The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-26 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Violet Bank and its Inmates. 3 vols. Hurst atd

Blackett.

In this story we find a great deal of variety, and
some skill in the working out of the characters.
Dr. Mansell is well described as an instance of
what a weak and selfish man may become if ex-
posed to strong tempation, and under the influence
of ungoverned passions. He did not set out with
the intention of becoming half so bad as he even-
tually proved, but chance and change alike con-
spired to expedite the crisis ; and as he possessed
no innate sense of right to sustain him, be fell. It
is satisfactory to find Grace Lloyd escape from his
power. Far better was it for her, at the cot of a
passing suffering, tosever the connection that bound
her to so unworthy a man, than to continue the
letter of the engagement when the spirit had in-
deed fled. Grace was a sweet, gentle creature,
formed for sunshine, and not fitted for storms—
hence her excessive yielding to the imperious and
exacting Mansell was in keeping with her pm:abi-
lity and youthfulness. Such an excuse could not
be offered for Sylvia Birch, who was of an age to
appreciate character, and of an ability to discern
the genuine from the false. She neglected these
opportunities for guidance ; she turned a deaf ear
to the whisper of conscience, and met the warn-
ings of friends with scorn and defiance. There
was nothing left for such infatuation but the stern
teaching of experience, and the bitter truths that
must be reaped by the sowers of such fancies.

"To make idols and to find them clay"
was peculiarly the la of Sylvia, for a more
unworthy object on whom to lavish intense
affection can scarcely be imagined than the hero
of her choice proved to be. There is something
repulsive in the manner in which she conducted
herself throughout, but especially in the brief ac-
quaintance with Dr. Mansell, which preceded their
ill-fated marriage. True affection will never thus
divest itself of its purest attributes, and cast away
its briiihtest ornament ; but even an attachment
so conducted, to the most unromantic eyes, must
have appeared shorn of its light and lustre. The
author has displayed with tact and adroitness the
snares and pitfalls into which such a wanderer
would fall, the sudden checks which such a head-
long career must eventually receive, and the fear-
ful awakening from the dream to the reality.
Notwithstanding her faults, the reader feels more
interest in Sylvia than in her husband, for she, at
least, was in a manner straightforward, and her
fault was not that of selfishness. It is a pleasing
change to turn to Grace, who fulfils her early pro-
mise of excellence, and in ninny trying situations
for one of her age and nature, seems to gather
fresh courage from the danger, and to call forth
new powers to brave the difficulties that environ
her. The crooked paths in which Mansell trod at
last brought him to a disaslrous issue, and even
wealth, which was at length his portion, could not
rebuild the fallen edifice of his hope, or remove the
dark shadows which rested on his fair fame. Some
of the minor sketches contain a degree of talent
that interests. Mrs. Peterson, the, al aunt of
Grace, who appeared as an angel visitant to the
stricken girl in the house of mourning ; Flora
Maynard, rossessin,g, beneath a flippant man-
ner, a kind heart and some degree of
penetration ; the stately Mrs. Birch, who
manifested as strong a sense of what was due
to her dignity and the honour of her house, as if
she hal been the widowed representative of some
Spanish grandee, Miss de Witt, with her keen
saiire, and inconvenient knowledge of human na-
ture, are all specimens that in their way are effec-
tive. The contrast between the brothers Miller
is a striking one, and the old Polish Count, who
dwelt at Deepdeue, possesses a melancholy at •
traction, from his isolation in the midst of an
opulent mansion, and from his romantic spirit,
surrounded by ho cold and the worldly. This
passing sketch of Violet Bank, and of the troubles
that befell its inmates, may be regarded as a not
unsuccessful attempt to pourtray some of the ruling
passions of mankind. It displays the vanity of
a false ambition, and the vexed spirit that
mourns over its misguided love. It does not aim
at the higher flighta of composition, but its style
is clear and vigorous, and many of its scenes
are described with Cie earnestness of reality.

Sir Guy D' Fsterre. By Selina Bunbury, author
of "Our Own Story," &c. 2 vols. Routledge.
