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12*8 THE LEADER. [No. 504. Nov. 19, I85Q
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novel NEW NOVELS.
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MISREPRESENTATION. A novel. By Anna H. D...
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UNDERCURRENTS i ft JSTovol of Our Pay. J...
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NOW OR. N'EVEK. A novel, by Miss I}«'thn...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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" | I 11 ' 1 1 1 Timox, Iin<L Other I'Oe...
dramatic action , in a spirited and forcible manner . Scene after scene rises in interest , and our sympathies are strongly excited for the heroes engaged in their country ' s . conflicts . Bruce and Wallace stand before us in stalwart proportions , like Titans of the past ; and the blank verse they speak is like the utterance of demi-gods . Let not the reader , however , suppose that -we mean to imply that , like Nat Lee ' s angry talk bi They do
gods * bur dramatist ' s heroes" g . " nothin g of the sort , and seldom have we read blank verse with a more natural flow and an easier diction . In the structure of the drama "Wallace , the romantic model is adopted , not the classic ; and the unities are altogether disregarded . It is the drama of a life—of an historical life , too , and has about it all the pomp and circumstance of truth , as well as of glorious war . It well deserves a patient and studious perusal . The last act especially is very fine . V : .
_ - . _ ,,, The story of " James the First of Scotland is less stirring than that ; of Wallace ; and the author was evidently in a more meditative mood when he composed his tragedy . It opens leisurely and conversationally , dealing with the rhymes of Thomas of Erceldoune , and his ' prophecies respecting the house of Athole . The king , too , enters into debate with Sir Robert Graeme , upon the questions of taxation and the art of government , justifying his attempt to introduce into Scotland the milder humanities of
manners , customs , and more polished states . As we proceed , we find that the author depends more on his dialogue than on situation '; and we are bound to confess that poetic beauties of no common order abound . He riots in description , and revels in weird sentiment , or moral declamation . This , as it so strongly contrasts with his preceding work , shows great versatility of talent , or , perhaps , comprehensiveness of mind . These works are anonymous , but the author cannot lonsr remain unknown .
12*8 The Leader. [No. 504. Nov. 19, I85q
12 * 8 THE LEADER . [ No . 504 . Nov . 19 , I 85 Q
Novel New Novels.
novel NEW NOVELS .
Misrepresentation. A Novel. By Anna H. D...
MISREPRESENTATION . A . By Anna H . Drury . author of " Friends and Fortune . " 2 vols . —John TV . Parker . x ' Though our list of new novels is hardly so long as usual , those we have are of a much better kind than any that have come under our notice for a long time past . " Misrepresentation " furnishes Miss Drury with a fertile theme on the evils that arise from misrepresenting people ' s actions . It is astonishing what misery one personmay bring about by misrepresentation . The story turns on Lady Adelaide Delauney having married a person whom her mother thinks
beneath her position in the world . The husband dies soon , however , and Lady Adelaide goes home to her mother , who refuses to i * eceive her back ; so she is compelled to go find a home at her husband ' s father ' s . Here she finds life anything but pleasant ; her haughty demeanour is misrepresented as pride , and Miss Penelope Lyndon , who has rather an acid tongue , does not forget to let her know that she is dependent on them . While in her quiet retreat at the Manor House , Maurice Randolph pays a visit to the adjoining village to see a Pr . Home , the pastor of the parish . Dr , Homo was Mnurice Gray ' s schoolmaster before he succeeded to an ostate and changed hia name from Gray to Randolph . It would appear that Maurice knew the Delauneys when he was poor , andbofbre Adelaide married young Mr . Lyndon ;
But in consequence , it would seem , of the interference and misrepresentation of Miss Gon-¦ way—a great personage with Lady Delaunoy -i-he becomes estranged from the family . They meet — Maurice and Adelaide — at the Manor House , and become fast friends ; and many are the hardships that befall Adelaide before her mother 'becomes reconciled to her . J 3 ut Maurice stands her friend , and , in tho end , ^ y hon the denunciation does come , Misa Conway ' s misery is made complete . Wo hope our readers will get the work , and read for themselves tho remainder of tho story—which we have given very imperfectly . The characters are , admirably drawnthe story , towards the end , is very interesting ; and the whole subject of " Misrepresentation " is treated , with great skill , by tho talented writer .
