the Higgledies kept all to themselves, with all its profits and honours, in order that the Piggledies, by their efforts to get into it also, might never want a motive to keep the country in its normal state of uproar and disorder. At length a more powerful neighbouring state, the Whitelanders, envious of the prosperity of the people of HiggledyPiggledy in the possession of this inestimable domestic treasure, determined to rob them of it, and actually committed the robbery about the beginning of the present century. To the Higgledies this was perhaps a serious blow, but the Piggledies might have been expected to have rather rejoiced than grieved at it. The contrary, however, took place. The Piggledies have been howling like maniacs from that day to this for the restoration of their native Harem-Scarem, an assembly into which they were never suffered to put their snouts."Vol. i. pp. 354–358.

"The Protestant population belonging to the Established Church consisted of a grocer, a publican, two tailors, three policemen, and four revenue-officers, with their respective complements of wives and children. The Presbyterians numbered one shoemaker, two blacksmiths, a baker, a carpenter, and a wheel-wright. There was one Quaker, who met in his own house; and the rest of the burghers of all trades and vocations, a vast majority of the entire population, were Roman Catholics, principally M'Swynes, with the few O'Gogarties, races of old renown in the county, but generally at feud with one another." Vol. ii., pp. 16, 17.

The efforts of the Spensers and Woodwards to civilise these people are told us in a description of the spinning-schools, and other educational institutions, which they superintend. Dabzac bears everything except the extraordinary conduct, as he esteems it, of Spenser's asking the parish priest to dinner:

"It was a chapter of Irish history to mark how the colonel looked at the priest just as if he was a dog, or the priest of a religion in which a dog was the divinity. Father Magrath, on the other hand, eyed the colonel with the defiant air of a man who felt that he represented the people, and that the cause of the people was conquering and to conquer.' The intense enmity with which they regarded one another was, indeed, the means of keeping the peace between them; for, feeling that any converse must inevitably lead to a warmth of altercation incompatible with good manners, particularly in ladies' company, they refrained, by mutual consent, from holding any intercourse whatsoever."-Vol. ii., p. 34.

The report of the tithe proctor's having been robbed has already reached the parsonage; and Mrs. Spenser has made her husband write to the chief secretary, to obtain military protection in this lawless state of the country. "My Uncle the Curate" suspects that Dawson himself has something to say to the adventure. Sydney has not yet returned. Is a visit to the island to be delayed till his return? say the young ladies, for he will bring Dawson with him; and Dawson, at all times detestable, could never be less welcome than at the time of Dabzac's visit. So to the island they go; the Spensers in a smart cutter of their own-the Woodwards in a stout, wellbuilt smack, called after Hercules's fat wife, the "Caroline."

No,

It is a glorious day. The young Spensers a younger brood than those with whom we are chiefly concernedare all alive with joyousness. Their cousins, the Woodwards-for the curate's fat wife is the rector's sistertrained to bolder and hardier habits, scamper over rock and mountain. They are startled at the sight of a Newfoundland dog, and they soon find that there are other visitors on the island. Lord Bonham's friends, for whose safety the late storm had made Spenser anxious, have taken possession of the spot, and are making themselves as comfortable as they can with stores from their pleasure-bark, which has escaped with as little real injury as if a Prospero and Ariel had again combined to array incidents of but seeming danger, and hasten on the destinies of these summer mariners. As surely as Arabella is made for our lieutenant

colonel, and our lieutenant-colonel for Arabella, so surely must Elizabeth find a lover blown to her by this most propitious storm. She and Vivyan meet for the first time on the enchanted island. But another of her lovers makes his appearance at the pic-nic— no other than Mr. Dawson, who, with Sydney, follows the party. We learn, in the course of the day, that Dawson is about to become M.P. for the borough of Rottenham.

Acquaintanceship, of course, grows out of the incidents of the day, and, on a visit to the parsonage, we have the following playful description:

"Now you shall hear, Mr. Vivyan, how well our Echo understands the state of Ireland.'

"Then the rector proceeded to catechise the nymph as follows, taking care to pronounce the final words of each sentence in a sufficiently loud tone.

"What is the chief source of the evils of Ireland? Echo-Land.

"What is the state of Munster?— Stir.

"What are they doing in Connaught? -Naught

Why don't they reclaim their morasses? Asses.

"Should we not incite them to industry?-Try.

Inform us what the derivation of Erin is ?-Erinnys.

Then the curate, with his stentorian lungs, proposed the following interrogatories, shaped with a view to show that the Echo was of his way of thinking:

"What would you give the Catholics? -Licks.

"Who best deserves a fat rectory?Tory.