It is sometimes refreshing, *after perusing tha re-
cords of fashionable life and lover's quarrels in the
nineteenth century, to step back into the scenes
and commotions of a distant epoch, to the days of
knights who knew how to wield the swords they
carried, and fair ladies who put their vows of fidelity
and devotion to the proof. Even though the suites
and factions of a court are prominent in its pages,
and rebellion and discord are among its elements,
an agreeable contrast is afforded to the puffing,
speculating, and money-get•ing which must fill the
pages of modern fic,ion, if they are a transcriet of
real. life. The vices and follies of that age,
if no less in their character, offer at least a
variety to those of our own. Miss Bunbury, who
has before secured the favour of the public by some
pleasa ,t volumes of travel and some previous works
of fiction, offers this diversity to her readers, whom
she invites to accompany herto the brilliant discord
of the Elie ebethian nee. Her hero, Sir Guy
D'Esterre, is a young English kid*: of truth and
courage. Her heroine, Hilda Fitzelare, a fair Irish
maiden. Ttse reader will readily reed the tumul-
tuous state of that troubled country at that period,
and will easily imagine that the scene and subject
afford ample materials for romance. The Earl of
Essex, whose brief and stormy career offers such
attractions to the novelist, fills a prominent place
in the volumes. lle is represented, as ho usualey
appears both in history and fiction, rash, impetuous,
and ambitious swayed by evil counsello s, and
perverted by circumstance.% but withal chivalrous
and noble, with a haughty spirit that defeated the
best wishes of his friends, and a generosity that
gave advantage to his enemies. With the rare for-
tune of being popular, alike with the Crown and
the people, it is not wonderful that he shared the
fate of most royal and popular favourites,
and that a hurried death within the walls of
the Tower cut short the dreams of ambition
and attested the constancy of the crowd. his
brief rule in Ireland is introduced, and a great part
of the story takes place in that country. The
course of the tale brines it at its close to the at-
tempted insurrection of Essex and his tragical end.
The romantic incident of the ring is of course in-
troduced, and the great Queen is shown in colours
more life-like than flattering. The interest of the
story, however, is not centred in the great political
figures of the day ; it is engrossed by the group of
humbler characters. It is novel and striking, and
if not always seemingly probable, the confusion
and peculiarity of the time may readily account
for events and combinations that would appear
extravagant in a novel of the present day. It is a
decided improvement on " Our own Story." There
is more animation and adventure—less tediousness
and diffusion. Occasionally reflections or explana-
tions are introduced that could very well have
be en dispensed with, but the general tone of the
wcrk is full of life and interest. The two heroines
are ably drawn, and form a charming contrast,
and the subordinate actors in the scene are not
unsuccessful, though there is a slight contusion
among the plots and counterplots of the two accom-
plices. The earlier part is more carefully drawn than
the close ; and though Miss Bunbury has already
broken the novelist's rule, we question whether a
still further condensation into one volume might
not hove given greater power and effect to the
work. But it is a very agreeable story in its pre-
sent form, and we commend it to those who wish to
beguile themselves by the pages of romance, and
to quit our dull and respectable era for the stirring
times of the Maiden Queen.

Fusing the last few days the most earnest exer-
tions have been nr,cle, through the instrumentality
of Mr. Heath, -the Consul-G. neral of Sardinia, to
induce the Home Secretary to spare the life of the
culprit GiAanni Lani, who was executed this
morning for the murder of a Frenchwoman named
Heloise, Thaubin. The prisoner, it appears, has
made a statement in which he positively asserts
that he did not strangle the deceased, but that
a quarrel and struggle took place be-
tween them in consequence of her getting
out of bed in the middle of the night, and his
observing her in the act of rifling his pocket 4,
upon which he states that he struck her in the
stomach, and she then scratched his face, and this
' led to further violence, and in the end she became
as he thought, insensible, and he left her in that
condition. Upon the ground that this statement
may possibly be title, and that under such circum-
stances the character of the offence would not be of
so heinous a kind,_ but would partake more of the
form of a case of manslaughter the Home Secre-
tary was asked to spare the life of the prisoner ;
but in the final answer that was received ou
Saturday evening-the Secretary of State informed
Mr. Heath that the, whole of the circumstances of
the crime had undergone the most careful conside-
ration, and that the Government could not find
any mitigating circumstances iu the case that would
justify them iu sparing the life of the prisoner ;
and that, with regard to his own statement as to
the circumstances under which the crime was com-
mitted, it was* negatived in the most positive
manner by the evidence, and that there could be
no reasonable doubt that when the prisoner ac-
companied the unhappy woman to the house in
The Edinburgh Review No. 218. Longman. Arundel-court he had formed a deliberate plan to
Several subject, of interest commend themselves rob her, and,that her death was the result of his
to the attention of the readers of the Edinburgh. deteraduatlon to carry out that intention at all
It opens with a paper on the annals of California, hazards. tinier such circumstances it was inti-
founded on three works recently published, on the mated that the Government felt they had no
resources, prospects, and customs of that auriferous alternative but to allow the law to take its
land. Ten years ago, we are told, an outline of the course.
