A True Cornish Maid. By G. Norway. (Blackie and Son.)—This
is a story of the latter years of the eighteenth century, in which smugglers and the pressgang play a prominent part. The incident is plentiful and exciting; the characters are drawn with no common skill. The contrast between the two girls—the rough, free-spoken Phcebe, and the refined, retiring Honor—is excellent. Yet Honor, we find, can act with courage and decision. One of the best parts of the book is the account of how she saves her twin- brother Philip, who has killed a naval officer in a pressgang affray, and has to fly for his life. Among the subsidiary characters, also good in their way, are the old grandmother, the bluff squire, and the English nun, with her rough but faithful friend, Betty Formby, who has fled from the persecution in France. The author does not hesitate to reproduce with an almost startling fidelity the strong sympathy which Cornish people in those days felt for their fellows who circumvented or defied revenue-officers and pressgangs.
Previous page
