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    Blarney and localized the deeds of Ajax on the Baltic shores . That is to sav Mr ! Lever made use of the language and the people suited to comedy , led his heroes helter-skelter through a succession of up-and-down incidents , seldom paused to be serious , and was always associated by the public with Charles O'Malley riots , Harry Lorrequer entertainments , Jack Hinton drolleries and Dodd Family absurdities . When The Fortunes of Glencore was announced most readers expected a new book added to the same library ; the name tasted of Ireland ; it was a double-word and had an echo ; but no one , we venture to say , anticipated the work of a philosophic artist , a scrutiny of human nature , a confession from the author that he has taken to a new line , and almost disdains the cheerful interest of his earlier novels . He has not disguised from himself , he says , the secrets of his actual popularity ; he knows that the public have looked to him for light-hearted stories , for stirring incidents , for gaiety , for the russet that lines the purple mantle of romance . that his forte in the delineation

    Yet , all the time he has felt convinced lay of different scenes and personages , that he should reap a real success as a photographist of character , an analyst of human motives . He professes to hope that he has not mistaken his own powers , and allows that he may have unduly despised the qualities for which the public has admired him . " To test my conviction , or to abandon it as a delusion for ever , I have written the present story of * Glencore . '" Opportunities of society , as well as natural inclination , he adds , have disposed him to become a student of social aspects , of men ' s aims and impulses , of that mysterious phantasm called character . For many a year he has stood patiently over the game of life , not playing but watching , estimating the qualities that ensure success , and noting the play of passion , the modes of temper , and the varieties of natural organisation among the well-bred Ten Thousand . The curtain rises alternately in the west of Ireland and in Italy , though the scene is occasionally transferred to London . No contrast could be better

    marked than that between the Castle of Glencore , hung with grey and green tapestries of time , and the palaces of Florence , also touched by age , but still haunted by the frivolous , the happy , the eager , the weary , and the random wayfarers of cultivated life ; people of tepid sensibility in search of emotions , fools , dupes , hacks , idlers , and vagabonds , the favourites as well as the rejected of society . We prefer the Glencore ruin to the frippery of Florence ; for it is there that Mr . Lever develops with most distinctness the purport and plan of his story . The interest , we think , would have been more concentrated , and the plan more original , had the action of the piece taken place almost exclusively within reach of the melancholy castle , the home of the dismal Glencores . Of course , it may have been necessary

    to find a frame of white and gold for the Watteau picture of Italian festival , to paint the sculptor ' s face in relief ag ainst a southern sky , to follow a modern diplomatist to the theatre of his Tusculan disputations ; perhaps it was also incumbent on Mr . Lever to satirize Downing-street and the House of Commons ; but in these directions , we must say , he falls far short of a positive success . It is true that Sir Horace Upton is the . ideal of a delicate great man , elaborately mounted ; but his idiosyncrasies are rendered almost grotesque by the unmixed colours in which they are depicted . When Iago is personified on the stage , the actor usually commits the mistake of dressing himself , darkening the expression of his eyes , hanging out a sign of villany in his face , so that , while the mighty Moor of Venice is deceived , the spectators in the gallery at once identify Iago as a devil . So with Sir Horace Upton . He almost says , I am an intellectual

    impostor , trickster , and scorner of my species — the fool of physicians , a self-seeker and a sceptic . When he first appears in character costume the effect is an exaggeration : he comes into the rich chamber of Lord Glencore attired in a purple dressing-gown profusely braided with gold , loose trousers as richly brocaded , and a pair of real Turkish slippers resplendent with costly embroidery ; a . small fez of blue velvet with a deep gold tassel . covers the side of his head , at either side of which his soft , silky hair descends in long massy waves , apparently negligently , but in reality arranged with all the artistic regard to effect of a consummate master . From the gold girdle at his waist depends a watch , a bunch of keys , a Turkish purse , an embroidered tobacco-bag , a gorgeously chased smellingbottle , and a small stiletto with a topaz handle . This Upton is one of the mainsprings of the storywhich turns upon an affliction in the life of Lord

    , Glencore of Gleneore Castle . His wife , he believes , has been lost to him ; to punish her and to gratify an unnatural passion for revenge , he marks with u bar sinister the escutcheon of his only son , and a / lirms him to have been the offspring of a mistress . The boy , nurtured in family pride , quits Glencore when this announcement is made to him ; his mother , a star of the smiling society that breathes lemon fragrance in the Tuscan capital , closes her palace portals and vanishes into private life . A mystic clue leads through chapters of complex adventure , bringing in love , art , learning , conspiracy , diplomacy , and politics as elements of the story , which closes without satisfying the reader . We hardly know whether to anticipate a sequel ; certainly the end is abrupt , and if Mr . Lever had a reason for this he has of the

    not made it clear . We might object to his manner conducting narrative as irregular and perplexing , and occasionall y to his stylo as not toned by an under current of allusion , » n essential in a book meant to be partially satirical ; but we have said enough in reply to the challenge thrown down by Mr . Lever to all frank and liberal critics . Wo have explained why we think that , successful though he id in delineating what is left of nature iu men , after fashion has remoulded them , and what is added by art , the careful manipulation in these volumes is scarcely so admirable as the graphic golden sketches by which Charles Lev or first made himself a name . " The Fortunes of Glencorc" is a book that proves its author ' s versatility , but it doea not , suggest Unit he mistook himself when he wrote Charles O'Malley .

