The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-11 00:00:00

A DISMAL PICTURE.

The horses pawed the ground for several minutes of
delay, and then appeared Mr. Menteith, followed by Mrs.
Campbell—who was quite a grand lady now, in silks and
satins—but with the same sweet, sad, gentle face. The
lawyer and she stood aside, and made way for a big, stal-
wart young Highlander of about one-and-twenty or there-
abouts, who carried in his arms, very gently and carefully,
wrapped in a plaid, even although it was such a mild spring
day, what looked like a baby, or a very young child.
" Stop a minute, Malcolm."

At the sound of that voice, which was not an infant's
though it was thin and sharp, and unnatural rather for a
boy—the big Highlander paused immediately.

" Hold me up higher—l want to look at the loch."

" Yes, my Lord."

This then—this poor, little, deformed figure, with every
limb shrunken and useless, and every joint distorted, the
head just able to sustain itself and turn feebly from one
side to the other, and the thin white hands piteously twisted
and helpless-looking—this, then, was the Earl of Cairn-
forth.

" It's a bonnie loch, Malcolm."
" It looks awfu' bonnie the day, my Lord."
" And," almost in a whisper, " was it just there my
father was drowned?"
" Yes, my Lord."

No one spoke, while the large, intelligent eyes, which
seemed the principal feature of the thin face that rested
against Malcolm's shoulder, looked out intently upon the
loch.

At last Mr. Menteith suggested that the kirk-bell was
beginning to ring.

" Very well—put me into the carriage."
Malcolm placed him, helpless as an infant, in a corner of
the silken-padded coach, fitted with cushions especially
suited for his comfort. There he sat—in his black velvet
coat and point-lace collar, with silk stockings and dainty
shoos upon the poor little feet that never had walked, and
never would walk, in this world. Tho one bit of him that
could be looked at without pain was his face, inherited from
his beautiful mother. It was wan, pale, and much older
than his years, but it was a sweet face ;—so patient,
thoughtful—nay, strange to say, content. You could not
look at it without a certain sense of peace, as if God, in
taking away so much, had given something—which not
many people have—something which was the divine answer
to the minister's prayer over the two-days'-old child—
" Thy will bo done."

Although he lives to reach man's estate, and his
head and features become matured, he never grows
beyond the size of a child of ten or twelve ; he is
never able to move or to use his hands even with-
out the greatest difficulty. It is in selecting such
a distressing physical unfortunate for the subject
of our continued contemplation (for we are
never allowed to forget the useless feet
or the poor crippled fingers), that we think
the author of a "Noble Life" has, indeed,
been sadly mistaken. The moral of the tale is,
of course, excellent, and the descriptions of the
workings of the mind and heart of the " noble"
hero are very forcibly portrayed, but the story is
likely to have an unpleasant effect upon many
readers ; and we are sorry to say so, and very
sorry to think it, for the perusal of a work by
the hand to which we owe the sweet, loveable

Christian, the " gentleman" John Halifax, the
charming Agatha and her husband, the self-sacri-
ficing Ninian the devoted head of the family, and
so many others equally admirable and equally de-
lightful, is to us almost invariably a matter of espe-
cial interest and gratification.

ILLUSTRATED GIFT BOOKS.

--4,-

(SECOND NOTICE.)
The Atlantic Telegraph. By W. H. Russell,
LL.D. ; illustrated by Robert Dudley. (Day and
Son, Limited.)—A magnificent commemoration is
here made of a very wonderful enterprise. An en-
terprise the hair-breadth failure of which is beyond
a thousand of the successes recorded in the History
of Science—and for this reason that it was a failure
auguring the all but certainty of eventual triumph
in the accomplishment of one of the most daring
undertakings ever adventured upon by civilised
man. " One touch of Nature makes the whole
world kin," said Shakspere. And in the flash
of the electric current we actually have the axiom
of the great Poet very wondrously realized and
magically illustrated. For, there, literally, is one
touch of nature that, in the twinkling of an eye, can
make, has made, is daily, hourly, momentarily
making, the whole world kin! Across continents—
under the depths of the ocean—along the fibrous
thread of a copper wire—at the thrill of an acid—
at the click of a needle--men, separated from each
other by the intervening distance of many thousands
of miles, converse with one another at pleasure by
that one touch of nature, vouchsafed to them through
the marvellous agency of the Electric Telegraph !
Among all the astounding wonders worked by the
agency of science, those embraced under the sugges-
tive title of Submarine Telegraphy are incom-
parably the most surprising in their character,
are the most completely captivating to the im-
agination of the civilised multitude. First and
foremost among the victories achieved by the pro-
moters of Submarine Telegraphy being, beyond all
possibi.ity of contradiction, that achieved in the
successful laying down of the Atlantic Cable be-
tween Europe and America, between Ireland and
Newfoundland ! For, let it never be forgotten that
the Miracle of that astonishing Victory of Science
has actually been accomplished ! It does not yet
remain to be accomplished for the first time—it has
absolutely been accomplished. Communications
have passed under the depths of the Atlantic
from Shore to Shore, to and fro, audibly in
the click of the needles, visibly in their
rapid deflections to the right hand and to the
left. The President of America and the Queen
of England have exchanged courtesies and assur-
ances of amity through this novel medium of com-
munication. And, although the channel of inter-
course thus marvellously opened for a while be-
tween the old world and the new was but sustained
for a very brief time intact—that channel, no matter
for how short an interval, has been opened. Along it
from shore to shore, from east to west, from west to

