1826.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



419 



should be done, wo ^should like to receive 

 lessons from liiin, and to find classes of 

 students at No. 31<, St. Martin's Street. 



A jA'llcr to H Friend, touclum/ the (jiirs- 

 tion " Whn ipas the author of EIKf2N 



BASIAIKH ?" By WiM.iAM GiiANT 



BiiouciiToN,M.A. — TliisLctterjust touches 

 the question, and tliat is all. ]\Ir. 15rou>;li- 

 ton should liave rememebred in his state- 

 ment of Lieutenant- General Ilammon's 

 evidence, that the General aftinns, he 

 found " many slicets of Ei«av Ba:<r(>i(x^, 

 in the king's own liand, wliicli lie at that 

 time po.«sessed ; and, tliat the nionarcli liad 

 nothing but pen, ink and liiblv." lie often 

 Faw parts of the book, still wet witli ink, 

 when the king left his room. If Mr. 

 Bronghton had considered this, lie would 

 not have endeavoured to have ovcrtlirown a 

 positive statement, and that of a Raumlhead, 

 by saying that it is obvious, that tlic Ge- 

 neral's statement will not prove more than 

 he co|)ied it from a manuscript. Tliis is 

 reasoning with a vengeance. To put sup- 

 position, or any argument, against the 

 evidence of tlic senses, is to i)ut the w#al<er 

 argument against the stronger. Let Mr. 

 Brougliton look to Tillotsou's argument on 

 experience iigainst the testimony of the 

 senses. We will not offer a decided opi- 

 nion on this controversy, but merely re- 

 mark, that if Gauden or any other man 

 wrote tliat book, it is without any paralh;!. 

 Tlie internal evidence — that part wliich 

 relates to the association of ideas and 

 combination of thoughts, appears to us to 

 weigh greatly in favour of its aulhenlicity 

 and genuineness. General Hammon's direct 

 testimony cannot, by the laws of evidence, 

 be overtlu-own by any hypothetical rea- 

 soning. 



JBramblelye House, or Cavaliers and 

 Roundhea/ls, a Novel, by one of the Authors 

 of Rejected Addresses. — Before we com- 

 mence our notice of tliis work, we ha\'e to 

 regret both want of time and want of room 

 to review it with tiie minutiie it desei^ves, 

 or to indulge in extracts which are well 

 wortliy of quotation. 



The period chosen by the wrlter^the lat- 

 ter part of Cromwell's reign, and the re- 

 storation of the Stuarts — is admirably 

 adapted for a work of this nature. It is 

 hardly possible, in our confined notices, to 

 give a syllabus or analysis of the work ; we 

 shall therefore give a brief and general no- 

 tion of it : — Sir John Compton, a staunch 

 cavalier, whose character is well supjiorted 

 throughout, is detected, tlirough the infor- 

 mation of an infuriated and injured papist, 

 Mary I^aurence, in preparing arms and 

 ammimition to aid the cavaliers in an insur- 

 rection in favour of their exiled prince — he 

 escapes — liis son Jocelyn, the liero of the 

 tale, is captured, and carried to the Gate- 

 house prison, by the order of Cromwell — he 

 escapes, finds his father, becomes known 

 to the exiled king ; goes to Paris, performs 



a most knightly deed before Louis XIV- 

 and his court — sees eyes, whose impression 

 never wanes from his memoiy — retimis, 

 becomes a favourite at court, fights a 

 court pander, flies liis country for Holland, 

 and there again sees the eyes which beamcil 

 on liis chivalry at Paris — he leaves his do- 

 micile for one more secluded, but which 

 contains the heroine of the dramiu Para- 

 sites, panders, tniitore, courtiers, and 

 knaves, at various times, threaten his de- 

 struction ; but he escapes, .and the catas- 

 trophe is what our readers will not readily 

 suspect, and what we, in justice to tlie 

 autiior, <lo not intend to tell them. In the 

 course of the narrative we are made ac- 

 quainted with the prevailing feelings of these 

 troul)led times, and find the dramatis per- 

 son;e arniyed, not only in the garb, but in 

 the manners of the day. \Vc are intro- 

 duced to Cromwell in liis palace, and asso- 

 ciate for a short time with the immortal 

 Milton. Tlic dissolute and vagabond court 

 of Charles lK.'comes a place of refuge for our 

 hero, and is spiritedly pourtrayed. 'Ilie 

 licentious crew, with their merry monarcli, 

 his queen, his mistresses, his flatterers, and 

 fools, form a splendid and instructive 

 pageant, subservient to the main design. 

 This, of course, includes Rochester, Buck- 

 ingham, Killigrew, Lady Castelmaine, Cla- 

 rendon, and a host of courtiers, now only 

 known by the curious reader. In addition 

 to these, the characters of Izaak Walton 

 and other worthies pass under review, as 

 actors, and even the wealthy biirgoni.uster 

 is minutely delineated. The plague and 

 the fire of I>ondon occurring during the 

 period, are described ; and the liero, with 

 dramatic truth, introduced in both these 

 scenes. The heroines are neither of them 

 common-place, nor drawn by an ordinary 

 writer ; Constantia is a perfect model of a 

 noble enthusiast, such as is yet to be found 

 among her sex ; Julia is a masterly and 

 beautiful character. The subordinate agents, 

 with scarcely an exception, are well con- 

 ceived and supported. From such mate- 

 rials, with no common talent possessed by 

 the autlior, it would be cxtraordinaiy if an 

 interesting novel had not been produced. 

 It is now our duty, after rather a hunied 

 perusal, to offer our opinion on tlie dramatic 

 structure of the work, the composition of 

 the various parts, the style in which it is 

 written, and the tendency of it as a work to 

 be generally read by the community. 



It does not appear to us that the dramatic 

 structure was clearlyandfirmlyoutlhied, and 

 afterwards filled in, harmonized, and finished 

 with a bold and masterly hand, obejnng the 

 regulated imagination of a mind, conscious 

 of being able to mould his subject and his 

 characters to his Avill, and to make them 

 all perform their parts, as if compelled by- 

 destiny, to produce the climax he intended. 

 The dramatic texture is in some parts im- 

 perfect, in others dependent for its con- 

 catenation on improbable and insignificant 



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