The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-12-22
ANCIENT NOV ELS.
EXPLORATIONS AMONG THE TAT
TERED ROMANCEs OF FORMER
GENERATIONS.
IN Y Evening Post

m Y. Evening Post.
If we could only bring together all the old
novels that were read by our grandmothers
and observation-disclosures the romances that
followed tho lead of Mrs. Inchbald, Mrs. Rad
cIiffe and Fanny Burney, what n delightful
collection they would makei What pity it
Ia that no one ever thought OF gathering them
up-that no one has attempted to save at least
one Of a kind from the chandler's shop ard the
paper mill that we have to hunt in vain for
est. Ruthen's Abbey" "Ianthe' and Rose
mount Castle" novels thatby their title excite
In us a desire to turn their leaves, although
we know of what stuff they are made; could
almost tell the plot and follow the hero and
heroine till she exclaims: at is, yes, it is
Selfw and he: "Yes, | am he; he for whom
you have shed your tears, he for whom you
have cause to shed SO many" But these last
words are lost on her, for the author is sure
to tell us that "she had tainted
We know all this by heart. and because we
know it, does the reader say it is tresome to
recall it? That the ease with which we an
ticpate what Is coming robs romance OF ono
great attraction 1t Is not SO. To certain
qualities and incidents in every class Of novels
we become attached. as one does to the spots
and stains on a page he loves. What would
James novels be without the solitary horse
man 2" and how could we get on with Miss
Burney's tainting beauties without the glass
Of water that she has ever Mt hand Our
greatest source OF regret should be, not
that these old novels are 50 much alike.
but that SO few Of them have come down
to us. IVES know all about "The Myste-
ries Of Udopho;' have kept company with
st. ALBERT when he "gazed earnestly and
tenderly upon a portrait that OF u lady, but
not of his motherl, put 1t to his lips and then
to his heart" but how many have read
"Julia: or. The Clandestine Marriage" or
"Grasvile Abbey" And yet these stories
were read to shreds; for books were not as
common than as they are now, and every
volume had many readers They were near
ly all the work Of female writer's Mrs Rad
cliffe, Mrs. Inchbald, Charlotte Smith, Sophia
Lee and others. Here and there there is one
that still lives to recall the French Revou-
ton like the "Banshed Som or recounts the
wrongs Of Poland las IN tho adventures OF
the Baron de Lovzinskil. while of Eastern
life there are occasional romantic passages.
And the English tales, If they have less Of
the heroic, have rich uncles who come home
from India lust at the RICH mOment-juSt in
the nick OF time to assist alike their nephewS
and neces.
or this class "The Unexpected Discovery"
is fair type. father and his daughter,
Mr. and Miss Bentley. come to their cottage
81
thrown from his horse 1t Is easy to divine
what follows. Seagrave. the stranger, Is de-
lighted with his surroundings in this rustic
cottage and "the charms and artlCss manner
of Henrietta, with the natural Sense and good
ness of her father, chained him to the spot. "
But Seagrave is not reh and his father will
not permit him to marry II poor girl, and SO,
at his wits end, he goes to his friend Wanley,
an East India merchant who comes to his aid,
and who proves In the sequel to be the lost
son of Bentley and the brother of the heroine.
1.-THE Mysteries of tdolpho' called forth,
scores of imitators, who could draw pictures
OF frowning battements, high archcd gate
ways, winding passages and secret doors, but
who failed to give the finer traits that mark
the works of Mrs. Radcliffe What is now
known of them? Charlotte Smith is not
known to most modern readers even by name,
and the mention of "Ihe Old Manor House
or "Etheina" calls up no smile Of regcogni-
ton. And yet Mrs Smith had her admirers
readers who extolled George belmont, Mrs.
Crewkherne and the lovely Madeira, to say
nothing Of The Banished Man" who came
upon the scene beneath the walls Of Roscn-
helm In the stormy days Of 80
Nine. de Genlis had many readers, both in
French and English. Her knight Of the
Swan, or the Court Of Challemagne, found a
translator. THE Rash Vow" Les IGiLr
TemerdUes, appeared in England in 1913, and
was ushered in with the announcement that
it was n novel which all young persons
might be permitted to read 1t was Ger
Jalnly very stupid. tDflSLaHPe, disappointed
In love, leads the reader into the dark rccesses
of tomb, by the melancholy light of a
lamp, to hear her vow never to form n new
tie. In time She thought better of ii, but
then 1t was too late, for Sainville, her lover
knowing her vow, had fettered himself at
Malta with a similar oath. This was toe
much for Constance; she siekened and died
of a fever.
1t has been urged that the old novels OF
which ] am speaking We're immoral That
they were often couchcd in language far from
delicate is certain, and their humor was
coarse to put it mildly; but it Is clear that
the authors really aimed to eXalt virtue and
degrade vice. No one can question the mo
tives Of Richardson, though We may object Il
some features In his novels. but his imtato.s
lacking his skill. pandcred to vice while they
aimed to curb 1t. unfortunate Sensbility,
which should never have been written, was o
this stamp. The History Of Miss Lucinda
Courtney was another novel in the style O
Richardson: and so was ELLA Powell; or
Trials of Sensibility. in a series of letters
But with all this there are many romances, o
which we have only fragments, that we woulC
be glad to recover. "Montford Castle"
tale of the eleventh century. wherein th'
Knight of the White Rose figured; the Cast,
of Ollado" and the Abbey of st. Asaph," il
which the reader is treated to the old, OLE
story, but which is never told too often;
lover of rank and a maid of unknown parent
age, a concealed marriage, an abandoned wife
a ruined and repentant husband and then
reunion; the scenes being laid in dreadful
caverrs, lighted by sulphurous flames ant