Devereux — Complete

This book is a tale in the form of an autobiography. The hero, who, by his dash and effrontery reminds us of "Pelham", moves through the sunshine and shadows of life with confident, unfaltering steps, hobnobs with heroes, statesmen, wits, and philosophers, basks in the smiles of kings, becomes by turns wit, soldier, diplomatist, and bon vivant, and closes his story at the age of thirty-four with a glorification of experience as the one thing best fitted "to soften the heart of man, and to elevate the soul to God. ” Among the other characters introduced, the most interesting are his two brothers, Aubrey and Gerald; his garrulous, but genial, kindly old uncle, Sir William Devereux, who was twenty years out of fashion in his dress, and told the wittiest stories in the world, omitting nothing but the point; Montreuil, a French Jesuit priest, — a vivid personification of the individual merged in the system; and Isora, a lovely Spanish maiden, whom Devereux marries, — a beautiful creation, worthy of the author's genius.