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    CALVIN'S LETTERS . Letters of John Calvin . Compiled from the Originnl Manuscripts , nnd Edited with Ilistoricul Notes by Dr . Jules Bonnet . Vol . II . Edinburgh : Constable « md Co . On his death-bed Calvin requested that selections from his letters should be made , and presented as u memorial of his unwearied zeal to the Reformed

    Churches . This duty was bequeathed to Theodore Beza , his friend and fellowlabourer . Adverse times hindered for a while the accomplishment of this request . " Without speaking , " says Beza , " of the assistance that was indispensable for the examination of so extensive a correspondence , or of the time required for so laborious an undertaking , the calamities that befel our city , the plague that raged for many years , the convulsions of a neighbouring country , have more than once interrupted the progress of the work . The selection of the letters also involved great difficulties , at a time when men were predisposed to judge harshly and -unfairly . There are many things that may be said or written in the familiar intercourse of sincere and ingenuous friendship , such as Calvin ' s , which can hardly be given to the public

    without inconvenience . We were obliged in our work to have respect to persons , times , and places . " Notwithstanding these obstacles the request of Calvin was destined to have an accomplishment more complete than even the great Reformer himself could have anticipated . His memory was preserved with filial reverence , not to say devout zeal . By the care of his affectionate disciples , the originals or the copies of a vast number of letters addressed to France , England , Germany , and Switzerland , were collected and deposited in the archives of Geneva . We are , however , principally indebted to the devotion and unwearied energy of Charles de Joinvillers for the extensiveness of the collection . This loving disciple was born of a noble family , but embracing the faith of the Husruenots , was obliged to flee from France . He

    found refuge in Switzerland , and , being admitted to the friendship of Calvin , eventually " became his secretary . For twenty years he employed himself in hunting up the autographs of his late master . The result was the publication , in 1575 , of the first detachment of this correspondence . Nearly three centuries , however , elapsed without adding anything to the edition ; though numerous unpublished documents were suspected to exist in the Libraries of Geneva , Zurich , Gotha , Paris , and elsewhere . Within the last twenty years , however , the indifference of the previous centuries has been compensated for by the appearance of several works containing unedited letters . It was reserved , however , for the present editor to collect and publishln a distinct form the correspondence of this voluminous letter-writer .

    Independent of their special value as exhibiting the character and opinions of Calvin , portrayed by his own pen , these letters possess an extrinsic historical value . Nor must we forget their literary merit . They range over a period of thirty-six years , beginning with his youth and closing on his death-ted . Calvin was born at Noyon in 1509 , and , after obtaining an elementary education at the college of La Marche , went to that of Montaigne , where he studied logic and other liberal arts with great success . He hadTfrom his youth shown great seriousness of mind , and often sternly reproving the vices of his companions , was , therefore , destined for the Church . ° chapelry w as accordingly procured for him when scarcely twelve years old , and a few years later he obtained a parochial cure . _ It was not long , however , before he expressed disgust at the corruptions of the Church he h ad entered , and , having withdrawn from her

    communion , devoted himself to the study of the law . At Paris he became acquainted with a zealous supporter of the Reformation , and , being persuaded by him , he abandone d all other studies , and devoted himself entirely to preaching . His life now became one of ceaseless activity . He travelled from country to country and from city to city , and enforced , by the inflexible energy of his character , the doctrines of the New Church . France , his native country , was too dangerous a p lace to remain in ; he therefore removed to Basle , where , having published his " Institutes , ' ] he proceeded to Italy . Finally , however , he settled down in Geneva , terrified by the denunciation of his friend Farel , that if he did not consent to join him in his work there , a curse from Heaven would rest upon him . But Geneva was in an unsettled state . Papacy had been extirpated , yet violent

    contentions prevailed . Calvin and Farel were banished for a while by the svndics or chief magistrates , and retired to Strasbourg . The former eventually returned , and became the spiritual dictator of tine city . He died in 15 G 4 , in the fifty-fifth year of his age . In the letters we possess , the general outline of the life of this great Reformer is admirably filled in . We see him as he was ; perhaps we know him better than his contemporai'ies Such was his influence , so towering his genius , he exercised a kind of universal apostolate . He exhorts with the same authority the humble ministers of the Gospel and the powerful monarchs of England , Sweden , and Poland . He holds communion with Luther and Melancthon , animates Knox , encourages Coligny , Conde , Jeanne d'Albret , and the Duchess of Ferrara ; while in his familiar letters to Farel , Viref ., and Theodore Beza , he reveals the innermost workings of his heart .

    The present Eng lish edition of Calvin ' s collected correspondence will , when completed , form four volumes , and contain at least six hundred letters , the greater part of which remain as yet unpublished . The first volume appeared in 1855 , and embraced a period of seventeen years , commencing when he was about nineteen . These letters are principally addressed to his friends , and detail the private struggles against which he had to contend . They display the keenness and vigilance with which he watched every event that influenced directly or indirectly the Reformation , and the justice of his penetration may be seen in his criticism on the conduct of Henry VIII . of liii'rland . " The King himself is only half wise . He prohibits under them of the the and

    severe penalties , besides depriving ministry , priests bishops who enter upon matrimony ; he retains the daily masses ; he wishes the seven sacraments to remain as they are . . . Then , because all do not appear to be of sound mind , he does not sufl ' er the Scriptures to circulate in the language of the common people throughout the kingdom ; and he has lately put forth a new interdict by which ho warns the people against the reading of the Bible . Moreover , that you may understand that ho is quite in earnest , and not by any moans jestingly insane , ho lately burnt a worthy and learned man ( John-Lambert ) . . . Our friends , however , though sorely hurt by atrocities of this kind , will notecase to have an eye on the condition of his kingdom . " Nothing seems to escape his knowledge , whether near at

    home , or far away in foreign lands . The second volume embraces , perhaps , the most busy and most varied period of Calvin ' s life . Ho was engaged in a constant struggle against the throned powers of Catholic Europe ; ho was endeavouring to build up the

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    May 2 , 1857 . 1 _ T HjJ EADEB . 425

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 2, 1857, page 425, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2191/page/17/