Star.
London, England, 1818-08-24 00:00:00

Immediate possession may be had.

Also a FARM of about ON R HUNDRED AND TEN
ACRE:Sof MEADOW, ARA BLE, and PASTURE LAND,
and Orchards just coiling into full-bearing in front of the 31am-
sion, with suitable Farm House and Buildings.
To be viewed by applying to Mr. David Fanner, or Mrs.
Tonna, at Tkyr.ckrry ; and may be treated for un application to
Tbonia. Ad dam. Williaryk, Ebq. MCCUR9I4II; or Mg.
AolAns, Warvnak-etreet, (roldiu-slattc.

This specks of writing, of which the Tales before
us are an eminent example, has grown rapidly into
favour of late years, and indeed deservedly, for it ha;
certain decided advantages over the regular, heavy-
armed, and slow-moving Novel. It also demands
greater dramatic skill in the author, restrains him
from tedious preambles, and urges him, as MILTON
says, " into the midst of things ;" it for bids all ca-
pricious digressions, and requires a faithful observ-
ance of the unity'of action, without which no vivid
andpermanent impression can be made, either by a
story or a play.
Mrs. OPIE, by her former productions, eminently
contributed to give eclat to this agreeable variety of
the novel genus, and has been equally succa,sful in
her p:esent efforts, svhich display the full and unim-
paired maturity of her talents. We must object, by
the way, to the unobtrusive dididence of her title,
which seems no otherwise significant than as referring
to her earlier works, and to have been adopted per-
force, after a good deal of puzzling hesitation, bes
cause all others, more suitable, had been appropriated.
To explain the design and tendency of these Tales,
it will be sufficient briefly to notice a few of them.
One of the most amusing is that in the second vo-
lume, entitled " Mite L;es," which, as its title im-
ports, is a detail of, the embarrassments and incalcu-
lable mischiefs occasioned by a habit of equivocation,
and a heedless disregard for truth. It exposes, in a
series of natural and well-imagined scenes, the fal-
lacy of that too general notion which admits the pos-
sibility of art innocent deception or a harmless false-
hood ; it demonstrates the equal criminality aim
ambiguity and a lie, and places in its most amiable
•and attractive light, the virtue of sincerity.
A very striking and memorable lesson is enforced in
the Tale called "The Confessions of an odd tempered
Man," which disclose the internal working:of a mind
actuated by generous impulses, but thwarted by sel-
fish suspicions, and destroying through waywardness
and caprice its own happiness, and that of the object
of its affections. The catastrophe of this piece is
rather gloomy, but the reader being gradually pre-
pared, encounteis it with a kind of vmdietive satis-
faction at the fate of the principal penohage. •
The Tale of Trials" purports to be a piece of fa-
mily biography of the seventeenth century, and is
replete with adventure and vicissitude; the scenes
which relate to the great pestilence which devastated
London in 1665 are powerfully drawn, and excite
deep emotion. There is a slight tincture of romance
in this story which well accords with the eventful
period to which it relates.
Among the smaller pieces, those entitled " Henry
Woodville" and the Ruffian Boy," are of a different
character from the rest, and contain a succession of
perils and escapes, perfectly t) la melo-drame. Thpugh
rather too highly seasoned in this respect, they serve
to diversify the bill of fare, and will no doubt be re-
lished by those readers whose taste requires something
more stimulant than what the stores of domestic life
can supply.
It would be difficult to do justice to these tales by
a detached extract without much explanatory cir-
cumlocution ; but as a specimen of Mrs. One's style,
'ye select from the g, Tale of Trials" the following
well imagined denscription of the awful effects of the
Plague, as supposed to be related by an eye-witness.
The noble, the rich, the young, the old, were seen throng-
ing in all directions, analous to c.capc from the tintaing brta:h
of contagion. • Nothing was to be seen bat wawa' Ond carts
with goods, women, servants and children, and coaches filled
with people of the better sort, and horsemen attending them,
and all hurrying away. Then empty waggons and carts appear-
ed, and spare horses with servants,
..who it was apparent wero
returning, or sent from the country to fetch more people;

sides innumerable men on horseback. Some alone, othnu with
servants, and all evidently fitted out for travelling*: But oh !
to set the: mournful expression of some of these poor fuginses !
Some seemed, by their pale cheek, their purple lip, and their
heavy eye, to carry with them, unconsciously, the disorder front
which they fled ; others were continually looking back as they
drove rapidly along, as if they had left what they mode loved
'behind, and regretted th:ir selfish fight. Some were wringing
1 their hands end wailing in loud lament, as if they had lon ia
that made life valuable, and were carried away by toner e!, rave
an existence of which they were weary ;—and all Mari appear-
' ances seemed to prove so unequivocally the terrible and trium-
phant dominion of this awful scourge, that when the poor prize&
and I parted, he felt a firm conviction tint he should see me ro
me:tint in anther world; and his parting b. ~diction wrs an
solemn, so tad, and so imsressive, that it still 5..-eins to ward in my
ears.—l wok up my abode at an inn where fugitives usually atop.
ped;lay which means I could obtain Jamul:Won horn the city,
aa learn where the contagion raged the most. In the mean
*hilt, I wrote down the best method of treatims it, which I hart
been taught by two triedicalmen at York, who had lived in coat-
i tries visited by the plague, with the best means to prevent hafec-
tion: and learniag that Southwa.k was as yet an a !infected tai!
lof the town, I removed thither, :;:d hired a Its ging at a small
house on the banks of the Talmes. here I learnt a deplorable
account indeed, from groups of Fellow' in the streAs, not oidy of
i the ravages width the plague was making, but also of the cruel-
ties practised for the love of gain and pillage, by the nurses, the
watzlnunn, and others, on the helpless sad dying victims; and
wion I reflected with what unprincipled and r.ipacious beings
my father was connected, I ditradv4 lent, if the Florae shoti:t. : :-
tack, and even spare hit.-., the wrrket deuth might beporforn.
by less merciful influence. '
i • Danish Dc foe's tiistoty of the Plague.