Theatrical Review. 99 



admitted to unreserved confidence. Affection between the youth and the 

 daughter ripens into love; but the high principle of the former forbids him 

 from availing himself of an alliance so much above him and below her deserts. 

 He consequently performs a vow of banishment. The blind and unsuspecting 

 father, eager for connexion with nobility, courts the intimacy of an unprin- 

 cipled scion of the Upper House of legislature, and favours his solicitation 

 of his daughter's love. The development of this titled scamp's misconduct 

 forms an integral portion of the story ; but the most interesting scenes of the 

 novel are those in which the vicissitudes of the merchant's life are portrayed, 

 scenes drawn with a truth and power that rank the author among the best of 

 his contemporaries. The merchant to shorten a long story is deceived by his 

 (noble-by-descent) intended son-in-law, swindled by him at gambling of 70,OOOZ. 

 and repaid as an act of generosity ; and he is robbed to a still greater amount 

 by an unprincipled partner, who finally escapes unpunished. To the banished 

 the high-minded Walter Gordon is destined the great pleasure of restoring 

 the harassed merchant (Mr. Lyle) to prosperity and credit ; and to him also 

 is allotted the well-deserved honour of an alliance with the noble-minded 

 daughter of the Fairport merchant. There are many bye- plots in this dra- 

 matic novel ; but it is quite impossible to notice them further. 



There are many passages in these volumes that might well be extracted. 

 We instance, merely to show that we have not forgotten them, the scamp 

 Clavellon's entree to Atherton, the two dinners at Atherton, the meeting 

 of Gordon and Dunrayne just before the departure of the former for the Con- 

 tinent, Gordon's capture of the delinquent partner Sawyer, Mr. Lyle's 

 conduct under commercial pressures, and his gratitude for the proffered assist- 

 ance of his truest friends : these and many others we could cite full of 

 sentiment and real life, that, in our humble opinion at least, prove the author 

 to be a man of imagination and mental observation, far greater than the ma- 

 jority of his contemporaries. The tone of morality advocated by the 

 author of " Pelham" will never meet with our approbation ; but his perception 

 of character cannot be doubted. The author of " The Merchant's Daughter" 

 may at least claim the second prize among his contemporaries in this latter 

 respect. 



THEATRICAL REVIEW. 



DRTTRY LANE. 



November 29^. " The Wrecker's Daughter," by J. S. Knowles. 

 We cannot say that we did not enjoy Mr. Knowles's new play, for 

 we never laughed so much at a tragedy before in our lives, not 

 that we attribute our incongruous risibility to the drama, considered 

 as a literary production, but to the manner in which it was per- 

 itsmed. Our critical duties are at present confined to a notice of 

 representation at the theatre. The plot is of too complicated a 

 n ature to admit of a description at once brief and intelligible : we 

 will, however, try to give in a few words a sketch of the most import- 

 ant incidents. A Cornwall wrecker, known by the name of " Black 

 Norris," not satisfied with appropriating such valuables as are floated 

 on shore from the wrecks, murders the half-drowned seamen who are 

 washed to the strand, in order to spoil them of the wealth they may 

 have about their persons. Such a murder he perpetrates with the knife 



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