1830.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



469 



Mr. Gleig has examined his subject 

 as far as books Mills's excellent history 

 especially enabled him, thoroughly ; 

 and he is perhaps better acquainted with 

 the story and manners of the country 

 than many who have lived longest among 

 the people, and studied the subject on 

 the spot. Nevertheless the story might 

 be better, because it might be more dis- 

 tinctly, told with less appearance of 

 confusion ; but, in truth, so complicated, 

 so extensive, and so varied is the sub- 

 ject, that it cannot easily be grasped;; 

 and epitomes of this kind, for it is no 

 more, require more previous knowledge 

 than is at present possessed by the 

 readers into whose hands the Family 

 Library will chiefly fall. It will, at all 

 events, initiate numbers, who have hi- 

 therto never turned to the subject. The 

 detached sketch of the Mahrattah his- 

 tory is perhaps the best portion of the 

 volume ; but the introductory part also, 

 relative to the form of Hindoo govern- 

 ment and their civil institutes, is drawn 

 up with care and competent knowledge. 



Derwentwater, -a Tale of 1715. 2 vols. 

 12mo. The historical point of the story 

 is the rebellion of 1715, so far as the 

 county of Northumberland was con- 

 cerned ; and the writer, evidently ac- 

 quainted with the county, as to its sur- 

 face, scenery, and family history, has 

 executed his purpose in good taste, and 

 in a manner calculated to illustrate the 

 subject, and stamp more distinct "im- 

 pressions on the reader than any general 

 history can do. 



Lord Derwentwater is the hero of the 

 rebel party not of the novel. That is 

 a young gentleman, the only son of a 

 whig baronet of the county, who acci- 

 dentally meets with a charming girl, the 

 daughter of a tory country squire, of 

 the same county too. The young gen- 

 tleman has a maternal uncle, also a tory, 

 and just about the time when reports of 

 an approaching rebellion were whispered 

 about, he pays this uncle a visit, solely 

 in the hope of encountering the lovely 

 girl, with whose father his uncle, he 

 knows, is well acquainted, and lives in 

 his neighbourhood. By this uncle, a 

 stupid and imbecile sort of a country 

 gentleman, he is taken to Lord Der- 

 wentwater 's the very head- quarters 

 of the Jacobites where he comes plump 

 upon a large party of tories assembled 

 to discuss ana consolidate their plans 

 over a sumptuous dinner. Here, how- 

 ever, with the Countess, he encounters 

 the beautiful girl he is in pursuit of, who 

 is herself an enthusiastic little jacobite,but 

 fails of entrapping her admirer to enrol 

 himself among the partizans of James 

 the Third. His presence at the dinner, 

 of course, known as he is to be the son 

 of a most envenomed whig, surprises 



the party, and exasperates some, but he 

 escapes without incurring any personal 

 offence. Circumstances, however, speedi- 

 ly occur, which throw a suspicion of 

 treachery upon the youth, and give him 

 the air of having acted as a spy upoa 

 their proceedings ; and on the very 

 morning on which the party first as*- 

 sumed a hostile appearance, falling acci* 

 dentally in their way, he is arrested and 

 detained, though treated with kindness 

 by Lord Derwentwater, who is pre- 

 possessed in his favour, and discredits 

 the general suspicions against him. After 

 a detention of a few days he is released, 

 and the better to approve his loyalty to 

 the Brunswicks, he joins Carpenter's 

 army as a volunteer, and at the surreni 

 der of Preston, has the good fortune to 

 assist the escape of his charmer's papa 

 loyalty giving way, as usual, to the in- 

 terests of his affection. 



Speeding afterwards to London, he is 

 honoured with the last confidences of 

 the unhappy Derwentwater; and the 

 commissions with which he is entrusted 

 give him new opportunities of coming 

 in contact with the young lady, who re- 

 sides with the Countess, and is in her 

 confidence. He is himself a handsome 

 young fellow spirited and intelligent- 

 and of course, independently of his rank, 

 makes the due impression ; and after the 

 miserable execution of his friend, and 

 the departure of the Countess for the 

 continent, and the removal of sundry 

 obstructions, especially those which arise 

 from his father, who comes to a miserable 

 end, and Avho would never have con- 

 sented to his marriage in a tory family 

 the usual satisfactory arrangements 

 follow. 



Though extending only to two vo- 

 lumes, the great fault is its prosiness 

 there is a want of incident and activity, 

 and too much indulgence in political 

 discussion. The Northumberland dia- 

 lect as far as spelling can convey 

 the atrocious cacophonies is something 

 fresh in novels, but as deserving of being 

 recorded as the Scotch, with which we 

 have been deluged of late years. 



In the confiscations consequent upon 

 the rebellion, Lord Derwent water's large 

 domains were assigned to Greenwich 

 Hospital, the managers of which pulled 

 down the noble castle. 



Southennan. 3 vols. I2mo. By J. Gall, 

 Esq Mr. Gait is stepping out of his 

 peculiar department the delineation of 

 Scottish character in the half-educated 

 classes of life, upon which he has cast a 

 shrewd and vigilant glance ; but per- 

 sonal observation has narrow limits, and 

 Mr. Gait has read as well as observed ; 

 and it is but common policy, when a 

 man becomes manufacturer-general of 

 books, to bring, in succession, all his re- 



