The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-04 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Live it Down : a Story of the Light Lands. By
J. C. Jeaffresor. 3 vols. Hurst and Brackett.
From the very outset of his career, as a simple
matter of fact and without one particle of effectu-
tion, the young man-of-litters who has just given
to the world this very admirable novel, may be said
to have resolutely taken as his guiding principle—
while climbing the steep ascent of what affected
scholars call " the forked hill " in quest of a
literary reputation—Lon gfellow's soul-inspiring re-
frain of Excelsior! Virtually at the least Mr.
Jeaffreson has done this. He has never flaunted
the fact before us, it is true, as though it were
a motto emblazoned upon a banner borne aloft
like that of the pilgrim in the song. But he
has acted up to it. He has, all this while,
worn that motto, one might think, in secret like an
amulet. And now, in penning this his latest work
as a fictionist, Mr. Jeaffreson may be said to have
clambered as far as the Grand Illuhts in his upward
course. The summit, which he has yet to reach, is
thus brought more than ever distinctly before him.
Live it Down" is the truest literary work he has
yet done. It is as yet the healthiest product of his
imagination. He has written cleverly before,
but in these three volumes,we hesitate not to assert,
that he has surpassed all his former achievements.
An achievement the book unquestionably is. But,
beyond what it is in itself as an intellectual feat
actually accomplished—it is still more valuable and
interesting in its way, for inasmuch as it yields
larger and larger promise of the writer's advancing,
expanding, and ripening capabilities. It is for this
reason simply that we allude to the altitude here
attained, figuratively speaking, by the author—in
his upward course as one carving out for himself
a career in literature—as in a manner to be not
inaptly mentioned as the Grand Mulets in the track
of his ascent. Greater heights he will yet win. Of
that we rest perfectly well assured. But already
this is a noble one itself. From it, Mr. Jeaffreson
may pause for a while to look back, with something
very like a reasonable satisfaction in regard to the
past, and with something very much more than a
vague or half-believing hope in regard to the future
—viewing thus (as he can now) the way he has
already come, and the path he has yet to traverse,
from a nobler standing-point than any he had pre-
viously attained.
In these days of " sensation" romances and " sen-
sation" dramas, it is positively refreshing to look
out again, as one may here through the fairy lattice
of this story, upon a world of fiction realty having
somewhat of a resemblance to the world of fact.
Leaning over the sill with Mr. Jeaffreson, as he
flings the casement wide in his very first chapter,
we look over these "Light Lands" of his (which,
by the way, are the lands of Suffolk), breathing, as
we look, a wholesomer and a purer atmosphere
than any we have for some time past
been accustomed to. A murder there is
in the tale before us—but, alas ! so there
is also occasionally a murder in the world of
fact. A secret again, there is, at the core of
the interest of this new and enthralling story of
Live it Thwn"—a secret the actual nature of
which we shall still leave inscrutable to all those who,
tiaving once begun the perusal of the narrative, wilt
read on (we promise them) through the three volumes,
breathlessly eager to find it out, up to the final
moment of its revelation ! When we have said that
however,we have said all—in reference to what might
be erroneously sneered at, in any way, as sensational
in the building up of the plot. Saving that there
is this central Secret, and that there is this incidental
Murder—the story is a story, almost, one might say,
of everyday life: only that the " time " of it, is thrown
back from the present period by one or two gene-
rations. How possibly the author can—by this really
marvellous exercise of the imaginative faculty—
have recalled so vividly to view a past, so recent
and yet so remote ! the most difficult "past" of all,
as it seems to us, to depict thus truthfully—just
fairly passes our comprehension. Talk of Miss
Braddon's bewildering familiarity with the ways
and habits and idiesyncracies of stable-helps, and
betting men, and the low blackguard scum and
raff of a metropolis ! Talk of Mr. Anthony
Trollope's amusing and amazing skill in depicting
the varieties of the genus Parson, and yet again (ex-
ceptionally, this, in "Orley Farm") some of the lesser
varieties also of the genus Commercial Traveller !
