NEW NOVELS.'

ACCORDING to the preface, Home Life in Russia is written in English by a Russian nobleman, whose name for obvious reasons is suppressed. It is edited by another foreigner, Colonel Lach Szyrma, whose task has been confined to correcting the "verbal errors" of the Russian.

Were authenticity of any consequence, more cogent proof of that fact might be desirable ; but the book is only a fiction of manners, which must stand or fall by internal evidence of its general truth. That it is not written by an English litterateur is pretty clear : such a one would have introduced a love story and many roman- tic distresses; he would not have ventured upon such a full pic- ture of bald ceremony in the manners, of such silly refinement or such extreme coarseness as is displayed in what we should call the country squires. The book bears a strong resemblance to the Scandinavian novels of Fredrika Bremer and other Northern writers in the predominance of the common details of daily life over passion and the interest of a story; although those novels have a good deal more of both features than the tale before us.

The hero of Home Life in Russia is one Tchichikoff, a Russian official. By dint of attention, industry, flattery, and immoveable temper, he had risen from a very low condition to some status in the civil service ; but the opportunity of unusual profit was too much for him. A Government storehouse was to be built, and for some years the money was regularly drawn by Tchichikoff and his brother commissioners, though the building never got beyond the foundation. Having been detected by a new President, his gains were confiscated ; and the new authority having taken a personal dislike to him, he lost his place as well as his property. His plau- sibility, his servility, his manners, so much better than those of the general run of Russian officials, which are described as coarse and offensive to a degree, as well as his zeal and dexterity in busi- ness, procured him a situation in the " excise" or land customs on the frontier. At first he was marvellously strict ; but temptation having come across him, he yielded, and made money rapidly. A quarrel with a colleague in peculation led to his betrayal; and though he escaped Siberia, his former fate again overtook him, ex- cept that he managed to secrete ten thousand roubles, defying all efforts to discover them. Being thus thrown on the world, he starts professedly as a commission-agent, while he looks about to do a stroke of business on his own account. In furtherance of a scheme, he arrives at the governmental town of Smolensk. But to understand that scheme, it is necessary to understand the nature of an institution by which the Czar appears to assist, while in reality involving the territorial nobility.

" The Imperial Bank, for the mortgage of landed property and serfs, under the title of Council of Guardians, is one of the numerous paternal institu- tions of recent date, and of all of which his Majesty the Emperor is himself the head. The transactions of the Imperial Council of Guardians claim his peculiar attention, and consist chiefly in advancing monies to such noblemen of the empire as have become embarrassed from various causes, but princi- pally from such as we have already alluded to. The monies of the Crown are advanced upon real estate, namely, upon land and serfs. It is princi- pally left to the Council of Guardians to fix the period for repayment of the advanced funds ; and if the nobleman thus assisted cannot redeem his mort- gaged property in due time, it is again left to the discretion of the Imperial Council of Guardians to have the property of the nobleman valued by a spe- cial committee, and then it is sold to the Crown ; which, after refunding it- self, hands the residue to the thus ruined nobleman.

" This system of paternal accommodation which the Russian nobility en- joys at the hands of his Majesty the Emperor, fully accounts for the enor- mous number of Crown serfs, which number has increased since the esta- blishment of the Imperial Council of Guardians nearly to a million souls.

" At the time when Tchichikoff was intrusted with the mortgage of those few hundred serfs, [by a spendthrift noble,] the Council of Guardians had been but recently established ; yet much of its operations had already transpired and circulated among the nobility, and for that reason they were very reluctant to profit by this paternal accommodation. Tchichikoff, in his capacity of agent, had received instructions to conclude the mortgage of the serfs on the most advantageous terms: he therefore thought it proper to dis- pose everything favourably, (without previously well disposing a few of the Imperial employes it would be hopeless to apply for anything like informa- tion, and it is therefore advisable to smooth their throats with a profusion of port and sherry) ; and thus, having as far as necessary well disposed every

* Some Life in Russia. By a Russian Noble. Revised by the Editor of "Re- velations of Siberia." In two volumes. Published by Hurst and Blackest.

May and December; a Tale of Wedded Life. By Mrs. Hubback, Author of "The Wife's Sister; or the Forbidden Marriage," &c. In three volumes. Published by Skeet.

