The Sun. — 1851-08-21 (London, England)

THE TUTOR'S WARD. By the Author af" Wayfaring Sketches," kc. This is a very interesting tale, though it follows the present custom of melancholy adventures befalling its heroes and heroines. As in Mrs. Norton's pathetic history of " Stuart of Dunleath," in Lady Ponsonby 's touching " Clare Abbey," in Miss Jewry's clever tale of " The Cup and the Lip," in Mrs. Daniel's interesting novel of "Fernley Manor," and many others lately published, the author has decreed that the characters he pourtrays shall indeed tread a thorny way. It is very powerfully written, and the incidents striking. Its moral may be seen from the following : " His worshipped idol! What words are these to be used from human clay to human clay! Who shall say what judgment they will not call down? Let men look to it who would scorn the making of graven images and the exalting of carved idols, to worship them. Let them look to it, whether the love of any earthly King hath not set itself supreme in their affections, so that their spirit bows before it, forgetting all other adoration." This idea is well carried out in action as well as precept. The characters are well drawn: the passionate and poetical Arthur, whose unchecked idolatry hurries him to such fearful lengths ; the subtle and malicious Juliet; the gentle and charming Millicent, whose unparalleled sell-devotion and generosity al. most make us ready to pardon and excuse her human worship; the selfish and thoughtless Stephen Aylmer, who so ill deserved her unchanging affection. The minor personages cf the story are also well distinguished, though the view the author takes of human nature is not always the brightest. The following extract is a sample of the power of the style in which it is written : " But Arthur had his treasure. He fled down the stairs—he passed out into the dark night twain. He held in his hand the death warrant of ner whole life's happiness. And had he no remorse, self-elected murderr,r as he was; had he no thought, save for his own selfish love, his own soul's satisfaction? If by the will of Heaven, the ono solitary and adored hope had been killed within her heart, then for her needful chastening, doubtless was it done; but who appointed him to be its slayer? Oh, at the last hour, many that have walked through the world with smiling faces and stainless hands shall come out convicted as murderers of the deepest dye, each one—each one who has ever destroyed the happiness of another; and are the sea sands more innumerable? Had the dark earthly passio'n that twined round his soul so enveloped that immortal being in its deadly coils, that he could be no longer sensible of those holier influences that fail not in every time of strong temptation to come as a merciful warning in some one shape or other? Hark I even now that ♦oice from Heeven speaks, which though varied its tone, disguised its sweetness often, yet nevk-r is silent in those tremendous hours, when ant el and demon struggle for the deathless human spirit. " Arthur stood one moment only on the threshold of his home, and i❑ that moment borne towards him by the obedient wind floating to his charmed ear, there came the ringing music of the sweet church chimes, that night by night thus told the expectant world that Christmas tide drew near."  The interest never flags from the first moment, when the unhappy mother of the Tutor's Ward appears to her old lover, the dreaming John Forde, to the conclusion, when the curtain is drawn over the joys and sorrows of the varied scenes, there is not a wearisome page. The change in the bright and cheerful Millicent, who so earnestly desired to see the world, to the selfsacrificing yet mistaken heroine of her after life, is well drawn. It cannot fail to attract the attention it merits so well.