The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-15 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

STANDARD NOVELS. No. CIIIL—MY Cousin
Nicholas. By Thomas Ingoldsby.
The Standard Novels maintain the high character
which has long since been awarded to them, and most
assuredly there is no falling off in the present number.
Poor Barham, who wrote under the soubriquet of
" Ingoldsby," was a genius of no common order. A
light and playful vein of hnmour ran through all his
productions—fun and comicality were his essential
attributes. Like Hood, he possessed the power of ex-
tracting merriment from any subject to which he
turned his attention, although he did not equal him in
the deep pathos which Hood occasionally infusedanto
his writings.
" My Cousin Nicholas" first appeared, some twelve
years since, in Blackwood, and, like many of its as-
sociates, was subsequently brought out as a separate
publication. It is, indeed, a "laughter compelling"
volume, and we defy the most moody son of care to
rise from its perusal without in some degree shaking
off the acidity of his disposition and having more of
the milk of human kindness about him than on
ordinary occasions. Every page possesses something
to excite the risible faculties from the avis au lecteur
in which the author details his reasons for preserving
a strict incognito—" how his maiden aunt," who pos-
sessed a redundancy of virtues, and 13,0001. in the
Three per Cents. Reduced, had not then shuffled off
the mortal coil—how she loved green tea, and hated
an author—and hew he could not find the heart to
commit auntycide, or take upon himself the responsi-
bility of massaereing a maiden possessed of so much
property in the funds.
All the characters are in admirable keeping, and
perfectly sustained throughout. The kind, warm-
hearted, and irascible Sir Oliver, the beau ideal of the
country gentleman of the olden time—eccentric, hot
tempered, "with a bad habit of anathematizing," and
the most inordinate pride of ancestry, and of his
descent from the famed Sir Roger de Bolevainele, the
Conqueror's standard-bearer at the battle of Hastings ;
but coupled therewith is the most genuine simplicity
and kindliness of disposition, that makes him the easy
butt of his mischievous son, but gains for him the
cordial goodwill and regard of the reader. Then we
have that most patient of all possible auditors, Cap-
tain Pyefinch, a proficient in the noble science of
backgammon ; and, moreover, very excellent com-
pany, seldom interrupting the most long-winded story
by any remarks of his own, which of Spartan brevity,
" few and far between," just served to convince his
entertainer that his narratives were not thrown away
on the listless ear of an unobservant or somnolent
auditor." And his sister, Miss Kitty, a poetess—
her soul all tenderness, sentiment, sympathy, and
feeling—is at first wholly devoted to the services of
the Muses. After she has become acquainted
with the celebrated " Dr. Olinthus Broadback,
of the Grand National Institute of Intellectual
Chimney Sweepers," although not abandoning
Polyhymnia, she coquets much with her severer sister.
The latter presides over political economy, becomes a
decided Malthusia, speaks with horror of " thought-
less procreation," and looks forward with alarm to
" no very distant period when the world shall be
destroyed by its human vermin, as a ripe Stilton is
devoured by its own mites." After discarding her flaxen
ringlets, laughing at fashion, and learning to smoke
cigars, he lays down as an axiom, that those parts of
the world, where polygamy prevails, are the most
thinly inhabited, and that the only way to prevent ex-
cess of population is for young men to have
half a dozen wives. She at last attains
such eminence in the science " that she is grievously
suspected by the Bishop of Exeter to have had
a hand in framing sundry questionable clauses in the
New Poor-law Bill, which are thought to press hard
on the comforts of th.ose who love not wisely but too
wsll." The Rev. Josiah Pozzlethwayte is " happy in
the possession of a comfortable income, a snug par-
smage, and a housekeeper, who delights in cherry-
coloured ribbons." Then there is Dr. Drench, and
the gloomy, mysterious, and eccentric Fortescue,
dsvoted to the memory of his dead love. There
is also the amiable A.lrs. Stafford, Lord
Manningham, and his beautiful daughter, Lady
Bullwinkle, "by nature of a social disposition,
and sighing in secret for the less dignified
bat more enlivening entertainments of the ser-
vants' hall, which she had so rashly abandoned."
She " prefers a game of hunt the slipper,'-'
or "the mystic rites of the Christmas mistletoe," to
all the more refined methods of killing time practised
by ladies of the rank to which she had been elevated,
are all admirable in their way. But the character of
the book "My Cousin " himself is superlative.