But the Echo answered questions of another kind, equally to the satisfaction of the company; for, on being asked

666 In what wine shall we drink the health of Colonel Dabzac?' the airy tongue replied, with the same promptitude and sharp distinctness-'Sack.' Vol. ii., pp. 108, 109.

The manners of the people of Redcross are necessarily the subject of some attention to the English visitors. The rector insisted they were improving-slowly, very slowly, however. He scarcely succeeds in proving that there is any change for the better :

"It was an unlucky day for the poor citizens of Redcross, for, as the party rode through that part of the town,

which the M'Swynes principally occupied, and where the houses were gene rally thatched, a most diverting and surprising scene presented itself. The inhabitants were observed, some perched like birds, others lying on their faces, upon the roofs of their humble dwellings, for what purpose the Englishman tried in vain to conjecture.

"It is an Oriental custom,' said Markham, and perhaps confirms what I have heard stated, that the Irish are of Eastern and Hebrew origin.'

"The Spensers smiled at this learned solution, but Vivyan naturally wondered how they could enjoy this house-top recreation in such a high wind.

66 6

Why don't you come down,' he asked, until the gale abates a little?'

"On the contrary,' said Mr. Spenser, they will never come down while the gale lasts; if they did, their roofs would be blown into the air.'”—Vol. ii., pp. 136, 137.

"As to his patriotism and public spirit, they were hereditary; he prized his country too highly to sell her for a trifle, and he thought it the indefeasible right of an Irish gentleman to have a parliament of his own, wherein to carry his jobs. The last generation had driven their parliamentary trade in College Green, and he saw no reason why the present should be forced to do their dirty work at Westminster ;-so far was Dudley a thoroughly sincere repealer."-Vol. ii., pp. 245-247.

We have told of the fears of Mrs. Spenser, and how they led her to wish for military protection at the parsonage. This was refused; but, through some interference of Dawson's, for the purpose of ingratiating himself with Mrs. Spenser, a party of police were sent there, to the great annoyance of Mr. Spenser. The scene in the antechamber of the Chief Secretary of Dublin Castle is a very amusing one, and has the appearance of being a sketch from some actual realities::

"There were circumstances connected with this first act of Mr. Dudley Dawson in his parliamentary character which incline us to describe it in some little detail.

"He excited not a little attention as he swaggered one day about five o'clock into the waiting-room of the Castle, generally thronged about that hour with officials having appointments on business, deputations, suitors, claimants, expectants, political quacks hawking their sovereign remedies for all manner of public disorders and social evils, newsmongers, outrage-mongers, vote-mongers, pamphleteers (dirty fellows, some of them, in more ways than one), reporters, messengers, loungers, tattlers, idlers, and spectators. It was capital to overhear the different little groups into which the assembly was divided whispering together, and mutually despising and abusing one another as hirelings, place-hunters, and Castle-hacks. Mr. Trundle was there with his address to the Crown and enormous chart of Loch Swilly, determined to see the Chief Secretary, who, upon his part, was equally determined not to see Mr. Trundle. A Mr. Fosberry was there also, as great a bore in his way as Trundle, with his pockets full of samples of all kinds of guano, liquid and solid. He perfumed the ante-room in not the most agreeable way.

"A well-known, clever, and popular attorney, Tom Conolly by name, was there amongst the rest, having some little business of his own to transact, and beguiling the time before his interview with poignant jests and humorous anecdotes, keeping a large circle in fits of laughter. Conolly was the shrewdest, cleverest, pleasantest, jolliest limb of the law that ever the sweet south, whence he came (and which alone could have produced him) contributed to the hall of the Four-Courts. He had fun enough to make a dozen funny fellows, and he knew more law than all the place-hunting barristers put together. His electioneering talents were matchless ;→ craft, daring, good-humour, with a strong voluble court-house elocution-a Machiavelli in the committee-room, a Wilkes on the hustings. His broad round face was as full of sensible drollery as the part of one of Shakspeare's clowns. It was intensely Irish; its music, if faces are musical, played 'Patrick's-day,' or The Boys of Kilkenny,' audibly. He looked comedy, and he spoke farce-the comedy, Goldsmith's ; the farce, O'Keefe's. His lips quivered with mirth, and he had an eye for the

"There was incessant ringing of bells, the Chief Secretary's bell, the Under Secretary's bell, and other bells, which kept such a jangling as was never before heard, except in a Flemish town, or in Mr. Spenser's house, when his wife was hysterical. Tom Conolly pretended that he knew by the bells what the result of each interview was. If a bell rang sharply and waspishly, the last person introduced was no favourite; the Secretary was provoked by his application, and impatient to get rid of him. If it rang steadily, and not immediately after the bowing out, an impression had been produced, and the claim was worth consideration. All this time the messengers and junior clerks were bustling to and fro, some with red boxes, some with black, some with bundles of papers, some taking cards and letters from those in waiting, and promising to hand them in at the very first opportunity. Dawson arrested one of the messengers, and said, in an authoritative tone, that he wanted to see Lord

"Impossible, sir, to-day,' said the ready fellow.

