The Sun. — London, England, 1849-11-13 00:00:00

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By Currer Bell, Author of '‘ Jane Eyre." 3 Vols. The rea'lers and the admirers of " Jane Eyre " and the terms are almost synonymous—have been ex pecting with considerable interest a new work by Currer Bell. " Shirley" makes its appearance ac companied by all the advantages and disadvantages attendant upon the second effort of a successful writer. All who admired "Jane Eyre" will read "Shirley," and all who read " Shirley" will institute a strict comparison between that work and its fortunate pre decessor. Happily for " Shirley" it will lose nothing by the comparison. The same features which, not withstanding their sometimes revolting accompani ments, rendered " Jane Eyre" so attractive, are to be met with abundantly in " Shirley." Foremost among these is the style—the peculiar style, so fresh, so vigorous, and so emphatic. So emphatic that the meanest incidents are rendered impressive as realities ; sa vigorous as at times to be positively startling, and so new and fresh that it differs from the language of ordinary novels as the keen breeze of the mountain differs from the soft atmosphere of the hot-house. So it was in "Jane Eyre," so it is in " Shirley." As a specimen of this energetic and animated style, take the following remarks, which are almost at the very commencement of the first volume. We give them merely as a specimen of a peculiar style, almost too flippant, perhaps, in this individual instance : " Of late years, I say, an abundant shower of curates has fallen upon the north of England; but in eighteen hundred-eleven-twelve that affluent rain had not de scended; citrates were scarce then: there was no Pasto ral Aid—no Additional Curates' Society to stretch a helping hand to worn-out old rectors and incumbents, and give them the wherewithal to pay a vigorous young colleague from Oxford or Cambridge. The present successors of the apostles, disciples of Dr. Pusey and tocls of the Propaganda, were at that time being hatched under cradle-blankets, or undergoing regeneration by nursery-baptism in wash-hand-basins. You could not have 'guessed by 'coking at any one of them that the Italian-ironed double frills of its net cap surrounded the brows of a pre-ordained, specially-sanctiflrA successor of St. Paul, St. Peter, or St. John; nor could you have foreseen in the folds of its long night-gown the white surplice in which it was hereafter cruelly to exercise the souls of its parishioners, and strangely to nonplus its old-fashioned vicar by flourishing aloft in a pulpit the shirt-like raiment which had never before waved higher than the reading-desk. " Yet even in those days of scarcity there were curates; tho precious plant was rare, but it might be found. A certain favoured district in the West Riding of Yorkshire could boast three rods of Aaron blossoming within a circuit of twenty miles. You shall see them, reader. Step into this neat garden-house on the skirts of Whin bury, walk forward into the little parlour—there they are at dinner. Allow me to introduce them to you : Mr. Donne, curate of Whinbury ; Mr. Malone, curate of Briarfield ; Mr. Sweating, curate of Nunnely. These are Mr. Donne's lodgings. being the habitation of ono John Gale, a small clothier. Mr. Donne has kindly in vited his brethren to regale with him. You and I will join the party, see what is to be seen and hear what is to be heard.. At present, however, they are only eating; and while they eat we will talk aside." The story of " Shirley" is almost wholly devoid of intricate plot or abundance of incident. It serves merely as the framework for a group of striking portraits, and as the occasion for the delineation— and a most exquisitely natural delineation it is—of various phases of human passion. To reveal the plot of a novel is generally unfair, for it puts an end to the curiosity of the reader ; but to reveal the plot of ".Shirley"would be harmless, for it is not the plot but the manner in which it is worked which renders this novel so attractive. The characters of the heroines, Shirley Keeldar and Caroline Helstone, are especially felicitous. Shirley, the chief heroine, is just of age, and consequently the independent mistress of great wealth and large estates. Some what spoiled, perhaps, by the peculiarity of her position, she is proud and wilful, but withal graceful in her wilfulness and womanly in her pride. Louis Moore, the impoverished son of a once wealthy family, half foreign, half English, is a tutor in the house of Shirley's uncle. Tbis Louis Moore is the hero of Shirley's romance. His character does not appear very attractive, perhaps, on account of the painfully embarrassing position in which he is placed. Loving Shirley, be is too proud to woo the wealthy bliss Keeldar, and she, on her part, is too proud to give the smallest token of encou ragement unsought. The situation is well imagined and marvellously well described. Alluding to an interview with Shirley, Louis Moore writes thus : " She could not hoar me speak so unmoved, and she was moved. It was right—l meant to move her. She could not answer me, nor could she look at me. I should have been sorry if she could have done either. Her cheek glowed as if a crimson flower, through whose petals the sun shone, had cast its light upon it. On the white lid and dark lashes of her downcast eye trembled all that is graceful in the sense of half-painful, half pleasing shame. " Soon she controlled her emotion, and took all her feelings under command. I saw she had felt insurrec tion, and was waking to empire—she sat down. There was that in her face which I could read ; it said, I see the line which is my limit—nothing shall make ma pass it. I feel—l know how far I may reveal my feelings, and when I must clasp the volume. I have advanced to a certain distance, as far as the true and sovereign and undegraded nature of my kind permits—now here I stand rooted. My heart may break if it is baffled; let it break —it shall never dishonour me—it shall never dishonour ray sisterhood in me. Suffering before degradation ! death before treachery! "I, for my part, said, If she were poor, I would be at her foot. If she were lowly, I would take her in my arms. Her Gold and her Station are two griffins, that guard her on each side. Love looks and longs, and dares not. Passion hovers round, and is kept at bay. Truth and Devotion are scared. There is nothing to lose in winning her—no sacrifice to make—it is all clear gain, and therefore unimaginably difficult.' " Yet the continuation of this scene, however truthful it may be, considering the peculiar character of the actors, is not quite pleasing. There is not enough of the softness of love in it to temper the ungenial pride of the penniless lover, too proud to open his lips, and the wealthy maiden, "who would he wooed, and not unsought be won." We were about to quote a passage illustrative of our meaning, but on second thoughts we refrain, and leave the revelation of the denouement to the readers of " Shirley." The following passage will give a correct idea of the peculiar character of the proud and yet gentle Shirley. She has been for some time pale and apparently unhappy, but she persists in de claring that nothing ails her. At last the tutor, grown anxious, entreats her to confide in him, and, like a submissive child, the imperious heiress obeys. She tells that the following accident had befallen her : " I heard a panting sound ; a dog came running up the lane. I know most of the dogs in this neighbour hood ; it was Phcebe, one of Mr. Sam Wynne's pointers. The poor creature ran with her head down, her tongue hanging out ; she looked as if bruised and beaten all over. I called her; I meant to coax her into the house, and give her some water and dinner; I felt sure she had been ill-used. Mr. Sam often flogs his pointers cruelly. She was too flurried to know me; and when I attempted to pat her head, she turned and snatched at my arm. She bit it so as to draw blood, then ran panting on. Directly after, Mr. Wynne's keeper came up carrying a gun. He asked if I had seen a dog, I told him I had seen Phceba. "'Yon had better chain up Tartar, ma'am,' he said, ' . and tell your people to keep within the house, I am after Phoebe to shoot her, and the groom is gone another Way. She is raging mad.' " Mr. Moore leaned back in his chair, and folded his arms across his chest; Miss Keeldar resumed her square of silk canvass, and continued the creation of a wreath of Parmese violets. " And you told no one, sought no help, no cure; you would not come to me ?' "' I got as far as the school-room door; there my courage failed; I preferred to cushion the matter.' "' Why ? What can I demand better in this world than to be of nse to you ? "' I had no claim.' " Monstrous ! And you did nothing? ' "! Yes; I walked straight into the laundry, where they are ironing most of the week, now that I have so many guests in the house. While th e ma id was busy crimp ing or starching, I took