The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-20 00:00:00

LITERA'fIi

The Heir Expectant... By the author of "Raymond's

Heroine!' Three Vols. Hurst and Blackett

The Prologue to this story is singularly vivid and
exciting; it possesses far more concentrated interest
than does the subsequent narrative, which constitutes
the bulk of the work. An impetuous, happy youth,
fresh from a successful examination, bursts into a
homely little parlour in a humble dwelling in Liver-
pool to announce his good fortune to his sympa-
thising sister. This sister, with her little family, is
preparing the frugal tea-table for the return of
husband and brother. She rejoices in the student's
triumph, and it is, indeed, for him no insignificant
matter. The orphan son of a clergyman, left with
slender means, he has been mainly indebted to his
sister's husband for his education, and now, having
passed this examination of the grammar school, he
has won a scholarship at Oxford, and a future is
before him. The little party is soon joined by
the master of the house, who boisterously
enters into the joy of the occasion. The
experienced reader recognises at a glance
that Austin is of a very different type to
his wife and brother-in-law, and some transient
evidences of instability of purpose and irritation of
temper give a presentiment of " breakers ahead."
All is at present, however, calm and sunshine,
with a prattling boy and girl at either side of him,
Austin loads their plates with sweetmeats, while he
predicts in loud and laughing 'accents that baby
Harold will be proud of his uncle and godfather,
who will one day be a judge or a bishop. In the
midst of the joyous scene a knock is heard, and there
enters Uncle Gilbert, the evil genius of the group.
Uncle Gilbert is a millionaire and a miser, who has
quarrelled with Austin on account of his marriage
with a penniless bride. He now comes, after years
of estrangement, to proffer forgiveness. Iu the
first place, however, the children disappear,
Uncle Gilbert observing that he is very
fond of children, but he cannot bear them in
the same room with him, and the anxious father
hurriedly bustles them away. Uncle Gilbert has a
proposition to make. He is old and has retired
from business to his country estate. He is afraid of
being robbed by strangers, and offers to take his
nephew Austin to look after his interests. He must
give up his present satisfactory employment and ac-
cept from his uncle a little cottage, and a hundred a
year—not a farthing more—and look for a fortune
at his death. It is a painful alternative. The wife
knowing that she has been the cause of the estrange-
ment, keeps silence, and averts her eyes from her
husband lest they should reveal the feelings of her
heart, which revolts from the proposed arrange-
ment Only the young brother has the courage
to suggest a refusal, and acquires from
that moment the antipathy of Uncle Gilbert.
Suffice it to say the offer is accepted. Austin be-
comes Heir Expectant to his uncle, and the curtain
falls upon the first scene of thedrama and the joyous
hours of the little group are numbered. We are not
going to particularize the incidents of the tale which
follows. Uncle Gilbert survives for a score of years,
and the agonies of the expectant heirship are very
powerfully pourtrayed. Distress and death, and
even dishonour fall upon the luckless victims
who have surrendered the blessings of independence
for a miserable " waiting for a dead man's shoes."
The moral of the lesson is very powerfully enforced.
Among other strikir.g incidents, an innocent man
bears the ignominy of another's fraud, but we must
not reveal the secrets of a very enthralling story. The
character of the sorely-tried wife and sister is ten-
derly depicted, but we can feel no sympathy with
the other heroine who is ready at the first word to
believe the calumny which assails the man she pro-
fesses to love and is about to marry. The crown-
ing incident, in which after years of painful
secrecy, the letter which proves his guilt is
found in the dead man's hand—death having arrested
him in the act of its destruction—is sinngularly
effeetive. Notwithstanding its interest as a story,
and the various merits we have enumerated,
the " Heir-Expectant " is not equal to " Raymond's
Heroine," but then we cannot expect every day to
meet with a work like " Raymond's Heroine."

Indian Records in regard to the Nawabs Nazim of
Bengal, Behar, and Orissa. G. Bubb.

