The Sun. — London, England, 1848-03-20 00:00:00

good condition. The demand for each description was heavy, at drooping prices. The supply of home-fed Beasts, fresh up this morning by " drift" and railway , was m oderately extensive, and of excellent quality. As the attendance of buyers was small, and the weather very unfavourable for slaughtering, the Beef trade was in a very inactive state, at a decline in the quotations paid on Monday last of 2d per 81bs. Although a few of the primest Scots produced 4s 6d, the more general top price of Beef did not exceed 4s 4d per 81bs. The ar rivals of Beasts from the eastern, northern, and midland districts consisted of 1,600 Scots, Devons, Runts, Here forg.s, Shorthorns, and Irish beasts; from other parts of England, about 1,200 of various breeds; and from Scot land 230 horned and polled Scots. The remainder of the supply was derived from abroad and the neighbour hood of the metropolis. We were again scantily sup plied with Sheep, nearly the whole of which were of ex cellent quality. The Mutton trade was heavy, at a fall in the currencies of 2d per 8 lbs. The highest figure for the best old Downs in the wool was ss. 4d per 81bs. About 600 shorn Sheep were on offer, at 4s 8d to 4s 10d per 8 lbs for Down qualities. There were a few Lambs in the market, but they sold at very irregular prices. Prime small Calves were in moderate request, at late rates. In other kinds of Veal very little was doing. The Pork trade was in a very inactive state, at unaltered figures. Per Sibs. to sink the offal. S. d. to s. s. d. to s. d. Inferior Beasts.— Second quality • • 3 6 3 8 Coarse-woolled ditto 4 6 5 0 Prime large Oxen 310 4 0 Southdown Wether 5 2 5 4 Prime Scots .. Large coarse Calves 4 0 4 6 Large Hogs •••• •• 4 0 4 6 Prime small ditto Suckling Calves Inferior Sheep • • SUPPLY AT MARKET. Beasts. I Sheep. I Calves. 1 Pigs. 3,229 16,77 0 I 129 290 NJIWGATE AND LEADENEALL. The arrivals of country killed meat for these markets, ail ce Monday last, have consisted of about ninety car casses of Meat, 200 ditto of Mutton, 120 ditto of Veal, and 320 ditto of Pork. The supplies brought forward, slaughtered in the metropolis. have been but moderate, though of full average quality. Prime Beef, Mutton, and Veal have sold readily at very full prices. Other wise the demand has been in a sluggish state. About 160 cacesses of foreign meat have been on show, and a few baskets have come to hand from Hamburgh. At per stone by the Carcase. s. d. to s. d. 1. d. to s. d. .. 3 0 3 2 Mutton, inferior .. 3 6 310 --- middling •• 8 2 3 4 middling.. 4 0 4 4 prime large •• 3 6 3 8 prime .... 4 6 4 8 prime small .. 3 8 31• Pork, large— •..... 3 8 4 4 V• ••• • • • ...... 4 0 4 • small 4 6 6 • Lamb. Os Od t• Os Od. BOROUGH AND SPITAXXXELDS. Although the supplies of Potatoes offering in these markets are not to say extensive, they are more than equal to the wants of the dealers. All kinds are heavy, at drooping prices. The imports in the past week have consisted of about 60 tons from Hamburgh, 23 ditto from Rotterdam, 200 ditto from Louvain, and 196 ditto from Antwerp. 33012,017G1E SOP . MAIMET. Exceedingly little business 13 doing in this market, and several rather large parcels have been withdraNin for the present. Even the finest qualities are a very slow sale, and last week's prices are with difficulty supported. WOOL. During the past week, the imports of Wool into Lon don have been on a very moderate scale, namely, 161 bales from Ilamburgh, 67 ditto from the Cape; 64 ditto from Seville, 13 ditto from Ostend, and 60 bags from Callao. A slight improvement must bo noticed in the demand for English Wools, at full prices, but all other kinds are a very slow inquiry, at barely late rates. TALLOW. This maket continues very steady, at last week's im provement in the quotations. Our St. Petersburgh letter, ust at hand, states that the demand there is less active. About 3.000 casks had been sold at 125 money, for MIAy and June; and 126 with 10 down for August delivery. P.Y.C. on the ,spot is 50s 9d to 51s per cwt. Rough Fat is scarce, at -2s 10d per Blbs. BANKRUPTCY.-(THIS DAY.) (Before Mr. Commissioner SHEPHERD.) IMPORTANT DECISION AS REGARDS COUNTY COURTS. —ln a case before his Honour a claim was made to prove a debt, admitted to have been due, but the objec tion to the proof was that the claimant had sued the bankrupt in the County Court of Hertfordshire, and obtained judgment for 201., and had therefore condoned all further claim. It was urged on the other side, that a plaintiff might sue for a portion of his account if that account was made up of different deliveries of goods, and yet sue at law or prove under bankruptcy for the balance. His HONOUR said that :he entertained a very dif ferent opinion on that point—the object of the County Courts Act was to simplify the legal mode, and reduce the expense of obtaining debts, and to do that plaintiffs were at liberty to reduce their claim, but that must be taken to embrace the whole of the account then due. He, therefore, must decide against the proof. The solicitor hoped his Honour would not decide a point in bankruptcy when it was pending in the supe rior courts, and several cases were depending on the judgment. His HoNoun said, he was bound to decide in equity, and he conceived he had put the just and equitable con struction of.the Aq of Parliament. INSOLVENT COURT-(T HIS DAY.) IN RE EDWARD FOWNES. In this case the insolvent had been connected with some proceeding in the Ecclesiastical Courts in relation to a disputed will. The proceedings bad cost 9001. on one side, and about 7001. on the other. Mr. Commissioner Law remarked that such a state of affairs was quite horrible. The Learned Commis sioner added, after a pause, "It is a stable that wants cleansing." Mr. DOWSE, w ho, append in the case, said, " I sup pose it w:11 be in ti.ne." The insolvent said the suit had been in the Ecclesias tical Court for two years. The COURT said, although two years in litigation, the busin. as might be done in a short time. The insolvent was discharged. SURREY SESSIONS.