The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-01 00:00:00

LITERA2'URE.

Bentley Priory. By Mrs. Hastings Parker. Three I
vols. Hurst and Blackett.
This is a most amusing work, which can hardly
fail to meet with-the approval of those who desire
a really domestic story. There have been so many
strange theories and extraordinary statements in-
troduced of late in to the pages of novels that it is
rather a relief to peruse a tale like 'the present.
The authoress has exhibited great skill in her
delineation of character and' her descriptions of
events. Emily Morton is a charming maiden, pos-
sessed of many admirable qualities, although her
position militated considerably against her improve-
ment mentally or morally, and diminished the
exercise of her naturally good intentions. 'She was
one of the fortunate few who escaped. any very
serious consequences as the ultimate result of her
unfortunate entanglements. Blanche Thornham
is of a very different character, but her innate
qualities were also excellent, though she distin-
guished her conduct generally by frivolity and dis-
play. It is in the portraiture of Mandeville, how-
ever, that the greatest success is achieved by the
authoress. He is very ably depicted as a heartless
man who trifles with the feelings of others to suit
his views and attain his own ends of amusement.
It is true that he was, after his own fashion,
attached to Emily; but if he had been actuated by
real affection, he would not have shown such atten-
tion to Blanche on every occasion. It would be
well if more of the infatuated ladies who are
attracted by the fascinations of such men as Mande-
ville had the sense, like Blanche and Emily, to
conquer their own weaknesses, and turn their
thoughts to others more worthy of admiration, and
more calculated to prove faithful in the vicissitudes
of life. Mrs. Thornham and Mrs. Morton are
likely sketches of worldly mothrrs, each toiling
and striving in her different way, for the further-
ance of her own peculiar designs as to the advance-
ment of her daughter in the world by a prosperous
marriage. The sad events that occurred towards
the close of the Mortons' visit to Italy are very
ingeniously detailed, and the happiness of Emily
Morton's life seemed again about to be shipwrecked
by an unforeseen calamity, and one which appeared
to be perfectly irremediable. Altogether " Bentley
Priory" may be considered an acquisition to novel
readers, from its , brillant descriptions, sparkling
style, and interesting story. It is also, although
an entertaining book, not without a purpose, and
some of the follies of fashionable life, whose conse-
quences are most serious, are here vividly fore
shadowed. The authoress may therefore be con-
gratulated on her present attempt; for, without any
pretensions to rank among the first order of novels,
her production is distinguished for its skill and
intelligence,

Erin-go-Brogh ; or, Irish' life Pictures. By W.
H. Maxwell, author of " Stories of Waterloo."
2 vols. Bentley.
It is with some disappointment that the ad-
mirers of Mr. Maxwell's sparkling and stirring pages
will peruse volumes which, are certainly scarcely
worthy of the author of " Stories of Waterloo."
They refer entu ely to Irish life, and it would have
been anticipated that few could do more justice to
the fun and frolic, the wit and pathos of the in-
habitants of the Emerald Isle. We regret to find
'throughout a great part of the first volume, more
especially, a tameness of incident, and a vulgarity of
style, whose coarseness is seldom redeemed by the
national wit. There are some scenes and sketches
of a higher character, and some readers may find
sufficient entertainment to make them overlook
deficiencies and drawbacks, but the general tenour
of the work is scarcely what might have been anti-
cipated from Mr. Maxwell's reputation, and Dr.
Maginn's introductory eulogium. The stories and
sketches which compose these volumes originally
appeared in the pages of a popular periodical, and
are consequently not introduced to the public
for the first time. It may be presumed that
their reception was sufficiently favourable to
authorise their re-appearance in a connected form.
Of the general style of Mixwell's writings, and of
his own personal career, the brilliant pen of Dr.
Maginn gives the following sletch :
"Heis of soldier-romance-mongers the first. Mind, we
are not going to disparage Gleig of the Subaltern,' Hamil-
ton of Cyril Thornton,' or any of the other gentlemen who
have turned the sword not into a ploughshare, but into as
hard-working an instrument—a pen ; but among rollicking
describers of fights, campaigns, sieges, carousings, rioting,s,
love-makings, and all other matters connected with the
pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war, he decidedly
bears off the ball. He does not venture at long set stories,
decked out and arrayed into all the full three-volumed dig-
nity of a novel—no, he flings off his tales as if they were
so many tumblers of punch, hot and strong, pleasant and
heart-cheering, hastily mixed, and as hastily disposed of.
It needs no particular power of critical discernment to dis-
cover that Maxwell's acquaintance with the scenes which
he describes is anything but theoretical. In fact, though
now a man of peace, he was once a man of war—a jolly
grenadier in the Eighty-eighth, standing some six feet two.,
and coming in for a slice at the close of the Peninsular cam-
paigns, and taking his share at the battle of Waterloo.
.But when the melancholy days of disbanding came, and
fun had departed out of the world,

