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The False Friend: A Domestic Story. By Mary Robinson. - Author of Poems, Walsingham, Angelina, Hubert de Sevrac, &c. &c. 4 vols. 12mo. Longman and Rees, 1799.
This story relates the misfortunes of Gertrude St. Leger, who supposes herself an orphan, though she is, in fact, the daughter of Lord Denmore, who is so peculiarly circumstanced as to be unable to acknowledge the relationship. She is educated as the daughter of a Major St. Leger, and, at a proper time, is removed from boarding school, to take up her residence at the mansion of her nominal guardian. The mysterious conduct of Lord Denmore, who cannot conceal his affection for his daughter, though he does not divulge the affinity between them, and the tender gratitude of Gertrude for the protection he has afforded her, furnish ground for a report, which, with the assistance of an artful villain of the name of Treville, produces the most distressing consequences, and, finally, the destruction of all the parties concerned.
We would rather excite curiosity, than diminish the pleasure of the reader, by anticipating the incidents of this highly interesting narrative. The heroine, however, is perpetually the victim of perfidy, prejudice, and cruelty; and even Lord Denmore himself gives way too readily to suspicion, and contributes, in some degree, to her incessant persecutions. She is a sort of female Williams, and, probably, Mrs Robinson was not unwilling to furnish a companion to Godwin's well-known hero.
Though we think highly of this novel, upon the whole; we think the interest sometimes suffers by the length of the author's digressions, and the protraction of some of her leading incidents. Many of the situations are improbably, and the women, introduced as the agents of Treville, for the worst of purposes, had better have been omitted. If these characters, and the scenes in which they are engaged are fictitious, they are by no means creditable to a female's invention: if they are dawn from life, an inference, still more unfavourable, may be deduced. We could have wished that Lady Denmore had not fallen a victim to the arts of Treville; but it seems to have been the object of the author to paint a villain of the most dangerous and atrocious kind, [167] and she has executed the task with an ingenuity that demands our warmest commendation. Sir Upas is admirably characteristic; the young sailor, also, is extremely well drawn: his sentiments and conduct do honour to human nature; and we feel greatly for the sufferings of poor Mary, his sister.
The work is written with facility, elegance, and vigour; the descriptive passages abound with rich and beautiful imagery; and the conversation scenes are supported with the most agreeable vivacity, and satire, at once poignant and just. [complete]
Provided by Julie Shaffer, August 1999
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