THURLSTON TALES.

THIS is a work of considerable power, and very readable withal. The author is a man of a vigorous mind, well versed in the know- ledge of human nature, and possessed both of a poetical imagi- nation and a vein of humour. His narratives, like those of Scorr, contain few incidents ; but they are interesting and striking, and the scenes are wrought up with great dramatic effect. The Tales are pleasantly set, in a series of letters which are con] tinned at intervals throughout the work, and contain many lively descriptions and strokes of character. They are suppo:ed to be written by a certain Mr. Selby Thurlston to a friend ; and give an account of his residence at an old house in the country with a hypochondriacal uncle—an eccentric humori,t, who is at once a stout and hearty bon vivant and a prey to the attacks of all man- ner of imaginary diseases. The expedient of collecting, from such sources as the neighbourhood afibrded, old traditions and narra- tives, is resorted to by the nephew, in order to dispel his uncle's " thick-coming faneies."

The first tale, "Julian Grey," tells of' witchcraft,—not imagi- nary, but actual witchcraft, the result of a compact with the Devil himself, who is a prominent person of the drama. A poor woman, Julian Grey, who has been driven to despair by the seduction and abandonment alter only daughter, and the oppression she suffers from the wife of the lordly seducer, is selected by the Prince of Darkness as a likely victitn. She yields to his temptations ; be- comes his servant ; assists at the nocturnal orgies carried on under his presidency ; and exercises her supernatural power by torturing her haughty oppressor to the death. All this seems ridiculous in a tale written for the edification of this enlightened age; still, however, it is told with power enough to make a con- siderable impression on the imagination and the feelings. The introduction of the brokenhearted girl and her infant is very pathetic; and there are strokes of wild grandeur in the scenes of diablerie. Take the following as a specimen. Julian Grey is setting out to her first nocturnal festival, along with some other lost wretches like herself.

In the mean while, though it thundered and rained as if the elements were desirous of proving the efficacy of the behlam's spell, Joan Smith produeed a vial containing oil of a greenish hue, pith which she anointed the hands and temples of Julian Grey, and afterwards perfoi inert the same ceremony on herself and her evil helpmate; and Julian, without marking the means by which she had been removed from her abode, suddenly felt herself sailing gently through the air, in company with her two associates; while, as they proceeded, the lightning flashed around them as if it enclosed them in a sea of name; the thunder burst, rolled, and bellowed over their heads; arid the rain, falling in unbroken sheets of water, swelled the stream that ran from the uplands, through the park of Lyndwootl, till it overflowed its banks acd deluged the sunoumling plains, the spoils of which were seen floating on its surface, a wide-spreading wreck of up- ratted trees, scattered hay-ricks, demolished barns, and drowning cattle.

" This is a holyday-night for thee, wench ; Satan doth the honour," exclaimed Alice Duke, eyeing the ruin beneath her with malignant exultation. " Look you at the corn-stacks swimming along there; dime goes some rich farmer's hoards. Devil sink them all ! I hope he bath not a grain left in his granary."

" Ay ! and there comes a man floundering after them," cried Joan. " Ha, ha, ha! Look how the knave hobs up and down in the water, as if lie were playing at bo-peep with the lightning. Ha, ha, Ito! he has got his bellyful of it, now. See how he stretches himself out. Look how his eves strain : strain them as much as you list, neighbour, they will neveragain look upon fat capons and humming ale. Odds-bobs! old fox, why don't you cry yoi tally-ho, and set your hounds on a witch again. Here we be, a good three of us. What dolt gape for ; ben't the water to his taste, ay? IIa, ha, ha! a little muddy or 80 ; but try again, man ; gulp it down till you burst."