When the army was gone, and the navy adrift,
And the sailor paid of, and the soldier bereft;
When half-pay to the captain poor cheer did afford,
And the Duke was no more than a Government lord,

as a brother Connaught Ranger sings, then adopting Sir
Walter Raleigh's motto, Tam Marti, quam Mercurio, find-
ing. that Mars was gone, he applied himself to the .god of
eloquence and persuasion, turned his military cloak into a
surplice, -gave up the charges of the Duke of Wellington
for those of the Archbishop of Tuam, abandoned the Arti-
cles of War for the Articles of the Church, and, unwilling
to leave the service altogether, took to the service of the
Liturgy. He then became Prebendary of Balha—still a
see among the canons—in Tuam. That he waged war
upon the devil and all his angels, most theologically, we
doubt not ; but here we are recording him only as an author
upon more mundane subjects. The war (we need not say
what war, for this generation, and many more, will pass
over before another war will turn up to put down that
which ended at Waterloo, from its post of being the war
par excellence) and Ireland are his own.
"Maxwell, in his sketches of the gentlemen class of
Ireland in their hours of relaxation, and in their own wild,
untameable, and somewhat ferocious jollity, or violence,
being of them, in blood and bone, he and his people before
him for many a long day—is quite at home—not only with
his own Wild Sportsman of the West, but with all that
horsewhip-handling, trigger-pulling, lady-killing, claret-
drinking, steeple-chasing, hot-headed, puzzle-pated.
tumultuous race of gentlemen, who, issuing from Ould
Thrinity,' led a noisy reckless life, fearing nothing but a
dun or a sheriff's officer, eternally in debt or drink, or duel-
ling, or all three together; usually highly bred and well
travelled, almost always generous, though seldom just, un-
questionably brave (at least it would not have been parti-
cularly safe to question it), taking no wrong, and giving
very little right ; governed by the most curious, and the
most curiously extended, code of honour ever devised, and
covering a multitude of sins by everlasting good-humour
and—a pistol. These noble specimens of mankind are,
alas I fast passing away before the baleful effects of civili
sation, rail-roads, steam-boats, and the schoolmaster
abroad—as much, we suppose, to the distaste of Maxwell,
as of the late Sir Jonah Barrington. As it is fit, then, that
some record of them should remain, none can supply it
better than the soldier-scholar, gentleman of blood, and
Irishman of birth."

Among the most noticeable sketches in the volumes
is that entitled, " John Campbell, the homicide,"
which exemplifies the old adage of "honour among
thieves," and gives an insight into the curious cus-
toms of the country some fifty years ago. The
narrator was the magistrate of a wild and lawless
district, where a homicidal outlaw was the hero of
the locality. The new representative of the terrors
of the law used every exertion to discover the
hiding-place of the criminal ; but, as he was shel-
tered-and abettcd by the country people, detection
was difficult. The magistrate threatened the gal-
lows, and was in return politely informed that
the sooner he ordered his coffin the better. While
affairs were in this pleasant position, the magis•
trate was returning home from a shooting excur-
sion and found his passage blocked by a swollen
stream :

At that moment of despondency, a human figure rose
slowly over a hillock which had hitherto masked his ap-
proach. He was a tall, athletic fellow, wrapped in a cota-
more (a frieze great-coat), and, as is the prevailing custom
of the peasantry in that country, provided with a trusty
sapling.
He made mt. a rude obeisance—said that he had observed
me try vainly for a passage, and intimated, what I knew
well, that one hundred yards lower down, all chance of
effecting a transit would be hopeless. Night was closing
fast, and every moment precious.
" Mark ye that bend in tha stream ?" he said.
" I see it."

