The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-09-04 00:00:00

is proverbially changeable, and it proved to be so in a remarkable degree on the present occasion. Two or three of the minor magazines had notices of it, in which they most ingeniously contrived to dilate on its few me r it s , an to extract its best passages . ; and a magazine of graver character remarked (certainly with much justice) that "it was written with scrupulous propriety, and that there was nothing in it which would be at all dangerous to the morals of the young." It was advertised with unsparing liberality, and occasionally appended to the advertisement was a startling and high-flown encomium on the work, which purported to be an extract from a publica tion denominated " Morning Paper." " How well I predicted my present success, dearest Ellen !" said Lorton to his wife. "' Cedar Cottage' was a crude, hastily-written work ; I cannot wonder at its failure ; now, in The States man's Daughter' I have really written like myself." " Quite so," replied his wife. " And," continued Lorton, " the constant sale of the copies proves, even more plainly than the praises of the reviewers and newspapers, the esti mation in which the public holds my talents ; the second .edition will be out next week. I think, Ellen, that I shall certainly write a new novel every year." "Will not that be too much for your health ?" asked Ellen, nervously. " For my fame, Ellen, I suppose you mean," replied her husband ; " I am rather surprised that you should make such a remark ; but I sup pose you gather your opinion of my abilities, not from the public, but from your particular friend, Mr. Branscombe." "Do not mention his name in such a way," said Ellen," the tears starting to her eyes ; " he is a true and real friend to you.". A conviction had for some time been slowly stealing on Lorton, that Branscombe had a stronger regard for Ellen than the friend of a family ought to have for that family's youngest and fairest member. At length Lorton's suspicions were brought to a point ; he entered the room when Ellen was reading a letter. _ _ " From Branscombe, I presume," said he, recognising the peculiar handwriting, as he looked over her shoulder. "If there are no secrets in it, Ellen, let us hear how our friend can have contrived to fill up two sheets of note paper to you." Ellen hastily murmured that there was nothing particular in it. Lorton's doubts were now painfully increased ; he called that morning on Mrs. Tresham, and in the course of conversation asked her, with seem ing carelessness, if Branscombe had ever been the lover of Ellen in her single days. It was seldom that the very quiet Mrs. Tresham laughed so heartily as she did when she replied to this question. "Dear me ! no. Brans combe knew Ellen from a baby ; he gave her the first coral necklace and the first wax doll that she ever had in her life, and he would have given her bon-bons without number if I had allowed him to do so ; he could not have been fonder of her if she had been his own daughter ; it is not very likely that he would ever have thought of her as a wife." Lorton quitted his mother-in-law, not at all convinced by her oratory, and determined that his doubts should be speedily set at rest; although a novelist, he had no idea of allowing a misunder standing to extend through an indefinite length of time - for the want of speaking a dozen words. The next morning he left his study an hour earlier than usual, and ascended to an apartment over the drawing-room; fortherly, an unoccupied bed- SUPPLEMENT TO THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD room, but which had been fitted up on his marriage as a morning-room for Ellen. " Ellen," said Lorton, " I have sought you this morning with the view of demanding an ex planation from you relative to your late very strange and mysterions conduct ; can you venture to assure me that you have no concealment from me ?" I can venture to assure you of it," replied Ellen. "Do you think it allowable," asked Lorton, endeavouring to speak with great calmness, " that a married woman should have concealment from her husband?" " Not in a general way," replied Ellen ; " but in my particular case I think I am not blameable in my conduct." " Is your friend, Mr. Branscombe, implicated in the matter concealed from me ?" he asked. " I will not attempt to deceive you," said Ellen, after a moment's pause ; "he is." " And your secret correspondence with him," said Lorton, " is, I doubt not, concealed in a closet which you so eagerly locked at my ap proach." " Such is not the case, I assure you," said Ellen, with a faint smile. " Under these circumstances," said Lorton, " you cannot of course object to giving me the key." A faint exclamation of denial, and a shudder from Ellen, denoted that her objection to giving him the key would be very strong indeed. " Probably," said Lorton, as a terrible thought flashed on his mind, " your lover is concealed within this closet, and you dread the exposure of your disgrace." " I give you my honour that such is not the case," replied Ellen ; " there is nobody there." Lorton groaned as she spoke ; he simply re demanded the key from Ellen, who held it closely grasped in her hand. " Let me prevail upon you," said Ellen, " for your own sake, not to attempt to look into that closet." Ellen could not have made use of a more inju dicious appeal. To tell Lorton not to look into the closet for his own sake, clearly