Afraja; a Norwegian and Lapland Tale, or Life and Love in Norway. Translated from the German of Theodore filiigge, by Edward Joy Morris. Published by Low and Bon.

one of the employes in the Council of Guardians with whom he would gave to transact business, he explained his errand to be connected with a very peculiar circumstance.

" 'Half of the serfs I wish to mortgage have died since my arrival here at Moscow, and I am therefore alarmed lest there might be some misunderstand- ing about them later—'

" But allow me to ask you,' said the secretary of the Board of Guardians, are these two hundred serfs we are now speaking about included in the cen- sus your nobleman has handed in to Government when the last census was taken ? '

" Yes, they are included,' answered Tchichikoff. " 'If so, I can see no reason why you should feel faint-hearted,' the secre- tary returned; if the one dies another is born, and thus makes up the defi- ciency.'

" Meanwhile, a sublime idea seized upon the imagination of our hero, a thought that had perhaps never occurred to human mind before."

This "sublime idea" was, to buy up dead serfs at a nominal price and mortgage them to the Crown. This plan was the more feasible because the proprietors would be glad to get rid of the nominal ownership, as they have to pay a tax upon the serfs who may die between one census and the next; this hardship being as- sumed to be made up by nonpayment on the births. In further- ance of his speculation, Tchichikoff was travelling through the country when he arrived at Smolensk. As it was necessary to cultivate the good-will of the official classes, as well as to study the character of the different landed proprietors in the neighbour- hood before opening the business, Tchichikoff aims at making his way into society ; and not unsuccessfully, hospitality being the one Russian virtue. Urban parties, and life at the country houses whither the hero goes to make his bargains, form a large portion of the book. The life and characters thus depicted are not pro- mising. Eating, drinking, and cards, form the staple of town life; the manners have the tedious and empty ceremony which distin- guishes savage and half-civilized peoples ; the life of the landed gentry appears more sensual than that of the residents of towns. In,the book, one squire is an ignorant and silly ape of know- ledge and refinement; another is coarsely physical ; two are sordid misers ; a fifth is an unscrupulous liar, gambler, cheat, and bully, who would not be tolerated in any other country. The scenes would often admit of humour, and sometimes really reach the ludicrous,—as in the terror of the officials at Smolensk when it is discovered that the popular stranger has been buying dead serfs, and rumour represents him as a probable spy and agent of Government. The absence of story and incidents, which Western Europe looks for in a fiction, and the want of power in the author to rise above the merely literal in the pictures of life and persons, render the book tame. The novelty of subject, and the glimpses of provincial Russia which it seems to furnish, have a certain mat- ter-of-fact interest; but the experiment would not bear repetition.

Notwithstanding Othello, and Chaucer's January and May, modernized by Pope, great disparity of years in marriage may still furnish a theme for the moralist-who teaches by example. Even if the lesson of Othello did not point to country and man- ners as well as to years and a wicked friend, or the warnings for the fourteenth century by the father of English poetry were not too gross for the refinement of the nineteenth, every age has its own peculiarities, and is perhaps best warned by some story of its own generation. Mrs. Hubback's May and December has hardly generality enough to teach the times ; for the instance is too peculiar. Mr. Cameron, a merchant of sixty, who has been disappointed in his first marriage by the sluggish silliness of his wife, might or might not marry again ; but he would hardly hand himself over to his chief clerk, Mr. Wildey, so readily as he is here made to do, both in the determination to wed and the choice of a wife. The said Wildey has several ends in view by inducing his master to marry a cousin of his own ; but one object is to get the management of " the concern " into his hands, that he may become rich and indulge in luxury while his old patron is attending to his young wife. Besides doing this, he tyrannizes over the clerks, dismisses those against whom he entertained a grudge, embarks in speculations to cover his deficiencies, and foments a misunder- standing between Mr. and Mrs. Cameron. He would in fact have turned out a very Ingo, but that he is stopped by a Mr. Arnold, who baffles him.

There is not much of natural invention here, and other defects in artistical treatment could readily be pointed out were it worth while. The conception of the writer is clear, and there are seenea of a forcible distinctness; but the effect is rather that of carving in wood than of life. Besides the common character of much of the book, there is a species of unnatural openness in the persons. Perhaps people about to perpetrate a meanness hardly think so plainly as Wildey and his cousin talk ; Wildey being drawn as a very artful cautious person, and May as a highspirited frank girl, only averse to go back to a dull country home.

