The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-31 00:00:00

history of Lilly; at a very early age, the only sur-
livcr of a shipwrecked crew, she fell into the hands of
tome smugglers, who brought her up and treated her
as their servant. Without the least education of any
kind, without an idea in her mind or a feeling in her
heart, she grew up, living a life of toil, hard-worked
and ill-treated, living and practising only the duties
of industry and obedience. Sine grew up, that is to
Say, her frame developed rd her years increased,
While in heart and mind she remained a child, or
• something more ignorant and more helpless. Gradu-
ally, however, the change took place ; she at last
found friends; she heard for the: first time
• words Of kiniiness, and her heart for the
first time beat with a kindly emotion. Un-
taught! and unlearned, she was ignorant no
longer her heart developed her intellect. Obedient
to its promptings, though unable to think and reason
correctly, she was enabled to act wisely and well,
tt,hough not in accordanc,,! with the world's wisdom.
he obeyed a higher teaching. Her life was a con-
walled illustration of that beautiful maxim—

"He never errs who sacrifices self."
The development of Lilly's character—indeed, all
her conduct, all the history of her heart—is very
beautifully and truthfully described. She experi-
ences, not only many strange adventures, but many
Severe trials ; ardent and devoted in friendship and
love, her lover leaves her and her friend proves false ;
set) though oppressed by many bitter and painful
lensations, her true heart remains firm. So stedfast
t'S her friendship, and so humble her love, that decep-
tion cannot wholly destroy the one, nor desertion in
anYwise impair the other. The various traits of
Lilly's character are more forcibly manifested by her
friend, the brilliant and beautiful May Elliott. The
character of the latter is very skilfully drawn, and is
doubtless not without its living prototypes ; endowed
with every outward attraction, with every fascination
eof form and manner, possessing just enough of good
Lemper and generosity to veil her various defects,
44-43? completely eclipsed her more unpretending and
,inore deserving friend. Her vanity and selfishness,
e3/4illy's devotion and humility, and the changing senti-
ments of Pisa Ryland, forgetting the humble Lilly
74 his admiration for her brilliant friend, are all
deescribed in a most natural and interesting manner.
..,, 1311eaking of the authority which the fascinating May
e .484 obtained over her lover, the authoress observes,
'eat "it is constantly thus in real life; these are the
Women that by ruling men have ruled empires," and
takes occasion to offer some very judicious remarks
on the important subject of female education. Very
indicious and correct they are, to a certain extent at
aeaeast, for we cannot agree with her conclusions—in-
„,ti
„ we do not quite comprehend them. For instance,
` the font of one of the pages we find the following
4'.
(ke :—" It gives us great satisfaction to learn that the
Women of Berne, in Switzerland, are at this time pe-
tititiecning for equal rights ; and that one of the Ame-
s an States is about to pass a law, giving females
wer over their own property." With this " great
tisfaction" we do not certainly sympathise, and with
kiln, remarks of a similar purport we cannot cer-
,nlY coincide ; beside which, we are disap-
'cted and dissatisfied at meeting with them
0 such a place, because they are so entirely
It; variance with the beautiful ideas embodied
the character of the heroine. It is strange, and
4;40, quite anomalous, to find an advocate for what
Ile called " the rights of woman," at d one anxious for
1::` introduction into active life and ,- maloyments,"
ki,lle person of the authoress, who, in tee character
ti'ld history of Lilly Dawson, has forcibly pointed out
tp;,l true object of a woman's life, and the fitting
tllcre for her employments. Without any great
("lintel capacities or culture, without perhaps ever
M4,ariling of her " rights," Lilly performed her various
ies, and passed through life, blessing and blessed;
t the last few words of the last volume sums up her
rtotactee, and tells her history in a brief line
s: her epitaph, " for Lilly's life was love." A
It ,e beautiful character and a happier history than
7h it were difficult to find for any individual, es-
tho'llY a woman ; conveying, perhaps, a similar idea,
tpittlagh more beautifully expressed, to that old Roman
1/4 Ph which Scott so singularly misapplies to his
fecit4,!'geon's Daughter"—" Domum niansit, tanarn
beat' This idea Mrs. Crowe has se beautifully deli-
Lilted in her beautiful history of Lilly's life and
NY's love, that we are sorry to find her making
11.1 °I the remarks to which we have referred. We
ss
bi. already spoken of the very unnatural character
~th,is Story as a whole -, but though this is
We°°'ten in the excellence of individual parts,
le
14Inust, nevertheless, protest against one or
0 4 material blemishes. In the first place, our au-
ittsie,'," evinces too great a partiality for the horrible
'IN '4 mysterious. A writer who does not pos-
lite,e,nough ability of his own to excite interest, or
te,s‘ attention, may, perhaps, be glad to have re-
Lo to the adventitious aids of mystery and
IS Zs—ea% a gaudy colouring is often thrown over
kr,,erior picture, in the hope of disguising its
ks4.l'. But Mrs. Crowe has no need of such assiqr
get' the most interesting portions of her narratiee
is hose which contain her natural delineations of
levu'al individuals and natural events. We should
y4is liked the book far better without the introduc-
N4q murders—one chapter, the last of the second
ttri Illei might have been most advantageously omit-
ifs',l, It is not only very horrible, very revolting in-
titie but it is very improbable, not to say impos-
oitiln all its details, and is obnoxious every way.
