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SPECULATIVE ROMANCE.* A TRULY great nove...
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* Tea and No ; or; Glimpses of the Qroat...
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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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Count Cavqur.* ; A Ny Account Of The Lif...
It was in 1848 that demonstrations began to be made in Sardinia against the Jesuits ; and , by the efforts of Count Cavqur , >' the royal c-ift of a constitution" was obtained from the monarch . Ihewarot independence followed , in which . Count Cavonr was called on for the full exercise of his characteristic prudence . His reliance was . upon England —and his dread the ultra-democrats of his own country , by whom he was thoroughly hated . The defeat of Novara , however , made his services needful , and placed him in-the first rank ot Count
Sardinian statesmen . By the middle of 1851 , Cavour was firmly established in the Cabinet as minister of Agriculture , and Commerce , of Naval affairs , and of Finance . Not only m these departments , but in others reform was carried out ; for the impulse once c-iyen , the movement spread in all directions . Count Cavour carried the victory against the Protectionists , and " at the end of the session handed in a complete report on the improved financial position of the state , which inspired foreign capitalists with sufficient confidence to induce them to conclude with Sardinia a contract for a
loan of £ 3 , 000 , 000 . " In 1852 , Count Cavour again visited England , and also travelled in France , and received honours in both countries . By October of that year , great excitement prevailed in Sardinia on the Civil Marriage question , on which the clerical party had become rampant . Gioberli , too * had 1 just died , and the crisis hastened . ; , Count Cavour wns now called on to form a Cabinet . His efforts were directed to the improvement of the national finances ; but even so late as 1856 he was nevertheless compelled to have recourse to repeated loans . We must leave the details of the Oriental War , and the subsequent rupture of Sardinia with Austria to the recbllection of bur readers . The events are too recent to need or ' -justify repetition . We are not
called upon to discuss the condition-of-ltaly question in a biographical article . Mr , Cooper has stated it clearly enough in the little volume before us , to which we must refer our readers . To us belongs simply the task of recognising Count Cavour ' s present return to power . To the language uniformly held , and the sentiments constantly expressed , by the Sardinian . Premier , are d . . the successful position taken by Piedmont against the aggressions of Austria , and the dominion which the former now holds in Central Italy , whether in immediate possession or certain reversion . In his hands now remains to be done what the treaty of Villafranca left incomplete ; and to none worthier , or more able , could the destinies of Italy be confided . . ¦¦ . ¦¦/ - . ' .
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¦ . ¦¦ . ¦ ' ¦ <"' v ¦ ¦ . " ¦ ' ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ .-¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ . '¦¦¦ '' Peb . 25 , 1860 J The Leader avid Saturday Analyst . 187
Speculative Romance.* A Truly Great Nove...
SPECULATIVE ROMANCE . * A TRULY great novel is a rarity that should be estimated by the public at its real value . There is in every department of literature no lack of that stale commodity , mediocrity ; but genuine superiority is a jewel as rare as it is costly , and should , as such , be received and welcomed by all who profess admiration for the productions of genius . Yes and No is decidedly a most extraordinary novel . The author has enlisted in it powers far above the average order . Evidences of deep-. thinking 1 and laborious research are visible throughout the three volumes , while the comprehensive mind of the writer is capable of embracing tlie most abstruse principles . He is also endowed with the rare faculty of demonstrating these principles to others with clearness and perspicuity . Moreover , the eloquent and inspiring language in which the author t
gradually manifests to the reader his deeper and , more suble thoughts and theories , is rather instrumental in . aiding- than retarding the progress of the story , and is , in fjict , for the full realization of the author ' s conception , a necessary part of it . In short , the novelist has , in the present instance , amply secured his production from the imputation of heaviness or tediousness ,, by providing for himself a sure foundation in the form of a , stirring and exciting plot . The , \ yhole is admirably constructed ; not a ftmlt is to be found with the masterly manner in which tlie events are made to grow , one out of the other , without the slightest deviation from the straight line of nature and consistency . We are carried irresistibly along with the stream of the narrative , gently at first , then growing gradually faster and faster , till we find ourselves enlisted in a perfect whirlpool of excitement , from which we aro not allowed to escape till the termination of his journey . The title of this work is
curious—Yes and No . The reader , as his eye first glances over the page , is puzzled to conjecture what can be the author ' s motive for such an eccentric heading , and what possible relation it can bear to the contents of the three volumes . He is not , however , left long 1 in doubt ; the first two or three chapters nve sufficient to enlighten him upon this soove , and he speedily discovers that the idea which has evidently suggested the title is not confined to one particular portion of the novol , but is carried consistently through the whole . Indeed , these two significant paroles have hoi'O boon employed in their highest and most comprehensive sense ; moaning nothing 1 more nor leas than the negative nnd affirmative of man ' s whole moral nature . The hero , Ralph Esdailo , ayoiith of refined temperament and high intellectual capacities , but whose mind , early perverted from the true channel in which its awakening thoughts and faculties ought to expand and flow , booomos a perfect chaos of error , dogmata
