The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-12 00:00:00

LITERATURE,

Malvern; or, the Three Marriayes. By Mrs.
Ilubback, authoress of the " Wife's Sister,"
and "May and Deeember." 3 vols. Skeet.
This is a light and pleasing story, with plenty of
variety in the incidents, and a number of eharae-
terkto form the dreanatis peronee. Flora -Denys
•is asehatming heroine, and her vivacity and spirit
give grace to the scenes and impart a life and
energy to the proceedings. The plot is skilfully
arranged and- devised. The reader is allowed to
perceive its purport at an early stage of the narra-
tive, and is thus enabled to foretell and picture the
retributive justice that: is at hand to denounce the
offender and confound his schemes and projects.
Astley Boyle is a striking portraiture. Determined
and resolute, he offered a remarkable contrast to
the wily man and the crafty woman who were lay-
ing snares to entrap him, and forming all sorts of
devices to ruin his hopes and mar his career.
Although he was in- himself proof against them in
a great measure, it was otherwise with Miss Denys,
to whom he was much attached, and she was nearly
entrapped by the deceivers. However, fortune
favoured the right side at last, and the most satis-
factory part of, the tale is that in which Louisa
Grant is caught in the toils she had wound round
others. If it is possible to suppose one situation
more truly overwhelming than another fur a
criminal, it must have been the state to
which Louisa Grant had reduced herself. She had
outwitted her friend Miss Denys, she had sup-
planted Astley Boyle.in the favour of his uncle,
and she had inveigled Mr. Boyle the milionnaire
into a union with her. After all these triumphs,
what was the result? As they left the altar the
wealthy man was arrested ft r a swindler and a for-
gerer. The real uncle of Astley had died at the
Cape, and the fictitious one was his set vane, whO
had skilfully contrived to pass himself off for the
genuine Mr Boyle. The fraud was discovered by
the ingenuity of a lawyer, who happened to be at
Malvern at the time, awl discovered some discre-
pancies tetween the accounts of uncle and nephew.
There was great disparity between the then and
now Mr. Boyle. In Australia he had promised to
provide for his nephew ; he decided to repossess
himself of the old place formerly belonging to the
family, and to do various things of minor import-
ance, but which testified that his interest and
affections were fixed on his first and early home,
from which he had been an alien for forty
years. It may be imagined that there was
more than pecuniary disappointment for Astley
in meeting with so uncongenial at nature as that
which distingu'shed hislonL -'ooket'-for uncle, and the
feeling of coldness was returned with full force by
the new corner. He manifested the most decided
aversion to his nephew from the outset, and soon
told him to follow his example and. work for him-
self. This Astley was quite capable of doing ; but
it is not an incentive to exertion to be urged to the
task by one who has pledged himself to prov:de for
you. In the bitterness of ids mind against injus-
tice and deceit no wonder he turned a willing ear
to the hints of the lawyer, who suggested that this
ruthless man was not in reality at liberty to tor-
ment and trifle with his feelings, and that the
wealth so lavishly promised and so churlishly with-
held, was now Ast!ey's own. Excited by the idea,
and impressed with the reasonableness of the re-
marks, he set out, and after some trouble and great
exertion the wretch was unmasked. Astley's ge-
nerosity prompted him to save Louisa Grant from
the consequences of her cupidity and treachery,
but he failed ; and no one could regret his doing
so, for it is to be questioned if she was not as great
a culprit as the partner of her malice and ill-will.
There are some interesting persons also mentioned,
particularly Mrs. Newton, who, by her kindness
and good sense, effected a groat deal of good in the
circle she moved in. Annie Carden is a romantic
girl, who, with great entliusasm and excitability
of nature, was led astray -in many of her ideas and
notions from nervous sensibility and want of expo
rience. Mr. Clarke, Mr. Hamilton, and sonic
others, form an agreeable society to be acquainted
with ; their various adventures and misfortunes
combine to create an attractive and entertaining
picture of social existence.

Returns of Agricultural Produce in Ireland in
1854. Returns of Tillage, 1855.

