The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-28 00:00:00

THE SUN LONDON, FRIDAY EVEN I G DECEMBER 28:8 1855.

LINES LEASED T FIXED KENTA 1.44.

out of his way to get to the top of this wood-stack ; and
that he would stay there for hours and hours, crowing,
until he appeared in danger of splitting himself. Five
weeks went on—six weeks—and still this terrible bantam,
neglecting his domestic affairs, was always on the top of
the wood-stack, crowing the very eyes out of his head. By
this time it was perceived that Louis had become inspired
1 a
be
Bantam down
with a violent animosity towards the terrible bantam, and
r ogh billet a
one morning he was seen by a woman who sat nursing her
goitre
t crowing
a l i
ot
f wood,
t e
nwo i
td withhoew wi
a on
og a
dr gsalttenacmk oath, hurld oafnsu
bringnit to
at
tcatchhh iem tern
u e
rr
dead. Hereupon, the woman, with a sudden light in her
mild, stole round to the back of the wood-stack, and being
a good climber, as all those women are, climbed up, and
soon was seen upon the summit, screaming, looking down
the hollow within, and crying, Seize Louis the murderer !
Ring the church bell ! Here is the body!' I saw the mur-
derer that day, and I saw him as I sat by my fire at the
Holy-Tree Inn, and I see him now, lying shackled with
corde on the stable litter, among the mild eyes and the
smoking breath of the cows, waiting to be taken away by
the police, and stared at by the fearful village. A heavy
animal—the dullest animal in the stables—with a stupid
head, and a lumpish face devoid of trace of sensibility,
who had been, within the knowledge of the murdered
youth, an embezzler of certain small moneys belonging to
his master, and who had taken this hopeful mode of put-
ting a possible accuser out of his way. All of which he
confessed next day, like a sulky wretch who couldn't be
treabled any more, now that they had got hold of him
and meant to make an end of him. I saw him once
again, on the day of my departure from the inn. In
that Canton the headsman still does his office with
a sword ; and I came upon this murderer sitting bound to
a chair, with his eyes bandaged, on a scaffold in a little
market-place. In that instant, a great sword (loaded with
quicksilver in the thick part of the blade) swept round him
like a gust of wind, or fire, and there was no such ere
ture in the world. My wonder was—not that he was so
suddenly despatched, but that any head was left unreaped,
within a radius of 50 yards of that tremendous sickle."
Charles Dickens, again, and no one but Charles
Dickens could ever have conceived, or, having
conceived, could ever have written that ex-
quisite little story told by " The Boots," the
story of a young gentleman of eight years
old, who, upon a famous Christmas, long ago,
ran away with a fine young woman of seven !
A story of child-love, as daintily beautiful as
it is from first to last, deliciously humorous
Such a tale as it is ! Blessings on the kindly,
genial, loving imagination from which it emanated!
Blessings on the warm, humane, generous, cordial
hand by which its every syllable was penned !
The whole cluster of winter stories here grouped
together under the title of the "Holly Tree Inn,"
conies to us as welcome, indeed, as the sayinc, is,
as flowers at Christmas—as seasonably grateful to
the appetite as plumt-pudding or minoti.piPsa, ASI
provocative of fun and frolic as a dish of snap-
dragon, or a bunch of mistletoe. And yet
there are tales in this same Christmas number of
" Household Words" so wierd-tike, and ghastly,
and immittigably horrible as to be sufficient alto-
gether to make "each individual hair" upon the
hearer's sconce "to stand on end, like quills
upon the fretful porcupine !" Ugh ! the mere
thought of that ugly story of " The Ostler," or of
that other horrid one about " The Poor Pensioner"
—shudders the reader's skin into gooseflesh ! So—
we close the number, trying to remember only
"The Boots" and "The Guest," and thinking
gratefully as we do so of the genial and perfectly
congenial names of Charles Dickens and Christmas
Day !

RAiLwATs,

&sash's:
Compans

Cieslas me. s
yester lay.

Business
Jester lay.

A New Bistory of England. By G. S. Poulton.

Freeman.

