The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-23 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

FERRERS. 3 Vols. Bentley, London, 1841.
The career of Lord Ferrers, who it may be re-
membered, figured rather awkwardly in the year.
1760, with a rope round-his aristocratic neck, at
Tyburn, for the wilful murder of his steward, is
pourtrayed with consummate skill in ,this ro-
malice.. which, commencing with the year 1750,
when his Lordship was in the full vigour of -his
manhood, tracks him through all 'his vicious
courses, keeping carefully in view the. leading
points of his character; and does not take leave
of him till he stands at the foot of the gallows in
a state of exceeding embarrassment and per-
plexity. The story opens with a night adven-
ture of this degraded Peer, who, accidentally en-
countering a young girl whom he had seduced,
and who solicits his charity, fells her to the
ground, and rushes from the spot in the full
conviction that he has been her murderer. We
next find him drinking with some congenial
conipanions at a low public-house—and here we
have a sketch of flash, life in the Ainsworth
style, only much better, because not so repul-
sive or exaggerated—and then the scene changes,
and we are introduced to a Prayer-meeting at
Lady Huntingdon's, which is interrupted by the
sudden entrance of Lord .Ferrers, half-drunk,
who contrives to pick a quarrel with one of the
gentlemen of the party, and only escapes a duel
with him, by the intervention of one of his low
vagabond associates, Jem.Gahel, who gets scent
of his intentions, and -rescues him from the
clutches of his determined and incensed oppo-
nent. Shortly after this,....his Lordship marries
an amiable but weak-minded young woman, the
daughter of Sir William Meredith, and treats
her in so ruffianly a manner, that, after many in-
effectual attempts to soften the (logged ferocity
of his nature, she insists on a divorce, sues for,
and obtains it. Unfortunately, Lord Ferrers'
steward, Mr. Johnson, had interested himself
warmly in the case of the ill-treated Countess,
and on him, accordingly, the Peer's vengeance
now falls. After annoying him in a variety of
ways, and subjecting him to. the grossest insults,
he at length comes to the determination of mur-
dering him, so sends for him one day, on the
pretence that he is anxious to have a settlement
of the accounts between them, and, while he is ex-
plaining certain business matters, shoots the un-
happy wretch through the body, who is immedi-
ately conveyed home, and expires in the arms of
his daughter. Lord Ferrers is, ofcourse, though
not w:thout some difficulty, apprehended for this
atrocious act; is conveyed to London, lodged. in
the Tower, tried before the House of Lords, found
guilty, and hanged at Tyburn ! This is but a
meagre sketch—in fact, a mete outline—of the
story, the best portion of which is taken up with
an account of the adventures of a young man,
named Hugh Bernard, an unacknowledged rela-
tive of Lord Ferrers; ofhis early sufferings; his
hair-breadth escape from a den of infamy in Bath,
and his still more surprising escape from the
clutches ofcertain assassins in a lone house at Pad-
dington ; of his intimacy with a repentant mur-
derer, named Foxton; and his final prosperity, and
marriage with Sarah Johnson, the daughter of
Lord Ferrers' steward. The whole of this epi-
sode—if episode it can fitly be called, which in-
cludes the greater portion of the narrative—is
told with a terse, simple, manly vigour very un-
common among modern novelists. Vigour, in-
deed—but the vigour of health, not of convul-
Sion—is the leading characteristic of Ferrers.
There is no maudlin sentimality about it—no
pandering to depraved tastes. The author treats
vice as vice, and not as relaxed virtue. He does
not interest us in his ruffians, or bid us admire
the heroism and magnanimity of their nature.
In a word, he is an anti-Jack-Sheppardist.
When we say that we have read his tale with
attention, and that that attention has Rever once
flagged throughout its perusal, we pay hint no
higher compliment than is his due. He has
shown very superior powers of invention in
weaving an interesting romance out of such
meagre and unpromising materials as Lord Fer-
rers' life affords; and his.sketch of Foxton, the
heart-broken penitent—an admirably conceived
and most forcibly executed character—satisfies
us that his imagination and sensibility are hilly
capable of maintaining hint in the very highest
walks of fictitious literature. Such a tale as
" Ferrers " has not appeared since the days of
•‘ Oliver Twist;" and in some respects we prefer
it to that well-known story, for, with equal spir;:„
it has far more refinement of thought and Pjrac4
of expression.

BIRTH OF THE PRINCE OF W ALES the
parish of Braintree, and at a meetirv,
of the inhabitants
held on Saturday, it was resolye?.., to commemorate the
event by raising a subsetttipn to supply the poor
with coals, &c., a Committee being formed for the pur-
pose, headed by the Vicki. and the Churchwardens.—
Essex Herald.
PLYMOUTH. The Resistance frigate was
taken into the north new dock on Wednesday, to be ex-
amined previously to being fitted for a troop-ship, as the
Apollo. The Madagascar, 44, Captain Foote, was paid
advance yesterday, and will proceed to the coast of
Africa. The Harlequin, 16, Commander Hon. G. F.
Hastings, was also:L paid yesterday, and will sail for
China. The F,erret, 10, Lieutenant Commander C. H.
Lappidge, was paid off yesterday, and immediately re-
commissioned by her present commander. The Bellona,
74, taken Into the head dock last week, is to be fitted for
a hulk.

