The Sun.
London, England, 1848-03-02 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

7'HE BACHELOR OF THE ALBANY. 1 Vol.
By the Author of the "Falcon Family."
A spurious style of composition has long been the
principal characteristic of the novelists of both France
and England. Since the departure of Sir Walter
Scott in the one country, and the exclusive cultiva-
tion of his dramatic powers by Viscount Victor
Hugo in the other, the writers of romantic
fiction on both sides of the Channel (with a few illus-
trious exceptions) have become remarkable rather for
exaggeration than truth, for sentimentality than
pathos, for caricature than humour, for complication
of plot, than for ingenuity of invention. They have
frequently degenerated into fustian where they
have aspired at eloquence, and have crowded their
works with indecencies where they have aimed at
originality. Balzac, it is true, has on several occa-
sions given superb evidences of genius; Marryatt
has now and then evinced a delightful appreciation of
the ridiculous (as in the famous triangular duel in
" Midshipman Easy"); Dumas has, in numerous
instances, such as in the opening chapters of his
" Memoirs of a Physician," betrayed a marvellous
fecundity of imagination; Ainsworth has at times
surpassed most of his contemporaries in the vividness
of his scenic descriptions (as in the noble account
of the great storm of London, which forms the
introduction to his " Jack Sheppard ") ; Sue has even
at certain moments soared into the regions of the
sublime (as where he tells of the sermon of Gabriele
to the ruffians who burst into 4,4(., cathedral, in the
" Wandering Jew"); James has at intervals
written with the pencil of a Salvator (as
where he depicts the earthquake in " Atilla") ;
other authors of a nearly equal popularity
have, in like manner, emerged for an instant
from their habitual mediocrity, or (what is worse),
from their systematic viciousness—but on the whole
they have not written in a manner worthy of them-
selves, of the age, or of literature. Amidst these
prevailing blemishes there have been, nevertheless,
as already observed, a few illustrious exceptions.
The " Atala " of Chateaubriand, the " Picciola"

of Saintine, the "Notre Dame de Paris" of Hugo,
are among the most conspicuous of these exceptions
in France. The books penned by Dickens, by
Bulwer-Lytton, and by Warren, the " Sartor Re-
sartus" of Carlyle, " the Broad-stone of Honour" by
Kenelm Digby, and the " Vivian Grey" of Dis-
raeli the younger, are certainly the most con-
spicuous of these exceptions in England. Otherwise
the imaginative literature of both countries has been
marred by the praise bestowed on charlatans—
charlatans, whose wit has been nothing better than
grotesque conceits, whose tenderness has been twa!dle,
and whose favourite figure of rhetoric has been that
of hyperbole. We do not, of course, pretend to
have enumerated all the exceptions to this
class, either in the publishing world of Paris or in
that of London, but, in the names we have particu-
larized, we have certainly mentioned those most
worthy of remembrance. Cotnp .red with the
multitude of novelists who feud our library
shelves, and keep our printing-presses in
activity, those exceptions form but a select few.
We are disposed, therefore, to welcome with double
earnestness any young writer who may, to
our thinking, give promise of proving an
accession to the minority. Such a writer—
a writer of this auspicious character, we recog-
nise in the author of " The Falcon Family ; or
Toung Ireland." His new story—" The Bachelor
of the Albany"—betrays qualities of an order dee
serving very particular commemoration. Those who
may have perused his preceding fiction, "Young
Ireland," cannot altogether have forgotten the felicity
with which, therein, the persons and passions of the
day were woven into the texture of its plot; neither
will they have entirely lost a recollection of the
humorous air which pervades the volume, and
especially the grotesque refrain of the dialogues—
" Hurrah ! says Hurley O'Bwley." There is evi-
dence, however, of much larger capacity both as a
novelist and a satirist in the twenty-seven chapters
of " The Bachelor of the Albany." The purpose of
the story is simple enough, namely, the conversion of
a crusty old pragmatical bachelor (resident in the
Albany) into a generous, cordial, sociable (and a
rather delightful than otherwise) Benedict. As to the
Albany, everybody, at all acquainted with that por-
tion of London situated west of Charing-cross,
and east of Piccadilly, north of fall-mall, and south of
Oxford-street, knows that it is s long avenue of very
secluded apartments dedicated especially to bachelors
upon town, younger sons who hive got into Parlia-
ment, and the like genus. As to the bachelor him-
self, he is one Mr. Peter Barker—the very best drawn
character in the book—here is the calotype of his
personal appearance :
" Imagine a small, well-made msn, with a smart, com-
pact figure, excessively erect, his action somewhat mar-
tial, his eye grey, cold, peevish, critical, and contemptuous;
a mouth small and sarcastic, a nose long and vulpine;
complexion a pale dry red ; hai• stiff and silvery, and
evidently under the severest discipline to which brush
and comb could subject it, with a view to its impartial
distribution on each side of a head, which was carried so
high, and with such an air, that it was clear the organs
of firmness, combativeness, and self-esteem, were su-
perbly developed. With the exception of a plain, but rich
robe-de-chambre, his morning toilette was complete ;
trousers of shepherd's plaid, seemingly made by a
military tailor, and tightly strapped down over a pair of
manifest Hoby's; a double breasted cashmere waistcoat,
of what mercers call the shawl pattern; the shirt-collar
severely starched, and a little too exalted above a cravat
of dark blue silk, carefully folded, and tied with a simple,
but an exact knot."
As to the other personages who figure in the story,
th© most genial are the Spreads and the most repul-
sive the Narrowsmiths. Mr. Spread, Augusta Spread,
Elizabeth Spread, Mrs. Spread, and Philip Spread
—that is the Spread family. Mr. Isaac Narrowsinith,
Mrs. Narrowsmith, and Miss Maria Theresa Narrow-
smith—that is the Narrowsmith family. Among the
minor personages are Grace Meddlicott (the heroine),
who weds young Spread; the Smyly girls, Adelaide
and Laura (afterwards Mrs. Peter Barker); good
Mrs. Briscoe and her fat maid Letty ; young Mr. St.
Leger, who marries Adelaide Smyly; Mrs. Harry
Farquhar, who is a decidedly fast lady ; Mrs. Martin,
the governess of the young Spreads (Theodore, Ka-
tharine, and Maria) ; Dean Bedford, the jovial plu-
ralist, resident at Far Niente ; Mr. Owlet, a Puseyite,
who inaries Elizabeth Spread; &c., &c. We
may afford a better notion, however, of the many
brilliant characteristics of the volume by giving, as
quotations, the following—several of them are passages
of exuberant wit.