progress of settlement in North America was laid A notification was made to the prisoner several
before the readers of this Review, with some con- days back that the day of execution would be on
lectures as to its future prospects. It may be in- the 26th inst., and he appeared quite resigned and.
ev
teresting to peruse the summary of what has oc- exhibited very little emotion ; the only req.
curred in our colonial empire during that brief he made to the gaol authorities was that he to
period. be permitted to have some addition to tn_e,
A few words will suffice to place succinctly in the bh9Pe °I
before the gaol allowance of food
told by the
reader the general results of the last ten years—the most extra meat, and he was
to
grant the
important decennium, by far, in the history s.f colonise- sheriffs thit they had no powerof f the visiting
tioc. Within that period the population of Canada has request without the consent
increased a third : that of the Australian colonies from aldermen,est of the prisoner
three or four hundred thousand to nearly a miller. Toe them. Theybapplicat.on to
requ last fortnight the
the ,
province of Victoria alone, scarcely existing in 1847, was acceded to, and during
has now three millions of annual revenue : a future •udtidtbseoy,
and would
thewake the
uponbs eee boon
one
prisoner has 0 sh -fr. Messrs. Millard aud
Sheri $,, Great Britain has been founded and organised in New fuod. The Under-
allowed an extra allowance of
the bad any
Zealand : three new States, and seven or eight Cerrito- every day
ries, have been added to the North American Union, by d • the
ntehoeceparsiisoonnewrhaeltmh.eor:
week, and, upon the latter gentleman
occupation or by conquest from Mexico ; California, during
him
Parker, have
with which we are new about to concern ourselves, eking
gst to make, he replied that the only thing he
being by far the most impoitant of these gains. The
1 ecouldu possibly do' to serve him was to
try and sug-
commercial world has acquired three great emporia, some
plea to save his life. D • burin the week
two on the shores of the Pacific, of which the names are gesprisoner employed
already as familiar in cur ears as those of Hamburg or the himself in drawing up a sort
which, of will, by which he requests th t
Amsterdam : one on the great American lakes,
.. a certain articles
the in his possession
though less spoken of among ourselves, is perhaps
.shouldba given to different persons,
most remarkable creation of the three : San Francisco, and he concludes by eating "not forgetting my
Melbourne, Chicago. In the 1849 edition of Mr, cigar case," which he desires may be given to a
,
• tionar
M'Culloch's carefully compiled Die _y of Geography,y, to con person whose name he mentions.
-
not one of the three is even named. And, lastly,
exploits of this deem- The prisoner, it has already been stated, is a
elude our recapitulation of the .
•with some notice of the preparation
it has made nativeofthe Sardinian• '
dominions. It appears that
mum he h
for the future extension of similar exploits—the capital hag no other relatives living than a father, a
it has created for future use,---Ms must point out that it, step-mother, and a sister. The occupation followed
has constructed a railway acme the Isthmus of Panama, ll by himself and his fathfer was that of a Unman, as

he expresses it, but the trade to which he has been
brought up would appear to be that which in Eng-
land would be called a whitesmith. He states
that for some reas.in or other his father's second
wife took a dislike to him, and he was so un-
comfortable with his family in his own country
that he resolved to emigrate to America, and came
to London for that purpose. He had saved a little
money, and after paying for his passage he had a
few sovereigns left at the time he accompanied the
deceased home on the night of the murder.; and he
represents that the deceased was in the act of tak-
ing this money from his waistcoat pocket when he
awoke, and that this led to the quarrel and its
fatal result. The prisoner has not - received
any letters or other communications from any
of his family since his conviction, but they have
been made acquainted with his awful position.