It is as nothing to that still more amusing and
amazing dexterity with which Mr. Jeaffreson here
depicts the social condition and habits of a country
town, just exactly two generations back, at the turn
of the century ! The only achievement of the like
kind in any way comparable to it, that we can at
this moment recall to our recollection, is the
feat (somewhat of the same kind, only the retrospect
is there thrown not by any means so far back)
performed with admirable adroitness by Miss
Evans in her "Mill on the Floss," where the little
country society surrounding theTullivers is depicted
with a pencil, the every touch of which seems to
vivify ! The moral of Mr. Jeafferson's story of "Live
it Down" is told by the title itself. And a noble,
elevating, heart-strengthening moral it is. Take
any ill that may befall you, under the inscrutable dis-
pensation of Divine providence—this is our author's
argument—take any ill of this kind, in regard to
which you are not, in truth, burthened with a
heavy guilt : and—instead of endeavouring to
hide it, to cloak it over, to ignore its exis-
tence, and so forth—manfully live it down ! The
Hero of the Story here told, is the one who does
this. Edgar Turrett by name, we are introduced to
him at the commencement of the narrative as a
brave, true-hearted young fellow, with the soul of
a sportsman, even to the dashing length of steeple
chasing ! Edgar is the nephew—well, no, the re-
puted nephew—of old Squire Turrett, of the manor
house at Merton Piggott, in Suffolk. At that manor
house, presiding over the household, is the Squire's
Daughter, Edgar's cousin—well, his reputed cousin,
Adelaide. The heroine of the tale, however, is not
Adelaide. Strange to say, in the midst of the fax
tidious inner circles of Merton Piggott Society—
she (the real love-heroine of the story) appears,
though herself no other than the daughter
of a wealthy local trader, and, what is more, an
earnest Dissenter into the bargain. Yet the dis-
senting tradesman's daughter wins her way, in
spite of all obstacles, into the very centre of the in-
nermost circle of Merton Piggott society—that
society being all the while as exclusive as Almacks
in its exceeding regard to the punctilios of distinc-
tion between class and class. Caroline Broonshead
—better known through the story by the familiar
diminutive of Carry—is the young lady's name. And,
of course, having mentioned her already as the
heroine of the tale of which Edgar Turrett is the
hero, it hardly remains to be added that those two
young people love and are beloved, and eventually
are united. Around the central figures in this cen-
lfamthese
tral group at Merton Piggott,he teller
story depicts other characters, whose mievr:s
space
enough neculiarities we have not left o?ree pace
euomuasn awmhoon gi s
enough to enumerate.am
very few. Foremost them all, the terror-
awakening Barber—thec sPi
these, however, we must at the least mention a
d the suspicion of whose
foun blackleg ac
murdered;kl
while upon Edgar Tur-
rett, t last
murder rests for a long Tur-
rett, although Edgar,. as is eventually proved, is
altogether innocent in the matter. Edgar ac-
egAleean
cepts the imputation as a trial from heaven—
and Lives it Down ! Over the pages, by the way,
that relate the story of the Doctor's little
daughter Fan—a story incidental to the main
narrative—we wager that more than one trickling
tear will be dropped. En at • ant, Mr. Jeaffreson !
You have won your place—by this, your latest book,
" Live it Down " —you have won your place
unmistakeably among contemporary Novelists.
Advance yet further, if only by the same grada-
tions by which you have already advanced, and a
lasting reputation is now visibly within your

grasp.

Philo-Socrates. By William
_Ellis. Pp. 310.

Smith, Elder, and Co.
Gradually instalment by instalment, the author of
" Outlines of Social Economy," has here extended
beyond 300 pages his series of essays cclled " Philo-
Socrates." " A Series of Papers," as the title•page
says, " wherein subjects are investigated which,
there is reason to believe, would have interested
Socrates, and in a manner that he would not disap-

prove, were he among us now, gifted with the
knowledge, and familiar with the habits and doings
of our times." Six shilling parts have already been
issued—the one now lying before us being the sixth,
and having as its distinctive title " Among theßoys/
Expenditure, Combined Action, Individual ACtiCLI,
Government, Self Dlecipiine, Certainties and Pro-
babilities—those are tile subjects here more imme-
diately brought under discussion. The whole in-
quiry being, as any one might have conjectured
from the very title, conducted conversationally ;
initials, for the nonce standing for the interlocutors.
One good Philo-Socrates would be safe to effect
"Among the Boys," if the boys should only be for-
tunate enough to get him amongst them—he would
make them think, and think, too, to some purpose.

The Stomach. A Series of Lectures. By L. J
Sir
jameßalseEyer.e
pwpr.otleo4; calipiatrarlisboono.k upon the
very subject here selected by Mr. Beale as the
theme of his "Lectures." "The Stomach and its
Difficulties" was the title, if we ate not much mis-
taken, given by Sir James to his popular little
treatise upon that organ dreadfully interesting at
all times to a very numerous class—the dyspeptic.
It was worthy, the serio-comic treatise upon the
stomach to which we are referring, of one of the
ablest of the pupils of the gifted and eccentric
Abernethy. There is another brief, but very
clever essay upon the Stomach, by an anonymous
writer facetiously calling hims:lf " A Minister of
the Interior." There are several other works that
we never heard of no doubt upon the same topic.
