me.

Review of the Cavalier, a Romance.

I have been struck by the corporal, whose life ye saved by yer coming; I have been trampled and throttled by yersel; I shall watch for a day of reckoning for ye both; ye know me not; there are few that do; but by the right hand of power, I'll make ye rue this day in tears of blood."

Notwithstanding this threat the major allowed him to depart.

This incident we have given at full, as it opens the character of Snell, one of the principal actors in the subsequent scenes, and is a good specimen of the descriptive powers on which our author's fame will depend..

The skill which Snell had displayed in the use of the sword and the management of the horse, assisted Spandyke in guessing that a trumpet which was heard every evening was the gathering signal of the mountaineers for their military exercises. An expedition was consequently undertaken, but from the precaution of the puritans proved unsuccessful. Banner Cross was, however, fortified, and Lord Falconridge and Charles some time after joined the king's army, now actually engaged in hostilities with the parliament, while Spandyke remained with the castle garrison. Sydenham signalised himself in the field, and before the end of the campaign succeeded his father in the command of the regiment, and was sent to lay siege to Wibberley castle, (the seat of Mr. Bradshaw, the lord president's brother,) then in pos'session of the parliamentarians. His father, the baron, still remained with him.

In the mean time, young Snell, who burned with the desire of revenge on Spandyke, seduced Jellott from his fealty by inflaming his jealousy of Picard, while Spandyke himself, by his sometimes unnecessary severity, assisted Snell's views.

A puritan preacher, evangelically styled Never-lack-inGod's-praise Windyman, who had come to fill the place vacated by the seizure of Abel White, roused the dormant spirit of the mountaineers; and in the dead of night they gained a private entrance into the castle of Banner Cross, and led on by Jellott, murdered Spandyke and fired the castle. Lady Falconridge was, however, saved by the steadiness of the now alarmed garrison, and was conveyed to Castletown; while the assailants were forced from the burning ruins,

We must pass over several minor incidents, and merely. mention that Snell, recommended to the notice of the parliamentary commissioners by this action, was empowered to levy troops, of whom he was appointed captain; and that

Review of the Cavalier, a Romance.

Wibberley castle soon after capitulated to Charles. castle he found Mr. and Mrs. Bradshaw and their daughter, a young girl, about fourteen, whom (though presbyterians, and of course parliamentarians) he captivated by his polite attentions and engaging manners. He freed them without the usual ransom, and, leaving his lieutenant, Armstrong, at Wibberley, went to Castletown,having escorted the Bradshaws to their residence.

He remained at Castletown for some time, during which several circumstances of minor importance occurred, in which Captain Snell bore a conspicuous part. He was afterwards concerned in most of the actions between his party and the republicans, and often did "yeoman service" to the cause which he adopted, so that he was at length esteemed one of the chief supports of his party. All his exertions were, however, ineffectual; and at the death of Charles I. he retired to France, and joined his parents at Rouen. From thence he accompanied Charles II. in his unfortunate journey into Scotland; and at the time the cavaliers were removed by the bigotted Scots from the king's person, he took up his residence with a gentleman who was a staunch royalist. Obliged to conceal himself, he adopted the puritanical disguise, and thus often wandered out in the evening. In one of these excursions he was recognised by his lieutenant, Armstrong, by whom he was introduced to several of his clan, that were concealed in a retired house in Edinburgh. He sat down among them, and Armstrong proposed the health of the mountain daisy, Miss Bradshaw of Wibberley, who had saved him from Snell's revenge when Wibberley was taken by the roundheads. Sydenham, who recollected her only as a handsome child, spoke of her with a degree of levity that displeased Armstrong, and on their return, being both inflamed with wine, they quarrelled and were consequently taken by the city guard. After a night's confinement, they were released through the interest of Mr. Bradshaw, who was then living in Edinburgh, and with whom Armstrong had assiduously cultivated an acquaintance. Mr. Bradshaw brought them home with him, and Sydenham was surprised to find his daughter Esther changed from a pretty child into an absolute paragon of female perfection. The consequence is obvious--he resigned his heart to her disposal; and our author would be ignorant of his duty as a novelist, if he had not rendered her equally attached to the gallaut cavalier. There were, however, many almost insurmountable obstacles

Review of the Cavalier, a Romance.

to their passion; Mr. Bradshaw was a presbyterian, and re-
garded the relaxed morality of the cavaliers with horror;
and he had already declared himself in favor of another
suitor, Lord Caryfort. At an accidental meeting between
this nobleman and Sydenham, they fought, and Sydenham
disarmed his opponent; Esther, overcome with terror, reached
them at this moment; and in a tete-à-tete which ensued, Sy-
denham gained from her the sweet confession of her love.

Caryfort, in revenge for the loss of his fair lady, gave se-
cret notice to the heads of his own faction of Sydenham's re-
sidence in Edinburgh, and that he could on that evening be
apprehended at Mr. Bradshaw's house. The cavaliers were,
however, saved from his treachery by the friendship of one
of the city officers, and Sydenham was enabled secretly to
continue his visits, and at length persuaded Esther to consent
to a private marriage, which took place in the usual manner,
and with the customary precautions.

Mr. Bradshaw shortly after died; having blessed the union
of Sydenham and his daughter, of which he was informed
on his death-bed.