—(THIS DAY.) These sessions commenced this day, in the Newington Court-house, before J. P. Puckle, Esq. (chairman), and a full bench of magistrates. The calendar exhibits a list of 73 prisoners charged with various offer.ces, a great proportion of these being hetty felonies. Out of this number three were stated to ave received a good education ; 39 were said to have been imperfectly edacated; while 31 were unable to read or write. After the usual forms of swearing in juries had been gone through, and Tile CHAIRMAN bad addressed the grand jury, and dismissed the m, the Court proceeded to take some oases of trivial interest. GUILD HALL.-(THIS DAY.) Charles Smith, aged 42, was charged with stealing a great coat, &c., from the Gresham Hotel. The waiter stated that on going upstairs he met the prisoner coming stealthily down with a bundle and um brella under his arm. Witness knew the umbrella to be his own, and suspected therefore that the bundle con tained property belonging to the house. He was also clothed with his (witness's) greatcoat. On being inter rogated as to his business there, the prisoner said that he was looking out for a gentleman with whom he had an appointment at the Gresham. He was given into custody.—The prisoner was committed for trial. MARLBRO'-STREET-(THIS DAY) A gentleman, who gave the name of George Gould, bolding a commission in her Majesty's service, was brought before Mr. Bingham, charged with assaulting police-sergeant 4 C, while in the execution of his duty. At half-past three on Sunday morning complainant was on duty in Piccadilly, when he saw the defendant, who was intoxicated, treating a great disturbance. On being requested to go quietly home, defendant refused, and struck eomplainant a violent blow in the face, and cut his lip. Complainant then took him into custody. Defendant, who treated the matter very flippantly, was committed to the House of Correction for seven days. It gives us much pleasure to be able to state that Lord John Russell has almost entirely recovered from his recent indisposition. His Lordship attended a Ca binet Council at the Foreign-office yesterday (Saturday), and was present at the performance of the Italian Opera last night. The temporary illness of the Premier was confined to an attack of the prevailing epidemic of the season, and has yielded, as was expected, to change of air and to slight relaxation from public business. The rumours respecting any more serious or permanent ill ness were entirely destitute of foundation.—Observer. THE FUNDS OF TUB BRITISH MUSEUISI.—SiT R. Peel, a few evenings since, presented a petition to the House of ;Commons from the trustees of the British Museum, in which it is stated " That the only funds belonging to the petitioners for the support of the British Museum consist of 30,0001. Three per Cent. Reduced Bank Annuities, the annual dividend whereof amounts to 9001.; of a bequest of the late Earl of Bridgwater, the annual proceeds of which amount to 4151. ; and also a bequest of the late Lord Farnborough, the annual proceeds of which amount to 86/. 3s. 4d." They then go on to say that the establishment is attendtd with an expense far beyond the annual produce of the above-mentioned sums, and as the trust cannot, with benefit to the public, be carried on without the aid of Parliament, they pray for the grant of further support towards enabling them to carry on the execution of the trust reposed in them for the general benefit of learning and useful knowledge. TERRIELN CATASTROPHE.—OH Saturday infor mation was received at Lloyd's of the following extra ordinary and fatal occurrence, which took placa on board the barque Neptune, belonging to Jersey, but lying in the Welsh Pool. It appears that on Wednesday last the vessel was loaded with coal, and was lying, for the night, at Cardiff. The hatchways were all fastened down, and, from whet subsequently occurred, it is quite clear that a considerable quantity of gas was evolved from the coal, for on the chief mate, a young man named John Grovey, striking a match to light his pipe on the hatchway, a terrible explosion took place, resembling the discharge of cannon. The cabins and main hatchways were blown to atoms, the deck was forced as high as the main rigging, and the unfortunate deceased was killed on the spot and frightfully mangled. Several others of the crew were likewise much injured, but, it is believed, not fatally. The damage done to the vessel will exceed 400/. An inquest has been held on the body, and a verdict of " Accidental death" was returned. Sir William Molesworth paired off in favour of Sir Benjamin Hall's motion for extending the income-tax to Ireland, with General Morrison. TOE Sl l N, MONEY and COMMERCIAL NEWS. CITY, ()LIAR FE!? TO 7'l!R P.. The sales of Cotton at Liverpool on Saturday wer, 3,000 bales, at steady prices. Railway Shares were ex ceedingly dull. Some time may elapse ere the fiscal position of this country will attract such attention as it did last j ear, but should the revenue exhibit a falling off, owing to the prevailing political excitement, and especially the stag nation of business abroad, the Chancellor of the Ex chequer will have the subject of retrenchment in the expenditure pressed more forcibly than ever upon his attention. As far as we can judge by the non-official returns of stocks, imports, exports, and deliveries up to the present time, we should say that the consumption of most articles has declined, the want of employ ment for the labouring classes being the imme diate cause. It is, however, to be hoped, that next quarter will show better results, for by that period, the effect of the recent political changes, if favourable, will be more appreciated, and there will at least be less uncertainty and apprehension than now exists in some quarters. The position of