Sunday dispatch. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1845-1854, 1852-04-11
THE WIFE AND COURTESAN.

tne ABOVE tlue from MS popular pen.
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THE WIFE AND COURTESAN.
We extract the following graphic sketch
from political novel recently published in
England. The hero is CRANKY Cumberland,
an unprincipled rose, who after long ca
reer of vice in which he is the principal in a |
number Of seduction cases, finally meets with |
a lady whose charms captivate him, and he
becomes her husband. What followed, we |
give in the words of the author:
The bridal party was reasonably numerous,
and we formed a very creditable procession |
to and from the church. Cumberland's brow |
was radiant with happiness; the bride her
self looked pouting and very demure. The
marriage bells rang gaily; the villagers gave
q cheer, so hearty that one would never have
suspected that it was bespoken beforehand
bya confidential man servant; the brides
maids Uttered and looked highly amused. .--
The breakfast was famous-the cheer of the
right excellent old English style. Such fun
and such talk, and the bridegroom, the very
life and soul Of the party, stealing glances
occasionally at Mrs. CRANKY Cumberland,
who blushed at all the raillery which her
cousins, male and female, assailed her with.
All looked happy except the BRIDES mother,
who still looked fdgetty and nervous. The
bridal couple started for North Wales to en-
Joy the honeymoon. We gave them q hearty
cheer as their travelling carriage whirled
from the door Was a happier couple ever
launched in matrimony Only
two days after the marriage at Foxgrove, I
was seated at breakfast in my chambers at
the Temple, reading the Times, when
heard knock at my oaken door, which
thought recognized. How like Cumber-
land'sw But Of course it could not be his
However, went cut and opened my door;
and, to my utter amazement, l beheld Cum
berland, whom / supposed to have been
spending the honeymoon with his bride
was surprised when 1 saw his igure,-I was
utterly horrifed when I saw the fearful ex-
preston Of his face There was everything
in that face Rage-disapp appointment-blac
and gloomy grief-mental torture! What
had happened What had occurred to him?
I could hardly speak to him at first, was 30
utterly c9Df0unded at the suddenness Of his
visit to town, and at the expression which
was stamped in horrid characters upon his
plastic countenance. He nodded sternly to
me, and took my profered hand mechani-
cally, then shut the door, and led me out of
my Sitting room was really so utterly
embarrassed, that at first l hardly knew
what to say as, from his face, at once dis
covered that something very dreadful had
occurred At first had q confused feeling
that some sudden accident had befallen his
fair bride; possibly she had been kilIed--
g Wynville," said Cumberland to me in a
hoarse voice, ''you saw me happy man two
days ago; you now see me miserable one
have been cheated, sir, miserably cheated
most cruelly-most horribly deceived p'-
CursiDg the woman whom he had made his
bride, he told me his dreadful storyl The
tale in all its horrors was told to me. But
that was not all. Drawing a crumpled let
ter from his pocket, and grinding his teeth,
the unlucky bridegroom handed me the fol-
lowing epistle, which I read with amazes
ment
"Dear Granby-I congratulate you upon the restal
you have taken to your arms You were always of a
liberal turn in politics, and surely it fit that you
should marry one who is philGatluopla before she
made your acquaintance Your bride is as liberal to
embrace the cause of mankind as any Radical Mem
Der OF Parliament in your clique. Just take your
bushng spouse to No. T. in the green lane, at the
village Of Somerehase, in Lancashire, and ask Mrs
layton the andady to speak to the character of the
trembling innocent. Or show the dear creature this
note and ask her does she acknowledge the truth of
!" CANDID FRIgND"
It seemed that on the morning after his
marriage, while Cumberland was in the act
Of dressing, his servant knocked at his door
and handed him the foregoing letter, which
was marked, "Immediate and special" and
addressed, CRANKY Cumberland, ESQ -
Hotel, Llanberris, North Wales" The let
ter had been delivered by servant man,
who after leaving it with the landlord, and
charging to have it delivered without delay,
road of in great hast5. The letter was writ
ten in a female hand. The worst insinua-
tions Of the anonymous correspondent were
| found by Cumberland to be perfectly true.
