The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-30 00:00:00

THE SON, LONDoN, AIONDA Y EV EriiNgi, _APRIL 30, 1866.

MARKETS.—This Day.

forward at the next public sales will be unusually exten-
sive. According to the latest statement, the arrivals since
the close of the last sales have been :—From Sydney,
16,366 bales ; Port Philip, 59,703 ; Van Diemen's Land,
3,786 ; Adelaide, 14,848; New Zealand, 8,267 ; Swan
River, 2,077 ; Cape, 13,042. Total, 118,089. The wool
trade since our last has exhibited rather more steadiness,
but the aggregate business doing is very moderate, and at
rather drooping prices.

Current prices of English wool per lb.
sd a d
Fleeces—South Down hogets 1 91 1 101
Half-bred do 2 0 2 1
Kent fleeces
South Down ewes and wethers 1 71 1 8
Leicester do
Sorts—Clothing
Combing

LITERATURE.

Ilain John Orpington. By the author of " Lady
Flavia." Three vols. Bentley.
Plain John Orpington, the village practitioner of
Whiteparish, if not greatly liked, is highly esteemed
and respected by a wide circle of patients. He is
generally spoken of familiarly as " Orpington,"
" John Orpington," or more frequently yet, as
" Plain John Orpington." " His blunt speech, his
almost Spartan homeliness, and his downright dogged
honesty," having gained for the village doctor this
distinguished appellation. The unwary reader of
the history of this " plain, blunt man " naturally
believes him to be a diamond in the rough,
and imagines that his uncouth manners and
forbidding appearance conceal a kindly nature
and a good heart. Such is the hopeful anticipation
of Blanche Morton, who, as a friendless orphan,
comes over alone from India, by her dying father's
desire, to trust her own fate and her small fortunes
to the tender guardianship of plain John Orpington.
While the hearts of returning emigrants on board
the Homeward Bound exult at the prospect of a
return to friends and country, the forlorn Blanche,
to whom England is no home, turns a mourn-
ful gaze on the receding shores of her native
land, where her two parents lie buried. One
of the lady passengers Fanny Devenport, a charming
widow, as good as-she is charming, makes friends
with the lonely girl, and proves ultimately a very
guardian angel to the orphan in opposition to Plain
John, who is a guardian of quite a different descrip-
tion. A heavy fog, of impenetrable denseness, is
the kindly welcome that England bestowes upon
her returning children, and as poor Blanche parts
with her only friend at the railway station, she con-
fides to her the shrinking terror which from
the very commencement of her journey has in-
creased upon her, and which seems to weigh
more heavily upon her heart as she draws nearer
to her place of destination. There is nothing in the
appearance of Whiteparish, and the doctor's large,
straggling, half-ruined abode to cheer the spirits
of the traveller, while in the aspect of the two
elderly maiden sisters—the one stern and forbidding,
the other a would-be juvenile, with a fawning air
and treacherous smile, there is everything to chill
and repel. If she is hungry, she is told that she
may have some cold meat, on this exceptional occa-
sion, but, as a rule, the meals must be at regular
hours. The poor wayfarer declines the courteous
offer, and goes to her room till she is summoned
to meet her guardian. Remembering her
father's confidence in the worth and sterling
honesty of plain John Orpington, the friendless
Blanche looks forward to his protection as a refuge
from unknown danger. She comes down to meet
him. He takes her hand, and she looks up in his
face. During all her recent forebodings and appre-
hensions, even on her dismal arrival at her gloomy
destination, " she had hoped against hope in this
unknown guardian of hers." Now that she had met
him, " she knew at once that she was face to face
with her Embodied Fear !" We have followed with
so much particularity the opening scenes of this tale
in order to give the author full credit for producing
a good theatrical effect. The reader participates
with the heroine in a sensation of coming horror—
absolutely a " sensation," one of the rarest things
to experience in a " sensational" romance. It was
lamented in former days that " never were there so
many gentlemen and so little gentleness," and as-
suredly at present we may say, as far as we our-
selves are concerned (but then perhaps we are har-
dened), that there never was so much of the
" sensational," and there never was so little to
produce sensation ! In the situation above de-
scribed, the author of " Plain John Orpington"
does succeed in exciting a rare emotion.
Poor Blanche has met her guardian and her
solitary hope is over. Here is a charming por-
trait of—