The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-14 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Wild Dayrell ; or, Biography of a Gentleman
Exile. By John Kemp, author of " Shooting
and Fishing in Lower Britany," Longman
and Cc

The adventures of Wild Dayrell while in exile,
both with the fair sex and the game of Southern
Europe, are sufficiently interesting to amuse the
the general reader; but the tale wants plot—that
is to say, that it is wanting in that essential which
rivets the attention of the reader, and carries him
on to the end in a certain state of suspense, namely,
one continued object. The hero is represented as a
man of ability, but of a wild and reckless disposi-
tion ; and after passing through the ordeal of a
public school, and the finishing touch of a university
education, he finds himself at the age of twenty-one
the master of a considerable income. He speculates
recklessly on the Turf, fortune f'or a time smiling
upon him, and he gains the soubriquet of Lucky
Dayrell; but the turn of luck comes at last; one
fatal Doncaster breaks him, and although he is able,
through the agency of his lawyer, Mr. Tales, to
arrange matters satisfactorily, he is obliged to go
abroad for a time. It is at this point that the story
begins. He starts for Dieppe, falls in love with a
certain young lady, and then ensues the usual for-
mula of success and contretemps, rivals out-mance-
vre d. and ultimate victory in hand, when the report
gets abroad that Dayrell has lost a considerable
sum of money at the gaming table. He is called
to account by the brother of his inamorata, and
required to promise not to play any more, which lie
refuses to do, but while the matter is yet in abey-
ance the young lady dies. An affecting scene takes
place, and the curtain falls. Dayrell is in despair,
but Time, the great curer of affections of the heart,
sets our hero to rights, and after two years' reserve
the lover is ardently wooing again, and this time,
after much trouble and certain serv;ce performed by
Dayrell, joined to a bequest from an aunt of some
£20,000, the happy pair are united, or at least we are
led to infer that such is the case. The descriptions
of a steeplechase, a wolf hunt, and other sporting
incidents, are well written, and show that the author
is at home with his subject—in fact more so than in
novel writing in its strictest sense. Still, although
there is considerable room for improvement in this
particular, we have little doubt that, according to
the rule that practice makes perfect, Mr. Kemp will
succeed better in his fature undertakings. Some of
the characters introduced are cleverly drawn, that of
Limmer in particular, who is a type of many whom
circumstances oblige to go abroad—a shrewd,clever,
unscrupulous adventurer, with certain good points
to counteract his evil genius.