Undercurrents I Ft Jstovol Of Our Pay. J...
UNDERCURRENTS i ft JSTovol of Our Pay . JJy Vano Iwrtw 8 t , John . 3 vols . —William Tinaloy . UwoBiwuRiusN'rs " is a novel of the rwl school . "
The life depicted in its pages is such as is led by a majority of the young men who have been born with a silver spoon in their mouths , and , for want of healthy employment , lead a life of plotting and scheming for their own ends ; The fashionable , novel teems with the doings of mothers when they are about to " bring out" their daughters for the Season , and though these -writters are people who move in good society "themselves , and their works generally" written with the intention of favouring such a life , the thoughtful reader may detect in them the best satire that could be written on such a life . Yet the people that are delineated in these novels as talkinff such radical
nonsense as should open their eyes to the hollowness of their lives , are the very people who read them . It has always struck us as very extraordinary that they should support a class of fiction wherein they have been shown very clearly that their lives and actions—according to their own showing ^ are niade up of scheming for marriages for their children , because of the connexion it will bring their families—small talk on literature and politics , and scandalising then- neighbours , with an utter disregard for everything that is pure and sjood in human nature . There is not the
thfc water , at the same time overbalancing himself and falling into the sea with his victim . The hero and heroine are married and tho other characters are properly disposed of . Mr . St . John gives us many pictures of London life and sketches of character which we must all recognise as . drawn -from lift The character of Hermance le Grande is perhaps the most effectively drawn iu the bookthe kind of dreamy melancholy cast over the ' description of her life is well managed .
In the outline we have given of the book , we have only touched on the main points in the story we have not mentioned the Irish Captain the abduction scene—the murder—and various other episodes which give colouring to the whole ' but we have said enough to show , that tho work is of merit , worthy of the attention of all , but more especially of those to whom ii is addressed . Mr . St . John ' s aim and purpose arc clear from the commencement . The action of the story is quick ; the dialogue very far above , the generality of novels , and the whole subject treated in a sensible manner by the talented young author . "
another class of people whose actions arc purest because they are born with riches , and any work , short of one of the " three professions , " is considered degrading . Therefore they scheme and plot for pleasure , which is 110 worse morally than mammas who practise all manner of stratagems to wet their daughters " off ! their hands . " Mr . St . John ' s work depicts London life , in which these "boys of fashion" play a considerable part . It would seem that he has given much attention to the subject , and though . his work has many shortcomings , it may be described as a clever photograph of real life .
The story may be said to have two heroes and one heroine . Howard Seymour is , in the commencement of the tale , the husband elect of Lucy " Vernon , but , in consequence of a slight quarrel , he fancies himself neglected and misunderstood , forms a hasty and unreal attachment to Miss Montague * a wealthy heiress , who resides , under the guardianship of her uncle , in the neighbourhood . He does not endeavour in the slighest degree to conceal his altered feelings , and allows both Lucy and her father to draw their own
conclusions as to his conduct without any explanation . Miss Montague , however , surprises thorn in a half-reconciliation ; and the result of two months' probation is that she rejects him , and the antiquary refuses to allow his daughter to speak or communicate with him any longer . Finding it impossible to win over the determined old man , Howard departs to Paris . When he returns to England , he finds the antiquary is dead , and Lucy , ¦ w ho is thus left penniless , come to London to gain hor livelihood , which , by the way , she obtains by writing .
Meanwhile the " villain of the piece , Henry Temple , has been at work . Ho has intercepted letters between the lovers which , if received , would have explained everything 5 and has endeavoured , but without success , to supplant Howard in the affections of Lucy , While Seymour is living ot St . John's Wood with n refugee family —Perseus le Grande , his daughter and her aunt—Temple , whoso father is in fraudulent possession . property belonging to Seymour , —although the latter is unaware of it , —endeavours by fair meana and foul to got possession of Miss Vernon . Henry silently acquiesces in the . murder of his father in order to become the owner of Temple Park ; but has scarcely accomplished this act of villany , when he is forcod into a lawsuit with the heir who has the
ri ^ htiul discovered truth . Tho suit resulting unfavourably to him , an accomplice in the murder , gives evidence against him , and just as he is about leaving England he is arrested and brought up to his native town for trial . Tho trial—which is very well described—ends by Temple being found guilty ; bub tho homicide eventually escapes in conjunction with a most amusing and humourous thief -whose sobriquet is ¦ " Tom tho Philosopher . " An attempt , by Temple ' s directions , is made on the life of Howard Seymour , on the night before his marriage with Lucy , whom he has now discovered ; but Tom , who is tho employs , declines at tho last moment to risk his nook tor cash . 1-Xe . nry Temple meets his tempter on the Pier at Brighton ; tho senses of the former have given way and ho hurls his antagonist into
Now Or. N'Evek. A Novel, By Miss I}«'Thn...
