The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-31 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

•
Quits. A Novel. By the Baroness Tautphoeue,
authoress of " The Initials." 3 vols. Bentley.
Many novel readers will remember that the for-
mer work of this authoress attained some degree of
celebrity. The present work displays ability, and
is sufficiently original to preserve the interest of
the reader, though the events are in no degree
startling. It relates the fortunes of a young girl,
Leonora Nixon, who is left an orphan by the sud-
den death of her father at an hotel, on their way to
England after a continental residence of many
years. She goes to the house of a cousin, Lord
Med way, where she resides for some time, but as
he sets his heart on her becoming his countess, his
mother and sisters take alarm and send for his
younger brother to arrange matters. This he does.
in a very summary manner. He takes his brother
to Paris and persuades him out of his resolution,
he writes to a city uncle of Leonora's, speaking of
her very harshly, and begs he will receive her, and
at a day's notice, poor Leonora, who knows nothing
of the reasons for the change, is dismissed to Rus-
sell-square, to her solitary uncle's residence. Here
she remains ten years with very little variety.
Her uncle has an only son who, be is deter-
mind shall figure in the fashionable world
and make a grand marriage. This son falls in love
with Leonora, but his father refuses his consent, so
he marries a widowed lady of fashion, and
after a few years. His sorrowing father does not
long survive him, and leaves all his wealth to Leo.
nora, who suddenly finds herself rich and indepen-
dent. Her indignation against Charles Thorpe,
Lord Medway's brother, is not diminished by dis-
covering am az her uncle's pawns the letter he had
written about her. In company with the family of
another uncle, she goes abroad, her continental
education having endeared Germany especially to
her. Here, as alt lovers of romance will anticipate,
she meets Charles Thorpe, now Lord Medway; but
as he is travelling with a German friend who mis-
pronounces his name, and she is generally supposed
to be her uncle's daughter, they do not know each
other. Leonora is accidentally undeceived, and
dislikes him accordingly, while Mr. Torp, as be is
generally called, after vainly dissuading his
friend from admiring the heroine of such vulgar
connections, ends by proposing to her himself,
when of course he meets with a decided refusal,
which leaves the belligerents " quits." However,
affairs are subsequently arranged in a more satis-
factory manner, though not to the inclination a
Count Waldemar, the German friend. The chief
part of the story is laid abroad, and a good deal
of interest centres in the peasant life of Germany,
the love affairs of the village where the party re-
main some time, and the adventures of the " wilds-
chuetz" or hunters of the chamois without permie-
sion—a more adventurous kind of coaching
occupy a prominent position. Little is said
of London, as the heroine's residence there was
peculiarly uneventful, but the villages and views,
the Alps and their storms, are described con amore.
It gives a complete picture of German life, and one by
no means unattractive., while the hills and dales,
the tempests and the cataracts, are represented in
glowing colours. The story can lay claim also to
a certain degree of resemblance to real life. Few
novelists would have the courage to represent their
heroine as passing ten years, from sixteen to twenty-
six, in a lonely house in a quiet square. The
characters too are life-like. Leonora, herself, is
very attractive, and though the same c m hardly be
said of Mr. orp, he is certainly a very correct
likeness. •Altogether the work is of a superior class
and likely to give its readers some pleasant
hours.

Nearer and Dearer : a Tale out of School. A
Novelette. By Cuthbert Bede, 8.A., author of
" Verdant Green." Bentley.
This " novelette," as it is termed, is a most at-
tractive little sketch ; sparkling, brilliant, gay, and
witty. It is the very book to take up on a tour,
or choose as a companion in rural walks and sea-
side wanderings. It concerns the adventures of
an individual who had chosen " Used up" for his
motto, and was dying the lingering death of
"ennui," when a considerate companion stepped
in to stay the sacrifice, and suggest some excitement.
There i. nothing more likely to rouse the faculties
than getting into an awkward position, and of this
Arlingion seemed aware when he propounded his
scheme. The various adventures and contretemps
that befell Sir Charles Chatterton at the establish-
ment of "Minerva House," are most amusingly
described and ludicrously recapitulated. Mrs.
Clapperclaw was a sufficient index to the style and
character of her huuse—

" She was a lady of large dimensions and portly
pace,' dressed in a well-worn black silk, with a shawl
loosely thrown about her shoulders. She had a dried-up
sort of face, very like a kippered salmon ; she had a
pair of spectacles, large enough for the bird of Minerva ;
she had a flack wig, coming low down upon her fore-
head, and bursting upon her kippered-salmon cheeks in
a paroxysm of little ringlets, like hairy corkscrews ; she
bad a cap made of stiff and dark materials, from which
depended two streamers, almost as stiff, and straight,
and square cut, as if they had been designed for an
Egyptian head-dress ; and she had upon her hands
black kid gl)ves with the fingers cut off, apparently for
the purpose of ventilation. As she clasped her hands
tightly over each other, and stood up stiff and straight,
she looked in perfect keeping with the room, and the
~hjects around her—buckram-and-backboard to the
backbone."