The chief feature in this work worthy of notice
is its conciseness. It traces the history of England
from the Britons to the war in the Crimea in one
volume of 768 pages, in clear type. Of course it
is evident from this that it can be only an outline
of our eventful history, and as such it is intended.
The author asserts in the preface that it is entirely
for the benefit of those who have little time or op-
portunity for acquiring historical knowledge, and not
for students or those who are possessed of the taste
and means for extensive reading. It would be admi-
rably adapted for this purpose but for one draw-
back. It is the wait of that impartiality and
moderation which are the first requisites in a work
intended to convey information to those who are
unable, from a limited education or ability, to
fathom its prejudices or withstand its impression.
As an instance of this want of tolerance we may
quote a sentence from the first chapter :—" Some
youthful readers may wonder why this monster of
iniquity—the Papal system—is called The Church
of Rome,' and why the monster's head is called
' the Pope."' Surely this is beneath the dignity of
au historian, as well as scarcely in accordance with
that doctrine of universal charity which the Chris-
tian religion inculcates. However devoted the
writer may be to our own national church, let him
not, as Mr. Macaulay finely observes, "fight the
battles of truth witk the weapons of error," and,
among these, calumny and intolerance must ever
be numbered. With this exception, however, the
work has many merits. It is written in a clear and
simple style, and contrives to give all the impor-
tant events of English history in the compass we
have mentioned. It possesses another recommen-
dation to those who desire to extend their know-
ledge with little loss of time. It brings down the
history to the present clay, thereby narrating all
the important political events of late years. It
may also claim some consideration as a work of
reference, for which purpose it will be found very
suitable.

Manua/ of British Rural Sports. By Stonehenge.

Routledge.
This work forms a complete compendium of in-
structions for every species of rural sport and exer-
cise. The author should be well qualified to direct,
for ho tells us, in the preface, that for the last
twenty years it has been the amusement of his
leisure hours to master the arcana of the several
sports peculiar to Great Britain; and, as in many of
them ho met with great difficulties, owing to the
want of treatises sufficiently minute and explana-
tory, this obstacle he has sought to remove from
the way of others by the present volume. Me
gives full and particular directions and descriptions
of shooting, hunting, coursing, fishing, hawking,
racing, boating, and pedestrianism, arc. He also
gives ample instructions for the management of
horses and dogs, their training, doctoring, k. e.
Besides this more scientific portion, there are chap-
ters on less ambitious pursuits—cricket, archery,
quoits, &c. The writtr takes a superior view
of field sports and exercises, remarking how
universal the love for them has been from the
earliest ages, and how much devoted to it the
inhabitants of Great Britain have always been.
He regards them as a valuable auxiliary for deve-
loping the courage, daring, and endurance that
our soldiers have so often displayed, as well as
affording au essential relief to the frames of those
engrossed by sedentary occupations. He regrets—
as all true lovers of sport must do—that so much
that is degrading and deteriorating is so often
mixed up with its pursuit, but hopes that a rapid
improvement may be effected in this respect. In
accordance with these opinions he has omitted
pugilism, bull baiting, and similar pursuits, as
contrary to the law as well as unworthy of a true
lover of honest English sport.

The Owlet of Oilstone Edge.
_By the Author of

" St. Antholin's " Joseph Masters.
It would be difficult to divine the subject of this
work from its title. It might be poetry or prose,
romance or reality, a lecture on natural history or
a child's story. But it is none of these. It con-
sists of a series of sketches and dissertations on
the duties and difficulties of clergymen's wives.
The owlet takes a survey of numerous neighbour-
ing parishes, and enumerates the virtues and de-
ficiencies of the mistress of the parsonage in each.
Much good sense, a clear perception of duty, and
an earnest religious feeling, are evident through-
out. The virtues of discretion, graciousness of
manner, gentleness, and moderation, are inculcated,
as well as the more important qualities of sincerity,
self-denial, and universal charity. In speaking of
Sisters of Mercy, the owlet gives as his opinion
that we in England have " the thing without the
name," for that in all cases where the parson's wife
has a clear idea of her duties, and a conscientious
determination to fulfil them, she is a Sister of
Mercy to all within reach of her beneficial influ-
ence. At the same time our bird of wisdom points
out the errors to which they are most liable. He
shows us the discontented lady, the indolent fine
lady, the disagreeably good lady, the injudicious
lady, and the lady who, devoting herself entirely
o andn e
to the care of her parish, neglects her own family.
The concluding portion, which is entitled " Hoot
Exemplary," draws a picture of what a parson's
swoinfeagseh.enFldrohme, mistressitisneathrneestness, sincerity,
of Ovrlst Par-prac-
tical character, this little volume is • likely
to be of
extended benefit.

A Popular history of
•By Birds. Adam Whit©.
___

Lovell Reev©, Henrietta-street.
This is another of Mr. Reeve's excellent series,
which has already
given us popular histories of
Plants, Palms,Ferns Field Botany, Zoology,
Mineralogy, Mollusca; Ornithology, and many
others, and promises to add accounts of Fishes,
Fossils, Insects, British Lichens, British Crustacea,
and other natural marvels, to its already extended
list. The present is a "History of Birds," by the
Assistant at the Zoological Department of tho Bri-
tish Museum. It comprises a familiar account of
their classification and habits ; the former part
being rendered as concise as possible, to leave space
for details of their habits, (tc. In Ray's work,
published about a hundred and fifty years since, he
computes the number of birds at five hundred,
and supposes that about a third of that number
are undiscovered. At the present day, between
six and seven thousand species are known, and
this number is gradually increasing in proportion