AustLit

A French private disobeys orders during battle and rescues his wounded colonel from the field. He is arrested but Napoleon rewards his valour. (PB)

A young boy comes to work at a mine and strangely chooses to work with the hardened villainous-looking Meclancthon. The boy saves Meclancthon from a fire in the pit and reveals himself to be Meclancthon's wife who he had deserted years before. (PB)

A young woman inherits £10 000 from the great aunt who plagued her youth with unkindness and overwhelmed by the sudden attentions of her neighbours she seeks seclusion in London. There she falls in love with a penniless handsome youth who thinks she too is poor. Pleasant romance enlivened by a touch of social satire. (PB)

Brief sketch composed from the titles of newspapers. (PB)

Sir Maurice Gwynne's return to his Welsh home introduces him to the poor but spirited ward of the local doctor. It is only when - spurred on by the doctor's calculating wife - that she advertises for a position as governess that he realises he wants to offer her a situation himself ... Light romance with a dash of spirit. (PB)

Anecdote of the comedian Liston who went to see a doctor for depression and was prescribed two doses of Liston at Covent Garden for his cure. Very brief. (PB)

A convict is heartened in his English prison by the Governor's wife who reminds him he has been forgiven and saved already. On release his brother refuses to let him see his child and he is drawn into a plot to wreck a train - until he discovers the governor's wife will be on it and he sacrifices his life to save her. Sentimental with a touch of genuine pathos. (PB)

Humorous piece on Smith's bumbling attempts to ask Mr Thompson's permission to marry his daughter. (PB)

Drink ruins Tom Byworth's life but his wife refuses to desert him. Attempting to sell his mother's bible for a drink to a friendly hotel-keeper results in a pact between them - Tom to stop drinking and the hotel-keeper to stop selling ... Prosaic, sentimental. (PB)

A schoolmaster's son falls in love with the young daughter of another schoolmaster. He goes abroad, telling her she will soon love another - and when he returns in two years she does! Slight. (Theme - Man's truest love, the young girl he never gets). (PB)

Light US romance. An American fiancee promises to wait for three years while he goes to San Francisco to make his fortune. He finally strikes a large nugget and returns only to find she has married his rich brother - but her sister Pearl loved him loyally and with a truer heart. (PB)

A compositor (type-setter) called 'Twaddle' upsets the humorist writer Hook when his proofs are so marked. (PB)

Identical perambulators and careless nursemaids keen to watch a parade result in a baby mix-up which is noisily undone. Amusing in part e.g. one mother's inability to recognise her own child. (PB)

Historical sketch of Sir Richard Grenville's ship and its valiant fight against 53 Spanish ships. Heroic emphasis. (PB)

Portrait of a mother's grief imagined from a telegram sent along the line. (PB)