Dawson blazed up, and presenting his card, ordered the messenger to hand it instantly to the Chief Secretary: adding, so that the whole ante-room heard him, I'm a member of parliament.'

Everybody looked at the self-advertised legislator, and Conolly, who was acquainted with everything and everybody, soon made it known who Dawson was, telling stories of his father and grandfather, and the Dawson nose, which forced his audience to hold their sides.

"Mr. Dawson,' said the Secretary, without sitting down, I was sorry to be under the necessity of refusing Mr. Spenser's application for a military force; indeed, he wanted some pieces of cannon, which was quite out of the question; but, to the extent of a small detachment of police, I have no objection to comply with his wishes and yours. As long as I hold office, the clergy shall be protected, and whenever you have any favour to ask on their behalf I shall be always happy to see you, either here or in London.'

"As he made this speech, he bowed the member out of the room as adroitly as if he had studied the rules Mr. Taylor gives in his Statesman' for putting an abrupt end to official conferences."Vol. ii., pp. 249-260.

The machinery of the novelist is very much the same as that of actual life. The passions and intrigues of servants, and their unsuspected contrivances to carry out some small objects of their own, disturb the arrangements of your imaginary Spensers and Woodwards, no less than similar interferences with our happiness in real life. Miss M'Cracken, the nursery governess, has humbled herself to being the mere toady of Mrs. Spenser. She poisons her mind with every ma lignant vapour of report that circulates through the village, and stupifies her frame with laudanum, prohibited by Mrs. Spenser's physicians, but clandestinely procured and administered by Miss M'Cracken. She it is who suggests to Dawson the means of conciliating Mrs. Spenser; and Dawson's energies are kept awake to the carrying out every object of Miss M'Craken, by his strange passion for Elizabeth.

The party of police sent down to the parsonage soon complicates the story, by making Miss M Cracken herself a sort of an heroine. A young policeman, the son of a respectable family, wins her heart. He loses his place in the police; but, through Dawson's interest, gets an appointment in the excise. Miss M'Cracken fears that her prey may escape, and her mind is given to the object of getting the family to Dublin. This is easily managed. Threatening notices are written, in a tone of furious patriotism, and determinate resistance to titheswritten by Miss M'Cracken herself; but, between Mrs. Spenser's fears and the alarm excited, the family leave the parsonage for Dublin.

Sydney is sent to Cambridge, chiefly to save him from the contamination of Dawson's society. Dawson had, however, already taught him to contract debts in the little village of Redcross, and the lessons there learned are repeated on a large scale at Cambridge.

A number of concurring circumstances seem to fasten on Sydney the guilt of having robbed the tithe-proc

tor.

His own exceeding weakness, in not stating the facts of his debts in the village, and of having paid some of them with money won at play from one of Dawson's associates, and which proved to be part of the spoil taken from Randy, leaves little doubt of his guilt. The disentanglement of the web in which accident and the frauds of Dawson have involved him, is the chief business of the latter part of the story.

We must not tell all our author's secrets. Hercules must, no doubt, die an archdeacon, or something of the kind; but how this is brought about we know, and will not tell. In fact, we have already told too much of the story; but as we have said, no analysis can give the faintest ception of the real merits of this novel.

con

We wish we had more room for extracts. The chapter entitled "Dawson in Parliament," is excellent. Tom Conolly reappears, and his comments are at least as amusing as those with which he delighted the strange circle in the antechambers at Dublin Castle. Serious distress arises to the rector and his family from Sydney's Cambridge doings, and these are among the most affecting passages of the book.

Our author seems to hold the pen of a rapid writer. This is decidedly his best novel. We trust soon again to meet him. He is plainly a young writer, and we anticipate from him higher things, as he gradually acquires from the acknowledged excellence of these volumes, and of the "Falcon Family," more entire confidence in his own powers, and feels more full assurance, than it is possible any one but a writer familiar with the effects which his works produce on the public mind can feel, of the entire sympathy of his readers.

As to the story itself, we close our account of it with Scott's verses at the close of Rokeby :—

"Time and Tide had thus their sway,
Yielding like an April day,
Smiling noon for suilen morrow,
Years of joy for hours of sorrow."

A.