The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-10-07 00:00:00

MR. THACKERAYS NB !V SERIAL

"Glad to see you," Mr. Pendennis ! HIVe are al-
'M ytiti trt tint Alla& dr condition ;
but, never more so than at present. True, thy
" slower" is sometimes withering, and as for what
Mr. Carlyle calls the " Shams" of life, thy poignant
sarcasm pierces them to the quick. Still for all
that we liko thee muchvand cannot afford to plan
i•O With thy ge:iiilit;---1 •
" In all thy ITmours, whether gravy or mellow

.•
Thou'rt such a touchy, testy, pleasant fellow,
Host so much wit and mirth and splecit about thee,
There is no living with thee or without thee !"
It was, quite.. enough for the famed. Author of
Fah'tii arliloiiiied iia iiiteiltl ii df figdin
making his entrée into our family circles, to excite
expectancy, and produce palpitating hearts,—
especially amongst the fairer portion of his acquain-
tances: And Ad* thrtt ltti hai a n,de his ,appcar4nce,
ft rivalry will at once be created as to who
him the most marked attentions, heap the most
compliments on his head ; and go the nearest
towards " killing" him with kindness So en-
viable is the life of a Ropular.author !
• 'The stmy beOns with 86111.01thlg arelorsion
Of the fabit hf pFootbus
a strange and grotesque -conference—very unlike
that lately, held at Vienna—consisting of " a crow,"
" a great big frog," " a wolf, cunningly dressed up
in. sheep's clothing," " an owl," "a fox," and • " a
donkey in a " lion's skin," sumo of which are dis
turbed from their gratre deliberations; and 01 either
dispersed; shit, or dribri ail= y-, 'a, Sukesgion of
what "
FNi'd 1111'. Pciniennis not only anticipates the critic,
but poSitively snatches the " cat-o'-nine-tails" out
of his'hands, with which he heartily, yet pleasantly,
belabours him. For ourselves, we feel half inclined
to relinquish our priofessioni.owing
,to the Indignity
to wlAich bf Graft lids beeiiiSilb-
jected. Let the good reader, -mark the cutting
severity of the castigation :
" What a farrago of old fables is this ! What dressing-
up in old clothes !' says the the critic. (I think I see such
an one Sol?men thtt!sitliti3ttd ttlent (Wet us authors and
chops -up our childreir.) 'As.sttre as I 4iiijiist and 'wise;
modeit? learned; Mid its surer
sonie.thuit very likejliiS ihhiSt)iiid &Witt jackasses
and f4.e§ Wore. nit wolf in sheep's clothing ?-7--dO I not
know him ? That fox discoursing with the crow ?--liave I
not previously heard of him ? Yes; iii Lakoritaing'.i Mies i
li
let us get the Dictionv ropt3 and the Biographic
TJniversellei aftiCle LafOntame, and confound the impostor."'
" Then in What a contemptuous way,' may Solomon go
On to rethark, 'May this arithai' speak of MIMI' Madre !
There scarcely One of theie Cluiraderi a iepreSeiliOnt
is The a flatterer; the frog is fill embleitt
or impotence and envy; the wolf in sheep's-clothing a blood:
thirsty hypocrite, wearing the garb of Jitiaomico thy in
the lion's skin; quack -trying to terriy, 4 ,itAstitiiii!O tfe
loges toe writer, writhing
ad' merited castigation, mean to sneer at critics in this
character? We laugh at the impertinent comparison); the
ox, a stupid common-place—the only innocent being in the
writer's (stolen) apologue is a fool,—the idiotic lamb who
does not know his own mother !' And then the critic, if in
a virtuous mood, may indulge in some. fine writing . regard,
in' the holy beauteousness of maternal affection.
why not ? If authors sneer, it is the critic's business
to sneer at them for sneering. lie must pretend to be their
superiour, or who would care about his opinion ? And his
livelihood is to find fault. Besides he is right sometimes;
and the stories he reads, and the characters drawn in them
are old sure enough. What stories are new ? All types of
all characters' march through all fables : tremblers and
boasters ; victims and bulli`cs; dupes and knaves • long-
cared Neddies, giving themselves canine airs ? iartuffes
wearing virtuous clothing;, lovers and their trials, their
blindness, their folly and constancy. With the very first
page of the human story do not love and. lies too begin ?
So the tales were told ages hefure

*The Newcomer; Memoirs of a most Respectable
Family. Edited by Arthur Pendennis, F.sq.. Illustrated
by Richard Doyle. No. I, London : Bradbury and Evans.
_ .

lions' manes roared in Hebrew; and sly foxes flattered
Etrusmn; and wolves in sheep's, clothing gnashed their
teeth in SanScrit, no doubt. The sun shines to-day as he
did when he first began shining ;
.and the birds 'in the tree
Overhead., while I am writing, sing very much the same
note they mot ever since there were finches. Nay,
since last he besought gOOd-mtifufed friends to listen once a
month to his talking. a friend of the Writer lids Melt the New
World, and found die (featherless) birds there 4iet,'edingly
like their brethren of Europe. There may be nothing iteiV
under and including the sun ; but it looks fresh every morn-
ing, and we rise with it to toil, hope, scheme, laugh, struggle,
long-suffer, until the night comes and quiet.' And then
;take 'Morrow and the eyes that look on it ; and so clic
cape."
_.a. . • . .