east, that most wondrous Touch of Nature has made
the Whole World Kin—will yet once more make it
kin anew, and the next time permanently, with
God's good blessing on man's resolute perseverance!
Another and a giant step towards that end is here
recorded with a luminous pen by the most gifted
and renowned of all Newspaper Correspondents 1

By him whom we remember to have dubbed
in these columns of The Sun "CAPTAIN PEN," when
he was first making his reputation as The Times'
Military Correspondent out in the Crimea. Dr.
William Henry Russell has often before now written
of great events in a manner worthy of them, has
written of them nobly, graphically, eloquently, as
befitted the hand of CAPTAIN PEN in proprid persona
—but he has never written more nobly, more
graphically, or more eloquently as the recorder of
Great Events than he has here done when recount-
ing the history of the last endeavour to lay the
gigantic cable of the Atlantic Telegraph.
Reading it, we cannot but most earnestly trust and
pray that the man who wrote this history of the all
but successfulachievment of that greater enterprise is
yet destined, within a very few months more, to wit-
ness with his own eyes and to record with his own
hand, the triumphant accomplishment of what has
twice been adventured upon with such magnificent
audacity. That that deed will yet be done, and done
securely, we cannot but rest perfectly well assured.
Its accomplishment is simply a question of time.
If any doubts had still lingered in our mind upon
the matter before Dr. Russell's book was issued
from the press, those doubts, thanks to this
book, Dr. Russell has completely dissipated. The
narrative penned by him is, as a matter of
course, the dominant charm, attraction, and
glory of the volume. But the written narrative
itself so intrinsically alluring to the reader will be
found by him to have been enhanced in interest and
fascination by the adornments lavished upon it in
the issue of the work in the form •cf this splendid
volume by the combined assistance of the subsidiary
arts of the illustrator, the lithographer, the typo-
grapher, the paper manufacturer, and the very
bookbinder. It is a book worthy of its theme and
of its author—a gift-book not unworthy of the
timbre affixed to it as another of the splendid
volumes emanating from the Messrs. Day and Son's
establishment.

./Esop's Fables. Illustrated with One Hundred
and Ten Engravings. (Frederick Warne and Co.)—
In the mere getting of it up this little volume could
haraly have been rendered more charmingly at-
tractive than it has been by the combined ingenuity
of printer, bookbinder, and embellisher. As to the
letterpress contents of the book, however, we can
only regret that less pains had been taken. We
mean in the touching of it up, so as to " point the
moral," if not also to " adorn the tale," of each
successive fable. If only these " Fables of .2Esop "
had been translated literally, verbatim et literatim,
nothing added, nothing modified ! Instead of
which, we must needs have the suggestiveness of
the little narratives utterly spoilt in some instances,
very considerably marred in others, by being com-
mented upon, or morally enforced in (heir applica-
tion, and all this, as it certainly appears to us, most
unnecessarily. It is as if the editor of the volume, while
recognising in the immortal Fables of the greatest
as well as the oldest of the Fabulists—that wise and
witty JEsop who was the precursor of our more
modern Gays and Lafontaines—that the editor, we
say, while recognising in these world-famous " Fables
of lEsop " so many Wise Saws, must needs take it
into his head that they would be comparatively
worthless unless very pointedly applied, or enforced,
by the tacking to them so many Modern Instances.
We regret the superfluous labour thus. devoted to
the literary adornment of the present volume, be-
cause we cannot but see in it as a whole one of the
loveliest editions of lEsop for a long while given to
the world—the loveliest edition of all in a form
so popular and accessible. Beast and bird, and fish
and reptile—symbolised externally in the four cor-
ners of the binding—lion, dove, eel, lizard, horse
and ass, wolf and lamb, frog and ox, dog and
cat, snake and peacock, ape and fox, here they
all are vividly brought before us in the prettiest
little vignette wood-cut embellishments—croaking,
quacking, hissing, bellowing, warbling, bleeting,
roaring, twittering, cooing, screeching, lowing, gib-
bering, neighing, barking, purring the wit and wis-
dom, breathed to all time, to all countries) to all
generations through their wonderful Imaginary
Conversations ! Upon the whole, this charming
Illustrated Edition of 2Esop's Fables command—in
spite of the exceptions to it we have here felt con-
strained to take almost in spite of ourselves—our
heartiest admiration, constituting, as it does, as ele-
gant an epitome as could reasonably be wished of
the sage and shrewd imaginings of the world's most
renowned and cherished Fabulist.

