The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-11 00:00:00

LITE RATURB.

Lady Adelaide's Oath. By Mrs. Henry Wood,
author of " East Lynne." 3 vols. Richard
Bentley.

Among the many qualifications required for a
good novelist, one of the most essential, the one,
in fact, of foremost importance, and without
which all others are comparatively useless, is
the power of interesting the reader. As perti-
ive
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name) holds our attention spellbound, and with a
willing submission we yield to his potent influence.
An author may have excellent descriptive powers ;
he may be able to discriminate and de-
pict all varieties of character and temperament,
he may instruct us by his learning, or amuse us by
his wit, and his readers may be loud in their com-
mendations of his genias ; but the Story-Teller par
et simple, the novel-writer gifted with the power
(and it is a rare gift) of constlucting a life-like
plot, and infusing into it a vital interest,
will be read by the many, while his, per-
haps, more excellent but less attractive com-
peer is admired by the few. Among the fair
authoresses of the day, and their name is legion,
and, let us own it with gratitude, their powers of
fascination are great, pre-eminent for their power of
arresting their readers' attention are Miss Braddon
and Mrs. Henry Wood, as the readers of " Aurora
Floyd" and " East Lynne" can abundantly testify.
We have before us now another enthralling history
from the fertile pen of the delightful author of "East
Lynne " and " The Shadow of Ashlydiat." The
present story, " Lady Adelaide's Oath," is in every
respect quite as attractive as its predecessors. The
first volume is intensely interesting, and the scene
in which . the unfortunate heroine summons up
courage—the courage of desperation—and takes
the all-important oath is very powerfully described ;
in fact the conception of the whole situation is of
itself an indisputable evidence of the peculiar powers
of the authoress in the construction of a plot, and
the concoction of a mystery. Added to this great
capacity for producing a sensation, the chief secret
of Mrs. Wood's success as a novel-writer is her very
natural delineation of human emotion. " That
touch of nature" which makes the whole world kin,
gives the reader a personal interest and sympathy
in the tale. It was so with regard to the erring
heroine of East Lynne, as she watched by her un-
conscious children. It is so with Lady Adelaide,
guilty as she is, as she strives to protect and
screen the beloved one from danger. The cha-
racter of the heroine is not an agreeable one.. In
former days a charge was brought against'
the poets and rotuancists for always depicting
their heroines as paragons of perfection, but
the writers of the present day go to the other ex-
treme, and in place of angelic heroines, we have
recently been favoured with the histories of scme
fair friends, as we might almost call them. Lady
Adelaide Errol does not come within this designa-
tion. She is, when we first meet her, very young,
but selfish and fond of admiration, and not above
deception in order to gain her own desires. The
two heroes are capitally contrasted: the one genuine
and unsuspecting, the other weak and treacherous,
" not half a villain and not half a knight."
Engaged to the one and attached to the other,
the artful Adelaide is playing
a dangerous
game when the fatal incident occurs, which
gives a different tenour to the whole
plot, and
compels the unhappy girl to utter the awful
oath which exercises such a dreadful influence
upon
I-Pr whole career. The revulsion of
fee ling which rialcee hsr shrink from the
ject of her former altectiun is •“‘i yr, t'nrally
d. scribed, as are the baneful effects of remorse,
remorse which is not repentance. We cannot enter
further into the merits of the work without betray-
ing too much of the mystery, and as the chief at-
traction of the book is its very interesting
story, we are reluctant to • spoil
the plea-
sure of the reader. We must content our-
selves, therefore, with commending "Lady Ade-
laide's Oath" as being a very enthralling story,
describing with great power and accuracy some
very well-drawn characters—in fact, as being a
worthy successor to the very interesting history of
"East Lynne,"
great a popularity.
which earned for its author so

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

THE FRENCH ARMY.

PARIS, Feb. 11

An Imperial decree, issued to-day, orders the
re-establishment of the 6th squadron in the regi-
ments of Carabiniers, Cuirassiers, Dragoons, and
Lancers, and the formation of a fresh regiment of
African Chasseurs.

,The Ministerial report preceding the decree
states that these measures are taken in the interest
of the officers whose advancement has been retarded
by the reduction made in the regimental cadres in
November, 18G5.

The Moniteur of this morning says :—" A journal
has announced that the Government intended to
submit the Budget of the City of Paris to the
examination and vote of the Legislative Body. The
Government, in fact, at the suggestion of the Prefect
of the Seine, has undertaken a careful study of the
question, but such a derogation of the legislative
rules which control the settlement and voting of the
municipal budgets does not appear to the Govern-
ment to be required by any interests of importance.
The news that the Government bad under conside-
ration the suppression of the octrois is totally devoid
of foundation."