moment, amid the free allusions and sometimes licentious expressions of
artists, and historians in small, during the week days ; and on the his dialogue. The eye sparkled with intelligence, but it was a chaste and Sunday, has chased away the ennui of the operatives far more purified beam, from a mind unsullied though sportive. Her levity was effectuall than the accustomed restoratives of either drinking or y never wanton ; her mirth had no approach to rudeness... From her early driving. No ; it is clear we should never get through the cares habit of acting in tragedy, she had drawn enough to give to the occasional of existence without a good supply of crime ; our cases of police pathos of comedy a charm of infinite value. The reproach of her Julia, in the Rivals, to Falkland, was extremely affecting ; and few scenes drew prevent us from being nationally that dullest of things and greatest of monsters, a perfect character. We could not live without those
more tears than the sensibility she discovered in the return of Lady
Townley to the use of her heart and her understanding." little blemishes of rape and murder—spots upon our reputation, Well said, Mr. Boaden ! " Si sic omnia" . . . he might have which seem to add to the number of our attractions, like the wen snapped his fingers at the critics . .. " gladios contemnere potuit." upon poor Maria Marten's neck, which her first lover, the son of " Though I doubt," writes admirable Colley Cibber of Mrs. Mountfort, the lady of the manor, described with such exactness. as Melantha, in Marriage a-la-Mode; " it will be vain to offer you a just The historian of the loves and fates of William Corder and likeness of her action ; yet the fantastic impression is still so strong in my memory, that I cannot help saying something, though fantastically, Maria Marten describes the " crowds that flocked from all quarters to witness the scene of death;' as " immense "the Barn was about it. The first airs that break from her are upon a gallant never seen :" before, who delivers her a letter from her father, recommending him to almost torn in pieces by the multitude, eager to rush in to behold her good graces as an honourable lover. Here now one would think she the wild and singular aspect of the open grave." We know not might naturally show a little of the sex's decent reserve, though never whether most to admire the ready sympathy of the people with so slightly covered. No, Sir; not a tittle of it: modesty is the virtue of injustice, or their intense love of the strong emotions excited by under so vulgar a confusion : she reads the letter therefore with a care- the actual witnessing of the scene of blood. That the eagerness less, dropping lip, and erected brow, humming it hastily over as if she springs from the latter rather than the former, is clear from the were impatient to outgo her father's commands by making a complete wild zeal which has been shown to gain possession of every thing conquest of him at once ; and that the letter might not embarrass her which could bring the crime most readily and most forcibly to attack, crack ! she crumbles it at once into her palm, and pours upon him mind. The Sheriff has declared that he would not take a hun- diving body to the ground, as if she were sinking under the conscious load dred guineas for the murderer's pistols ; the "fatal cord " has been sold at a guinea an inch ; and we doubt not that the filthy rags of her own attractions ; then launches into a flood of fine language and Compliment, still playing her chest forward in fifty fiats and risings, like which were dug from the grave, and which had been wrapped a swan upon waving water ; and to complete her impertinence, she is round the corrupting remains of the poor girl, will all be col- so rapidly fond of her own wit that she will not give her lover leave to lected as precious relics—it is true, the effluvium arising from praise it ; silent assenting bows, and vain endeavours to speak, are all them made old Mrs. Marten faint in the witness-box, but their Akin to the unrivalled talent of this actress, or rivalled only by auction of the halter, selling " by the inch," among the eager worthy. " He then exclaimed • I am a guilty man.' I then went for a pen and ink, It is clear that these caterers of horrors do not understand their business : they neither harrow up the feelings with skill, nor turn their materials to a moral account with judgment. What have the professors of horror done, with all their daubs, beyond a vulgar portrait, wholly unlike the man, and a view of the empty grave ? They do not understand their business. How the withers of' the town would have been wrung by a view of the fatal scuffle on the brink of the open grave ! the rustic beauty, half undressed, and half attired in male habiliments, sinking under the murderous grasp of her lover, armed with his pistols, his scimitar, and Ms gun, on the point of killing his victim, according to the indictment in ten different ways! The very owls would leave the Red Barn at such a scene ; and were it well represented, the foaming porter would die in its pot on the the table of every public-house on that Sunday morning that witnessed such a close view of the all-inter- esting topic. We do not wish to be so very horrible : we will content ourselves with George Cruikshanlis Commentary on Matrimonial Advertisements.
