The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-09 00:00:00

L 17'ER.717.

Vow: al the Dune, Count of Elsinore. 2 vols.
Bentley,

This is a very interesting narrative of the adven-
tures of a sina-lar man—it is told with spirit, and
the reader cannot be otherwise than delighted with
its stirring recital. Phis story has before appeared
in the pages of the " Dublin University Magazine,"
hence it will be familiar to many, but these will
no doubt be glad of an opportunity of renewing
their acquaintance with its attractive sketches.
One cannot help feeling interested in the character
of Lars Vonved, and, indeed, he is not at all like
the generality of outlaws, as there is nothing des-
perate or revengeful in his temper. If anything
could have excused such a life as he led, it would
have been the cruel persecutions to which he was
subjected. There is not so much recorded here of
the life at sea, as most of the incidents occurred on
shore. The events of the second volume are most
exciting, and the manner of Vonved's escape is very
remarkable. He had been before imprisoned, but
had contrived to elude the vigilance of his captors
by various ingenious devices. On this occasion the
united skill and strength of many were exerted to
prevent any escape till the renowned outlaw should
have expiated his crimes by a cruel death. When
the fatal hour arrived, and the messengers of doom
went to execute their fatal purpose, they found
that a more merciful herald had preceded them, and
that Lars Vonved was extended before them in the
slumber that would not yield to their stern sum-
mons. The news spread like wildfire over the city,
and the expectant crowd dispersed. The friends
were permitted to remove the body, and it was uni-
versally supposed that the career of the melafactor
was over. A different scene was being enacted on the
great waters, where the departed hero had per-
formed such deeds of prowess, and ruled with so-
vereign sway. "Descend to the great cabin. What
a scene is here. On the table upon a pile of bed-
ding lies the form of Lars Vonved, unchanged in
appearance since the morning appointed for his
execution. Dunraven looked up and caught the
anxious eye of Bertel. They sighed with mournful
significance." 'Tis invain to ponder o'er this dim
parchment, muttered Bertel. Very vain ' re-
sponded Dunraven, ' and even could you discover
the key to its impenetrable symbols—of what avail ?
The countess" and he lowered his voice, and
glanced furtively at Amelia, " has already told us
what he said,—and he alone could read that fearful
scroll.' Aye, but think you LieutenantDunraven,'
gravely muttered Bertel, " that in the terrible agi-
tation she must then have experienced she may not
have misunderstood or forgotten.' No, sir, my
life on it, neither, he told her that this mysterious
powder would, if taken as he intended to take it,
according to the secret instructions on the parch-
ment, immediately after she had quitted his dun-
geon on her last visit, thrown him into a profound
lethargy—a counterfeit of death, such as no man
could possibly detect. This trance, this apparent
total suspension of all sensation, was to last pre-
cisely forty•eight hours, and in that interval we
were to obtain permission to remove his supposed
corpse, and thus insure his ultimate safety. All
has hitherto come to pass as he foresaw. See, is it
not death's twin sister, and he motioned towards
the rigid form of his beloved leader and friend.
Ay, but is it not death indeed and not merely his
dread semblance.' We have no right whatever
to fear that, responded Dunraven in a tone which
was not quite so confident as his words, little more
than forty-seven hours have elapsed since he has
been outwardly inanimate, and a strange sharp
cry, piercing but not loud, broke from Amalie, and
when they hurried to her side she was standing
with arms extended and her face bent closely over
the marble lineaments of her husband. They at
once beheld the cause of her intense emotion. A
gentle dew was breaking from the pores of Von
ved's face and forehead ; his eyelashes quivered
sliezhtly, yet very perceptibly ; the deadly pallor
of his features had disappeared and given place to
a faint roseate tint. He lives—life is returning.
Minutes are hours now to the group around the
reviving form of the outlaw. Dunraven drew
down the sheet and chafed his breast. Mads Neil-
sen rubbed his feet and cherished them against his
bosom, sobbing and ejaculating with savage vehe-
mence. Time flies ; and yet they all think time an
eternity ! He lives ! Hush ! his limbs quiver !
His eyes are opening ! He is growing warm ! He
moves his fingers ! He lifts his arm ! He is alive !
His eyes are open. He lives. He sees—he knows
us ! His lips unclose ! He will soon speak.
Saved ! He lives! And so it came to pass in the
degree indicated by the ejaculations above quoted
from the thousands that were uttered, that Lars
Vonved recovered life and consciousness; and just
when the forty eight hours expired he heaved a
long deep sigh, gazed steadily around, and flung
his arms aloft like a giant awaking from sleep.
Nearly every man of his devoted crew by this
time were thronging around him in the great
cabin, and the sternest old sea-dog of them all
wept like a nervous woman for unutter-
able joy and thankfulness. " Life ! I live ;
I thank God Almighty I live !" Such were the
first words uttered by the lips of " Vonved the
Dane." The conclusion of this tale will doubtless
take many by surprise, as instead of horrors all be-
comes bright and splendid in the new path opening
before the recovered hero, and the last page leaves
him reinstated in his honours and restored to his
position. It recalls to the mind of the reader the
scene in Scott's " Lady of the Lake," where the
King presents the outlawed chieftain to his
astonished courtiers, and exclaims—