an Italian iron from the fire, and applied the light scarlet glowing tip t o my arm; I b ore d it well in; it cauterized the little wound. Then I went up stairs.' " ' I daresay you never once groaned?' "' I am sure I don't know. I was very miserable Not firm or tranquil at all, I think; there was no calm in my mind.' " ' There was calm in your person. I remember lis tening the whole time we sat at luncheon, l to hear if you moved in the room above; all was quiet.' " I was sitting at the foot of the bed, wishing Phoebe had not bitten me.' "` And alone! You like solitude.' " Pardon me.' " You disdain sympathy.' "' Do I, Mr. Moore? With your powerful mind, you must feel indepen dent 4 of help, o f a d v i ce, o f soc i e ty.' 44 46 She be . it--since it pleases you. She Funded. Sh e p urs ued her embroidery carefully and quiekl ; but her eyelash twinkled, anti then it glit tered, and then a drop fell. "Mr. Moor e l eane d f orwar d on his desk, moved his chair, altered his attitude. "' If it is not so,' he asked, with a peculiar, mellow change in his voice, how is it, then?' "'I don't know.' " ' You do know, but you won't speak; all must be locked up in yourself.' " Because it is not worth sharing.' " Because nobody can give the high price you re quire for your confidence. Nobody is rich enough to Inirehase it. Nobody has the honour, the intellect, the power you demand in your adviser. There is not a shoulder in England on which you would rest your ar ifor snpport—far less a bosom which you would 111113i1t0 pillow your head. Or course you must live alone.' "' I can live alone, if need be. But the question is not how to live—but how to die alone. That strikes me in a more grisly light.' " A conversation between the two heroines, Shirley and Caroline, throws still further light on the cha- THE SUN, ratter of the former. This conversation, which ap pears really the simple and natural discourse of two girls, is one of many proofs that, whether or no Currer Bell be a true appellation, " Shirley" is the work of a woman's pen. "' I often wonder, Shirley, whether roost men re semble my uncle in their domestic relations; whether it is necessary to be new and unfrtmilior to• them, in order to seam agreeable or estimable in their eyes ; and whether it is impossible to their natures to retain a constant interest and affection for those they see every day.' " I don't know : I can't clear up your doubts. I ponder over similar ones myself sometimes. But, to tell you a secret, if I were convinced that they aro necessarily and universally different from us--fickle, soon petrifying, unsympathizing I would never marry. I should not like to find out that what I loved did not love me, that it was weary of me, and that whatever effort I might make to please would hereafter be worse than useless, since it was inevitably in its nature to change and become indifferent. 'Zilat dis covery once made, what should I long for ? To go away—to remove from a presence where my society gave no pleasure.' - 66 6 But you could not, if you were married.' " No, I could not—there it is. I could never be my own mistress more. A terrible thought!—it suffocates me! Nothing irks me like the idea of being a 'burden and a born—an inevitable burden—a ceaseless bore ! Now, when I feel my company superfluous, I cart com fortably fold my independence round me like a mantle, • and drop my pride like a veil, and withdraw to solitude, If married, that could not be.' I wonder we don't all make up our minds to remain _ _ single,' said Caroline : w© should . if we listened. to the wisdom of experience. My uncle always speaks of marriage as a burden; and I believe whenever he hears of a man being married, he invariably regard; him as a fool, or, at any rate, as doing a fooli.th " ' But, Caroline, men are not all like your uncle : surely not—l hope not.' • " She paused and mused. " I suppose we each find an exception in the one we love, till ire are married,' suggested Caroline. " 6 I suppose so: and this exception we believe to be of sterling materials ; we fancy it like ourselves; we imagine a sense of harmony. We think his voice gives the softest, truest promise of a heart thqt will never harden against us: we read in his eyes that faithful feeling—affection. I don't think wo should trust to what they call passion, at all, Caroline. I believe it is a mere fire of dry sticks, blazing up and vanishing; but we watch him, and sen him kind to animals, to little children, to poor people. He is kind to us likewise— good—considerate : he does not flatter women, but he is patient with them, and ho seems to be easy in their presence, and to find their company genial. He likes them not only for vain and selfish reasons, but as we like him—because we like him. Then we observe that he is just—that he always speaks the truth—that he is conscientious. We feel joy and peace when he comes into a room: we feel sadness and trouble when he leaves it. We know that this man has been a kind son, that he is a kind brother: will any one dare to tell me that he will not be a kind husband?' " • My uncle would affirm it unhesitatingly. be sick of you in a month," he would say.' " Mrs. Pryor would seriously intimate the same.' " Lie wi; " 'Mrs. Yorke and Miss Man❑ would darkly singes ditto.' " If they are true oracles, it is good never to fall in Love.' " ' Very good, if you can avoid it.' "' I choose to doubt their truth. " ' I am afraid that proves you are already caught.' " Not I : but if I were, do you know what sooth sayers I would consult?' " Let me hear.' " ' Neither man nor woman, elderly Por young : the little Irish beggar that comes barefoot to my door; the mouse that steals out of the cranny in the wainscot; the bird that in frost and snow pecks at my window for a crumb; the dog that licks my hand and sits beside my knee.' " Did you ever see any one who was kind to such things?' " Did you ever see any one whom such things seemed instinctively to follow, like, rely on?' "' We have a black cat and an old dog at the Rectory. I know somebody to whose knee that black cat loves to climb ; against whose shoulder and cheek it likes to purr. The old dog always comes out of his kennel and wags bis tail, and whines affectionately when somebody passes.' " And what does that somebody do?' " He quietly strokes the cat, and lets her sit while ho conveniently can, and when he must disturb her by rising, he puts her softly down, and never flings her from him roughly; he always whistles to the dog and gives him a caress.' " 6 Does he. It is not Robert?' " But it is Robert.' "' Handsome fellow!' said Shirley, with enthusiasm : her eyes sparkled. " Is lie not handsome? Has he not fine eyes and well•cut features, and a clear, princely forehead?' "' He has all that, Caroline. Bless him! he is both graceful and good.' " I was sure you would see that ho was: when I f►rst looked at your face I knew you would.' "' I was well inclined to him beforo I saw him. I liked him when I did see him : I admire him now. There is a charm in beauty for itself, Caroline; when it is blent with goodness there is a powerful charm.' " ' When mind is added, Shirley.' " ' Who can resist it?' " ' Remember my uncle, Mesdames Pryor, Yorke, and Mann.' " Remember the croaking of the frogs of Egypt I He is a noble being. I tell you when they are good, they are the lords of the creation—they are the sons of God. Moulded in their Maker's image, the minutest spark of His spirit lifts them almost above mortality. Indisputably, a great, good, handsome man is the first of created things.' " Above us?' " I would scorn to contend for empire with him—l would scorn it. Shall my left hand dispute for prece• donce with my right?—shall my heart q uarre l w i th my pulse?—shall my yeins be jealous of the blood which fills them?' " ' Men and women, husbands and wires, quarrel hor ribly, Shirley.' "Poor things!—poor fallen, degenerate things! God made thorn for another lot—for other feelings.' 