!liei ec murder is less plainly spoken of; it is enve-
kits 111 mystery—perhaps in order to increase the
rated
qs,s, a mystery indeed bordering upon the liper-
tligi, for the victim " appears before his
.mistress
,47.45 e night of his murder; and Mrs. Crowe, in re-
-41?;'84.t0 this, gives us to understand that she be-
tore In the possibility of such appearances ; nay,
oath' that she is about to favour us with a volume
it,f I,,ze subject, to be denominated " The Night-side
tkl,l attire." Without for a moment presuming to
' '''kt. 11 411 question her ability to write on
s"40?„4 theme, and her power of bringing
i'ke i'lito the most' convincing arguments as to the
s,',.ign "millions of spiritual beings walk the earth,"
'ltils-nid merely venture to ask, what, after all, will
No' utility of the endeavour ? For our own part,
t ttly„n,d much rather receive from Mrs. Crowe, not
el"c volume about the " Night-side of Nature,
70,-7„ 'interesting account of the every-day doings of
: 'tl,7„tnettie on Which she is so well qualified to write ;
itilittd:withstandirig all the mystery thrown round the
L virar to which we have alluded, the most interest-
V,t of the affair connected with it—per-
re the most interesting part of the whole
.s; Is
—is the natural and affecting
Is le's "In of • poor 11,inny s grief for the loss
1
1,1 -,
lover. We have been particular in can-
e ettntion. to the—to our thinking—great
't 1 0, of this interesting and able work, and
' rht'',4 done so chiefly on account of the
4fli,o'nterest it possesses, and the great ability
i:lis:es• In a common-place work faults may be
Ole.. t'd ; they and it will be soon forgotten to-
"klitil bat when any hook from certain good
thorns is likely to be much read, and when its
ils% Will in consequence be likely to produce more,
ky ()titles necessart, to point out i-s faults, both by
. 4hsr, caution to its readers, and counsel to its
i vs, Therefore, after bestowing due praise upon
ts,rY natural descriptions of domestic life, upon
Oet,Y accurate portraits and nice discrimination of
' 'isi."`" to be islet with in " Lilly Dawson," above
I'S 'ter
,Iticisi 4vsarding most hearty commendation to the
thq,sier es Inculcated, and the moral impressed by the
is s;:e must express our entire disapproval of all
41:ttei rdsrs, whether minutely described or darkly
slAka,„t; our dissatisfaction with the mysteries, both
tl'4se l',',s the supernatural appearance and the pro-
it tvelations, and our dissent from the remarks
arits of women • with these exceptions,
.i 1 y Dawson" • 1
isl'' sei interesting
is, as we have said before, a very
I,tist,ri interesting work. The story has been dra-
-4'li4 and is being performed at the Surrey
4
Itit tqv ,
k 4 'l4 . MANAGE AN Ass.-The following i 3 an
pang
~''' a sort of eccentricity in an ass, but of such
i, as the learned Dogberry could not justly have
liiti,,tta °7'n an ass in his sense of the word. A
kt‘14,41,, from whom I received the anecdote, was
\'‘11,,1i4,(14v11 a lane near a town in Norfolk, when he
4; 4iBBlf in company with the following personages
,k 2,4: eldwith a lubberly youth of seventeen or eighteen
'gth`litili, uPen his back, beating the animal Trost an-
Ike Its,„'t with a stick on the head and neck—an old
AtLtlis,i'd With a hedge-stake, striking at the hocks
tsV s (ISlarters, and a boy of eleven or twelve, also
.k,tiN s,„tlekt cutting here and there as opportunity
SiCk9s, lhe animal was certainly as awkward as an
Via rwl" well be, kicking, turning round, and throw-
liiokl,t upon the raised footpath, at the same time
.takh4 si4' t(trusing to stir one step in advance. "Isn't
'lil:'
.tom e brute we have got here, Sir?" said the old
Kotsr,) iotesnant, " we have been trying this three-
g‘i,lllllh,,'' an hour to get him on, and we can't." The
t' ei- t 'id him he would try what he could do, and
let'.'e pm.',iarrned the three of their sticks, and laid them
ls:s11, 0,-"' c"ttimenced a milder course of treatment by
ItA Nl'''sl! animal on the neck, rubbing his nose, and
Nt,:'r ki",i_lidly to him. He evidently understood this
V"i q "-mils for hardly two minutes had elapsed,
ir, s 11
litho 7
Is eski word of command, and a fart well pat on
I,t oh ke cantered e ff as gaily as possib:e, with the
kikha,k,":s back, and in the proper direction. Now.
kith t gln, case of eccentric temper in an animal. One
kis,llN-• '''uu fancy that it reasoned in the following
kiPtit4r,----%`As this fellow trnats me in a becoming
;'itti it Indn conducts himself like a gentleman, I don't
4ta. the P'? "ck ; but if ever those three blackguards
hither prtelts should have made me stir one inch
k1i,.485,(1,15e shot!" Sterne pleaded well in behalf ot
tht.' titliv,g,•ntl,, :•übmissive, and might be made tract
V',,s 41,', but alas! many years hsve rolled by, and
, r'‘''s!.....,,i,.';'}', st.l, fe ests on thistles, and not on mac-
!ol,l itix,,Ai, "s Fumurite flaunts.
. ei1,,,['.11,-I.,,iwt
‘}\-.1. RA it.wast.—ltass week, Air. Peto, no
'tto•
li;',l,it 0,:,:f
.i.es priticip,el inana;er, Mr. Beaty, and :Nli.
1114,,1'1l (rt. thnizttieer under Mr. Brunel, made a persona:
tte,okt (it' the lei Cornwall lii e; and on "futt-da last, at :-:
. 5ket0e5.,,,,.1 -art!, it w:s resolved to 1,4 th,,, contract fot
N. T. st is,
.resato the al.),twe eminent eon-
eittio4 '4,,:lid a Lai It.ew s
- the woresefik West Briton.