The Express.
London, England, 1860-10-06 00:00:00

' LITERATURE.

Herbert Chauncey : A Man more Sinned against
than Sinning. By Sir ARTHUR HALLAM ELTON,
Bart. Three vols. Smith, Elder, and Co.
The leading idea .f this very readable novel is,
as far as we are aware, new in fiction. Herbed,
Cheuricey, the hero of the story, is a man *pi,
from indecision and want of presence of mind, MI
involved in a aeries of blundars and perplexities
6r more amusing to read about than to experience:-
All t i e little errors and mistakes to which every
um, liable, but which in the case of most men
egillt ount to a certain inconsiderable discount on
Akeil prosperity and success, are, in the
zaeof unfortunate Herbert Chauncey, at.
with their worst possible consequences,
44 as WA in one instance, a fatal result
LA ise suety age he engage, himself to a young;
.64, the daughter of his guardian, not because he
fis in love with her, but because he knows that she
is in love with him.i This guardian, it should be
Vett eci, takes a lead in the politics of his county.
before the time appointed for his marriage
Chauncey has a fortune left him by the
etillsol a cousin, wises. executor is a retired naval
residing at B--,. a ETeLdi seaport,
?Von one occasion is written—Boulogne. On
, Jisit to this gentleman Herbert Chauncey sees
tieg falls in love with his &mile*, who is'
very muck thrown in. its wary. by her aunt.
Prodelm4y. And,,houguibbli. vathdWeibg Lime-
self from this new attraction, he returns
iis England, where, howpver, by is followed
by these as, and has Lis weak mma so worked
me by the representations made to him by the aunt
diA les IsOithe state of his affeetiens before his
gantjbreaks off the engagement The young
due, Woke-liearkel ; ;her . father becomes a
incaination of revenge against- Herbert
uncey, manages to surround him both in public
and private with his instrumenta„,who drag him
into all kinds of difficulties, dompromiae his reputa-
tion; and'end by blighting his political prospects,
depriving bite of his property, and estranging him
from his wife. The modes operandi--the artful
taking advantage, and turning to aocount, of the
peculiar weaknesses and defects of the hero's cha-
racter—is viry. adroitly described. Incidentally we
would address a word of remonstrance to Sir Arthur
Elton on the very dark and unpleasant picture he
has drawn iir onsrof his chapters of a: country news-
paper office. We sincerely hope, both for his
sake and their Uwe, that the stack the Bagborougli
Beacon are not in the habit of reading the novels of
the day.
......, .
About Londe*. By J. Elmo RITCHML Tinsley.
Mr. Ritchie's apology for this book is the success
eirevioas books written by him on 'the same ex-
haUstlees sUbject. If he will allow na to oiler him
a More valid and' an equally modest apology, it is
(that this M.A,,bOtMIT. book than either of its pre-
cursors. It pi cOmperatively. free from. the exagge-
rations and CU 1681,416 w which detracted from
the usefulneek "of rotor ms tion contained in his
"Night Side of Lolidon ;" it is naturally More
interesting to east readers that* " The London*
Pulpit ;" and Ss it dollection of sketches it is at
oboe more vitiedind more homogeneous than
"Here and There in London." "About London"
is on the wholean obacrveht, well-informed sensible
book, hitting the point of amusement which is more
frequentl missed in books made up on a system of
s smartness. Neither the facts on the one
hand nor the flaahee of light literature on the
other occur in -sway to make the volume unread-
able. The matter being for the most part curious
and interesting, the tone with which it is treated is
quiet and effective. Mr. Ritchie has not entirety
bead himself from the leedeucy to ollies every
speetacte -into a thousand similes ; bet thevienre
promising signs either of a wise desire to abandon
this habit or of an increasing distaste for the trouble
it involves. When a picturesque author reaches
the point of describing penny-a-liners as "eagles
scenting carrion," there can be no doubt of his
having grown happily indifferent to the effect of
his finer touches ; and, as a consequence, there
appears the reasonable hope that, by a very few
gradations of nonsense, be will get through his fail-
ing for ever and all. Until Mr. Ritchie shall have
done this, we must bear with the failing for the
sake of what is hearty and sound in his work.
We have done Mr. Ritchie no more than justice
when we have said that be observes with quicklime
and accuracy and reports clearly the result of his
,bservation.

attach gnus impootasse--I.mbia Sir WNW' Agriatiii.