66 But are women's equals, or are we not?' • " Nothing ever charms me more than when I meet my superior—one who makes me sincerely feel that he is my superior.' " • Did you ever meet him?' " I should be glad to see him any day: the higher above me, so much the better: it degrades to stoop- 7 h is glorious to look up. What frets me is, that when I try to esteem, I am baffled: when religiously inclined, there are but false gods to adore. I disdain to be a Pagan.' '' Miss Keeldar, will you come in? We are hero at the Rectory gates.' " Shirley does sot make her appearance until the close of the first volume, yet the first volume is not the least interesting of the three. It is rendered attractive by the exquisitely natural presence of Caroline Helstone, whose heart-history is detailed with a simple tenderness and pathos quite affecting from its apparent truthfulness. Robert Moore, the brother of the Louis above mentioned, is a Yorkshire mill-owner of a somewhat stern and determined character. Being half a foreigner, he is regarded with little kindness by his neighbours, and in his zeal for progress, being a patron7of all new inventions in machinery, he is an object of indignation to the majority of the workmen. Beneath his outward austerity Robert's better nature occasionally peeps forth, never more visibly than when in presence of Caroline Helstone, the rector's niece, and his own dis tant relation—the gentle, tender, devoted Caroline, who comes daily to take her lesson in French from Hortense Moore, and who almost daily contrives to find greater pleasure in the society of Hortense's brother - Robert. The time in which these incidents took place was during the Peninsular war. The " orders in Council," the object of the millowners' abhorrence, which closed foreign ports against British manufactures, were reducing Robert to the verge of ruin. To make money was in his case almost a duty, seeing that it was his purpose to restore the credit of his family, ruined by his father's unsuccessful speculation. Robert, therefore, must not marry unless he can meet with an heiress, and accord ingly he woos Shirley Keeldar. Before this proceeding he has, perhaps thoughtlessly, trifled with his little loving cousin--hence the sorrow which overwhelms poor Caroline. This portion of the narrative is invested with a vivid air of reality—e. g., Caroline has been passing a happy evening at the cottage of the Moores. She repeats the poem of " La Jeune Captive"— " Caroline, beginning in a low, rather tremulous voice, but gaining couraje as she proceeded, repeated the sweet verses of ClA:nor; the last three stanzas she rehearsed well. " Moore listened at first with his eyes cast down, but soone couldhe lvfurtivelyateh Carolinerais ed withoutthem : leaning her p ae r back eleiu vi g nhis where chair,his gaze was fixed. ll cr c h ee k had h eyes ic light, her countenanc e an expression, thisn or, :her , evening, which would have made even plain features striking; but there was not the grievous defect of plainness to pardon in her case. The sunshine was not shed on rough barrenness; it fell on soft bloom. Each lineam en t was turned e with grace; the whole aspect was pleasing. At the present m oment—animated, interested, touched— s h e might be called beautiful. Such a face was calculated to a wa k en not only the calm sentiment of esteem, the distant one of admiration; but some feeling more tender, genial, i n timate: friendship, perhap s—affec t i on , interest. When . she had finished she turned to Moore, and met his eye. " < Is that pretty well repeated?' she inquired, mil. ing like any happy, docile child. " 1 I really don't know.' " < Why don't you know? Have you not listened?' "' Yes—and looked. You are fond of poetry, Lina?' " When I meet with real poetry, I cannot rest till I have learned it by heart, and so made it partly mine.' " Mr. Moore now sat silent for several minutes. It struck nine o'clock: Sarah entered and said that Mr. llelstone's servant was come for Miss Caroline. " c Then the evening is gone already,' she observed; and it will be long, I suppose, before I pass another here.' " Hortense had been for some time nodding over her knitting; fallen into a dozy now, she made no response to the remark. " You would have no objection to come hero oftener of an4vening?' inquired Robert, as he took her folded mantle from the side-table, where it still lay, and care fully wrapped it round her. " I like to come here; but I hale no deeire to be in- LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING- NOVEMBER , 13, 1849 , trusive. lam not hinting to be asked: you must under stand that.' *" Oh! I understand thee, child. You sometimes lecture me for wishing to be rich, Lino.; but if I were rich, you should live here always: at any rate, you should live with me wherever my habitation might be.' "' That would be pleasant; and if you were poor— ever so poor—it would still be pleasant. Good nigh Robert.' " I promised to walk with you up to the Rectory.' " I know you did; but I thought you had forgotten, and I hardly knew how to remind you, though I wished to do it. But would y ou lik e t o go? It is a cold night; and, as Fanny is come, there is no necessity—' " Hero is you muff—don't wake Hortense—come.' " The half mile to the Rectory was soon traversed. They parted in the garden without kiss, scarcely with A pressure of hands; yet Robert sent his cousin in excited and joyously troubled. He had been singularly kind to her that day: not in phrase, compliment, profession; but in manner, in look, and in soft and friendly tones. " For himself, ho came home grave, almost morose. As he stood leaning on his own yard gate, musing in the watery moonlight, all alone—the bushed, dark mill before him, the hill-environed hollow round—he exclaimed abruptly:— " This won't do! There's weakness—there's down right ruin in all this. However,' he added, dropping his voice. ' the phrenzy is quite temporary. I know it very well: I have had it before. It will be gone to morrow.'" And it wag gone to-morrow. After an evening of blissful meditation, the unconscious Caroline repairs the next morning to the cottage (for her lesson), her heart full of happiness at the thought of meeting Robert. She does meet him : "Arriving in sight of the white house, and within hear ing of the thundering mill and its rushing water-course, the first thing she saw was Moore at his garden gate. There he stood, in his belted Holland blouse, a light cap covering his head, which undress costume suited him: he was looking down the lane, not in the direction of his cousin's approach. She stopped, withdrawing a little behind a willow, and stadied his appearance. " He has not his peer,' she thought; he is as hand some as he is intelligent. What a keen eye he has! What clearly cut, spirited features—thin and serious, but graceful? Ido like his face—l do like his aspect—l do like him so much! Better than any of those shuffling curates. for instance—better than anybody: bonnie Robert!' " She sought bonnie Robert's' presence speedily. For his part, when she challenged his sight, I believe he would have passed from before her eyes like a phantom, if he could; but being a tall fact, and no fiction, he was obliged to stand the „greeting, He made it brief: it was cousin -like, brother like, friend-like, anything but lover like. The nameless charm of last night had left his manner: ho was no longer the same man; or, at any rate the same heart did not beat in his breast. Rude disap pointment! sharp cross! At first the eager girl would not believe in the change, though she saw and felt it. It was difficult to withdraw her hand from his, till ho had bestowed at least something like a kind pressure; it was difficult to turn her eyes from his eyes, till his looks had expressed something more and fonder than that cool welcome. " A lover masculine so disappointed can speak and urge exulanation, a lover feminine can say nothing: if she did the result would be shame and anguish, inward remorse for self-treachery. Nature would brand such demonstration as a rebellion against her instincts, and ‘yould vindictively repay it afterwards by-the thunder bolt of self-contempt smiting suddenly in secret. Take the matter as you find it: ask no questions; utter no remonstrances: it is your best wisdom. You expected bread, and you have got a stone; break your teeth on it, and don't shriek because the nerves are martyrized: do not doubt that your mental stomach—if you have such a thing—is strong as an ostrich's—the stone will digest. You held out your hand for an egg, and fate put into it a scorpion. Show no consternation: close your fingers firmly upon the gift; let it sting through your palm. Never mind: in time, after your hand and arm have swelled and quivered long with torture, the squeezed scorpion will die, and you will have learned the great lessen how to endure without a sob. For the whole remnant of your life, if you survive the test—some, it is said, die under it—you will be stronger, wiser, lees sensitive. This you are not aware of, perhaps, at the time, and so cannot borrow courage of that hope. Na ture, however, as has been intimated, is an excellent friend in such cases; sealing the lips, interdicting utter ance, commanding a placid dissimulation: a dissimula tion often wearing an easy and gay mien at first, settling clown to sorrow and paleness in time, then passing away and leaving a convenient stoicism, not the less fortifying because it is half-bitter. " But what has been said in the last page or two is not germane to Caroline Helstone's feelings, or to the state of things between her and Robert Moore. Robert had done her no wrong: he had told her no lie; it was she that was to blame, if any ono was: what bitterness her mind distilled should and would be poured on her own bead. She had loved without being asked to love —a natural, sometimes an inevitable chance, but big with misery. " Robert, indeed, had sometimes seemed to be fond of her—but why ? Because she had made herself so pleas ing to him, he could not, in spite of all his efforts, help testifying a state of feeling