Though outwardly compelled to conform to the
mistress's strict rules of propriety and decorum,
there was a strong undercurrent of levity
in those who waited upon her, as was
testified by the romantic Fido, and the
flirting Dolly. It was a red letter day in the dreary
almanac of the Minerva precincts, when the young
baronet entered the mansion. He had asked for a
Mss Smith at a venture, but it happen-d that the
governess of that name expected her brother from
India, and he was taken for that person. The con-
fusion may be imagined, when, after giving a cor-
dial reception to the s'ratiger as a relative wham
long absence had obliterated from her memory,
Fanny was told the truth. However, the other
inma t s were not thus enlightened, and when the
real Captain Smith arrived, the surprise and con-
sternation of Mrs. Clapperclaw, who th)ugliti him
an impostor, and ordered him out of the house,
created a scene that afforded Sir Charles more stir-
ring amusement than he had ever hoped for. Vari-
ous other trifles are related in a manner that im-
parts a zest and vivacity to the tale, while the mys-
tification caused by Miss Fanny's visitors could not
be better described than iu the lines on the title
page :

" Has she a brother ?
Has i.he a nearer one
Still, and a dearer one
Yet than all other ?"

LLOYD'S SHIPPING.—(This Day.)

LONDON, Aug. 31.—Wind this day at noon, E.; light,
breeze and fine.
PORTSMOUTH, Aug. SO.—Wind S.E.—Arrived—Fala-
van, from Antwerp for Boston. Sailed—Mermaid, for
Tritncomalee; Kherionese (s.), Madras; Queen of the
South (R.), ditto.
SOUTHAMPTON, Aug. 30.—Wind E.—Arrived—Lap.
tote (s.), for West Indies.
OFF DARTMOUTH, Aug. 30.—Arrived—Perekop, from
Bom bay.
OFF PLYMOUTH, Aug. 30.—Arrived—Pharimund, from
Van Dieman's Land ; Cairngorum, Calcutta.
NEWHAVEN, Aug. 30. Wind E.—Arrived—Mareille,
from Santander for Christiana.
PLYMOUTH, Aug. 30.—Wind S.W.—Arrived—Duncan
Dunbar, from London for Sydney, N.S.W.; Circassian,
ditto, for Adelaide, S.A.; her Majesty's ship Trimcomalee,
Pacific.
from FA
aiT
Eliza 30y.
oind
Bombay—ArriveE.forltilld.OFlffampoinrtg—o,
S.—Sailed—Edmund Wiel.
Elizabeth, Calcutta ;
Johan Christoph, from Hong Kong ;
pCsacrpel, rnßfpoirlcFcnFse,,yAClohunag.r.l eA3s2to.
—n,lfvoirnd Bremen.
—Wind W.—Arrived
LONDONDERRY, pg.3o
print, from Miramil.
BELFAST, Aug. o.— Wind E.-- Arrived--Sir Henry
Pottinger, from Quebec.

(PER ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
LIVERPOOL, Monday Morning.

Wind N.

Arrived—Wm. Corey, screw steamer, from Huelva ;
Magrico, Lisbon ; Wagoola, Rangoon ; Johnstone, Deme•
rara ; Sapphire, Quebec ; Mary Oxley, Pugwash; Startled
Fawn, Akyab.

QUEENSTOWN, August 29.
Arrived--Dawn and Inkerman, from Taganrog; Roe-
buck, from Swansea, for Caldera, leaky; Wiltenstein,
Taganrog ; Europa, Marseilles ; Queen, Galata ; Sarah
Wascoe, Odessa; Moses, Ibrail.
WATERFORD, August, 29.

Wind S
Arrived—Mystery, from Scala Nova.
CROOKHAVEN, Aug. 27.
Arrived—Gannymede, from Alicante ; Research, Galatz.
KINGSTOWN, Aug. 29.

Wind S.S.E.
Arrived—Herald, from St. John's, New Brunswick

(Br SUBMARINE AND BRITISH TELEGRAPH.)
GRAVESEND, Monday, 9.30 a.m.
Wind calm, tide last hum's good, weather fine.
o.iihn'diarromerh4,igo
afrAonaGir
sniperteeiy;,
oCuatehrn:e
rinAarcri,vaende,liaA:uog,iiiest 3
Odense;
se;
sey ; Gertrude, Calcutta ; Fearless, Manilla.
Arrived, August 31—Kate Kearney, Singapore; 0011.
ante, Pomo Rico.
Sailed, August 30 —EI Dorado, forafGe:mejuloomnngecilab:
Passed Wind Na
t. Ed. 3' 01 11
ga
a.m.—lndomitable, .—lndomit hpleE, 9rnsie,ra for
London•
Passed in tow—Lord Raglan, from Calontt, for London
Richard Cobden, Quebec, London ; Flavio Givia, Cork.
Shields.

ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL, GnAy's.arN-Ron.--The
number of patients relieved at this hospital during the
week ending Aug, «9, is 2,571, of which 1,152 TOM
ACV cal:ee.