A new feeling woke within his heart. Hitherto all his longings had been for power and wealth; now arose that deep sense of the beautiful, that worship of the spirit of loveliness, that passion for the divine in forms, whose genuine out-pourings live for ever in the triumph of the poet, the painter, and the sculptor. The future of Walter Euston was contained in this first event. Young, ardent, self-relying, he yet wept in despair as he thought of the lowness of his present state, and the height of that to which he aspired. "If I give up hope," thought Walter, "I shall never rise. Let me hope on, though only to meet with disappointment at last; it is better to perish in pursuit of a noble goal, than basely to shrink from the race. Let me never cease to endeavour to make myself worthy of a thought from her, even though a thought be all." Thus, in the indulgence of vain hopes and sweet delusions did Walter grow up, till the time came when he was to quit the scene of his illusive happiness. Each moment of intercourse only showed him more plainly the hopelessness of his attachment, yet it was beyond his strength to keep it longer concealed from its object. And delightfully clever is that first avowal narrated. A pleasing allegory of earth and sky ever seeking to meet, nay, actually meeting on the horizon, but as the fair Lady Augusta haughtily remarked, "never mingling." Nor do they ever mingle. The Lady Augusta is, at the end of the story, a widowed marchioness; and Walter, is Sir Walter, attorneygeneral, and M.P. for Exeter. But his old romantic attachment is still "the one bright spot on an hemisphere of darkness-the heavenward part of a spirit too much given to the things of earth.” The history of the misplaced attachment of a protégé constitutes, however, but one picture in a whole gallery of social portraits. There is fiery Lord Clifton, who falls in love with a retired, almost unknown, beauty, Emily Chester, and then with true aristocratic magnanimity retires before the young girl's acknowledged preference for a more humble suitor, Henry Dalstone. Henry being in reality her own cousin, a long separation from a profligate husband having induced Mrs. Chester to adopt that name, instead of her real one, Mrs. Dalstone. Then we have Lord Ernest, a sketch of a religious enthusiast of the day, ultimately carried, by the spirit struggling with the body, to an early grave. The sketches of some of the country people are of a more lively and entertaining character. The Bells, "that sweet family," of four or five daughters and as many sons, are especially amusing. Mrs. Bell was anxious that her daughters should be admired, and particularly anxious that they should be married. The style she adopted for them suited them admirably; they were to appear the most innocent, artless, unsophisticated of beings-the most complete" children of nature" in the world. The only marrying men in the north are clergymen; therefore, the Miss Bells were drilled to perfection in the outward qualities requisite for a clergyman's wife they never dressed too gaily or fashionably; they did not care about dancing, though always ready to stand up rather than spoil a party; they were particularly great in carrying jugs of new milk, or bundles of clothing made up in a picturesque manner, to invalided old women; they were very fond of babies; they had good profiles, so they wore round straw hats, and as they had fine hair, these hats were continually falling off; their affection for all manner of animals was extreme, and displayed itself in all kinds of pretty little screams and squalls at the sight of any infliction of punishment, necessary or not, upon any canine or equine individual. Two of the Misses Bell were married to respectable clergymen, and as the system seemed to answer, the remaining ones followed in their steps. The Drewitts," the popular family," were plain, so they went on another tack, and every nerve was strained to obtain a fashionable and becoming toilette. "They were intended," says Mrs. Ponsonby, 66 as excellent wives for country gentlemen with moderate fortunes, who wanted elegance and economy combined." Then we have the aristocratic but poor St. Aubyns. Laura St. Aubyn playing a prominent part