Me tolifile that he eimiddien this goodies es ma* ems
I steel erialteetion, sal tape If yea OM penises Imo mond
ousels attaining serythisg like Ilaa IMO speed, end ea nor
worthy ao the erdbrazy-Mai•of-war, no other. mead will
keys the the
chases amid Sham (Hear. Ware If
abl he Wee. end I do sot dotal ie far • ;nomad, whet will
he the consequence! Why, the edits reconstruction of our
=.}, (Hear, bear.) To eve yen an idea of the expense
would attend ma remeneltuction, allow me to
intone you that two mash which were ordered by
Lord Derby's government, and width are now is the course
of eoustruction, will cost no less than a million of
money-500,000!. each. (Hear, beer.) But whatever the
cost may be, this couutry cannot um to be behinclieny other
either with regard to +the superiority of its ships or of
weepers at defeat* generally. ((Awn) I perfectly
believe that we are at least equal in point of soldiers and
smilers, and in the name of the former I beg to return you
rayebanks for the honour you have done them in drinking
their keelths. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. Fereowees, M.P., proposed "Tbe health of the Chair-
man es Patron of the ion."
The Duke of MAXCHAVVIM, in responding, referred to the
volunteer movement. He said one great advantage of the
=moment was that it mudded him to mix more freely and
intimately with his neighbours than he had ever had an
opportunity of doing before. lie felt very
_grate-
fel to the county for the assistance it had afforded
him, and he wee happy to Bey that at the late
review in Hyde-park the Hturtingdon Mounted Rifles oc-
cupied a very high position. He thought it the duty of
every men who possessed health, strength, and leisure to
join some corps or assist with his money. In many
res • the movement was most berieficail. It maces
think of something beyond moneymaking upon
they had thought and legislated too much et late
lefterembarVreri.l7:',2d, The
raise f*Vai position' oir tyieof vunolun-
Immessele the eyes of foreign nations, and he hopedn the
man who bed He
the different oorps would persevere in
their drill. He had beard some persons say, as a reason for
not joining, that they would join soon enough if there was
an invasion. .Ilut they should remember that it would be
too late then, as an untrained man was utterly useless
against an organised army. It was only by discipline and
organise/km that they could hope to resist a well-trained
army in the field. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. Ruse briefly proposed the health of the members for
the county.
Lead R. Momou, M. P., in aoklowledging the toast, said
—1 am aware it is the rule that at all these convivial meet-
lags which usually take place during what I may call the
ter:licit 'devilries= of oar pa:Commentary duties no
party politics should be trenched upon. But lam also
aware that with one single exception, every person who has
spoken it such meetings during the ;recent has alluded
to politica in some shape or other. ( ter.) The rule
was adopted in order to obviate anything which might have
• tandem, to disturb the harmony 'of the meeting, but I
have seesseespolitica iatrodueed which were not party polities.
Some 'me • has seed that: there are only two things
*hick can be talked about, politics and agricul-
ture, and they add that politics are not allowed and
agriculture it a bore. (Laughter.) As it would be pre-
sumptuous tp me to offer you any opinion in reference to
agriculture, I will pass to another topic much more con-
geoid. Some *mks ago you might have seen in PuncA
pigmy of e, fine English farmer in one corner Sleazing his
shoat, and in the other our generous large-hearted leader
of the 110086 of Commons—Lord Palmerston. His lord-
ship was remounted with. a roll under his arm of bills
overdrewn or payable six months' after date. The farmer,
bowevere rye to him, "mu is • great deal better work
than you have doos, old boy,* and the picture is entitled
" Core Tereus Lbalf." (liiudblec) tt_nn I cinVo wader-
ritand that we, members of the moki'm of Commons
are seemed of doing nothing. Weed, the leadinogg
se per of the day has contrasted us with
Oeribals i It says, that he is • man who is all action
sod no tar, while the House of Commons is all talk cost
oo action. Bret Lord Prilmentoe himself, in use of his
facetious entombs% amused no of having had showered upon
us that greatest of all blessings, the gift of tongues.
(Laughter.) But I can assure you that we found it very
bard to do nothing. In point of feat it was most laborious.
I sat up constantly until half-past 2, and once as late as 5,
doing nothing. (Laughter.) In some points I think we
resemble the volunteers. The volunteer is required toper-
form • sort of inexplicable movement, called marking tune.
4. eager ram some of them drilling the other day, and
Wring watched them with • puzzled expression for some
tins he tamed to • shipmate sad remarked, " I say, Jack,
tbere must be • devil of undercurrent there.
for they are making a great deal of fuse and
noise, and they. don't bet on as aIL" (Laughter.)