his judgment did not approve, nor his will sanction. He was about to withdraw de cidedly from intimate communication with her, because he did not choose to have his affections inextricably entangled, nor to be drawn, despite his reason, into a marriage he believed imprudent. Now, what was she to do —to give way to her feelings, or to vanquish them? To pursue him, or to turn upon herself? If she is weak, she will try the first expedient—will lose his esteem and win his aversion; if she has sense, she will be her own governor, and resolve to subdue and bring under guid ance the disturbed realm of ber emotions. She will determine to look on life steadily, as it is; to begin to learn its severe truths seriously, and to study its knotty , p r r h o e bl r e e m at s ie c r l s os o e f ly ,j ~ c oannsceicEntyiorues, failed l7. to recognise the ' authoress, but no one who peruses the touching narrative of Caroline's sorrows and struggles—a narrative too long to be quoted here, and too beau tiful to suffer us to mar it by curtailment —will doubt for a moment that a woman's heart has dictated this revelation of a woman's sufferings. Apart from the interest attaching to the two love stories, the dangers and difficulties of the enterprising mill-owners, necro urintic though they be, are full of attraction. The scene in which we are first introduced to Robert Moore is well described. He is waiting with more anxiety than he is willing to confess for the arrival of some waggons containing new machinery. It has been threatened by men, thrown out of work by the new improvements, that all such machines shall be destroyed, but Moore perseveres. The hours pass and the waggons do not arrive. At last their rum bling sound is heard. Moore goes out to meet them ; he can hardly distinguish them in the darkness, "Is all right, Joe Scott ?" he exclaims. No answer. "Is all right?" he asks again, and this time a loud voice replies, "A y , all raight, divil, we've smashed em !" Written, as it is, in an earnest, unaffected, and impressive style, and abounding, as it does, w ith mos t masterly delinea tions of human passion, " Shirley " cannot fail to be successful. Its influence on the heart is good ; it gives exercise to some of our best emotions ; yet " Shirley" is not quite faultless. We have, it is true, no such repulsive hero as Mr. Rochester, yet the pro minent features of all Currer Bell's heroes are stern and hard—at least they seem so by the side of the all attractive and most womanly heroines. Robert Moore is perhaps an exception; his character is delicately and naturally drawn. We are loth, however, to dwell on the faults of a book which has pleased us so much as " Shirley." Its author is evidently endowed with a tender heart and a thinking brain, and will confer yet further obligations on the reading public. As " Shirley " is an improvement on " Jane Eyre," in some particulars, warmed with a greater glow of human tenderness ; so we doubt not that the next production of Currer Bell will again be an improve ment in some respects on " Shirley "—in some respects only, for in others " Shirley "is perfect. SPORTING INTELLIGENCE. TATTERSALL'S.—YESTERDAY. CHESTER CUP. 50 to 1 agst Lord Howth's Peep-o'-day Boy—taken freely 50 to 1 agst Mr. St. George's Whim colt 1,000 to 15 agst CaptAin Haworth's The Baroness—t 1,000 to 15 agst Lord Chesterfield's Lady Evelyn 1,000 to 15 agst Sir It. Bulkeley's Melody 2,000 to 25 agst Mr. Parr's Idle Boy—taken 2,000 to 25 agst Mr. S. Conway's Kennington The Peep-o'-day Boy was backed for a good deal of money at 1,000 to 15 and 20, and The Bareness several times at 1,000 to 10 and 15; offers to take 1,000 to 15 about the Whim colt. DERBY. 1850. 500 to 100 agst Kent's lot—taken 9to 1 agst Mr. W. Edwards na Bolingbroke—t freely 11 to 1 agst Duke of Richmond's Ghillie Callum— taken freely 12 to 1 agst Lord Eglinton's Knight of Avenel 18 to i agst Mr. Meiklam's The Italian—t 20 to 1 20 to 1 agst Mr. J. Scott's Cyprus--take 25 to 1 25 to 1 agst Lord Airlie's Deiccon 25 to 1 agst Lord Airlie's Clincher 30 to 1 agst Lord H. Lennox's William the Con queror—taken freely 30 to 1 agst Mr. Gratwicke's The Nigger—taken 30 to 1 agst Mr. Williamson's Volt;geur 40 to 1 agst Colonel Peel's Hardinge—take 45 to 1 40 to 1 agst Duke of Richmond's Compass 1,000 to 15 agst Mr. Peiley's Little Bub—taken The odds quoted agat Bolingbroke and Ghillie Callum were taken to a large amount, and 30 to 1 freely about William the Conqueror; 1,000 to 50 taken about The Italian, and 1,000 to 40 about Cyprus, their backers offering to go on. AYLESBURY STEEPLECHASE. 3 to 1 agst Mr. J. Elmore's British Yeoman—taken 3 to 1 agat Mr. Vever's Vain Hope LIVERPOOL STEEPLECHASE. 100 even on The Doctor, Knight of Gwynne, Shin rone, the Young un, and Proceed, agst the field. The Subscription-room will be opened on Friday next, instead of Thursday. OUR FIRST SNOW. —T u e sday was the day on ice bforuonstd (if we may use the. On Wedne s d a y we which we had our first instalment of winter's snow. We had then a smart foretaste o f Christmas. Snow f e ll briskly, with a driving win d, and a t night the streets e w p e i r t h e e d t r ) i , c a d n d b by every a scorchingpool bad a second fall of snow.—Gateshead Observer. No•evil action can be well dole, but a good one 's Journal. in ay be ill dose,—ElizaCeoh NAVAL. INTELLIGENCE. PLYMOUTH, Nov. 11.—Orders were received here on Thursday for the fitting out of the Indefatigable, 50, with a crew of 500 men; and Lieutenant Joseph Edye, the son of her able constructor, being ap pointed to her, was especially ordered by the Lords of the Admiralty to commission her immediately. This officer was at Teignrnouth when the order came, but the electric telegraph called him down, and in two hours and a half' he was with the Commander in Chief of the port to receive his instructions. The Indefatigable was commissioned on Friday by Lieutenant Joseph Edye (1849) for Captain Robert Smart, K.H. (1837). This gallant officer's expe rience extends over a period of twenty-three years, since his entry into the service in October, 1810. As a master's -mate he served in the Glasgow, at Algiers ; obtained his lieutenant's commission September, 1820; and, as lieutenant of the Cambria, was in the action at Navarino, and was subsequently wrecked in an attack upon a nest of pirates at Cara busa. He was made a commander April, 1828, and served in the Satellite three years ; and, since his elevation to the rank of captain, has commanded the Impregnable, 104, and Howe, 120, and has lately returned from serving as captain of the flag-ship Collingwood, 80, in the Pacific. Her Majesty's brig Hound, 8, was commissioned on Friday, by Commander F. Patten (1837), for service on the coast of Africa, and is to have a com plement of eighty officers and men. She will take out the December mails. Commander Pattern entered the navy in January, 1814, and has. served twenty-five years on full pay, afloat and in the coast guard. He was a lieutenant of 1822, and was promoted from the command of the Rapid, 10, in South America. His last vessel was the Osprey, 12, wrecked at New Zealand, at a place called False Hokianga, which had never been surveyed. The Conflict, 12 (screw), Commander Blake, went out of harbour yesterday. The Ganges, 84, Captain Smith, C. 8., was paid wages yesterday. The Shearwater, Lieutenant-Commander E. Tur nour, sailed yesterday for Liverpool. The Royal Dockyard Female Orphan Fond pro ceeds well. There has been a large number of subscriptions entered into; and the patron Sir John Louis, Bart., has presented 1001. from the Bunkers' Hill fund. It has been proposed that a bazaar should be held the first week in January, and several ladies in the dockyard have kindly consented to receive contributions. There arc seventy-six orphans, whose parents died in the course of the cholera visitation. Admiral-Superintendent Sir John Louis resigned the duties of the dockyard yesterday, and is succeeded by Captain Lord John Hay, at present on e of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. The Leda hulk, stationed off Mutton Cove for convalescent persons during the prevalence of cho lera, has been towed by the Contianee steam-vessel to her moorings in Swanage, the cholera having entirely disappeared from these towns. The keel of the Narcissus, 50, will be laid down in No. I slip in the course of a few days. Wooravrerr, Nov. 12.