Nevertheless Mr. Beale's present lectures will—no
matter how many predecessors he may have had as
an inquirer into the mysteries of digestion—be
none the less welcome (because of those predecessors)
to the anxious valitudisarian. The stomach is here
both medically and morally considered, and in both
instances the lecturer is well up to his theme ; de-
riving his knowledge, manifestly enough, not only
from his researches alike in the library and the dis-
secting room, but from the stores of information he
has acquired through his own personal observations
as a medical practitioner.
Experimental Essays. By Charles Tomlinson.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE,

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—LIVERPOOL, April 1.
CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Baron Martin.)
BREACH OF PROMISE OF MARRIAGE.
The plaintiff, Betsy Jones, is a servant girl, who
formerly held a situation in Liverpool, but who at
the present time is residing in the family of a sur-
geon at Halifax, Yorkshire. The defendant is
Matthias Boumthrey, a master joiner, carrying on
business at Heswell, in Cheshire, but at the time
when the alleged agreement to marry the plaintiff
was made was only a journeyman joiner, working
in Liverpool.
Dr. O'Feely appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr.
Waddy for the defendant.
Dr. O'Feely, in stating the case to the jury, said
the parties in the action were in a comparatively
bumble sphere of life—the plaintiff, Betsy Jones,
being a servant girl in the employment of a surgeon
at Halifax ; but he apprehended that the condition
of the plaintiff would not interfere with the jury in
regard to the transaction but that they would give
it the same attention as if the parties occupied a
more exalted position in society. It would ap-
pear that in the year 1859 the plaintiff was in
Vie service of a lady residing in Huskisson-
street, in this town ; and the defendant, who
eves then working as a journeyman joiner, was
engaged on some property in the neighbourhood, and
became acquainted with the plaintiff ; and from that
time up to a recent period it would appear from the
letters that had passed between the parties that a
warm attachment had existed between them. The
defendant was in the habit of visiting Betsy every
Sunday ; and his conduct was such throughout as
might be expected from a young man who was
deeply in love with a young woman. In the summer
of the year 1860 the plaintiff's then mistress and
family remov:d to New Brighton, and while there
the plaintiff constantly received letters from the de-
fendant expressing the warmest attachment for her,
and he from 'time to time also visited her at New
Brighton. Most of these letters had been lost, but
there was one preserved, which possibly the defen-
dant had written to the plaintiff in the warmth of
hie attachmennand contained a piece of poetry which
'was probably his first effort in verse, and which had
been no doubt prompted by his attachment for the
',Lady in question. He would read the defendant's
effort in poesy to the jury. It was as follows—
" Forget me not!
Let not the past fade from thy memory—
The heart that ne'er from thee can roam;
In health and sickness let thy motto be—
' Home, sweet home.' "
If there were no other letters in the case he thought
that the above extract would show the attachment
of the defendant at the time in question for the
plaintiff, and which had no doubt made him think
and long for the comforts of home with his beautiful
lady, and had suggested his effusion, in which he
enjoined her to make her motto, " Home, sweet
home." Letters from the defendant continued to
be received by the plaintiff during tee year 1860,
and he (the counsel) also believed during 1861,
when he left town in the exercise of his employ-
ment and went to Woolton. Then, however,
the letters from the defendant became more fre-
quent, the attachment, no doubt, progressing and
increasing, the defendant no doubt receiving ample
encouragement from the plaintiff; and extracts
from some of those letters he would read to them.
Those letters had fortunately been preserved, and
he could read from them to show that the de-
fendant, although not so poetically struck as his
former effusion showed him to be, still, like a re-
spectable English mechanic, his have for the plain-
tiff became stronger, and if not so poetically ex-
pressed was quite as strongly shown by his subse-
quent letters to the plaintiff. One of these letters
he would read as a specimen, and although it was
a solid matter of fact one, it would show the at-
tachment he felt for the plaintiff, and was such a
communication as might be expected from a re-
spectable English mechanic. The first letter he
would read was dated the Ist January, 1361, and
was as follows :—(The learned counsel then read a
very common place love-letter).
His Lordship—Have you any letter that can
show the existence of the contract alleged to have
been entered into by the defendant to marry the
plaintiff.
Dr. O'Feely—l cannot say that there is any let-
ter in the collection which actually points to the
fact of a contract existing between the parties, but
I read the letters which show a very warm attach-
ment. The existence of such contract I will show
by oral testimony. In 1826 (the counsel continued)
a coolness arose between the parties, and about this
time the defendant commenced paying his addresses
to a widow, and when this came to the ears of the I
plaintiff, she, with the usual perception of a jealous
woman, atones went to the defendant and demanded
an explanation. He would show that the defen-
dant had in his letters stated that he had formed no
other attachment but that for the plaintiff ; and he
proposed to prove, by the evidence of a Mrs.
