The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-28 00:00:00

LITERATURE?

Love me Little, Love me Long. By Charles Reade,
author of "It is Never Too Late to Mend." Two
Vols. Trubner and Co., Paternoster-row.
The appearance of a new work from the pen of
Mr. Charles Reade will naturally excite some
curiosity and interest in the literary world. The
sparkling freshness of Christie Johnstone showed a
degree of originality and talent that led readers
to anticipate much from the author when time and
practice bad matured his style and toned down its
extravagance. "Peg Woffington," the original
of the charming little drama of "Masks and Faces,"
did not disappoint these expectations, and after
some time, the striking success of his most am-
bitious work, " It is Never Too Late to Mend,"
showed that he had not forfeited public favour.
With many faults in the construction of the work,
and even in the original plan of the story, and
with too much of the author's favourite vehemence
of style and invective, there was no doubt much to
rivet the attention and touch the heart of the rea-
der, besides a vivacity of description and variety
of character well calculated to interest and
amuse. Great was, therefore, the disappointment
of the admirers of this author when, instead of
taking the tide of public favour at its flood, he
published a work which it is perhaps kindest to
omit from a critical catalogue. A small volume of
reprints did not advance his reputation, and we
are glad to see he has at last issued an original
work in a connected form, which is more worthy
of an author who has achieved decided success.
Even this work is very inferior to what might
have been expected from Mr. Reade. With
some powerful passages, some originality, and some
skilfully-drawn characters, there is too much
diffuseness, too much of his old extravagance, too
much imitation of Carlyle's eccentricities of style.
Mrs. Bazalgette, for instance, is overdrawn. Great
as is the extent of feminine love of finery,
few ladies would get up in the middle of the night
and knock up another lady for the sake of trying
on her dress. The chief object Mr. Reade
appears to have set himself is the delineation
of a young lady's character, a somewhat awk-
ward and difficult task. His heroine, Lucy
Fountain, is an orphan, who divides her time
between her uncle, Mr. Fountain, an old bachelor,
and her aunt, Mrs. Bazalgette, a married flirt.
Each takes great pains to open her eyes to the
selfishness of the other, which is sufficiently per-
ceptible to the reader from the first. Each has a
particular friend they want 'her to marry—Mr.
Fountain, a country gentleman ; Mrs. Bazalgette,
a wealthy banker. Lucy is a beautiful and
amiable girl, not at all above the weaknesses and
tricks of her sex, but gifted with remarkable tact
and courtesy of manner. She has scarcely an
opinion of her own ; she is like the chameleon,
changing with every change of atmosphere. " The
courtier," and " my Lady Chesterfield," are terms
frequently applied to her by the author. There is
another aspirant to her favour in the shape of
David Dodd, a young sailor, the first mate of an
Indiaman, and the object of adoration to his sister
Eve, who is one of the most original characters in
the book. Into the fashionable and hollow circle
surrounding the fair Lucy, DavidDodd comes with
the freshness and sometimes the bluffness of one of
his own sea breezes. He is one of those fine
natural characters, with great hearts and simple
minds, whom Mr. Reade delights in depicting.
Entirely ignorant of conventional forms, he
is possessed of a natural kindly courtesy
to rich and poor alike, which even the
somewhat artificial Lucy cannot fail to appreciate.
But Mr. Reade, in his desire to make him entirely
devoid of affectation, has sometimes gone to the
other extreme, and made him talk in rather too
nautical a fashion continually. The cross purposes
played at by this band of plotters and counter-
plotters, and the final denouement of the romance, we
shall leave the reader to gather from the sale itself,
as it would be anticipating the author's elaborate
contrivances. The work is full of animation, and
is likely to entertain a large circle of novel readers.
It spares them any deep or thrilling interest, and
does not make too great a demand upon their sym-
pathies by pictures of sorrow and trial. David
Dodd seems to be about the only individual encum-
bered with a heart; all the rest are elegant, sneer-
ing automata, scarcely excepting the fair heroine
herself, who with all her amiability is somewhat
cold-hearted and artificial. She improves, however,
as the story advances, and we leave her under the
promise of still further improvement. The passage
relating to the little vessel in the storm, and Lucy's
marine adventures, is full of spirit and interest.
Altogether, the work is likely to be a favourite
with many, though not all that might have been
expected from a writer of Mr. Reade's undoubted
powers.

