A squire’s son and daughter are left to struggle in a hard world after their father dies in debt.
Alfred Butler (1809-1859) published three novels in two years, of which this was the last.
“A novel of thought, as well as feeling and observation.” Athenaeum, April 16, 1842
It has “power which is often sarcastic, observation that is keen and close, and feeling that is healthy and deserving of imitation. There is, indeed, much mind in the novel, and much clever writing.” Monthly Review, May, 1842
A (somewhat) dissenting opinion:
“As a fiction. . . . the Herberts is a sort of failure, in despite of several scenes of power and interest, some ludicrous ability in the author, together with sufficient metaphysical skill, and a mind endowed with the quality of speculative thought. But the writer's nature is rather critical than creative: his forte is analysis, not synthesis. He can deduce the truth from an actuality, but he cannot reproduce the real; there is little knowledge of life exhibited in his book, and consequently no living character”; but “the book abounds in shrewd remarks.” Spectator, September 13, 1842
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