The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-01 00:00:00

GOD'S PROVIDENCE HOUSE.

The abode of Mr. Peover was one of the quaintest
' houses in this extraordinary locality; it was an antique
black-and-white timber-and-plaster building, with its
gable towards the street, from which a flight of steps gave
access to the door in the Row. The upper rooms of the
house were supported by rude wooden pillar; and a balus-
trade as rude served to protect children, tipplers, or other
light-headed travellers from involuntary summersaults into
the street below.
Two hundred years before, when this was a new house,
it had been the residence of some man of rank, who had
left the impress of his greatness in armorial bearings carved
on the beams ; but it had seen many changes since that
period, and in the seventeenth century been marked by a
special providence.
When the plague ravaged the city, dealing death and
desolation on every hand ; when the pest-carts traversed
the streets at midnight, with their mouth-muffled attend-
ants announcing their awful errand by the ringing bell
and the portentous cry "Bring forth your dead!" when
the wail for the dead was subdued by the care for tho
dying ; when tilt dread of infection winnowed households
of their chaff, and left but the pure grain behind to its
offices of love or mercy ; when the uncoffined dead were
shot out of the peat-carts into one common grave, without
mourners or funereal rites, amidst the hideous jests and
brutal depravity of the moral lepers, who were at once
undertakers and sextons ; when every other house bore
the plague-stricken sign of the red-cross, this house alone
escaped the dread contagion. Though delirium and fever
raved and raged around it, in this one house was health.
To mark his gratitude for this signal immunity, the
owner had caused to be carved on one of the cross-beams
in front of the favoured dwelling, the inscription, "1652.
God's Providence is mine Inheritance. 1652." And it is
still known as "God's Providence House."
Mr. Peover's scapegrace nephew—the reckless, un-
principled Edward Bostock—the elegant, crafty Mr.
Heywood, with the sinister eyes—the captain of the
smugglers' gang, and many another alias, is an im-
probable creation. He resembles the conventional
Highwayman of the Melodrama, without, however,
possessing the good heart and other virtues usually
apportioned to that interesting individual. Mr.
Heywood—for by this name he is principally known
—is the least successful, because the least natural,
character in the book. The other characters are,
however, for the most part so excellent, and
the intricacies of the story are so cleverly arranged,
that we can afford to excuse some imperfections.
The manner of the narrative is lively and agreeable,
and the descriptions of homely English life a cen-
tury back are very felicitous. Here, for example,
is the social meal as it used to be at

THE OLD-FASHIONED TEA-BOARD.
This was, literally, a board ; being an oval tray of
polished Honduras mahogany, with a slightly raised edge ;
the cups were those tiny handleless importations from
China, now only seen in old curiosity shops, or preserved
as family relics, their very size bearing testimony how
costly was the fragrant and refreshing beverage they held :
the dumpling-shaped tea-pot and the slop-basin corre-
sponded in size and grotesque pattern with the cups and
saucers ; the silver teaspoons, necessarily small and light,
were delicately shaped, with shell-like bowls : the sugar-
basket and cream-ewer of silver filigree, were lined with
jasper, end the (to us) Liliputian tea equipage was com-
pleted by a pair of quaintly carved mother-o'-pearl sugar-
tongs hinged with tortoise-shell. Nor must the casket
which contained the precious leaf be overlooked, since the
old lady herself pointed it out to her guest as the work
and gift of the unfortunate Mistress Grenville, thirty years
before, on the day they both were married; and she conse-
quently resigned her post of lady's maid. It was a tea-
caddy of paper filigree work ; a class of elegant trifling-
with-time industry, extinct since the schooldays of our
grandmothers. On a frame of common wood were gummed
closely rolled strips of variously coloured paper, the one
set of edges being fastened to the box, the other present-
ing its many convolutions to view. These little rolls or
filigrees were arranged in different devices, the rolls being
sometimes slightly opened and compressed into the forms
of leaves, petals, &c. It was tedious work ; yet if it exer-
cised patience and ingenuity, and filled the vacuum now
supplied by the pen and press, it was not altogether "busy I
idleness."

The extracts we have given, dissimilar as they
are, may give some inadequate idea of the very
attractive manner in which Mrs..Linnus Banks
has related to us the interesting and somewhat

---
marvellous history of " God's Providence House."

Manuscript Arithmetic; Progressive and Practical.
By a School Manager. T. Murby.
These lessons, we are told, have been published
at the recommendation of one of her Majesty's
inspectors, who has seen the results of their use
during three years in a school where the arithmetic
was reported " excellent." By means of these
manuscript books the diligent pupil may study
alone, and materially develope his practical know-
ledge.

THE HARVEST IN LINCOLNSHIRE.—Harvest ope-
rations were checked in the-beginning of the week
by the moisture of Monday. On Tuesday, with a rising
barometer, the weather became more favourable, and a fine
breeze from the north-west tended to dry the outstanding
corn. A great deal of wheat remains in the fields cut, and
the crops in 'some parts of the county are decidedly good.
In the district around Burgh a great deal remains out in
the fields, but the crops are good, and a full average yield
is anticipated. In the district around Wainfleet there is
a good deal yet to be led, and the crops are spoken of satis-
factorily. In other parts of the county wheat is not, how-
ever, turning out so well either in quality or quantity, so
that as a whole an average yield must not be expected.
Barleys are yielding favourably. There is a good deal dis-
colored, but malting samples will not be scarce. The yield
varies in different districts, but as a whole it is well spoken
of. Oats are light and must be below the average. A
good many
are lookingareanybeansremarkably w
cut, and the
ehe cropll,
and
is variable. s Thead
pastures
marigold have very much improved.