" Oh, oh ! there are his wife and brats running down the river-side to seek 'der him," exclaimed Alice, chuckling, like her sister hag, with fiendish glee. "Ay, ay, you may tear your hair, my dainty doe; husband and hay-stack are both gone together. With my good will you should find your house in flames when you get back. I know you, mistress: when I asked charity of you once, and begged you to be liberal as you were rich, 'twas you who told me that in- dustry had raised you from poverty, and that I might be as rich as another if I would give over my idle ways. You will have to put your industrious ways to the proof now, I can tell you, my frisky ewe of Lynnwood." While this rancorous discourse was kept up by her companions, Julian had the utmost difficulty to restrain herself from taking delight, both in their mirth and its occasion. She was even on the point of clapping her hands together with pleasure, as she looked down upon the desolaf beneath her, while words of scoffing and evil exultation rose to her tongue ; and had she not been restrained by the utmost repugnance to join heartily in fellowship with the hags beside her, whom, though she consorted with them, she hated from her very soul, she felt that she should have shown the same fiendish satisfaction as themselves at the misfortunes she witnessed. She was aware also of a singular kind of grati- fication which she experienced in the tumult of the storm through which she rode, without effort, and without fear ; and though her mind was hurried, and her ideas confused, and she almost fancied herself in a dream, yet she was but too conscious that she participated voluntarily in these diabolical enjoyments. She resisted, with a proud and rebellious spirit, the call of a small voice which seemed to say, " Juitao, go no further ; as of me, and I will save you; go for- ward, and you are lost ;" and she shook aside the terror which this warning in- spired, and eagerly sought to deafen her ear to its advice, by attending to the unhsllowed glee of her companions.

Those who, in the pride of intellect, think it below them to take any pleasure in a fiction like this, will please to recollect that GOETHE'S Faust—the great work of the most philosophical poet of the last hundred years—is of a description precisely similar. In that drama, a young student falls into the power of "the Enemy " in consequence of indulging an inordinate desire for for- bidden knowledge. In our tale, an injured and desperate woman yields to temptation from the hope of vengeance on the authors of her miseries. The latter motive is the more natural and cogent of the two; and the records of witchcraft show that, from it, thou- sands of wretches have devoted themselves to the serf ice of Satan, and have firmly believed themselves in the exercise of the powers thereby conferred upon them. If Faust has a moral, so has "Julian Grey,"—a moral, indeed, obvious and impressive; for it is impossible to contemplate the unavailing struggles of principle, conscience, and human feeling, with the all-conquering thirst of vengeance, without thinking that we are all liable to a similar temptation, and that, though" the Devil" may not actually appear before us, he is always at hand to apply it.

We have said more about this story than we mean to say of the others; not because it is the best, but because it presents the most obvious mark to criticism. The remaining tales are entitled "The Bachelor and the Bride" and "Damville." They both relate to the period of the civil dissensions in England about the middle of

the seventreth century, and give a lively picture of the state of the country at that time. "Datnville," we think, is the best in the series. There is touch of the manner of Scuff in the delineation of the hero,—a noble and high-spirited,but reckless and dissipated cavalier,—and of his appreheusive adherent, whose conscience never fails to snide him for the profligacy 4:1 his life whenever danger appears, lint gives him no further trouble when it is over. The best parts of these sales are too closely interwoven with the plot to whnit of extinct. The following picture, however, of a group of Cornish " Wreckers," in the opening of " Dantville," may be detached.

The principal sie.tesman of this little group was a man of the middle heights with a chest of extraolollmory breadth, and limbs of more than common propor

Lion. lie lama vt r. long past the' meridian of life, and the upper pat t o, his head was bald, though a profusion of white hair yet grew around its back and sides, and some few stray locks remained over his temples. his face, how- ever, exhibited dune deep red and brown tints which a life passed in exercise in the open air, and in the enjoyment of sound health, produces in old age, and his bright blue et es gleina II out from beneath iris shaggy brow with a degree of brilliancy which slimed that they were still animated by some of the passions of youth. Ile sot inwn a large stone, directly (acing the sea, so as to command the whole of the pi..spect, to in his hands he held a staff, seemingly intended to suppoit his steps iir walking; but while at rest he exhibited on appearance of bodily weakeess, and hi: voice, though harsh and hoarse, was still as clear and strong as that of a man in the prime of life. The other speakers were of a less conspicuous ek'racicr, and their countenances were marked with all the rude- tress of feat Uri! and eallnusness or indifference of expression trItielo may be ob- served anion., thew countrymen who reside upon the reinot..m coasts of the island ; tilt/107'h the look. of one among them, apparently a son of the old roan, bore marks of eonsidera!,le shiewolness, or selfishness, mixed up with the ordinary traits of his companions. This youth was the first to braak silence, after a pause, during which he had been anxiously oloerving a vane which was fixed upon a toast, erected on an elevated hummock, near the edge of the pass.

