The Sun. — 1839-11-09 (London, England)

INCENDIARISM.—The stack-yard of Mr. Askren, of Hough on the Hill, near Grantham, was set fire to by an incendiary on Tuesday night last; when two barley-stacks, a wheat-stack, and a hay-stack were destroyed. The night was exceedingly dark and windy, and maing kw),„1.1 rf iho fire at. Grin 4111 until I Wednesday morning, although but six miles distant.  The " Fatalist" is the story of a Cornish Baronet, Sir Ralph Godolphin, who, some few years previous to the opening of the narrative, has succeeded to the title and estates by the sudden death of his elder brother. This relative has left behind him a lady, supposed to have been his mistress, and a sun, just springing up into manhood, both of whom go by the name of Valletort, and live at a small cottage, in the neighbourhood of Sir Ralph's estates, in a state of privacy and comparative destitution. Notwithstanding, however, the cloud that hangs over Mrs. Valletort's reputation, she is much respected by the neighbours, for the general meekness and amenity of her conduct, many of whom disbelieve that she was ever other than the wife of the deceased Baronet ; and among those who most respect her is a jovial, kind-hearted Cornish Squire, who'has a termagant wife—as consummate a specimen hFalo% Florence nreeead Trelawney, oo fthe of a vixend awbo:aashuat ig everynoout young remember en ngideamugb betterehrt daughter, roo, amuse herself with in the retirement of the country, turns her attention to sentiment, and hastens to fall in love with Sidney Vailetort. He reciprocates her affection, and the affair is " progressing" steadily, but clandestinely, when, sad to say I Sir Ralph Godolphin takes a sudden fancy to Florence, and after many teats and sighs, and protestations of indifference, not to say dislike, on the lady's part, gains her hand, and is actually standing beside her at the altar, when, behold, he suddenly feels some sharp twinges in the epigastrim, turns exceedingly pale, and almost instantly afterwards make the alarming discovery that the twinges in question are not the result of Glauber salts, or calomel, but of poison, and that this poison has been administered by no less respectable a personage than the parson, who is at that very moment marrying him to Florence I On ascertaining this fact, which he seems to have done by intuition, the indignant Baronet rushes on the surpliced ecclesiastic, and collars him ; whereupon a highly impressive scene of pinching, scratching, grappling, and clapper-clawing takes place between them, which is at length brought to a close by the parson dropping down as dead as mutton in the " chancel," with a big dagger sticking in his heart Sir Ralph Godolphin dies a ' short time after, but not before he has confessed that he is a usurper, and that Sidney Valletort is his lawful nephew, his mother having been married to the deceased .Baronet. Of course, under these circumstances) the heir gets his own, and, what he likes still better, the hand of Florence Trelawney ; and all parties are left, in the three hundred and twelfth page of the third volume, in a perfect extacy of enjoyment. There is some talent in this novel, but it is almost neutralized by the extreme prodigality with which the author deals out his horrors. He should be more parsimonious in this respect. A little terror, and even a stray murder now and then, are not amiss, but too much of them makes one sick. The first volume of the work is the best, for there we find some attempt at analysis of character, in the person of Sir Ralph Godolph,in, which the writer afterwards abandons, in his anxiety to produce effect. From his spirited—though in places, too highly coloured—sketch of the canting Puritan, Gabriel Goodenough, we augur that he is capable of better things. The style of his narrative is easy, and flowing, sometimes eloquent ; but as we have already observed, his besetting defect is exaggeration. If he desire to succeed in his next work of fiction, he must studiously avoid this, for it is less a symptom of strength than of weakness.