HENRY DOMVILLE
RESEMBLES Ernest Singleton in being a clever book, though not a good novel ; but differs from it in being one of those works of fic- tion in which the incidents of the tale and the fortunes of the per- sonages are made subservient to the inculcation of some opinion or set of opinions, in religion, morals, politics, or economics. Though many at- tempts have been made of late years to enlighten the world on all these subjects by means of novels, yet they have never been regarded as suc- cessful ; for they necessarily fail in accomplishing two objects essentially different and incongruous. Reasonings in favour of doctrines, the sup- port of which is the professed object of the book, lose their weight, and do not inspire confidence, when we find them backed by fictitious facts— a series of incidents manufactured for the express purpose of fitting them; while, on the other hand, the living interest of the tale is smothered under loads of argument and discussion. Even Miss Edgeworth's charming stories frequently suffer from the too formal and palpable intrusion of their moral purpose ; and Miss Martinean's tales illustrative of political economy, though the happiest combinations that we possess of scientific truth with pleasing fiction, are not to be compared to her Deerbrook. The novel before us is designed, in the first place, to illustrate the evil effects of the law of primogeniture, in sacrificing the welfare of all the members of a family to the aggrandizement of one, and in creating an enormous accumulation of property in the hands of a few great land- holders, to the general injury of society ; and it is designed, further, to exhibit the universal abuse and maladministration of the government and the laws in the days of Tory ascendancy, " when George the Third was King"; contrasting all these things with the advantages which France has ultimately derived from the Revolution. Henry Domville is the younger son of a younger son. His father is the younger brother and pre- sumptive heir of a baronet, who is the head of the family. This expecta- tion is disappointed by the baronet's marrying and having a son ; the younger brother then sets about providing for his two sons, by getting the one into the Church and the other into the Army; and the abuses prevalent in both professions half a century ago are painted in strong colours. Our hero becomes an ensign in a regiment of foot; and, after the idleness and dissipation of garrison duty in Dublin, is ordered on foreign service. His regiment is, part of the expedition sent to defend the Royalist town of Toulon against the Republicans. He is taken prisoner along with General O'Hara and carried to Paris. After a long captivity, he makes his escape together with a comrade. Reaching home, he finds that his uncle the baronet, having lost his son, is childless ; that his own elder brother is now the apparent heir to the family estates ; and that a lady, to whom he had formerly been betrothed with the con- sent of her father and his own, is about to be forced to give her hand to his brother, the expectant heir. The lady herself, however, has remained constant; and the obstacle to the smooth course of true love is conveni- ently got rid of by drowning the elder brother in a yachting excursion. So the hero and heroine marry, and the story ends. There are some sub- Ordinates incidents. The youth, though of a Tory family, picks up some Democratic acquaintances ; and before joining his regiment, takes a trip to Paris, carrying introductions to Madame Roland, Barbaroux, and other Girondist leaders. He witnesses the horrors of the Tenth of August ; and afterwards, as an amateur, joins the army of Dumourier, and is present at the battle of Valmy. During his residence in Ireland, first as the guest of his future father-in-law at a remote country house in a Western county, and afterwards in military quarters, he sees the rollicking Irish hospitality of that day, the universal corruption and op- Erasion of the ruling powers, and the general rudeness of society. These Irish scenes are the most graphic and lifelike in the book.
The author's greatest fault is want of imagination. He throws Dom- ville into the midst of terrible and striking scenes and events which have really happened ; but he cannot blend their actual features with in- teresting situations for his herb as an actor or sufferer in them. The Parisian tumult on the Tenth of August—the massacre of the Swiss
Guards—the battle of' Valmy, and the siege of Toulon—are described as they have been a thousand times described already • and all this portion of the book (no small one) will be impatiently passed over by everybody who has read the most ordinary histories of the time. The love passages are about the coolest we have met with anywhere. The author's mind is destitute of the romantic element—as he himself says, his "is not a melting muse."
With alt this, the book will be read with pleasure. The author's views are generally sound, and ably supported ; and his language is easy, ani- mated, and abounding in happy thoughts and expressions. Take as a specimen the following character of Pitt.
"Mr. Pitt forcibly reminded his countrymen of that bottomless pit of which all good Christians have heard. Like the whirlpool of Charybdis, the Treasury under his auspices absorbed all that approached within its wide influence, and re- stored nothing from its voracious abyss. Yet, in condemning the statesman, we must not forget the integrity of the man. He lived with pure hands at a most impure period, and Lord Byron has only rendered him justice in declaring that he ruined the country gratis.
AN IRISH CHURCHMAN FIFTY YEARS SINCE.
The Dean was the son of a favourite butler of the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. He inherited the talents of his father, for he was an excellent judge of claret. In other respects, he had no particular qualification for the Established Church. This one, however, proved sufficient; for he eventually contrived to become Arch- bishop of —. Well and truly did my father say, that the Church was an excellent profession for young men with good family interest and of Tory prin- ciples.
The Dean was disposed to be an optimist. In troth, he had good reason for in. dining to that doctrine, for he was one of Fortune's favourites. He thought there was no reason to despair of Ireland as long as the tithes were regularly paid. That was his test of the moral, financial, and political state of the country. It was OM in which he had some personal interest, for his living was worth about 4,000L a year. He was well paid for his work; which consisted in the salvation of the souls of Mr. Brereton and Mr. Lucifer, together with their establishments, and three serious washerwomen wbo lived in the village of Lodore. Altogether, his flock amounted to nearly twenty individuals. The Roman Catholics of his parish mustered their thousands; but with them the Dean held no communion by word or deed.
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