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    MATTY BAUTON'S NEW WORK . Cranford . By the Author of Mary Barton , JRtith , &c . Chapman and Hall . Theee is something extremely pleasant in being able to " report progress" in the case of a writer who has once made a great effect . Mrs . ( 3-askell has produced no work to excite such " a sensation . " as Mary Barton , but her subsequent works have all shown a great advance in art , if less of apropos . Cranford is her latest . We think it will be more permanent than the others , though less noisy in its reputation . There is so much delicate feminine observation , so much bright and genial humour , shadowed every

    now and then by passages of quiet pathos , that the book transports us into this secluded village , makes us intimate with its oldworld ways , and stands out in the memory like an experience . Cranford we know every turning of . We know Captain Brown and his daughters . Wo drink tea with the Misses Jenkyns , and hear Deborah upholding Dr . Johnson , and doubting whether Dickens can bo compared with that writer for humour and diction . We play pool at Preference with fat , sleepy Mrs . Jamieson . Wo shop with Miss Pole , and are rather alarmed at Miss Barker . Provincial life in its ineffable dulness moves before us ; we enjoy every detail of the pageant as heartily as we should detest the reality !

    To give the reader a glimpse at this life , we will select the tea party . And lirst , a snatch of Village gossip about one of the guests not to bo invited—Mrs . Fitz-Adam . " Now Mrs . Vita-Adam was the widowed Bister of the Cranford surgeon , whom I have named before . Their parents were respectablo farmers , content with their station . The name of these good people was Hoggins . Mr . Hoggins wns the Crnriford doctor now ; we disliked the name , and considered it coarse ; but , as Minn Jenkyns said , if ho changed it to I'iggins it would not be much better . We had honed to discover a relationship between him and that Marchioness of Exeter whose name waH Molly Hoggins ; but the man , careless of his own interests , utterly ignored and denied any such rclationnhip ; although , as dear Mian Jenkyns had said , ho hnd a sinter called Mary , and the name Christian names were very npt to run in families . " 80011 after Miss Mary Hoggins married Mr . Fit / .-Admu , she disappeared from tlio neighbourhood for many yearn . She did not move in a sphere in Cranfford society sufficiently high to make any of uk cam to know what Mr . Fitz-Adam was . lie died and was gathered to his fathers , without our ever having thought about him at nil . And then Mrs . Fita-Adam re-appeared in Cranford , ' hold as a lion , ' ! Mis 3 Pole said , a well-to-do widow , dressed in mistling black nilk , w > soon after her husband's deuth , that poor Miss Jenkyufl was justified in the remark 8 ho made , thivt ' homhazine would have . shown a deeper sense of her loss' " How Charles Lamb would have enjoyed that passage—indeed , lie might have -written it . And now for A VIXLAGK TKA PARTY . «* And now . M i ™ Hetty Barker waH 11 proud and happy woman ! Sho stirred the lire , « nd whut the door , nnd Bat aa near to it m nho could , quite on the edge of her chair . When Peggy cinno in , trotting under tho weight of the tea-tray , 1 noticed that Mi « 8 Barker w « h Badly nfrnid lest I ' oggy should not keep her distance

    sufficiently . She and her mistress were on very familiar terms in their every-day intercourse and Peggy wanted now tq , make several little confidences to her , which Miss Barker was on thorns to hear ; but which she thought it her duty , as a > dy to repress . So she turned away from all Peggy ' s asides . and sips ; but _ « he made one or two very mal-apropos answer * to what ^ was said ; and at last , seized with a bright idea , she exclaimed , < Poor sweet Carlo ! Pm forgetting him . Come down stairs with me , poor ittie doggie , and it shall have its ^ it shall ! _ _ . « In a few minutes she returned , bland and benignant as before ; but I thought she had forgotten to give the < poor ittie doggie ? anytlnr , g _ to ^ J ^^ ** down chance ieces of cakeThe tea

    avidity with which he swallowed p . -tray ^ vas abundantly loaded . I was pleased to see it , I was so hungry ; but I was afraid the ladies present might think it vulgarly heaped up . I know they would have done so at their own houses ; but somehow the heaps disappeared here . I saw Mrs . Jamieson eating seed-cake , slowly and considerately , as she did -everything- ; jhhT 1 wasrather surprised , for I knew she had told us , on the occasion of her last party , that she never had it in her house , it reminded her so much of scented soap . She always gave us Savov biscuits . However , Mrs . Jamieson was kindly indulgent to Miss Barker ' s want ' of knowledge of the customs of high life ; ., and , to spare her feelings , ate three large pieces of seed-cake , with a placid , ruminating expression of