Jevons. that he had conducted himself to the
plaintiff as if he were engaged to her, and in-
tended to make her his wife. In one of his letters,
which would be the last that he (the learned gen-
tleman) would read, the defendant said to the plain-
tiff—" I hope it is cold enough for you these days.
I have been very nearly roasted—for the shop is
very hot—it is nearly as hot as love." In this way
matters went on until June last, when suddenly,
and without any excuse, the defendant—in the hey
day of his affection—without any explanation broke
Off his engagement with the plaintiff, and married
s widow who was possessed of some property. This
was a result that could scarcely have been expected
after the expressions of attachment made by the
defendant, which the letters read had shown—it
was scarcely to be believed that he would have so
soon forgotten the lady to whom he was so much
attached ; but such was the case, and he (the learned
counsel) hoped the jury would give the plaintiff
substantial damages for the wrong she had sus-
tained by the conduct of the defendant.
The following evidence was then called:—
Mrs. Edith Jvons said she was the wife of Ellis
Jevons, and resided in Liverpool. Knew the plain-
tiff and the defendant; knew the plaintiff some
time, and the defendant since he was a boy. He
was now about 25 or 26 years of age; the plaintiff
was about the same age. Tne parties often visited
witness's house.
Dr. O'Feely—Did they act in a way lovers
generally act towards each other ?
His Lordship—What way is that ? (Laughter.)
Dr. O'Feely—That, is a married lady, my lord ;
she knows.
Witness replied she thought they were always
very fond of each other. She did not know what
made her think so. (Laughter.) In reply to a
question the witness said she had forgotten what
took place when she was being courted.
Dr. O'Feeiy—But appearances would revive the
remembrance. Now, did this young man behave
towards the plaintiff as Mr. Jevons did when court-
ing you ? (Roars of laughter.)
Witness—I cannot tell, it is so long ago. Had
heard the parties speak of marriage, and on one
occasion when the plaintiff was out of a situation
defendant suggested they had better get married.
The plaintiff replied that she wished to wait a little
time longer, and that then their circumstances might
make them more comfortable, That was in 1860.
The lady whom defendant had married was possessed
of some property. Her father purchased property
from witness's father, and was now in possession of
some houses built on the land. Was aware that de-
fendant by the death of his mother had come into
possession of some money, but did not know the
amount.
Mrs. Sarah Rawlinson, who lives in Oliver-street,
Windsor, and with whom the defendant had lodged,
a
said the plaintiff had visited t her house, and she
and defendant were there together. Defendant
always seemed to show plaintiff every respect.
Dr. O'Feely—Did he act as lover—(laughter)--
from what you saw?
Witness—l believe he did; but I never
any-
thing pass between them. Knew thedesfaewndane
handwriting, but could not swear that the letters
produced were written by him.
This being the whole of the evidence, his lord-
ship said he thought there was no case—no evidence
of e contract between the parties.
• Dr. O'Feely submitted that the evidence of Mrs.
Jevons showed an implied contract.
His Lot dship said Mrs. Jevons had not stated
that she ever heard him speak of marriage, except
ite hen the plaintiff had advised him to wait until
their circumstances were improved, and then, by her
answer, the plaintiff had absolved him from any
c mitract that might have existed,
Dr. O'Feely submitted that that was a promise
on the part of the defendant. There was only a
condition named, and they had now evidence that
that condition was fulfilled.
His lordship said the question was whether marry-
ing the old widow lady had improved the position
of the defendant. (Laughter.) He advised Dr.
O'Feely to withdraw a juror.
Dr. O'Feely consented to a non-suit being en-
tered, which was accordi
APRngly2 done.
IL .
(Before Mr. Justice Keating and Special Juries,)
HARGREAVES V. GILL BROTHERS.-STRANGE REVELA-
TIONS OF MONETARY TRANSACTIONS BETWEEN MAN-
CHESTER MERCHANTS, &C.
"An action to recover £645 65., money lent.
Mr. Edward James, Q.C., in stating the case said
the plaintiff, Mr. Wm. Hargreaves, was a commis-
sion agent, carrying on business at 13, Marsden-
square, Manchester; and the defendants, Messrs.
Gill Brothers, general merchants, in business in
High-street, in the same city. The action was for
the recovery of 1.645 65., money lent by the plain-
tiff tn the defendants on three different occasions,