Opportunely enough there has just now been
issued, in the form of this goodly volume of 347
pages, an au+ hentic and most lucid statement of the
relations between the British Governments and the
Nawabs Nazim of the provinces of Bengal, Behar,
and Orissa, the work being appropriately dedicated
to the present Nawab Nazim, now in this country,
His Highness Syad Munsoor Ullee. The documen-
tary evidence as to the validity of the Nawab's claims
is singularly complete and comprehensive, the whole
being admirably well arranged. The motto selected
for the title page is sufficiently suggestive, to wit
" Render unto Cesar the things that are Cressir's," a
dictum that every patriotic Englishman cannot but
hope may be scrupulously followed in the instance to
which it is here directly and emphatically applied. _

Industrial Employment of Women.
Longmana and Co.

By J. 1). Milne.

A revised edition of a very excellent treatise upon
a very practical consideration of the Industrial and
Social Position of Women of the Middle and Lower
Ranks, has here made its apptarance. It reflects
honour upon the humanity of the learned advocate of
Aberdeen by whom it has been compiled. Thirteen
years have elapsed since the book was first
published, within which interval it is re-
markable to reflect upon the advance made
during that little more than a dozen years both in
public opinion and tentative legislation in regard to
the relative position of sexes, the fair sex, and as
Mr. Disraeli calls the other quaintly by contrast (both
in his Speeches and in Lothair) the dark sex—" a❑
advance," says our author in his Note to the present
revised edition " that has surpassed my expectation."
The remark is radiantly illustrative (as by an
instantaneous flash) of the prescience of Mr. Milne,
as a practical social reformer, bent upon vindicating
the Rights of Women in their integrity.

Financial Statements of 1869 and 1870. R. 1. Bush.
In a most acceptable form, carefully revised and
corrected by the right hon. gentleman himself, we
have here the two great Budget Speeches of Mr.
Lowe as Chancellor of the Exchequer. To the poli-
tician and the journalist they are peculiarly welcome
as authentic records of not the least daring and in-
genious of modern Financial Statements.

Full particulars are given of the tragical affair at
Nice. The lady was Madlle. Borel d'Hauterive ; the
gentleman's name was Morpani. The cause of the
suicide was the inability of the lovers to marry, owing to
the insufficiency of their income. They were both about
thirty.

Among the Parliamentary papers issued yesterday
were the following :—The Thirteenth Report of the Trus-
tees of the National Portrait Gallery—The Mines Regu-
lation and Inspection Bill (as amended in committee.—The
City of London (Parishes) Bill—a Bill to make further
provisions concerning Turnpike Roads—and a return,
relating to-East India (Punjab Tenancy). •

Another burglary has been committed at Twick-
enham, at the residence of Mr. Wheeler, Amyand Park,
which is situate about 400 yards only from Mr. Bohn's.
A quantity of plate, consisting of spoons, forks, &c.,
valued at £l7, was carried off, as well as a gammon of
bacon, a loaf of bre ad, some loaf sugar, 'a brown silk
umbrella, and a carpenter's tool bisket.

An inquest was held at Tottenham on Wednesday on
the body of a lady found in the River Lea. The body
turned out to be that of Mrs. Chesnut, the wife of a
clergyman, who had been living for two years separate
from her husband in lodgings at Tottenham. It was
stated that she had been in the habit of drinking imm ode-
rately. The jury found that she was of unsound mind.
It is proposed to raise an endowment fund of
twelve thousand pounds for the Falkland Islands
Bishopric, to which Dr. Stirling, of Exeter. College,
Oxford, has lately been consecrated. The Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge head the list with one
thousand pounds on condition that nine thousand pounds
be raised otherwise.
Two " welshers " were pursued at Chester Races.
One of them, under the generic name of Smith, left a
satchel behind with a change of cards, which chewed that
he was prepared to resort to that of Brown, Jones, or
Robinson, should occasion require. There was also a
bundle of flash notes, bearing additional testimony to the
absurdity of turf betting.

THE UNEMPLOYED IN ADELAIDE.—Serious dis-
turbances have taken place in the city of Adelaide, South
Australia, in consequence of the scarcity of employment.
Several hundred of the unemployed attacked the Treasury
and were with difficulty expelled. In the afternoon a still
larger mob assembled, and broke open the doors of
several of the Government-offices. The police drew their
swords, and cleared the streets, but did not succeed in
doing so until several persons had been wounded. The
excitement has since calmed down, and most of the un-
employed have obtained work from the Government.—
,Afelbaurne Argus, March 28.