the shipping interest being under in vestigation in Parliament, and the extent of the mer cantile marine a matter of importance to us in the event of a Continental war, even though we may happily remain uninvolved, it will be useful to glance at some returns concerning the tonnage of vessels belonging to Great Britain and her colonies. In the year 1821 the tonnage of the United Kingdom was 2,355,853 tons; colonies, 204,350 tons. In 1841 the former was only 2,224,356 tons, and the latter 357,608 tons. From that time it has steadily increased, the total tonnage of 1846 being 3,817,112 tons. Ship-building seems to have been at its lowest point in 1822, and at its highest in 1840; and in 1846 a fair average amount of tonnage was built and registered. The tonnage which entered into and cleared from British ports was in 1814, 3,764,428 tons, of which 2,562,200 tons were British, and 1,202,228 tons foreign. In 1646, the total was 12,415,586 tons, 8,688,148 tons, being British, and 3,727,438 tons foreign. The increase, therefore, from 1814 to 1846 was 239 . 08 pr cent: on British, and 210.04 per cent. on foreign shipping. To deny the progress of the shipping interest, there fore, is futile, in opposition to such facts and figures as these. The packet ship Victoria, Captain Harvey, from New York, does not bring any later intelligence, but she has some specie on board, and a good general cargo.- - The letters from the Continent add nothing of im portance to the accounts in another column, but describe trade generally as being exceedingly dull. We understand that a very influential meeting of merchants has been held at Bristol in support of the Provident Clerks' Association, for which a liberal sub scription was made. The English Stock Market has been exceedingly quiet this morning, and indeed there is scarcely a fea ture to be noted, except a decline in Exchequer-bills, which appears to bear out the statements made as to money being rather dearer. The premium on Exche quer-bills has receded to 28s. and 253. East India Bonds are Ifs. premium. Bank Stock for account has been 190 to 191. Conso!s are heavy at 80t to 81. In the Foreign Securities there has been a fair business doing, but prices, generally, are not higher. Venezuela Bonds are nominally better, viz., 18 to 22. Mexican have been 144 to 4. Grenada are 134; and Brazilian Small 69. Spanish Five per Cents. have been marked 114 4; the Three per Cents., 214 4; and Portuguese Four per Cents. 144 to t. Russian Stock has been 85 to 88; and Dutch Two-and-a-Half per Cents. 41 to 42. The Railway Share Market is very dull, and prices are in some cases lower. CLOSING PRICES, ONE PRICES OF QIZ.ITISII FUNDS. O'cLOCK. 3 per Cent. Consols Annuities... 80 3 4 81 Long Anns. to expire Jan. 1860 ... Ditto 30 years, Jan. 5, 1560.... 8 5-16 8 54-16 India Bonds, 1,000/. Ditto under 1,0001. Bank Stock for Account .. ...191. 190 Consols for Account xchequer Bills. 3d. 1,000/. March 1,0001. June 25 23 p 5001. June .. 25 p Small, March Small June of O'CLOCK. llp 1911/2 2G p 28 p 25 p 26 p 29 p CLOSING PRICES. RIVE'A OF FOREIGN FUNDS. Brazilian Bonds Ditto, Small 69 Ditto, New, 1829 and 1839 Ditto, small... • Grenada Bonds, 1 per Cent. Ditto, Deferred 2% Mexican, 5 per Cent. 1846 14% 4 Portuguese 5 per Cents. — Ditto, 4 per Cent Ditto, Account 1 4 34 % 14 1 / s Russian Bonds .. .. B7 b 5 88 88 Spanish 5 per Cent. 1840. Ditto, Account ll% 11% Ditto, Passive Ditto, 3 per Cent Ditto, Account . Venezuela Bonds, 2 per Cent — Ditto, Deferred 5 5 Dividends on the above payble in London. Belgian 4% per Cant ...... 58 Dutch 2% per Cent., 12 Guild.... 41 42 42 Ditto. 4 per Cent. Certificates 62% PRICES OF BUSINESS DONE CLOSING RAILWAY SHARES. PA ID ' AT ONE O'CLOCK. PRICES. Aberdeen 5O Amber., Nott., Boston, and Eastern Junction Ayrshire and Galloway.. 2 1 ,E — Belfast & County Down 11% Birmingham and Ox ford Junction .... ... 20 Birmingham, Wolver hampton, and Dudley 10 .....13 Birming.,Wolverh'pton, and Stour Valley 10/. 145... ••• Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Cheshire Juno.... . ..... . Boston, Stamfd & Birm. 5 Bristol and Exeter B5 Ditto, Thirds ......... 20 ' 12% Buckinghamshire... 12/. 4a. Caledonian Ditto, Half Shares .. ...... Ditto,ClydesdaleJunc 50 Chester and Holyhead... 37% — Ditto, Preference l2 ...... Clarence Do. Ist Class, 6 per Ct. 10 Do. 2d Class, 5 per Ct. 10 Do. Government Loan, 4 per Cent. Direct London & Ports mouth Dublin and Belfast June 25 ...... Dundalk & Enniskillen 17% — East Anglia, 25/., L. & E. and L. and D...... 25 Do., 18/., E. & 11.... 18 Do., 31.103. Eastern Counties Ditto,Extension, 5 per Cent., No. 1-- 6/. 13s. 4d.... Ditto ditto, No. 2...61. 13s. 4d... Do., North. & Eastern 50 Do., Quarters Do., New 23 Eastern Union 5O Ditto, Quarter Shares 12 1 / 2 — Ditto, Thirds .... Do. (guar. 6 percent.) 10 - • •••• •...... Ditto, ditto East Lancashire Ditto, New ..... Ditto, New Quarters 3 3 / 4 — East Lineo:nshire ...... 16th Edinburgh and Glasgow 50 ...... ~ ••• Ditto, Half Shares ... 15 .. .. Ditto, Quarter Shares 121.„.„ Edinburgh and Northern 25 Ditto, New.. 3 Ditto, Newport l2 - •••• • • Ditto, ditto, New 21..... ExAer,Yeovil, & Dorch. 2% ..... Ditto, New ... 2% — Gla.sgow, Dumfries, and Carlisle Glasgow,Kilmar ,& Ayr 50 Ditto, New ... ...... ... 40 Do.Pre'erenee Consol. 15 Great Northern Do., London and York DA .,•• Great South. and West. (Ireland) Great North of Enghind 100 ..... Ditto, New, 40/ 5 Ditto, New, 30/ 3O _. . . . Ditto, New, 15/ 6% ... .. •••••••••• 00000 Great Western .. 90 ... .. 90 91% Ditto, % Shares 5O Ditto, 1 4 Shares Ditto, Fifths.. 2O Ditto, New 171... .. - 91 i(t••• 8 Huddersfield and blanch. 24 Ditto, Thirds Hull and Selby - Ditto, Half Shares ... 25 ...... Ditto, 14 Shares ..... 12%..... . ...... .. Ipswich& Bury St. Edin. 17 1 / 2 ...... Do., do., and Norwich 15 Do., do., Extens. Scrip (late Camb. & Ely) 2% Lancaster and Carlisle... 50 - ... Ditto, Thirds Lancashire & Yorkshire 93 Ditto, ditto ...... ..