The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-01 00:00:00

LITERATURE,

The Flower of the Flock. By Pierce Egan, Author
of " The Poor Girl." 3 vols. W. S. Johnson

and Co.

This is a highly animated and, to a certain ex-
tent, interesting record of adventures and vicissi-
tudes, plots and counter-plots, awful perils and hair-
breadth escapes, love and folly and disappointment,
and ultimate happiness to everybody. In many re-
spects this novel is superior to the ordinaryrun of " sen-
sational " romance. We cannot, nowever, regard
the conduct of some of the characters as very
natural—as, for example, the refusal of Helen to
accept the offer of her lover, and her apparent igno-
rance of " the dreadful secret "—incidents which
are very certainly beyond the limits of possibility.
At first it appeared that the marvellously beautiful
Helen was to be regarded as " the flower of the
flock," but we are glad ultimately to discover that
peerless heroine in humble little Lotte, the hard-
toiling workwoman, as we learn from the following
just tribute to a very deserving class—
THE FLOWER OF THE FLOCK.
A path of rectitude is laid down in social life for all alike,
rich or poor, to pursue. It is beset with snares and pit-
falls ; with inducements, seductions, and temptations to
turn aside almost at every step.
To adhere, however, to the fixed principle of acting
rightly in every situation in life demands no common
powers. A peculiar strength of mind, a clearness of per-
ception to distinguish the real from the unreal, correct,
which is something more than common, sense, and even a
course of instruction, are deemed little else than essential
to achieve the difficult task of pursuing that path un-
swervingly.
"It is one thing to be tempted, Escalus,
Another thing to fall."
When those who have been borne in the lap of luxury,
have been nurtured with tenderness, instructed with care,
reared in plenty, surrounded by blessings, caressed with
kindred's holy affection, elevated above the incitements of
want, and gifted with that knowledge of good and evil,
which is imparted by the cultivation of the mind and the
aid of religion, yield to temptation, and fall away before
seductive arts—what shall be said of her who, unaided by
any of these advantages, passes through her path of fire
uncharred ? What is she among her human sisters, who,
endowed alone with that fatal gift to the poor girl,—fair
looks, struggles with penury and starvation, toils from
dawn far, far into the long night, with dim and weary
eyelids and aching fingers, endures the severest straits of
destitution, arising from scantily remunerated labour, yet
faces her danger nobly—resists those fascinating tempta-
tions which are so terrible in their power to the beautiful
but penniless of her sex—wrestles bravely with her nar-
rowed.means, and rising superior to all those allurements,
which are aided by the urgings of grim want, preserves
her purity and self-respect unsullied, and her independence
unabased !
What is she among women who, being driven to so-
ciety itself—in its hunger on the one hand after wealth,
and on the other after cheapness—into the very corner of
desperation, comes from her crushing ordeal unbruised
and undefiled ?
Is she not a FLOWER OF THE FLOCK ?
Oh ! reader, look about you ; there are many Lette Clin-
tons in the throes of mortal agony nearer to you than you
suspect. If they are fainting.under their burden, can you
not afford them a little aid to surmount.their miserable
destitution, and lift them out of their despair ?
Remember the dreadful alternative !
The moral of the tale, it will be seen from the
above, is excellent, and throughout the whole narra-
tive is pervaded by a genial spirit of kindliness
and philanthropy. .