These returns, collected and compiled under the
superintendence of the Registrar-General, have
been presented, by Royal 'command, to both Houses
of Parliament. The task of collection, the reader
may be aware, 'is confided to the constabulary and
metropolitan police, who are countenanced by, and
receive assistance from, the bo irds of guar di ans, the
clergy, and individuals of influence in the various
districts. The returns for 1855 are not complete.
The former comprise-Ist, tillage ; 2d, stock ; 3d,
scutching mills ; and 4th, weeds ; to which are
added, by way of appendix, rates of produce, re-
turned by poor law guardians, and sundry tables.
Under the first. head the area under the various
crops and the classifications of holdings are given.
From this we gather that the area under tillage
was less by 126,341 statute acres in 1854 than in
1853, when the number was 5,696,951 acres, the
greatest relative decrease having taken place in the
provinces of Munster and Connaught, and the least
in Leinster and Ulster, the only three in which
there was an increase being Down, Dublin, and
Wicklow. Wheat, it:Would appear, had increased
84,388 statute acres, while the breadth under
oats, barley, pease, &c., had diminished 174,039
acres, showing a total decrease on cereal growth of
89,651 statute acres. With regard to green crops
there has been a steady increase since 1849, the
' return now being 1,404,518 acres. The return
of the extent of land under potatoes shows a con-
siderable increase. The number of holdings in
1834 was greater than in 1853 by 4,733, the in-
crease extending to every class, farms above 15 and
not exceeding 30 acres excepted. The number of
holdings above One acre in extent increased
in the county of Mayo by 956. It is no-
ticeable, however, that the increase has prin-
cipally taken place. in the larger classes. The
rates of produce (compiled from reliable informa-
tion by sub-inspectors of Constabulary in their re-
spective districts) show an increase in oats of nearly
a barrel per acre, and an average decrease in pota-
toes of 10 2-10th barrels per acre. The quantity
of food grown to each person in Ireland is com-
puted At 733 lbs. (corn, beans, and peas), an increase
of 33 lbs. per head over that of the preceding year.
The return of stock shows an increase, as also the
scutching mills ; that of weeds is less satisfactory.
The return of tillage for 1855 remains in some mea
sure to be confirmed, the returns for portions of
certain districts not having come in, the figures,
consequently, have been set down as identical with
those of 1834. They may be regarded, however,
as substantially correct. From these returns we
gather that there has been an increase over the
preceding year on cereal crops of 87,293 acres, on
green crops of 25,513 acres, on meadow and clover
of 53,873 acres, and a decrease on flax to the ex
tent of 54,297 acres, which, when deducted from
the above, leaves a gross increase in the extent of
laud under crops of 112,382 acres. The decrease
on potatoes amounts to 8,131 acres ; the increase
on turnips, 37,327 acres. In conclusion we may
express a hearty desire that similar returns were
forthcoming in this country. Every care appears
to have been taken in compiling them, and what
is wanting to complete accuracy, we feel assured,
has not been withheld by the Registrar-General,
on whose supervision they reflect the highest credit.
The return for the present year, we may remark,
will dissipate a good deal of apprehension in con-
nection with the coming spring.

Sanitary Reform, and Sanitary Reformers. Eel-
,

ward Stanford.

Those who are familiar with the history of sani-
tary progress in this country have not to learn
what we feel bound to state for the guidance of
others, that between the officials of the Board of
Health, and certain eminent engineers who have
been called upon by various local authorities to
furnish plans for the drainage, Si7c., of their respec-
tive towns, there has long existed a bitter and ap-
parently irreconcileable feud; the former inva-
riably objecting to, and insisting on alterations
being made in the plans so called for, and thelatter
not less invariably pronouncing the said objections
frivolous, and the theories on which they were based
such as no practical engineer could give bis assent
to. This being premised, and it being further un-
derstood that two plans for the drainage of Lon-
don, in connection with the purification of the
Thames, are before the metropolitan public—one
the production of Messrs. 13azalgetto and Hayward
and approved by the most eminent engineers, and
the other of Mr. Ward, a Commissioner of
t)roceed to
of the
Sewers
and successor to Mr. Chadwick,
we
notice the brochure before us. The object
writer, so far as we can gather, is to allow
that the history of the Board in connection on with the
drainage is a history
of Ignorant
reportspresumption,
; ana
costly failure, and untrustworthy
that if we are to have really effective and economi-
ed drainage we must not seek it at the hands of
mere amateurs, whose statements cannot be relied
on, but of engineers of skill and experience, who
carry with them the suffrages of the profession.
pursuance of this real or supposed design, thewrier indicates what is reuired for effective
sewerage, &c., reviews the operations and theories
of the officials of the Board of Health, and, hav-
ing lucidly explained the nature of the plan of inter-
ception and that advocated by Mr. Ward, dissects
the latter or "Combined Plan," and, fairly or other-
wise, contrasts it with the other, to its manifest
disadvantage—bringing to bear on the subject a
large mass of testimony and a variety of pertinent

information. To the London ratepayof wore vat 4
tieularly the pamphlet may bt, reec.)aimended for
erusal, since his representatives will be called upon
to pronounce a verdict on the merits of the rival
plans, and his purse and health are deeply interested
in the result. It will Le well, however, for him to
learn also what can be said in favour of Mr. Ward's
plans, and to satisfy himself that either is the best
that can be adopted ; being quite within the
range of probability that a third may be discovered
superior to both its predecessors. The pamphlet
contains sectional views illustrative of the two
plans, and an abridgment of the Metropolitan Local
Management Act by way of appendix.

How to Make Bread at Home. By a Mother of a
Family. M. Wedlake and Co.
Householders who are disNatisfied with public
bread—and their name is legion—will do well to
purchase this little brochure, in which the un-
wholesomeness of such bread, the advantages of
homemade bread from home-ground flour or meal,
and the desirability of an improved system of
baking, are forcibly pointed out, and several use-
ful receipts for bread-making given. These advan-
tages are,—bread from sound wheat, unadulterated
with alum or any other substance producing con-
stipation, or actin(); otherwise deleteriously, at a
less cost than the wretched stuff prepared by the
bakers' mills for grinding and sifting corn for do-
mestic use are, it appears, to be had at a compara-
tively small cost, and those who resort to them
will, to say the least, be enabled to assure them-
selves what it is they eat under the name of bread,
which they cannot do at present. More evil—more
disease, and more suffering are produced by the
use of impure bread than is generally believed.