Elizabeth Gunning

Miss Gunning. The Orphans of Snowdon. a Novel. By Miss Gunning.

London: H. Lowndes, 1797

 

Contemporary Reviews

Critical Review, ns, v21 (1797), 473-74.

The Orphans of Snowdon. A Novel. By Miss Gunning. 3 Vols. 12mo. 10s. 6d. Boards. Lownde[?] 1797.

     From a frequent exercise of her pen, Miss Gunning seems to have acquired a facility of writing; but her claims to the merit of good composition are less apparent. It may be proper, however, before we pronounce our opinion of her present performance, to trace the outlines of the subject. Montgomery, having forfeited his share of his father's property by entering into the matrimonial state, is reduced to the humble station of a wood-cutter; is suddenly deserted by his wife; and dies in ignorance of her situation and circumstances. His two children (Lewis and Loretta) retire from the mountains of Snowdon in search of subsistence, at the respective ages of seven and eight years; and are engaged by an exhibitor of monkeys, that he may profit by their singing and dancing. They lose him in the course of their peregrinations; but soon meet with a new friend, by whom they are hospitably entertained and carefully educated. While they are thus accommodated, a baronet introduces himself to their protector, and confesses that he had carried off their mother; but declares that he had made no attempt upon her honour, as her forcible separation from her family had disordered her intellects. He takes Lewis as his companion in a voyage; and, in the mean time, Loretta captivates a young peer, who had acted as the friend of her mother. Lewis is adopted as the heir of the baronet, and obtains the hand of an amiable young lady: his sister is married to the peer; and both suffer their regret for the loss of their parent (who, though she recovers her reason, dies in a decline) to be absorbed in the happiness of their new situations.
     The incidents of this tale are not remarkable for novelty, for variety, or for the interest which they excite. The story, jejune in itself, is not much improved by the mode of recital: affectation and frivolity alternately prevail; and, though some traits of nature and pathos are observable, the volumes contain little that can please or instruct.


-Prepared by Margaret Case Croskery, Ohio Northern University, July 2003