The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-09 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Fairy Family. A Series of Ballads. Longman

and Copp any.

An elegant and charming gift book, comprising
within it some twenty-three very dainty Ballads
and Metrical Tales, commemorative of our Fairy
Mythology. Our Fairy Mythology, observe—the
Fairy Mythology of the Europeans. The Family
is a very large one, embracing among its numbers
Fairies of the Woods and of the Groves, of the
Fields and of the Metdows, of the Hills and of the
Caves, of tLe Seas awl of the Rivers, of the Hearths
of the Homesteads. As one of our young poets
sings with a sweet treble voice (William Allinghatu
to wit)---

" Wee folk, good folk, troopirg all together—
Green jacket, red cap, and gray cock's feather !"
The motto of the book imprinted upon its title.
page appears to be addressed rather to its subject
than to its readers—

" Love them that honest be,
And help them in necessitie."

A pleasant lit'ie scrap of poetic prose from Luther
is tagged on to the back of this title-page like
a sort ef a mystic amulet—half apology, half
encomium : " 1 would not for any quantity of gold
fart w:tli the wonderful tali-s which I have retained
from my earliest childhood, or have met with in •
my progress through life." Who would ? Would
any mercenary old hunx in the land ? If so—here
is our retributive ill wish for him—May the gold
so chosen prove in very truth to be " fairy gold,"
meling away in the grasp of his hard like snow-
fillies,
_or crumpling up in its hot pressure into
withered leaves ! So much for the momen-
tary musing &Ain of that thought of Lu-
ther, prettily chosen by the author for his
volume—like the tiny printed distich from a Christ-
mas comfit twisted up into a little explosive "kiss !"
Whoever the writer of the volume may I”—it has
evidently been, in regard to the hand that wrote it, a
manifest labour of love. The Preface—whichis dated
" Oxford, Aptil, 1857," (so that the Fairy Family
has-been evidently nurtured, not inappropriately,
all things cousidered,within the loving arms of Alma
Mater)—anuoufwg.,, as the "reason" for this Book,
the fact that hitherto our Fairy Literature has been
to all intents and purposes nothing better than a
." moral poison"—" weakened by unmeaning ex-
travagances, polluted by indelicate allusions, and
disfigured by purposeless cruelties and crimes."
We can fancy Tom Ho 3d, much as he loved them,
tenderly as be sang of their glories, sweetly and de-
liciously as he chaunted. his lamentation over their
disappearance, adding (with a twinkle of fun in his
eyes) to this enumeration of their imputed rascali-
ties—" Little Varmints I" Let that pass, how-
ever, and let us (for the sake of our author's ar-
gument) admit the accuracy of his reprehensive al-
lusions to our Fairy Literature—in spite of
Hood's " Lament," in spite of Coleridge's poetic
weakness for the "Pixies," in spite of Ariel in the
bell of the Cowslip, and the tiny rabble rout of
" Midsummer Night's Dream" from Oberon and
Titania down to Puck, Cobweb, and Peasblossom I
Granting our author's objections for the sake of
his argument—we accept his book for its own sake
gladly and light heartily. He, in sooth, must
needs be an unconscionable curmudgeon, who
caanot find in his bosom some little gossamer threads
among the fairy c'irdage of his heart-strings, to tie
to it the Good Folk trouping fantastically over
these pages—to the music of the author's rhythm,
to the clinking cymbals of his rhyme, in the rosy,
glowing light of his imagination. Sylvan Fairies
—the Elf-folk, the Korrigan, the Moss Woman,
the Vila, and La Dame Abend() Pastoral
Fairies—the Wee fair folk, the Lutin, the
Monaciello, the Fairy Woman, and the
Fairy Boy ! Water Fairies—the Fata Morgana,
the Rusalki, the Merman and the Neck (or, as
Mathew Arnold more pleasantly has it in his exqui-
site little song, "The Neckau") ! Cavernous and
Hill-Country Fairies—the Still-Man and the Hill-
Man, the Trolls and the Dwarfs ! Lastly, the
Fairies of Homo and Hearth—Pixies, Kobolds,
and Brownies Ala, the "wee folk" and the
beautiful

" Little feet that scarcely press
The gowan to the grass
Tottering with eagerness !"
Sometimes—and this not infrequently—our author
embalms the memory of some heroic tale in the
amber of a Fairy Ballad. It is thus with his me-
trical narrative of " The Vila," in which he has
celebrated the moving story of the Life and
Death, the Glory and Shame, the Rise and
Downfall of Kara George, the Liberator of Ser•
via Already the history of Kara George
we very well remember, has been recounted with
touching eloquence by Miss Laura J every (afterwards
Mrs. Valentine) in her charming three volume
romance entitled the "Forest and the Fortress."
Supposing the- writer of this graceful celebration of
" The Fairy Family" not to have read that
historical tale already, he will thank us, we doubt
not, for commending him now to its perusal. As as-
suredly the authoress of the " Forest and the For-
tress," under similar circumstances, would thank
us equally, we rest assured, for bringing to her
kn•wledge the fact that here again her hero has
received the grateful tribu'e of a sigh—here,
through the dulcet echoes of this pathetic legend
of " The Vila." Altogether the work under our
band, is a charming book—and one, if old in its
subject, certainly new in its treatment. It con-
stitutes in itself a wondrous treasury of elfin lore—
welcome, alike, in the boudoir and the library—
pletsant reading no less by the winter fire-side than
under the green shade of the summer leaves.