" That was the place where the herdsman's body floated
in—him who was drowned there some fifteen years ago,
Dare you venture a long leap ? or would you rather toil for
six long miles over swamps and black-hass ?"
" Hit or miss, we'll try the jump," said I, "and if we
fail, 'tis but a swim for it."
" Stoutly spoken, come on. There is the only spot," he
pointed out a bending in the river, and led the way.
When we reached it, I measured it with my eye.
" Is that too much for you, sir ?"
" Upon my word ! my friend, it will tax me hard."
" It is your only chance," ho added.
" Barring a slip, I think I can manage it."
"If you can," and he laid emphasis on the word, " ex-
cept myself, "I'll call you the best jumper in Ballycroy."
" We must send the gun acr.rss before 'us," said I, t.nd I
prepared to throw it to the opposite side.
" What !" said the stranger, " risk injury to such a p ee-)
as this?" and ho took it from me, examined the barrels,
triad the action of the locks, and then expressed his admira-
tion. "It is, in truth, a splendid pine of workmanship.
Trust it to me—we'll go in or over together. Then jump
your best."
" As if a bailiff were in chase—"
"A mad bull behind, or Campbell the murderer—you
have heard often of that scoundrel ?—at your elbow," said,
he; and he smiled as he finished the sentence.
" Faith I my friend, I have no fancy for an introduction
to either mad bulls or murderers. I have heard of a choice
between the devil and the deep sea ; and I think of the
alternatives that you propound, I would prefer a set-to with
the quadruped."
"It would be a toss-up," returned the stranger. "So
here gees—in or over !"
He retired some thirty paces, seemed to collect his ener-
gies, made his rush and spring, and landed full three feet
inside the liver bank.

I had never met before a better jumper than myself, and
stimulated by a suceessfal example, I screwed ray courage
•

to the sticking-point, made the essay, and landed in sport-.
ing style.
'‘ Well done I Come, sir, we'll drink ' luck' after that:
I was half persuaded you would have jumped short, and
,I
should have been obliged to fish you from the shepherd
corner there. After that spring, I'll back us two against
any pair in Ballycory."
I took the flask he offered, drank to him, a compliment
he returned politely, and on we jogged at a pace that proved
us both to be good mountain men. In half an hour we
topped a rising ground that commanded an unbroken view
of the country for miles around.
" In• that direction lies your route, mine lies in this,"
and he
What
north and south. 11
" What I are we to part company ?" said I ; "and wl
you refuse good 'quarters and warm welcome ? In faith
my friend,.lowe you the double debt."

He shook his head.
4i Come, come—the warmest corner in the lodge is yours,
and nono deserve it better." will
He smiled. " Shall I speak one short sentence, and
you rer eat the invitation ?"

" Try me."
i 4 Say, that I proved some person of whom the world
spoke lightly—a deserter—or the—"
" Devil, to fill the blank up," I added. "The best cheer
that my poor residence affords shall still be yours."
" There is your gun—and now will you repeat your Lu-
vitation ?'

" Yes." •
4: One who held you at defiance, now trusts you with both
rn
life and liberty ; and I know you have too much man ,
°
to take him at advantage—John Campbell is beside you _
I started back a pace or two, and never was one of lig
King's poor esquires more desperately bothered than PlYsie.,t
" I am at your disposal," said the outlaw, with Per'vw
coolness; "am I a freeman or a prisoner ?"
"If you never be the latter 'till I arrest you—but Cale
along, let us push homewards. Call yourself by inY naeel
—priest, parson, or any craft you please—none will s

yciur secret."
"I will only trespass on you for this night. MY,. dre,tirete.i
mination is already taken. You were the only man I.4e' r
—you pressed me hard—l know the risk I run. A' :v
neck was sure of halter, mine is the ono. But lam wean'i,
of a ruffianly existence. Will you but promise °to
week's freedom, and ere the eighth day passes, I'll swear
return, and ask you to lodge me in the gaol ?" ne—"
" Upon my life, the compact will be a strange °—
agreed I"

-"
Shall I carry the gun ?"
I handed it to him, and on we jogged in perfect amity.
" Know ye any of my people at the lodge ?" an
" Whether I do or not, none of them will claim
acquaintance. The new polise have a faithful descripta
of me, for I furnished it myself," and laughed heartT3
"By heaven ! I always fancied that you and I should Bleep
friends at last. Many a good supper and sound sle.,,,QP,re
owe you. Little did you imagine that when yon
picking a brandered grouse in the parlour, I Was elle'ed
with grilled mutton in the servants'. hall. I, threatenibe
death, and you, the gallows ; and, strange but true)
same ink traced writis more tha once
"_What a falseboth gang mngy villanous establishment must