in the story, as the disappointed lover of Lord Clifton, and the unhappy wife of the ever-victimised Dodds. Associated with the latter name is also a strange episode of the extraordinary powers of infatuation that belonged to a certain Countess A, a fair foreign intriguante, the same who had taken Mr. Dalstone from his allegiance, and the same to whom a fortune and a title were left by an English Lord H Mason, Merryweather, and Mallet, college chums of the Lords Clifton and Ernest, who came down into peaceful Cumberland to pursue their studies, to participate in the hospitalities of Bassenthwaite, and to excite hopes among the Bells and the Drewitts, are all amusing, life-like characters. A curious change takes place in Mallet's habits, when the Bassenthwaite family provide him at once with a wife and a living. "Do you like the medical men here?" inquired Augusta, by way of something to say. "For myself I do," was the reply; "but when Mr. Mallet feels poorly, he always goes to town: as I always say, it is better to go to the fountain-head at once. The last time he went to consult Dr. C, the doctor prescribed strengthening things and stimulants. Mr. Mallet informed me, on his return, that he would be obliged in future to live very differently from the style in which he should like to live. Meat and eggs for breakfast; meat and porter, and wine, and nourishing soups, and oysters, and jellies, and rich puddings, and only the finest fruit, and salmon, and poultry and game, for luncheons and dinners; and particularly liqueur with his coffee; that Dr. C― made a point of, to assist the digestion; and, on no account, to retire to rest without a glass or two of brandy-and-water; and to use carriage exercise; and to wear flannel and wash-leather; and your ladyship knows how unpleasant these restrictions are to him with his simple tastes." "Are his tastes then so simple ?" asked Augusta, thinking to herself that Mrs. Mallet seemed at least as simple as her husband's tastes. "So he tells me," was the answer; "he tells me that, but for his health, which he feels it his duty to preserve, he should live on the plainest fare, and never enter a carriage." "It is hard upon him," said Augusta, "to be forced to become a martyr to such a necessity." These extracts will suffice to indicate the kaleidoscope variety of the "Protégé," a work which contains abundant evidence of quick observation of the peculiarities of English society. MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. THE fourth volume of The Romance of War, by James Grant, Esq., carries the Highlanders to France and Belgium; and it derives great interest from the history of the 92nd at Waterloo-an episode in battle exploits almost without a parallel. The spot where the gallant little remnant of the Gordons, for they were reduced to about two hundred men, drove back a column of the French army, many thousand strong, at the point of the bayonet, and that after a corps of Belgians, and the 44th English, had been obliged to retire before their overwhelming force, is still pointed out to the wayfarer at Haye, near Mont St. Jean. Never was this most successful charge, nor the desperate onslaught of the Scots Greys, which followed it up, described with more spirit and animation than in Mr. Grant's work. It must also be remembered, that this total overthrow of the French occurred at the extreme left of the position of the allies; that is to say at the same point at which the Prussians advanced upon the sixth corps of the French army of reserve; and although this reserve would undoubtedly have remained to be disposed of, still it is quite certain that Sir Dennis Pack's brigade, aided by the Scots Greys, had, before the arrival of this timely succour, totally and finally overthrown that portion of the enemy which was immediately opposed to it, and which was intended by Napoleon to carry its position. The tenth volume of Agnes Strickland's important work, the Lives of the Queens of England, contains the sequel of the career of Mary Beatrice of Modena, queen-consort of James II., and the first chapters in the history of Mary ÎI., queen-regnant. It is unnecessary, in a standard work of this kind, to do more than call attention to the progress