The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-14 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Rita. An Autobiography: -2 s-ols. Bentley; -
In these volumes the reader will meet with an
interesting narrative of the many adventures that
befel Marguerite Percival, or Rita, as she was
called. This gifted and beautiful young heroine
deservedly engages attention. One feels attracted
by her generous nature, indignant at the unworthy
treatment she met with, and charmed alike by the
dexterity with which she forced her way through
apparently- insurmountable difficulties, and by the
spirit with which she braved perils and endured
suffering. She was, of all her family, the one most
likely to feel acutely the terrible position in which
they were placed. Mr. Percival was a man totally
devoid of refined manners and good feelings, and
with such a husband and father how could the
home be otherwise than desolate, and how could
. the wife and children lead any but wretched lives.
The brief episode of gaiety which supervened in
the dulness of their existence was in itself a
melancholy farce. Even inexperienced as she was,
Rita could detect in her chaperone, Lady Grey-
brook, much that grieved and troubled her. How-
over' notwithstanding all the disadvantages under
which she laboured; in spite of a father, whose
name was a byword of reproach, and a guide into
the labyrinth of the giddy maze of fashion, whom
rumour whispered had herself wandered into
devious paths, the native innocence and integrity of
Rita vindicated itself, and all greeted her with
respect. She, of course, met with some painful
events, and was often placed in false positions, but
on the whole she was more successful in her dan-
gerous ordeal than many guided and guarded by
more efficient and valorous defenders. She pos-
sessed a sure safeguard in herself, without which all
are weak, however strong are their defences, and
powerless, whatever mighty champions attend them.
Rita had still more terrible struggles to undergo;
when one peril was past another seemed to await
her. After her mother's melancholy death, she
was placed in as painful a position as it was possi-
ble for a girl to be in. The passages which record
her midnight flight from direful persecutions
are most strikingly recorded, and form the
best portion of the work. Our heroine was in-
deed destined for strange places and circumstances,
and the romance of her life continues with undimi-
nished interest, and excites unabated interest even
when she is settled in a quiet village in
the north of England, under the protection of such
sedate and sober individuals as Mr. Bissett and his
sister. Rita is the one object that attracts through-
out, but still many of those she encounters in her
fitful fever of existence are possessed of more than
ordinary attributes to dazzle, fascinate, or charm.
Some may serve as warnings, as Lady Grey-
brook and Mr. Percival, while others please from
their very simplicity and straightforwardness,
as Hubert Rochford. and Maud Neville. The clear
understanding and upright nature of this latter
lady were invaluable blessings in the chaos of
conflicting claims and confusing interests thatarose
at the conclusion of the story. After a stormy pil-
grimage through the highway of life, which her
youth had found beset with thorns, it is satisfac-
tory to leave the much-enduring and constant Rita
happy in the present, and happier in the prospect
and promise of the future. Some might suggest
that it is unreal to depict her fate as so different to
that of her sister ; but all natures have not the
same mission to perform—the weak cannot bear
the burdens of the strong, the faint in heart cannot
fight the contests that but evoke the spirit of the dar-
ing and the brave. Rose Percival would have sunk at
the first signs of the storm, whose whole force her
sister sustained, and then turned to meet another
unflinchingly. " Some must watch while others
sleep," and the heroine of this work is one of the
watchers, but she is also represented as full of hope.
She knew that though the night was dark and the
hours long that they must pass away at last, and
give place to morning, and she was not disappointed
in her expectation, nor deceived in her trust. There
is no fear of any one who takes up this work to
peruse being otherwise than delighted with its
pages. They contain more than matter of amuse-
ment, inasmuch as they furnish subjects of reflec-
tion that lead to a higher goal, and point to a
nobler purpose.