Although a liar, a hypocrite, wholly unprincipled
and heartless, with scarcely a redeeming point about
him, and every way vicious, you cannot help feeling
a regard for him on account of "his wit and humour,
and cannot but feel regret at his untimely end. The
playing off practical jokes, no matter bow severely they
may affect others, appears to be the sole end and object
of his existence, so that from the time he was eight years
old, when " the superiority of his talents had evinced
itself in a variety of ways, having put cow-itch into
the maids' beds, and brimstone into his father's punch-
bowl, crackers into the kitchen fire, and gun-powder
into the parlour snuffers," he never ceases the exer-
cise of his ruling passion. We find him on the cele-
bration of his own birth-day " contriving to fix a
large bonnet pin so perpendicularly erect in the
cushion about to be occupied by the Rev. Dr. Situ&
fins, as to occasion much inconvenience and detriMent
to that learned gentleman, whose agility on the occa-
sion would not have disgraced Mr. Ellar or the Flying
Phenomenon." And, on the same eventful day,
" subtracting the chain from the deciduous body of
his papa's legal adviser, amputating the apothecary's
pigtail, and by the ingenious application of a fishing-
hook and line, previously passed through the pulley of a
chandelier elevation, thesflaxen, flowing, and redundant
tresses there before the dulce decus ofMiss Kitty Pye-
finch to a situation, emulating that of Mahomet's
coffin." His after achievements, both at home and at
Oxford, are deserving of the early promise he exhibi-
bited. Whether hoaxing Sir Oliver and taking his me-
dicine before him—a couple of table-spoonsfull of
" Huxham's tincture of bark," a dark coloured fluid,
bearing a most suspicious resemblance to cherry
brandy—or when his expulsion was certain, appearing
before the board at Oxford between Sir Lawrence Thu-
Wises and Mr. St. John Gomenity, the very counter-
feit presentment of Dr. Pozzlethwayte arranged in his
snuff embrowned suit of sables, wig, green gog-
gles, and pointed toe, perfect in his individuality. The
work is rug without its moral, as it seeks to inculcate
the truths tied "impudence is not humour, nor mischief
wit; that keit, if unchecked by principle, may de-
generate into vice and terminate in crime.
The frontispiece is also admirable. It exhibits Sir
Oliver falling in love with Eleanor Skillet—the
round, plump, and rosy cook—the attentions of the
middle-aged and wearied fox-hunter, divided between
the attractions of the delicious rump steak and the
buxom maid. We heartily commend the work to the
perusal of any one who can enjoy a real hearty laugh,
and we can assure him that if he takes up the work
with the intention of indulging himself therein that he
will not be disappointed. *" The Tiame," a wild mystic
tale of diablerie is added, to make up the volume.
We trust that few of our readers will be satisfied
with the slight sketch we have given, but that they
will take the earliest opportunity of judging for
themselves how far we are justified in our commen-
dations.

NOVEL EXPORT TO ALGERIA.—A decided, novelty,
RS au export from this country to a foreign possession, Is
that of the article of hay, w hich is now taking place to a
considerable extent from London to Oran, a port in the
French territory of Algeria. Several vessels have
already been loaded and sailed for Oran, and four other
British vessels are at present loading entire cargoes of
this article for that port, say three in the St. Katherine's
Do:ks, named the Albion, the Maltass, and the Panta-
loon, and one at Cox's Quay, narnk d the Jane Maria. In
Ord3r to make as good stowage as possible, the hay is
compressed by machinery previous to shipment, besides
which the trusses are tightly stowed on board the vessel
by means of screws. The rate of freight paid is liberal,
and answers the purpose of vessels which are proceed-
ing to the Mediterranean to bring home return cargoes.
It is understood that these shipments are making for ac-
count of the French Government, and the mere fact
shows not only the great want of fodder for the French
cavalry in Algeria, but also that it is not procurable
from France. As it is, the total cost of the article, de-
livered at Oran, must be very high.
THE WOOD PAVEMENT 1N THE ClTY.—Yester-
day, by order of the Commiss;oners of Severs, the wood
pavement in Queen-street, Cheapside, was taken up, for
the purpose of having the thoroughfare paved with
stones. It has been latterly the practice of the City au-
thorities to issue an order that the poor of the neigh.
bourhood should be allowed to take the blocks of wo.)d
away for their own use. This order, however, has been
taken advantage of by dealers in wood in Spitalfields ar d
Bethnal-green, who, after cutting the blocks into fire-
wood, mix the pieces with others in the bundles they
sell.
ASYLUM FOR FEMALE ORPHANS.—Yesterday,
a general meeting of the court and governors of this cor-
poration was held at the institution for the purpose of
electing ten children out of a list of thirty-four candi-
dates. William Shadbolt, Esq., chairman. The report
statal that, irrespective of yesterday's election, there
were 11,5 children on the establishment, who are in-
structed in religion, reading, needlework, and household
bn slnesi , until they are apprenticed as servants in re-
aparecentahbalvee been families. Since its establishment, 2,412 ehil-
by the charitn recipients of the great benefits conferred
Bell's 'eLP in London, Sunday, 20th December.
Boxing-day before Christmas
between Johnny Walker and Grand " Battle Show "
• Championship of the Light Weights Sam Simmons for the
fully and graphi-
cally described. Price of Bell's Lye, Sixpence. Average
sale, 25,000.
THz wouralloTos STATUE.—Yesterday workmen
commenced preparing footing for the scaffold-poles in
the open space wait of the Horse Guards, for the pur-
pose of Impetigo a pedestal for the Wellington statue'
which is to be taken down forthaith, and subsequently
placed upon AR appropriate resting-place in the above
beality.