The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-04 00:00:00

LITERATURE.
114ERVY.N. CLITHE ROE. No. IV. By W.
Harrison Ainsworth.
It is with peculiar regret that we observe from an
ailconuat,ernent at the close of the present number,.that
Mervyn Clitheroe" is interrupted for an indefinite
Period by unaeuidable circumstances. 'We lament
this interval. in the course of its pnbliCatioo, flaw more
Particularly because we regard the, story as pro-
mising in some respects to he incoinparably the most
`delightful of all its author's compositions. Situated
as the scene of the narrative is, in a locality familiar to
the novelist froin his childhood, he has been enabled
to describe it with more than usually graphic colouring,
and with more than ordinary admirable exactitude.
The various characters introduced, moreover, in the
course of the fiction are selected (or some of them, at
Least, we fed assured) from his household recollections.
Beyond which it must be borne in mind that Mr. Aims-
, Worth has never more conspicuously digplayed his
skill as a story-teller than in the openirg chapters
of " Mervyn Clitheroe." Always alive to the ne-
cessity of incident, with a view to rouse the attention
And to waken curiosity, he has here crowded the
Pages with changes and vicissitudes of a homely cha
taete-r, it is true, but still fraught with a peen-
liar fascination. The work, of course, has been with-
out the breathless escapes of " Jack Sheppard,"
Without the diabolical.- glamour of " Rookwood,"
Without the occasional excitement lighting up the
' Pages of the " Miser's Diughter." It has nothicg
of the pageantry of " Windsor Castle," of the
dungeon gloom of the "Tower of London," or of
• the Court intrigues of " St. James's." It is without
the rapid movement of " Crichton," without the as-
tounding surprises of " Auriol," and without the
grim attraction of the " Lancashire Witches."
But notwithstanding all this, home tale as
it is, domestic as the dramatis persona
are, " Mervyn Clitheroe " has, even in the
brief space of four instalments, given' promise of emu-
lating in merit and equalling in popularity, the best of
its author's productions hitherto published. Ye•••, in
the midst of this fair promise, at the precise moment
When the interest of the reader hid been enkindled
to a state of agreeable animation, the course of the
story, like that of true love, runs no longer smooth,
but, encountering some obstruction or other, becomes
temporarily interrupted. For Mr. Ainsworth's sake,
and for the sake of his readers also, we regret this
very sincerely, but must resign ourselves quietly to
What
appears to be unavoidable, only sanguine' that
the thread of the narrative will be speedily resumed,
and that as it has commenced, so it will terminate—
Prosperously. After a nocturnal alarm in the old
lam
;moose, and after the body of Uncle Mobberley
7aa'oeen, next day, consigned to the grave, the will
-is read, bestowing the whole of the property
Malpas Sale and not on Mervyn Clitheroe. There-
ter come some most exciting interviews between
l'eclionah and her husband—the latter interview
2 /51I,'mg place at midnight in the churchyard, followed
• •Y a chase across the mere with bloodhounds. See-
ing that the current number ends most unsatiste.c-
wrily in all respects—leaving the reader in almost
112 endurable suspense—it is with unusual fervour that
ZWe close our present notice of Mervyn Clitheroe with
two Words addressed to the author—Au revoir !