••.. Ditto, % •• •• Shares ,••••• Do. Quarter Sbnres... 14% • Do. Fifths... ... 9 Do. Si:iteenths 6 14 .... Do. Thirds (Reg.)....10/.45...... Do. Liverp. and Bury 38 Ditto % (late Hud -1 derstield and Sheff.) 33 13% 2% 14% 21 1,1 12% 4 dis 27% li i dis - 15% .4% 181 i 91% 15 1 ,4 8 4% 7% x.d. Do.(Wakefield,Ponte fract, and Goole) ... 50 Do.(W.RidingUnion)4/.25...... 3% dis 3% dis. Do. (Preston & Wyre) 25 Do. % Shares (A)... 9 Leeds and Bradford Levis, Dewsbury, &c.... 42 1 ..... Do., Half Shares ...... 17%...... ...... ....... Do., (blue) Scrip .... • 2%. .. Leeds and Thirsk ••• ..... .••••• Ditto, New ...... ....... 22% ••• •—• Do., Prefer., 6 per Ct. 3%...... Liverpool, Crosby and Southport. 2 Liverp., Manchester, and .. Newcastle Junction. 2%....... _. • London &Blackwall...l3/. 4 3 4 Do. New, No. 2, — Do. Extension . 17% - SG% London, Brighton, and South Coast 5O Do. Consol. Eighths. 40 ...... 19 Do. Guarant. 5 per ct.., 9 Do. Pref. Con. 5 per ct. 50 ......... Ditto, ditto 1852 50 London and Greenwich 1 2 / 1 5s 4d — . ....... ....... Ditto, Preference—. 18117 s 2d — Loudon and N. Western 100 Do. Quarters (L. & B.) 22 Ditto, New ,..... .-2 29N 18 127% - . 3N, .. 2 1)o 4'31. Sliare ( LAI.) 20 Do. 101. & B.) A. 7% — ....... Do. 101. (M. & B.) B. 7 Do. 10'.(M. & B.) C. 1 Lon'. & S. W - Ftern 50 ••• 1/ , . New 50/. ..... .. 25 Do. New 40/. 3O •••••• Do. Tenths (Consul.) 50 Ditto ditto .. .... y 0 Ditto, Thirds 81.65. 8d... ...... dis. London, Salisbury, and Y:ovil. . Lornionderry &G.leraine 27%. — Londonderry and Ennis kll,-n 25 ...... ••• ..... Lowestoft (4 per et.) Ditto (6 per ct.) ..... 3 ManzheAer,l3uxton,and Matlock . 3 Manchester, Sheffield, • and Lincolnshire ...100 Do. Quarters (No. 1) 13 ..• Ditto ditto (No. 2)... 25 Ditto ditto (No. 3) ... 7 1 4 — Ditto, New 10/. Pref... 7% — • Ditto and Grimsby.... 25 Ditto ditto . 7 Ditto ditto Ditto Sheffield and Lincolnshire 7%.- Do., Grimsby Dock 12% — Do. Man. & Lin. Union 41.2 s — Mancliest.&Southampt. 2 100 ...... 99 Do. Consolidated Pref.loo De., do., 501. Shares... 15 ... Do. Birm., and Derbyloo Do.Consol. Bristol and Binning., 6 per et.... 100 ll 6 l/ . 2... Brist. &Glocetr. 36 Ditto, ditto ..... ..111.8s. 6d — Midlud, Leieest. & Swan nington, 8 per ct.guar.loo Midland Great Western Irish Middlesbro' and Eedcar, 6 per cent. guar. Newcastie and Carlisle...loo Do. Quarters 25 Newmrk et &Chesterford 18% Do. Extension .........21. 12&... Nswport, Abergavenny, and Hereford Newry and Enniskillen 7 Newry, Warrenpomt, and Rostrevor Norfolk ..............100 Do. New 20/. .. Do. Extension Do. Guaranteed 5 1 ,4ipc. 5 Do. Scrip, 1847, North of Norfolk... 2 Do. do. Waveney Val. 2 Northern Counties Union 4 7 1 A... ...... 451 2 991 / 2 8% 73 60!4 North British ... .... ... 25 Do. Half Shares 12%..... 8% 9 9 Do. Quarters.• • ...... .. 613 3% 4 3 /4 3 '!4 Do. Extension Ditt , ) Thirds 2 •.• IA North 114 South-Western 2 ...... ....... North Statlordshire lO .... 8 3 A IA ...... • • ..• North Wales - • _North Western. - -•- - % 8% Oxford, Worcester. and W olverhamptoa ...... 40 ... .. 21x1 Reading, Guildford, and Reigate Roysten and llitc'nin ... 1% Scottish Central Scottish Midland 22% — • — Ditto, New Sheffield, Rotherham, and Goole ... 5 Shrewsbury and Birm... 7 Ditto ditto. Class B. 4 Shrewsbury & Chester ( Nor. W. Min.) l6 Ditto Halves ... ditto 8 Ditto Oswestry ... .. 14 Ditto New Do. 8 per Cent. I'ref 6 Shrewsbury and Ileretd. 2 Shropshire Union South Devon.— 4O ...... Do. Preference South Statrordihiv South Easto-m & Dover. 33% 23% xd ... ..... 23 xd Do., No. 1 24 Do., Nc. 2. - ... .........•• - / Do., No. 3 .. Do., No. 4 South Wales lB :!:(iuth Yorkshire, Don caster, and Goole Swans. & Loughor &Ca meron's Stm. C0a1.... 6 raw Vale Extension ... 4 Thames Haven Dock and Railway ........... 17% Vale of Neath ... .. ...... 4 8 1 4 Waterford and Kilkenny 13 A ...... Waterford and Limerick 40 Waterfd,Wxfrd,Wicklw, and Dublin • 2 .... . West Cornwall — Whitehaven & Furness 10 Windsor, Staines, and South Western ..... ... 7 Wilts, Somerset,& Wey mouth York, Newcastle, and Berwick. Do. Original New and Berwick . ..... 25 Do. Extension No. 1. 15 Do. -do. No. 2. ..... ... 10 Do. G.N E.Preference 8 ...... 85i •••.• 7% York and North Midland 50 Ditto, Preference ...... 10 Do. East and West Rid ing Extension FOREIGN RAILWAYS. Boulogne and Amiens... 20 Central of France (Or leans and Vierzon) ... 16 Central of Spain Ceylon Demerara Dendre Valley... 4 Direct Bombay and Madras 5B. . ... Dutch Rhenish ......... 7 ... .. %...... .... .. East Indian l l4 — ...... . ... • Great Indian Peninsular 55. Italian and Austrian. ... 4 Jamaica S. Mid. Junction 1 Louvain ila Sambre ... 6 Luxembourg.... 7.. 27% - % Lyons and Avignon 5 Madrid and Valentia... 2 Namur and Liege l6 ... .. 2 3 4 S .•• Northern of France.-- 10 Orleans and Bordeaux 6 ...... ..... ...... Over Yssel 4/ 8s 4d...... Paris and Lyons lO ••• NI - ••• • • ••• ...... Paris and Orleans Paris and Rouen ........ 20 Paris and Strasbourg ... 8 Rouen and Havre Sambre and Meuse 2O ... .. 5 ... Strasbourg acid Basle ... 14 Tours and Nantes .. 8 Tourney, Jurbise, Lan den, and Hasselt ...... 16 West Flanders• B l/..• ••• 3 2 25 1 4 16 LLOYD'S SHIPPING-(THIS DAY.) LONDON, MARCH 20.—Wind S.W., light breezes. LIVERPOOL, MARCH 19.—Wind W .S.W.—Arrd. Co lumbus, Green, Pernambucco. Sid. Feb. 17, Defence, Benster, Charleston; France, Senegal; Conrod, Boston; Emma, Newfoundland; Brooke, Africa; Belle, Africa ; Mediterranean, Africa ; Eleanor Chapman, Ali ica ; Bathurst, Honduras; Concord, Barbadoes ; Rival, Bar badoes ; Carolus, New Orleans ; Wilkinson, Boston ; St. George, New York. A quantity of railway sleepers were seen floating to the westward, off the Bell Buoy, esterduy. DEAL, MARCH 18.—Wind S.S.W. to S.S.E. ; lath, S. to S.W.