The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-24 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

•s--

Chesterford and Some of Its People. By the Author
of " A Bud Beginning." Three Vols. Smith

and Elder.

Mr. John Parkholm, a barrister by pror;ssion,
but possessed of a small independence, who has
reached the shady side of thirty, with a strong pre-
judice in favour of bachelorhood, accepts an invita-
tion to visit Mr. Rivers, the rector of Chesterford.

Tc that delightful little town we also repair, not in
Mr. Parkho;-,n's company, but in the society of Miss
Harriet Thompson, the apparently cold and
scheming daughter of a would. be first-rate fashion-
able mamma. Ash Cottage is our destination, the
happy home of the very charming, but somewhat
espieole and capricious, Katharine Lyndon and her
very delightful mother. Miss Harriet Thompson,
anxious to meet with some super-excellent parti,
'Ana looking dawn upon her country cousin, Kst.he•
rine, with supreme contempt, discovers, after
very short residence at Chesterford, that she. the
cold and calculating Harriet, has lost her heart to
one far below her ambitious expectations, and that
the fortunate possessor of this treasure does not
covet the honour thrust upon him, but is desperately
in love with her despised cousin, the insignificant
Katherine. The sequel to such cross purposes we
shall not reveal. Some portions of the denouement
are very tenderly and beautifully described, espe-
cially the scene where Katherine goes to the par-
sonage and meets her lover, towards the close
of the story. But we cannot refrain from
uttering a passing protest against the pas-
sionate vehemence displayed by Harriet Thompson.
The emotions of any one of ordinarily calm and col-
lected exterior are, generally speaking, when
allowed to break forth more violent and irrepres-
sible When all others—the very force of the previous
restraint gives added violence to the outpouring,
out we do not think, even with these allowances,
that the conduct of Harriet is true tolnature. It is,
altogether, too un womenly. Apart from this blemish
tee different characters of the two cousins are well
contrasted and welt developed as the mighty passion
,ffects the hearts and influences the actions of each.
Katherine is far from perfect. Her archness and
playfulness almost amount, in appearance at least,
to coquetry and caprice, at all events they pass for
such in the severe eyes of the immaculate Mrs.
[ Thompson and her equally censorious daughter, the
[ jealous Harriet. Interwoven with Katherine's
[ story is the very interesting and melancholy episode
of the loves of Ned Alston, a fine, high-spirited,
generous-hearted, young farmer of the neighbour-
hood, and Polly Peacock, the pretty daughter of
the Pompous Grocer of Chesterford, High-street.
This Titus Peacock is quite a character, and is in-
deed overwhelming. We must confess that,
unless, like Miss Debbie, we expressly went "forth
to battle," we should ourselves prefer passing on
the other side of the High-street. Even bene-
volent Severn Sparke, the chemist, the next-door
neighbour of the dreadful Peacock would not at-
tract us to the vicinity of that shop. Very high
are Mr. Peacock's ideas of the privileges of trade.
Let a customer presume to pute.lase a single article
elsewhere, and never more may they darken Mr.
Peacock's door. Never more will their money be
taken across his counter; never more may their
palates be feasted with the best bacon and butter of
all Chesterford. Poor Mrs. Draper, who has unwit-
tingly erred, is nearly annihilated by the magnifi-
cent wrath of the offended grocer. Polly Pea-
cock, the golden-haired daughter of this
imperious potentate, is the beauty of the
town, but is, alas! also vain, aspiring, and coquet-
(lab. Possessing the questionable advantages of a
genteel breeding, school education—a little French,
and a little pianoforte playing—the grocer's daugh-
ter aspires to be a lady, and listens to the compli-
ments of the flippant Mrs. Charles Chatterley, even
while her heart respOnds to honest Ned Alston's
true affection. The end of Polly's story is more
praiseworthy than at the commencement, and that
end is very naturally and forcibly told. Many a
some lesson is eloquently enforced by this
essentially dramatic novel. The married history of
Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlayne is a study worthy of
itcentive observation by many mistaken wives and
forgetful mothers. We quote from another chapter
the following beautiful and trut hill' remarks on