EARL GREY AN D SIR HARRY
SMITH.
TO THE EDITOtt OF THE SUN.
41,'"11,-1 have air. ady reteat ked that. in his answer to
led"..Member for Lambeth, Lord John Russell acknos,
°1:11), that the dispatch ot the 14th January from
41.1 Grey to Sir Harry bmith bad been sent to him
m4ord John), and that he avoided to say whether he had
Zhati not read it; but, at the same time, with an ap-
pearance of great candour, and as if meat anxious ts,
atosd
every information to the House, his Lordship
ssadded, that the recall of Sir Harry Smith had been ap
eroved of by the Cabinet. Now this was indeed a ge-
111ercoevolunteer!—(his Lordship little thought then that
all;rtlhag volunteers would Lure him out)—for his Lord-
that well knew that the very document of .recall itself,
th abominable dispatch of the 14th January, coutainee
th! information his Lordship then wished the House to
ink he was giving them, These are the words of the
having
It is DAy painful duty to inform you, that
concocted
Consulted my colleagues on the subject, they have
"carred with me in coming to the conclusion .
sib,' • that, therefore, we should not be justified
in
vi king from tendering to the Queen our humble ad-
; $o
llce that the government of the Cape of Good Hope and
xle conduct of the war should be placed in other hands."
eh!! Was it, then, that Lord John Russell did not give a
hat right
correct answer to Mr. Williams's question?
d-wt right had his Lordship to trifle with the House,
ti avoiding an answer to a simple question, and pre-
adha het ts 9 g to volunteer additional information? or rather
ask, what motive his Lordship had? Was this the
„sr•L°Per conduct for the Prime Minister of England to
wow,
h ' However, let that pass now, although it
eed not be forgotten—a day of reckoning may
yet come; A certain Lord Stanley once, in speaking of
e Political tricks of the Whigs, made use of the word
Obit:able-rig " Lord John Russell's conduct leoks very
rirte its He no doubt knew, or guessed that very few,
tio"l'Y. of the Members had read the dispatch in ques
NI:, and so he gained the applause of the moment for
fridour. His Lordship was like a dying patient, suf-
. 14 ng from acute agony, before mortification takes
rem issolution becomes inevitable; and he telt
tiktft evenonly for a moment of repose, though should its
to plunge him deeper in his fatal disease.
th: we must now proceed with our business of the clay—
ta conduct of the Colonial Minister. There is one pa-
r th:traPlT in that famous, or rather infamous dispatch,
ks 3„ 111) to this moment has passed unnoticed, but not,
ti,'llaured, the less cruel or the less unfelt by the sensi-
,abeir., Gallant General to whom it was addressed. I
fifss.„ !uIY approach it without a feeling of such intense
tura, M the conduct of Earl Grey as almost incapaci-
kubt tee for the task I have undertaken. Surely, Sir, it
net '', he pain and anguish enough for any British ge-
Z' to have his brave followers, the officers and the
ttud."B, slestroyed by the savages with whom it has been
tea: usciticky lot to have to contend, without being
she With their death. Did not Earl Grey consider.
to' Poor Sir Harry had sufficiently telt the loss of the
heart officer who died, as a soldier ought to do, at the
it in c't ilia regiment—the brave Colonel Fordyce? Was
tp, the least necessary that Earl Grey should dwelt
41111 that loss in the manner in which he has dune? His
hitrage would almost imply that Sir Harry Smith had
044:4 killed poor Fordyce—certainly that he had sa-
t •rd him, when he ought to have gained him laurels.
" 111',.',learis from these dispatches," says Earl Grey.
another month of this distressing warfare has
heels and though the force at your disposal had
tab eased to a very considerable amount, no advan-
etie,:' any real importance has been gained over the
exe-1, while the loss of her Majesty's troops has been
14isee,ingly heavy, that very distinguished officer,
thotl'enant-Colonel Fordyce, being included amongst
44) who have fallen."
e°,Cci God I Sir, is a British general to be written to
tiara style? Lieutenant-Colonel Fordyce died, Sir,
tiniAP at the head of his regiment, I believe the second
tsc he was under fire. At all events, Sir, had he been
°tlsand and one times under fire, had there not been
another
other his equal in liafraria or in Eugland, why should
• this Harry Smith have his corpse pointed out to him in
i;lasytost remarkable and inhuman manner? Sir Harry
sir distinctly diatiaetly told by Earl Grey in that paragraph
that he bad had suffi •
had.d ment force to do much, and that be
nothin worse than nothing that be
.h‘ad
sacrificed the lives f h
larly one very distill
means !hat, Sir, t'r Majesty's troops, and partiou•
if is officer. This paragraph
well; for before I proceed anything. Remember it
of that dispatch of theto remark on the rest
flack to consider what his Lordbill 4th I must turn
P had written a short
-time before. The case, Sir, is altogether a most curious
but most melancholy one, and I think Ishii.' beclearly.
Able tp show that the whole has been
04;
ttehaeurniiest a case or
-temper, againas:thYisa'
°n per,
as ever was known—not
another
ooutth
eorf
nlan's bad notions and ill
generous and confiding. But I must leave
' 1474 letter. I wish the matter to be fairly and openly
canvassed, although I confess that no previous conduct
of Sir Harry Smith. had it been found fault with even
'es,llld justify the tone and character of Earl Grey's dia.:
watch a the- 14th of January.--T am, Sir,
YOUR CONSTNT READER.

LONDON WEDNESDAY CONCERTS.
:—ast evening the first of a series of seven of these eon-
. ttt,
• took' and seven farewell performances. of Mr. Braham,
EtrosPAnne at Exeter Hall. The reception given to Mr.
great last night, by an audience alitinq filling the
it was most enthusiastic. Some min_utes
elapsedpar before the cessation of the repeated bursts of ap-
" 4/44110wed him to commence his &at
aub(nal eelipse," from Handel's Sampson. The other
piece—t 11P scena,
'el selected by Mr. Braham for last evening were;
thubt Old English Gentleman,"" A man's a man for a
sots.,., and "The Bay of Biscay." For the rest the
ttou progr.mme, as usual, includf-d a varied seloc-
perfr,°' Popular and classical music, most of it admirably
tor Onled• Mr. Swift received a w‘ll-deserved encore
4,01, execution of: a recitative and aria of Mpnriel-
joi„ll "If with till your hearts;" and Handel's .6 Re-
greatly," sung ny Miss Alleyno, was much ap-
pkred; as were many other of the tastefully selected
nea Constituting the 'first of a series of entertain-
pronilise fully to sustain the high cha-
p eon" al"udy obteimd by the "Lvn3onWednesday

°I7AL PoLYTECENIC INSTITUTION,
M"• Peed,
ofprofessor of at the Royal Acathmy
Susie, h just second lt•cture on
tatisie , us just commence,. his
00
the
glgsini • rhe anbjcct chosen by the Professor is
oms and mn•ical compositions of Dibdin• Alter
his "g it brief sketch of the life of this c,tuposer and
~,_?areer, both as a pm .t and musician, Mr. Peed pro-
ta"l7:-(id. to illustrate his !Rehire by singing several.ot his
"Pour Jack," "The Greenwich Pensioner.
intr"' B'"'ljog," "The Lads the Vil!age," &c. The
tiit,:duction of the music of Dii,din at this p,,rtieular
p.stiesloit,ctiuriteiodnr
to listen
will induce many to vi,it this admirable
to the above popular and beautiful
faith/ 4", so justly celebrated for their description and
ey hpul Copies of sea life. Mr. d Requited himself,
144-%lWays does, with greut judgment and taste, and
gtt'ally apnl ud,d thr,uich, ut his lecture.

Turafeasor Bleck iv, of Aberdeen, was elected on
hti"aeir o
Y by the town c, until of Edinburgh to succeed the
tha-tAressor Dunbar i
Th Earl in the Greek chair of the univirsity of
Eui and Countess of Clarendon, family and
ko—, arrived in Grosvenor•crescent on Tuesday evening,
14 the Viceregal Lodge, Dublin.