'Wheat and Tares: A Tale. Saunders, Otley, and

Co., Brook-street, Hanover-square.
This is a superior work, which contains much to
attract and interest the reader. There are many
characters in it that are well worthy of study, and
reveal great discrimination on the author's part.
Ella Bathurst is a complete copy of a selfish girl,
inflated with vanity and intent on self-gratification.
She is eager to be married to gain a position, but,
at the same time soon gets tired of the irksomeness
of the engagement, and sought out fresh victims for
conquest and new objects for suitation. Her career
throughout is very aptly depicted, and one is struck
with the likelihood and vraisemblance of the sketch.
Rachel is also a good portraiture, but more a fanci-
ful delineation than Ella. She committed a great
mistake in being so hasty, and thus formed for her-
self a life-long regret and never-dying reproach.
It is a fault in the nature to be so suspscious in
taking exception to actions and hasty in judg.
ment on the conduct of others. A gene-
rous and kind disposition would never do so,
and by giving way to such unworthy and
harsh feelings Rachel marred her own existence,
and also brought grief to a more worthy spirit then
her own. Reginald Leslie is not at all a deserving
character, he was too good for Ella Bathurst, but
not sufficiently sincere to win regard or inspire
respect. It must be confessed that he, too, is true
to life, and many like him, careless to the higher
notions that should rule and regulate their actions,
thinking only how to gratify self, hold the first
place in a fond mother's breast, and are made the
objects of primary importance in their home and
circle—among their family and friends. He behaved
in a very unprincipled manner to Grace, since,
whether he cared for Ella or not, he was really
engaged to her, and should have respected that
engagement, and not have outraged the feelings of
alCaround. Grace is a lively indifferent girl, who
treats all serious things as betises, and cares only
for the amusement of the day, heedless of the re-
flections of the morrow. They have a great deal to
anewer for who thus indulge the whim of the
moment, and disregard all higher cares. The evil
they do may fall on others, and distant generations
may have bitter cause to regret the cruel careless-
ness of their actions. Ella was too cold and callous
to feel any slight, but Rachel, impetuous and wil-
ful, prone to take offence, and quick to impute
motives where none existed, soon formed a fatal
solution to the enigma that perplexed her in the
disruption of the little circle that was so happy and
gay in the sunny holidays at Westborough. That
was a bright spot in existence that many then en-
joying it, might look back to in after years with a
melancholy regard and a sad remembrance. We
often meet with some such landmarks in life's
rough pilgrimage that seem as a foretaste and har-
binger of a better life. Too soon the shadows fall,
too quickly comes the blight over the flowers, but
the fair vision remains in the memory, bright
as with the radiance of a sun that has set in glory,
and sweet as with the fragrance of a flower that
in fading left a perfume behind. Wynne is the best
character met with in the tale, he is rather visionary
at first, but gradually he takes higher and deeper
view of life. Tho reader feels vexed and irritated
et the conclusion when the only one deserving of
interest dies a lonely death misinterpreted and mis-
understood by all. Yet on second thoughts this
gloomy sketch may best represent human existence.
Not here is the reward of the righteous or the
triumph of the upright, and also not so are we
allowed to retrieve our errors. Had all come right
Rachel might have recovered the shock she sus-
tained, and gone on the same, but with the voice
from the grave ever sounding in her ears she could
not forget the dreadful import it conveyed of self-
sufficiency and unfair conduct. The picture
drawn of her life at the conclusion
is an agreeable idea to dwell upon. It is
pleasing to think that this stormy nature
found true peace, this wayward heart reached a
quiet haven, and did not give vent to indignant or
bitter expressions as some disappointed beings will
often do. " She was not alone, because many a
heart that Rachel in times of sorrow had comforted
and strengthened, and encouraged, now knew in-
stinctively that she too was suffering, and offered
love freely where it had before been so freely given.
Not alone, because her noble, genuine nature, by a
sort of touchstone, attracted to itself whatever in
surrounding society transcended the heartlessness
and commonplace of life, and made her a centre of
a circle of friends in whose inmost souls she was
enshrined as a warm sympathiser, a considerate
adviser, a sure ally. Not alone because after
Time had laid his healing hand on the
dreadful wound, when the rugged edges of the
ghastly past were overgrown, and soft moss and
tender flowers covered the blackened ruins, when
agony became regret, and passionate horror sobered
into faithful remembrance, Rachel again moved
about her household ways, serene and humorous,
with her keen wit, and energy, and courage, and
became the ruling spirit of her home as of old, the
suggester of schemes, the encourager of pleasures,
and yet a strange problem." Mrs. Leslie committed
a great error in trying to palliate Reginald'l fault,no
and in being so harsh to Grace; above all,
should
have n t
hould
telling her daughter the plain facts,
h
have explained what actually occurerele
assncgluleet
the
result result to wiser hands than hers. I
of
her conduct the worst possidblei
eeerveesdults
eustaonedQ:
Reginald was ruined, Grace
and went off to Australia, as wretched a specimen
of a working wife as could be desired. Wynne
was insulted, and Rachel, first of all, was deceived,
then became unjust, and, lastly, was disappointed.
As long as people will take judgment into their own
hands and persist in making one side suffer for the
other's sins, so long will misery abound in all direc-
tions, and misconception and disputes impart
bitterest sting to mortal existence. The
affiic htitones
that are sent from above never bring half the suffer-
ing that the actions of fellow-mortals occasion. One
may improve if rightly taken, and the other is sure
to irritate and influence the excited feelings and
wounded spirit. Mrs. Leslie worked out her
own loss, for the son she so idolised left her,
probably for ever in this world, leaving be-
hind him no one cheering thought, no one bright
remembrance. The most striking sketch is that.of ,
the Dean. It is not often that one encounters
such a finished picture in a work of this class, and
it reflects the highest credit on the author. He is
well drawn in every particular, Perhaps the
most pleasing event in the book is when he finds
that his deceitful praises of Atherton have mainly
conduced and greatly contributed to gain his
hated rival the very place that he: himself desired;
This is a sure retribution, and it would be well i
more such. casualties befel the wily plotters
who sacrifice truth to principle, good feel-
ing to self-interest, and consistencY
to gain

a point and gratify a taste for satire.
The whole transactions of the set at the cathe-
dral city of Oldchurch are most aptly sketched
and adroitly narrated to us in these caustic remarks
—epigrammatic dialogues and brilliant descriptions.
This story can be classed certainly among the first-
rate order of those narratives that inform as well as
amuse, that convey a moral while they draw a life
n
and bring before us some of those higher thoughts
that should animate those who are struggling in a
racee n
ciNvnhg o
o or isette issuer
sal e
in d
a road
to
is
them immortal,
that
g may
1 0r
y. In lurethem m
and who a
many
ny e in
destructionfitoof
these animated scents, in many of
these earnest
personages we find men as they are, and events as
they occur, but the philosopher knows and the
thinker can tell that such make up
substance of that life and those
actions which are
inscribed in the records above, as
bearing
seed for
eternity. Thus this work will be found
to have
gained its object in bringing before us a striking
picture of men and manners, here sad and
there sarcastic, now solemn, and then lively.
We find rage, disappointment, spite, envy, and
malice, in turns, working the tangled web of life and
death, the great decider, the unerring judge, and
the sure refuge, in one instance, closes the volume
of doubt, hopes, and fears, and ends for one of these
actor's the stage of human misery. " Wheat and
Tares" are sown broadcast in this world of trial,
hut it is given to those who look for a
better one to work, as for that time
when failures will be over and faults no more
committed. The spirit that believes all things
through hope is powerfully impressd throughout
this book, and a high standard of principle pre-
vails in its pages. Those who like studious works
will rejoice in these superior sketches, and rank
this volume with those they put by for a second
perusal, from its intrinsic merit and superficial
brilliancy.