"MATRIMONY.-A private gentleman, aged 24, entirely independent, " whose disposition is not to be exceeded, has lately lost chief of his family " by the hand of Providence, which has occasioned discord among the re- .' mainder, under circumstances the most disagreeable to relate. To any female Of respectability, who would study for domestic comfort, and is " willing to confide her future happiness to one in every way qualified to "render the marriage state desirable, as the advertiser is in affluence. " Many happy marriages have taken place through means similar to this " now resorted to. It is hoped no one will answer this through imperti- nent curiosity; but should this meet the eye of any agreeable lady, who " feels desirous of meeting with a sociable, tender, kind, and sympathizing " companion, they will find this advertisement worthy of notice. Honour and " secrecy may be relied on. As some little security against idle applica- " tion, it is requisite that letters may be addressed, post paid, A. 5„ care " of Mr. Foster, stationer, 68, Leadenhall-street, with real name and ad- " dress, which will meet with most respectful attention."—From the Sunday Times, Nov.25, 1827.
We last week spoke sneeringly of the penny-a-line profession ; but we must do them the justice to say, that they understand the elements of horror far better than their brethren of the brush. Take, for instance, that chapter of the history in which the aged mother is made to dream of the murder and interment of her daughter in the Red Barn.
Or if this were too sacred or too horrific, why have they never given us a picture of that scene which shocked the Judge so much—the sermon at the Barn—the collecting of the awe-struck peasants from far and near about the ranting Methodist, who, mounted on his tub, improved the bloody occasion till the very butchers skulked away in dread, and the whole country-side trembled at his words ? Let the reader behold how Cruikshank, on his little block of wood for a reading-desk, improves such events. With such materials before them, and such performances before us as they have ventured to publish, it is clear that the vitiators of the public taste do not understand their business—that their notions are as confined as they are gross. If we were disposed to set them an example, it would be mightily easy to out-horror them. We have not the slightest doubt, that if we were inclined to make a shocking little pictorial gallery, Mr. Lawton would lend us the skull that received the fatal ball ; Mr. Nairn the heart that entertained the fatal passion, and the fifth and sixth ribs which gaped with the wound of the scimitar—or else the father's mole- spear ; no doubt the Sheriff would part with the valued pistols for a few minutes ; and by canvassing a little among the gaolers and constables, we could collect many scattered relics both of the victim and her slaughterer. We fear no genuine portrait of poor Maria— Corder's, not Sterne's Maria—exists, nor yet of any of her three illegitimate children. We have, indeed, seen a sweet view of her father's cottage, and we should be glad to have the foreground filled with the venerable grandfather leaning on his mole-spade, in a contemplative attitude, pondering on the immo- rality of an agricultural population. For a closing picture, we know not whether we should choose the operations of the Cam- bridge students and their galvanic battery on the half-resuscitated form of the murderer, which they were said to be about to per- form ; or prefer the breakfast scene, a picture which really con- tains a great deal of moral truth and beauty. George the limner., decidedly prefers a Scientific View of the Subject.
The breakfast scene has its capabilities too : When Corder was apprehended, he was found by Lea sitting at breakfast with four ladies ; he had his watch before him, and he was attentively mi- nuting the boiling of an egg, when the officer of justice stepped forth to inform him that his own moments were numbered ! We would paint him in the security and innocent vigilance of the break- fast-table, his regard turned towards the fire, and perfectly uncon- scious of the stealthy step behind him, which should, however, have already excited the alarm and attention of a part of his female society. What incongruous ideas the scene presents !—A mur- derer, living peaceably in a ladies' boarding-school; he who, a short time ago, ruthlessly crushed a helpless woman under his hands, and then hurried her into a wretched grave at her feet, is now calmly enjoying the breakfast gossip of three or four instruc- tresses of youth, just preparing for the virtuous labours of the day. This is a picture worthy of Wilkie, or of some of the best followers of his school ; and, with the recommendation of the subject to some good moral brush, we finish our speculations on the news- paper picturesque !
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