Seacliff; Or the Mystery of the Westervelts
By , Author of “ Oriental Acquaintance,” “ European Acquaintance,” etc., etc. Boston : Phillips, Sampson, & Co. pp. 466. 12mo.
THIS is a very readable novel, artful in plot, effective in characterization, and brilliant in style. “The Mystery of the Westervelts ” is a mystery which excites the reader’s curiosity at the outset, and holds his pleased attention to the end. The incidents arc so contrived that the secret is not anticipated until it is unveiled, and then the explanation is itself a surprise. The characters are generally strongly conceived, skilfully discriminated, and happily combined. The delineation of Mr. Westervelt, the father of the heroine, is especially excellent. Irresolute in thought, impotent in will, and only occasionally fretted by circumstances into a feeble activity, he is an almost painfully accurate representation of a class of men who drift through life without any power of self-direction. Mrs. Westervelt has equal moral feebleness with less brain, and her character is a study in practical psychology. Somerville, the villain of the piece, who unites the disposition of Domitian to the manners of Chesterfield, is the pitiless master of this female slave. The coquettish Mrs. Van Leer is a prominent personage of the story ; and her shallow malice and pretty deviltries are most effectively represented. She is not only a flirt in outward actions, but a flirt in soul, and her perfection in impertinence almost rises to genius. All these characters betray patient meditation, and the author's hold on them is rarely relaxed. A novel evincing so much intellectual labor, written in a style of such careful elaboration, and exhibiting so much skill in the development of the story, can searcely fail of a success commensurate with its merits.