The Sun.
London, England, 1870-03-03 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Old Stories Retold. By Walter Thornburg.

Chapman and Hall.

Mr. Thornbury has hardly done himself justice
by his title. His work is, and it is not, a rechauff•
In other words—it is that, and something more.
The author of " Old Stories Retold" can tell a tale
with any one. He has the genius of a raconteur.
He is a skilled man of letters. He has scholarship.
But, with that—for he is no mere Dryasdust--he
has that gift of the gods, a vivid and vivifying ima-
gination. When he describes a thing, you can see
it. And in sketching a scene or an incident, he
does so by no means in neutral tint, or in Indian
ink, or in sepia. His pictures are glowing with all
the colours of the paint-box. He is eminently
realistic. The very one, therefore, to tell us all
over again such enthralling narratives as those he
has (from how many scattered directions !) brought
at last together and into companionship. The
Battle of Trafalgar and the Battle of Algiers. The
0. P. Riots and Emmet's Insurrection. The Bristol
Riots, again, and the Loss of the Kent East In-
dianian. The Infernal Machine of Fieschi and the
Forgeries of Fauntleroy. The wreck of the Me-
dusa, and the Cato-street Conspiracy. Such were
the raw materials of his book as it appeared first of
all piecemeal in All the Year Round. Such are they
now that the work is issued altogether in this
attractive publication. But among the raw mate-
rials of the book there are enough and to spare of
raw-headland-bloody-bones materials—there are
full, true, and particular accounts, for example, Of
such horrible murders as those of Burke and Hare,
the Resurrection Men ; as those of Sarah Mal-
colm—as that of Thurtell, and as those terrible
massacres perpetrated in .1823 by Williams in the
Ratcliff Highway. It is curiously noticeable in re-
gard to the sketch here given of the appalling
history of the Poisoner, Thomas Griffith Waine-
wright, that Mr. Thornbury appears strangely
enough to be in no way aware of the masterly
delineation of that exceptional ruffian in the
character of Gabriel Varney, in Lord Lytton's
romance of crime, yclepped " Lucretia." Be"
ginning, as the retrospect of sritne given in this
book does, with the record of the Life of 3
Methodist Preacher in 1715, ono wonders that
the compiler of the work never dreamt of including
among his themes the tragical incident recounted
in the later half of the last century, by the Rev. Sir
Herbert Croft, in a small pocket volume, called
" Love and Madness." The principle of selection
adopted by Mr. Thornbury is beyond our conjec-
ture. Accepting the book, however, precisely as it
is, it is to the last degree enthralling. It exercises
on its readers a sort of glamour of fascination•
&gin one of these Old Stories, no matter which,
and you must perforce read it on until the end.
Open the book anywhere and you are instanter
held by the glittering eye of the tale teller, who has--
for the truthful telling of these tales—gone through
an amount of laborious investigation that he will
have small credit for, or we are very much raiS"
taken, even from the most keenly appreciative.

COMIC) PAPERS,
(Hont Punch.)

A LAw Sun.—Wig, Gown, and Bands.
THE REAL BRIDGWATER CANAL—The Voter's Breecher
Pocket.
ONE UNCOMMON FEATURE ABOUT THE LAST NOTTING.
HAM ELECTION.—Lamb without Mint Sauce. Lalf
PLAYING AT DRAUGHTS.—The Ventilation of our
Courts.

(From Fun.)
THE WORST TAX.—A-ttacks on one's purse.

(From Judy.)
Why is the coupling chain of a locomotive like love"
Because it's a tender attachment.
MEET IT is.—How is it that butchers often have th,
propensities of betting-men ?—Because they are frequently
holding steaks.
THE " BHOYS "AT PLAY.—At the Tipperary electili
it is stated, " Bonfires were lit in Clonmel in favour ,
Kickham, and the mob smashed the windows of Cautwel
Hotel, where Mr. Heron's supporters were staying. Gref'
enthusiasm prevailed in favour of Kickham." yes,
indeed, " Kick'em, smash'eux. awl biarn'em," appeared
be the order of the day.

AMUSEMENTS OF UNDERGRADUATES.
At Cambridge Borough Police-court, on Wednesclibi
Ralph Creake, undergraduate of Downing College, :w',
charged with extinguishing the street lamps and brealkil
the glass. The defendant, on whose behalf it was pleaded
that he had been dining at the Beefsteak Club, was firi
ten shillings. Francis Bradley Paget, undergradua.te,',
Trinity College, was charged with assaulting Cathen
Moulam, by throwing water on her from the windows
his rooms in Trinity College, and with using very rt....-
language to the police-officer. Charles Helmsley, uncre
graduate of St. John's College, deposed that defenders_.
did not throw the water, which was thrown by 3„,Y,6
Symes, another undergraduate who was present. '3;O
mayor severely reprimanded Paget for the languagtat
had used, and Symes having admitted the charge agan,
him, was fined ten shillin and costs, and also for
similar assault on Ann Humbelow, The court
emowded.

The Waterford ratepayers are about to take ib4,l,
opinion of eminent counsel as to their liabilityZc
respect of the malicious injuries at the late riots. .)."
damage done is calculated at £7,000.
A meeting of representatives and members of trocri
societies was held on Tuesday night, in Leeds, to conaid
the Government Education Bill. A petition was adoptf,,
similar in spirit to that which has been issued for
guidance of its branches by the Birmingham League. 1-
Mayor presided, and there were about two hundred Ve
sons present.
A THREATENED REVOLITTION.—News from Boslo
states that the authorities at Serajevo have obtained inf.:4ooe;
tion of a widely-spread revolutionin the Slavonic provingid
of Turkey, and expsess great fears of an outbreak taK.ll/1
place in the spring. Nothing, however, seems to be
contemplation to avert the threatened dancer.

The Guardian learns that the Bishopric of Welling
ton, New Zealand, is ahout to become vacant. Mehl.'
Abraham, in consequence of the recent illness of Bishl
Selwyn, has determined to remain in England and esrhe
his old friend and colleague as coadjutor Bishop in '"
Black Country.
An accident occurred on the Belfast and Norther
Counties Railway on Tuesday. At a level, crossing the
morning train from Larne came into collision with a licul
and car. The man driving was killed and the horse a 0
car cut to pieces.
Of
The Rev. Canon Kingsley has been elected one
the Vice-Presidents of the Church Congress to be held
_,
Southamptor.. The Bishop of Winchester hag recolv4
mended that the Congress should be held in the second Wee
of October next.

It is stated that the directors of the Nort_ll;
Eastern Railway will shortly establish a telegraphfe syst%,.
of their own, with their own wires, and under the superiAt
condone° of an electrician whom they will keep upon 02
'to& of
Mr. John Paterson has been elected to the of
Sheriff of the City of London and county of Middlesex,
the place of Sir James Vallentin, deceased.
The Philadelphia Ledger says that the Britisil
Minister at Washington is soon to be made Sir Ed
Thornton, Bart.
The Nonconformist objects to the Education-killd
and says of it that it " hands over to the Establislo
Church the control of public elementary education ,0
tilinost all parochial districts, and in not a few of
municipal dist: icts. "

The very extensive Distillery now being erected
at Belfast, with all recent improvements for the manufactaroo°
Irish whisky, by Messis. DENVILLE & Co., who have gai%o
a world-wide celebrity for their tine old Irish whisky, is to
called "The Royal Irish Distillery."