TILE COUNTERS, BY PAY.

MR. FAY enjoys great popularity among his countrymen beyond the Atlantic--hardly inferior, we believe, to that of the American WALTER Scow, CoOPER himself. lit this country he is known by his novel of Norman Leslie, a work of merit, published some years since. The present novel, in so far as we can judge from our recol- lection of the former work, is superior to it, indicating greater experience and knowledge of the world, and more skill in com- position. The Countess has a useful moral, its object being to exhibit the tblly, wickedness, and lamentable consequences of duelling; ";t useless and barbarous custom," says the author in his preface, " which, to the shame of his own country, exists there in a less modified form than the good sense and good taste of European communities—to say nothing of moral and religious feeling—would sanction elsewhere." Did we want proofs that the world is growing wiser, the almost total abandonment of duelling in this country and the other most civilized parts of Europe, might be given as it atrik. ing one; while the frequency of sanguinary rencounters, and the savage manner in which they are conducted, must be admitted by the Americans themselves as showing that their model republic, notwithstanding its gigantic growth in magnitude and powerl,veisthyteut, not far from the infancy of its social existence. In the moral aim of his book, Mr. FAY, we think, has been very successful. Ricunansois had a similar object, when duelling was a fashionable vice, in making his hero Grandison a confirmed anti. duellist. But Grandison's example never did good to anybody, for his principles on that head never bring him into disgrace, or even into inconvenience. If he won't fight his enemies, he has no sem, ple in drubbing them ; and he is placed so high in station, wealth, and reputation, that no one with whom he comes in collision dreams, even in thought, to fasten on him the imputation of cow. ardice. Mr. FAY has done better than this. His hero is a young man of unknown birth and doubtful position in society, without the influence derived from fortune, and one, too, who consistently car- ries out his principle of Christian peace by refraining front repelling the grossest insult by three of any kind. lie even receives a blow without returning it ; and bears with agony of mind Igiillltpt:tiittiflhnieinocrha ing constancy of spirit the shame, taunts, and insults—i ac-

tual destitution—which fall upon him, while

courage passes for the basest cowardice. Of course author gives his hero ample opportunities, in the sequel, of t bravery of a Paladin in a virtuous cause. It would have been car- rying the moral of the tale somewhat too fair to have suffered him to sink under unmerited obloquy and scorn.

We shall give no account of the story, which is well-conducted and interesting. The scene lies amidst the fashionable society of Berlin half a century ago ; whence it changes to the Parisian horrors of 1792, including the memorable Tenth of August, which is powerfully described. There are several good sketches of cha- racter and manners ; though the young girl from whom the book takes its title is one of the least remarkable personages in it. The serious tone of the work is enlivened by the introduction of a rich London citizen and his family, who, not being able to get into fashionable society at home, go in search of it abroad, and, in trying to make their way into the aristocratic circles of lierlin, fish into many amusing scrapes and disasters; among which, how. ever, there is one, very probable but not at all amusing—the se- duction and ruin of the daughter by a high-horn libertine.

The following passages will give an idea of the author's graphic power. Claude ‘Vyndliam, in the guise of a Sans Culotte, liturgies with the infuriated Parisian multitude in their attack on the Tuileries- " As he attempted to make his tilly towards the Tuileries, he failed the streets thronged with crowds of the worst description, wild teotenthliges of women and ruffians, whose actions gave evidences, not to he of an immediate outbreak. The shops were closed ; business was entirely al...shawl " It was late in the day when lie left his halgings, and the sliwIev: el' night soon descended upon one of the most frightful scenes recorded by Iiistoly. The

uproar increased; and with feelings we shall not undertake to depict, Claude

perceived the tide set towards the chAteau. Suddenly a tremendous pressure, in which some of the mom feeble were trampled to demli around hint, required

him to exert all his strength to escape the some fate. Ile succeeded with di&

culty in mounting the steps of a church ; and it would be impossili!e to de. scribelhe emotions with which froin this eminence he beheld approaching with that kind of solemn grandeur which always attends the exhibition of imateme power, an organized body of about thirty thousand persons, cm:istiog of the most desperate men, and dissolute and frantic women. the mere reda,e of has man nature. Some children were distinguished in this tiwittidsble k.ttalina; and fearfully indicative of the extent of the revolutionary fury, army of the nationalg;uard swelled the ranks of the enemy they should have confronted. Few regular arms, however, were seen ; but countless hands 1, we with a firm grasp whatever chance had thrown in their way,—axes, poles, seithe:, pitch- thrks, clubs, spears, and butcher's knives. Hundreds of torches tlitive a lurid glare upon the senile, renderi ll g it at once more picticresipte and 0, hod ; and, at short intervals of distance, and waving wildly in the smoky light, in re lifted banners, displaying iciscriptions of the various revolutionary w.c .•11 a or Is most

in vogue,—such Down with the Veto!' ' Death to the Au:: Long live the Sans-Culottes!' The country in danger!' and "I'lle nation Con evert'

