Page 298.—The hero, who is hardly more romantic than the heroine, has married his own sister:—
"Lord Hubart gazed with steady eye
And arms still folded, on old Carl—
'Here is, i' faith, a pretty snarl
To be unwound'—but his reply
Was cut short," etc., etc.
In fact, the great objection to Lord Hubart, as may be inferred from the above-quoted passage, is, that he is hopelessly vulgar. We are loath to say so, because of our respect for English aristocracy; but English aristocracy, truth compels us to observe, cuts no great figure on our American stage or in our American literature.
In short, this is a very silly book. It abounds in trite moralizing, for instances of which we will merely refer the reader to pp. 65, 131, and 299. The author remarks exultingly, in his Introduction, that his is comparatively an uncultivated mind, We can only say, we should think so! Ignorance is plentiful everywhere, but it really seems as if it were reserved for some of our American writers to display in its finest specimens ignorance vaunting its own deficiencies. There is a great deal of nonsense talked about "uncultivated minds": some men are eminent in spite of being uncultivated; but no man was ever eminent because he was uncultivated. Some instances of a lamentable misuse of language in "Hester" we give below.
Page 16,—
"They would have won implicit sway."
Page 53,—
"By the nonce!"
Evidently thinking of the phrase, "for the nonce,"—meaning, for the occasion. In the text, "by the nonce" is an oath!
Page 71,—
"And he some squire of low behest."