The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-30 00:00:00

LITEE,A.TURE.

HARRISON AINSWORTH'S NEW STORY.
Mervyn/ Clitheroe: Parts XL and XII. By W.
Harrison Ainsworth. Illustrated by "Phiz."
G. Routledge and Co. •
The comphTion of Mervyn Clitheroe brings US to
the Olen of Mr. Ainswor,h's Fifteenth Romance,
and to the 'termination of about.. the Fiftieth sub-
stantial vermin, eonttibuted by his rapid and
industrious hand to the abundant otcre3 of our
national it.nagim,tive literature. Romance's
—beginning, in 1826, with John !
Fifty volumnw, snore or less, iniugulatel by Ilia
little accutnlation of collected magazine contribu-
tions, entitled December Tales, published by Whi -
taker : papers originally contributed by our author
to the periodicals of the day before In was yet
nineteen ! Conspicuous among them, bis story of
the "Falls c f Ohiofyle," first given to the world
in the pages Of the once famous Liu3don.'maLazine
—Taylor and Heseey's tnagaz;no of
E;ia anti of eo rotary other wits awl wags of rare
humour and rad t-int imagination. Half a hundred
goodly volumes, including among 11,m separate
poems, like The Maid's Revenge, car a cow pani,n
inetrical effusion lik.l The zaininer Evening's Tale.
Books, then, written' priired, and published, While
Harrison Ainsworth was still under age, still an
infant according to law—though the laborious and
precocious student had begun as a wr;ter long
before the appearance of these daring adventures
into the dreamlands of the poetical visionary and
of the prose roinancist. Sixt,en year-, ado p.lor
Latnan Blanchard told in the tLeu flourishing
" Mirror," how his author friend even in chill hold
apprenticed himself to 117,1 t, 1?-1►atu:t ; Lo w he,
tort, 11:" Ta'fouid ..a. 01.1tteltOft, and sa many
~suers proved to be.—

"A youth for'doonied his father's hopes fo cross,
Who penned a stanza when he should engross."

Designed by Ys father to be a c-eaveyaneee, he
became thus prematurely a "dreamer of dreams"
and a teller of wild romantic stories. So that, •
while yet hardly out of the nursery, he was e(teta
then writiugplays, painting scenes, making dresses,
and enacting the characters of his own c:eatien in
an impromptu theatre of his own construction,
built away covertly in the shady recesses of tie
Ii use cellarage ! Already es a schoolboy ho _was
writing largelr in the iris, a lite:it-airy we,kly
journal, published in 'hose times in his native place,
toe borough (since the city) of Manchester. While
yet a stripling, he brings out in fact a theatrical
publication, written wholly by himself, a periodical
work, called The Boeotian. But his first produc-
tion of a really ambitious kind was received for •
a little while afterwards. William Harrison
worth comes of age, attains his majority, and,
thereupon, A. D. 1826, Ebers, bookseller, pub-
lisher, manager of the King's Opera House, after.
wards moreover the young novelist's fettles-le-I r.w,
issues through the preen the book aeready men-
tioned, the romantic creation of "Chile rtore"
Welt do we remember reading the hook years ago,
and being lured with a sense of horrid fescivation
through the subterraneons labyrinths of those grim
passages and cavernous glooms honeycombing th
groun6d of that wild old goblin manor-house. No
wonder at the time of its appearance there was a
complimentary reference to the work in the
Diary of Sir Walter Scott, a casual tri-
bal' e, giving to the youthful novelist the timbre
of the great Remancist's early and spontaneous ap-
probation. Afterwards—as many as eight years
afterwards, during which time he was doubtless.
maturing ds powers and preparing for another and
a bolder flight of imagination—in 1834 appeared
his first work iu three volumes, perhaps of all the
happiest romance, as a romance, he has ever yet
written, the glorious romance ef Loohvood-.--cer-
t:tinly of all tie se various and under. is (ay suc.:eesful
productions, the one containing his most felicitous '
lyric—Jerry Juniper's chant ab rut 'the roldcking
romany Aril beyond this the fiction curraining
incomparably the very best of all his wondrous de-
eciptions—the famous ride to York of Dick Turpia,
the prince of Highwaymen. Subeequently cairn's
in 1337 the romantic historical figment of Crichton
—the Admirable. And two years later there ap-
reared in " Bentley's Miscellany," on the first of
January, 1839, the introductory chapters of whit
the writer first intended to call " Thames Darrell,"
but what he eventually designated Jack Sheppard.
