The Corvey Novels Project at the University of Nebraska
— Studies in British Literature of the Romantic Period —
{
Susannah Gunning
Mrs. Gunning. Anecdotes of the Delborough Family. A Novel. By Mrs. Gunning.
London: William Lane / Minerva Press, 1792.
Contemporary Reviews
Critical Review, ns, v5 (1792), 234.
Anecdotes of the Delborough Family, a Novel. By Mrs. Gunning. 5 Vols.
12mo. 15s. Lane. 1792.
Mrs. Gunning has been a novelist from her youth;
but a more extensive career, greater experience in the manners of the world,
and a fancy still warm and vivid, have rendered her last work greatly superior
to all her former. The chief merit of the present volumes consists in the
delineation of characters, among which lord Haverville, lady Selina Dangle
and her sister, the duke of Angrave, young Harvey, and lord Greendale, are
drawn with a bold but masterly and discriminating pencil. They preserve the
distinguishing traits of nature; and, like well-drawn portraits, appear, from
these circumstances, to be the representation of originals. In the conduct
of the story, there is nothing to blame or to praise particularly: in general,
it possesses merit, though not void of errors; and from the levelling view
of nature, which experience gives, the novel-reader will be often disappointed
in her presages. We must dismiss, therefore, Mrs. Gunning with applause; and,
as her fire appears not to be decayed, we may express a wish of again witnessing
its expanded flame.
General Magazine, v6, pt2 (1792), 100-10
Anecdotes of the Delborough Family. A Novel. By Mrs. Gunning. 5 vols.
12mo. 15s. Sewed. Lane.
This work is worthy of the pen it comes from,
and the admirers of Mrs. Gunning's former productions will find in the present
that her genius is unimpaired by domestic ills, and that amidst the thorns
of truth she has still been able to cherish the flowers of Fiction.
Those only who have moved in circles of rank
and fashion can describe their manners truly.—To picture characters in
high life with a faithful hand it is necessary to join in their pursuits,
their parties, and their pleasures; otherwise the description becomes tame,
and the delineation imperfect.
In the anecdotes before us, the long list of
vices, follies and errors that take up their abode in the mansions of grandeur
and affluence are, we fear, but too justly pourtrayed. Lady Selina Dangle
whose idol is herself, and whose heart is deserted by the virtues, is a copy
from nature, and as correctly drawn as those of the lover of cats and monkies,
Lady Dorothy Petting, and the titled sycophant and high born toad-eater Lady
Charlotte Ogle.
[101] Quitting at times the elevated scenes
of state and parade, where at the shrine of ostentation the comforts of life
are sacrificed, our author descending a step or two, enters upon the stage
assigned to beings of a more humble description.-Here, men of trade, placemen,
and little gentry, become objects of her observations. Wives, sisters, and
daughters are not forgotten in the grouping of her characters, and here likewise
she appears to "eye natures walks" to "shoot folly as it flies."
Still descending, we find her among the tribe of humble dependants, boarding-school
teachers, ladies maids, butlers, valets, &c.
The tricks of low-cunning, and the artifices
of intrigue, are opposed by a character or two, marked with attachment and
fidelity, and if this novel finds its way into the kitchen, the serving-train
may profit by the contrast, and as readily as their superiors discover that,
in every station, virtue dignifies her votaries.
Colonel Fairfax, the hero of the tale, in company
with Doctor Harvey, his preceptor and his friend, meet with the following
adventure which cannot fail to engage the attention, and arrest the feelings
of every susceptible reader. [The excerpt is from Chapter
8 and following in Volume II: "It was about two o'clock when they returned
to their inn." It tells the story of Dr. Harvey and Col. Fairfax meeting
the emaciated "Wild Robin." Like good sentimental heroes, they befriend
the starving penitent and he agrees to tell his story. He turns out to be
Dr. Harvey's son.]
There are other passages equally interesting,
but as we earnestly recommend the perusal of the whole of this pleasing production
to our readers, we dismiss the work, wishing Mrs gunning may experience on
this, and every occasion, that protection, and that patronage, to which she
is so well entitled, from her worth, her genius, and her misfortunes.
Gentleman's Magazine, 621 (1792), 552-53.
(128.) Memoirs of the Delborough Family. By Mrs. Gunning. 5 Vols.
It is sufficiently known that of works of magnitude
and importance the nature of our publication will not suffer us to take more
than a concise, though eventually, perhaps, comprehensive notice. It will
not, therefore, be expected that we should enter into any circumstantial detail
of books of mere amusement. To the name of Gunning the public curiosity has
for some time been directed; it was consequently to be expected that a publication
avowedly written by Mrs. Gunning should have an extensive circulation. This
has actually happened, and the book before us has had much celebrity. It certainly
possesses merit; and the characters and story of the two Harveys, in particular,
are entitled to the additional praise of originality. What relates to Ormond
and Lewellyn cannot fail of interesting the reader, and is represented with
much simplicity and nature. The story of the juvenile marriage is a little
inconsistent, though the contrast betwixt the characters of the children is
happily imagined. We are surprised to find that Mrs. Gunning is deficient
in her knowledge of the French language; and we lament that the errors of
the Minerva press should be so frequent. The whole we can venture to recommend
as certainly entertaining, if not replete with instruction, as faithfully
representing the fashionable part of life, and as the production of an elegant
and accomplished mind.
Monthly Review, ns, v8 (1792), 316-19 [not seen]
Sentimental and Masonic Magazine, 1 (1792), 168-71 [not seen]
Universal Magazine and Review, 7 (1792), 556-62
[not seen]
-Prepared by Margaret Case Croskery, Ohio Northern University, July 2003