The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-27 00:00:00

LITERATURE,

Aurora Floyd. By M. E. Braddon, Author of
" Lady Audley's Secret." 3 Veils. Tinsley. ,
This is a singular story that is replete with in-
terest
of an exciting kind, and full of incidents of
so startling a nature that they are sure to arrest at-
tention. There is considerable talent displayed in
its recital from beginning to end, and from many
causes it is sure to rank high among the sensation
novels now so much in vogue. The plot of the
story is original in many points, and towards the
conclusion, so skilfully is it carried on, that the
reader is left for some time in uncertainty as to
whether Aurora actually committed the murder or
not. Knowing her violent temper, and the mad-
dening nature of the circumstances in which she
was placed, one is tempted to fancy that, in the ex-
citement of the moment, she might have lifted her
hand against one who had destroyed the peace of
her whole life, who had blighted the
hopes and withered the freshness of her
young days, and seemed destined to hover
round her and blast the meridian and close of her
existence. From this idea, however, the image of
" Stecnie" soon releases us; fcr, however unworthy
had been Aurora's actions, there had as yet been no
evidence to show that she harboured any malicious
intentions, or was cape ble of cruelty, much less of
crime. The details given concerning this passage are
of the most dramatic kind, and redound to the credit
of the authoress, who has effected a masterpiece of
composition. From the first arrival of John Con-
yers at Mellish-park, unti his ghastly departure
therefrom to render an account of his awful life,
we are carried on by an irresistible fascination.
Nearly all the characters who figure in this event-
ful' epoch are admirably drawn ; the only one to
which exception might be taken is Mrs. Powell ;
her malignity to Aurora is rat her overdrawn, as the
latter had done her no actual harm and never came
into collision with her. At the same time the
cunning of this lady is very aptly portrayed; the
various devices and several schemes are amusing to
follow, except that the treachery of her conduct
makes it loathsome to witness. " Steenie" is very
naturally drawn, and it was a warning to Aurora
for her violence and vehemence, that one she
trampled under foot should have been the cause of
such heavy troubles to her, and, indeed, nearly have
brought down upon her a death of disgrace. It is a
positive relief to turn from such wild and stormy
natures to dwell upon the doings of honest John
Mellish. We feel the triumph of rectitude in the
career of this worthy man. He had no gifts
of intellect and no graces of demeanour, but
he was tree, stedfast, and sterling. When he
first staggered under the blow of the sudden
calamity that had overtaken him, he was conscien-
tious enough to feel his deficiencies. Sins of com-
mission poor John Mellish could not lay to his
charge, but sins of omission he must plead guilty to.
The worst of his faults, however, sprung from want
of thought, and not from want of heart. The sim-
plicity of his heart has something touching in it.
Instead of railing at his wife, and cursing all around
him, as too many men would have done in his cruel
situation, he only looked to his own conduct as the
cause why the wrath of heaven and the scorn of
men had descended upon him. He confessed, in his
searching self-examination during the night' that
succeeded the murder, that he had not deserved his
happiness. In pursuance of this idea we meet with
an earnest exhortation to those whose lives have
been prosperous, whose portion has fallen in plea-
sant places, as to whether they duly consider and
rightly estimate the nature of their services to their
Maker, in proportion to the benefits and blessings
He has showered down upon them :—" It will be a
very small per tentage which you will yield your
Master for the ten talents entrusted to your care.
Remember John Howard, fever-stricken and dying;
Mrs. Fry, labouring in criminal prisons;
-Florence Nightingale in the bare hospital chambers,
in the close and noxious atmosphere amongst the
dead and the dying. These are the people who
return cent. per cent, for the gifts intrusted to
them. These are the saints whose good deeds shine
amongst the stars for ever and ever; these are
the indefatigable workers who when the toil and
turmoil of the day is done, hear the Master's voice
in the still even time, welcoming them to His rest."
Some may consider John's devotion to his wife is
overdrawn, but then he had known all along that
there was a secret hanging over her, she had con-
fessed that to him before their marriage, but was
unable, she said, to fathom the mystery or divulge
the dark details of it. John Mellish had trusted
her, and with him trust was once and for
ever. For a . moment in the face of
distinct and decisive proof against her, he
wavered for an instant as to whether or not she had
committed the awful act imputed to her by rumour,
but then he thought that she bad been led on by
excitement and irritated by provocation on the
part of the deceived, he never for a moment sus-
pected Aurora of deliberate guilt or of a stain on her
reputation. Talbot Bulstrode was of a very supe-
rior cast of mind to his friend ; he was an accom-
plished gentleman, while John Mellish was quite
rustic in his style, but at the sitme time the simple
Yorkshireman had the advantage in disposition, for
he had more trust, more faith, and more charity.
Talbot, however, made atonement fo the past by
his zeal and alacrity at last, and there was something
chivalrous in his devotion to the cause of the woman
whom he thought had injured him. Aurora her-
self is a most able portraiture. Coarse as
were her tastes at first, impetuous as her
temper was, and most blameable her conduct
in many respects, we yet feel a sort of regard for
her, and take a deep interest in her fate when she
is verging on such awful prospects. She tones
down also in her ways as time goes on ; and though
there still remain many drawbacks to betray the
want of early culture and careful training in disci-
plining and counteracting the evil influences
around her, still she was not the same as Mrs.
Mellish that she was as Miss Floyd. When she
is attacked by savage hate and surrounded by vile
espionage, when she is enclossd in the toils of a
designing villain, and made the dupe of selfish
cunning, then we forget her faults in indignation
at her wrongs. Still there is an awful warning
contained in the striking passage of this denoue-
ment. We are not allowed to compromise with
crime ; the statutes of human laws, the decrees of
divine justice, are alike arrayed against it. No
one can bury his sin in the earth or hide it from
the face of heaven. Years may roll on, friends
may surround, enemies disappear, but the
day of reckoning w'.ll surely come. The dark
secret was buried, but the earth has given up her
dead, and the wrath of an offended God is too surely
and searchingly made manifest to crush the guilty.
Aurora thought that she had expiated her fault ;
but who is allowed to mete out the measure of the
sum of his iniquity ? However, she suffered con-
siderably altogether ; therefore, we may take leave
of her with the charitable supposition, that her
after-years would roll on freed from the heavy bur-
den of a secret crime. There is an impressive pas-
sage relative to the spread of evil in its countless
ramifications, and the burdens that others have
to bear in consequence of the effects of the crime
being shifted on to their shoulders instead
of the original sinner bearing the weight for him-
self. "The influence of the strong man's evil deed
slowly percolates through insidious channels, of
which he never knows or dreams. The deed of
folly or of guilt does its fatal work when the sinner
who committed it has forgotten his wickedness,
who shall say where and when the results of one
man's evildoing shall cease ? The seed of sin en-
genders no common root, shooting straight upwards
througo the earth, and bearing a given crop. It is
the germ of a foul running weed, whose straggling
suckers trail underground beyond the ken of mortal
eye, beyond the power of mortal calculation. On
the whole, then, there is ample evidence
in this work of considerable powers of
construction, of great facility in description
of character, and an uncommon talent for sketching
forcible scenes. From the commencement of the
story the reader would not have supposed it pro-
bable that so much could' have been made of it.
We watch the untutored girl becoming gradually a
woman, cepelhe of deep leclieg, and ieflueticed by
elevated affection, until at last she seems worthy

