The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-08 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Sir Richard .Hanzilton. A novel. 2 vols. durst

and Blackett.

This is a romantic story that may serve to amuse
many who like excitement and variety in their
works of fiction. There is no particular merit in
its style, and some parts of the descriptions are
exaggerated. Still, despite these drawbacks, we
find some smart representations of character and
some likely sketches of society. The gentlemen
who f. gure conspicuously in the tale are well drawn,
better than the ladies, who are too tame or too
()lift& For instance, Miss Hartopp appearing at a
ball in a country house in the dress of a jockey is
far too overdrawn, and Marcia is hardly a natural
girl, with her intense feelings and her morbid sus-
ceptibility that amounted to something quite in-
comprehensible to those around her. Sir Richard
Hamilton is the most attractive and the most likely
personage met with in the book. There is some-
thing manly and noble in his demeanour that is
sure to propitiate all who corns in coatact with
him, and which shows to peculiar advantage by the
side of the inconsistent Mr. Gwynne, the briniant
hero of the London world. It is true that Sir
Richard made a great mistake in determining to
propose to Marcia, but even in that case—

" His failing leaned to virtue's side ;"

for it was from motives of generosity that he was
induced to offer her a home when she was about to
be cast on the world. Maud D'Abernon is an un-
satisfactory maiden ; she improves at last in some
respects, but she was too easily influenced by tnose
around her, and it was by a concurrence of cir-
cumstances that she at last was rendered happy,
not by the exercise of her own discretion or the
effect of her own resolution. The latter events
that are related in these pages are most melancholy
as regards some of the characters. The giddy and
vain career of Ada Delacourt is a very apt delinea-
tion of the sad descent which so many make, who,
by listening to the tempter, fall never more
to rise. One feels pity for the sorrow of
the hapless husband who trusts so implicitly the
• guilty one who deceives him. He had hardly a
defined " idea" in his head, but he felt in his mind
the worship for honour, and in this he was far
above the unprincipled set who glittered in his
house, looking down upon its master as a fool, be-
cause he had not their brilliant parts and their
reckless indifference to all sober thoughts that
might set a check on their lawless lives. "The only
thing for which the little man valued himself was
his temporary guardianship of a name transmitted
to him by a long line of ancestors. In his person
was represented the head of an honourable house,
and in the imagination of the gentle civilian, his
armed ancestors were ever calling upon him to give
an account of his stewardship, and of the family
honours committed bright and unsullied to his
hands." With this prominent notion in his mind,
this ruling spirit animating his otherwise dull
being, it was a crushing blow to find that family
honour lost, the brightness of its virtue passed
away, and the glory of its spotless purity trodden
under foot by the wife whom he so loved and
trusted. The reader feels it a relief when Maud is
freed from the shackles that bound her to Mr.
Gwynne. This erratic man is described well in
some respects, but the account of his speeches in
the House of Commons is overstrained:; all such
things should be left to the intelligence of the
reader to divine, and they always fall flat or tame
when the grand idea and the poetic illustration are
put into actual words that are not good enough,
and yet too grand for the occasion. " Milly," the
old nurse, is a truthful, honest representation of a
race fast dying out of attached servants, who follow
through good report and evil report, in sorrow,
sickness, poverty, and trouble the one family they
have engaged to serve. There is something of
feudal fidelity, mingled with friendship, in this
resolute clinging to old associations. Consistency
and fidelity can ennoble the lowest station, and
impart a dignity to the humblest being who reflects
credit on human nature. Lady Beauxyeux is a
correct impersonation of a fashionable woman who
was so absorbed in her foolish ideas of grandeur
and gentility that she ignores all better and
worthier sentiments. It is lamentable to think
that this sketeh is the prototype of very many
people who are wasting time, ruining the fortunes
of many, and indulging the worst passions in
order to gratify vanity and feed self-love. They
indeed carry out the idea of the poet in those em-
phatic words—

" And to the mercies of a moment leave
The weighty cares of an eternal scene."

The retrospect of such lives, when measured by the
unerring test of a death-bed's reflection, must be,
indeed, dreadful, and the veriest trifler would pause
and tremble if a magic mirror held the closing
scene before the gaze, when the world's pomps are
over, the revels of fashion passed away, and all
things become changed. It was well for Maud
D'Abernon that she escaped when she did from
such an atmosphere as that of Lady Beauxyeux's
mansion. This story possesses the charm of relating
many scenes in a lively manner of giving a spark-
ling picture of some events in fashionable circles,
and of combining them with the interest of
roman tic passages, and the excitement of some
startling transactions. It has the drawback of
some exaggeration, in many places, as has before
been stated, a fault which it would be well for
the author to take heed and remedy, as it spoils
the effect of some otherwise good descriptions.
On the whole " Sir Richard Hamilton " will,
doubtless, find admirers for its varied pages of
the good and ill that befell its creations of fancy,
and the light and easy style in which the nar-
rative is told will do much to make its perusal
pleasant, and its'presence attractive. It is always
a mistake to render a work of this class heavy
or dry by the insertion of any elaborate accounts
and descriptions, or the recapitulation of long
sentences and prolonged discourses. This novel
is quite adapted for the lovers of fiction, "eon
(more," who take up a book to be amused, ex-
cited, interested, and employed after a fashion
but not to be too deeply engaged, and not to be
overwhelmed with abstract ideas and recondite
reflections. In such this novel is quite the thing,
and they can sit down to follow Sir Richard
Hamilton through his trials, and Maud her mis-
takes with a pleasurable excitement and a genial
interest. They will not find themselves out of
their depths with too much wisdom in the rela-
tion, but their attention will be kept. up, and
their time agreeably wiled away by its scenes
its
vivacious anecdotes, its• pourtrayed sketches and
vivacious style.

THIS DAY'S MARKETS.

CORN EXCHANGE.

The show of samples of English wheat here to-day was
small, and the trade ruled firm at fully Monday's improve-
ment in the quotations.
With foreign wheat we were only moderately supplied. For
all descriptions there was a steady demand, and prices were
well supported.

Floating cargoes of grain changed hands to a fair extent,
at full currencies.

Malting barley was a slow sale on former terms ; but
grinding and distilling sorts ruled firm in value. The
market was by no means extensively supplied.

. _ ..
Malt moved off somewhat slowly, yet prices were main-
tained.

Good and fine oath were in fair request at full quotations.
Inferior parcels were a slow inquiry at late rates.
peas, tho de-
aßueda nwsawswere fi rt
om
Beaty eery
active;f u l prices. For
nevertheless, all kinds rea-
lised extreme rates.
Most kinds of flour sold steadily at full quotations.
ARRIVALS THIS WEER.
Wheat. Barley. Malt. Oats. Flour.
3,40092 I 3 i 770 sackP.
1
_5O
17,720 t
F0reign........ rBeh Widi5h........
g n 11,280 6po I
I'2lo
11,710 brie.