ism , and unbelief . Every noble institution , rendered veiierable by the customs and practices of many past generations , is by him ignominiously plucked from its pedestal of honour , and submitted to take its -trial ; at . the bar of Ms' own judgment , which he , in his Belfinfatuation , places foremost in the ranks with the wisdom of sages , whose oracular tongues have long since been silenced . No system of religious belief , from the idolatrous worship of the ancient Egyptians to the very latest amendments of modern Protestantism , elicits the smallest amount of reverence in his wayward , undisciplined heart . He is , in fact , a personified negative . Casting about in a sea of doubt , " lie tortures himself with long metaphysical disputations , with a view to extinguishing the single gleam of light which still flickers in his nobler nature , till ¦ 'the-last remnant of faith in an overruling and omniscient Deity and the immortality of his own struggling soul , is argued and speculated away . it is t that Ralh should
With such tendencies , nosurprising p forfeit the esteem and confidence of most of his companions ; and , having once fallen under the suspicion of being an accessory , if not the principal party , concerned in a murder , he should at once be considered guilty by society at large . Immediately after the above outrage bur hero disappears , which , of course , is considered as conclusive evidence of his complicity . The author allows us to follow the course of the wanderer into foreign countries . We find him first in the city of Lyons , where he is preparing , in conjunction with Monsieur Roget , to start a French newspaper , entitled , Les JBouches du Rhone , through which he contemplates regenerating the world , upsetting every religious and political institution , and making palpable unto all men tlie indisputable truth as demonstrated in his own wild and fallacious theories . Failing in this , however , he wanders still further , until at last'he arrives in the heart of Italy . *» r ( IlllUVt "J tJVllk » *»* . w - w— y . —» - — -- — —r . — -. " ¦ ¦ . 1 _ " > to whonv he
Here he becomes acquainted a certain Major Hampden , discloses the history of his past life and the foul suspicions which compel his temporary banishment from his native city . The two soon become united in the closest bonds of amity and friendship , and Ralph ultimately accompanies his benefactor in a grand tour through Egypt . Previously to this , however , lie becomes secretly enamoured of a young lady , whose name he believes to be Effie Craigie , and to whom he had been several times introduced during his residence in Rome . This circumstance , and the death of his patron , which takes place before the termination of their eastern expedition , causes an entire revolution in the mind and sentiments of the-young sceptic , who , after much suffering , gradually becomes convinced of the folly of his former speculations , and thereupon renounces for ever the unsatisfactory , turbulent * and eW-perplexing " No , ! ' for the diviner , purer , heaven-born principle shadowed forth in the spirit-trusting " Yes . " By the indefatigable
exertions of his brother Frederick , Ralph ' s innocence . of the crime formerly laid to his charge is indisputably proved ; and lie ret urns to England , to discover , alas ! that he and his brother are rivals for the lpve of Clara Maberly , who turns out to be identical with Effie Craigie , for whom our hero had already imbibed so serious , and & t the time so hopeless , an attachment . The brothers generously waive their individual claims in favour of each other ; but Ralph , whose constitution has been seriously impaired during the last few years , sinks rapidly into a decline , andat last , in the presence of his ' earthly idol , and in peace and charity with all around him , the " spirit that had battled with a thousand noes" passed into the realm of the " everlasting yea . "
The JEarVs Cedars is a novel of considerable merit ; there is a quaintness about it particularly pleasing ; all the characters are well and efficiently developed , and the attention of the reader is never allowed to wander from the real centre of attraction . It is also extremely well written ; and the author ' s descriptive faculties are even more than ordinary . The story is simple , but interesting . Lord St . Lo , a wealthy Irish nobleman , having 1 , two years after the death of his first wife , contracted a second alliance , takes to riotous and disorderly habits , and becomes a perfect tool in the hands of his calculating partner . Lady St . Lo , an unprincipled worhan , whose only redeeming point is her passionate love of her own offspring 1 , naturally considers the children of her
husband ' s first marriage as fitumblingblocks in the future career of her own . Peath comes to her relief in two instances , and one alone remains as a check to the fulfilment of her wishes . This obnoxious individual , Lady Honoria , a young lady of engaging manners and singularly excitable temperament , becomes thereupon the Hole object ofihev stepmother ' s evil machinations . Wo will not spoil the reader ' s enjoyment ; in enso he . should happen at some future period to peruse this interesting- Jittlc romance , by revealing the whole of this shameless woman ' s perfidious scheme . Suffice it to say ; that * aftor a great deal of misery and vexation on all sides , the whole comes to a highly agreeable and satisfactory conclusion .
The ( Steptnothcr is a very neat and well-sustained story ; thought unpretending in its genorai details , yet decidedly interesting . Tho plot principally turns upon a young Protestant lady , who is induced , by a designing cousin , to embrace for a time the tenets of the R ^ oman Catholic faith . Under thoHO circumstances , she enters , m a temporary shelter , the convent ; of Notre Dame Dominioaincs in Malta , and is afterwards forcibly and illegally detained by its Supovieni'Q . Ultimately , however , she obtains her release , and retribution is dealt upon oil who had wilfully abused and misguided hqr .,. Athelina ; or , the Castlo by tha Sea , is also a meritorious production ; and we have no doubt that the tone of nioty wh oh pervades the whole , of this pleasant little romance will moot wJUi the genuine sympathy pf oil who ppruso its well-filM P"BG 8 '
* Tea And No ; Or; Glimpses Of The Qroat...
* Tea and No ; or ; Glimpses of the Qroat Conflict ' . Three volfl . M » o xnlllan ' and Co . . ¦ , , - ' , . The Earl ' s Cedars . Tvro Tola . h . Booth . Who Stepmotheri or , Tf ^ ill She be a . Kun , By FtORENOB . One vol James Blaolcwood , Athollnei or , TIi < b Qatttlo ly the Sea . By Louisa , Sthwaut . Two vols Jf . II . and Jtunes Parlor , j ^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 25, 1860, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25021860/page/15/
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