The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-19 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The Young Bride. A Novel. By Mrs. Briscoe.
3 vols. Hurst and Brackett.
By the exercise of ingenuity, the reader is pre-
sented with an almost original plot, which, as the
story proceeds, is developed intpa most interesting
record of struggles bravely encountered and suffer-
ings nobly borne by a meek and gentle spirit, who
seems at first sight only fitted for an existence
equable and tranquil. Mary Bulitrode had cause
exclaim—

" Then, happy, low Fe down—
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown."
for the cares of her high position early weighed her
down, and the burden they ultimately im-
posed upon her quenched the brightness of her
hopes, and dimmed the vista of her career at its
outset. At a time when others of her ago are
awakening from the dreamy ienorance of childhood
only to find new charms in the increased know
ledge of life's pleasures, and now ecstasy in their '
own perfected appreciation of them, when above
them the sunshine and around them the flowers
seem to whisper that theirs, too, is the season of
spinet, and to bid them "In their gay youth, the
youth 6f May, rejoice," Mary. was overwhelmed
with a secret sorrow. Her grandfather was a stern. •
and ruthless. old man, who knew neither compunc-
tion nor consideration when his wishes were para-
mount. He sacrificed to the Me loch of his ambi-
t' on his fair grandchild with as blind a zeal and as
fanatic a rage as ever disgraced the banks of the
Ganges, or darkened the light of a tropical noon-
day. He contrived by some balse arts to effect a
marriage between the cousins, the heirs to his
vast estates, Mary and Harold, the pre-
text for his unseemly. haste being, that as
as his nephew was proceeding to India for a hing
stay, the weight of. years might not permit him
to survive till his return, then to consummate the
ardently desired union. Sir Aldrich Bulstrode did
not gain by his victory, he was taught his faults by
the sharpest of lifes lessons, the failure of the ful-
filment of his hopes. His whole subsequent term
of existence, prolonged far beiond all expectation,
was' replete with retribution. It is remarked in
" Cuningsby," that "the altars of Nemesis are be-
neath every outraged roof," and Bulstrode Hall
was truly haunted by the ghosts of an avenging
spirit. From the day of the fatal contract dreary
desolation, or dreadful dismay was visible. The
first penalty paid by the old man was his having to
re'inquish his beloved Mary's presence, for her
nerves were so shattered that she had to travel and
he was too infirm to accompany her. With a great
deal of power has the authoress traced the gradual
dawning of the bit: er iruth on Mary's unfolding
intelligence and maturing mind. Sorrow quickened
her faculties, and while deepening her sense of the
outrage, roused her senses to the danger and strung
her nerves to the conflict. Sir Aldrich had mis-
taken his position. In the frame of the maiden
who seemed so plastic in his hands, there
was vital a nature. to which fear was un-
known and which wrong made resistless,
there was glowing a spirit worthy of the daughter
of a race of het leis, which had come down to her
througha long line.of chivalricancestors, andburned
with all the fire of their noble name. Mary Bul-
strode was the true descendant of warrior chiefs and
belted knights, and had she been left in her lonely
bower she would have adorned her home with all
the domestic graces and feminine refinements of
any fair dame of ancient memory ; but alone and
unprotected, hers was not the sphere for passive
virtues to shine in, but for the exercise of the
watchword arise. t is 'singularly int eres' ing
to trace the further fortunes of th.s gifted heroine,
her night wanderings, her day ambushes, her signal
escapes, and her hairbreadth risks. Success even-
tually crowned her efforts, but she lived in constant
dread. Thy brightest years of her life, in the love-
liness of its spring and the youth of its beauty, she
.was fated-to wander in exile, to rest in rude and
uncultivated families, in order to escape the terror
that awaited her at horse. Her adventures were
different in the Irish and Scotch retreats she found,
but they were alike unsuited to her. It is pleasing
to notice how she gradually made her way with
every one beeher sweet manners and winning grace.
It is not surprising that such unwonted attractions
as the heiress of Bulstrode ptersessed should have
excited the astonishment of all with whom she came
in contact, and that thus gradually the news should
transpire to her wary foes, who followed on her
track as the- wild Indian keeps the trail of his
enemy through mighty fetes's. In nothing did the
upright character of the maiden more declare itself
than in Ler conduct in regard to Colonel Hardy,
who had become attached to her, as Miss Dalton, a
friendless governess, as he sup eosed. It was new
for Mary to find any one devoted to her entrap
without reference to her rank and degree, but she
knew her duty and her doom. The, charms of
friendship, the magic of love, were not for her, who
might never rest in a home on earth, but keep
wandering as the desert tribe., whose only land of
promise was far away beyond the rolling Jordan of
iirs stormy tiles. As might be imagined, Hardy
did not see the possibility of meeting his hard fate-
with c ilmness, but her example finally influenced
him, and he was her protector from a distance, as
far as was practicable to a being so assailed. So
deep is the sympathy awaken A for her sufferings,
and so strong the indignation that is excited against
their authors, that it is a feeling of relief that en-
sues when Hat old is taken away. The jarring sen-
sation experienced by death appearing, as the agent
to work out a deired end, is not apparent here,-for
it was not by her Own fiult or even folly that Mary
Bulstrode been unfortunate,' and the un-
happy man was a t oment to himself, as well as an
infliction to others. Too late he found out that
there were other qualities in his bride than the ad-
vantages of position he had hoped for, but she had
been so much roused by his conduct as a
man, to her, as a child, that she could not
look on him in the light of anything but an enemy.
The trills of the fitful youth of "Mrs. Bulstrode,"
as she was mockingly styled, are related with a
vigorous, yet a mournful eloquence.*lf we triumph.
at the project never being brought to a termina-
tion, we lament that its beginning was the " dire-
ful spring of unnumbered woes." Yet, to show the
deepest feelings, suffering must be witnessed, and.
to make manifest the hidden springs of human life
sin must appear and deeds of darkness see, the.
light of day. With its peculiar design and power-
ful execution; its vivid sketches and striking cha-
racters, its scenes of so startling au import, and of
so deep au interest, and, above all, with its heroine►
so glorious a creatiorrof the noble and pure, this.
novel has a chance' of obtaining some renown. It
presents, in a remarkable manner, to the gaze, a,,
page of life's history not often unfolded, the misery
of the only victims allowed at the altars of a.
civilised age, maidens given in marriage to suit
conventional forms, or family purposes. It is time
that such nameless martyrs should be vindicated;
and a debt is due to the authoress who has so ably
described the sacrifice. The young bride appears
with a smile that struggles with' a tear, crowned
with the snowy blossoms of the orange flower, but
for a marriage thus recorded, the only suitable
wreath, should be entwined of the cypress and the
ivy.
n-