would have been brought into play, her knowledge of the world diffused over a more varied and a better ground; and, by the exercise of her great talents, she would have fallen into a class of writers more useful than that of which, to do her justice, she is now at the head. Her books have not been failures, but we think her subjects have, in the main; and, with her really astounding versatility, they have an air of sameness. They present the same routine of events falling in the same circles. The people are all the same, albeit they are occasionally moved to different places. "Mothers and Daughters; a Novel of High Life;” “The Hamiltons; a Novel of High Life;" ;" "The Fair of May Fair; a Novel of High Life!!!" and finally-oh! not least though last, the "Manners of the Day;" a novel of decided high life!!! When Lady Charlotte Bury under mysterious auspices produced the "Exclusives," Mr. Colburn published a key! Mrs. Gore followed with "Manners of the Day;" and again Mr. Colburn published a key. The "Exclusives" related to Lady Ellenborough, and her too-public history; the "Manners of the Day" to some of the same characters who figured in the "Exclusives." The writer of its key throws light upon them after the following fashion :

"The writer of the novel which has given rise to the present remarks, has made an exhibition of current manners which all persons may study with profit; and yet, while it is impossible to doubt that the representation is perfectly correct and derived from nature, or, in other words, from the very persons and scenes which form the actors and incidents of the tale,—it may be asserted without fear of contradiction, that a work of more perfect purity of principle and intention, and greater chastity of language, was never put forth. We have reason to know that it has been pronounced, 'a model of good-breeding and elegance,' in several circles of the highest ton: and that this opinion has been recently confirmed by the authority of the highest personage of the realm,--decidedly the most eminent judge in point of refinement of the existing manners of the day.' The delicacy is such as could only have been expected from a female pen. The interest, as may be expected, is strong: like the glance of the rattle-snake, there is soniething fascinating in disclosures of moral obliquity. In the characters of Seymour

and Lady Danvers, the rouée and intrigante of the plot, the author has presented us with a justly indignant display of depravity; and yet we are convinced that he has not dared to reveal, even in the shadowy presentments of fiction, one half the follies, the temptations, the passions, and the vices of his caste. The book has been put forth with a' general disclaimer against personality; a tenderness of caution which has served to convince us that it is, in fact, more personal than any other of its class. From internal evidence, indeed, we will venture to assert that it does not contain a single character of which the original might not be detected among the varied walks of fashionable life. The portrait of the Duchess of Castleton, for instance, has been generally recognised as a likeness of the lovely and virtuous Duchess of Leinster; that of the elegant and amiable Lord Mallerton as one of our young lay-lords of the Admiralty; Sir Ralph Harburton and his eye-glass are attributed to Colonel Tr-ch, the political trimmer; while the character of Theodosius Brill has been traced by universal accord to a politician of the day, whose rapid rise to the post of colonial secretary has given less general offence than the sneering and supercilious impertinence with which he has suffered himself to bestride the shoulders of many, so lately his seniors in office, and who are still entitled by superiority of age, birth, and ability, to his respectful deference. Yet even this portrait, which is one of the most amusing in the book, is marred by the somewhat too timorous caution of the writer. The outline is filled up with too much hesitation; we should have been better pleased with a bold, free, honest sketch of the underling of office, rising into notice on the strength of green-room jests and parasitical adulation, first to the mighty little, and lastly to the little great; and having crawled to the top of the ladder, and landed safely on the parapet, throwing it down with insolent defiance on the heads of those by whose efforts it was supported during his labour of ascent. Such a picture as this might have been useful and admonitory, whereas the Brill of our author is only an outline, capable, it must be confessed, of being deepened into the black intensity of feature and strength of colouring distinguishing the portraits of Rembrandt.'

Now all this sort of fictitious dependence upon personalities for fame is beneath Mrs.

LADY ANNE AMELIA COKE is the eldest surviving daughter of the present Earl of Albemarle, and the wife of Thomas William Coke, Esq., of Holkham Hall, in the county of Norfolk.

The family of Lady Anne Coke is of Dutch origin. ARNOLD JOOST VAN KEPPEL, Lord of Voorst, was a younger son of Bernard Van Pallant, Lord of Keppel, the representative of a noble house in Guelderland. Like his rival the Earl of Portland, Arnold Van Keppel rose to eminence from being a Page to William III. He came to England with that monarch at the Revolution, and his manners and person being prepossessing, he soon rose high in favour with his master through the aid of Lord Sunderland and Mrs. Villiers, who wished to destroy the influence of Lord Portland. On the 10th of February, 1696, he was created Baron Ashford, of Ashford in Kent, Viscount Bury in Lancashire, and EARL OF ALBEMARLE, in Normandy, a title hitherto, either royal or ducal, having been borne at one time by princes of the house of Plantagenet, and at another by General Monk, who restored Charles II. Nor did the king's favour stop here: the new peer was enriched as well as ennobled, having been promoted to the rank of general in the army, and entrusted with the command of the Horse Guards, and the Swiss in Holland: the monarch also bequeathed to him the lordship of Beevost in the Netherlands, together with a legacy of 200,000 guilders. The Earl's good fortune did not end with the life of William; he held places of great profit and dignity under Queen Anne and George I. His VOL. X.-NO. III. MARCH, 1837.

lordship, who was a Knight of the Garter, married in 1701, Gertrude, daughter of Adam Vander Duin, lord of St. Gravemear, in Holland, and had two children, William Anne his successor, for whom Queen Anne stood godmother in person, and Sophia, who was married to John Thomas, Esq., brother of Sir Edward Thomas, Baronet, of Wenvoe Castle. The Earl of Albemarle died the 30th May, 1718. Of all the Dutch followers of King William, the Earl of Albemarle was the most popular with the English, who scarcely considered him a foreigner: he had none of that cold and stiff manner, that made so many foes for the Earl of Portland; he was a complete courtier, gracious to all; and thus, in a great measure, may be accounted for his continual prosperity. "The Earl of Albemarle," says Mackey in his Memoirs, was King William's constant companion in all his diversions and pleasures, and was entrusted at last with affairs of the greatest consequence: he had much influence over the king, was handsome in person, open and free in his conversation, and very expensive in his manner of living." The Earl was succeeded by his only son,

WILLIAM ANNE, second Earl, K. G. This nobleman married 21st February 1723, Anne, daughter of Charles, first Duke of Richmond, and had, to survive, seven children, of whom the gallant Admiral Keppel was the second son. His lordship, who was a general officer in the army, and had been British ambassador at the court of Versailles, died the 22nd December 1754, and was succeeded by his eldest son

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