Illustrated Book of Trades. (George Routledge
and Sons.)—Having examined very carefully the
whole of this goodly volume, we hesitate not one
instant to pronounce it, in our opinion, the most
instructive and entertaining " Book of Trades" ever
published. Through its pages we take a survey, a
rapid but by no means a superficial survey, of the
industrial labours of the great workers in the hive
of modern civilisation. Turning over its pictured
leaves, we note successively the tools and occupa-
tions of—

" Butcher and baker
And candlestick-maker !"
One after another, we are introduced to all the

more important and essential toilers and moiler
in the workshops and factories of the world.
Besides such all-important personages as the Black'
smith and the Carpenter, as the Bricklayer and the
Farrier, and so forth—almost we had said, in the
words of the old nursery rhyme—

Tinker, Tailor,
Soldier, Sailor,
Apothecary, Ploughboy, Thief!

Only that the jemmy, the centre-bit, and the crow-
bar, familiar to the skilled hands and secretive
pockets of the Burglar or Housebreaker hardly, of
course, fall within the category of the industries here
illustrated and explained for the delight of our more
inquiring youngsters. Hardly an adult amongst us,
however well instructed in regard to the varied °on'
pations of our working population, but might---lint
without delight to himself—extend the range of his
knowledge by a glance through the, " Book of
Trades," as those trades are herein revealed to us)
lucidly explained, and profusely illustrated.
Cervantes' Don Quixote. Illustrated. (George
Routledge and Sons).—Newly translated into Eng-
lish by Charles Jarvis, and very humorously illus-
trated by John Gilbert, the immortal masterpiece
of Cervantes Saavedra is here issued anew from the
press for the delight of all the lovers of extravagant
comicality and innocent irony who care, for half 3
dozen shillings, to adorn their bookshelves with
really exquisite version of one of the greatest works
in imaginative literature. Translated into allmoderu
languages, published in every conceivable forint
printed ono while for the value of a mere song,
another while in an edition de luxe not unworthy 0f
being swathed in silk, velvet and morocco, eni"
blazoned with gold, and encrusted with
precious stones the history of Don Quixote
of La Mancha, has within the last three bun
dred years achieved for itself a world-wide re-
nown and popularity. Among the most renowned
creations of the fancy in all literature are the gaunt
figure of the Don himself, the podgy form of his
almost yet more ridiculous Esquire, Sancho Pao
to wit, and the scarecrow anatomy of the Peerles,s,
Knight's destrier Rosinante. Among the most well
known incidents in fiction, are such incidents a°
those related of Don Quixote in regard to 11
laughter-moving assault upon the Wine-skins, ant
his equally laughter-moving battle with the Wind'
mills. The statuary and the painter in various ages
and in different countries have vied with each other
in realising, in regard to Don Quixote and his ad..
ventures, the breadth of their humour and the
height of their extravagance. But among all the
tributes that have thus abundantly been offered t°
the genius of Cervantes, as that genius is want-
fisted in his immortal masterpiece, the most pre"
cious to his fame, as affording appreciahi
guarantees for its perpetuity, are the pePul3fl
cheap, and elegant reprints of Don Quixote, that
have of late years been following each other fr°lll.
the press with such marvellous rapidity. ConePti
cuously taking its place among the cheapest a%
most elegant, as also, we doubt not that time w
prove, among the most popular of these one-
volumed reprints, when it comes to be known,
is the one volumed edition here given to the public'
at what might almost be called a mere nonlin'
price, by a firm of popular publishers ecitinlit
well-known and appreciated as such, upon bnt
sides of the Atlantic.