NOW OR . N'EVEK . A novel , by Miss I }« 'thnm-Kd \ vavds , author of " Tin- White House by tin- Sim . "—Ktlinburyh : Edriiinstbn nutl Doug-las . " Now or Nevik" is a good nove . l , and deserves to become popular , though ' we arc ufraid that the three different threads of the story that encumber . the first part of the volume will bore i 1 k > reader a little . But as a whole , it is a clever fiction , and a little bettor arrangement of tlio st >> rv ¦ would have
inadc . it the best , novel , of the piysont season . The scene of the story is first laid in IVland-, where the reader is introduced to the Count Max Korvinski , a rich wayward creature of impulse , air . l a despiser of womankind ; and Tom Winter , an honest , stouthearted Englishman , his secretary , who are talking of visiting England . The ' Count makes' up his mind , to-day , he will go to-morro . iv ,. bnt when the morrow comes it is put off again , until Tom , who lias a pretty cousin in England called Bertha Greene , whom lie hopes to win , gives the Count
notice that he is going , whether he is or not . ^ o they start ; and the next scene is laid at Paris . Here we find the Count and Tom at the house of a Mrs . Hardingc , where they meet Agatha ' Sherlock , " regularly pretty , " but with charms enough to draw far more homage than beauty , however perfect . The scene then changes to Wixloy Hall , Norfolk , the home of Tom ' s relations ; here they live in comfort for some time , while the writer changes the scene to London , to the bouse of a Mr . Honeychurch , an eccentric old antiquarian , with whom Hawthorn
resides the third heroine , Annette eby far the best female character in the work . Hy these frequent chango * of ' scone , anil the trying to crowd more portraits into hor nuivas thnn i <_ w > ll hold , Miss Edwards basnuinvl llnr interest of the earlier part ofherstory . Hut towunl . i thu end , when each character falls into bis or her pi-uni-i-situation , the narrative is deeply intonating , ami will more tlian repay the reader for tin- sIowihvm ul the action at the beginning . Yet wo ivjrivt , Ibr tlio writers sake , these branches from the innin ^ tory , i-neii 0 which contains plonty of ooo < l muti-rials lor a novel as long as the one before us ; but the three heroines , marked us is tho clillen .-n . v in H' «;» > AjU Jj ; meters , rather puzzle the rentier , nixl will nmKc him feel inclined to exc-mim wiUi Cai 11 "" flllic " .
Heath : — . , A .. " Whilv you three tuiw ihw trwtlM'i j To noltlior 11 word will ' * " /• Iiut lot us return to the ) prineipnl slory . ' ]' ' Co 1 Jn and Tom hnvq not boon long 11 D Wixl « -y I lull wutn tho Count suddenly alters hid opinion , ol woinon . . and resolves to aHkKertliu to boa > ino Inn wiio . «« the meantime uho has given u liuJo om ; oimigen » oiu to Tom , who has refrained from asking < » ' lor 1 " "" 11 h H
because of waiting an opportunity . so « PP «» ' however , that they both upouk to her about tho 8 ftm « time , butwithverydilIL-rontfooliiiyrt-- 'J oin , bocauso ho loves his cousin , and has donoso I ' romuHiilu . * « Count , out of a pique with Tom , vho him oxceliou him in some sport they huvo I » mUi > uotiior . % oourse , tho Count is . awaro of Tom ft l « vo *?; Bertha—indeed , ho walks into tin ; ntoux just iu time to hoar Tom tolling hor of her lovya . utiu »» ruBhos from tho soeno , but soon aftor U »»> < - ' finds an opportunity to tloolurc hw ( f ) V 0 > !* riohos and present * , and Lho prosi t 0 l ^ ° £ a real Countess , gain the dxy , mid JJortlw ^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 19, 1859, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19111859/page/18/
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