470 



Monthly Review of Literature, 



[OCT. 



sources and acquisitions to account. To 

 turn history into romance is now a com- 

 mon resource, and Mr. Gait is surely 

 as well qualified for doing the same, as 

 many who have met with brilliant suc- 

 cess. The reign of Mary is fertile in 

 exciting incidents ; the characters, too, 

 of the chief actors have been well sifted ; 

 and it is comparativelv easv to adopt 

 sentiments to patterns distinctly drawn 

 and coloured. 



The hero, Southennan, is but a con- 

 necting link of a few well known but 

 detached incidents a young man of 

 family, who goes to court to pay his 

 respects to the queen on her arrival 

 from France, and push his fortune. The 

 main subjects of the story are the fates of 

 Chatelard and Rizzio. Chatelard who, 

 historically, in the words of Scott, was 

 " half poet, half courtier, and entire 

 madman" appears in the novel as a 

 youth of elegant accomplishments, and 

 occupying the office of the queen's pri- 

 vate secretary while Rizzio holds a 

 subordinate appointment in the same 

 department. Mary listens to Chatelard's 

 performances on the lute with pleasure, 

 and treats him with distinction. Chate- 

 lard cannot conceal his delighted feelings 

 his admiration of the beautiful queen 

 is obvious to his companions ; and Rizzio 

 especially, who has his own views, feeds 

 the youth's vanity, and eggs him on to 

 acts of indiscretion, which occupy a large 

 space in the tale. In the meanwhile, 

 Southennan falls in love with Adelaide, 

 the queen's favourite attendant, the 

 adopted daughter of Dufroy, a French 

 nobleman, and the queen's chamberlain. 

 Her father is an outlaw, for an act of 

 violence committed against her noble 

 protector. Accidentally Southennan be- 

 comes acquainted with" Adelaide's out- 

 lawed father, and from his regard for the 

 daughter, though she is attached to Cha- 

 telard, is induced to exert all his interest 

 to procure his pardon. He exhausts all 

 his resources in vain. The chancellor 

 judges a pardon impolitic, and Mary re- 

 fuses to listen to further solicitation. 

 Southennan consults Rizzio, and Rizzio 

 suggests an application to Chatelard, with 

 the insidious view of plunging the vain 

 youth into new indiscretions. Chatelard 

 falls into the snare; he throws himself 

 at the queen's feet, and at a moment 

 when she is wearied with the importu- 

 nities of others on the same subject. 

 To get rid of it, she abruptly consents ; 

 and Chatelard has the credit of obtaining 

 what the noblest had urged in vain. 

 Rizzio had secretly spread a report of 

 the queen's fondness for Chatelard, and 

 this invidious favour could but confirm 

 the report. Scotch jealousy was up in 

 arms ; Dufroy threw up his office ; and 

 Mary herself, on reflection, displeased 

 with the youth's presumption, dismissed 



him, and ordered him to quit the coun- 

 try instantly. Rizzio, not yet satisfied, 

 though he was immediately appointed 

 secretary in his place, prompted Chate- 

 lard to attempt a private interview with 

 the queen, and Chatelard, accordingly, 

 found means to conceal himself in the 

 royal bed-chamber, where he was de- 

 tected, hurried off to prison, tried, con- 

 victed of treason, and executed. 



Rizzio, thus triumphing, makes ra- 

 pid advances in the queen's confidence. 

 He brings Darnley to court, meaning to 

 make the silly monarch the tool of his 

 own power ; but he overshoots his mark. 

 The nobles revolt at his growing arro- 

 gance, and the king's jealousy is easily 

 excited. Meanwhile the king takes a 

 fancy to Adelaide, and attempts to have 

 her carried off'. Rizzio assists Southen- 

 nan in baffling the atrocious attempt, 

 and the whole concludes with Rizzio's 

 assassination. Wherever Mary figures, 

 the scenes are excellent ; and Rizzio's 

 career is an exquisite piece of Machia- 

 velism. 



Perkin Warleck. 3 vols. I2mo. - 

 Which Perkin ? Mr. Newman's not 

 Colburn and Bentley's ; and though we 

 have not seen the latter Mrs. Shelley's, 

 we believe so little confidence have we 

 that a tolerable story, merely historical, 

 concerning persons actuated by the com- 

 mon feelings and aspirings of mortals, 

 can come from her hands, that we have 

 no hesitation in matching this before us 

 with it. Mr. Newman has only to pub- 

 lish in a more imposing form. Though 

 no pretender to metaphysics, no searcher 

 into the finer sources of action, Mr. 

 Alexander Campbell is a faithful painter 

 of the external and the obvious. He 

 has seized truly and firmly the charac- 

 ters of the times he has chosen to deli- 

 neate ; and told his story distinctly, and 

 with particulars, which in no material 

 respect contradict the best authorities 

 of the period. The romantic James, 

 who took up the cause of Perkin, forms 

 the main figure of the piece; and the 

 spirit of the man is well exhibited in a 

 scene or two of private adventure, in 

 which the monarch delighted to indulge. 

 Perkin's story commences with his ar- 

 rival in Scotland, and is confined to the 

 liberal reception given him by James at 

 his court his marriage with* the beau- 

 tiful Catherine Gordon and his impo- 

 tent invasion of England. From that 

 point historical facts are abandoned. 

 James and Perkin are together recon- 

 noitering, when they are surprised by 

 the English James escapes, but Per- 

 kin falls into the hands of Henry's 

 troopers, through the agency of one of 

 his own confidents, and is whipped off' 

 to London. Catherine overtakes him. 

 She visits him in his prison, where he 