disclosed that something of importance was concealed there, and had the effect of considerably increasing Lorton's anxiety to know the worst at once At length the footman announced " Mr. Branscombe." " Branscombe," said Lorton, "my wife has con fessed to me that you are implicated with her in keeping secret from me a matter in which it would grieve me to be informed ; she has just implored me for my own sake to abstain from asking her to open yonder closet ; I call upon you to aid me in requiring her to do so." " I could scarcely have supposed, Lorton," said Branscombe, very tranquilly, " that in any differ ence of opinion between you and your wife, I should have taken part against the latter ; how ever, I comply with your wishes. Ellen, I request you to give me the key." Ellen reluctantly com plied. Branscombe opened the closet and called on Lorton to inspect it. What did Lorton be hold ? Pile after pile of printed paper packets, the first edition of the " Statesman's Daughter !" It had been the loving desire of his wife to shield her husband from mortification and disappoint ment by buying up from time to time fresh por tions of the work, and while Lorton had imagined that the " Statesman's Daughter" was delighting every quarter of London and every county in England, it was in reality " wasting its sweetness on the desert (shelves)" of his own closet ! " But how, my dearest Ellen," exclaimed the penitent Lorton, after his wife had faltered forth her confession, " could you have brought about all this semblance of popularity ? I can under stand the purchase of the copies, but the adver- [SEPTEMBER 4, 1855. tisements, the extracts from newspapers, who in serted thein all ?" " For that part of the business you are in' debted to me," said Branscombe. " I made in quiries into the usual ways of coddling up the fame of flimsy authors, and the no ti c es in muo r publications, and the extracts from newspaPers that had never existed were written to order hY the underlings of the world of letters. The de e" tion. of your wife planned the scheme of placn ' , you in a fool's paradise. I very much o b l ate, to it, and at first refused to be a party to it ; hub her pleadings at length prevailed upon me. ges: sengers, employed by me, procured at var?' l : o times copies of the " Statesman's Daughter, the purchase of which your wife cheerfully n e " voted her pin-money. The actual sale, I b elie r' has been somewhat less than that of " Cee. Cottage ;" but even your publisher, although I f suspicions may have been excited, is not awar e lie the real purchaser of the copies that now i• before your eyes. My 'young friend, Ellec,b; somewhat too romantic in her notions, anidaie labouring to make you so much more comfort,4 than you deserve to be, has earned but a s°''' reward for her kindness." too " Nay," exclaimed Ellen, whose hand Lot' was covering with kisses ; " quite enough, too kind friend, has been said on the subject; ( 1 5 now understand all our good intentions to him, and I am sure is duly sensible of them. the " I have not, however, quite done with subject," resumed Branscombe, turning to Lori`, iie " I have reason to think that you have done an d the honour of being extremely jealous of 111e',, 9 0 0 perhaps you may now imagine that I ha Ellen's endeavouring to recommend myself to r),`;', e s favour by thus promptly entering into her scr p e t f ae and executing her commands. Therefore) t hat, set your fears at rest, by avowing to Igen's yesterday evening, I gained the promise O',7 t i i her mother to reward my long-tried affections "',l ° O Ne 1 1 hand. You will now, therefore, I hoPe , ,7„ the credit to believe my assurance that I 100k,,,"' Ellen as a beloved and cherished daughter,' r too, " My dear Branscombe !" exclaimed I " although I lose the brilliant bubble of in, Jos gain what is worth much more—the cony l e vel that I have the best wife and the kindest r ';;, i st, that ever man was blest with ; you will, 1 ," ye accept my apologies, and favour me through with your advice:" ore' " I accept your apologies very willinglY , yo ll plied Brascombe, " and will immediately gil e ol two pieces of advice as an earnest of what t is' hereafter bestow upon you : never annoy 3 . 11 . 0 1 t offending public with ill-written novels, Or i n' an exemplary wife with unfounded suspicion LITERARY EXTRACTS. , ,„•„teif ANGELICA KAUFFMANN.—She was a PQ-' 4 - fr agiv, musician; she would have made an excelleav f ; c o 4 actress; she embroidered ; she danced ; she wa s s ecocli in expression, infinite in variety ; she was 91 0 ` amiable, and virtuous ; full of grace, viva c *ers il wit. Fancy Venus without her mole ; foci '`,. e her without her aegis (which was, you may be su' r irta i e ugliness). Fancy Ninon de l'Enclos with tiave,oo of Madame de Sevigna. Fancy a Rachel Y fi ; o o.° with the wit of a Becky Sharp. Fancy a s vc- s %of, gifted as Sappho, but not a good-for-nothiag,,; 4 o as Queen Elizabeth, but no tyrant; as '2er, Charlotte, Countess of Derby, but no blood-PTipt revenge ; as unhappy as Clarissa Harlow A e 'e prude ; as virtuous as Pamelr, but n o cafe ' fair as my own darling Clementina, but ,- Dickens's Household Words. 10 14 JOHN WILKES.-17pon the strength of I— been a colonel of militia, the venerable pat riot e, vi attired his person in a suit of scarlet and buff, `„ots; rosette in his cocked hat and a pair of military L' ‘ `',,,.8,5 and the reader may fancy him thu s coming to !AI !hb °Jec S, ~~9~