Then folloliS the morale of his fibigs and his
story :

"'this then; is to be a story may it pleasc?, you, in which
jackdaws will wear peacock's feathers, and awaken -the just
fidittile of the peacocks ; in which, while every justice is

done 'to•the peTtectli themselves, the splendour of theii
plumage, the gorgeousness of rneff thir,lizar necks, and the
magnificence of their tails, exception will yet be taken to the
absurdity of their ricketty strut, and the foolish diSedfd of
their. squeaking ; in which lions in love will have their
claws pared by sly virgins • in which rogues will sometimes
triumph and honest folks, let us hope, come by their own • in
which tilde Mick crape and white favours; which
there will be tears undeidiAngeetlowcr.i.reaths, and jokes in
mourninpoaches; in which there be dilutes of herbs
with contentment and without, and lilt-440S of stafteftoxen
where there is care and hatred—ay, and kindness and friend.
ship too, along with the feast. It does not follow
that all men are- honest because they are poor; and-I have
knoWa some who were friendly and generous, although they
had plenty of money: There are some. great landlords who
do not grind down their tenants ; Mee are actually bishopS
who are not hypocrites; there are liberal nien Om among
the Whigs, and the radicals themselves, are not -all aristor
crats at' heart.. Bat .who ever heard of giving the Moral
before the Fable? Children are only led to accept the one
after their delectation over the other ; let us take care lest
our readers skip both; and so let us bringthem -on quickly—
mir wolves dud lanihS, oar foxes and lions, our roaring don-
Ides, our billing .rin=ddo'esf vitt motherly partlets, mid
crowing*chanticleers."
And now for the gist of the story: Mr: ThomaS
Newcome, the head and founder of the family,
came up to the metropolis out .of a northern
county, just at the time that Washington was strug-
gling for the independence of Anierica. He made
his_ entrée into Bishopsgate-TAvoct on a waggon,
(there being no railroads in those days,) along with
other luggage in the shape of some few bales of
cotton, the alpha and omega of all he had in the
world. He is then taken into the house of Hob-
son Brother; cloth factors ; and having, by perse•
verance, made his wdy upwardtl, went back to his
little obscure village in the north, wad min- ied the
first object of hi-s amour, a pretty, portiOnless
Susan, to the surprise of all the great country
clothiers, who, in consequence, gave him much of
their business when he went back to London. HiS
wife; however, died in a _year after her marriage,
giving birth to a tltilf, Tholimi. A nurse had been
provided for the child, and it oittrolo• at Clapham,
hard by the house of Mr. Hobson partner in the
firm of that-name,-where dwelt this rich daughter,
heiress.besides to a wealthy uncle. And the elder
ThomaS being a passable, fresh-coloured widower,
soon fotind fitt,cur in the eyes of the serious chapel-
going Sophia Alethea! •
Her piouS hangers on, the Revereild ()Moon Bawls .
and the Reverend Athanasins O'Grady,. a distin-
guished convert from Popery, who,• although per-
quorrelling and striving with each other,
yet possessed tWO gehtintents in: common—love
for Miss Sophia, and hatred of their rival, New-
combe. • Thomas, however, finally ontSttipped
them in the race of love—and makes such terrible

. -
inroadsltittl the affections_ of the fair Miss Hob-
son, as finally to *ill "the anent city prize," with
a fortune of a quarter of a million! Ihit here' Mr.
Pendennis is so very racy that 'twould be un-
pardonable in a reviewer to pass on :

• "Of course Mr. Nowcome might have gone into Parlia-
ment--tit' Mirk before the close of his life, he might have-
been. made a Baronet; Wit Emht!:(l honours senatorial or
blood red hands. 'lt would not do,' with his ppod sense
he said, the Quaker connexion wouldn't like it: its Wife
never cared about being called Lady Newsome. To manage
the gfeat house of Hobson Brothers, and Newcome ; to
attend td the interests of the enslaved Negro ; to awaken the
benighted Hottentot td ii Stiict,, of truth, to convert Jews,
Turks, -Infidels, and Papists; to arouse the indifferent
and often . blasphemous mariner ; to guide the ift..,ther-
woman in the right way ; to head all the public
charities of her sect, and de a thousand of secret kindnesses
that helm knew, of j to answer myriads of letters, and pen-
sion endless minister's; tine. supply their teeming wives with
continuous baby-linen ; to hear prdiatt's doily bawling for
hours, and listen untired on her knees after tt brig day's.
labour, while florid rhapsodists belaboured cushions above
her with wearisome benedictions ; all these things had this
*ihsiin fe tlOLapd for near four-score years site fought her
fight womanfillly; but deserving to rule.; hard,
but doing her duty.; severe, but charitable, and untiring in
generosity as. in labour; .unforgiving in one instance, ill that
of her husbands eldest son, Thomas Newsome ; the little
boy she liad loved very sternly, and fondly."