    countenance , not unlike a cow ' s . ^ „ ,. . . 1 " After tea there was some little demur and difficulty . We were six in number ; four could play at Preference , and for the other two there was Cnbbage .. But all , except myself —( I was rather afraid of the Cranford ladies at cards , for itwas ^ the most earnest and serious business they ever engaged in)—were anxious to be ^ of the ' pool' Even Miss Barker , while declaring she did not know Spadille fromMamUe , was evidently hankering to take a hand . The dilemma was soon put an end toby a singular Mnd of noise . If a Baron ' s daughter-in-law could ever be supposed tp snore ! -I should have said Mrs . Jamieson did so then ; for , overcome by the heat of the room , and inclined to doze by nature , the temptation &f that very comfortable arm-chair had been too much for her , and Mrs . Jamieson was noadmg . Once or twice she opened her eyes with an effort , and calmly but unconsciously smiled upon us ¦ but by-and-by , even her benevolence was not equal to this exertion , and she

    was sound asleep . ¦ : _ . , "' It is very gratifying tome , ' whispered Miss Barker at the card-table to her three opponents , whom , notwithstanding her ignorance of the game , '& * . £ »* ' basting' most iinmercifully-- ' very gratifying indeed , to see how completely Mrs . Jamieson feels at home in my poor little dwelling ; she could not have paid me a greater compliment / . _ _ ¦¦ w ,, ' - « " Miss Barker provided me with some literature , in the shape of three or tour handsomely bound fasbion-books ten or twelve years old , observing , as she put a little table and a candle for my especial benefit , that she knew young people liked to look at pictures . Carlo lay , and snorted , and started at his mistress ' s feet . He , toowas quite at home . " ¦ ¦ ¦

    , ,,.,,.. „ . _ . « . " The card-table was an animated scene to "" watch ; four ladies' heads , with niddle-noddling caps , all nearly meeting over the middle of the table , in their eagerness to whisper quick enough and loud enough ; and every now and then came Miss Barker's « Hush , ladies ! if you please , hush ! Mrs . Jamieson is asleep . "It was very difficult to steer clear between Mrs . Forrester ' s deafness and Mm . Jamieson ' s sleepiness . But Miss Barker managed her arduous task well . She repeated the whisper to Mrs . Forrester , distorting her face considerably , in order to show , by the motions of her lips , what was said ; and then she smiled kindly all round at us , and murmured to herself , ' Very gratifying , indeed ; I wish my poor sister had been alive to see this day . ' >

    " Presently the door was thrown wide open ; Carlo started to his feet , with a loud snapping bark , and Mrs . Jamieson awoke : or , perhaps , she had not beeu asleep as she said almost directly , the room had been so light she had been glad to keep her eyes shut , but had beeu listening with great interest to all our amusing and agreeable conversation . Peggy came in once more , red with importance . Another tray ! ' Oh , gentility ! ' thought I , ' can you endure this last shock ?' For Miss Barker had ordered ( nay , I doubt not prepared , although she did say , ' Why ! Peggy , what have you brought us ? ' and looking pleasantly surprised at

    the unexpected pleasure ) all sorts of good things lor supper—scalloped oysters , potted lobsters , jelly , a dish called ' little Cupids / ( which was in great favour with the Cranford ladies ; although too expensive to be given , except on solemn and state occasions—maccaroons sopped in brandy , I should have called it , if I hnd not known its more refined and classical name ) . In short , we wero evidently to be feasted with all that was sweetest and best ; and wo thought it better to submit graciously , even at the cost of our gentility—which never ate suppers in generalbut which , like most non-supper-eaters , was particularly hungry on all special

    occasions . " Misa Barker , in her former sphere , hnd , I dare Bay , been made acquainted with the beverage they call cherry-brandy . Wo none of us had ever seen such a thing and rather shrunk back when she proffered it us— 'just a little , lectio glass , ladies ; after the oysters nnd lobsters , you know . Shell-lish are' Homctimes thought not very wholesome . ' We all shook our heads like female mandarins ; but , at last , Mrs . Jamieaon suffered herself to be persuaded , and we followed her lead . It waft not exactly unpalatable , though so hot and so strong that wo thought ouraolves bound to givo evidence that we wero not accustomed to hucIi things , by coughing' terribly—almost as strangely as Miss Barker had done , before we wero admitted by Peggy . " ' It's very strong / said Miss Polo , as who put down her empty glaws ; 'I do believe there ' s spirit in it . '

