88 



Monthly Review of Literature, 



[JAN. 



a pirate, nnd by others as an intruder, the 

 ill-fated Paul dies apparently of disappoint- 

 ment and a broken heart a pitiable victim 

 to aspiring views and ill-regulated passions, 

 He is found dead by his faithful attendant, 

 without any marks of violence. 



Tales by the O'Hara Family: Second 

 Series; 3 vols. Svo., 1826. This second 

 series consists of two tales the " Now- 

 lans," and " Peter of the Castle;" of which 

 the first, the best of the tales, occupies two 

 volumes, and the second the remaining 

 volume. Neither of these tales are re- 

 markable for being skilfully constructed. 

 The writer scarcely sees through his own 

 complications, and certainly does not dis- 

 entangle them well. In the " Nowlans" 

 there are details and conversations which 

 are superfluous, because they do not help 

 on the story; and injurious, because they 

 waste and weaken the interest ; and any 

 thing of this kind is a blot in a good tale. 

 The reader will see, at a glance, the writer 

 is a very able person ; and who will care 

 for the critics ? We ourselves have read 

 willingly, and unrepulsed ; and thousands 

 will do the same. 



Barnes, one of the O'Hara family, tra- 

 velling to the South, takes shelter from a 

 storm in a small farm-house, where he finds 

 a family consisting of the master, his wife, 

 and two very pretty, well-behaved girls. 

 The cares of the women are absorbed by 

 attendance on a sick person, confined to 

 his bed ; but he-finds a hospitable reception, 

 and continues with them some days. This 

 sick person proves to be a son of the old 

 people, lately returned after an absence of 

 seven years, commenced under singular 

 circumstances. The subject of the tale is 

 this young man's story, involving that of 

 Peggy the eldest daughter. These are the 

 " Nowlans." John had been destined from 

 a boy for a Catholic priest ; but going at 

 fourteen, to live with an uncle, a man of 

 coarse and ruinous habits, his Latin gets 

 neglected, and his early integrity a little 

 corrupted. In his uncle's house is a very 

 beautiful girl wild and wilful ; from whose 

 seductions, and her mother's designs, John, 

 as he grows up, escapes by miracle. By- 

 and-bye the uncle squanders his property, 

 and John returns to his home ; resumes 

 his studies, and proceeds to ordination 

 not final ordination, but what is called tak- 

 ing the vows -of celibacy. 



About this time, while he is yet with his 

 friends, he rescues a Mr. Long, a gentle- 

 man of the neighbourhood, accompanied by 

 his nephew and niece, from imminent peril. 

 The rescued party repose at the house of 

 the Nowlans there is some remote rela- 

 tionship between them, but difference of 

 station and manners has kept them, though 

 living very near, apart. The young people 

 are very much struck with each other. 

 Letty, the niece, is delighted with Peggy's 

 simplicity and propriety, and Peggy charm- 



ed with Miss Letty's elegance nnd affability. 

 The nephew, Frank, plays the agreeable to 

 Peggy, and proposes to John a fishing ex- 

 cursion ; and John, who knows little of 

 other manners than those of his own fa- 

 mily fire-side, is struck not only by Letty's 

 beauty, but by an ease and grace and intel- 

 ligence, which to him are altogether new. 

 The result of this acquaintance is a visit to 

 the Hall. Letty takes John under her 

 wing, and initiates him in music and poetry. 

 To such matters he is quite a stranger ; his 

 studies .have been among Greek and Latin, 

 and theology ; but he has a soul under the 

 ribs of death, which the Promethean fire of 

 the lady quickly kindles into life. At the 

 end of a month Peggy returns ; but John 

 remains. The young lady wishes to learn 

 Latin, and John undertakes to teach. They 

 are now constantly together. John is a 

 handsome looking fellow, a little awkward 

 or so, full of feeling, with a touch of the 

 romantic about him ; and the rustj with so 

 delicate a file, is of course soon worn away. 

 His fascinations are not without their ef- 

 fect. She also is beautiful, graceful, and 

 withal irresistible ; and John is over head 

 and ears in love long before he knows any 

 thing of his danger. At last, at their studies, 

 all at once he discovers his hand locked in 

 her's, and catches his own sigh responding 

 to her's. Alarmed, he starts from his seat ; 

 he institutes a severe self-scrutiny; he re- 

 collects his solemn engagements, and re- 

 solves to fly. To resolve is one thing, to 

 accomplish another. In the meanwhile lie 

 encounters Maggy, the girl with whom at 

 his uncle's he had so nearly been entangled. 

 She has been seduced by Frank; she is 

 now jealous of Frank's attentions to Peggy, 

 and in revenge warns John to look after his 

 sister. Forthwith he taxes Frank with insi- 

 sidious designs; Frank assures him of his ho- 

 nourable intentions, and in return rallies him 

 on the progress he is making in Letty's aflfoc- 

 tions. The truth flashes upon his heart 

 with fuller conviction ; he is violating his 

 vows, and must fly from the presence of the 

 too lovely one. He does fly; but too 

 soon, trusting to his own strength, he meets 

 her again. That meeting only produces an 

 explosion of feeling, and an avowal of mu- 

 tual fondness. They part again, and meet 

 again worse and worse. The struggle is 

 tremendous ; but John wrestles bravely, 

 and finally resolves upon travelling into 

 Spain. He arranges with his clerical supe- 

 rior. Strong and fixed in his final resolu- 

 tion, he now communicates his purpose to 

 Letty, and proposes a last interview on his 

 way to Dublin, to bid her farewell. They 

 meet, and retire for a few moments to a 

 green and sweet retreat ; but soon, alas ! 

 from that green and sweet retreat is seen 

 the wretched John rushing forth in a state 

 of desperation, distraction a maniac. 

 Temptation had been too mighty. The 

 vious Maggy, too, had been upon the watch ; 

 she encounters John, and tells him Frank 