Nothing New. By the author of " John Halifax,
Gentleman !" &c., ke. 2 -Vols. Hurst and
Blackett. •
These volumes are a collection of various stories,
previously published, but though many may be
disappointed at not finding an original work, few
will regret the opportunity thus afforded them of
r -perusal. With the exception of " M. Anasta-
sius," there is not one of the tales not far superior
to the ordinary novels met with, that, although
clever is too painful to be dwelt upon, and even as
a warning it might have been conveyed to the
reader in a bett,r manner. An air of melancholy
pervades all the writings of this authoress, and
these brief sketches of existence are no exception
to the rule. It is a softened and subdued senti-
ment, nothing morbid or extravagant is seen ; the
same is observed in the description of the happier
phases of life. All those who are introduced to
our notice have passed through the ordeal instead
of being unmindful of its terrors; if they smile, it is
at the respite from care, not because they aro iguo-
rant of its approach. Her aim and endeavour is to
exhibit a maturer season of human lire than that
generally chosen by novelists. Youth is not shown
with unsullied freshness and undimmed bright-
ness, and, however fair in a pic`ure, such is not
a true symbol of existence, but, after many
a storm has been encountered, many a trouble
borne, and many a sorrow gone through, the hero
and heroine is seen, in some favourable instances,
to recover strength and spirits to continue the long
journey before them. As it is thus written of one
of the characters, " Trouble had passed over her,
ripening, not blasting, and left her in the Indian
summer of her days, a season almost as beautiful
as spring." This parsago occurs in the " Water
Cure," which is the best, and also the most attrac-
tive of the stories hero met with. It cencerns the
adventures of two cousins, men who, in different
ways, had exhausted themselves physically and
mentally. Austin had led a career of pleasure,
and Alexander Fyfe had toiled in an intellectual
sphere. In a happy hour for them did these friends
repair to the mansion of their acquaintance, Dr.
Corrie. There they underwent what Fyfe styled
the "spiritual water-cure." It was not only their
bodies that required braving, but their minds re-
ceived a new tone and impression. The details
are excee linoly interesting, and the peculiar
power of the authoress is strikingly displayed in
the energetic yet sympathising James Corrie, the
sweet and resolute nature of Ellice Keir, the vivid
impetuosity of Fyfe, and the kind, though indo-
lent disposition of Austin Hardy. The friends
were successful in their objects to procure health
of mind and body, if something still was wanting
it was not the fault of anyone, but the inevi-
tableth
e
doom of mortality, that, in
blossom of their hope, fixed the canker and
the blight. Each went , off to
an to superintend
his appointed place
Austin in the great highway of life, A
personally labours and e
his great energy, which, cares beu had hitherto dela-
gated to others, a task
though hidden, was considerable, eminently fitted
him for. Fyfe in his turn resumed his task, but in
a different frame from that in which he had relin-
quished it, his " work was wholesome, cheerful,
bravo, such an one as is
it t,,lie` Io Triumphe' of a
great spiritual 111arathon., ~ A Low Marriage" is
a
clever story, brings before the reader one of
those painful but oft-recurring scenes of trial when
1 an afflicted parent beholds the son or daughter of
their love form an engagement in every respect
undesirable. Mrs. Rochdale is a proud dignified
lady, and her feelings may be imagined. It is not
right, however, to give way entirely to pride and
prejudice, and this the mother found out at last,
in a time of suffering. " A. Family in Love" is
merely a sketch, amusing in its way, indeed, the
most lively of the series before us. " The Last
House in C Street" is of a sombre style, and the
" Double House" represents a painful affliction.
The story is told in a most ingenious manner, and
it is not until quite at the conclusion that the secret
is discovered. " Alwyn's First Wife" is a narrative
written with great feeling ' • it is not, perhaps, very
likely to occur, in fact, but it is related
with
a touching earnestness, and a depth of

sentiment that arrests the attention. "Lord
Erlistoun" is one of the later productiotra
• only just completed. It is of a more every day
class than those just before mentioned. Jean
Douglas, the heroine, is an estitnable charact,fr,
but she does not gan upon the reader as others in
the novels have done. Lord Erlistoun himself is
not a man distinguished for much, and the chief
interest centres in Mark Browne, the young mer-
chant, who, in his busy career possessed a regard
for the welfare of others, and a sympathy .wit't
their troubles, that stamped his nature
_with, a
grace, that all Lord Erlistoun's outward refinement
could not match. These stories may amuse a gay,
but they will be found more suitable •to a gray,'
hour, to the study of the reader who would see life
as it is, not as it may be in fancY, but never in
reality—such will appreciate these pages. They
will welcome these added geLls to a. casket, whose
treasures are not counterfeit.. They will acknoyr-
ledge them as not unworthy of what has gcine
before, for they are powerful and brilliant in their
design and execution.