The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-25 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Last of the lifortimers. A Story in Two
Voices. By the author of " Margaret Maitland,"
" Adam GIL-mule," etc., etc. 3 vols. Hurst and
Blackett.
The author of these delightful works has long
been ranked among the most successful writers of
fiction that the present day possesses. There is
the charm of a natural manner that especially at-
tracts in all her novels. Nothing can be more
easy and flowing than her style, and the simple
occurrences of daily life are so truthfully depicted
that they impart a reality to the tone of the entire
narrative. In the present instance the tale is not a
stirring and eventful one by any means, but the
descriptions of the few important things that take
place are most vividly related. Sarah Mortimer is
a very masterly sketch, and in the delineation of
this lady the authoress achieves a marked success,
and displays her consummate dexterity in the draw-
ing of characters. We meet with a woman who is
deaf to the strongest appeals that can be made to
the feelings of humanity, who is not endued
with that love of her child which is so deeply
implanted in the heart, and often forms a
strong sentiment in those who are otherwise weak.
The plot of the tale is a peculiar one and very skit.
fully carried out. Sarah MortimAa who hat been
groat beauty in early life, goes abroad with her
• father, and while in Italy was secretly married to
an Italian Count ; but her father found it out, and
insisted on his coming back with them and taking
rho name of Mortimer. This the haughty Count
Sermoneta refuses to do, and the consequence was
that a separation took place. Mr. Mortimer and
his daughter returned to England. The life that
she led was the best punishment that any judge
could have inflicted for her sins. It was not till
many years had rolled away that the crisis came
which furnishes the subject of this story. Count
S,::rnaoneta in dying charged his son to find out the
unknown mother in England, and to offer to bear
her name. He arrived at the right place, but, he
could not ascertain where the object of his
search resided. The name of the Countess

