30 JUNE 1832, Page 19

HENP.Y Itt ASTERTON

Is what is called a spirited pciformance. That is to say, its per- sonages bustle about whit great activity: they are not slow in un- dertaking Mortal combat and, in the short duration of a novel, run numerous risks of their lives and fortunes—to say nothing of fame, which is sometimes overclouded, for the sake of shining out more bravely afterwards. Description and character are now staple qualities in works of this kind; and Mr. JAMES does not fall short of the ordinary run of his rivals in this branch of authorship. In description, he is more laboured than any other we recollect among the writers of light reading; and though sometimes felici- tous, he is oftener tiresome. He makes too regular a set at a scene or a landscape, and would lead us to imagine that he lays down his novels in skeleton after this fashion : Opening: description of the dawn in the West of England—a castle in the distance: its inhabitants: hero travelling down a green lane—introduced—overhears a conversation—mysterious person: a duel: go back three hundred years, and introduce a good lump of an old chronicle: description of the country : a bat- tle—an escape—a concealment—a collision, &c. &c. Whenever the author comes to a description, he has the air of one mending his pen, and saying to himself," Now it is I whowill make the sun to shine, and the trees to grow, and the hills to swell." And, indeed, the general treatment of his story smacks too much of the book- maker—of the novel-writer who has discovered the trick of fining three volumes secundum artem, and who sits down after the re- ceipt of an order, and takes measure of a hero and heroine accord- ingly.

Henry Masterton is a story of Cavaliers and Roundheads; and is accordingly built upon the most hackneyed. ground of British history. Novelty was not to be expected from Mr. JAMES, on such times at least; and accordingly we find none. Every inci- dent, every character (and they are sometimes well drawn), seem to be familiar to the memory; and if it were worth while to look at such things minutely, a parallel in prior novels, relative to the same or nearly the same periods, might be found for every situa- tion in the book. Though what is :termed an Historical Novel, history enters less into Henryllfasterton than usual. The events are chiefly of a private nature, growing Oa of the state of public affairs: such as the imprisonment and condemnation of men of high rank, the forfeiture of estates, the intrisrues of hypocritical Roundheads to possess them, the arrest of Mailignants, and their endeavours either to escape or to pursue other ends in disguise and under assumed characters.

Henry Masterton and his elder brother Frank are the sons of Lord Masterton, a nobleman who has been disgraced at the court of Charles the First for giving rational advice : a circumstance which gives. him the advantage of a neutral position—he is out of favour with the King, and too loyal to join the Parliamentarians. His house consequently remains a quiet scene for the exhibition of character on both sides. At length, howeaer, the dangerous situa- tion of the King induces him to raise a regiment; which is sent, under the command of the two sons, into Kent, where the King's forces are making head under Goring. With the march of this regiment commences the most active portion of the intrigue. The two young men are misled and betrayed by a couple of scoundrels ia correspondence with the enemy ; and a trap is laid for the elder, into which he unfortunately falls. He is led into contact with a beautiful widow, as he supposes her,—one Lady Eleanor Fleming; who, by the witchcraft of her charms, detains him in her Circean bower, commonly called Pemford-Bourne, while the King's forces are struggling with the enemy, and are ulti- mately beaten and obliged to disperse. Henry Masterton, indig- nant at the dishonourable infatuation of his elder brother, and unable to produce any impression upon his moody and impas- sioned Colonel, takes the resolution of joining the King's army with his own troop, and arrives at a most critical moment—takes an attacking column in flank, and turns the fortune of the day. This and sonic other battle-pieces are described with great spirit and animation : and though we think that a vast deal too much of talent and time, in novels, is spent upon these mere animal snuggles, we confess we have so much of the wretched cockfight- ing instinct still not uprooted in us, as to be unable to read such things unmoved. Besides, in these pieces, we are introduced to a very curious little personage—an orphan lad, born and •bred in camp, fed out of a powder-born, cradled on a gun-carriage—a5 thorough impersonation of the organ of combativeness—a young, lemon of fight. Ball o' Fire is his field-of-battle name; and his family (his father being killed) is the Royal army, and his parents are the generals for the time being : he acts as spy, guide, in- telligencer, and what not: and when he has got his species to- - gether, and sees them cutting each other's throats and blowing brains out mutually, then is his little infernal spirit delighted—he sits upon a baggage-waggon and crows like a bantam cock. Ball o' Fire becomes the page of the hero of the story ; and by dagger, tongue, foot, and eye, does him the service of five-and-twenty cuirassiers. He has need of such aid ; for the disgraceful conduct of his brother, and the intrigues of his betrayers, end in ruining his family for a time; and the scene changes to Paris, when he is thrown into various descriptions of danger, and among characters of various dark dyes. We do not propose to pursue the thread of the narrative : those who think the book, worth reading, after our account of it, will not thank us; and for others, it is too intricate to be made plain in a small compass. We may observe, for the lovers of the "deep," that death is pretty active; and for those who like to lay down a story with pleasant hopes, that the end is happy.