We are precisely situated. We frequently maks •
rdeal of fuss and noise end yet do not get on at all.
elater, hear," and laughter.) I presume therefore that we
only mark time. (Continued laughter.) But we have per.
formed other military evolutions. We discussed at consider-
able length • treaty of amity with France and we called the
Emperor Napoleon the great and august friend of this
country, and yet the next day we found • bill upon thetelde
for increasing the national defences, sod we found ourselves
calling him, " that dangerous despot " (Laughter.) Now
that is what I call "right about face." (Continued laughter.)
Then, iota, we fired off • vast amount of blank cartridge,
sad we made man&riptlirts, and we were supplied with a
brass tend." ter.). In my opinion one of the
reasons why the of Commons wastes so much time is
that it takes upon itself duties which you ought to
perform. Local questions are discussed in the house and
frequently take my a peat deal of time. (Hear, bear.)
But the very beams and essence of the constitution is that
the country should govern itself, and as far as possible
leave these land matters to local boards and vestries, who
would do the work much better than we do, and would
save much of our time. (Hew, hear.) There is also a
further reason why we waste • pest deal of time. We talk
a good deal upon foreign polities, and I must say I think
that in so doing we effect • considerable good. Foreign
countries are governed by despots, and no ll= dare en-
' tisane the actions of a government or dispute in edicts. It
must, therefore, be • relief to find one great,
is
and
wise assembly which can candidly aad fearleMy review
the conduct of other governments, censuring that
which is criminal, end giving • due mod of
praise to that which is praiseworthy. (Cheers.) Not
very long ago the Emperor proposed to ammo certain pro-
vinces of Switzerland. We spoke out boldly and teazle:lT:
and he did not take all he contemplated. though
say now that he intends to aunex. &Minis and Elba;
the acquisitions which he has already made, I believe the
Emperor has weakened rather than strengthened himself.
He lies spread his troops over a larcer extent of territory,
and he hasbeoome the ruler of &people whom sympathies and
feelings are alien from those of the Mani of the French nation.
The lam may be amid of Austria. The malt of modern
policy is that she is called upon to repress Hungary, to aseist
in keeping Poland in order and to keep up a force for re-
taining Yemen against the will of the people. (Hear,
hear.) Whp form bs she left to oppose to foreign ag-
'? positios reminds me of an anecdote I have
= a obi lbstmeus burly Englishman and a very
mem hilismen. Oa tee
ground of want of reciprocity
Mg. to the mark which his form
his &stag= the reply of the Irishman was,
"Mani ra just tell you what I'll do. I'll chalk my size on
&10d all hits outside the line shan't
count."
.) At the present moment France and
were in the same position as the Englishman.
semi allow me to say another word in
11111.11111111110* the House of Commons. You have all doubt-
line baud et the "ptmone, or the Abode of Love."
II le ruled by Asa
aorta& Mr. Prince ; but a Mn. Price has
bees them against the wish of her husband. Ultimately
she ran away, and Mr. Price, after running all over the
country in search of her, found her at Salisbury buying
ribbons. Now, we are • happy family in the House of Com-
mons. Ours is an Acapemone, and Lord Palmerston is
our Mr. Price. His wife, Lady Palmerston, or rather Mr.
Gladstone. chances to be of a most erratic doOtion.
The noble lord has spent anxious days and nights
in search of his better half, sod finally lie found
her buying wises in one country, ribbons in another, and
giving sway our coals in exchange. (laughter.)
Lop that having finally boncaught she will in future be
to a due sense of her maternal duties. (Laughter
and ) The sable tai concluded by thanking the
meeting for the inmost in which the health of the county
members had been drunk.
Mr. Fra.i.owss, M.P., also remanded.
Mr. T. BASING, M.P., in acknowledging the toast of the
members for the borough, expressed his approval of the
objectsof the society. He said they utteutled there to
commemorate the continuance of an essocirition which
was productive of the greatest benefit to the commu-
nity at large. It united classes—it tied the hub between
labourer, employer, and landlord ; and exemplified the
carrying bite effect of those two pest principles on which
the property and !retaliates of England mainly depended—
namely, the exercise of union for great national benefits,
and the exercise of competition for Individual purpose.
They united for the general benefit of agriculture, and they
competed individually for individual distinction. Those
were, he believed, the two great causes which stimulated an
Englishman to exertion and which gave him the power he
possessed. (Cheers.)
General Pan Sao brieSy responded, but his remarks
were confined to local tondos
Several other tomb bmoing been drank, the proceedings
were brought to • close. •