—The Enterprise, Captain Sir James Clark Ross, and the Investigator, Captain E. J. Bird, were inspected to-day at eleven o'clock a.m., by Commodore Henry Eden, accompanied by Flag-Lieutenant Gore and Mr. Dyer, private secre tary. The gallant Commodore, on going on board the Investigator, was received by Captain Bird and the officers, and inspected the whole of the crew and Royal Marines as they passed singly from the port to the starboard side of the vessel. The Commodore then went below, and examined the state of the vessel, which was very good, considering the nature and length of the voyage, and the great quantity of spare stores with which she was supplied. From the Investigator the Commodore went on board the Enterprise, and was received by Lieutenant M'Clure and the officers of that vessel. The crew were then passed singly from the port to the starboard side of the vessel. The saws with which the ice was cut to make channels for the vessels to go through were shown. They are about 14 feet in length, without the handles, and the iron of which they are made is of considerable thickness. The shape of the teeth was considerably improved by the men, the original form being found to retain pieces of the ice. Immediately on the Com modore coming on shore the crews of the Enterprise and Investigator went aloft, unfurled the ssdls, and struck the topgallant mast, preparatory to th air being paid off. Captain Sir James Clark Ross arrived in the afternoon, and went on board the Enterprise. The Enterprise and Investigator entered Port Leo• pold on the 11th of September, 1848, and remained locked up in the ice until the early part of September of the present year. When these vessels arvived in the extreme northern regions they burned blurs lights and sent rockets up every morning and evening, the Enterprise firing at ten P.M., at twelve at night, and two o'clock A.M., the Investigator using her rockets at nine and eleven rm., and one o'clock a.m., and both burnt their blue lights at about five minutes before the rockets were sent up. During the long and tedious days of winter the officers and crews amusedthe mselves by catching foxes, and secured upwards of a I iundred or these animals, which are nearly the size. of the common foxes of this country, only the fur of the former is white in winter and of a grey ct )lour in sunnier. The whole of the foxes wereliberated after each had a collar put round his neck, made of bear skin, and having the names of the vessels and the captains commanding them, with the latitude and longitude of the places where the ships were I at the time, written upon them. Several of the fox, es were taken a second time, with their collars upor a them. The traps used fur taking the foxes %%Ter( empty casks, and some times three or four of the foie s would be taken in one day. The carpenters have finished their work to-day on board the Terrible, steam frigate, and she is (expected to be commissioned on Wednesday next by Captain Hope. The Styx steam-sloop, when she left Woolwich on Thursday last, under the charge of Lieutenant Robertson, remained at Greenhithe during th e night, and on the following day made two runs up and two runs down the distance between the Yore and Mouse lights, and was amertained to have an. average speed of 91 knots per hour. That result proving satisfactory, and her engines working well, she -pro ceeded for Devonport, and landed Mr. Stuart, the Government pilot at Woolwich, at Dover. Crawahay Bailey, of Lanthewry Court, Esq.; Montague Gore, of Langston, Esq. NORFOLK.—Edward Roger Platt, of Ryston, Esq.; Sir Willoughby Jones, of bculthorp, Esq.; Sir Charles Chad, of Humsford, Bart. NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.—WiIIiam Bruce Stopford, of Drayton House, Esq.; Sir Charles Edmund Isbam, of Lampert Hall, Bart.; Laugh= Christie, of Preston Deanery, Esq. NORTHUMBERLAND.—Sir Walter Calverley, Tre velyan, of Wallington, Bart. ; Sir Horace St. Paul, of Ewart Park, Bart. ; Thomas Wood Craster, of Craster Tower, Esq. NOTTINGKAMSHIRE.—The Right Hon. Edward Strutt, of Kingston Hall; John Francklin, of Gonalstoa, Esq.; Henry Frederick Walker, of Blyth Hall, Esq. OXFORDSHIRE.—Henry Hall, of Barton, Esq.; John Henry Ashurst, of Waterstock, Esq. RUTLAND.—The Hon. William Middleton Noel, of Ketton; John Walker, of Wardley, Esq.; John Moore Paget, of Clepsbam, Esq. SHROPSHIRE.—RaIph Merrick Leeke, of Longford, Esq.; Robert Henry Cheney, of Bod ger -hill, E sq . ; Ro bert Barton, of Longner, Esq. SOMERSETSHIRE.—LangIey St. Albyn, of Alfoxton, Esq.; Thomas Tutton Knighton, of Uphill, Esq.; Fran cis Henry Dickenson, of King weston, Esq. STAFFORDSHIRE.—Josiah Spode, of Armitage Park, Esq.; Philip Barnes Broade, of Fenton Manor House, Esq.; John Barker, of Wolverhampton, Esc. COUNTY OF SOUTHAMPTON.—WiIIiam ktriganaill, of Sidmonton House, Kingsclere, Esq.; Joseph Martineau. of Basink Park, Esq.; Jervoise Clarke Jervoise, of Idsworth Park, Horndean, Esq. SUFFOLK.—Sir Thomas Rokewood Gage, of Hengrave Hall, Bart.; the Right Hon. John Lord Henniker, of Thornham Hall; Frederick Barne, of Sotterley, Esq. SURREY.—James William Freshfield, of Moor-place, Betcbworth, Esq.; John Sparkes of Gosden House, Shalfurd, Esq. ; George Robert Smith, of Selsden, Croydon, Esq. SUSSEX.—George Campion Courthorpe, of Wbiligh, Esq.; David Lyon, of Goring, Esq.; Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid, of Hove, Bart. WARWICKSHIRE.—Marwen G a lto n , o f Ed s t one , E sq.; Sir John Newdigate Ludford Chetwoode, of Ansley Hall, Bart.; Mark Phillips. of Smitterfield, Esq. WILTSHIRE .—Graham Moore Mitchell Eseneade, of Monkton House, Esq.; John Grove, of Fern House, Esq.; Henry Gaissford Gibbs Ludlow, of Heywood House, Esq. WORCESTERSHIRE.—John Gregory Watkins, of Wood field, Esq.; John Russell Cookes, of Woodhatnpton, E: , q.; Sir Thomas Edward Winnington, of Stourport Court, Esq. YORKSHIRE.—Sir John Henry Lowther, of Swilling ton, Leeds, Bart.; William Rutson, of Newby Wiske, Esq.; Andrew Montague, of Melton, Doncaster, Esq. NOMINATION OF SHERIFFS. Yesterday being the morrow of St. Martin, the Lords of her Majesty's Privy Council assembled, according to custom, in the Court of Exchequer, for the pnilaose of proceeding to the " nomination of sheriffs" for the en suing year. The members of the Council in attendance were Lord Campbell (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.), Sir C. Wood, Bart. (Chancellor of the Exchequer), Es6rl Grey (Secretary of State for the Colonies), the Marquis Clan ricarde (Postmaster-General), the Chief Justices of the Court of Common Pleas, the Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer, Mr. Justice Patteson, Mr. Justice Cole. ridge, Mr. Justice Maule, Mr. Baron Rolfe, Mr. Justice Cresswell, Mr. Baron Platt, and Mr. Justice V. Williams. Mr. C. Groville acted as Clerk to the Council.. The Queen's llemembrancer (Mr. VincentY adminis tered the oath, as usual, in Norman French,. to the several councillors, and with the assistance of Air. C. Browne, the chief clerk, proceeded ,to read and correct the list of names. The " nomination" ultimately stood thus:—* BEDFORDSHIRE.-Sir Charles Gillies Payne, of Blan ham, Bart.; Richard Thomas Gilpin, of Rockliffe Grange, Esq.; Sir John Montague ißurgoynet, of Sut ton, Bart. LiunKsurnE.—Robert Alirroy. of Wakeficatl Park, Esq. • ' Daniel Higford Duvall Burr, of Alder na ans t on Park, Esq.; John Samuel Bowles, of Milton llill, Esq. BUCKINGILIADISIIIKg.—WiIIiam Selby Lowrsdes, of Whaddon Hall, Esq. ; Richard Cavendish, of Thorn ton Hall, Eq. ; Charles Robert Scott nurray, of Danesfield, Esq. CAMBRIDGESHIRE AND HUNTINGDONSIIIRE..—John Vi pan, of Sutton, &q. ; William Whiting, of Moan and Thorney Abbey, Esq ; James Gay, of Upwell, Esq. (In rotation, in accordance with the custom, tb,e nomi nation for these shires is on this occasion from the Isle of Ely.) CUMBERLAND.—Thomas Salkeld, of Holm Hi 11, Esq.; George head Head, of Rickerby-house, Esq.; George Henry Oliphant, of Broadti , ld House, Esq, CHESHIRE.— Sir Arthur Ingram Aston, of Aston, Bart. ,• Thomas Marsland, of Henbury, Esq ; Georgo Holland Ackers, of Moreton, Rig. DERRYSIIIRE.—IIobert Arkwright, of Sutton, Esq.; Francis Bradshaw, of Barton Blount, Esq.; Samuel Evans, of Darley Abbey, Esq. DrvoNsnutE.—John Palmer Bruce Chichrrster, of Arlington, Esq.; William Arundel Yeo, of Frey aington, Esq.; James Cornish, of Blackhall, Esq. DORCETNIIIRE.—IIenry Ralph Will e tt, o f M erly House, Wimbourno Minster, Esq.; Henry John Reuben, Earl of Portarlington. of Milton Abbas; Francis Pitney Brunker Martin, of Kingston Marlowood, Esq. Dual:ult.—Frederick Acklom Millbanke, of Hart, Esq ; Robert Hildyard, of Horsley, Esq.; John Bowes, of Streatham Castle, Esq. ESSEX.—Charles Preston, of Luthers Sewe,rdston, , , Esq. • Charles Da Cane, of Brexted Lodge, Esq,. ; Th os . Burch Weston, of Felix I lull, Esq. GLOUCESTERSIIIIIE. — Thomas Anthony Stoueiton, of Owl I'en House, they, Esq.; Thomas Gambier Parry, of Ilighnarn-court, Esq.; William Dent, of Sudeley Castle, Esq. lIBREFORDSHIRE.—James Cheese, of Huntingdon, Esq.; Charles Thomas Bodenham, of Rotherwase, Esq.; Richard Hereford, of Tufton, Esq. lIEUTFORDSHIRE.—FIiik O Southwell Greville, of North Myms-place, Esq.; Henry Rogers, of Stagenhoe, Esq.; Wyen Bilis, of Ponsbourne Park, Esq. KENT.—Matthew Bell, of Bourne House, Bishops bourne, Efq. ; Ford Wilson, of Blackhurst, Tonbridge Wells, Esq. ; Sir John William Ladbrooke, of Down, Bart. LEICESTERSHIRE,—Thomas Stokes, of NOW Parks, Esq.; Sir Cornwallis Ricketts, of Beaumont Leys, Bart.; Edward Renshaw Cheney, of Gaddershy, Esq. LINCOLNSHIRE.