*' This dreadful army came up, and passed t»i with a measured II,- that sounded like the rumbling of a volcano about to burst. The indirid-: i and glamorous fury of fudiyidual passion had subsided into a general eitrr.•nt more silent only because more deep. Soddenly they broke out, as if with a simul- taneous Impulse, into the chorus ' Ca ira The blended voices of sunny thousands, their irre!titlar and terrible truss, their garb of rag:, their tilth and desperate wretchedness, their leergnal and ferocious fiees. and 111.- deep bellow tramp with which those determined feet —held to the throbe or their King— kept time to the music, made a scene which would hate appalled a heart less stout titan Claude's. The whole nation, indeed, seemed gigantic three, and rollic.g, in one stupendous billow, to sgWiettiiip".t'siv.11;'-1.'ll'ictiet[oliiidi banks which had pent it lip for ages." * * * " The assailants advanced at first with some show of older. Suddenly a single musket fired from a window laid the man next to Clau le li.meath his feet. A general discharge balloted instantly from both sides ; a .d then all was smoke, crash, lire, shrieks, !thonts, and such viii b,sloo as rendered it al- most impossible to know is which direction lay the chateau. Ili- Ito.: were

deafened, his clothes blackened and burnt: a ball had pa:s.al t hr ,at di his sleeve, and he had a slight cut upon the arm, which he talc seviviiMe

five ruffians, and who fought like a lion. Claude rushed to his side. The im- ulse which urged him was irresistible as madness. He fired, and the foremost Paf ;the assailants fell. It was the first time he had ever taken human life; sod he experienced a thrill as the poor wretch tumbled back with upturned eyes, and the blood gushed from his head and nostrils. But there was no cOmpanction in his feelings, and the next assailant shared the same fate. The per Swiss, thus supported, escaped for a time at least ; but a cloud of smoke from a cannon discharged at their side, and a rush of the assailants into the grand hall, separated him from the person he had saved, and luckily hid his raterference from general notice, and enabled him to reach the interior of the

place. o And now, with a trembling heart, he forced his way in at the head of the

mob asif he had been their leader. He cast his eyes around. The halls, slip- pery with blood, were already yielding to the work of destruction. He inounted the bread stairs; he flew breathless through the gorgeous saloons—till now the sacred haunts of only royal feet ; he sought in every chamber with the expectation of beholding the royal circle surrounded by their last defend- ers, and reads to be slaughtered. He had made up his mind, in such a case, to fling himself into the midst of them and share their fate, whatever it might be. At his heels were a thousand ruffians, their drawn swords red and dripping ; their hoarse screams resounding with ' Louis Capet ! The Veto! The King,

the King!' " At length they were met by another party, who had conducted the search with a better knowledge of the localities, and who were headed by a fierce young man, whose actions were those of a maniac. Sucre diable ! ' cried he, 'thee are gone. The birds have flown.'

The iidclligcnce was received with a storm of oaths and maledictions by all but Claude, who heard it with an exultation which almost deprived him of prudetice. It was with difficulty he restrained himself' from uttering a shout of triumph, which would have betrayed him to his rough associates. a, alais. n'importe ! ' cried the voice of the young leader; ' none y revien- dross. We shall conic here again.' ' Oh, save me, save me ! ' cried a voice husky with terror ; and one of the unhappy Swiss, whose companions had been all massacred, pursued by a band of butchers, rushed through the crowd. He traversed the ball with steps winged with terror, and escaped through au opposite door. All joined in the pursuit. It rest Inbled the violent frensy of a pack of hounds after a deer. The poor youth, lx tter acquainted than his pursuers with the localities of the chateau, succeeded in eluding their grasp till he descended into the lower apart- ments and offices of that huge edifice. Here he reached the royal kitchen, with the whole yelling crew at his heels. .An enormous fire, as if the royal family had ...sleeted to enjoy their dinner that day as usual, was blazing on the hearth. Ile sank exhausted to the floor, and was immediately seized. ," To the roof, to the roof! hurlhini off!' cried a cracked female voice. "' No; the hook, the hook ! ' exclaimed others, pointing to a large hook in the ceiling; and several eager hands had already thrown over it a cord, which hung dangling in the air.

The fire!' shrieked a brawny woman, her eye glittering with the light of intoxication, if' not of madness. "The last proposal was received with frantic delight, and immediately acted on. The victim was grasped by a dozen fierce hands and bound with the cord which was to have been used in strangling him. Claude turned to escape the sight of a hat he could not prevent ; and, as lie hastened away, lie beard the plunge and sudden shriek of the desperate wretch, the crackling of the sparks and flames, and the hoarse yells of the barbarian executioners."

into the midst of them to save a poor fellow who was set on by four or

se