of pub lication. Theological controversies are quite out of the way of a purely literary magazine, otherwise we should say Happy Ignorance; or, Church and State contains many opinions from which we dissent, but which are, at the same time, advanced in a pleasing and insinuating manner. The all-accomplished Count d'Orsay, the modern Admirable Crichton, has been induced, by Messrs. Chapman and Hall, to edit a translation of a pretty pastoral French tale, Marie. Mr. Dunn's, almost microscopic, Dictionary of the Gospels, published by Messrs. W. Tegg and Co., is decidedly a most useful, as well as a cheap and well got up, little book.. We see no reason why even Herodotus should not be popularised. Mr. Burns has apparently entertained the same idea, and has published stories from the father of history, which have been properly sifted (not translated) by Charles C. Moberly. These so-called "Stories" are so arranged as to present the great facts of Grecian history, in connexion with the Persian, in a captivating and lively manner. We shall hope to speak hereafter more at length of Jobert's Philosophy of Geology. In the meantime, we notice the publication of a translation of that curious and speculative work, by Messrs. Simpkin and Marshall. Sylvan's Pictorial Handbook to the English Lakes, with maps by James Wyld, and upwards of one hundred illustrations from original sketches by Thomas and Edward Gilks, is the commencement of a happy idea, cleverly adapted to the present taste, and which will supply travellers and tourists with by far the best got up and most inviting series of guidebooks extant. The work is published by John Johnstone, and it is much to be hoped that the series will prosper. THE NEW MONTIILY MAGAZINE AND HUMORIST. CONTENTS FOR AUGUST. THE KING OF PRUSSIA'S NEW YEAR'S GIFT. BY THE AUTHOR LOST AND FOUND. A FACT FROM THE SOUTH COAST PAGE . 379 THE OUT-STATION: OR, JAUNTS IN THE JUNGLE. BY J. WIL- BY J. E. CARPENTER, ESQ. THE BUNDLE OF RAGS. THE ENCHANTED PRINCESS. FROM THE SWEDISH LIFE AND REMINISCENCES OF THOMAS CAMPBELL. BY CYRUS 393 . 394 THE PRIEST OF ISIS. AN EGYPTIAN ROMANCE. BY THE AU- SECRET HISTORY OF THE COURT, MINISTRY, AND TIMES OF . 461 . 469 . 487 . 494 . 500 A GRAYBEARD'S GOSSIP ABOUT HIS LITERARY ACQUAINTANCE. Mr. AINSWORTH begs it to be distinctly understood that no Contributions whatever sent him, either for the NEW MONTHLY or AINSWORTH'S MAGAZINES will be returned. All articles are sent at the risk of the writers, who should invariably keep copies. THE AUGUST NUMBER OF AINSWORTH'S MAGAZINE. EDITED BY W. HARRISON AINSWORTH, ESQ. Contents. I. JAMES THE SECOND; OR, THE REVOLUTION OF 1688. AN HISTORICAL ROMANCE. EDITED BY W. HARRISON AINSWORTH, ESQ. ILLUSTRATED BY R. W. BUSS. BOOK THE FOURTH.-Chap. IV. Thornleydown Inn.-Chap. V. Salisbury Plain.-Chap. VI. The Flight of Sunderland.-Chap. VII. The Royal Nurs ry.-Chap.VIII. The Restoration of the City Charter. II. THE EVENING STAR. BY THOMAS ROSCOE, ESQ. III. AL PENDURADA. BY WILLIAM H. G. KINGSTON, ESQ. IV. THE HUNCHBACK AND THE FAIRIES. GEND. BY W. HUGHES, ESQ. A BRETON LE I. How Benead Guilcher got rid of his Hump.-II. How Perr Balibouzik got Guilcher's Hump.-III. How Guilcher paid his Debt. V. THE GIFT OF MIND. BY MRS. PONSONBY. VI. BETTER THAN IT PROMISED. BY MRS. WHITE. VII. THE ANGEL EAGLES. A LEGEND OF LONG ISLAND. BY FRANCIS WYMAN. VIII. LAUNCELOT WIDGE. BY CHARLES HOOTON, ESQ. CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIFTH.-Affectionate discourse between Launcelot and his Father. CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SIXTH.-The Robbery. CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SEVENTH.-Gabriel reads his Son a few Heads for IX. THE ISLANDS AND SHORES OF THE PACIFIC. X. SUGGESTED BY GIBSON'S STATUE OF QUEEN VICTORIA. BY THOMAS ROSCOE, ESQ. XI. THE GASCONS OF 1585; OR, THE "" FORTY-FIVE." HISTORICAL ROMANCE. BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS. AN I. The Gate of Saint Antoine.-II. The Muster of the Forty-Five.-III. XII. A MAN IN THE HOUSE. XIII. SIR HARRY SMITH. BY E. P. ROWSELL, ESQ. A SONG FOR ENGLAND'S SOLDIER. XIV. NOVELS OF THE MONTH. I. Grantley Manor.-II. Russell: a Tale of the Reign of Charles II.- CHAPMAN AND HALL, 186, STRAND. |