The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-14 00:00:00

ng every

ing very determined opposition. He had a
hard and desperate struggle to maintain, he found
(as all reformers must find) how strong is the force
of old estt.blished evil. However he prospered; he was
himself "invested with a little brief authority
parish overseer, and then being placed i
to carry out his own plans, he found
minister has done before) how much
is to practise than to preach. The din
good butcher are excellently well dew
also the many traits of his generosity a
heartedness. But not only are the el-raract
townspeople of Belford given ; the volume i
more interesting by the relation of m r,y of their hi
tories, and those of strangers who had them
of the latter are "The old Emigre" and 1
Sculptor," perhaps the most ber.utif--1
.Itkches, both somewhat mournful, bu
feeling and full of interest

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CHRIST BIAS in tie OLDEN TIME, c, ...
5..-I. If, DORI,. By John Ain.
The name and appearance of this little volatile are
quite in keeping with the season. There is stYe-
thing attractive in the title, bringing before us, as it
does, the genial festiVities which were once wont to
celebrate Christmas -the Bothering in the great hell
the performance of time hal:
unaffected mirth, the cont3gions o
the truly Christmas custom (alls 11+,1v -
duration) the mingling together of rich and pee
high and low, with neither pride on the one hand, b
fear on the other, to raise an impassable barrier be-
tween them ; - . •
" The heir, with roses in his shoes,
That night might village partner choose.
Christmas gambols oft could cheer
The poor man's heart for halt' the year."
To chronicle the doings of such a time, we could
hardly desire a more fitting writer than John Mills,
not only because in his " Old English Gentleman,"
and other works, he manifests a great partiality for
old customs—old English customs—but because his
writings are more or less filled with kindly and gene-
rous sentiments, and pervade I with genial and sym-
pathetic tone, indispensable requisites for a Christ-
mas book. Consequently, in to.king ti:) this little
volume, we felt assured that its co.‘t- its would
be as much in accordance w-:'-'- -
as is the cheerful hue of
decked binding, or the green-
wound around . the title • page---nor
spect have we been disappointed, al,
some derr
ects in the construction of the t
pectations have not been wholly reali,e(.
thor has avowedly had two objects in view,
to give us a Christmas moral tale, and al,c,
"the sports and pastirees of the olden time at This.
festival period of the ytae." Both objects are excel-
lent in themselves, but they have not b:--en ,well
interwoven, or rather they V have not lx en inter-
woven at all. The book commences and concludes
with a description of a Christmas festival in olden
times, and the moral tale is introduced only as a
story narrated at this same festival, and the f.ct of
-its narrator being also its hero, somewhat diminishes
from its romance. Nevertheless, the story itself is
good enough, and conveys a good moral lesson, il-
lustrating, by an only too common example, the
rapid progress of crime, and 'the fact of one fault,
however trivial its nature, leading the way to many
of a far more serious character. An industrious and
virtuous youth, first indulging in harmless recreation
at the alehouse, is gradually led astray by the cor-
rupting influences of intemperance and evil company,
till his character and situation gone, he is reduced to
beggary, turns poacher, and is led-to the very brink
of crime. The moral of this tale is most. chylous ;
the interest is somewhat heightened by slight
touches of the supernatural, but this very ad-
dition, which is intended to reetkr it more
of a Christmas tale, somewhat diminishes its effect,
because it invests it with an air of improbability.
.Not that we object to the introduction of super-
natural agents (in such a tale) but only to the
manner of their introduction. Part of the story is a
dream, and part a very incredible reality, but so con-
fused is the distinction between the two, that we con-
clude the book without hardly knowing which is
which. The poachers adventures are narrated with
emh l
eumc e n t
.force The
hand
sn
evnigeoiunr
which
, h
ihoehr e
they Der. a
rare
betrayed Mills is i
inhtios
an ambush of gamekeepers, and w here, although sur-
rounded by the enemy, they, by a bold move, escape
from ruin, is very vividly portrayed, and is full .of
interest. The style of the whole volume is' very
simple and unaffected ; the dialogues are natural
and truthful ; and suggestive reflections are occa-
sionally to be met with ; among others, on a man
observing that he "can't " do .a thing proposed, he is
strangerl
,a
vndhequicksand.
the
standsetvotevil
i 1,.
answered, " Can't! pshaw ! Man can do more than
he ever has done, and will, when he thinks he can."
And again—" Unless we profit by our sufferings, un-
less the pains and penalties with which the past be
chequered teach us to avoid that rock-ribbed shore
where so many human hopes and joys are
wrecked and shattered, of what avail are they ?
Trials and heart-aches are not ordais.ed for the
mere. purroses of temporary anguish ;
impressions from the hand of sternnuiosetexrnp::firlisaetr.:;reeier,nisdhl.;,
in-
tended to warn islipieeirNi-itwt,h'itouynhfiteTtli,rsttflilrieeOlmug the hidden shoal
ef. the I)y:fortunate hero
fiatrnitrie:re esi'bin,7 hh?:. ttlls 'him that he has
urging him
~ „ :.) . e has been summoned-
summoned not by mysterious incantations, bat by
" unheeded warnings, broken resolutions, repeeted
crimes, and postponed repentance, which are, all and
each, welcomes. ' " Men's tongues oftener conceal
their thoughts than give expression to them," he con-
tinues, "and, thereftire, in words I put little trust. It
is by their works I judge whether my presence be
Idesired or not."
Mr. Mills
Buff,ln his description of Blindmm's
has plagiarised (almost to the very

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