THE fate of literary sequels is notorious, but we do
not think Mr. and Mrs. Egerton Castle need entertain any misgiving as to the reception of Incomparable Bellairs. It is not, perhaps, so consistent or finished a work of art as The Bath Comedy, for the melodramatic element is more pronounced, the sentiment more luscious, and the incidents still further removed from correspondence with the facts of real life. These blemishes, how- ever, are not in the least likely to endanger its popularity; on the contrary, they are likely to increase its circle of admirers. The authors have merely begun to exhibit the defects, or rather the excesses, of their qualities, and in the special department of the realm of romance which they have made their own it is impossible to be too exuberant for the taste of the many. But with all reserves, the result is so good of its kind, and so much more engaging than the work of other cultivators of modish romance, that it is invidious to insist on the tendencies noted above. In the comedy of gallantry a great deal depends on technique, and here Mr. and Mrs. Egerton Castle are excellently equipped. The spirit of Mr. Austin Dobson, to whom the book is dedicated, informs its pages. The scenes are beautifully mounted and upholstered, the personages are costumed to perfection from head to high heels; indeed, there is no detail in the arcana of eighteenth- century toilet, masculine or feminine, which is unknown to these ingenious authors. So, too, with the dialogue, which is judiciously embellished with ornament without being over- loaded with ,bsolete mannerisms. The characters, again, are, with one solitary exception, entirely in keeping with their decorative surroundings,—ornamental or witty or harum- scarum, but neither strenuous nor introspective, and wholly and solely given tqi fo the pursuit of pleasure. As an alterna- tive to the dreary photography of contemporary actualities, nothing could be more attractive than this skilfully contrived idealisation of fashionable life at Bath under the rule of Nash. In a work ' which makes no claim to edify or instruct, but simply to amuse, this judicious elimina- tibn-of the seamy side of eighteenth-century society, and the removal of all serious motives of action, is legitimate enough. The story is conducted—nine-tenths of it at least—in the spirit of comedy; hence we cannot help thinking that the intro- duction of Rachel Peace, the Quaker actress, who first awes the insolent roug, Lord Mandeville, by her purity, and then succumbe to his fascination, has spoilt the flavour of the story much as though you were to introduce an olive into a mAiingue. The episode in the opening scene where Rachel confronts 'her tormentors in the green-room is effective
• Incomparable Beliairs. Fly Agnes and Egerton Castle. Illnatnated by Fred Pegram. • .Loadoni Constable-al:KW°. 16s.] •
If the authors seem to have been somewhat of two minds in their opening chapter, the balance is swiftly, almost violently, redressed in the episode entitled "The Bridegroom Reject." . Here the stratagem by which Kitty Bellaire is saved from the consequences of her ill-considen3d acceptance of the suit of Mr. Stafford—the travestissement of Mr. Denis O'Hara as a discarded wife of the bridegroom, his incursion into the vestry, and the breaking up of the wedding party in confusion— comes perilously near the borders of broad farce. Again, the speedy acquiescence of the parties concerned in the renewal of the status quo ante, and the supper party, on the same night., at which Mr. Stafford presides and proposes the health of his wife that was to be and is not, make it impossible for the reader to take any deep or emotional interest in characters so, entirely enslaved by the impulse of the moment Still, person- ages of this temper have their advantages. - They afford the novelist opportunities for an indefinite number of fresh starts, a coherent plot is unnecessary, and the reader is reconciled to a succession of fantastic episodes. If we are never seriously agitated by the fortunes of these butterfly folk, we are agreeably titillated by the spectacle of their irre- sponsible evolutions, and it is impossible not to admire the ingenuity with which the authors contrive to extricate them from the consequences of their levity and recklessness. When Denis O'Hara takes to the road he is captured by a muscular but magnanimous Bishop, who connives at the substitution of another man for his prisoner. Ordinary ethical standards do not apply to the actions of these favoured beings, yet the authors manage to pay a divided homage to picturesque- ness and virtue: The villainous sharper, Captain Spieer, comes off badly in the long run ; Lord Mandeville's latent chivalry prompts him, though rather late in the day, to rehabilitate the character of the too confiding Quakeress ; and the much-enduring devotion of O'Hara ultimately triumphs over the attractions of more eligible competitors. At the risk of seeming captious, we may point out that no Irishman pronounces Spicer " Spoioer," or would say "you've broked my heart on me," Mr. Pegrain's illustrations add so much to the attractiveness of the volume that his co-operation deserved to be mentioned on the title-page.
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