Sydenham compelled by his honor to forego the sweet
converse of his beloved Esther for the rude scene of battle,
joined his sovereign in his expedition into England; having
first narrowly escaped the treachery of Caryfort, who had
again acted the part of an informer. Snell, who had been
raised to the rank of Colonel, was at that time governor of
Edinburgh, and himself headed the party that on this occasion
proceeded to search Mrs. Bradshaw's house; but shamed by
this lady's representation of his unmanly attempt on the life
of his former liege lord, he revealed to her the villainy of
Lord Caryfort, and promised never to seek Sydenham again
but in the field of battle.

The consequence of the battle of Worcester is well known;
and seven years passed away without any material event,
during which Sydenham seldom enjoyed the company of his
wife, as she still continued under her maiden name at Edin-
burgh, and he was obliged to remain on the continent with
his sovereign.

At the period when the Protector's health began to decline,
the royalists rose and seized Wibberley castle. Snell was sent
against them; but deeming the recovery of the fortress would
be a work of time, he fixed his head quarters at a short dis-
tance from the castle, and resolved on turning the siege into
a blockade. His principal care now was to prevent Syden-

Review of the Cavalier, a Romance.

ham from joining the castle garrison, by whom he was daily expected. He accordingly placed a guard at the only pass over a river which Sydenham should cross, and unfortunately the gallant cavalier, notwithstanding the most uncommon exertions, became his prisoner. In the mean time, Armstrong, with Lady Sydenham, whose mother and child had lately died, arrived at the inn at which Snell had fixed himself; and being secured from Snell by the passport of General Monk, then Governor of Scotland, she has enabled to witness the arrival of her husband. At Armstrong's suggestion, seeing that a discovery of herself would at present only injure her husband, she concealed herself from him, and smothering the agony of her feelings, set off with Armstrong from the inn. In the morning Sydenham was sent off under a strong guard to abide his trial, and on the way a rescue was attempted by Armstrong, who had got into Wibberley, and had headed some of Sydenham's old troopers. But Armstrong's gallantry was unavailing, and Sydenham was safely lodged in Chester castle.

There he met Mr. Abel White, the preacher, with which order of men the prisons were at this time completely crowded. White was a pious man, who wished for a reformation in church and state, but preferred the dominion of his king to that of an hypocritical tyrant. Mr. Never-lackin-God's-praise Windyman was the accredited chaplain of the castle, and White, to whom Sydenham revealed his marriage, worked on the avarice of Windyman by promising him a living in the gift of the Bradshaws. He thus induced him to assist their escape; but Windyman was killed in the attempt to cross the fosse. Under White's directions, Sy-' denham reached Wibberley in safety; but only in time to witness the fall of the castle. The ammunition of the cavaliers was expended, and the place was no longer tenable.

On the morning after his arrival, he ordered the remaining men of the garrison, amounting to one hundred, to mount their horses, and having placed his beloved wife on a stout charger between himself and Armstrong, in the rere of the troop, still accompanied by Mr. White, he left the castle, assisted by a thick mist which concealed him from the enemy. They escaped to the high road, and having reached Snell's encampment, charged through the town, and having almost annihilated his troop, made Snell a prisoner. Sydenham however freed him, and when they had passed beyond pursuit, he disbanded his troop, and for the present took up his

Review of the Cavalier, a Romance.

residence at Bradshaw-hall. They were here surprised by Snell's party, but had time to get into a secret vault, from which at a convenient opportunity they again escaped, and took refuge in the house of Ford, a relative of Mr. White. Here they continued for some time, until Doll Jordan, an old witch, who had been busy in some of the foregoing scenes, to whom Ford had indiscreetly committed the important secret, revealed it to Snell, and claimed the reward of her perfidy. Snell determined to attack the house that evening, and detained the witch to accompany him, as he suspected her of treachery.

Cromwell had been dead some time, and the power of the Parliamentarians tottered to its fall. They ordered all the military under their command to assemble at London; and Snell, among the rest, was preparing to march, but had postponed his departure one day for the sake of making Sydenham prisoner. The cavaliers were, however, not ignorant of this change in the face of affairs, and Sydenham had actually ordered his lately disbanded adherents to meet him at the cottage that very night, when he purposed giving Snell a parting salute. The result may be easily guessed. The opposite parties met in equal numbers; and Snell, supposing the old witch to be privy to this gathering of the cavaliers, struck off her head; but her death was soon revenged by Sydenham, who, in self-defence, was at length constrained to pass his sword through the traitor's body.

The arch-enemy of our gallant cavalier and his lovely wife was now no more; they escaped to France, and the restoration of Charles II. soon freed them from further apprehension. Sydenham succeeded to his father's title, and was enabled by the king's gratitude to reward the fidelity of all his friends.

This story is spun to such a length that it becomes uninteresting from its tediousness. It is rather a recital of historical events detailed in a pleasing narrative, than a collection of domestic incidents: nor can we admire that plan which admits an hiatus of so many years in several parts of the story. We also think the author's constant satile on the puritans, although it may be just in a limited sense, and warranted by fact, should be decried by the censors of the morality as well as the taste of the public press; and in his first volume there are too many digressions, almost totally unconnected with his main story.