Monthly Review, 2nd ser. 77 (June 1815): 212.

On opening this novel, we are overwhelmed with excellence: not that we have ourselves the satisfaction of discovering the smallest particle of it, but in the first page we find it attributed in overweening proportions to ‘the Earl of Colchester, with his angelic Countess, his lovely daughter, and her invaluable governess.’ The same hyperbolical strain continues throughout the work; and Lady Matilda enjoins her lover to ‘read her epistles as the genuine, unshrouded, indestructible records of her soul.’ Unless, however, other ‘noble families’ of the author’s acquaintance meet with more instructive or interesting adventures than those which are here recorded, few readers will have curiosity enough to penetrate deeply into their ‘family secrets.’

Notes: Listed under ‘Monthly Catalogue: Novels’. Format: 4 vols 12mo; price 18s. Boards. Publisher: Longman & Co.

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