" Ask nought for Douglas, yester even
His prince and he have much forgiven,
And Bothwell's lord, henceforth we own,
The friend and bulwark of our throne."
Amalia, the wife of Vonved, displayed a spirit that
was worthy of the illustrious race whose name she
bore, and in the hour of peril she was a true heroine.
An extraordinary sketch of summary retributive
justice is given in the account of Mads Neilsen's
vengeance on the betrayer. The wretch deserved
his fate, for no one can ever sympathise with
treachery, and Nealen's lingering death on the
lonely coast might be a suitable termination to
many such miscreants. Another striking scene is
the end of a worse betrayer, for he belonged to
Vonved's own crew. Jorgen Neilsen was the bro-
ther of the intrepid Mads, and it was a dreadful
blow for that devoted follower to learn that
his own relation bad betrayed his beloved
chief. The doom for the traitor was to
" walk the plank," in other words, to be consigned
to a watery grave, on the instant of disccvery. The
scene where Vonved's astonished and indignant
followers doom their recreant comrade to his dread-
ful death is a very impressive one, and described
with great ability. It is not often we meet with
such vigorous delineation of character and such
vivid illustrations of events as abound throughout
this remarkable work. It seems to blend romance
and reality together in a marvellous manner, and
seldom is a more attractive hero found for the
novelist to depict in glowing colours, or the reader
to study with admiring delight, than the intrepid
Rover of the Baltic, the descendant of the renowned
race of the great Valdemar. Those who would
peruse an entertaining narrative cannot do better
than possess themselves of this stirring and striking
romance. " Vonved the Dane" is superior to many
of those nautical narratives that have been so much
in vogue of late years, and its chief charm consists
in its life and animation. The author enters eagerly
into the spirit of all the eventful occurrences, and
dwells con wnore on the peculiarities of the chief
actors of the tale. The scenes oo board the vessels
are graphically described, and are, moreover, replete
with that energy and enthusiasm that is so espe-
cially and essentially to be desired in any transcrip-
tion of the actions of the bold and free. The
men who trod the decks of the " Skildpadde"
and the " Amalia" were of the stuff of
which heroes are made, and no enemy would like
to encounter such opponents, while the king whose
navy comprised such defenders might reckon him-
self impervious against all attacks. This brilliant
sketch of a Danish Romance may be confidently re-
commended to the notice of readers, and its strange
and stirring recital will certainly
and excite ir
admiration.

Java ; or, Row to Manage a Colony. By J. W. B.
Money, Barrister-at-Law. 2 vols. Hurst and

Blackeit.
Very little is generally known in this country
respecting the internal administration of the Dutch
colony of Java, and that little is mostly prejudicial
to the Government of Holland. Tyranny in the
impressions, and the idea of gathering
rule and monopoly in the commerce are the two
prevailing
any suggestions from its management with regard
to our Indian Empire would probably be esteemed
preposterous by our Indian legislators. Neverthe-
less the author of this work, after personal inspec-
tion, careful study, and consultation, not only of
Dutch, but English, French, and German mer-
chants residing there, has arrived at very different
conclusions. The administration of Java he con-
siders to be admirably adapted to the native cha-
racter, equitable in its principles, and bear-
ing the satisfactory testimony of general con-
tent and prosperous finances; and in many re-
spects he thinks we might pursue the same system
with great advantage to our Indian Empire. The
contrast between the state of the two colonies is
somewhat startling. The following facts are
worth the consideration of the practical financier :
"The state of India in 18511 was too exceptional to afford
a fair comparison, and I have, therefore, taker each coun-
tryas it stood in 1556-7, the last and most prosperous year
of normal tranquillity in India before the rebellion. Java
is as different from the rest of Netherlands India as our
frvw, tll9 144tiVe states itz Ujucleotau,
Indian territol