The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-07 00:00:00

SELLING A WIFE.

" A most melancholy affair occurred in the jail about this
time, that of a prisoner selling his wife.
" It appears that this man had been committed four years
ago, for having stolen a bag of white rice ; and his sentence
was, as usual, to remain in prison till further orders.
"After he had been here about twelve months he got
permission (through gcod conduct) to have his wife and
family with him. He had three children, two girls and a
boy, whose ages varied from two to six years.
"His family had not joined him more than six months,
when he sold the eldest, a girl six years of age, for fifty
thousand cash, or about thirteen dollars. Six months after
this, he sold the youngest, a little girl three years of age,
for twenty thousand cash, or about five dollars. One year
after this he sold his little boy, five years of age, for the
small sum of seventeen thousand cash, era little more than
four dollars ; and now he was about to sell his wife. She
was a good looking Cochinese woman, about 27 years of
age. He had been married to her, after the Cochinese form.
by buying her, ten years ago.

"I was present when the poor woman was brought out ;
she was crying bitterly ; and when her husband spoke to
her, she appeared to turn from him with disgust. I pitied
her, not merely for her present trouble, but for what she
must have suffered on being separated from her children.
The day had now arrived when she too must be sold, and for
what ? not to enable her husband to procure the common
necessaries of life, but to satisfy his unnatural desire to
obtain opium.
" Well ! to end this mournful affair. The poor woman
was handed over to three savagc-looking men, one of them
receiving a paper, or bill of sale, signed by the husband.
They also received a bundle of her clothes ; and, after pay-
ing the purchase-money, they led her away. She was sold
for 80,000 cash, or about twenty dollars."
In the end through, the kindness of Quong, of
Saigon, ho is restored to liberty, and put
safely on board of the brig Punch. The work is
full of interesting details and dangerous adventure.
It is written in a plain, straightforward manner,
which must please all.

DanisDanishFairy Legends and ?ales. By Hans
HeCnl rinarssgt
Cel adhnr As
withti :ad
nef
2sAeonn
d,
eN'ristehnAib eema
illustrations.orsi r
a.
BTnoahhi
ninr
e.d edition,
held in
honour by children of all ages as one of the inter-
preters of fairy land. The simplicity of-many of
his delightful tales brings them down to the com-
prehension of early childhood, while the hidden
moral often lurking under the history of stacks,
fir trees, and darning needles, speaks to older and
graver minds. Not like the old tales of giants
and fairy godmothers are the legends of " The
Wild S.Wans," " The Fir Tree," and " The Ugly
Duckling." The latter charming fantasy is indeed
an allegory of its author's own eventful life. Like
the ugly little bird, the scorn of the farm-yard, the
shame of his relations, hunted, pecked, and perse-
cuted, till at length he develops into one of the
Ringly birds whose snowy plumage and stately
bearing had filled him with wonder. The poor
peasant boy who could not speak his own language
correctly, is now known and honoured through-
out Europe. The edition before us is
the third of the collected stories, and is rendered
still more complete than its predecessors by
the introduction of twelve additional stories
published a few years since under the name of
Historian. The stories themselves are too well
known and too popular to require criticism. We
need only say that the volume is of the convenient
size and excellent type usual in Mr. Bohn's
library, and enriched with very numerous illustra-
tions.

The Cornhill Magazine.

The adventures of " Philip" continue in Mr.
Thackeray's easy style. Our old friend J. J.
Ridley, the Royal Academician, re-appears among
the very miscellaneous companions of the hero ;
and it is interesting to notice incidentally how
the artist instincts of Michael Angelo Titmarsh
still survive in the breast of the successful novelist.
As the General seated on an Emperor's throne with
,the fairest portion of the globe beneath his sceptre,
still cast a " longing, lingering look" to the im-
pregnable fortress of Acre, and sighed amidst all
his splendour, " I have missed my destiny," so does
the quondam Michael Angelo, whose books are
eagerly and lovingly perused by countlessadmirers,so does he say now in the pages of his
successful magazine —" To be a painter,and
and to have your hand in perfect
Tchoemmfait faith-
less hold to be one of life's Sllllllllo2 bona." force
(and pencil could not delineate withsufficient
ep oar t
eeryrait s
skilful painter to surpass.
goosequill has
cast aside, but in its place the happier
cap
fmanadaineoatwioonn, daenrd!)
inthedecsopnacirehptthioens
confcitlhahtasfebretielne
conjured
interiors before us scenesthat .it
wouldWe have all seen Mr.
suarpnadsseeen them with no super-
.
andhaprarcetqeuris.;
" Here is occupation ; here
is excitement; here is struggle and victory;
Tofi
nehi aa,cti kcerrea,
glance,y'esx hcatl ,car
idomeyss,et Mr. Thackeray, looking back
and here is profit. Can man ask more from for-
tune Dukes and Rothschilds may be envious of
s
.
Torrue ! Dukes and Rothschilds may,
r ,‘ Horace Saltoun", increases in painful
buucthnoatuithaen.:uth of " Vanity Fair" and the " New-
icnotmereesst, and "Framley Parsonage" approaches its
denouement. We will speak of it at greater length
when it is completed. We are inclined to rank
it among Mr. Trolloje's masterpieces. The poem
on " The River" reminds us too much of Southey's
famous lines. " The Turkish Bath" is a capital
paper, well worthy of attention. Millais has given
an
Philistinesintere stingaresketchatthe Parsonage.
e
fMarkarsonaang.
and his wife when
the

The Pu»golo of Milan publishes a letter of
Francis 11., in which he orders General Fergola to con-
tinue his resistance. The officer who conveyed the letter to
the General carried to him also a sum of 30,000 ducats.
The garrison of Messina is 4,000 strong.
ABDUCTION BY A FRENCH PRIEST.— A ease
which has excited great interest in the north of France has
for the last few days occupied the Court of Assizes du Nord,
sitting at Douai—the trial of a certain Canon Mallet, .54
years of age, a canon of the cathedral of Cambrai, on the
charge of the abduction of two girls under age. The canon
was a converted Jew, and the girls were the daughters of
a German Jew, named Bluth, whom, together with most
of his family, the canon had converted to Christianity. He
had moved the girls frow one convent to another, in one
fcuars eu
rk
we eap innrdsg
oufone of the
y he
ae
rms baenydo nedv
itdheen
cr
ee ac h
was ogfi
vheenr
tpeal r 2
de
innt
gs
to show that he had criminally abused his ituausuce over
them. He was found guilty, and sentenced to six years,'
iraprioonmeta,