    " ' Only a little drop—just necessary to make it keep ! ' said Misa Barker . 'You know wo put brandy-paper over preserves to make them keep . 1 often feel tipsy myself from eating damson tart . ' " Our apace forbids much extract , but wo must squeeze in this on SMALT , KCONOJjITHS . "I have often noticed that almoHt every one ban his own individual small economies—careful habits of Having fractions of pennies in some oik ; peculiar direction—any disturbance of which annoys him mure than spending shillings or pounds on some real extravagance . An old gentleman of my acquaintance , who took the intelligence of tho failure of a Joint-Stock Bank , in which soino of his money was investod , with stoical mildness , worried his family all through a long Hiiminor ' H day , because one of them hud torn ( instead of cutting ) out tho written leaven of his now useless bank-book ; of course , the corresponding pngoa at tho other end came out as well ; and this little unnecessary waste of paper ( hia privato economy ) chafed him more than all tho Iohs of Km money . Envelopes fretted

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    BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Maemillan ftnd Co > Se Sand Shepherd ^ . ByM . M . Milburn . John Churchill , gs : &s ^^ The Philosophical Tendencies of Be Age . By J . P . Morell , A . M . Saunaers and Stanford ! India , Reform Tract . No . VlII . n . TTTvraih Longman and Co . MemoriJs of Theophilu 4 , Frinal , Student . ^ S / v V ^ ch Longman and Co . EeZvs on some of the Farms f- ^^^ Ji ^ L ^^ Ingram , Cooke ard Co . The Three Colonies of Australia . ^ By Samuel bianey . Ingram , Cooke and Co . ^^^ S ^^ o ^ C ^ en of ^ Wor ^ ^^ f ^ ZZ ^^ m ^ t ^ Teop le : Essays . By ^ Waldo Emerson . -J ^ *** £ " llapsburgh . By * . W . - ITemjuui . . . . Hodges and Smith . f # E 2 ^ J £ & . ^ <^ & *"' , J ^ gmSaCo . Russia . Turkey-or , a Greek Empire the Inevitable Solution of the S ° g * £ ^ &J $ k D . J . . • ¦ . ¦ _ ..,- ¦ ¦ I . Thomas . ^ SS ^^^ ivf ^ &B— . . 3 . 01 s . Lon ^ So : The Adjures of a Gentleman in search of the Church of England . John Chapman . S ^ gSSSffiS . ito . « f Lor * Ca ^ eVs Life of Bacon . By a g ^ JgJlf ^ . W . Tweedie . 2 E $ 2 £ 2 ? SW ofBrioe ^ ^ Corruption at Election ,. By Hon . G . ^ JB ^^ _ On the Reform of the Testamentary Jurisdiction . S Jo 5 Tm ! 3 ot . ' MB ^ & ^ T && ^ SSi . , ^^ »* , « , <* , » rfl * r !»»»*) CM" . Edited by Visco . mtlB 8 . stre . ^ B ! ackJiS ' anaSon . SSS E ;^ . . 1 , ¦ . " ^ -iffiSraSSS : Occasional Discourse on the Mgger Question . JH Parker The National Miscellany , John Chapman ! Westminster Review . James Hoffff . How ' 8 Instructor . T . mp , JTcwZ BalLds and Lyrics . By Robert Bower . J W . PariTand sfn . Fraser ' s Magazine . Addey and Co . The Picture Piastre Book . Addey and Co . The Charm . itent and Co . : gagss ? * , « £ *» - * « -, ¦ ssasasst Bleak-Howe . ^ o . XVIL _ Bradbury and Evans . f ^ tLtZ ^ ZtrA Itaullio Si 9 Ms and Sounds ; the Mystery of the Bay . By H ^ Egoe ^ aaar h '^ issss tt ^ »* u *~*~ «> *^ '&-3 i Tucker . Edited by John William Kaye . / J 7 . Kicnara Jientley . Life of Benjamin Robert Haydon , Historical Painter , from his Autobiography and Journals . / if& s «? i ,-. ^ . w .. » . . 185 O 1 H 3 Narrative of a Journey round the Dead Sea and in the Bible Lands in 1850 and 1851 . By F . T ^ tt QnTv ' lpv 2 Vf ) l ^ JVlCllZtTCl xJGlltlCy . The Maid of ' Florence ; or , Niccolo De Lapis . By the Marquis Massimo D'Azeglio . Translated by W . Felgate , M . A . 3 vols . llichard iJentley :

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    ¦¦ ¦ ¦ . '¦ ¦ ¦ ' ¦ .. ¦ ¦ T HE LEABEB . J ^^ m

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 2, 1853, page 644, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1993/page/20/