1827.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



\ 



91 



had actually Reduced his sinter, mid that he 

 and Peggy were, at that very moment, at 

 no great distance. He springs forward to 

 the place ; he meets a friar of his acquain- 

 tance, hurries him along with him ; sees 

 his sister in entreaties at the feet of Frank, 

 mistakes the object of those entreaties, 

 presents a pistol at Frank's head, and on 

 the spot, and in spite of all remonstrance on 

 the part of priest, sister, and Frank, he 

 forces the priest to marry them. Then 

 flying hack to the place where he had left 

 the unhappy Letty, he finds her in a sense- 

 less state ; he catches her in his arms, puts 

 her into the carriage, which was waiting to 

 take him on his distant journey, and whirls 

 away to Dublin. At Dublin, in despera- 

 tion, and in defiance of all his vows, he pro- 

 cures a Protestant clergyman, and marries 

 the poor Letty without delay. Soon, soon 

 are they brought to woeful reflection. The 

 little money they have quickly vanishes. 

 Letty's letters to her uncle are unanswered. 

 John goes a teaching ; she does the same. 

 Presently, suspicions fall upon them : he is 

 recognized by some one ; and pupils fall off 

 one by one- No friend in the world; debts 

 accumulating ; the miserable girl near con- 

 finement. The last pupil fails them and 

 houseless, pennyless, almost clothesless, 

 they quit Dublin ; and no more is heard ef 

 them till a few weeks after, she is delivered 

 of an infant, under a shed, by the road-side, 

 amidst cold and rain, and misery, not to be 

 described, and dies ; and of him is nothing 

 known for seven long years. The whole 

 of this harrowing tale is worked up to tor- 

 ture ; it is the experimentum crucis of the 

 author's powers. 



In the meanwhile, the scoundrel Frank 

 exults in his good fortune. He has long 

 been plotting against Peggy, and now avails 

 himself of this forced marriage, which the 

 laws of the country enable him to set at 

 nought, and only begs it may be kept from 

 his uncle. The character of this fellow is 

 now displayed at large : he is a thorough- 

 paced villain. At Oxford he had been 

 leagued with a set of gambling connections, 

 and by degrees got involved deep, deep, be- 

 yond all redemption. His uncle's property 

 he knows is to be divided between himself 

 and sister. This division will not serve his 

 purpose. The sister must be gotten rid 

 of. With this view, he gladly seconds any 

 thing that is likely to alienate her from her 

 uncle's affections. Her flight with John 

 was beyond his hopes ; and he takes espe- 

 cial care to intercept her letters. His diffi- 

 culties, however, come too quick upon 

 him. In his extremity, with some of his 

 desperate companions he robs the mail. 

 He abandons Peggy. She discloses her 

 case to the uncle ; and, before he is able to 

 take any steps to force his nephew to do 

 her justice, the robbery, in spite of all 

 Frank's cautions, is traced up to him. He 

 is every way baffled, exposed, ruined. A 

 few months, and the uncle receives a letter 



M.M. AV: S.'rics VOL. 1 1. No. 13. 



from him, written under the k 

 he was about to suffer a sh\ 

 and would be heard of no mort 

 are made, and he is believed t( 

 executed for forgery. This, howe^ 

 not to be true ; and in three or 

 after he returns, a soldier, to Dubf 

 quickly, with some of his worthies 

 panions, lays a plan for robbing and 

 dering his uncle. One of them impeac\ 

 and the result is, Frank, in the presence, 

 his uncle, stabs himself. In the same reg\ 

 ment also is discovered poor John. He iV 

 instrumental in the detection of Frank's 

 villaines. He returns to his family ; and, 

 at the time of Barnes's visit to the father's, 

 he is confined to his bed by a fever. Peggy 

 is soon after married to an old admirer; 

 Mr. Long provides hansomely for her; John, 

 is restored to the bosom of the church, and 

 resumes his clerical profession- There is a 

 good deal of confusion in the denouement of 

 the story ; but the detail of the flight and 

 fate of John and Letty would redeem scores 

 of dreaming and perplexing pages. For 

 any account of " Peter of the Castle-," we 

 have no room. The story, though of in- 

 ferior interest, is better told ; that is, it is 

 better bound together still defective in 

 compactness, 



Time's Telescope for 1827. Should any 

 of our readers be quite unacquainted with 

 this publication, let them read the title- 

 page. '* A complete Guide to the Alma- 

 nack ; containing an explanation of Saints' 

 days and Holidays; with Illustrations of 

 British History and Antiquities, notices of 

 Obsolete Rites and Customs, sketches of 

 comparative Chronology, and cotemporary 

 Biography. Astronomical Occurrences in 

 every Month ; comprising Remarks on the 

 Phenomena of the Celestial Bodies : and 

 the Naturalist's Diary ; explaining the va- 

 rious appearances in the Animal and Vege- 

 table Kingdoms, and including a View of 

 Scotian Botany." 



This is the fourteenth impression a 

 feet, which is itself a sufficient proof of some 

 degree of merit. From first to last too, it 

 has been, we believe, favourably received, 

 and certainly abundantly extolled ; for the' 

 editor is enabled to reprint no less than 

 thirteen pages, in very small type, of eulo- 

 gies, collected from newspapers and reviews, 

 from 1814 to 1820; and 1827 will no doubt 

 add more of these laurels to tjie wreath 

 it seems to deserve it too, as well as any 

 of its precursors. 



A miscellany of this kind, with ordinary 

 care, must always contain something worth 

 looking at. It falls chiefly into the hands 

 of young people; and innumerable little 

 matters of curiosity, or even of real utility, 

 are thus presented to them, which other- 

 wise would scarcely ever be heard of, and 

 which, but upon some particular impulse, 

 are seldom inquired about. It is not a 

 thing which has any real claim to literary 