The Author of " The Sinner's Friend;" An Auto- I
biography. Edited by Newman Hall, LL.D. '
One vol., pp. 466. James Nisbet and Co.
This volume contains the history of the tempta-
tions and indiscretions, and subsequent sins, con-
spicuous among which was a constant liability to
intemperance, which characterised the earlier portion
of the life of John Vine Hall, the well-known author
of " The Sinner's Friend," written by himself.
Being himself converted from the depravity of
his ways, the author was naturally anxi-
ous to preach to his fellow-sinners the good
tidings whereby even he had been rescued
from an apparently hopeless condition. On his
death, in 1860, at the advanced aged of 87,
John Vine Hall left to his son the charge of giving
his autobiography to the public. In turning over
the pages in which, in a spirit of very genuine
contrition the author records his own intemperance,
we find that on one occasion, being at the moment
sober, the almost habitual drunkard was startled by
reading a paragraph entitled " Dreadful Effects of
Intoxication," in The Sun of Oct. 15, 1818. This
paragraph,which recounted the suicide of a drunkard,
deeply impressed him for a time, and that same
year witnessed what he justly calls his " Victory,"
when his sinful propensity was for ever laid aside.
Although dissenting from many of the author's
opinions, we may commend his experiences as likely
to be beneficial to many, ,being, as they are, the
records of truth.

Our Tropical Possessions in Malayan India. By
John Cameron, Esq., F.R.G.S. One Vol., pp.
408. With Illustrations. Smith, Elder, and Co.
Believing that Singapore, and Penang, and Ma-
lacca, and the remainder of those Indian possessions
known as the Straits Settlement, are about to pass
under the direct control of the Imperial Govern-
ment, Mr. Cameron has very naturally imagined
that some particular account of that peculiar locality
would have an especial interest for the English
reader. "I do not think," he says, " that I have
claimed for my subject more attention than it de-
serves. In point of physical beauty it can have few
compeers ; its chief port ranks third in the com-
merce of India ; and its geographical position gives
it a political importance which must be measured by
the value to Great Britain of ascendancy through-
out the rapidly developing countries of the far
East." Although Mr. Cameron gives a few
judicious opinions upon the future administration
of the settlement, his volume is for the most part
descriptive, and very vigorous and life-like are his
descriptions. Mr. Cameron is evidently well ac-
quainted with his subject (he writes from Singapore),
and the narrative of his experiences is a labour of
love. By untravelled Englishmen, he admits, the
distant Indian station is often regarded as an exile
of the worst description, " but those who have en-
dured that exile," he adds, " can tell a far different
tale of the condition of life in the tropical garden."
The glowing pictures which are here given, how-
ever, of this—
" Clime of the East—the land'of the sun,"
have their drawbacks. Among these the tigers of
the jungle hold a conspicuous place. Some of the
most interesting chapters of this volume contain
records of the cowardice and cruelty of the
tiger. All Mr. Cameron's descriptions appear
truthful, and taken from actual occurrences.
He tells us that after inquiring into every death
from tigers for a number of years back, he had not
been able to find one case in which the victim had
not been come upon unawares from behind. The
tiger will stealthily watch for hours until a favour-
able moment occurs, and then with one deadly
spring he falls upon his prey. The death is appa-
rently instantaneous, for in every body discovered
the back of the head is generally smashed in, so
great is the violence of that deadly stroke. It is
dreadful to learn that in the island of Singapore alone
more than 200 deaths from tigers occur yearly—
nearly one a clay. Until the jungle can be de-
stroyed the extirpation of the tigers appears hope-
less. Towards the attainment of this much to be de-
sired end Mr. Cameron offers some very reasonable
suggestions. We cannot now bestow more time upon
these very interesting reminiscences. The volume
is adorned with some coloured illustrations of Singa-
pore and its harbour, and Penang and Wellesley.

The Dobbs Family in America. By Our Own
Special Correspondent. One Vol., pp. 312.

Maxwell.
" Our Own Special Correspondent" does not
favour us with any particulars respecting his indi-
vidual ownership. His revelations of American
life arc, as may be supposed, for the most part,
given in a humorous vein.

History and Cultivation of Cotton and Tobacco.
By Col. Robert L. de Corri. One Vol., pp. 306.
Chapman and Hall.
This is a very practical treatise on the cultivation
of those two important necessaries of civilised life—
cotton and tobacco. The author is a Carolinian
himself, and is well acquainted with hifi theme.