The Pilot and his Wffe. Translated from the Norwegian of
Jonas Lie, by G. L. Tottenham. (Blackwood and Sons).—This is a very fresh and vigorous story. It opens with a striking picture of "old Jacob" in his lonely dwelling on Little Torungen, and the young girl, his grand-danghter, who grows up into singular beauty of form and independence of character. Two lovers are attached to her, one of them an officer in the Navy, the other a seaman of humble station. The rivalry between them, and the jealousies which it causes when the old man's death compels her to leave her island home, are forcibly described. Then comes a singularly graphic picture of the life of Salvd Christiansen (that was the name of the humbler lover) when he is driven into exile by the preference which he supposes the girl to show for his rival. The Brazilian Frederigo and the ferocious leopardess his sister Paellas., are very well-drawn pictures, while the purity and constancy of Elizabeth, the heroine, stands oat in striking contrast to the passion and turbulence of those with whom her future are mixed up. This is a tale of uncommon merit, which both force of writing and thorough wholesomeness of tone may well shame those many novelists of England and France, who seek to compensate for their feebleness by the sinister excitement of ambiguous or immoral situations.
Previous page
