ic Parent
or The Guarded Secret_ (1807), by Miss Smith, deserts her real
father--a worthy farmer--to look for more aristocratic parents.
As he is not picturesque enough for a villain, she repudiates him
with scorn: "Have you the gaunt ferocity of famine in your
countenance? Can you darken the midnight with a scowl? Have you
the quivering lip and the Schedoniac contour? In a word, are you
a picturesque villain full of plot and horror and magnificent
wickedness? Ah! no, sir, you are only a sleek, good-humoured,
chuckle-headed, old gentleman." In the course of her search she
meets with amazing adventures, which she describes in a series of
letters to her governess. She changes her name to Cherubina de
Willoughby, and journeys to London, where, mistaking Covent
Garden Theatre for an ancient castle, she throws herself on the
protection of a third-rate actor, Grundy. He readily falls in
with her humour, assuming the name of Montmorenci, and a suit of
tin armour and a plumed helmet for her delight. Later, Cherubina
is entertained by Lady Gwyn, who, for the amusement of her
guests, heartlessly indulges her propensity for the romantic, and
poses as her aunt. She is introduced in a gruesome scene, which
recalls the fate of Agnes in Lewis's _Monk_, to her supposed
mother, Lady Hysterica Belamour, whose memoirs, under the title
_Il Castello di Grimgothico_, are inserted, after the manner of
Mrs. Radcliffe and M.G. Lewis, who love an inset tale, into the
midst of the heroine's adventures. Cherubina determines to live
in an abandoned castle, and gathers a band of vassals. These
include Jerry, the lively retainer, inherited from a long line of
comic servants, of whom Sancho Panza is a famous example, and
Higginson, a struggling poet, who in virtue of his office of
minstrel, addresses the mob, beginning his harangue with the
time-honoured apology: "Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking."
The story ends with the return of Cherubina to real life, where
she is eventually restored to her father and to Stuart. The
incidents, which follow one another in rapid succession, are
foolish and extravagant, but the reminiscences they awaken lend
them piquancy. The trappings and furniture of a dozen Gothic
castles are here accumulated in generous profusion. Mouldering
manuscripts, antique beds of decayed damask, a four-horsed
barouche, and fluttering tapestry rejoice the heart of Cherubina,
for each item in this curious medley revives moving asso