ALLERTON AND DREW; OR THE WAR OF OPINION. * THIS fiction
combines in a singular degree the manner of the old school and of the new. There is the minute description of scenery, and people of the old school, with the particular elaboration of common occurrences, and the. metaphysical history of the prin- cipal dramatis personae • things which gave great truth and fidelity to their pictures, making the reader familiar with place and periOn, though it tasked patience by overlayin,"a the business of the story, and rendered the narrative somewhat" slow." On the other side, the author of Allerton and Drew imparts a modern richness of colour to his pictures ; but, as is generally the case in modern pictures, the artist is made a prominent part of the art. The sentiment of the writer, too, is of the day, as well as the so- cial opinions and manners on which his story is founded, and the actors and incidents of the story.itself.
In this story, at least in this book, there are a variety of cir- cumstances. Deaths or afflictions are pretty numerous : the father and mother of the heroine die, so do the children of her adoptive uncle ; and the intellect of his wife fails : many people and some sections of provincial society are sketched, and well sketched : yet amid all this the reader feels he has not only got no clue to the story but has not even got to the beginning. It is not till he is half through the first thick volume that he falls in with the two divines Messrs. Drew and Allerton, who give their own names to the work. He is nearly half through the book before he reaches the " medias res" and fairly feels himself on the trail. The in- troduction is almost two-thirds of the whole, yet the reader has no clear idea of what he has to be introduced to. No doubt, it is all very well done. The scenes in the quiet country parish where Marion Greyson was born and her father the rector died—where his successor and her adoptive uncle Mr. Raeburn lived and suf- fired, till the death of Marion's mother and her own almost wo- manhood—together with the most remarkable incidents of daily life that may occur in so long a period—are told naturally and truthfully. But where a story is to be narrated excellence of de- piction does not suffice. In a picture, for example, the composition is the first thing, and no merit in the execution of parts can make up for the want of it.
When we get to the story, it is not very artistically managed. It wants directness ; subordinate incidents are made too much of; the tale is dragged along by circumstances too trivial. The real action of the book is the marriage of Drew to Marion, and of Al- lerton to Drew's sister. The cause why Marion rejects Drew at first is little more than that the flattered parson seemed to rely too much upon himself; the reason of Allerton's first refusal is that he is Tractarian and Drew Evangelical, and the suitor thinks lightly of the doctrine of the new birth. The way by which these diffi- culties are postponed, to be finally overcome, involves various in- cidents and changes of fortune, with sketches of a provincial town disturbed by religious divisions; Allerton's Tractarian curate, Hewly, being .painted in very dark and yet ridiculous colours. The follow_ ing is a dinner appearance, described in a familiar letter.
"Frank and I drew Mr. Hewly out in a way that does one good to think of. You know he is always a very grave man, and as he was desirous that day to be agreeable, he was then intensely so. "The solemnity with which he asked Helen to take wine was glorious ; the earnest empressement be imparted to his great black eyes, when he in- quired whether she preferred the liver or the gizzard-wing, was something delicious to behold ; the sombre gravity with which he besought her to take some woodcock almost petrified her,—there was something tragic in the tone with which he assured lier that it was excellent, and very young.' "His helping her to cheese was perfect. He did it as if it was a matter of life and death. Some ladies, he observed, in his slow, solemn voice, preferred
• Allerton and Drew: or the War of Opinion. By the Author of "A Rhyming Chronicle." In two volumes. Published by Wertheim and Macintosh.
the blue mould ; but for his part, he agreed with Mr. Bishop (here a low bow) that the brown was better.
"All this ho did himself; afterwards we helped him a little. We-hoisted him on to one of his hobbies, and he rode it gloriously.
"He began to talk about himself, and extolled the practice of self-denial ; in which all present could join without joking : but he went on to remark, that he always made a point of denying himself some elegant little luxury, excepting upon the festivals of the Church.
" 'Upon those days, the better to bear them in remembrance,' he said, always drink lump sugar in my tea.'
" On other days, I suppose, you take moist ? ' said Frank Maidley, with an expression of deferential interest.
" ' I used to do,' he replied, flattered to be 'so noticed, ' but lately I have thought it better to make a still more marked difference by abstaining alto- gether.'
" How interesting !' said Frank, with a deep sigh.
"'From one thing to another we drew him. He felt himself a lion, a ztersol.i ,of interest, and 'roared' for our entertainment like any sucking
It may be doubted whether clergymen are proper heroes for love-tales. If they are genuine lovers, the reader feels the want of his idea of consistency in their professional character ; if this ideal consistency is preserved, they are above sublunary affections : the exceptional seeming case is a clergyman married before the story begins ; but, then, he is not a hero. Allerton and Drew aro too like the general run of young, earnest, gentlemanly clergymen, met with everywhere, to excite the sympathy of the reader. The cloth, as well as the want of art in the management of the story, may have something to do with the slowness that certainly at- tends the narrative ; so that the book is better read as if it were a series of essays and sketches strung together by a connecting link, than as a novel. In this point of view it is deserving of high praise, for its pictures of rural scenery, its portraits of manners, and its exhibition of provincial society. To stick to the ostensible subject of the writer, the present action of religious differences, the following is a keen touch of modern female disciples.
" Besides these ladies, there was another set, who had always professed themselves 'very fond of religion and all that sort of thing,' and who yet contrived to enjoy such of the pleasures of the world as were within their reach, in connexion with this sort of half profession. These were among the first to declare themselves 'greatly edified by dear Mr. Allerton's excellent discourses': in proof of which edification, they always abstained from giving tea-parties on Fridays—took care to attend service on every saint's day— talked about the Anglican branch of the Holy Catholic Church—wore slight mourning during Lent—spoke of the Reformation with a shake of the head— talked with rapture of the ancient custom of confession, and hoped that privilege would soon be restored to us.' "These ladies caricatured all Mr. Allerton's opinions, and caused him infi- nite vexation. They were a set of retainers whom he would fain have been rid of. They had a book-club of their own—most of the books had deco- rated margins ; and to hear some of them talk, one might have been led to suppose that they conceived the distinction between them and their late friends, the Evangelical party, to lie chiefly in some such trivial peculiari- ties as dress, form, and fashion. They had never troubled themselves much with the doctrines of either party ; consequently, when they apparently came over to Mr. Allerton's side, they had no better way of deciding to which set' a clergyman belonged than by observing whether he preached in his black gown ; and of certain people they would affirm that it was im- possible they could be High Church, because they had no fish on a Friday."
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