of being th© heroine of an excitieg story
Various minor adjuncts continue to add attractions
to the ❑arrative, and the book is certain to create a
great sensation among all classes of novel readers,
alike from its merit of design and skill of execution.
There are also here and there met with some fine
passages of a reflective character, and some impres-
sive warnings regarding the thoughtless and incon-
siderate actions so easily committed, but whose
consequences are often so difficult to obviate and so
dangerous to encounter.

MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

LATEST-THIS DAY.

Major-General the Hon. James Lindsay has been
appointed to the command of the Brigade of Guards
in Canada, vice Major-General Lord Frederick
Paulet, who is about to return home for the purpose
of assuming command of the Brigade of Guards in
England, rendered vacant by the expiration of
Major-General Crawford's five years' term of staff
service. It is said that there is no unwillingness in
certain quarters to get rid of General Lindsay's
presence in the House of Commons, where his un-
failing advocacy of the claims of the army is some-
times exceedingly unpleasant to the official mind.
It is believed that Colonel Pipon is to succeed
Major-General Lard Frederick Paulet as Inspector-
General of the Militia, for whom, though lately com-
manding the Guards in Canada, the appointment
has hitherto been kept open. Colonel Pipon has
np to this time only held the acting appointment
during Lord'Frederick's absence.
A new annual is about to swell the ranks of
periodical literature. It is to be called The Journal
of the Brigade of Guards, and will be composed of
contributions from the officers of the Household
Troops, including accounts of travels, adventures,
sporting excursions, &c. To these will also be
added a chronicle of the doings of the Brigade
during the past year. The editor is J. Dalby,
Esq., of Messrs. Cox and Co., and it is understood
hat the work will receive distinguished patronage.
We regret to state that Field Marshal Lord
Seaton is still in such a state of health as to cause
serious uneasiness to his friends.

The notice taken by the Commander-in-Chief of
the recent practical joking in the 18th Hussars has
not been confined, as stated in some newspapers, to
mere reprimand and stoppage of promotion of
those concerned. Several officers, it is understood,
will be obliged to retire; and it is said that, as a
further punishment, the regiment will shortly be
despatched to India, instead of the sth Lancers, as
originally intended. This proceeding seems a great
hardship on the men of the regiment.
There is a pretty general belief that Major
General Sir Sidney Cotton will obtain the colonelcy
of the 10th R giment; rendered vacant by the death
of General Burke. This opinion is founded on the
fact of Sir Sidney having for many years com-
manded the 10th Regiment, as well on the impor-
tant services he rendered during the Indian mutiny,
and the circumstance that he has just completed his
period of staff employment.

Major-General Flu-dyer, we are sorry to be in-
formed, is in a very critical state of health, so muoh
so indeed that but small hopes are entertained as
to his recovery.