It was a success far greater as a literary success than
that won byi Henry Fielding's "Jonathan Wild
the Great." When drainatied and put upon tee
stage, it was As much the rage of the town as ever
in its paltniest days was the " Begear's Opera"' of
Gay. In the nartht of its unparalleled triumph,
however, it was denounced as neither of those kin-
dred productions was ever denounced, as " Jack
Sheppard" indeed alone was ever denounced—as
demoralising, as deleterious, as a sort of in•elloe-
turd dram-drinking, maddening and intoxicating
the more excitable of the population. Eighteen
years have gone by since then howbeit, and the
outcry has lung ago been recognised to have been
in every ?renal monstrously exieg ..Jeek has
been acted " 'teeny a time and oft" during
the interval by Mrs. Keeley . and ether
vivacious impersonators—Psul Bedford has red-
dened his nose and sung the drinking songs as Blue-
skin with inimitable gusto—the prison breaker has
worked his way out of Newgate again and nein,
amidst the applause of crowded houses—the book
has been printed and reprinted by thousands and
tens of thousands • and the iniignation against it
has meanwhile died out so entirely that we do not
conceive the author's reputation has in any way
whatever been deteriorated by it; even temporarily.
It was shortly after the commencement of Jack's
adventures upon his first periodical appearance
that Mr. Ainsworth (on the retirement of B3Z from
the editorial chair) first of all in the early part of
1839—now nearly twenty years ago—undertook
the editorship of Bentley's Miscellany. Thirteen
years have eLipsed, moreover, by this time sinco,
in 1845, he purchased from Mr. Colburn the B._le
proprietorship of the other serial, he has since
then continuously edited the only surviving hree-
and-sixpenny first class serial—the ew Moltthly '
Magazine. NotwitleetaneUng his editorial laboure,
sometimes single, and certainly teen sufficiently
arduous, but latterly double—yet not even thou
exhausting or impracticable to this most indefatig-
able man•of-letter s —notwithstanding his editorial
labours begun here as early as twenty, there thir-
teen years ago, how many popular fictions Harrison
Ainsworth has himself prin•cd during the interval
—besides beginning and ending during this long
lapse of time the career of his own (eveu by name
essentially his own) periodical, Ainsivodh's Maga-
Wine. Sitmtltaueously, in 1840, side by sale,
month by month each illustrated by George
Cruikshank Guy Fawkes, with all the hair-
breadth danger s run by himself and his mcompiices
in the Gun Powder Ocnapiraoy, and the ott.er and
very different histrnitat romance, illustrative of
The Tower of London as a Palade, as a Prison, and
as a Fortrese Next, nay, in the very year to low-
ing, namely in 1841, there appeared from week to
week in the columns of a Sunday newspaper the
enthralling tale of the Fire and Plague—Old Saint
Paul's. Almost simulotneously with one another
appeared in 1842, an ther 'Untac." of romances of
the olden ttme—Februar. wi•nessing the commence-
ment of The Miser's Daughter, arid July, that of the
serge:ls Tudor narrative of Windsor Castle as it
was in the days of Henry the Eighth and Berne the
Hunter. The last mentioned work being brought
to a close in 1843, there bigan to appear in 1844
the other kindred historical romance of 'Saint
James's—descriptive of rho Court of Queen Anne,
in what Tennyson calls—
The tea-cup times of hoop and. hood."