" I think, father," said he, o the wind has shifted a point or two to the nor'.' ward. If so, she will ;et au offing, and we shall lose her ; though I doubt if she will be able to 'scald! the Scillies." " 'Tis your fete makes you think the wind's changed, Jack," reilied the old man. " It ha'r't veered 'never i0 little, you gull." " And what country do you think her of now, Master Conger ? " said one of the group, addressing the old man. " She doesn't look like a Frenchman."

" No ; Frenchman ! ; she's a Low Country ship by her build," exclaimed the senior, joyfully ; " nom Antwerp to Cadiz, perhaps."

" I would rather she was from Cadiz to Antwerp," interrupted Jack Conger; " in that case, she might 1e hockful of gold to buy goods for the Spaniards. But come whit+ was she will, she is welcome; and, as 'Mistress Winters said when I sold her sonic of our last haul, we ought to be thankful to Providence for sending us what it does. I'm sure I'm thankful, aren't you, father?" " Hold your tongue, and don't talk so foolishly, Jack," exclaimed the old man. " What has Providence to flu with shipwrecks? They come naturally,. in the course of stormy weather, and what is one man's luck at one time may be your's at another. " Well, I suppose it will," replied Jack Conger; " but I shall take good care to put it off as long as he can." * • " Oh never fear, fatten.," cried the young man ; " I've a good wind in a corner, that would bring me safe off there." "More than your Dutchman has then," crier' Ben Blink. " By jingo, if she keeps on as she is going, she'll he on Penfilly reef in a few minutes." "No, curse, her," cried another of the spectators, "site won't split there. She has gone clear of the shoals with that half board. D—n 'ens, they are no fools in her, neither." " Fools or no fools, we shall have them ashore as soon as night sets in," said old Conger; "and that won't be very long first, for it is getting darker and darker every instant."

This was indeed the case. Although the tempest had been every moment in- creasing in violence, the day had hitherto been clear, and the few clouds that obscured the bright blue ether were of that thin and blown-out description known to seamen by the appellation of mares' tails; but, at the sun descended towards the korizon, a dense accumulation of vapour Tolled along his deserted path, and the atmosphere to er.stward was already darkened by a tremendous squall. Flying showers of rain borne on the hreeze rushed and eddied furi- ously up the narrow glen, gradually assuming the character of a thick and heavy fall of water, and the choughs and crows, which roosted among the fissures of the rocks, hastily sought their accustomed places of rest; while the cormorants, gannets, and other wild sea-birds, fled screaming to the edges of the cliffs, and sat with their heads hidden under their wings, clustered by thousand, upon every ledge that would afford them a resting-place.

The wind also gave horse to its utmost fury, and, no longer broken by short lulls, came rushing onward in one continued blast ; while, at intervals, a bright red or yellow gleam was shot out by the declining sun, and gilding one or other of the distant headlands of the bay, gave them a species of preternatural bright- ness, as they shone out against the dark black sky, which added, by its unusual effect, to the horror of the storm. The threatening violence of the weather seemed for awhile to impose silence on the group of spectators, although they enjoyed in anticipation its probable result. Perhaps each was making calculations on the possibility of the escape of the ship, which had now become nearly invisible, owing to the iucreasing darkness ; but, whatever was its cause, this silence was, as it were, instantly broken by a vivid flash of lightning, which suddenly illuminated the atmosphere, and which was followed immediately by the flash and report of a gun. " She is fast set ; she is ours, by St. Pirau!" shouted Jack Conger in ecstacy. "Aye, boy, the sea goes as clean over her roasts as h does over the Eddy- stone," exclaimed the old man. Run, lads, run down to Penally's Bluff; you will find something to reward your labour ; I'll after as quick as I can." " Her mainmast is gone by the board," exclaimed Ben Blink, who kept his telescope constantly pointed in the direction of the wreck, and took advantage of each flash of lightning to ascertain its condition.

"Dust see any of her crew' Ben?" inquired Conger. "1 see two or three hands holding on In the shrouds," replied Blink ; and he abruptly resigned his glass to the care of Conger's wife, and prepared to follow his companions to the beach. Within an incredibly short space of time, during which several guns had been fired from the vessel, the fishermen appeared on the beach, directly opposite the wreck, and here they perceived marks of the distress to which she was reduced. Spars, casks, and bales innumerable, which had been thrown overboard to lighten her, were rapidly borne forward- by the tide, and the work of plunder instantly commenced, the fishermen exerting themselves to secure what they considered valuable before the arrival of the lord or bailiff of the manor, or of a party of soldiers which was stationed not far from the spot put an end to their

ravages.