Arrangements were yesterday commenced in the
Royal Arsenal at Woolwich for the erection of a
new chemical department. The site selected is
the spacious shot and shell ground fronting the
paper factory, and adjoining the mounting ground.
The latter, provided with hydraulic cranes for
mounting guns, is ordered to be roofed in with
galvanised and corrugated iron sheds.
It is stated that the 4th Depot Battalion will
arrive at the camp at Colchester in March. It is
at present stationed at Canterbury.
The new cavalry barracks at Colchester comprise
a two-story building, 135 ft. long by 27ft. wide, to
be employed as a place of amusement and recreation
for the troops. The ground-floor comprises a day-
room, 60ft. by 23ft., and 14ft. high; a sergeants'
messroom, 35ft. by 231 t., with kitchen, &c. The
second-floor has a fine reading-room, 75ft. by 23ft.,
and 201 t. high, warmed by two fireplaces, and ven-
tilated with fresh and foul-air flues. At one eud is
a coffee-room, fitted with stove-boiler, &c., with a
counter in communication with the reading-room by
a sliding sash window. At the other end is a library
to be fitted with shelves and closets, and adjoining
are apartments for the librarian. The barrack
stores adjoin the officers' entrance, and comprise a
one-story building 129 ft. long by 261-it. wide and
20ft. high. One end is devoted to the barrack
master's and barrack sergeants' offices, and the re-
mainder is occupied by utensil, bedding, and straw
stores, 17ft. wide, and utensil and bedding stores
30ft. wide. A coal store, 841 t. long and 34ft. wide,
is provided. The cookhouse is situated between the
troop stables and the soldiers' quarters. It is 25ft.
by 23ft. and 16ft. high, and is fitted with six boilers,
for 50 men each, and an oven for 250 men. The
guardhouse is 112 ft. long by 23ft. wide and 18ft.
high. It comprises a guardroom, three cells, an
orderly-clerk's room, an orderly-room, and pay-
master's office, engine-house, latrines, &c. The
shops, quartermaster's stores, &c., are 155 ft. long
by 24ft. wide, and a shoeing shed, soft. by 161 t.,
has also been provided. An infant school is in-
tended to be erected upon a piece of land near
Monckwick farm, adjoining Berechurch-road, also
to be the site of the married men's quarters. The
buildings executed are of red brick, with white
brick dressings and string courses ; the external.
walls of living and bed rooms, offices, &c., have
been built hollow with vitrified boundary bricks,
and a damp proof course has been laid below the
ground floor line.

A notification has been received at Chatham gar-
rison that the Secretary of State for War, on the
recommendation of the Ordnance Select Committee,
has approved the 110-pounder Armstrong gun,
weighing 75cwt., hitherto known by the name of
Armstrong's " unstrengthened 110 pounder," being
in future designated the " light 110 pounder Arm-
strong gun." On the recommendation of Field-
Marshal the Duke of Cambridge, each artillery sta-
tion, at home and abroad, to which Petman's con-
cussion fuzes have been issued, will be furnished,
for purposes of instruction, with the following
stores, viz.:—One specimen fuze, one ditto in parts,
one section of fuze before firing, one ditto after
firing, and one drawing and description of fuze.
By direction of the Duke of Cambridge, officers
commanding districts and stations have received
orders to forward to the Deputy-Adjt.-Gen., Royal
Artillery, demands for the new kind of duck cloth-
ing for use by the Royal Artillery when employed
in cleaning the Armstrong guns suppied for gar-
rison service, as well as the 40 pounder Armstrong
batteries of position, in the proportion of two suits
per gun.

The arrangements for the removal of the invalid
establishment at Chatham, together with the medi-
cal staff, professors, and other officers connected with
the Army Medical School at Fort Pitt, to the new
hospital at Netley, near Southampton, are expected
to be completed in the course of a few weeks. The
entire medical staff at the General Hospital, Fort
Pitt, as well as the staff of the invalid establishment
and pay-offices, will quit Chatham for the new esta-
blishment at Netley. The responsible appointment
of Governor of Netley Hospital has been conferred
on Col. It. Wilbraham, C. 8., the present Governor
of the General Hospital at Woolwich. On the
removal of the General Hospital from Chatham it
is at present intended to transfer the 3d depot bat-
talion to Fort Pitt, when the hut barracks, now'
occupied by the 3d battalion, will be available for
tha reception of one of the regiments of the line
arriving from India.

CHARGE OF GAROTTE ROBBERY IN EVERY-
STREET.—A burly-looking Irishruan,named Patrick
Finn, was charged at the City Police-court yesterday with
stealing a hat, the property of Overton Only, a factory
operative, living in (Gledhill-street. The prosecutor said
that about half-pact eleven o'clock on Sunday night he was
proceeaing along Every-street, when the prisoner met him,
seized him by the tLroat, and asked him for some money.
Prosecutor told him that he had not got any, whereupon
the prisoner said he would have his hat, and before the pro-
secutor could prevent him the prisoner took it, and ran
away The prosecutor cried " Stop thief," and some men
who heard him prevented the prisoner making his escape
who offered no defence, was remanded.--Manchester'
Guardian.