The subsequent year saw our novelis', as we haie-
said, the purchaser of the late Mr. Celbura's Maga-
zine, a periodical which claims for itself the glory
of having among its previous editors Theodore
Hook, the wit, Thomas Campbell, the poet, Thomas
Hood, both alike, and Bultver-Lytton, those and
a great many ot.her characters besides: Another
imaginative tale two summers after was contribut d
by Mr. Ainsworth to the Sunday newspaper whose
columns he had in e similar way p:evious'y embel-
lished. This tiineeramely, iu 184$, the weekly serial
in question was his norttitra romance of The Lanca-
shire Ditches.. In each instance the journal pa'd
him a thousand pounds for his cootrioutiuzi. Be-
sides the foregoing how many ether tales and ro-
mances have been penned by Ainsworth ? These
is Aitriol, the " fiagmeut of 'a romance'—if we
mistake net, the same originally called the "Revela-
tions ot London." There is the Flitch of Bacon, illus-
trative of the famous custom of Durnnow--1- CM-
tom long fallen into disuetude, but one trl,i7t:'t s
tale actually revved -w;:1-, ill t :e aeiieeepageaetrie,s
f 'iie faet..s.ie pi ()cession. Then th,re was. the
recently comp'eted story of a century ago, peb-
lished in "Bentley," and en t itled 'i he ...pelicithrtft, a
tale iu its social and moral design eminently Huger-
ti,ian. As indeed, in one sen-e, h d been i s mo:e
famous pre docessor, " Jack Sheppard "—Jazii
Sheppard aed Thames D met' being very s•rekine
types inleed of the industlious and idle app ee-
tice3. Lestly, they ~ is this story of modern Ille
and "living manners" but just now hapeily
brought to its conclusi,n. In As appearance there
occurred, as many of the readers of Mervyn
Clitheroe will u ell remember, a provoking hiatus
of several years, during the lapse of which it some i
at first that the work had been indefinitely sus-
pended, and at last, even to the fancy of some,
definitively abandoned. Fortunately, however,
for those who, Jim) ourselves, regarded the narra-
tive as in many respects Unusually propitious in its
Icommencement, the broken threads of the story
were taken up again at last, and the weaving of
them into the intricate webwork of the plot re-
newed under the same genial auspices. Sosrcely

any one would now be able to deleet ahem th
pause occurred in the labour of composition. Al-
ready we have followed the progress of the fiction
so carefully and watchfully throughout that but
little now remains for us to add in the way of com-
mentary. The closing, double number, comprising
within it eight additional chapters, has brought the
narrative down to a series of the happiest censum-
mations. As the dramatis personm gather together
before the footlights immediately prior to the final
des.ceet of the cut lain, we ate delighted to observe
that the abentinal.le Mr:. •Braleciake has thrown
aside her ueateiable iteaquei Ade and appeared in a
-more agreeable light, to her true character as. Lady.
Amicie. H r 1.-xly•h'p, mereoaer, has been hap-
pily reconciled at last to her familye--to.her brother,
Lord L-yland o her father, the Earl of Bossen-
dale. Her sou, ralreover, is now no longer the
Rev. John Brideoake, a bachelor clergyman—but
my Lord Wilber-ton, married to Ora, se
new my La.ly Wilburten. As an equally delight.
fall matter cf course, Apphia is the bride of our
young hero Mervyn Clithetoe, who Las nieanweiile
come at is t into poae;.sion of his old uncle Mob-
berley's :arm estate -of .N.,titercrofte. It is espe-
cially observable, to ), that Mervyn discovers his
father at last, an i this as n a• ly us possible at the
very time he ola tains h's property. Another wed-
ding has yet to be mentioned ; to wit, that of
Ora's maiden aunt w.th Cuthbert Spring, the
merry gentleaisn, and op to that time the incor-
rigible old bachelor. Nay, there are some o her
nuptials recorded at the cle se of the narrative.
meaning those Of Molly Bal-y with the stately old
Jacobite Butler at the ane.or4t ' Mr. C
While wo are elesc the priueipal personages
Qt tau liotivu thus (in military phrase) dressing Ivp
prepatatory to the last simulcanecus bow and fare-
well, we are aware 01 two or three little incidents
cunning in the backeroncd: Pownall and the
gypsies being carrie.i off behind the scenes as con-
victed delinquenat, ceesighed to protracted and
well-merited tunishment. Captain Sale has-pre-
viously broken his neck, and died repenting—in
the undat of riding a gay steeplechase. One of the
happiest specimens in " Mervyn Clitheroe" of Mr.
