The Sun. — 1861-04-24 (London, England)

LITEI?ATURE.  Agnes Tremorne. By L. Blagden. 2 vols. Smith, Elder, and Co. The scene of this singular and melancholy story is laid in Rome, thirty years ago, when Italian regeneration was still the vision of political enthu blasts and dreaming patriots, and few votaries of fashion and frivolity sauntered past the marvels of creative genius. The two worlds of politics and art divide the story. The heroine, Agnes Tremorne, is an artist of rare ability, and her cousin. the betrothed of her sister, is immured in the dungeons of Spielberg, and the final catastrophe is brought about through the agency of a secret society. The plot of the story is singular in the extreme, and in some respects painful and unpleasing. Agnes has a sister, Imogene, younger than herself, and gifted with rare beauty and a highly sensitive organisation. On the day preceding that fixed for her marriage, Herbert, her intended husband, had been arrested, and his distracted friends and relatives could learn no more of his fate. The shock threw Imogene into a fearful and mysterions illness in which her reasoning powers were affected and her memory lost. Each day she fancied was the one before her wedding, and only the influences of mesmerism could soothe her nervous irritability. Meanwhile her father dies brokenhearted having previously lost his estate, and the sole responsibility falls upon Agnes, who devotes herself entirely to the charge of her invalid sister, whom she keeps in happy ignorance of the loss of friends and fortune, and supports by her untiring industry. Godfrey Wentworth, the hero of the story, is an Englishman of fortune who has been residing in Rome for some years. An early disappointment has embittered him and made him shun society. He becomes accidentally acquainted with Agnes and her sister, and offers to assist in the arduous task of mesmerising. He has been a friend of the unfortunate Herbert, and is noted for a remarkable resemblance to him. To the consternation of both Wentworth and Agnes, Imogene mistakes him for Herbert, and her delight at his supposed return restores her wonderfully. They are afraid to nude. ceive her, and Agnes suffers herself to be persuaded against her better judgment to let the delusion continue. Imogene recovers rapidly, and meanwhile an ardent affection springs up between Agnes and Wentworth. They are much perplexed by the state of affairs, and Wentworth resolves to go himself to Spielberg to obtain news of Herbert, who is reported to have escaped. He is, in truth, in Rome, but a dangerous illness, and a series of unfortunate circumstances have prevented him from tracing them. Before Wentworth undertakes his journey, however, he is murdered through the jealousy of Moroni, an Italian lover of Agnes, who has contrived to awake the suspicion of a secret society, by the likeness between Herbert and his friend. The very day after the assassination Herbert appears, in time to save Imogene from a second shock, but not soon enough, to preserve Agnes from life long sorrow. Many other persons are mixed up in the story, both Italian and English, but the chief merit of the book does not lie in the plot or characters. It is rather in the style, which is correct and elevated in tone, and the thoughts, which are often original, and always noble and truthful. The work is evidently the result of great care, and the author expresses his own sentiments through those of his characters. A keen perception of the beautiful and an intense love of art are also perceptible. The descriptions of Italy, and the conversations and reflections are the most agreeable parts of the work, since there is much in the story which jars on the reader. It shows, however, originality and invention to have constructed so singular a plot, although there is a great drawback to its merits in the fact of its extravagance and improbability. We shall hope to meet the writer again, when his literary ability and principles of artistic and social excellence .may be displayed through a more natural and satisfactory medium.