In substance, The Hall and the Manor-House, like so many
other of our fictions, is derived from the circulating library ; but variety is given to an oft-presented idea by ingenuity and invention, rather than, it strikes us, by much knowledge of life. The people and the incidents are the usual creations of a mind deriving its pabulum from book-shelves in- stead of observation ; the work being saved from triteness by the literary
• ability of the writer.
The tale is founded on the old incident of a private marriage, and con- sequently of an heir, or in this case an heiress, appearing in the nick of time, when distress to the lovers, if not separation, would follow from the supposed owner retaining possession. Another difficulty in the course of true love is owing to the equally hacknied topic of family pride. Both ideas, however, are treated with freshness, and a pleasantness in the conduct of the story which gives a seeming novelty where there is nothing really new. The Hall and the Manor-House will not only furnish agreeable reading to the glutton of fictions, but to persons who are not so utilitarian in their reading for amusement as to require instruction by some " historical " romance, or some new aspect of life or morals.
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