—Henry Fane, of Fulbeck Hall, Esq.; Sir Charles Henry John Anderson, of Lea, Bart.; George Tomlins, of Rigby - grove, Esq. MotimoUTEL—Thomas Wakeman, pf &)19 .Craig, Esq.; WALES. ANGLESlM—RicharddiFthii;; of Badwyr-isaf, Esq.; the Hon. William Owen Stanley, of Puerhos, Esq.; Thomas Owen, of Tiddy-glan-y-mor, Esq. BaEcomaraN —Paul Mildmsy Pell, of Tuymaur, Esq.; David Watkins Lloyd, of Abullich, otherwise Dandilo, Esq.; Sir Charles Morgan Robinson Morgan, of Therrw, Esq. CARDIGANSHIRE.—Thomas Davies Lloyd, of Bron wyd, Esq.; Delmo Seymour Davies, of Highmead, Esq.; Charles Arthur Pritchard, of Tyllwyd, Esq. DENBIGHSHIRE.—John Barton, of Minerva Hall, Wrexham, Big.; Thomas Hughes, of Astrad Hall, Denbigh, Esq.; Thomas Francis Hughes, of Acton House, Wrexham, Esq. CeurriawortsulßE.—William Henry Foley, of Bryn Eryr, Esq.; Isaac Walker, of Hendregaibredd, Esq.; Owen Jones Ellis Ramsay, of Gwynfryn, Esq. CARMARTMENSHIRE.—WiIIiam Davys Harris Camp bell Davys, of Nenaddfawr, Esq.; Timothy Powell, of Penycoed, Esq.; Edmund Plowden, of Treveuly, Esq. FLINTSIEIRE.—WiIson Jones, of Hartsheath Park, Esq.; Arthur Trevor, Viscount Dungannon, of Bryn kinalt; Rudolph William Basil, Viscount Fielding, of Downing. GLANORGANSHIRE.—RowIand Fothergill, of Hensoll Castle, Esq.; Sir George T.) ler, of Cottrell, Knight; Gervas Tubervill, of Ewenny Abbey, near Bridlond, Esq. MONTGOMERYSHIRE.—John Davies Currie, of Dy perth, Esq.; Charles Jones, of Garthmill, Esq.; John Michael Levergne, of Rhosgorth, Esq. MERIONETHSHIRE.—John Bird, of Plas yn Dinas, Esq.; Edward Griffiths, of Gwastad-Gwyn, Esq.; Henry Richardson, of Abertrinant, Esq. PEMBROKESIIIRE.—James Mark Child, of Begelly, Esq.; William Richards, .of Tenby, Esq.; John Har court Powell, of Hock, Esq. RADNORSHIRE.—John Williams, of Skreen House, Esq.; William Woodburn, of Codgwgan Hall, Esq.; Edward Morgan Stephens, of Llananno, Esq. THE NEW MAYORALTY. The following gentlemen have, in their respective boroughs and cities, been elected to the dignity of Chief Magistrate for the ensuing year:— Ambridge—R. Trew. Arbroath—William Johnston. Birmingham—Mr. Lucy. Bideford—Mr. Evans. Bath—William Dowding. Bristol—J. K. Haberfield (fourth time). Bolton—T. L. Rushton. Boston—M. Stauiland (re-elected). Bradford—Alderman Forbes. Berwick—Capt. Smith, R.N. (re-elected). Banbury—Richard Goffe. Bradford—Mr. Forbes. Buckingham—Richard Chandler (re-elected). Brechin—David Guthrie. Bedford—C. F. Palgrave. Cambridge—H. S. Foster. Chesterfield—John Walker. Cardiff—Charles Vackell. Carmarthen—W. Davis. Derby—James Haywood. Durham—Robert Thwaites. Devizes—George Waylen. Doncaster—W. Dunhill (re-elected). Dover—G. Finnis. Dorchester—W. D. Tapp. Devonport—E. St. Aubin. Exeter—E. A. Sanders. Edinburgh—Right Hon. William Johnston. Gateshead—George Hawkes (re-elected). Gloucester—C. Smallridge. Hertford—Y. Crawley. Hastings—G. Scrivens. ts W. Palmer. Halifax—Alderman Cropley. Haddington—George Moore. Inverness—Mr. Simpson. Ipswich—T. B. Ross. Kendal—C. B. Crewdson. Leeds—Alderman Bateson. Lancaster—J. Dockray. Leicester—J. Munday. London—Alderman Farncomb. Liverpool—J. Holmes. Lynn—W. Meyse. Lanark—Dr. Fleming. Monmouth—John Mayon. Macclesfield—T. T. Swanwick. Manchester—John Potter (re-elected). Maidstone—Charles Scudamore. Northampton—Alderman Parker. Norwich—Henry Woodcock. Newcastle-on-Tyne—J. Crawa ll, Newport (Monmouth)—J. B. Batchelor. Nottingham—Richard Birkin. Oxford—Alderman Sadler. Portsmouth—Alderman Bramble (second time). Preston--J. German. Salford—Alderman Langworthy (re-elected). Sheffield—Thomas Birks. Sunderland—W. Orde. Stamford—Alderman Althorp. Sudbury—Dr. Scrimshaw. Shrewsbury—J. Birch. Salisbury—Dr. T. R. Moore. Shaftesbury—William Storey. Southampton—Rd. Andrews. Stirling—John Sayers. Thornbury—E. G. Councel' Totnes—Wm. Bowden (re-erected). Tyaemouth—Wm. Linskill. Wallingford—Robert Payne. Wisbeach—H. W. Ward. Wakefield—J. Holdsworth (formerly M.P. for the borough). Wolverhampton—W. F. Fryer. Windsor—Mr. Hansom. Wigan—R. Darlington. Weymouth—G. C. Welsford. Winchester—Mr. Faithful. Yarmouth—Mr. Gourlay. York—G. H. Seymour. ALLEGED OUTRAGE.—On Thursday, a youth, about eighteen years of age, applied to Mr. Rushton under the following circumstances:—He said he stowed away in the packet ship-ship Quee❑ of the West, Captain Mallet, which was now lying in the river ready for sea. On Wednesday he was discovered and brought on deck. The mate (Gibson) took hold of him and rubbed his face over with caustic, burning very badly his nose, brow. and cheeks. The captain was standing by at the time, and he said to the mate, " Give him the sign of the cross." The mate accordingly made a cross upon the forehead with the caustic. The face of the boy had a shocking appearance, the flesh on the nose being laid bare, and the other parts much injured. Mr. Rushton ordered the examination of the youth by a surgeon, and upon his evidence a warrant was granted for the appre• hension of the captain and mate. Shortly afterwards a woman applied to Mr. Rushton. She said she went on board the same vessel to sire her husband. The captain called her improper names, ordered a rope to be tied round her waist, and throw her over the side of the vessel. According to her statement two other boys had had their faces burnt with caustic. The execution of the warrant was intrusted to Mr. Superintendent Abraham, but on his proceeding to the river he ascertained that the vessel had sailed.—Liverpool Chronicle. Decision and promptitude, even though sometimes a man may err for want of due deliberation, will, in the long run, :more often conduce to success than a slow judgment that comes too late.—Eliza Cook's Journal. nIGII COURT OF JUSTICIARY.—The High Court at their sittings since our last have been engaged with the trial of a number of cases which were of a petty character, with the exception of the case of James 3/PK - ay, spirit-dealer, and his wifo, who were yesterday (Friday) placed at the bar on a charge of being concerned in uttering six fel ged 101 notes of the Bank of Eaglanch )I•Kay and Lis wife. their declarations, maintained that the notes had been given to Mrs. 11• Kay by a Mrs. Miller, wife of a ficsher in the Cannongate, to keep, and that, in order to pay some bills, they had given the notes to various parties, not knowing them to be forged. After a trial of some length, MgKay was found guilty and sen tenced to fourteen years' transportation; and in th e case of his wife a verdict of "Not Proven was was returned.— .Edinburgh Witness. ESTABLISHMENT OF A LAW SCHOOL. A general meeting of the Society for Promoting the Amendment of the Law was held last night, at the rooms in Regent-street, when Mr. James Stewart submitted a project for the establishment of a Law School; Mr. Spence, Q C., was called to the chair. Mr. STEWART, in his address, said the teaching of law by means of oral instruction appenred to have been almost co-existent with its being taught at all as a science. Lectures or professorships had been established in most civilized countries, and it was difficult to show why, as one means of impart ing legal knowledge, they should not be useful. Of late years, however, but little favour had been shown for this means of instruction in some departments of the profession. On the one hand, it was said that professors accessible to all students were not appointed; and on the other, that students would riot attend the lectures of those who were appointed. There was perhaps truth in both complaints. But it could not be disputed that under certain circumstances, and in some departments, lectures had been successfully delivered, both at the Universities and in London ; and the Inns of Court had recently revived, upon the suggestion of Mr. Bethel', a course of lectures exclusively confined to students. These would seem, however, not to have been generally successful. Indeed, so little prospect of success had app eare d as to i nduce the Society of Lincoln's Inn, the first in number if not in rank and importance, to discontinue after a short trial the lectures that society had established, and it was pos sible that the example might be followed by some or all the other societies. He attached no blame to the benchers of the Inns of Court for this result, but he showed from documents that the original intentions with regard to examinations and prizes had not been acted upon. Mr. Stewart went into this part of the question with some minuteness. There was then no institution in London for the purpose of de livering lectures on all the branches of the law; and it seemed open to any one, more especially to a scientific society, to provide for the teaching of, the law in this manner to all who were willing to be taught. He therefore submitted that this would be an appropriate and fitting duty for the society to undertake. There could be no better method of amending the law than first to ascertain briefly and clearly how the law stood which it was proposed to amend. No better means could be taken for this purpose than fully to investigate what it was, and then to declare it publicly