—Arrd. Sarah Trotman, Brown, China; Blue Bell, Johnson, Rio Grande. Arrd. from the River, Mahomed Shah, Port Philip ; Allandale, Cape of Good Hope ; Diadem, St. Helena ; Duke of Wellington, St. John's, New Brunswick. Arrd. from the River and sailed, Gazelle, Sydney, New South Wak s ; Marion, Trinidad. PORTSMOUTH, MARCH 13.—Wind S E. ; 19th, S. to W.S.W.—SId. Northumberland, New York ; Feroze• pore, China; Neijcesaki, Batavia; Dibden, Barbadoes. SHEERNESS, MARCH 17.—The Starling brig, of Dover, ' has received considerable damage by being in contact with the Liberty brig, of Sunderland, in Folkestone harbour. DUNDEE, MARCH I 7.—The brigantine Zephyr, Welsh, from Newport to Perth (with railway iron), while taking the river last night, went on shore on the south aide of the Abertaf sand and filled ; crew saved. The vessel is likely to be a total wreck, but if the weather mode rate, the cargo may be saved. DUNBAR, MARCH 18.—The William, Thomson, of and from Goole to Port Dundas, struck on a reef of rocks, two miles west of North Berwick, 14th inst., but was warped off, and taken into North Berwick Harbour. FALMOUTH, MARCH 18.—Wind N.; 19th, W.—Sld. 18th, Chapman, Atkins, Rio Janeiro; Abbot Lord, Nason, Boston; 19th, Cawton, Dann, Sierra Leone; Jabez, Booth, Boston. NEWPORT, MARCH 18.—Wind N.E.—Sld. Casscopea, Cape of Good Hope; Plymouth, Bermuda; Quebec, Boston. PETERHEAD, MARCH 15.—Wind S.W.—Sld. Victor, Greenland. PWLHELLI, MARCH 17.-It blew a violent gale all last night and this morning, from N.E., and the wind still continues strong and squally. FISUGUARD, MARCH 18.--A large number of water casks, full of water, with no mark on them ; several empty palm oil casks, made of very slight mates ial, the head of one was marked—" STRIPS—L'POOL-18—a coronot-46; SOLDAN," in masking ink; a large quan tity of tobacco, and some salt beef and pork, have been washed ashore here during the last few days. NWHITIIY, MARCH 17. —The Conopia, or Conova, of Sunderland, was on shore on a rock off Flanahorough, on the 14th instant, but was towed off and proceeded. ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA, COVENT-GARDEN.—Her Majesty's box was occupied of Saturday evening by Lord and Lady John Russell, and Mr. William Ruselt We also noticed his Royal Highness the Coade de Montemolin and party, his Excellency the Greek Mi. nister and Madame Ralli, the Duchess Dowager of Bedford, the Duchess of Montrose, Lord and Lady Ernest Bruce, Viscount Cantilupe, Lord Ossulton, the Mai quis of Tichfield, the Marquis of Lusada, Viscount Neville, Lady Domville, the Right Hon. Edward Strutt, M.P., Hon. F. Scarlet, Hon. John Fortescue, Hon. A. Willoughby D'Eresby, Hon. Mr. and Mrs. Upton, Hon. Colonel and Mrs. Fizgibbon, Hon. Captain Coke, Sir Henry Paulet, Sir William P. De Bathe, Sir Archibald Macdonald, &c. Her Highness Princess Grassalkovitch de Gyrach (Rea Princess Esterhazy) arrived at Mivart's on Satur- I day, from her estates in Hungary. ILO N DON, MONDA Y _ 9 I A a LITERATURE. I ( 11V G ../.. A'. TRUE. rwt I. By the Author cf " The New Timou." W bile Paris was convulsed from the heights of Montmartre to the suburban roads leading towards Versailles, during the three glorious days of February, we can imagine to ourselves the form of the venerable Beranger, throned like a prophet on his tripod in the A cademie. We can imagine even his enthusiastic and republican spirit withdrawing itself from the fascina ting din of the hour for the indulgence of a poetic reverie as to the Hereafter. For the power of ab straction is one of the most beautiful prerogatives of the Poet. It enables him to brood serenely over the Ideal amidst the convulsions of an empire. Ilis dreaming!, as Addison has finely expressed it, of the soul, survive " the wreck of matter and the crush of w °rids." Of this we are so satisfied, that we antici pate not only a song in celebration of the recent movement from the Bard of Napoleon, but one which slia:l be a Hymn of Prediction as eloquent as a psalm, and as exultant as a canticle. Age does not prevent this expectation ; for we remember that Voltaire penned a tragedy at eighty. What we would par ticularly observe, however, in reference to the poetic faculty of abstraction—apart from the new illustra tion of that faculty which we are predicting in the instance of Beranger—is, that a brilliant evidence of its existence has, to our thinking, been afforded by the author of the present remarkable publication. Never, perhaps, was the whole heart of Christendom moved so profoundly to its very core, to the inner most core of its core, as it is at this day by events, by men, and by principles. Hitherto Ambition has been a sort of royal attribute, the attribute of impe rial conquerors. At last, it would seem, that the Nations have their Ambition, and that the People of the civilised earth are themselves aspiring to great ness and sovereignty. For the realisation of this hope a grand and majestic movement has been com• menced—it has vibrated throughout Europe—it has developed and confirmed the cantonal liberty of Switzerland—it has given a constitutional King to the Athenians, and planted a banner of freedom on the Acropolis, and established a nationality in the golden city of Attica—it has evoked the genius of patriotism in Italy, and proclaimed the liberation of that heroic peninsula from the palace of the Quirinal and the ruins of Rome—it has startled the despots of the North in the very bosom of Germany, in the Council Chambers of Munich, and the Whitehall of Berlin—it has agitated even the Danes on the Baltic, and the Dutchmen on the Zuyder- Zee ;it has awakened not only a novel ardour in Neufchatel and the Netherlands, but has' burst like a thunder-clap over Paris, -and permanently established a Republic in the empire of the modern Sesostris. At this su blime and unparalleled epoch--when the pulse of man kind is beating high with the mighty things they are accomplishing—a man appears in Englard who has the power of abstraction and the intellectual daring to emulate the glory of Ariosto and Spenser. Honour to that man, say we, for