The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-16 00:00:00

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title to the work arise from a family engagement of
long standing between the fair heroine, Frances
Portescue, and her cousin, Captain Claude Treve-
lyan. The parties are singularly ill-assorted, and
neither
is 'very anxious to fulfil the engagement.
The scene is laid at various country houses, and
sometimes in London ; a crowd of ladies and gen-
tlemen, dukes and duchesses, and members of Par-
liament are introduced to us. The story is sufficiently
interesting, and the conversations sprightly. The de-
nouement at last takes place in a very usual situation,
namely, the terrace of the House of Commons !
One of the parties interested being a member just
fresh from speaking in his place in Parliament, and
the other a fair lady, who had been listening in the
Ladies Gallery. Circumscribed as are the accommo-
dations at present vouchsafed to ladies in the gallery,
We are inclined to think that they would be yet fur-
ther curtailed were such breaches of privilege of very
frequent occurrence !

Lights and Shadows of London Life. By the Author
of " Lost Sir Massingberd." Two vols. Hurst
and Blackett.
These articles, many of which have appeared in a
serial form, are well worthy of collection and re-
Publication. They are written in a genial and lively
inanner, and wherever opened are certain to amuse.
The first and longest paper which gives its name to
tThreeycoorli fecotion, recounts the experiences of one John
Trevarton, who, as John Stokes, of
3ater arm u bidgee, returns a rich man to his native land,
lengthened absence in Australia. Among
t',11.6 changes which he finds have taken place during
Ins absence he thus describes the alterations in the
the game of cricket :
Let me take a single example. When I left England,
cricket was a favourite game with village boys, but was
"IY in rare instances played by men. There was one
cricket-club where there are now a dozen. If you looked
?ut the word in the encyclopaedias of that date, it would
have been with this result :
CRICKET. See Gryllus ; is also [small type] an exer-
cise or game with bats and a ball."
Yet one Australian firm alone gave recently £7,000 for
the honour of a visit from the Eleven of England. Each
man received his £l5O, had his passage paid out and horns
1:.134 was maintained throughout his stay in the colony as
o"""gb he were a prince of the blood. He never went
tienitullon wheels without four horses. His excellency the
:`,,ernor presided at the entertainment which welcomed
'leas Philosophers of the Wicket, who were received
everywhere with distinctions such as were never paid to
those of the Porch. Their departure from England was
so timed as not to interfere with their professional avoca-
tions 4, (!), and they now return for the recommencement of
the cricketing season at home. Thus, With the exception
of the time lost in the two voyages, they will have played
cricket all the year round, and been well rewarded for it.
In lay time there was scarcely a professional cricketer in
great Britain. Round-hand bowling was almost unknown.
was contemptuously called "throwing" by the veterans,
Who accounted for its origin thus :—An only son, much
addicted to cricket, sighed in vain for his favourite pursuit
firlig the holidays, until his sisters volunteered to bowl
-or hit's. Cricket in the family became from that date an
etshf,se.ibtl. ished institution ; only, as the girls were unable to
bowl in the usual way (that is, underhand), because of
rothPetticoats (which they could not well gather up under
eir left arms as a man does his coat-tails), they bowled
rouna
; and that, after a little, so accurately, that
'"?ir brother was quite enamoured of the fashion, and took
jbtubl:etkfisith him to school. This feminine bowling—but
Ivith he speed of a catapult, and the certainty of a rifle
now become the recognised mode. What a
sltrfide, then, has this one matter of Cricket made, which 1
se .t all amusement, to find a recognised Art, nay, a
cience, the disciples of which are invited even to the an-
tiPedes !
waabsence of twenty-five years rendering the
lart hY traveller a stranger in his native land,
e answers an advertisement, in which two gentle-
itl:sen) named X and Y, offer to initiate strangers in
11e mysteries of London life. On calling at the
pi aceindicated, he meets with the following recep-
tion
One of the gravest, not to say the most monumental, of
man-servants replied to my summons. This class of per-
se°ll.llas excited, I perceive, the particular wonder of the
_int.asaries of the French press now sojourning in London,
ss it also excites mine. I do not think that they have a
rater austerity, a mere colossal calm about them even
tinfr their high-bred-masters. Their superiority and their
a fabilitY are alike tremendous. I should much like to see
'avr of the most imperturbable of them amidst a stam-
tZetto_f bullocks. The great question of the power of the
fa„ u• eye Upon wild animals would then receive a satis-
,_;"°rY solution. For myself, 1 cowered before the spec-
ra's le of this tremendous answerer of belle ; he stared at
with such stony, Sphinx-like eyes, as though he would
847; "Rash. mortal, perceive the Genius thou hast idly
11.
-111" ed• What wouldest thou at mine hand ? Speak,
aPeak, but beware !"
4 I wish," said I, in steady but, I hope, respectful tones,
')
see X and Y."
hi majestic beingansweredme nothing, but I perceived
I°
to eYe roll up and down Half-Moon-street in an unmis-
ft ablyf,„ urgent manner. It was evident that he was looking
a policeman.
" You had better go away," said he in awful tones ;
y
U had better go away before there's a row. None of
euor larks here, if you please."
fie: I Want either X or Y, my good man : look at this ;"
I produced the copy of the Times, with the advertise-
it ill it, Which I had taken the precaution to bring away
With me.
tor" 0111 that's your little game is it ?" observed the servi-
itot without a touch of pity ; "why, you don't suppose
by la our fifth year of credit we are going to be caught
63' ;Buell chaff as that ! you must be a young 'un in the
8411055, you must have taken to it late in life, after fail-
ing as a gentleman."
After awhile he is introduced to the objects of his
..march
.an ° Young gentlemen, of five-and-twenty or so, ad-
he ced as I entered, and received me with much politeness.
one Who introduced himself as X had a frank Saxon
aace
and an air particularly ingenuous; the other was
bjalldsomer man, of an almost Spanish complexion,
fee,uresWith a jaded expression that scarcely ever left his
;I.°ll do not object to tobacco, I trust," said the former.
of- sullied my ready toleration of that weed, the virtues
ha Which no man who has not lived in solitude, and
Iciartil.iPs, and want of all social kolaces can ever rightly
sic "Re does not object to tobacco !" exclaimed Y, with a
c,4 Of relief ; " then the rest of the negotiation will be
I'Veratively easy."
toTielis second gentleman, to whom conversation appeared
an almost intolerable exertion, here subsided on an
Ottom
54,an , and waved his hand, as though to dissipate
olio remnant of responsibility that might be supposed to
gedto him with respect to the business on which I had