THE DUKE OF CORNWALL. —We extract
the following from the Manchester Times. It is a most
appropriate mode of celebrating the birth of the Prince,
and we trust will be imitated throughout the country.—
" We are glad to announce that a meeting, convened by
the Mayor, of gentlemen of all political parties, was held
in the Town-Hall yesterday, to consider whether any
public manifestation should take place on the joyful event
of the birth of an heir apparent to the throne of these
realms, whether by a public subscription, as commemora-
tive of the event, to be expended in the purchase of blankets
and warm clothing for distribution amongst the poor,
or in any other way that the meeting may think de-
sirable." Amongst the gentlemen present we observed
the 'am. R. Parkinson, C. D. Wray, and 0. Sergeant,
canons of the Collegiate Church ; Mr. Maude, stipen-
diary Magistrate ; the:Boroughreeve ; Mr. M. Philips,
M.P. ; Sir Thomas Potter, Sir Charles Shaw, and
Messrs. James Heywood, Robert Gardner, Rupert Ingle-
by, W. Langton, G. Hadfield, H. Newbury, R. Gill, J.
Bazley, S. Cay, W. Crewdson, J. Fowden..S.Fletcher, T.
W.Williams, Holland Iloole, T. Wheeler, J. Harter,
and Aldermen Cobden, Kershaw, Armitage, Willed,
Spencer, and Chappell. A resolution was passed unani-
mously, that, instead of the usual festivities on such oc-
casions, a Loyal Fund should be raised to supply the
poor with warm clothing and bedding. A Committee
was appointed to forward the object of the meeting, and
a subscription was commenced in the hall, the amount of
which, we cordially hope, will be swelled into three or
four thousand pounds before our next publication, and that
such amount will be doubled before thisclay fortnight."
DETERMINED SUICIDE IN A LUNATIC AST-
LUM.—Last evening an inquest was held before Mr.
Baker, at the Manor house Tavern, Lordship-road, Stoke
Newington, on the body of Andrea Bardese, aged fifty-
one, late superintendent of the Northumberland House
Lunatic Asylum, who destroyed him Self under the
following circumstances :—Robert Parker, groom to
Mr. Birkett, the proprietor of the establishment, deposed
that the last time he saw the deceased alive was on
Friday last, about noon ; he then appeared perfectly
sane. About a quarter past eleven the same night
ha passed through deceased's sitting room, which
he had to do for the purpose of reaching his sleep-
ing apartment, and saw deceased lying on the floor in
one corner, with his waistcoat on fire. He went up to
him, and, on extinguishing the flames, found blood flow-
ing from a wound in his left breast. He raised an
alarm, and Mr. 13irkett, with Mr. Spencer, the medical
gentleman of the establishment, came to his assist-
ance, and pronounced life to be extinct. He
searched the place, and in the wainscotting he
found, firmly fixed by the butt, a rifle-barrel horse-P ist 1
which had recently been fired, d immediately above
where the deceased was ly.ing. Mran. Spencer, the surgeon,
said the deceased was quite dead when he saw him.
examining the wound, he found that the baltlhheaclieeftiitluerOnegnd,
the chest, perforating the lower lobe
of
passed through the apex of the heart, and lodged in the
left shoulder
de blade. saw
d, and had He him on Thursday, when he
h presse no doubt of its being de-
ceased'sTe,Tporary insanity."
own act. Verdict—"
ojfumistbiclitnaersesev,lc,lbao.Fiva,(
SCARBOROUGH) Nov.
Extract tof a
tI, haveresults
owing to the criminal :apathy, and negli-
genceppalling accident,
Letter.)—nl
and. without any
of the authorities of this town. After a stormy
night there was, at 10 o'clock this morning, still a hard
gale and a heavy sea, the wind E.S.E when a smap sleep, apparently of 25 or 30
tons, was descried
ing tor the harbour. She had laboured through thelengths)
waves
few boats' till within a very short distance (a
of the pier, and of safety, when a heightened gust of wind
and an enormous wave overact her in an instant. Her
crew, consisting of two men and a boy, held on as long
as their strength in a tempestuous surge pennitted. The
poor boy was visible the latest, still holding up his
hands as he sank. In a very short time they had all
disappeared. Had the life-boat belonging to this place
beets in readiness every one of them could have been
saved. But it was twenty minutes after the accident
before the lifeboat touched the waves ; and so hope-
less was then the effort that, after proceeding
about half-way towards the spot where the already
bbraockkeangfisagp;n. meTnbtse offatchte
ivse,sstehlawt etrheefl
ft.nifo,asth,
nrsettevaido. edodf
being kept under a shed upon the pier, or slung el.ongsnt
into
It through
its inner well (whence also it could be lowered i
smooth watar, instead of beiag,as
snow, forced
the breakers), is kept in a building _ _
about ha!f-tide when .this accident mei!! eed ; and it was
necessary to procure horses to draw the boat to the
want of
edge.
to But
mant the gherre.ateNstodneelaayrewaapspoochclats.?sdioin.oer.
thedby
service, nor is there any fund from which the labour of
men
volunteers can be rewarded. The ill-fated vessel is said
to have belonged to Boston, and to have been a regular
trader between that place and Scarborough. Her cargo
was corn and apples.