"The Bramleighs of Bishop's Folly" came out in the Cornhill at this time, and was published by Smith & Elder. Lever now, almost for the first time, succeeded in producing an elaborate plot, the mystery of which was so astutely veiled, that, although simple and natural enough, the reader finds himself at last quite taken by surprise. Formerly his effort had been to make his characters wonderful heroes at the mess and in the saddle; and critical readers, while now remarking that he seemed desirous of getting rid of his old stud of hobby-horses, dryly hoped that it was not because he felt himself growing too old, or then too fresh for a veteran to ride. Lever meant to tell in an historic introduction which he did not live to write, that " Bishop's Folly," is a wonderful castle near Coleraine, built by the eccentric Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, and now occupied by Sir Hervey Bruce.

"That Boy of Norcott's"-born within some months of "The Bramleighs "-despite its juvenility of title furnished another illustration of Mr. Pecksniff's remark, that time would tame the ardour of a playful bird. With the exception of a sledge ride through Hungary, we find hardly a more exciting adventure in the career of the "boy" from cradle to manhood-a career, therefore, more true to nature than the headlong escapades of Lever's earlier heroes. A paper now before us lets us into the secret of the circumstances which led to this change. "I have grave doubts if age has anything heavier in all its inflictions than the yearly increasing difficulty

THE "RENT IN A CLOUD."

273

of enjoying a good laugh. For my own part, baldness, adiposity, and such like are all lighter evils to me than the gravity I feel stealing over me, the little tolerance I have for small fun, and the growing conviction that the pleasant people have gone home, and that I am left to walk back with the dreary ones.'

With the latter "That Boy of Norcott's" must be classed. Irresolution in guidance marks the author's conduct of his hero; and its plot exhibits the defect so often noticed by his early censor, McGlashan, of being "huddled up." By way of excuse for one of those abrupt endings, he told a friend that his bookseller wanted a book for Christmas; he himself wished to have done with it; and so between them they had put the characters to bed without tying their night-caps, and blowing out the candle before they were well in.

The "Rent in a Cloud "--a short one-if really Lever's, was unworthy of him; but our pen shall not be the one to point out its faults. As soon might we assail Thucydides because the eighth book of the

66

Peloponnesian War" is as feeble as the earlier ones exhibit strength. Scott is not the less great because he wrote "Castle Dangerous;" and "Pericles" ought not to weaken Shakspeare's fame. As regards the reputed performance of Thucydides, some have ascribed it to his daughter; and a similar conjecture may perhaps apply to the "Rent in a Cloud."

VOL. II.

T

CHAPTER X.

Consul at Trieste-A Leap in the Dark-The Dreary Dalmatian CoastExcessive Somnolence-A dissolving view of Ireland-Guest for three days of the Viceroy-Lord Spencer Charmed-Anecdotes and Conversations-Recollections of Lever by his Niece, Judge Keogh, Bishop Graves, Dr. Shaw, Mr. Dicey, Dr. Stokes, Sir William Wilde, Major D1) and others -The Cosmopolitan Club-Lord Lytton-Deceived by the Tichborne Claimant.

IN 1867, on the reaccession of the Conservative party to power, some of Lever's friends remarked to Mr. Whiteside, then member for the University of Dublin, and afterwards Lord Chief Justice, that as his office was that of Vice-consul only, a deal of drudgery devolved on him. The matter was represented to the Government, and the late Lord Derby said, "We certainly must do something for Harry Lorrequer." "* Lever soon after, namely, on March the 2nd, 1867, was appointed to a consulship at Trieste, where it was alleged he would have nothing but the otium cum dignitate, a vice-consul doing all the work for him. The office

* A courteous letter from the Chief Justice inviting us to call upon him "in Chamber," led to the communication of much interesting matter. In dedicating "One of Them" to this personage, Lever remarked that “ of all the friends he could count in Ireland from whom space and the accidents of life had separated him, there was not 'one of them' for whom he entertained a sincerer regard united with higher hopes."

was indeed one of some dignity; Sir John Crampton of diplomatic celebrity speaks of it in a letter to us, as a "Consul-Generalship."

Lord Derby in tendering the appointment used these characteristic words, "Here is £600 a-year for doing nothing; and you, Lever, are the very man to do it." The Premier knew that this "nothing" was the very thing which thousands of readers wished, and there was not one cynic to find fault with the £600 a-year which figured in the Estimates; the "nothing" was, in fact, stupendous work, and it was quaintly remarked, that every year the House voted the sum, it wrote an undying chapter of Irish History.*

Lever's nature changed as he grew older. Time was when, if aught went wrong around him, he would still be like Mark Tapley, "jolly." In 1865 he proudly avows an indomitable belief in Self. His early life was marked by a modest and retiring mien. His letters from 1838 to 1855, confess rather a mistrust of his own

* Grave statesmen who supported the estimates to buy guns for our national defences regarded Lever's subsidy in an equally important light. Dibdin received a large pension for promoting by his spirited sea-songs enlistment in the navy. Lever did still more to make the British army attractive, and had he got £1600 a year instead of £600, it would be less than he deserved and earned. The letter sent by a grateful mother, after the publication of " O'Malley," and confessing its effect on the martial bias of her son, will be remembered. His pen, indeed, made more dragoons than all the recruiting sergeants in her Majesty's service, and, it was well observed by an American critic that, "A spirit of martial enthusiasm inflated the minds of the rising generation, until to be a dragoon became a day-dream of existence, and many an embryo warrior who failed in obtaining a commission, compromised with a cruel destiny by accepting the Queen's shilling."

powers, and evince a strong desire to be guided by friendly counsel. Those who have read his later letters will at once see that the views he expressed behind the mask of O'Dowd, are quite autobiographic. His retirement furnished him with too many facilities for brooding, and we find traces of this habit in the closing record of his thoughts; some final contributions to Blackwood being called "Grumbles." One of these papers declared that he had a whole rookery of crows to pluck with destiny.

Lord Derby took credit to himself for giving a consular appointment to Lever; but his able contemporary, Lord Palmerston, viewed all offices of that character with feelings akin to contempt. The latter statesman, who said that tenant-right meant landlord-wrong, told the usual half-truth in declaring that when a man fails through life, he holds himself fit for a consulship.

yore

Lever wrote to Major D-- in December, 1868, that he accepted Trieste as a great boon, but found it one of the dreariest, dullest, and vulgarest dens in Europe, without even that resource one had in the Austria of of a gentlemanlike class in the higher beaurocracy, and the soldiers in command-all was canting and communistic; he abhorred the place, he said, and himself for coming to it. Over and over the same sad confession is made. Sometimes he calls it a famous fiasco, at other times, a leap in the dark.

And was this the end of that grand old day-dream,

that some time or other," as he writes, "I was to