546 Monthly Review of Literature. 



memoirs are historic. Be it so : we cease to think of the brilliant wits of 

 fifty years ago, what more authentic memoirs have led us to suppose. They 

 were, then, it seems, the stiff, unelastic, and formal gentlemen that they are 

 represented in Lady Charlotte Bury's book. Faugh ! we have done, and we 

 will repent us of the unshackled mirth to which we have in times past aban- 

 doned ourselves. But to return to sober earnest, the fair writer has taken 

 up a most difficult subject, and she might as well hope to have passed the 

 fiery ordeal unscathed as to have met with success in her lately-finished 

 labours. It required a Sheridan or a Fox to paint their living portraits ; and 

 the authoress is neither. The main facts of the story, which is as confused 

 as any that we have attempted to read for some time, we will do our best to 

 lay before the reader. The heroine, Eliza Mordaunt, is the daughter of a 

 Leicestershire squire and of noble descent. She leaves the paternal roof and 

 her fox-hunting suitors to visit a proud and poor widowed aunt, who hopes 

 to get a match for her among the old fashioned frequenters of her coterie. 

 Another aunt, a dashing heartless lady of more fashion than virtue, the 

 Duchess of Rochester, contrives to withdraw the young lady nothing loath 

 from beneath the wings of her safer protector, and introduces htr at court, and 

 into all her fashionable parties. An opportunity is here afforded of bringing 

 forward the political puppets to dance their short existence on the stage 

 Miss Mordaunt becomes the belle of the day, and is surrounded by a host of 

 suitors. Instead, however, of looking after marriage settlements, she wastes 

 her time in making conquests, and in dangling after her frail chaperone to the 

 great risk of her reputation. She ends by marrying a moneyless cadet, who 

 is an independent member of parliament. Disappointment and embarrass- 

 ment undermine Mr. Fitzirnham's health, and he dies. The afflicted widow 

 marries an earl, one of her former suitors ; and when become a dowager, 

 she obligingly sits down and writes three volumes of autobiography. The 

 best and chief personage is the Duchess of Rochester ; and her fate furnished 

 the moral that points the tale. 



The style of writing throughout is easy and unstudied, as it ought to be; 

 and the whole shows it to have proceeded from the pen of a person having 

 more than common ability, and accustomed to move in the best ranks of 

 English society. 



Highland Rambles, by Sir T. D. LAUDER, Bart. 2 Vols. post 8vo. 



A.&C. Black. 



SIR Thomas Dick Lauder is no new aspirant to literary honours. If none 

 other of his works had gained for him a fair name as an author, at least, his 

 "Accounts of the Moray Floods" would, in our opinion, have given him a 

 fair claim to distinction. The work which is now before us confirms our 

 previous opinion of the author's abilities. It is true, indeed, that the title, 

 " Highland Rambles," is a misnomer ; for out of seven hundred and forty 

 pages, only ninety pages are at all referable to the Rambles, the remainder 

 being made up of the " Long Legends to shorten the Way." It must not 

 be supposed, however, that we are displeased at the insertion of the sundry 

 legends that are interspersed in the work ; for there are many that are highly 

 interesting and especially characteristic of the country, whose customs and 

 peculiarities these anecdotes are intended to illustrate. 



The work contains fourteen legends, all of which we have looked over 

 with the hope of being able to make certain extracts therefrom for the benefit 

 of our readers : but it is matter for regret that the stories are so connected 

 as to make it impossible to insert any portion without destroying the in- 

 tegrity of the story. 



The legends of John Mackay of Rossshire, and of Christy Ross are, per- 

 haps, the best ; but where the spirit of the whole series i? so well sup- 

 ported, it is difficult to make a favourable selection. 