" A Good Time Coming." By the Author of

" Mathew Paxton."
This is an entertaining novel, and while it does
not present anything striking to the notice of the
reader, it exhibits so much good sense and right
feeling, that it has many claims on the attention.
The chief person in the story is Oswald Shakeshaft,
who is a fine character. There is something noble
in his great powers of endurance, his unshaken
faith in the value of perseverance, and his energetic
pursuance of every purpose he had once under-
taken. He did not exhibit these qualities in the
sunshine of prosperity, but it was through storm
and shade, in suffering.and distress, that his high
spirit sought its lofty aim, and his intelligent mind
disclosed its resources, and developed its hidden
powers. It was at a period of great national distress
that the story opens, and succeeding years added to
the burdens of the poor, and increased the peril of
the oppressed operatives. The sad effects of this
calamity are powerfully shadowed forth, and the
depression that wears away the spirits, and seems
to consume the powers of endurance as a moth
fretting a garment, is ably described as the worst
enemy in those troublesome times. Oswald dis-
played far greater foresight than his companion
and
.fe/low-labourer, Philip Scarisbrick, who was
greatly appalled at the direful prospects before
them. The concluding passages of the story are
of exciting interest, and the reader sympathises
with the difficulties that surrounded the partners
in their momentous and hazardous undertaking. It
is a great satisfaction to find the crafty enemies
circumvented, and the ruin they had prepared for
others overtake themselves. Jack Armitage is a
well-drawn character, and. in many respects an
original one. With all his eccentricity and abrupt-
ness, there was something kind and genial in his
nature, which always revealed itself in times of
distress. He was of great service to the harassed
Oswald and Philip at the period of their confusion.
There are some home scenes in this story that are
interesting, and the various characteristics of the
different persons are skilfully pourtrayed. Quinta,
the heroine, is a pleasing girl, though deficient in the
spirit and animation which render Kato Standin so
charming. There is a lifelike representation in the
Scotch baker, whose quaint sayings and ingenious
devices form an amusing episode. There is an
elevated tone pervading this work which cannot
fail to win the approval of the reader, and there i 4
sufficient interest interspersed ainong its records of
struggles, and sketches of home-life, to engross the
attention, and render its perusal a source of
gratification.

Old and Young. Smith and Elder.
This book displays considerable ingenuity and
some talent, but it fails to please or satisfy the
reader. The characters are not improbable, and
some of them are sketched with vigour and effect;
but the one on which the author appears to have
bestowed the most pains is not the most successful.
Camden Lyde, the gentle scholar and literary
recluse, is one of the chief figures on the canvas,
but his prototype has several times appeared
in literature under more pleasing auspices. Sir
Philip, the gloomy and saturnine baronet, and Gen.
Crawford, his heroic brother. are both drawn with
force and effect. Nesta, the gentle heroine, is a
graceful and feminine portraiture, of whom Horace
Clifden appears scarcely worthy. The reader could
spare a few pages about him and, his friends, which
are occasionally tedious. Ihere are some well
written passages and graphic delineations. If, as
we should conjecture, it is the first production of its
author, it gives considerable promise of better
things. The writer should aim at more concentra•
tion, more animation of style; in
. occasional passages
he rises into eloquence, but in the general tone of
the book there is a want of vivacity and life. The
author is evidently one who knows sqmething of
the world, of men and books, and we have no doubt
that time will enable him to apply his knowledge
to more effect than in his present volume.

The History of France, from, the Earliest Times to
1848. By the Rev. J. White, author of " The
Eighteen Christian Centuries." Blackwood.
The Reverend James 'White has rendered valua-
ble services to the came of historical literature.
He has succeeded in a most difficult task, in com-
bining brevity with interest. Most instructors of
youth or juvenile students will acknowledge the
dreariness of the epitomes and outlines of history
which attempt to give minute statistical particulars
of many centuries in a few pages. Mr. White
adopts a very different course. He does not trouble
himself to impress the exact dates of every. king's
reign upon the reader, but he endeavours to give him
a general idea of the chief characteristics of the age
and time ; to show what were the causes, and what
the influences that assisted or retarded the progress
of the nation ; how, in France, the destruction of
the power of the feudal nobility increased the
despotic authority of the crown, and rendered the
subjugation of the people complete. He shows us