458 



Monthly Review of Literature, 



APRIL, 



garter. The graceful manner, and inde- 

 scribable amiability with which the one 

 performed his task, and the difficult and 

 awkward mode in which the other ulti- 

 mately managed to get into and put on the 

 magnificent paraphernalia, cannot easily be 

 forgotten indeed, the scene surpassed de- 

 scription.** This is one of the " points" 

 the other is thus described. " It was on 

 the steps, at the ftte at Guildhall, that I 

 knelt down and kissed my sovereign's hand 

 on his appointing me the ambassador to the 

 court of Vienna, and at the same moment 

 nominating me one of his lords of the bed- 

 chamber a circumstance entirely unlooked 

 for, and unexpected by me." 



The delighted marquess has not yet ex- 

 hausted his materials he contemplates ano- 

 ther volume, embracing the details of the 

 campaign of 1815, and the transactions of 

 the Congress of Vienna. 



Fit* of Fitzford, by Mrs. Bray, 3 vols., 



\2rno Mrs. Bray resides at Tavistock, 



and is, of course, within reach of Dartmoor 

 and its wilds, and its tors, each of which 

 has its own legend, and one of these, of a 

 very painful cast, she has re-embodied, and 

 spread the details over the usual quantum 

 of sheets. With considerable practice in 

 writing, she is moreover a very intelligent 

 and clever woman, and capable of describing 

 with full effect whatever falls under her own 

 eye she is fond of landscape and scene- 

 painting, and in this her taste is good, and 

 her execution true domestic scenes also, 

 and coarse dialogues, with some humour in 

 them, suit her admirably ; .but, unluckily, 

 she has the ambition to cope with charac- 

 ters of wilder energy, for which, being quite 

 out of the pale of her experience, she is com- 

 pelled to draw upon others, or to fores her 

 imagination a thing which will not bear 

 forcing. Of these, in the novel before us, 

 she has two, and one of them tearingly ex- 

 travagant; but being obviously made to 

 pattern, she is not chargeable for the original 

 conception, and need only plead guilty to 

 the minor offence of adoption. 



The scene and story are laid in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Tavistock, and in the reign of 

 Elizabeth. Fitz is the only son of a retired 

 judge, of good property, who amuses his 

 leisure with advising his friends, and dab- 

 bling, in company with the schoolmaster, in 

 astrology. Old Fitz's nearest neighbour is 

 another judge (Glanville), who has a very 

 lovely girl under his guardianship; and 

 between this lady and young Fitz arises an 

 attachment, from which springs a flood of 

 misery, which deluges many of the pages. 

 The story of old Judge Glanville's daughter 

 is a very miserable one. She had given 

 her affections to a man of ruined fortunes, 

 but was compelled by her father to abandon 

 her lover and marry a rich old miser. The 

 consequence was a speedy elopement. After 

 some considerable interval, her retreat was 

 discovered, and he was forced back again 



to her husband ; and finding no other effec- 

 tual means of freeing herself from her odious 

 shackles, she, with the aid of her female; 

 attendant, poisoned him, and paid the pe- 

 nalty of her " treason," according to the 

 fashion of the times, in the flames, to which 

 she was condemned by the official sentence 

 of her own father such is still the tradition 

 of the neighbourhood. His young and 

 beautiful ward is, though the judge knows 

 nothing about the matter, his own grand- 

 child the offspring of his daughter's adul- 

 terous connection. She had been bequeathed 

 to his care and kindness by a very intimate 

 friend, was endeared to him, and regarded 

 as his own child. Of her mother's story 

 she knew nothing. The person whom she 

 supposed to have been her father, had, on 

 his death-bed, when committing her to 

 Glanville's protection, charged her to listen 

 to the advice and injunction of one Stand- 

 wich, as the dictates of a parent. This 

 Standwich presents himself to the reader in 

 very equivocal positions at the head of 

 outlawed miners connected with pirates 

 and the fanatic agent of schemes for the 

 rescue of the Queen of Scots sometimes in 

 the mail of a soldier, and again in the frock 

 of a priest. By gradual disclosures he proves 

 to be the very seducer of the old judge's 

 daughter, and of course the father of his 

 ward, over whom he had long in secret ex- 

 ercised the authority of a parent, without 

 avowing his paternal rights. A match be- 

 tween her and young Fitz, he resolves at all 

 hazards to prevent old Fitz had been his 

 evil genius the main instrument first in 

 tearing from him the object of his affections ; 

 and finally, in plunging her into the flames. 

 By dint of threats and mysteries he gets the 

 youth despatched to the Flemish wars, 

 where he is quickly wounded and taken 

 prisoner, and Standwich contrives to inter- 

 cept all letters, and confirm the reports of 

 his death. In the meanwhile, the poor 

 young lady, much against her will, is pre- 

 vailed upon, by the dark promptings of 

 Standwich, to consent to give her hand in 

 marriage to a neighbouring knight, the 

 friend of Fitz. On the day of celebration, 

 however, in spite of all impediments, young 

 Fitz presents himself alive again to the 

 bridal party, and of course a sad scene of 

 confusion follows. The marriage, never- 

 theless, goes on ; and the disappointed Fitz, 

 after fevers and sufferings, recovers some 

 degree of equanimity, and engaging in pub- 

 lic business, is honoured with the command 

 of the Castle of Lidford. While in this 

 command, the treasonable practices of 

 Standwich are discovered, and he is finally 

 seized and committed to the custody of 

 Fitz. Despairing at last of escape, he com- 

 municates to his daughter his paternity ; 

 and she, prompted also by despair, at length 

 claims the pledge Fitz had made in happier 

 days, to aid her in case of need. Fitz visits 

 her in the absence of her husband, and in- 

 telligence of the visit is conveyed to him by 



