NOTICES OF BOOKS.

Evening Star, Issue 3364, 1 December 1873, Page 2

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

The Star// »f “ JFiW Will Enderhy," told by Vincent Tyke. 11. T. Wheeler, Stafford strtH, Dunedin. Mr Pyke, according to a promise on announcing his charming tale, has brought it to a close in the present number. He began it well : he has carried it through well; he has closed it well. Book the third left Wild Will in trouble. Not a reader of his adventures, whether or not they sympathised with his impulsive character, felt otherwise than interested in his fate. There was a heaping up of mystery upon mystery : a very possible combination of circumstances to be used as evidence against him, that appeared likely to result in the Sergeant of Police getting up a splendid case. But it wots not to be so. His shrewd, noble-hearted American mate proved more than a match for official astuteness, and Vandcmoniau villainy; and love, pure, disinteres ted love, reclaimed Will from the miseries that his own.impetuous, uncontrolled passions, and untrained judgment, had involved him in. Mr Pyke’s work is brought to an unwished for close. We will not forestall the pleasure his readers will have by stating the manner in which the complications are unravelled, and the mysteries unfolded; but content ourselves with a few general remarks upon the work itself. As a story, it is excellent. Full of incident, the plot is well connected so well, in fact, that a very telling drama might without difficulty be evolved from it. The events are not only probable, but most of them have actually occurred, if not precisely in the order in which they are related, or in the experience of the same individual, at any rate to one or other in these <’domes. The scenery so graphically described is to he recognised by any tourist, and it will henceforth acquire additional interest in the minds of visitors, tlmmgh being linked with events impressed upon the memory through the vivid painting of a master hand. In this respect Mr Pykc is doing for New Zealand what poets and novelists have done ford rent Britain. The legends and tales connected with a country, lend a charm to its features, beyond the mere physical outline of its mountains, streams, and hills. Olympus has classic memories connected with it, that invest it with interest apart from its mountain grandeur; Burns has immortalised the Banks o’ Boon and many a pretty spot, that without his aid would have had no legend associated with them ; we had travelled over Sherwood forest and gazed on the valley of the Don with little curiosity, prior to being able to trace the scenery described as the arena in which many of the adventures of Ivanhoe occurred. A country may be beautiful : New Zealand is beautiful, so is Victoria, so are most of the Australasian Colonies: but yet there is a feeling of loneliness when travelling through them, arising from their prominent outlines not hying woven into our imaginings of the past. When each spot has a story or a legend attached to it, there is that which creates a feeling somewhat akin to our consciousness of personal identity. | The past has goue. with all its passions and cum- i tjojia j but jb }p uot-a dead yaA. It ie Atsoyidled

with our present existence—a link that seems to connect us sympathetically with things that have been. We d« not feel strangers to them, ami they load to attaching us to our new abode as to n home. With respect to the characters introduced, we have from the first been fully aware that Mr Pyke had not given himself sufficient space to develop them. They are well sketched and well conceived. But we part from them too soon. Wc arc introduced to a most amiable family; but have not had more than two or three interviews with the members of it before our acquaintanceship is cut short. The senior partner is one of those admirable self-helping, highminded, cool-headed outgrowths of democracy. that may be and are to be met with in these days ; loi' which in fact they may be said to have been reserved ; and wc want to know more about him. We look upon these portraits as valuable and faithful records of a phase of Colonial life already passed array, Oomparctl with the men and women described by Smollett and Fielding, the Colonial population are immeasurably superior. Those able writers told of profligacy that seemed to pervade allj ranks; subserviency, and trickery on the part of tradesmen and dependents ; toadyism to the rich, degradation of the poor. Officials are described'as venal, police as brutal. Intrigue seems to havebeenthebusinesainfashionaide circles and courage to have been exhibited in bnllying. But the sketches from life drawn by Mr Pyke reveal to us high-spirited, intelligent, and honorable men of all ranks ; servants fulfilling their duties, shrewd, and well brought up ; men and women high in principle, pure, in thought, and capable of noble self-sacrifice. Even his demons wear a fascinating dress that makes their presence tolerable. Nor is this picture overdrawn. We in the Colonies have met with many noble beings : men firm and faithful friends through good report and evil report; and women whose devotion exhibited itself in silent sclf-sacrificc, whom not even the charge of crime against a loved one could estrange ; hut who, through years of separation, have toiled and saved that the stain might be removed, and he, for whom all this was done, might be restored to an hbnorable position. There are those amongst us doing all this Mabels without Mabel’s father to sustain them. We can only hope that they on whom all _ this angelic love is bestowed may prove that within them eoual nobleness of soul is evolved, and that it has not been wasted mi unworthy objects. We see more brotherly and sisterly kindness and more unselfish liberality in a twelvemonth in the Colonies, than are met with usually in a long life at Home. Wo consider Mr Pyke lias done much in this too short story to give a charm to Colonial life that will tend to dissipate many misconceptions of it, when “ Wild Will Euderby” is read at Home. Mr Adam should be supplied with a few hundred copies, which he should distribute broadcast in his emigration peregrinations. They will do more for him than he can do for himself. They will reach the eyes of men who can understand them, and of classes who, through want of knowledge of social thought ami society in the Colonies, are veiy loth »o come amongst us. The prevailing ideas at Home respecting colonists are that they arc “ ne’er do weels” or the descendants of con victs ; and this very often detracts from the hearty welcome that would otherwise be given by friends and relatives to those who visit the old country, and prevent emigration. We arc pleased to find from Mr Pyke’s closing paragraph that “ Wild Will Enderby ” is likely to be only the pioneer of a series. He has broken up some rich ground, and we cordially trust that he will fulfil the expectations raised on his dropping the curtain, when he says “And thus I bid my auditors-Adieu ! If with any pleasure you have listened to my story, with greater pleasure have I told it unto you. Even now, as I indite these lines, I feel strangely reluctant to frame the closing sentence. Willingly would I prolong the theme, for many things yet remain untold. And it may be, that if haply this “abstract and brief chronicle ” shall win your favor, I may hereafter resume the thread of my discourse, and further divulge the fortunes of Wild Will Enderby.” We have received from Messrs Keith and Wilkie copies of “The ’Trial of Sir Jasper,” a Temperance tale, in verse, by S. C. Hall, E.S.A., illustrated abundantly with engravings of first-class merit; “The Unprofessiona' Vagabond” and “ Fiddletown,” by Bret Harte. Each deserves a more detailed notice than the cursory glance wc have only had time to bestow upon them justifies ns in giving at present. They aic evidently works by men of talent, and we shall therefore take an early opportunity of reviewing them.