be !"
"No ; they are true to iou, one and all. They
0
knew right well that I would not harm you-9 11°t °II
hair upon your head—could I have bought the King's Ptir-
don by it."
The strange visitor departed early the next 131°11F.
ing, but before the expiration of the time stated Ile
reappeared :
°°
" You see, sir," he said laughingly, " that having °l,
found my way to the lodge, I am not likely to forget
" I should be sorry if you did, Campbell ; and let me adds
that you are more welcome than many an hnnester
would be." °Tate'
He gave me a melancholy smile, and thanked we tile
fully; even when ho laughed, there was sometlaing,,,n,A.
sound that was depressing to the spirits. In the Lr'b'ear
lands, there is a prevailing fancy that "doomed men'. and
indications in their features which foretell their fate
even when assuming, if he did not feel it, a mirthful
Campbell's countenance exhibited an expression not t°
described ;.but in effect it was absolutely heart-sinksng•no,
" Well, sir, you have given the words of welcorae ts
will you extend them to two others ? 1 have not return
alone." bell g°i?g

The announcement startled me. Was CaulP-
to take advantage of a trifling service, and colonise 91.„rsi-
micile with criminals ? He saw that I was not rall°"
tified at his communication.
I fear, sir, that I have trespassed too heavily „;11 /hog
kindness. It may be easily remedied, however • orli. ito
a mile farther, I have a kinsman who will afford .us,
want—humble fareand the shelter
I responded,helterofther
oof-trea• g
be candid with you,"
lone,
though always happy to have your company when
I am in nowise ambitious of extending my vrsitiug circle
to
noseitur e seeds. You need not tax your Latin heavirsed
construe what I mean—one gentleman who, like Y°lll-010
has adopted the system of free-trading, is as much at Are
tolerate. In a word, who may your companions 13_,.", tifilas
they, Shakspeare has it, regular clerks of Saint I'°.the
—gentlemen who have discharged themselves froultho
army without pay or pension—cracked a skull without
power of its being repaired, er—or—" ty,' "
On all these points I can plead for them a ' not guil
replied the fugitive. t to
" Well, if they have neither given employmen aro
coroner, or called stand to la
true man, what devirs
drove them in your good company to Ballycroy ?" , these
"I think I might offer my security against any 0". `
imputed charges. But satisfy yourself, sir, for if we at° o
tbe tr,
move on, the sooner we reach our night-quarters the
and he called to the new corners to appear.
Criminals indeed they were not—for a woman of luirnitto
mon beauty, with a child in her arms, the next ow-
stood before us. wog
The outlaw's cold and daring mood instantly' Aeci
changed. A deep and desponding expressions uce'7l`4;
the reckless bearing his features had just now exhibit
and, with a heavy sigh, he thus continued— bli
t h
hapiluel`l`rstelhe:he die with me is cast—my resolution is imrnovea
'at'
to
his and
oisu hl
de
bosom.pre
rs s
ae
nd, hisiide Here,
ece
,oe
formed—and, to end a fugitive career, I risk a felon's 4:1°?0..
n pxist-
n
ieniascdce—ys
ethrscehrt
oe sahlelaaavrebenr
centered.n,d, eads
Ic r i m
trustßi nua lt
ffoo likerrthese,"
himself
and he ;.• Iste
allmP
na thatn° rj.rJ owhi John ho
Camp paghr
ade I I+l re
es
sinner
em I the thrust that sped me—the ball that reached ta4
heart—would be welcomed dearly as the first confessioliteuct
a woman's love. Hap what will to me, will you Pr°
them ?" that
" I am no braggart, but I would scorn to acknowlediennw.
any ingredients were mingd in a bricalhope,
formation,hick, lam proud to say,le and would fain, a •
has hitherto, and will in future, carry me through lue 1,9 a
man should bear himself—but, on my soul I the outla: " gtoni,
found and touched the weak point of my nature. tso
the smiling infant in my arms—kissed a tear away that
on,
stealing down his mother's cheek—and, before h °Yhat
attested myself for life their protector ! Faithfully L'
vow has been observed. two former
The outlaw was very soon after shot bYien
associates, and the magistrate faithfully befriend
his widow and orphan. It will be seen that 111
strange pictures of life and character
gathered from these pages, and they are in_".,a
spersed with smart and humorous sayings
speeches, though we could scarcely commend them
to a fastidious or critical reader, or to one
demands from humor some of the polish, if nu
the sparkle, of wit.