Baron Munchausen's Adventures. Illustrated
Gustave Dore. (Cassell, Petter, and Galpin).--°,
magnificent an edition of Baron Munchausen
believe has never before made its appearance.
its splendour and in its very dimensions it is upoll.
par with the Baron's own adventures. Domilse
Sampson, and no one else, might define it ade:„.
qnately in a word—speaking of it (as it deserves
be spoken of) as—•" Pro-digious 1" It takes us back
to the almost forgotten age of folios and quart°s:l
It is, in the mere binding of it, glowing with gold an
clad in scarlet. Its own narrative, as we all knol
is written currente calamo throughout. But
author, whoever he was, has here at length folio'
his match in his illustrator—that indefatigable, in-
exhaustible, bizarre, outré, wierd, fantastic, gr°-
tesque of the pencil, M. Gustave Dore to wit. W 11:
killed Cock Robin ? is a query the answer to which
is much better known than that other far wet°
problematic question as to Who wrote " .1331.°,11
Munchausen ?" Whoever he was he certainly
evidences such a marvellous capacity for pulling td,
long bow, that he at least, if no one else could,
must surely have been able, had he taken it in hand,
to have bent the bow of Achilles as easily as though
it had been the merest willow-switch! Dando
have been matchless as an eater of oysters—but) 1:
the author of " Baron Munchasen" there 20°,0
Crammer, if you will ! Surely in one sew() ro
greatest Story-Teller in the world! A writer 'isq'
must, beyond any doubt of it, have drawn his l 0
guage—among all our lexicographers—not fru°o
Johnson, or from Webster, or from Ogilvy, 'lli,
(exclusively) from—Walker 1 If only as symbe.t•
tally suggestive in the sound of it, his favoar/e.
musical instrument must certainly have been the 1/1. 0
If any wanderer over the earth ever came hc111::1!
again with what is called Travellers' Tales, he did
If any voyager over the seas ever evinced a capacity
for spinning yarns, here was the man ! Such P°rso
tentous mendacity the world has never witnessedbio
thab which enables Baron Munchausen to take
._On
stand, like a Colossus, upon the borderland betvm"
the Sublime and the Ridiculous.

Court tirtlor.

HER MAJESTY•

OSBORNE, WednesdaSL•iie
The Queen, with Princess Hermann of Hoheziw
and Princess Leiningen, drove out yesterday 11i
carriage and four, attended by Colonel the ll°l3'
Hardinge.
„lied
Princess Helena rode on horseback, accoraPa
by Prince Arthur and Prince Hermann of tt"o,
henlohe.

Prince Arthur, attended by Major Elphinst?llliel
returned to-day to the Ranger's House, Green-111c
park.

The Prince and Princess of Wales aS
Bolkham.

HOLKHAM, WednesclaP,
The efforts of the Earl of Leicester and his elffor
cient staff of keepers to provide excellent sport i
4
the Prince of Wales, supplemented, as they vvere'l,o
equally strenuous exertions on the part of a
tenantry, have been very successful, and such a he:
of game as there was yesterday morning in the 13.;
serves was never known at Holkham on all Pio;
vious occasion. The shooting was arranged: g
Tuesday and Thursday ; and on Tuesday raeri!'lln.ii
when the sport was opened, only the exceechl3%/
high wind militated against the sport, and thileo
course told against the statistics of the bag Iv d.
made up ; still the shooting was exceedinglyh, ge°:
The shooting party comprised his Royal 11`f
or,
ness the Prince of Wales, the Earl of LeiceSythe
Major G. H. Grey, the Duke of Roxburghe,
of
of
Marquis of Bowmont, Earl Spencer, the Ear"
Dunmore, Lord Suffield, Viscount Powerscour.,
Viscount Hamilton, M.P., Hon. T. De Grey/ 31,
:no.
Hon. Edward Coke; Hon. Colonel Coke,
Captain Elphinstone, Admiral Sir Henry -I,3Pj.
Sir Edward Kerrison, Captain Stephenson, 'no
Powell, and Mr. E. Tredcroft. After 111°110e
her Royal Highness the Princess of lirales„-,' tidy
Countess of Leicester, Lady Anne Coke, "'liises
Gertrude Coke, the Countess of Morton, the Ple " ,
Ar
of Roxburghe, the Countess of Dunmore, ,
countess Powerscourt, and Lady Suffield joilaeurts:
royal and distinguished sportsmen in the coy
and remained until the close of the day. g sse%
The West Norfolk hounds will meet at t
OAf
Farm, Burnham, on Friday, and it is expected 0 o
the visitors at Holkham will join in the pleasure
the chase.

His Excellency the Prussian Ambassador an jr
the Countess Bernstorff entertained last evening at dirlao,i
the Lord Chancellor and Lady Cranworth, the aivero,
Countess de Grey, the Right Hon. Charles P. wee,
M.P., the Hon. W. and Mrs. Ashley, the Hon. Mrs. P'lcj:
Sir James and Lady Hogg and Miss Hogg, gr. L'''',lB.so"
M.P., &c., at the Prussian Embassy, on Carlton-h°-1 Gt
terrace. Tho Count and Countess Bernstorff Dad 3 °'.('
party after dinner