The prisoner appears to possess enormous strength
in les thumbs and hands, as is usually the case
with blacksmiths and others who are in the habit
of using heavy hammers ; indeed, the muscular ap-
pearance of his thumb and forefineer amounts
almost to malformation, and a
grasp from theta
upon the throat of any one, as in the case of the
wretched deceased, would speedily bo fatal.
While the prisoner was in the Home of Deten-
tion, prior to his committal to Newgate, -it appears
that he was visited by a priest of the Roman Catho-
lic persuasion, but after his arrival at Newgate the
prisoner did not make any statement respecting his
religious belief, he attended the prison chapel, and
in accordance with the gaol regulations a Bible and
Prayer book were placed in his cell. After his con-
viction he was asked whether .he desired to be
visited by a priest of any particular religious deno-
mination, and he then stated that he was a Roman.
Catholic, and he desired that a priest of that reli-
gion might be allowed to have access to him. Mr.
ex-Sheriff Swift, who acts as the agent for Cardinal
Wiseman in these matters, was at once applied to
upon the subject, and at his request Fattier
Fienza, a Roman Catholic priest attached to the
Lincoln's-inn chapel, waited upon the prisoner, and
he has been in constant communication with him
ever since. It appears that, a suggestion was made
that there had been au attempt on the part of the
authorities of the prison to proselytise the prisoner,
and to induce him to abandon the Roman Catholic
faith and become a Protestant, but it is needless to
stele that there is not the slightest foundation
for such en impression, and the facts upon which
it is founded appear to be these :—lt ap-
pears that Mr. Under-Sheriff Parker, having regard
to the condition of the prisoner, and the fact of his
being a foreigner, had introduced to him a benevo-
lent Italian gentleman, Signor Paretti, and he had
some conversation with the prisoner, but none at
all of a religious charac!er. It also appeared that
Mr. Parker, knowing the prisoner was unable to
read or speak English, had placed in the cell an
Italian translation of the Bible, for the prisoner to
read it if ha thought proper, ut not the slightest
restraint was put upon him in thisrespect, and itap-
peered that the English Bible which, as the prisoner
was entirely ignorant of the language, could not
have leen attended with any effect, and also the
Italian translation, remained in the cell for several
days, to the knowledge of. Father Fienza, before
any complaint was made, when they were at once
removed. It also appeal s that an anonymous letter
in a woman's hanewriting, and in the Italian lan-
guage, was addressed to the prisoner, and in this
be w.ls urged to endeavour to obtain "Salvation
by Faith," and this letter, it appeared, was shown
to the prisoner. These were the principal grounds
upon wh'eli the charge of an endeavour to prosely-
tise the prisoner was founded, and it would teem
that Mr. Swift exprr sled himself very warmly upon
the subject, and threats net to make a representa-
tion to the S. cretary of State in reference to it. In
consequence of this it was considered advisable
that he should be put in possession of the real
facts, and Mr. .Aleeinia.n and Sheriff Lawrence,
Mr. Aldo, men and Sheriff Allen, and the Under-
Sheriffs, Messrs. Miller' and Fat ker, attended
at the ciao!, on Thursdiy, in order that an inquiry
might be gone into. The result was to estab-
lish iu the cleare t possible manner that there
had not ben the slightest itnproper inter-
ference with the reigious opinions of the culprit,
and Mr. Swift made a statement to that effect
which was satisfactory to all pariie. •
The prisoner did not, of couree attend the chapel
yesterday to hear what is called the condemned
sermon, but Father Fienza wee with him the
greater part of the day, and remained with him
uutil the last moment.