his supreme and ad mirable audacity—the more so because, as we shall very speedily explain, his soul can thrill in sym pathy with the glorious march of Freedom and Christianity. His book is a living fulfil ment of the noble apophthegm of Dr. John son—" Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses, whatever makes the past, the dis tant, or the future predominate over the pre sent, a( . :vances us in the dignity of thinking beings." In the Romantic and Chivalrous Poem, of which the present volume contains the four opening books, who shall say that the Past does not predominate over the Present? KING Amato& I The very name is a poem—calling up before us the lustrous legends asso ciated with that most legendary monarch—the awful form of Merlin, the Great Magician—the knights of the round table—Sir Lancelot of the Lake—the dragon-banner of the Cymry—the gorgeous halls of Carduel—the mobile and_courtly aspect of Gawaine —the :word of the mere—the shield of Thor—the destrier, the bassinet, the guardian dove, every one of the thousand graceful phantasies connected with the Hero and the heroic age of Wales. The subject itself is a superb one !—patriotic !—worthy of im parting inspiration to a Briton ! Dryden looked with loving eyes upon it, and dreamed of becoming the panegyrist of King Arthur. Tennyson has sung the sorrows of his doom in his exquisite but fragmentary Merle d' Arthur. But until this singular and (we may venture to call it) memorable volume appeared no great poem on the adventures of the Cymrian Sovereign had ever been attempted. The poem is strictly narrative in manner, and several of the colloquial passages are remarkable for their dramatic energy. In the opening sentence it is im possible for the scholar not to recognise an ambitious, if not a somewhat affected, tone—a tone equivalent in its sonorousness to a flourish of trumpets. It breathes a reminiscence of the Virgilian induction— " Arms and the man- I sing, who, forced by Fate, And haughty Juno's unrelenting hate," &c. of the Homeric prelude— " Achilles! wrath to Greece the direful spring Of woes unnumber'd Heavenly Goddess sing!" and of the preliminary words of Milton— " Of man's first disobedience and the fruit Of that forbidden tree," &o. Listen to the introductory verses of " King Arthur,' and say if there be not much of the music, of the solemnity, and of the auspicious grandeur which is observable in the writers of those heroic and celestial epics— " Our land's first legends, love, and knightly deeds, And wondrous Merlin, and his wandering king, Tho triple labour and the glorious weeds Won from the world of Fable-land I sing." In those four lines there is, to our thinking, larger promise than in the first twenty pages of " The New Timon," and we are sanguine (from the impression produced on our mind from the present instalment) that that promise will be fulfilled in an equal propor tion. Book I. opens with a description of King Arthur keeping holiday in the Tale of Carduel. It is spring time, the exquisite month of May in ooth— " When, after sparkling showers, Her starry wreaths the virgin jasmine weaves When lure the bee wild thyme and sunny bowers; And light wings rustle thro' the glinting leaves." The whole description partakes of the freshness of that delicious season, and the dusty antiquity of the Welsh legend revives under the breathings of a con genial poetry. o n poet times the month of poets shone— May deck 'd the world, and Arthur sird the throne." Pastimes of all times are resorted to by the courtiers of Arthur Pendragon (i. e. Arthur, the head of the Dragon race) ; some are fishing in the rivulets; some are dancing on the greensward ; some are " dis coursing gentle things ;" here and there reclines a " Teuhewr," or harper, " waking the sweet tempest of melodious strings." In the midst of these royal pleasures the King is reclining in a sort of indolent rapture, when a weir apparition suddenly starts forth " in the centre of the silken ring," and summons the monarch to follow it into the adjoining forest. The mandate of the spectre excites the wrath of the courtiers— " Feet found the earth, and ready hands the sword, And angry knighthood bristled round its lord." Arthur, however, follows the Image into the wood lands, to the dismay of his attendants. The war-cry, the shrill Bon-/epier,” is raised, and the welkin in an instant "gleams with starry swords." Even the brave " beauties" of the court are panic•stricken— they cluster together, trembling if a bird Flutter a bough, or if, without a sound, Some leaf fall breczAess, eddying to the ground." An hour elapses before Arthur again emerges from the forest; and as evening. closes in the regal con course is dispersed homewards. From the emotion evinced by the sovereign immediately upon his re turn, it is manifest that he had received some august and even terrible revelation from his visitant. The light-hearted spectators themselves had been im pressed with the conviction fora moment, although Arthur conquered his agitation by a great effort, "And, masking trouble with a noble guile, Soon the proud heart restored the kingly smile." When, in the seclusion of the palace, the agitation of the monarch returns wit h double energy. To calm his spirits by an unobserved communion with Nature, he ascends to the battl ements of his palace, and "tares his hot forehead to the freshening air." Then, while Arthur is gazing into the Night, the poet ex claims in a couplet of superb enthusiasm— ' "How Silence, like a god's tranquillity, Fill'd with delighted peace the conscious sky F' Pendragon surveys the landscape in a mood of un utterable dejection g l an cing from th e roo f- tops t h a t shone in the moonlight to the waters that sparkled as they hurried seawards, from the vale in which his courtiers had recently held their c arousa l s t o th e "pastures virgin of the lust of War." Hi s eye is abruptly arrested by a light—a light glimmering in