The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-21 00:00:00

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LONDON,

LITERATURE.

CLARA CAMERON ; or, The Belle of the
Season. _ _ _

This- is- one of the moat attractive novels- of the
season, full of sparkling incidents and lively sketches.
It treats of the varied adventures of a, young girl
singularly gifted in mind. and person, as she pursues
her way amid the highest circles of the land. Her
story
Is one of painful interest. Her character is
ably drawn. First a devoted maiden, then a digni-
fied coquette, next a faithful wife to one she had
married far policy, not affection ; at last, an exalted
martyr, sinking under the weight of forbidden love,
maintaining through all her own reputation and the
world's respect. The Countess St. Clair, ber aunt,
is a frivolus lady of fashion, with little to interest
save her gay and airy spirit. The Earl of Desmond
is a superior character. In his youth he committed
an unfortunate error, which well n!ab wrecked his
peace for ever, and which in reality caused himself
and the unfortunate Clara many a year of suffering.
They were engaged in early life, but their day reached
near its meridian before they were uni'ed. It is a
questionable satisfaction, however, to learn of mar-
riages thus heralded by death, an incident too often
met with in the novels of the present time. But in
this one there is the excuse that, without such a con-
tinuation of 'events, the conduct of Clara could not
have shone forth so brightly as appeared under such
favourable auspice&

TIM TUTOR'S WARD. By the Author of " Way-
faring Sketches," 4-e.
This is a very interesting tale, though it follows
the present custom of melancholy adventures befalling
its heroes and heroines. As in Mrs. Norton's pathetic
history of " Stuart of Dunleatb," in Lady Ponsonby's
touching "Clare Abbey," in Miss Jewry's clever
tale of "The Cup and the Lip," in Mrs. Daniel's in-
teresting novel of " Fernley Manor," and many others
lately published, the author has decreed that the cha-
racters he pourtrays shall indeed tread a thorny way.
It is very powerfully written, and the incidents
striking. Its moral may be seen from the following :
" His worshipped idol! What words are these to bo
used from human clay to human clay! Who shall say
what judgment they will not call down? Let men look
to it who would scorn the making of graven images and
the exalting of carved idols, to worship them. Let them
look to it, whether the love of any earthly King hath
not set itself supreme in their ainctions, so that their
spirit bows before it, forgetting all other adoration."
This idea is well carried out in action as well as pre-
cept. The characters are well drawn: the passionate
and poetical .Arthur, whose unchecked idolatry hur-
ries him to such fearful lengths ; the subtle and ma-
licionS Juliet.; the gentle and eharming Millicent,
whese, unparalleled self-devotion and generosity al -
most make us raady to pardon and excuse her human
worship; the selfish and thoughtless Stephen Aylmer,
who so ill deserved her unchanging affection. The
minor personages of the story are also well distin-
guished, though the view the author takes of human
nature is not always the brightest. The following
extract is a s.smple of the power of the style in which
it is written :
" But Arthur had his treasure. lie fled down the
stairs—he passed out into the dark night again. lie
held in his hand the 'death warrant of her whole life's
happiness. And had he no remorse, self-elected mur-
derer as he was; bad he no thought, rave for his own
selfish love, his own soul's satisfaction? If by the
eill of Heaven, the one solitary end adored hope had
been hided within her heart, then for her needful chas-
tening, doubtless wan, it done; but who appointed him to
be its slayer? Oh, at the last hour, many that have
walked through the world with sreilieg faces and stain-
less hands shall come out convicted as murderers of the
deepest dye, each one—each one who has ever destroyed
the happiness of another; and are the sea sands more
innumerable? Had the dark earthly passion that twined
round his soal so enveloped that immortal being in its
deadly coils, that 11,3 could be no longer sensible of those
holier influences that fail not in every time of strong
temptation to come as a merciful warning in some one
shape or other? Hark ! even now that voice from
Heaven speaks, which though varied its tone, disguised
its sweetness often, yet Lev, is silent in those tremend-
ous hours, when angel and demon struggle for the
deathless human spirit.
" Arthur stood one moment only on the threshold of
his home, and in that moseent borne towards him by the
obedient wind floating to his charmed ear, there came
the ringing music of the sweet church chimes, that night
by night thus told the expectant world that Christmas
tide drew near."

The- interest never flags from the first moment, when
the unhappy mother of the Tutor's Ward appears to
her old lover, the dreaming John Forde, to the con-
clusion, when the curtain is drawn over the joys and
sorrows of the varied scenes, there is not a wearisome
page. The change in the bright and cheerfalMillicent,
who so earnestly desired to see the world, to the self-
sacrificing yet mistaken heroine of her after life, is
well drawn. It cannot fail to attract the attention it
merits so well.

ROYAL YACHT ..sQT7ADRON REGATTA.