before those competent to listen to it; and he believed that no better mode could be found of obtaining a correct and accurate idea of the law than by lectures followed by repeated examinations, the lecturer and the class working together. On these grounds he invited the society to use its influence and authority to found a law school for the purpose of teaching the law in all its departments, and to afford the means to every one of acquiring a knowledge of those rules which govern his property and his liberty, his own rights and the rights of others. He would let in not only students but the public. The school should be entirely of a practical kind. It should consist of classes in which the main object should be to teach particular branches, not by fixed rules, or in any prescribed mode, but by such means as might seem best to the particular lecturer ; by oral or written communications, by examination, and free conversa tion between the lecturer and the classes. All that he had consulted upon the subject cordially approved of the plan ; and he read a letter from Lord Brougham in which the Noble and Learned Lord offered 25/. as his contribution towards the prizes, and further inti mated his willingness to volunteer a course of lectures upon Constitutional Law. Mr. Stewart concluded his very interesting paper by moving that it be re ferred toa committee to consider the subj ect. The motion was seconded by Mr. PULLING. The CHAIRMAN said that having been appointed Professor of Equity in Lincoln's Inn, under the reso lution to which his Learned Friend had referred, he would state the result of his experience in that office. He commenced his lectures in the Hall. The system was to deliver written lectures in term, and after term he instituted examinations upon them. The society had made it compulsory upon students who desired to be called to attend these lectures ; but the examinations were entirely voluntary. The number of students who originally attended the lectures I was about 18 or 19. Some of them evidently attended because they were compelled; but he found that those who attended the voluntary examination after term made great progress. This went on for about a year. At the:end of the year the society came to a resolution that it should no longer be compulsory for students to attend the lectures; on which those who had attended only to qualify themselves to be called ceased their attendance ; but those who attended the voluntary examination, to the number of eight or nine, continued. Finding the numbers thus reduced, and thinking they could be much more effectually taught round a table, he gave up the Hall lectures and invited the students to meet him in the Chancellor's private room, where he proceeded with them, taking care when he came to the end of every branch of a subject to inquire whether the principles he had endeavoured to expound were thoroughly un derstood ; and after term the voluntary examination was gone through, as usual, upon what bad been treated during term. He must say ho never met a set of young men more regular in their attend ance, or who devoted themselves more completely to the subject than his pupils. These lectures would terminate next term ; but from his own experience he could, in the mean time, state that the teaching of the law by this mode had been eminently successful. To show that it had not failed, he would mention that several gentlemen who attended the first course of lectures also attended the second, though the subject was the same ; and that, seeing the earnestness with which the pupils seemed to devote themselves to the study, he had himself proposed that at the end of the course they should receive prizes. The numbers, however, not leaving been adequate, for he could scarcely think it justifiable to establish a professorship to teach only eight or nine pupils, the society was quite right in discontinuing the system, but it could not be in consequence of any failure as regarded those who attended. He felt sure there was not a man who would leave the course now in progress without being in a more advanced state as regarded knowledge than if he had been at the bar for five years under the ordi nary course of study. The system of teaching by lectures, and the system of a legal school, would, he was satisfied, be effectual for teaching the law ; and the rr.sults of his own experience led him to concur heartily in the principle. Mr. ATECICETT described the success of the lectures at the Law Institution to articled clerks in the other branch of the profession, and said it was most de sirable that similar advantages of acquiring know ledge should be afforded to the students for the bar. The establishment of a law school would in this respect be a public benefit; and parties who distin guished themselves in it would, on that account, be verypften selected for business. Ifr. STEWART regarded the case of the Law In stitution as a most valuable one, because it was an instance of a successful law school having been estab lished by a private society. The motion was carried unanimously, and after the remaining business had been disposed of the meeting, adjourned. SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY. The Sacred ifiarmonic Society commenced their season last night at Exeter Hall. The band and chorus are in all essential respects the same as during last season ; and the whole of the musical arrange ments are under the direction of Mr. Costa. If we may judge from the admirable style in which the whole performance, vocal and instrumental, went off last night, there is no reason to doubt that this so ciety will continue to deserve the high reputation which it has enjoyed, alike with the musical world and the regular frequenters of sacred performances at Exeter-hall, since the improved management. The oratorio selected for last evening was Ilandel's Se/o mon, one motive for opening the season with it being I that, with the exception of a few months, one century has elapsed since its first production. It was com menced on the 11th July, 1748, and finished on the 9th of August; and it was first performed (at Covent-garden Theatre) on the 17th March, 1749. One of.the latest, it is by no means one of the best of llandel's oratorios ; but its beauties, which lie chiefly in the choruses, received full justice from the enor mous orchestra. All the choruses are fine; but among the most effective last night were, " Through out the Land," and the fi na l chorus of the first part, " May no rash intruder." This last, especially, was admirably rendered, so much so that, in spite of the rule to the contrary, the desire of the audience for a repetition was irrepressible. Again , the opening chorus of the second part " From the censer, ' was magnificently given. The solo parts were sustained by Miss M. and Miss A. Williams, Miss Stewart, Mr. Lockev, and Mr. Lawler. Miss M. Williams particularly distinguished herself by her execution of the music assigned to Solomon ; and Miss A. Hams imparted much pathos to her delivery of the air, " Can I see my infant gored." The hall was crowded, and the whole performance went off so s atisfactorily as to imply a very auspicious coninience ment of the season. THE LATE EIRES NEAR THE POST•OPFICE.—Yes terday, Mr. Payne, coroner, held a court of inquiry at the Goldsmiths' Arms, Gutter-lane, for the purpose of investigating the origin of the fires which recently oc; curred on the premises of Mr. Hyde, boetmaker, of No. 8, Huggin lame. After the examination of a ntinlher of witnesses, the jury were discharged without returning a verdict. It was their unanimous opinion that the inquiry, from certain suspicious circumstances, should be pro ceeded with. PORTSMOUTH, Nov. 10.—Wind S.W., 11th, W.S.W.— Sld. 10th Wessacurocon, Rio Janeiro. 