Ainsworth's better manuer as a' romancist is the
midnight tale .of murder told by him as the "Le-
gend of 0 alarton Grange," the narrative of the
horrible crime of Jothain Shoolack and its still
more botrible retribution. It is, a fragmentary
passage reminding us vividly of the panel-work
surprises in " Reolewood," and of the terrible sub•
terranean vaults and cotridors of "Chiverton."
" Inscribed to my contemporaries at the Manchester
school," is the simple but kindly dedication. An
explicit and not unwelcome acknowledgment by our
author that the free grammar school at Cotten-
hourgh really does mean in truth what few failed
to cgnjecture it to be long :Ago the free
grammar-school at Mao& ester. And in the same
way it is pleasant to think now of the novelist's
ancestral home and domana. of Beech-hill, as the
original ef the dear old picturesque house either of
the Anchorites or of Nethercrofts. Thither, as
Lannon :Blanchard intimated fifteen years ago in his
memoir of Mr. Ainsworth, our popular novelist
"meditates a return irimatuter life;" adding "Bnt
the metropolis and its neighb inrhood, the pursuit
of fame, and the fields in which he has gathe red up
many golden sheaves, will long detain him thence
—the delay only tending to enrich: his memories,
and double the sweetness of .a late retirement."
Fortunately for all his London friends has that u te-
rior removal beau thin indefinitely postponed—
driven on waids to the tx remity of that
vague and ramose perspective._ So that
while our author leaves Mervyn at last comfort-
ably housed at the Ancaorite's, looking in at he.
queue intervals upon Ned Calchetb, established as >a
['ant' at Nethercrofts—he himself happily remains
within reach of the metropolis and its neighbour-
Itooi, while—with the practised skill of one with so
long and brilliant au editorial experience—driving
the literary tandem of the New Monthly Magazine
and Bentley's Miscellany.

The Light of ether Dct7B. By John Edmund
Reads, author of " Italy." 3 vols. Hurst and
Blacketta • • -
Th's work cannot fail to attract attention, inas-
much as the author is well. known by his previous
productions, and also as tke volumes before us, are
dietinguished by considerable ability. This is no
ephemeral composition, to amuse an idle moment,
but the resole of t Losgat, judgment, and reflection,
a refined and cultivated intelligence is brought to
bear on some of the most important s,.cial and
literary questions csl:the age, and while the readers
differ from-some of the arguments, they must agree
in rendering a tribute to the accumulsted know-
ledge that they display. It may be obj cted that
these dissertations are toe frequent and studied,
and. that they are. more suitaele to the essay,
time to the pages of a novel. The story itself pos-
sesses great interest. Helen Hengist, toe heroine,
is one eminently cllculated to excite enthusiasm
for her' welfare. She, was placed in a
r erilous position, hut always acted with discretion,
and at thcaFAXll3 time-evinetal.,a spirit
,that on more
than one occasion bore her triuelphantly through
threatened evils. Her home was a moss unhappy
one, nod she was compelled to leave it oa-.Let
mother's death. Her father was a peculiar man,
who gave- way to h s own prejudices, and indulged
his passions till he bacame unbearable. /1-r bro-
,ther was a still greater trial to her. He hid early
left the paternal roof, in consequence of serious
a7tercations with his father; and when once on the
highway of the world, w.thout a guide, he plunged
recklessly into all sorts of excesses, and cared
nothing for the feelings of his family, nor the
honour of his name. To one so sensitively. alive
to the requirements of justice, and so scrupu-
lous in adhering to the d'ctates of houour as
Helen, it was a bitter trial to have one so closely
related by the ties of kindred continually crossing
her path, and harassing her mind by his dis-
graceful present course, and the prospect of still
more aggravating aesions in the future. Oae of the
most pleasing of the personages introduced is
"Dame Hengist," as she persisted in styling her-
self. There is a charm about her thet insensibly
attract;—someth'ng fresh and genial in her style
and manner that wins its way on the resat cl—whde
the sterling eseellenc'es of her mind, and her many
noble qualities, procure for her at once homage and
respect. She despised the honours to which she was
entitled by her position, and, indeed, she was not
devendent on adventitious aids for priority. It
might truly he said of her—
" The beauty of a life will spent,
Was her ror.jestic ornament."
