The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-22 00:00:00

BLOTTED OUT.

"Rising, he went to the book-case, and taking out a
largo volume, opened it, and turned to the page immediately
succeeding the cover. It was a big old-fashioned Bible,
bound in calf, with a hideous ancient woodcut as a frontis-
piece, representing the Adoration of the Wise Men ; but the
page to which Lord Beauport turned, yellow with age, was
inscribed in various-coloured inks, many dim and faded,
with the names of the old Brakespere family, and the dates
of their births, marriages, and deaths. Old Martin Brake-
spere's headed the list ; then came his son's, with ' created
Baron Beauport" in the lawyer's own skimpy little hand,
in which also was entered the name of the musical-amateur
peer, his son ; then came 3eorge Brakespere's bold entry of
his own name and his wife's, and of the names of their two
sons. Over the last entry Lord Beauport paused for a few
minutes, glaring at it with eyes which did not see it, but
which had before them a chubby child, a bright handsome
Eton boy, a dashing guardsman, a swell' loved and petted
by all, a fugitive skulking in an assumed name in the cabin
of a sea-tossed ship ; then he took up a pen and ran it
through the entry backwards and forwards until the name
was,completely blotted out ; and then he fell again into his
train of thought. The family dinner-hour was long since
past; the table was laid, all was ready, and the French
cook and the grave butler were in despair ; but Lord Beau-
port still sat alone in his library with old Martin Brake-
spere's Bible open before him."

From the above glimpses our readers may easily
perceive the very interesting character of Mr.
Yates' new story, which never flags in interest, but
is earnest and animated throughout.

Adventures of Gil Blas. New Edition. One Vol.,
pp. 442. _ George Routledge and Sons.

A quite matchless edition in its way to our mind
is this reissue in a new form of what is, perhaps,
after all, everything considered, the finest novel
that was ever penned ! Meaning, of course, the in-
comparable " Gil Blas" of Le Sage, those immortal
" Adventures of Gil Blas de Santillane," which,
now more than one hundred years ago, were done
very cleverly into English by our own native
novelist, our own delightful story-teller, racy of the
soil on which he was born and bred, Tobias Smollett.
Printed on toned paper, in small but exquisitely
clear type—illustrated with a sprinkling of boldly
drawn woodcuts admirably engraved by the Dalniels—
giving the textin our own vernacular exactly as it was
rendered into it, with congenial spirit, by the author of
" Roderick Random" and " Peregrine Pickle," from
the original French of the author, not only of this
wonderful book itself, but of that quite kindred
work of imagination, " Asmodeus, or the Devil on
Two Sticks"—the present edition of " Gil Bias,"
small though it is, cheap though it is—or, perhaps,
we ought rather to say, precisely because of those very
two reasons, namely, because of its exceeding cheap-
ness and compactness, reflects high honour upon the
establishment of the popular publishers at once of
London and New York, the Messrs. George Rout-
ledge and Sous of the Broadway, Ludgate-hill.
The volume is delightful to handle, delightful to
read, and well worthy of preservation for frequent
use as a pocket edition of about the noblest master-
piece of fiction in literature.

THE " G. V. BROOKE" LIFEBOAT.—The National
Lifeboat Institution has decided on placing the " G.
V. Brooke" lifeboat at Lyme Regis, a dangerous point on
the coast of Dorset. It will probably be remembered that
Mr. Brooke unfortunately perished, with 219 others, on
board the steamship London, in the Bay of Biscay, during
a fearful storm on the 11th January last. Mr. Brooke was
a distinguished and much-respected tragedian, and his
professional brethren and admirers have already collected
about £3OO fot the lifeboat to be established to his memory,
and hope eventually to raise the entire cost, amounting to
about £6OO, of the new boat station at Lyme Regis in lieu of
the old one there at present. We may add that contribu-
tions in aid of the "G. V. Brooke" lifeboat fund will be
gratefully received, amongst others by Mr. I. W. Anson,
secretary of the Royal Dramatic College, 20, Tavistook-
street, Covent-garden.

„,
Qiff r
NA,
&nal tip. t

HER MAJESTY•

WINDSOR CASTLE, March 21.

The Queen walked and drove in the grounds
yesterday afternoon, with Princess Louise, and
again went out this morning, accompanied by her
royal highness.
His Serene llighness the Prince of Hohenlohe-
Langenbourg, attended by Lieut.-Col. Kingscote,
went out hunting.

The Dowager Princess Hohenlohe (her Majesty's
half-sister) took leave of her Majesty this morning,
and left the Castle for the Continent.
Her Royal Highness Princess Louise, attended
by the Hon. Mrs. Bruce, acompanied the princess
to the railway station in Windsor, and afterwards
returned to the Castle.

Major-General Seymour, Equerry in Waiting to
the Queen, attended her serene highness to Folke-
stone.

TLe Prince and Princess of Wales.

The Prince of Wales, attended by Lieut.-Col.
Keppel, hunted with his harriers near Taplow yes-
terday.

The Princess of 'Wales took a carriage drive,
attended by the Hon. Mrs. Stonor.
In the evening the Prince and Princ6i's of Wales
dined with the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough
at their residence in St. Jame's-square.
The name of his Serene Highness Prince Edward
Saxe-Weimar was accidentally omitted in the ac-
count of the Levee by his Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales on behalf of the Queen on the
19th inst.