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Art. 48. Canterbury Tales. Vol. IV. By Harriet Lee. 8vo. pp. 500. 8s. Boards. Robinsons. 1801.
Under this title, a string of romances and novels may be spun out ad libitum. We know not when this lady and her sister propose to stop, nor to what extent their imagination will supply them with materials. Of the general merit of the Canterbury Tales, we have spoken on former occasions; and nothing more remains for us at present, than to notice the contents of the volume before us. It includes only two narratives; the German's Tale, and the Scotsman's Tale. The former, which occupies almost the whole volume, is constructed on ideas which the modern German writers have so abundantly supplied. Though not destitute of merit, it exhibits little else than a gloomy, horrid, and unnatural picture; and in some parts the story drags on with as much heaviness as a German stage wagon in a bad road. It would have produced more effect, had it been less dilated. - The Scotsman's Tale is more pleasant and congenial to common feelings; and it uniformly sustains the interest which it excites. The history of two lovers, from the first moment of mutual attachment to their union in the vulgar bands of wedlock, is rapidly sketched, with some of those difficulties and perturbations which often intervene between hope and fruition. We are not, however, kept long in suspense; and, before the curtain drops, the Scotsman and his Claudina are rendered affluent and happy.
Miss Lee's reflections are in general judicious and amiable. Of the latter kind, is the remark which is made on the return of Claudina's brother, who was a French emigré, to his native country: 'How sincerely did we all lament that the tide of human affairs should separate beings united by every principle of affection or intellect! - Surely it is for the liberal-minded and humane of every nation to encounter the destructive influence of general prejudice, by extending and strengthening, in their private habits, those social feelings which bid man acknowledge his fellow-creature in every quarter of the globe.'
To the style of this work we cannot uniformly extend our approbation. Provincialisms and colloquialisms appear; such as 'motion-[332]ing his father from him,' and 'spiritless and exhausted of an evening:' but the defect against which we most wish Miss Lee in future to guard, is the termination of her periods with adverbs and prepositions. [complete]
Provided by Julie A. Shaffer, November 1999.
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