Her at'achenent to her humblatriend, Mrs. Maude,
is a proof of her kindness of heart, and her sorrow
at her death is tr,uch ngly desciiheci. The design-
ing and treacherous 'Dion:shy is well depicted, and
it is a retributtie scene, in whits!' Sir James Hen-
gist atal his servant meet death at each other's
hands. The former had trained the latter to evil
ways, and he had turned round on the man who had
at least benetitted hi.o after his own fashion.
The passage which describes the narrator's visit to
the poet in his retlremeut is an interesting one.
The inoutnfulness which pervades the retrospect cf.
L.'s life, invests it with a charm and a grace un-
knewn to a lighter or livelier c _weer. Atter he hp'
sketched in a fir cib e manlier the many obstacles
that Is,trred his path to fame, and the slights that
had to be endured, and the failures met with, be-
fore his ambition could he gist idei, and the dreams
of his imaginative youth realised, he eaters on
another page of life's histors. A shade falls over
the career that appea:ed to promise so bril-
liantly. He who had been successful in love
as triumphant in lisersture, felt the impotence
of this. world's greatness, when he laid
his beloved wife in her early grave, which wss soon
re-opened to contain their only child. In this
sketch there is a solemn earnestness of tone, united
with a depth of feelSng and a simplicity of expret-
sion, that possess interest of no °railway kind: It
seems the language of one who has felt what he
utters, and the sympathies of his hearers
.are
aroused by the recital of his struggles, while She
sad tale of his sorrows shares their pity and regret.
There is touch to win the attention in this weak.
The light of other da3s geuerally shines with a sub-
dued splendour, and it is most fitting that a retro-
, spi etive narrative should be imbued with a melan-
choly hue, as is the one before us ; while many
other causes combine to create for it a regard. In
these pages we weft with much that may give rise
to thought, and the generil impression conveyed
to:the mind of the reader by their perusal is, that
the work belongs to
_the superior order of nov.-is.

LTTT'EF.ci or C. rt,Dle LULL —A. lull of Mr. Hon•fail.
tioigson, and Mr. B )vill makes Irti,rs of Credit
tram terahh; a,d liable be tuf,,recd and sued upon iu
a coin t of. 15.5 or ET:Ay, as iu the Citia of a protaissury
rig to payable 10 t.rder.
CRYSTAL PALACE --The grest success which attendcd
ti -to t arotar3nce of tti 13tadfQrd Festival Cboral
,;-!iety yesterday has induced:ti.e d.rectoi, to arrange
:•u Luanne t,:J mor., crtaurooa}). which will
be tt last appearance at ti-,e u-uki price of admission.
FILTHY STATE CF THE 1 RABIES —Yehtelday, ou
the / orth bank cf the tiv,r between Woctuainster and
Hungerfotd Bridges, men were enghged dur;nk the
pericd of low water in :covering the k,tiore with lime, as
al o the shore above Westalinsta-bridge ; and it is pur-
posed thatthis exps riment to destroy the noxi:Aiseffiuticaz
shall be carried out along both banks by the local beards '
of health of the different parishes within whose districts
the shore is situate, they having the power to matte the
outlay for the preservation of the public
health. The
pleasure traffia on the Thames has suffered conalderably,
and the number r f passengers travelling by the river
steamers is daily diminishing. The individuals who look
forward to this time of the year to make a little harvest ,
by the letting of boats are completelY
at a standstill, and
the only trade which
'ii
in the cabins, where
refiSruorpishs ofi brandy are arriveeirnicsocnasrtarkadt
. equeet.