Serrnoneta was unknown t? all the inhabi-

tants of the village, where the " Park," the
beautiful inheritance of the leaortimers, stood, one
of those stately homes of England that are alike her
ornament and pride. The second Miss Mortimer's
curiosity was aroused by the numerous inquiries
made by the Italian youth, and above all she was
amazed by her sister's manner. If she knew nothing
of the affair, as she pretended, she could not have
comported herself so strangely. She alternated
between rage and sarcasm, and altogether the
advent of a youth from a foreign land of whose
existence all bad been ignorant, convulsed the house,
excited the village, and even disturbed the hum-
drum serenity of the neighbouring town. Milly,
the second Miss Mortimer, was a very timid person,
who was much dismayed at the aspect of affairs.
She endeavoured to ascertain the secret that hung
over them with a veil of impenetrable mystery, but
to no avail. Now she was her sister's equal,
but the ten years that then made no difference
was once the boundary line between childhood and
womanhood. When Miss Mortimer was a reigning
beauty Milly was a child, and she was left behind
on the excursion to Italy, which lasted ten years.
Hence the exciting epoch of Miss Mortimer's life
was a sealed book to her nearest relative, end all
attempts to gaze into its mysteries were futile.
However, circumstances conspired to brine.p the deeds
of darkness to light, and one ingenious disclosure
after another at last brought the truth before those
who were so bewildered with the actions of Sarah
nortimer, and so amazed at the pertinacity of the
young Italian. The scene in which he declares
his identity is a very striking one, and very power-
fully described. Then the guilty woman, who
persisted in denying her marriage, from the old
feelings of revenge and malice which still rankled
in her heart, was caught in her own toils. She rose
up with clenched hands to deny again the true
tale, but here she was stayed. Thus far shalt thou
go, but no farther, was pronounced against her,
and she crept away in a fearful state to her
own room, which she never left alive. The
ruling passion, strong in death, roused her to make
a will, leaving all her possessions to a young lady
relative, instead of him who, in the eyes of God
and man, was her heir. The details of that dread-
ful death-bed are vigorously told to us, and it is a
solemn warning to all guilty like her f such dire.
ful faults. The hardened life she led, crushing down
love, extinguishing natural feelings, and indulging
pride in all its worst forms, bore its bitter fruits
and told its sad tale in the last hour. There is a
beautiful thought in one of the verses for childhood :
" In the days of my youth I remembered my God,
And He hath not forgotten my age."
Sarah Mortimer's career was the reverse of this.
She studiously neglected her Creator, and mercy
and peace were far from her old age. Milly, the
sister, was in every respect different from Sarah.
She was mild and considerate to all, and in her
way she did far more good in her generation than
the grand Miss Mortimer, who was so vaunted in
her youth. There was a younger "?dilly," who is
very pleasing ; she was the daughter of the cousin
of the Miss Mortimers, and she was long in igno-
rance of her connexions, having been left in charge
of her mother's aunt, who also was unaware of her
father's real rank in society. She was married
early to a young officer, and some of their
home-scenes are very feelingly narrated, and also
there are some touching scenes relating to their
separation when the regiment was ordered to the
Crimea. Poor. Milly was very sad at being left
among strangers, but she had a trusting spirit as
well as a loving heart and strove to take courage.
" I was not even to hear of him for a long time ;
and when I was to see him God knew alone, I was
swept out of his sight, and he out of mine as if we
did not belong to each other. There was only One
now in heaven or earth, that at the same moment
could see him and me. When I thought of that
it melted all my heart. Our Father, the only
father we two had, saw us both with no boundaries
between us—all that time when I could neither see
nor hear of Harry, God was kind to my husband.
He knew we were both in His eye if we were
worlds asunder." It is satisfactory that the sol-
dier returned safely from the wars, and thus the
most pleasing group in the story was not broken
into by the casualties of battle fields. This work
is on the whole to be regarded as a successful at-
tempt to portray the character of a remarkable
woman, one of those who, few and far between, show
us how human nature can be perverted, and the
strong will turned to the cause of wrong instead of
influencing aright, and leading many to good. This
authoress always sets high aim for her endea-
vours, and for the most part attains the
lofty eminence to which she aspires. The
reader finds the best possible advice in the illustrtt-
tier. of character and the record of events which
far outweigh all sermonising in stories, and often
effect more ultimate good than many serious works
that are too solemn and forbidding to make any im-
pression, and thus repel instead of attracting. The
chronicle of daily existence is in itself enough to
furnish innumerable instances of warning, endless
examples of evil, and countless messages of reercy
to all with eyes to see the things around in their
true light. In this capacity the authoress of this
work has long been pre-eminent, and no one who
peruses her pages attentively can be otherwise than
impressed with the superior style of the works she
produces. It is now some years since Margaret
Maitland appeared, and amid the many failures
that have been made by some most promising
authors, it is refreshing to find one who has not
deteriorated in her works, but still fulfils the
expectations her first production callede commended to
forth. ''Tho
Last of the Mortimers" may be
tnhoetipcelewasiitnhgtthheocuognhfitdtehnatt aists ndreasne
rev()
eos f t shutter
ssuse,caenssd.
It is not exaggerated in its style, although the
contents are often peculiar, but the juste milieu is
maintained between
insisrgtoahninteaenteoeand tameness. It is
n alwaysev
eaandwi welcome e
thisom e meet withamusement
anadfirst-rate
instruc-
tion are combined. The lessons are taught in the
account of the life and death of Sarah Mortimer.
He who runs may read ; they are not forced upon
us ; and the intelligent and discerning among the
perusers of these animated pages will acknowledge
the merit, while they are fascinated by the interest
of this brilliant and vigorous novel.

THE GRATUITY TAx.—l believe that none but
very stringent measures will ever berof service in getting
rid of the gratuity tax. I have heard, though I cannot
vouch for the fact, that there are some proprietors of coun-
try mansions who put up in all the spare rooms in their
houses an earnest request that no money may be given by
any guest to the servants of the establishment, as it is con-
trary to the rule of the house that they should receive it.
It must be owned that such a system as this would give to
a country house rather the look of an inn, but the rule, in
itself, would be an excellent one. The question is, whether
it would be in any degree more effective than the somewhat
similar announcement found at railway stations ? Would it
really arrest the band of the guest on its way to his waistcoat
pocket ? I should be disposel tonot. The real fault
g nAo r man
an t oi egf
in this matter lies more, far more, with the giver of the
gratuity than with the receiver, It is not, as might at first
be supposed, an evidence of generosity that a man is in, this
g vanity t
houagnhdt love
mean,of aopr p rwo boar tsieo, n.i
way what is called "ready with his money." It is much amore
an
the ways of the world, or worse than all—poor ; and so he
impoverishes himself, turns his
channels in which it might do good,
afraidane evidence
i
or perhaps neglects
just claims upon him in order that he may obtain the good
opinion of the servants' -hall, or be thought a fine fellow
by a railway porter or a tavern waiter.—Div4iis's " Alf
1 the Year Round,"