Merin two years after the "great prize" had been
won, the edttage itt Clapham became associated
with an extraordinary event. Wood Mrs. New-
come, .in other words, gave birth to " Nttrlittle
cherubs ;" she being then just, three-and-forty
years of agel Of course this was an occurrence
nide. odtifyinti to Mr. Newcome, junior, partner
in the firm of Hobsdif and Coq who had the twins
christened Hobson and. Brian INeitcomei after
their uncle and grandfather.. Mrs. Newcaitie -0-fts
manager in Threadneedle-street ; and so important
had De Ptitiornei that when the clerical gentlemen
prayed, they importilli&l Heaven for that sainted
woman a long time before they thotiglit of asking
asking any favours for her husband. The gtit=
deners touched their hats—the clerks at the bank
brottg4 him the books—but they took their
diddre frihri her; not from him. I think he grew
weary. of die prayer•iiiatings ; he yawned • over
the sufferings of -the negroes, and Whaled the con-
verted Jews at Jericho.' After his father's mat,
nage, Mr. Thomas Newcome, jun., • and his nurse
SUS9,IIj had to give up their goodwill of the snug
cottage at Clapham, lvheve they had so long and
so toilifdrt.ablV basked and rioted in all manner
We eantiot but give our
readers the artist;§ tin Oiieteh of this little spot of
fairy-land and its inhabitants !

"This paradise, five miles from the standard at Cornililli
was separated from the outer world by a thick hedge of tall
treeSj, and ni ivv-eovered porter's-gate, , through which they
No ;relief 1k Wittleti ofthe top of the Clapham coach
could only get a the -Hfhin: It was a seri-
ous paradise. As you entered at the gate, giaillf Pill on
you ; and decorum wrapped 'you in a garment of statth,
The butehei-boy who galloped his horse and cart madly
0E44 the adjoining lanes and common, whistled wild melo-
dies fetiuglit tip ttbominable. piny-house galleries), -and
kilted with 4 hdiierged cook:1401 oil liming. that lodge fell
into ail pace; iiiid deliiefed his
.3oint and ES wcet-
brea& silently at the servant's entfaneet • the fdtts in the
elMs cowed "sermons at morning and evening; die fiedeoCks
walked demurely On the terraces; the guinea fowls looked
M .ike thote lai,ovry:bir4 usually do. The
lodge-keeper was serious, attl n MA nt tr neigh outing cha-
pel. The pastors who entered at that gate, ii;E g.feeted his
&irately wife and children, fed the little lambkins with filet,
The lietidtgardener *as a Scotch Calvinist, after the strid-
e-A ctrilY Aentlyilig himself with the melons and pines
proViSionally, and ttii te eild or the world, which event
lie conld,provc by infallible calculations, td tome off in
two three years at farthest; Wherefore he asked dbcrJLl
did tkitlei brew kid)* • 416 to be drunk three years hen& ;
or the housekeeper (a tilll6l4ief of Joanna Soul:Mite); make
provisions of fine linen, .and lay up stofetv:
sains ? On a
Sunday (which good old Saxon word was scarcely 11ttost4iii at
the Hermitage), the household marched away in separate
couples or groups to at least half a dozen of religious edifices,
each to sit under his or her. favourite minister, the only man
who went to church being Thomas Newcome, accompanied
by Tommy, his little son and Sarah, his nurse, who was I
believe also his aunt, or at least his mother's first cousin.
Tommy was taught hymns very soon after he could speak,
appropriate to his tender age, pointing out to him the inevi-
table fate of wicked children, and giving him ,the, earliest
possible warning and description of the punishment of little
sinners. He repeated these poems to his step-mother after
dinner, before a great, shining mahogany table, covered
with grapes, pine-apples, plum-cake, port-wiue, and Ma-
deira, and surrounded by stout mea in black, with baggy
white neckcloths, who took the little man between their
kneei , and questioned him as to his right understanding of,
the place whither naughty boys were bound. They patted
his head with their fat hands if he.said well, or rebuked him

if he was bold as he often 'a

Little. Tommy grew up rather wildly, as boys'
unfortunately, sometimes will. Indeed he gave

scrapes. When the Reverend Mr. Chu
bury College, his daily tutor,
to learn, he would only utter ha
and catechism ; notwithstandn
twins given neiliter to spare the rod no):
child. So upon the birth of the twins
irritated his tutor and shooliec
mOther. h

0 rey Friars

is psaulted"off to the public school of

To Grey Friars 11,

...Newcor

0 ye gods! with 11-1.

tlfe and the time Caine when I

dt:awn at sight, With a ich

next day ; piapr
football, accordir

,n, avid

he bad r

s 116' )

rh; but he was at

ewcom

trielg aid breaking win
li'dklier's peaches And the I

leis two- little ,brollierm- in

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