11th, Darien, ditto. THE THANKSGIVING DAY. The Bishop of London has issued the following circular to the clergy of the metropolis : " Fulham, Nov. 3, 1849. " Reverend and dear Sir,—ln the pastoral letter which I addressed to the clergy of this diocese in December, 1847, with reference to the expected ap pearance of the cholera, I pointed out certain special duties as proper to be undertaken by them at that anxious crisis, in addition to the more peculiar func tions of their sacred office. I said that, while their first object should be to impress upon the minds of their people the necessity of an implicit trust in God, of an entire submission to his will, of increased degrees of seriousness, vigilance, and self-restraint, and of frequency and fervour in prayer, it would also be an office of real piety and charity to urge upon them the importance of endeavouring to remove all those physical causes which might invite the approach of disease, and aggravate its malignity. " I suggested, as a motive to such endeavours, that while we may not look for a blessing upon the re sources and appliances of human skill if they are not employed in humble reliance upon the power and goodness of God, so neither, if R e neglect to use all probable and practicable means of prevention and preservation, have we any reason to expect that He will specially interfere to rescue us from the conse quences of our own negligence. " The importance of this caution has been painfully proved by the events of the last twelve months. The expected scourge has fallen upon us with awful severity, and has swept away from this vast metro polis at least 15,000 of its inhabitants. Judging from the unvarying tenor of the reports made by the medical inspectors, and of other persons who have watched the Ptogress of that fatal disease, I do not hesitate to declare my b e li e f t h at b y far ie greater number of those who have fallen victims to the pestilence might, under God's blessing, have been saved from death had timely and effectual measures been taken fbr cleansing and ventilating their dwell ings, preventing their overcrowded state, and draining the courts and alleys in which they are situate. " We shall be chargeable with great folly and want of foresight as poliical economists, and guilty, I verily believe, of great sinfulness as a Christian people, if we neglect to profit by the dearly-bought expe rience of the past, and to take prompt and energetic measures for improving the condition of the labouring classes, by removing the worst at least of those evils, which at once render them an easy prey to disease and death, and place them at a hopeless distance from the Church's teaching and ministry. I remarked in my former letter, that persons immersed in misery and filth are for the most part inaccessible to the motives and consolations of the Gospel. " Much, no doubt, there is which can be effected only by means of legislative measures; but much may be done by the charitable efforts of associat e d Christians, which in the pr esen t s t a t e of things the law could accomplish only by very slow degrees. Let us not wait, while under the pressure of extreme necessity, for the operations of a machinery which will require a considerable time to put it in motion ; but let us at once take the work in hand, and show that the desired improvement is practicable, to a great ex tent, by the exertions of an active and well-directed charity. " We are about to perform, as a Christian people, a public and solemn act of thanksgiving to Him, who holds in his hands the issues of life and death, for his great mercy vouchsafed to us in answer to our prayers, in removing from us the plague and grievous sickness which of late afflicted us, and restoring the voice of joy and health to our dwellings. God grant that it may be the expression of a real, heartfelt thankfulness • and that it may be followed by its pro per results dincreased self-denial and charity ! You will, I am persuaded, see the propriety of calling upon your congregation to contribute liberally of their worldly substance on that occasion, as a thank • offering to Almighty God for their preservation frcm that pestilence which has hurried so many thousands to their last account; and I venture to recommend that the alms then collected should be applied to the promotion of some well-considered plan for improving the dwellings of the labouring classes. " I would not be understood to prescribe the channel through which the collections should be so applied; but I would suggest that where the funds so raised are not sufficient for carrying out a local scheme for that purpose, they may he safely entrusted to The Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes,' without fear of misappli ca ti on or waste. Much good has been already effected by that society, in setting an example of what may be done towards providing the poor with decent and commo dious habitations, by an outlay which will ultimately be repaid with interest, both in a social and a pecu niary point of view. It is a remarkable and encou raging fact, that in the dwellings and lodging-houses belonging to the society there was not one case of cholera, and two only of diarrhoea, whi c h s p ee dil y yielded to medical treatment.* " I cannot conclude this letter without expressing my deep sense of the exemplary manner in which the clergy of this diocese have discharged their duties during the late most trying season, in visiting with unwearied assiduity and kindness the sick and dying, and in ministering, to the utmost of tbeir power, both to the bodily and spiritual comfort of the sufferers. Two only of their number have fallen victims to that deadly disease which has carried off so many members of their flocks. Let us, who have been mercifully spared, show forth our thankfulness by increased dili gence in every work of piety and charity, that the Lord, when he cometh, may find us so doing. Com mending you to his holy keeping. "I remain, Reverend and dear Sir, your affectionate friend, " C. J. LONDON." * The reports of the society may be had of the secretary, John Wood, Esq., 21, Exeter Hall, Strand. The Lord Mayor gave directions yesterday that the following notice should be extensively circulated in the city of London : " FARNCOBIN, MAYOR. "Mansion-house, Nov. 12, 1849. " Her Moat Gracious Majesty the Queen having by her royal proclamation appointed and commanded that a General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the abatement of the grievous disease with which many places in this kingdom have been lately visited shall be observed throughout England and Ireland on Thursday, the 15th day of November instant, "The Lord Mayor requests that his felloW-citixens will close their shops and abstain from all business on that day, in order that it may be devoutly and reve rently observed by all classes. "By order of the Lord Mayor, " S. R. GOODMAN." Yesterday the Rev. Dr. Adler, the Chief Rabbi, issued the following Form of Thanksgiving for the cessation of cholera, to be used in all the British syna gogues on Thursday next. The Thanksgiving is to be preceded by psalms, and by the ordinary prayers for the Queen and the Royal Family : " God of the spirits of all flesh ! before thee we come this day, in the place of Thy holiness, to glorify, to praise, and to thank Thee that, although Thou hest been angry with us, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou hast com ' forted us : and that, though Thou hast chastised ,us sorely, Thou bast again becom e o u r s al v ati on . Thy chastening hand had lain heavily upon th e inhabitants of this land. The mysterious and irremediable sickness had stricken down many—many beloved and lamented victims : the stoutest heart trembled at the voice of death sounding at the threshold; and the boldest among the mighty were seized with terror and anguish. But gracious and merciful art Thou, 0 Lord! Thy wrath endureth not long ; nor is thine anger everlasting ! Thou makest sore and healest; Thou woundest, but it is Thy hand which prepareth the balm. In the depths of our terror and affliction Thou didst send forth Thy Spirit and there was a pause. Thou commandedst, and the Plague ceased. " Mighty and all-powerful Lord ! our Rock and our Shelter ! who can tell all Thy goodness ?—who can show forth all Thy glory ?—who can expound thy ways in the sanctuary? But the living, wh om Thy mercy hath spared—the living it , behoveth t o thank Thee with their whole heart. The father to his children shall make known Thy truth, and declare Thy goodness—how Thou hest dealt wondrously with us !—how Thou !last called to mind Thy cove nant with our forefathers and has shielded us with the sun of Thy mercy which beareth healing and consolation on its wings. " Fountain of all blessings! open our eyes to know the benefits which the days of distress bring forth when the scourge has ceased. Grant that we may understand how full of blessings are the chas tisements of Thy hand : that we may learn thereby Thy statutes, and cease to sin against Thy holy laws. Glorious are th& powers and faculties with which Thou hest bounteously endowed us; which ccaie• lessly follow out their true destination, but when we destroy their harmony it is we who produce conflict between them and act against Thy will : 0, let us therefore ponder our ways so that we may ever re member the part affliction and provoke not its return. Grant that no uncleanness may pollute usi and that wrong and unrighteousuess be not found among us. Send Borth the blessed light of Thy truth to guide and lead us in Thy holy path. Deign to imbue us with the spirit of true charity, that we may strengthen the feeble knees and assist with compassion those who are in affliction—for such theis are Thy desire --such are the sacrifices which Thou dost not despise. " 0 continue to be merciful unto us ! Let Thy countenance still shine upon us, 0 Lord, rendt.r our days as of old ! Ainen." STATE OF TRADE IN HAWICK.—It is gratifying to be able to state that the staple trade of this town wens never in a better condition. It is enough to say that stocks are disappearing, and that there is full employ. men for every one, and in many departments for more hada if they could LI Otromick, .ud ►ry 'ay was I by im - tion. and and