a lonely turret —the midnight la m p o f M er li n . Arthur resolves to visit the magieian, and to obtain from his 'wisdom a consolation for his own miseries. He reaches the turret —passes the threshold of the chamber—and finds himself in the presence of the picture of th e prop h e t an d wizard. Here is the necromancer : sEautl. " Vast was the front which o'er as vast a breast, Hung as if heavy with the load sublime Of the piled hoards which Thought, the heavenly guest, Had wrung from Nature or dispoil'd from Time; And the unutterable calmness shows The toil's great victory by the soul's repose. A hundred years pross'd o'er that Itliful head, As o'er their Alp a diadem of snow ; And, as an Alp, a hundred years had tied, And left as firm the giant form below; So sate, era yet diecrown'd, in Ida's grove, The grey hair'd father of Polasgian Jove." Arthur is welcomed with paternal affection by the magician, and at the desire of the sage recounts his interview with the ghastly apparition of mid-day. The phantom had conducted him into the forest, and when he paused— EVENING, MARCH 20,,1848 , . " A sunless pool was near As coon blat, and yet as elaystal Clear." Li the pool vt ere revealed the dread shadows of the Future—shadows which displayed to the anointed eyes cf the monarch the subjugation of his realms, the slavery of his people, and the ultimate triumph of the Saxons. " Then spoke the hell-born shadow by my side— ' 0 King, who deer meat, amid sweets and bloom, Life, like one summer holiday, can glide, Blind to the storm cloud of the coming do-..m; Arthur Pendragon, to the Saxon's sway The kingdom and thy crown shall pass away.' "' And who art thou, that heaven's august decrees Usurpest thus ?' I cried, and lo the space Was void ?—Anafht the horror of the trees, And by the pool, which mirrored back the face Of Dark in claystal darkness—there I stood, And the Sae Spectre was the Solitude After this thrilling and austere description, King Arthur utters a sublime adjuration to the great God —an adjuration worthy both of his royalty and his knighthood. " Grant this—a freeman's, if a monarch's prayer ! LIFE, while my life one man from chains can save; While earth one refuge, or the cave one lair, Yields to the closing struggle of the brave ! Mine the last desperate but avenging band, If reft the sceptre, not resign'd Cie brand." Merlin embraces the young king in a burst of admiration, and then invokes the power of light and darkness to solve the riddle of the apparition. The invocation is scarcely completed when the dragon keep is shaken to its foundations, as by an earth quake, and Arthur swoons. On returning to con sciousness he finds that a beautiful morning has dawned over Cardetel, and that the magician is watch ing beside his couch. Then follows the revelation of Merlin, which is the key-note of the poem : " Prince," said the prophet, " with this morn awake From pomp, from pleasure, to high toils and brave; From yonder wall the arms of knighthood take, But leave the crown the knightly arms may save; O'er mount and vale, go, pilgrim, forth alone, And win the gifts which shall defend a throne. " So speak the fates—till in the heavens the sun Rounds his revolving course, 0 King, return To man's first, noblest birthright, toil:—so won In Grecian fable, to the ambrosial urn Of joyous Hobe, and the Olympian grove, The labouring son Alcmene bore to Jove. " By the stout heart to peril's sight enured, By the wise brain which toil has stored and skill'd, Valour is school'd and glory is secured, And the large ends of fame and fate fulfilled: But hear the gifts thy year of proof must gain, One left unwon, and all the quest is vain. " The Falehion, welded from a diamond gem, Guarded by Genii in the sparry caves Where springs a forest from a single stem, Shadowing a temple built beneath the waves; Where bitter charms grant gifted eyes to mark The lake's weird lady in her noiseless bark. " The silver shield in which the infant sleep Of Thor was cradled,—now the jealous care Of the fierce dwarf whose home is on the deep, Where drifting icorocks clash in lifeless air; And war's pale sisters smile to see the shock Stir the still curtains round the couch of Lek. " And last of all—before the iron gate Which (-pea its entrance at the faintest breath, But bath no egress; where remorseless fate Sits, weaving life, within the porch of death; There with meek fearless eyes, and leeks of gold, Back to warm earth thy childlike guide behold. " The sword, the shield, and that young playmate guide Win; and the fiend, predicting wrath, shall lie; Be danger braved, and be delight defied, Front death with dauntless, but with solemn eye; And the' dark wings hang o'er these threatened halls, Tho' war's red surge break thundering round thy walls, " The', in the rear of time, these prophet eyes See to thy sons, thy Cymrians, many a woo; Yet from thy loins a race of kings shall rise, Whose throne shall shadow all the seas that flow; Whose empire, broader than the Ctusar woo, Shall clasp a realm where never sets the sun. " And thou, thyself, shalt live from age to age, A thought of beauty and a type of lame ; Not the faint memory of some mouldering page, But by the hearths of men a household name! Theme to all song, and marvel to all youth— Beloved as fable, yet believed as truth." Thereupon the sovereign bounds from his couch of dalliance, and girding himself in his armour, and mounting his war-horse, issues forth upon his adven tures. At this instant the poet paints his hero in befitting colours—colours worthy of " the pomp of spring," through which the ideal monarch is pro ceeding KING ARTHUR. " Of brightest steel (but not emboss'd with gold, As when in tournies rode the royal knight), His arms flash sunshine back; the azure fold Of the broad mantle, like a wave of light, Floats tremulous, and leaves the sword-arm free. Fair was that darling of all poetry! " Thro' the raised vizor beamed the fearless