1..2°19 Well," resumed the first speaker, accepting the
1.'"l thus imposed upon him, " let X—it is like a
ee -arinfug equation, I declare—let Xbe the party that iss
111111,0wered to treat with—with Stokes, Esq. That i
and this Madeira—the last of a most excellent bin
Ila!I8e are llavannahs, and these Manilla cheroots. Per-
essento" assist you with a light; complete combustion is
fl
ri,„‘ln3 Young man dipped a silver sponge-holder into the
car 7 of a spirit-lamp, and applied it to my cigar with all
that a surgeon takes with a tender wound.
dear Y, our advertises was about to use a lucifer—
Vastone lucifer!"
„,.143 gentleman on the ottoman shuddered.
for le s, said I, "lucifers have always done well enough
Lutill°. I have often thought myself lucky to get them.
leaved of tobacco, too, I have now and then u, sed dock
"At
We are not particular at Morumbidgee. '
"I
Where ?" exclaimed Y, with an energy that I could
hot have believed was in him.
szll::;v7blefe,gl.leonlevpt,lreNvomvhajo,nn•gliys. speaking of his country-seat," ob-
etved r
es ' said I, "in South Australia. I am a rough,
have made my money over in that eo-
la":,°(Id I" exclaimed X, taking out his note-book. " How
--, now
Data very Considerable amount of money," replied I, with
enable pride
eo4"llTteh_is,
nlo(oks like business," observed X, with a radiant
" •e.
Willlyou do
crisa y us the honour of shaking hands with yQu?"
Lidge from the ottoman. "X, shako hands with Morum-
lf
arid e Of I may addresshim by his territorial title) for se
tiiZpartner, will you ?"
eAdild am come back to England, gentlemen," I con-
` Criviei(tie.7 h the intention cf spending this money like a
04 "get up, and fill your glass, sir; the occa-
-3 suPrem Let us drink the health of our advertise°
xase:iiostittolit:oehn.aps. lie
appropriate manner ; with Highland honours and
to heal' cheers. We are most unfeignedly glad to see him,
°I his prosperity' to be assured of his honourable
may count upon our best endeavours to
Heine , min carrying them out. Morumbidgeo (what a
) let us understand one another. You have money
otheer iblava only debts, and a very little credit. On the
lisod 7and, you have had no experience whatever of civi-
thati w
most eroa
hs, we, alas! have seen much more of it
Neh are ,
coed the oddly assorted companions who pro-
ahad to investigate together the lights and
Periec,,ws °I London life. The practical ex-
of ills of the bush-ranger and the insouciance
"Ei Well-bred companions are frequently brought