1 cannot describe the agony and perturba-
/ ton ef his mind as he thought Of the dread
full position in which he had been placed
AS we lounged into the theatre, we loiter-
| ed for awhile about the lobbies, and entered
into the saloon to see who were there; for
| Cumberland had resolved to act upon my
advice, pluck up his spirits, assume calm
and unconcerned countenance, and repay the
heartlessness Of the world by an imperious
and stoical department. The room was filed
with its habitual occupants. Up and down
were walking the noisy jewellers and the
abandoned victims of vice and folly. Cor
geously but vulgsrly dressed, were saunter-
ing about the glittering improprieties of the
time; smiling with desperation, and with
broken or frozen hearts assuming the looks
of joy and happiness. Vain endeavor! far
beneath the rouge and pearl powder, the
ravages Of mental care and bodily disease
were visible.
While standing looking at the crowd, l
felt my arm suddenly and convulsively
twitched by Cumberland, who exclaimed
"Good heavens Wynville, look there
look there p
turned in the direction in which he
pointed, and, talking to two or three dissi-
pated young men, her face plastered with
rouge and her person Haunting in the livery
Of vice, was Cumberland's wife There she
stood, within few feet of us, the very Wo-
man whom l had seen bethrothed TO him at
the altar, his blooming and blushing bride
We were riveted to the ground and I was
just recovering my presence Of mind to drag
Cumberland away, when his wife, with a
roisterer's laugh, wheeled round suddenly,
and came full upon US, face to face, before
we could escape
The instant she saw US she shrieked aloud
in o scream that pierced through the room,
and wound along the lobbies and corridor of
the theatre. She ran wildly from the room
and falling down q staircase, was picked up
with blood flowing freely from her mouth
and nose.
''The woman's mad :" cried several voices;
''call a policeman"
Soon the incident ceased to attract notice /;
the mob Of motley loungers and saunterers
again co-mingled with the vicious and debas-
cd, and Cumberland and I emerged from the
theatre, unnoticed by any person as being in
anywise connected with the screaming wo-
men, who had for a moment disturbed the
seekers after dissipation. We walked to-
gether in the streets without speaking, and
it was not until we found ourselves in the
Mall in St. James Park, that Cumberland
broke forth into ordinations of his misery
He clenched his fist, and ground his teeth
How well do l recollect the agony stamped
upon his face, as the moonlight fell upon it.,
revealing chaos Of passions convulsing the
inward man, and lacerating his CALLED and
tortured spirit with indescribable misery.
Walking homeward across Waterloo bridge,
| was revolving the sight before me, and
thinking Of the tremendous moral spectacle
presented by the swarming population pent
into the great and dusky city, whose church
es and towers rose here and there against
the horizon. The river rolled beneath, and
l listened to its waters breaking against the
piers, and glanced at the black barges sleep
ing in their sombre shadows, while the water
hOarsely rippled across their bows The
rumble Of vehicles was heard across the wa
ter, as the never-silent Strand was ratified
over by other jewellers like myself returning
from various scenes of gaiety or dissipation.
The vast pile of St. Paul's rose in dark splen-
dor; seen in the darkling light, it looked a
vast shadowy monument Of the material sub
lime, and remained the behOlder Of the pow
ers of the insects oongregated in the great
hive Of industry around. Londen at night
AS 1 strolled, musing on the scene
before me, my eye was caught by female
figure striding along, and apparently in
great agitation of mind. Her dress, a far
ing one of velvet and satin, told that she
was one Of the Stunned ones of her sex. Be-
fore had time to think, saw her turn has
tily, and Chamber up the battlements of the
bridge. Her figure flashed before me for a
moment, as her clothes were caught by the
night breeze, while the hapless creature
sprang madly into the air, and in an instant
afterwards the strong splash upon the water
told the fate Of the maddened being that had
rushed into the presence of her God. The