Glasgow Courier. — 1858-06-22 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

LITERA TUBE.  Tale INITIALS: a Novel. London: Richard Bentlej. 'The Initials' is a very clever story. Without say train of startling or extraordinary incidents, without much use of tragic or terrible passion or frequent and rapid shifting of scenes, with but a few dramatis persona, and in general great simplicity of construe tion, the writer carries us on with unabated interest from chapter to chapter to the last page of the volume. 'The Initials' is a story of domestic interest, and has all the advantage of that homeliness of detail and familiarity of feeling which render such tales more widely and deeply appreciable—greater favourites with perhaps a larger circle of readers— than the historical novel or the romance, though these have more opportunity for vividness of colouring and display. When kings and kaisers, courtiers and conquerors, are on the stage, our interest in their fortunes must always lack something from want of sympathy with their feelings; and this may help to account not only for the preference of biography to history, but of novel reading to both, since every one may fancy himself a Chuzzlewit or Nickleby, much more easily than a Louis or Charles. A novel is precisely the book in which style or composition is most apt to be overlooked. We are hurried forward too breathlessly, we are engaged too intently, in the narrative to watch the manner of the narrator. History often very much depends upon style, as where the antithesis, the grouping, the eloquence of Macaulay make dry records read like romance ; but similar elaborations of rhetoric would convert romance into dry records. The perfection of the novel style is doubtless that of smoothness, so characteristic of our earlier writers Defoe, Fielding, Richardson; neither diverting the interest by too much ornament, nor obstructing it by awkwardness. This is in fact simply the natural way of telling a story, and it is the way in which the author of The Initials' tells his. He writes just in the easy, elegant manner of swell-bred, intelligent, and agreeable person; and, we are charmed accordingly. He wields, if we mistake not, the pen of a ready writer,whose thoughts naturally flower into language as the bud opens to the sun, whose language rounda itself off by a natural law like the drop of water. We have, however, marked a passage which, to our feeling, seemed offensive, p. 46:—She might have been praying; but it seemed to Hamilton as if the eyes remained upturned to prevent the falling of the tears which had gathered in the underlids—an occasional, almost imperceptible, movement of the corners of the mouth, and an evident difficulty in swallowing, confirmed this idea.' Isnot this rather pre-Raphaelite in its particularity, rather anatomical in its minuteness? The author has contrived to throw an additional interest into his story, by placing the scene in Ger many, with whose social customs and character seems quite familiar. We have descriptions of Bavarian Highland scenery, of chamois hunting, Christmas trees, domestic arrangements among the middle classes, masquerades and masses ; together with minuter but not less momentous matters, such as the kiss which a gentleman may claim from the lady whom he drives in his sledge, which to an English reader, of course, have an interest altogether apart from fiction. This might be perhaps both an advantage and a diffieulty —a difficulty to prevent the description appearing inlaid rather than a natural part of the narrative ; an advantage, as the novelty of life and locality depicted awakens attention to the most commonplace accessories or incidents. We are bound to say that the writer has surmounted the obstacle, and does not require the assistance; for, amid the play of passion, the exhibition of character, the variety of emotion and event, his pages derive their power and piquancy from what is independent of custom and climate— the touch of nature that makes the whole world kin. A pretty careful and considerable observation, not only of the usages of Bavaria, but of those deeper and universal feelings of which they are but the circumstance.begotten modifications, must have gone to the production of the vivid and various, bnt harmonious portraiture of social conditions and individual tempersments hung up in the gallery of 'The Initials.' The tone of the book, we are glad to say, is, upon tho whole, healthy. Young men may derive a lesson from the thoughtless and handsome Hamilton, and young women may find something to admire and imitate in the by no means perfect, but yet very noble.natured Hildeyarde. Here again, however, we must take exception to a short description of Raymund's system of libertinism, which had been much better, if possible, omitted from • book intended for indiscriminate circulation. We have purposely abstained from giving anythiug like an outline of the plot. The perfection of !he novelist's art is said to be in keeping the reader Ignorant of the denotament until the last moment. It would be very unfair to strip our author of this glory by premature disclosures, and we are sure any judinous reader would thank us as little. Therefore, we shall say sot sword about the old dark cloisters, nor shall we gossip about the marriages, nor breathe a whisper about the suicide; but to whomsoever will open the pretty variegated boards, we confidently promise very considerable entertainment.  G;;:l- be