"Wildey leant over, and warmly kissed the glowing cheek of his pretty cousin, rather more warmly than she either expected or wished, but she let it pass in silence.

" Yes, May, we are friends, and shall, no doubt, always continue such. And now, dear cousin, I will set seriously to work to bring about this mar- riage as soon as possible, and thus build up both our fortunes.'

" Well, but who is the gentleman ? ' inquired May, with a very natural degree of curiosity on this important point.

" 'Did you not see Mr. Cameron at the Ashtons one night, May ? " Your Mr. Cameron ? yes ; but he has no son, has be ? ' " 'No, but he is a widower, May, and wants a wife, himself.' " 'He ? why, he is such an old man ; old enough to be my grandfather !'

" He is about sixty, I know ; but then, he is immensely rich ; and I know he would be glad to marry again, when the year of mourning is out. He is very good-tempered, liberal, and indulgent. If you married him, you might do as you liked in everything.' "'But he is so old,' persisted May, in a disconsolate voice.

" True; but you know you cannot have everything you want: choose between Lincolnshire and London—your uncle and Mr. Cameron—the dull library and a splendid establishment—old literature, and the park and opera— wading through muddy roads, or driving a splendid turn-out, and riding, a thorough-bred Arab in town. Come, May, do you hesitate ?' "`If he were only twenty years younger !'

" But you know the _proverb, 'It is better to be an old man's darling than a young man's slave' : depend upon it, riches and honour are the best, the very best recipe for happiness.'

" Well, I choose,' said May, with a reluctant sigh ; will marry Mr. Cameron if he will marry me, and do all I can to second. you. But I must say I wish he were younger. " Then he would not be so rich. No, no, May, we must take the goods fortune deigns to place within our reach, and not lose the substance in grasp- ing the shadow. Remember our bargain ; and good-bye,' "

" Works may have more wit than does them good." It would seem they may also have more matter and more topics. Such is the case with the Afraja of Theodore Mugge, a tale of "life and love" in Norway, with a little magic from Lapland, and plenty of roguery and rivalry. Besides a story complicated in itself from too many interests and objects, there are in the tale history, geo- graphy, topography, manners and customs, with a war of races in a small way, circa 1730-1740, between the Norwegians within the Arctic circle and the Laplanders. The difference of blood and habits is increased by difference of creed ; the Christians, moreover, having no objection to the property of the Pagan Laps, with whatever contemptuous dislike they may regard their possessors.

The tale which serves as a vehicle for the introduction of all these things is that of John of Marstrand, a Danish noble. The hospitality of his ancestors having reduced his means to all but nothing, he accepts a grant of land from Christian the Sixth in the boundless desert on the Northernmost confines of Europe. As is often the case with colonists, the reality is very different from what was expected. Marstrand is at first horrified at what he sees and hears. The proceedings at the Lofoden fishery in killing and curing disgust him; the necessity of bargain and sale repels him ; the idea of keeping a shop or " store " is worse still. Being, however, a man of energy and reason, he quickly determines to ac- cept his fate and make the best of it. He embarks in a merchant's and settler's career in the district of Tromsoe. But it is embarking on a sea of troubles. The traders within the Arctic circle in the middle of the eighteenth century seem to have been as "smart" as a modern colonist or a Yankee land-speculator ; the free hand of a young nobleman and the habits of a capital are not well adapted for profitably cultivating land and carrying on business in the North of Norway ; his liberal feeling and sense of right towards the Laps and their chief Afraja, who is believed to be a sorcerer, make him about as popular as an .A,bolitionist in a Slave State of America. With these practical troubles are connected his own love, the obstacles from an avaricious father, an unscrupulous rival possessed of official powers, and the stern submission of a strong- minded maiden to parental duty rather than to love. There are other love-affairs besides, inextricably intermingled with the main story; one of them in the German sentimental vein, in which Marstrand figures not altogether creditably.

This mixture of so many matters gives heaviness to the move- ment. The heaviness is increased by the German ponderosity of the author, and a want of art displayed in not winding up his scenes effectively, so that they often close more flatly than they promise. The subject of the book, however, is altogether new ; the writer seems to show, what he is said to possess, an actual knowledge of the country ; his characters are strongly marked, well discrimi- nated, and real-looking. There is also plenty of incident; and al- though the writer is deficient in high art, he has a melodramatic kind of dexterity.