460 



Monthly Review of Literature. 



An Only Son, a Narrative. By the 

 Author of "My Early Days." Only 

 sons have rarely a common chance of 

 judicious management in any rank of 

 life. The writer's aim is to illustrate 

 the effects upon the character and for- 

 tunes of a child so circumstanced, pro- 

 duced by the ambition of a parent in 

 one of the humblest stations of society. 

 The father's efforts are directed towards 

 an object, of which he has but a vague 

 conception, and the means of accom- 

 plishing which are wholly without the 

 sphere of his own experience. The re- 

 sult is not to be wondered at the fa- 

 ther is baffled, and the son's happiness 

 wrecked. The only son of the tale is 

 the offspring of a small farmer and shop- 

 keeper in the west, rough and uncouth, 

 but who married a woman of a softer 

 and more intelligent cast, whose in- 

 fluence served to soften a heart not per- 

 haps originally hard, but frozen by the 

 rigid principles of Puritanism. She 

 died early, but had lived long enough 

 to stir in "him a desire to educate his son 

 beyond his own station. Unlicked him- 

 self, and with no judicious advisers at 

 hand his efforts are miserably directed, 

 and the consequent failure is all ascribed 

 to the youth's indolence, perverseness, 

 or want" of filial regard. Though hoard- 

 ing avowedly for the child's benefit, he 

 grudges the outlay of every penny. He 

 takes him to a fashionable school, rudely 

 and coarsely equipped, and the child 

 becomes the sport of his fellows and 



money and anxiety alike are thrown 

 away. The result is past his comprehen- 

 sion he loses his temper, and condemns 

 the boy to the lowest offices of the farm 

 and the shop. Then suddenly revert- 

 ing to his old object, he places him with 

 an apothecary, and speedily dispatches 

 him to Edinburgh to study physic. 

 At the end of the session the youth 

 returns, embarrassed with a load of debt 

 . there is no confidence between father 

 and son, and the latter dreads to make 

 the disclosure. A discovery follows, and 

 with it a scene of violence. The youth 

 deserts his home, and accompanies the 

 son of an opulent neighbour, just start- 

 ing as a dragoon officer for Spain, in the 

 character 01 a volunteer. For a time 

 his friend is still his friend, but by 

 degrees he cools the other's pride is 

 alarmed words ensue, and a duel is the 

 consequence, in which he has the misery 

 to kill his friend. Already shocked at 

 the devastations of war, he abandons the 

 camp, and, returning to his paternal 

 dwelling, finds his father dead, heart- 

 broken by the disappointment of his 

 fondest hopes. Eventually, the young 

 man, left to himself, turns again to his 

 medical pursuits, and seems to be prov- 

 ing himself a very useful country sur- 

 geon, in Wales, at peace, and without 

 ambition, in the company of an old 

 maiden aunt. The tone is gloomy and 

 dispiriting but the writer's purpose is 

 well developed and the whole compo- 

 sition vigorous and full of thought. 



FINE ARTS' PUBLICATIONS. 



The sixth and seventh parts of the 

 Views in the East, are full of beauty. 

 The first scene is a very curious temple 

 at Benares, half immersed in water, 

 with some of the towers leaning over 

 upon the river, in a position that ren- 

 ders Pisa's leaning tower anything but 

 remarkable. The next is one of the 

 Caves of Ellora, well engraved by Wool- 

 noth ; and Delhi, a splendid scene by 

 Purser and Miller. Jahara Baug, Agra, 

 by Boys and Cooke, is clear and sunny 

 enough ; and yet it is exceeded in beauty 

 by the Palace of the Seven Stories, Bee- 

 japore, which forms a lovely picture, 

 and is admirably engraved by W. Fin- 

 den. 



The subjects selected for the twenty- 

 second and twenty-third Nos. of the 

 National Portrait Gallery are, the late 

 Mr. Huskisson and the late Lord El- 

 lenborough, with the following living 

 " illustrious and eminent personages :" 

 Sir Edward Codrington, Lord Tenter- 

 den, the Bishop of Peterborough, and 

 Sir George Murray. The portraits of 

 Lord Ellenborough, Admiral Codring- 

 ton, and Sir George Murray, are from 



pictures by Lawrence ; and the engrav- 

 ings do entire justice both to the taste 

 of the painter, and the character of the 

 subjects. Mr. Huskisson's portrait, 

 from an original picture painted three 

 months before his death, is an interest- 

 ing accession to this popular and valua- 

 ble series. 



In addition to the intrinsic beauty, as 

 engravings, of the Landscape Illustra- 

 tions of the Waverley Novels, we feel a 

 charm in looking through them which 

 could never naturally belong to the 

 scenes themselves, picturesque as most 

 of them are. It is the genius of the 

 Novelist that has made them magnifi- 

 cent in our eyes, and given beauty to 

 the barrenest places. Who can look on 

 Both well Bridge in the number before 

 us the eleventh and not be awakened 

 to all the stirring associations connected 

 with Old Mortality ? The others are 

 Fast Castle, Bride of Lammermuir, 

 York Minster, Ivanhoe, and Castle- 

 Rushin, Peveril of the Peal; all of 

 them worthy the volumes they illus- 

 trate, and the names that are attached 

 to them. 



