Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-03-05

with the exception of the little girl, who turns
up, smiling pleasantly, in remote corner of
the Isle of Wight. Thus ends the first act
In the next we find the little girl Hospitality
received by virtuous English naval captain
of the purest Protestant principles, who tells
his wife to shorten sail when he means she is
to leave off talking, ard generally demeans
himself according to the accepted precedents
Of the rough British tar of comedy and fiction.
The Captain and his wife not only receive
the waif and stray kindly, but provide
French tutor for her education; and who
should this tutor turn out to be but her first
cousin, the still more diabolical son of the
diabolical uncle? This young gentleman
has compressed lips and habit of irowning
to himself in dark corners, and otherwise
acting like a Jesuit in disguise. lie Is of
course suspected by faithful domestic, but
hardened by the angelical simplicity Of the
captains wife, until one fine day he fires
rocket out of window, and behold, armed
men and magistrates rush into the house and
carry off the Protestant inmates TO a loath-
some dungeon on a charge Of reasonable
practices against King James IL. The young
lady escapes from this danger as she did from
the other. though Mrs. Hall does not take
the trouble to account for her mysterious eva
sion and thus ends act the second, which
has a singular likeness to the first. The cur
tain rises for the third time, and we find
Mdlle. de Chavernay restored TO her affection
ate guardian in the North of Ireland. She
has been released. as it seems, in consequence
Of the revolution of l6SS and has come to
Ireland for no particular reason, except that
Mrs. Hall has read Macaulay and has herself
visited the scene Of the battle Of the Boyne,
to assist in Schomberg's campaign. Every
body who has been left alive now turns up
upon more or less satisfactory pretences
The wicked uncle and his son are acting re
spectively as an officer in the French army
and as spy in the English camp. \ virtu-
Gus young parson, who was provided in the
second act. retires to Ireland to be ready for
the heroine. She has rashly promised to
marry no one but her wicked cousin, in order
to save the life of her father, who had been
in his power. However, the cousin is killed
at the battle of Boyne, and, all difficulties
being satisfactorily settled by his death, the
old captain dies in the ecstacy Of victory, the
lady marries the parson, and the virtuous
characters live very happily ever after.
Thus, to put directly the accusations which
the novel obliquely hints, Mrs. : c. Hall is
Of opinion that the Huguenots were subjected
to the grossast tyranny in order to procure
their conversion, that priests forced mothers
from the deathbeds Of their children, that
brothers arrested brothers and sent them into
hopeless imprisonment, and that little girls
had to be brought up as little boys to save
them from compulsory entrance into a nun
merry; meanwhile England was swarming
with Jesuits in disguise, who went about be
uaving honest families and conyicting them
of treason against the government. The
amazing Christian virtues Of the persecuted
race led them TO 90 about blessing those who
cursed them, and quoting Scripture with sur
prising Auency and exactness.