre-
vailed on to marry this " monster"—as of course
she considers him to be—and a very touching
scene ensues, when Dudley is first made ac-
quainted with her faithlessness. He instantly
rushes abroad in a paroxysm of wrath; figures
heroically in a tournament at Vienna, " mounted
on a red roan charger, and armed in a
complete suit of Milan steel ;" gets stuck
in the arm with a lance at Waterloo; and
finally, comes back to England, where he re-
, news his acquaintance with Constance, very much
apparently to their mutual satisfaction. The lady,
however, being singularly discreet and moral,
no harm ensues from the renewal of her old in-
tiinacy with her " sweet-heart ;"
,and they go on
flirting with each other in the prettiest and most
innocent way possible ; till by the death of Con-
stance's husband, she is again left free to choose
for herself. Virtue now meets with its reward ;
she marries Dudley Ravensworth, and is exceed-
ingly happy for one whole year; but at the end
of that time, Dudley begins to tire of do-
mestic felicity ; the organ of infidelity also be-
comes powerfully developed on his occiput ; the
natural consequence of which is, that he takes
unto himself a mistress, and falls into a violent
rage, whenever he finds his wife—who has dis-
covered his baseness—with her pocket-handker-
chief at her eyes. Thus matters go on for a
time—she sighing, he swearing—till at length a
oung " lady-killer," yqept Sidney Darval, steps

In with his ;oft, wicked speeches to the deceived
Constance; falls down on his knees before her;
presses her lily hand to his lips; and would, no
doubt, have succeeded in inveigling her into a
chaise and four, and ultimately in consigning her
to the tender mercies of Doctors' Commons, had
not her husband at that ticklish moment burst
open-mouthed into the room. A duel with Dar-
val is the consequence. The parties meet at
Boulogne ; Ravensworth is shot as dead as mut-
ton; and Constance soon afterwards dies of grief.
It will be observed from this slight sketch that
there is not the slightest atom of originality in
Compton Audley. Its incidents, indeed, are
about as common-place as can well be imagined ;
its sentiment is false and sickly throughout ; but
it contains one or two lively scenes, and adroit
sketches of worldly, every-day character, which
show that the author possesses something like
genuine humour. If it were not for these few
redeeming scenes, the story would be as unread-
able as one of Dr. Phillpotts's Episcopal charges.

JESSE'S WINDSOR AND ETON.
Murray, London, 1841.
_

A very pleasant, g'ossipping little volume, em-
bellished with a variety of choice engravings,
and admirably calculated to serve the purpose of
a guide-book to those who may be disposed to
pay a visit to Windsor Castle, and spend a long
summer's day in its delightful neighbourhood.
The most interesting portion of the book is the
account of the opening of the coffin of Charles
the First in the year 1813, when the features of
the King were found in a state of tolerable pre-
servation, and all present were struck with the re-
semblance which they bore to his Majesty's
busts, coins, and pictures by Vandyke.

WAYERLEY NOVELS, VoL. 1.
Cadel4 Edinburgh, 1841.
These unrivalled fictions are now republishing
in a royal octavo and duodecimo form, and both
editions are to be comprised, one in five volumes,
and the other in twenty-five, which are to appear
monthly until the whole work is completed. The
first volume of the duodecimo, and the first part
of the royal octavo editions are now lying before
us and considering their cheapness—tor each
costs only four shillings—we are astonished at
the neatness and elegance with which they are
got up. That the speculation will be a highly-
successful one we have' not the slightest doubt,
for each monthly part or volume is to contain a
complete story, together with all the prefaces,
introductions, and explanatory notes, that were
attached to the celebrated edition of 1830. The
Waverley novels, hitherto inaccessible to a large
class of readers, will thus be brought within the
reach of people of the humblest means, for a sav-
ing of a shilling weekly is all that is necessary.
e can conceive no greater boon to the rising
generation in this age of steam-engines and rail-
roads, than the republication, at so moderate a
price, of the most beautiful series of fictions that
the world"has yet seen.