The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-13 00:00:00

ditto.'
" If they are true oracles, it is good never to fall in

Love.'

" ' Very good, if you can avoid it.'
"' I choose to doubt their truth.
" ' I am afraid that proves you are already caught.'
" Not I : but if I were, do you know what sooth
sayers I would consult?'
" Let me hear.'

" ' Neither man nor woman, elderly Por young : the
little Irish beggar that comes barefoot to my door; the
mouse that steals out of the cranny in the wainscot;
the bird that in frost and snow pecks at my window for
a crumb; the dog that licks my hand and sits beside my
knee.'

" Did you ever see any one who was kind to such
things?'
" Did you ever see any one whom such things
seemed instinctively to follow, like, rely on?'
"' We have a black cat and an old dog at the Rectory.
I know somebody to whose knee that black cat loves to
climb ; against whose shoulder and cheek it likes to
purr. The old dog always comes out of his kennel and
wags bis tail, and whines affectionately when somebody
passes.'
" And what does that somebody do?'

" He quietly strokes the cat, and lets her sit while
ho conveniently can, and when he must disturb her by
rising, he puts her softly down, and never flings her from
him roughly; he always whistles to the dog and gives
him a caress.'
" 6 Does he. It is not Robert?'
" But it is Robert.'
"' Handsome fellow!' said Shirley, with enthusiasm :
her eyes sparkled.
" Is lie not handsome? Has he not fine eyes and
well•cut features, and a clear, princely forehead?'
"' He has all that, Caroline. Bless him! he is both
graceful and good.'
" I was sure you would see that ho was: when I
f►rst looked at your face I knew you would.'
"' I was well inclined to him beforo I saw him. I
liked him when I did see him : I admire him now.
There is a charm in beauty for itself, Caroline; when it
is blent with goodness there is a powerful charm.'
" ' When mind is added, Shirley.'
" ' Who can resist it?'
" ' Remember my uncle, Mesdames Pryor, Yorke,
and Mann.'

" Remember the croaking of the frogs of Egypt I
He is a noble being. I tell you when they are good,
they are the lords of the creation—they are the sons of
God. Moulded in their Maker's image, the minutest
spark of His spirit lifts them almost above mortality.
Indisputably, a great, good, handsome man is the first of
created things.'
" Above us?'

" I would scorn to contend for empire with him—l
would scorn it. Shall my left hand dispute for prece•
donce with my right?—shall my heart quarrel with my
pulse?—shall my yeins be jealous of the blood which
fills them?'

" ' Men and women, husbands and wires, quarrel hor-
ribly, Shirley.'

"Poor things!—poor fallen, degenerate things! God
made thorn for another lot—for other feelings.'
66 But are women's equals, or are we not?'

•
" Nothing ever charms me more than when I meet
my superior—one who makes me sincerely feel that he
is my superior.'
" • Did you ever meet him?'
" I should be glad to see him any day: the higher
above me, so much the better: it degrades to stoop-7h
is glorious to look up. What frets me is, that when I
try to esteem, I am baffled: when religiously inclined,
there are but false gods to adore. I disdain to be a
Pagan.'

'' Miss Keeldar, will you come in? We are hero at
the Rectory gates.' "

Shirley does sot make her appearance until the
close of the first volume, yet the first volume is not
the least interesting of the three. It is rendered
attractive by the exquisitely natural presence of
Caroline Helstone, whose heart-history is detailed
with a simple tenderness and pathos quite affecting
from its apparent truthfulness. Robert Moore, the
brother of the Louis above mentioned, is a Yorkshire
mill-owner of a somewhat stern and determined
character. Being half a foreigner, he is regarded
with little kindness by his neighbours, and in his zeal
for progress, being a patron7of all new inventions in
machinery, he is an object of indignation to the
majority of the workmen. Beneath his outward
austerity Robert's better nature occasionally peeps
forth, never more visibly than when in presence of
Caroline Helstone, the rector's niece, and his own dis-
tant relation—the gentle, tender, devoted Caroline,
who comes daily to take her lesson in French from
Hortense Moore, and who almost daily contrives to
find greater pleasure in the society of Hortense's
brother -Robert. The time in which these
incidents took place was during the Peninsular
war. The " orders in Council," the object of the
millowners' abhorrence, which closed foreign ports
against British manufactures, were reducing Robert
to the verge of ruin. To make money was in his
case almost a duty, seeing that it was his purpose to
restore the credit of his family, ruined by his father's
unsuccessful speculation. Robert, therefore, must not
marry unless he can meet with an heiress, and accord-
ingly he woos Shirley Keeldar. Before this proceeding
he has, perhaps thoughtlessly, trifled with his little
loving cousin--hence the sorrow which overwhelms
poor Caroline. This portion of the narrative is invested
with a vivid air of reality—e. g., Caroline has been
passing a happy evening at the cottage of the Moores.
She repeats the poem of " La Jeune Captive"—
" Caroline, beginning in a low, rather tremulous voice,
but gaining couraje as she proceeded, repeated the sweet
verses of ClA:nor; the last three stanzas she rehearsed
well.

" Moore listened at first with his eyes cast down, but
soone couldhe lvfurtivelyateh
Carolinerais ed
withoutthem : leaning
her p
ae r backeleiu vi g
nhis
where chair,his
gaze was fixed. llcr cheek had
h
eyes
ic
light, her countenance an expression, thisn
or, :her ,
evening,
which
would have made even plain features striking; but there
was not the grievous defect of plainness to pardon in her
case. The sunshine was not shed on rough barrenness;
it fell on soft bloom. Each lineament was turnede with
grace; the whole aspect was pleasing. At the present
moment—animated, interested, touched—she might be
called beautiful. Such a face was calculated to awaken
not only the calm sentiment of esteem, the distant one
of admiration; but some feeling more tender, genial,
intimate: friendship, perhaps—affection, interest. When.
she had finished she turned to Moore, and met his eye.
" < Is that pretty well repeated?' she inquired, mil.
ing like any happy, docile child.
" 1 I really don't know.'
" < Why don't you know? Have you not listened?'
"' Yes—and looked. You are fond of poetry, Lina?'
" When I meet with real poetry, I cannot rest till I
have learned it by heart, and so made it partly mine.'
" Mr. Moore now sat silent for several minutes. It
struck nine o'clock: Sarah entered and said that Mr.
llelstone's servant was come for Miss Caroline.
" c Then the evening is gone already,' she observed;
and it will be long, I suppose, before I pass another
here.'

" Hortense had been for some time nodding over her
knitting; fallen into a dozy now, she made no response
to the remark.

" You would have no objection to come hero oftener
of an4vening?' inquired Robert, as he took her folded
mantle from the side-table, where it still lay, and care-
fully wrapped it round her.
" I like to come here; but I hale no deeire to be in-