eye, The limped mirror of a stately soul; _ Bright with young hope, but grave with purpose high; Sweet to encourage, steadfast to control; An eye from which subjected hosts might draw, As from a double fountain, love and awe. " The careless curl, that from the helm escaped, Gleaned in the sunlight, lending gold to gold. The features, clear as by a chisel shaped, Made manhood godlike as a Greek's of old; Save that, in hardier, bolder lines, looked forth The soul that nerves the warchild of the North. " O'er the light limb, and o'er the shoulders broad, The steel flowed pliaut as a silken vest; Strength was so supple that like grace it showed, And force was only by its ease contest; Ev'n as the storms in gentlest waters sleep, And in the ripple flows the :nighty deep." - - At the outset of his romantic pilgrimage, the King encounters his special favourite and friend, Lancelot the True—Lancelot of the Lake ; his other two friends being Gawaine the Frank, and Caradoc the Mild. The first book closes with the farewell of Lancelot. So far we have tracked the thread of the narrative with elaborate minuteness, because the introductory book develops, in a peculiar manner, the motives of the story, and simplifies the otherwise inexplicable complexity of the inci dents. In recounting the subsequent adventures we shall be intentionally and necessarily more con cise. Book 11. opens with the mourning of the three; friends, Caradoc, Gawaine, and Lancelot, for the departure of Arthur. Merlin declares that one of the three is permitted to follow the King, bidding them separately to the forest, where an omen is to decide the selection. During their absence the magician pronounces an exquisite soliloquy to a fountain, for which see B. 11., st. 18-24. Lancelot proves the fortunate recipient of the omen, and ob tains from Merlin a magic ring, in the chrystal of which a fairy hand points perpetually in the direction of the wanderer. Arthur meanwhile has proceeded on his travels, guided by a milk-white dove as his guardian. He crosses the channel and arrives at the court of the Vandal King Ludovick. This Ludovick is manifestly a portraiture of Louis Philippe, the ex- King of the French—a portraiture happily conceived except in one particular. The poet speaks of him (page 70) as not having " sowed the seeds of fame in youth," forgetful of the heroic conduct of the young Due de Chartres at the battle of Jemappes, where his gallantry elicited the approbation of Dumouriez. The sketch of Guizot, in the character of Astutio, is more felicitous, because more scrupu lously exact; witness that bitter couplet, where it is written that Astutio " Took souls for wares and conscience for a till, And damned his fame to serve his master's will." Finding that the Cymrian monarch cannot be cajolled by specious propositions, Ludovick resolves to act towards him with consummate perfidy, but' while the Vandal is plotting with his minister, Arthur, warned by the dove, escapes. The Earl Harold sud denly reaches the court of Ludovick, as an ambassa dor from Marcia, proposing that the Vandals shall combine with the Saxons in a war of devastation and conquest against the Cymry. Hearing that King Arthur had just departed from the palace, the Thane, attended by his retinue of Saxons, pursues him with bloodhounds. Arthur, on the other hand, having arrived at the seashore, finds his passage intercepted by an extraordinary labylinth of caverns, and pene trating these inland, he passes an idol shrine, before which one of the savage Alemani is crouching, in ex pectation of a human sacrifice—a bloody sacrifice of propitiation to his sanguinary goddess. The bar toarian tracks the footsteps of the unconscious monarch, and in another direction a famished wolf fellows Arthur with a stealthy tread among the brambles. Although the incident is already familiar to many from the story-books perused in childhood, it will be here re-perused with more than a passing interest, for it is invested with an air inimitably poetic. It is, perhaps, in the infinite art with which the writer has emblazoned his narrative with this trite anecdote —emblazoned his narrative, we say, with it, as with a cluster of precious stones—that his powers of com position are the most vividly displayed. The passage is altogether exquisite,:and gives rise to the , noblest verses in the volume—verses which absolutely seem to be inspired by the divine and beneficent Genius of Christianity. King Arthur hangs up his helmet and hauberk on the trunk of a beech-tree, and reposes himself for the night under its branches. While he is slumbering his dread enemies are approaching— " And now on either hand the dreaming king, Death halts to strike ; the crouching wild beast, here, From the close crag prepares the rushing spring ; There, from the thicket creeping, near and near, Steals the wild man, and listen for a sound— Lifts the pale steel, and ga:her's for the bound. But what betel ? 0 thou, wh( se gentle heart Lists, scornful not, this undiurnal rhyme ; IF, as thy steps to busier life depart, Still in thine car rings low the haunting chime, When leisure suits, once more forsake the throng, Call childhood back, and redemand the song." So terminates the second book—a terminate of consummate adroitness, for while the "haunting chime," reverberates upon the senses, the peril of the hero acts as an irresistible fascination. Book II f. resumes the same thrilling delieearion : on the one side the fierce fangs of the wolf are glittering through the shadows of the twilight, and on the other in the stern hand of " Murther gleamed the blade." [Throughout this passage, be it observed, the frequent mention of the assassin us the incarna tion of the crime, and that too spelt after the ancient fashion " Murt her" has an indescribable effect.] Sud denly a tumult leaps out of the profound silence. The wild beast and the wild man, bounding together upon their prey, grapple with each other. Arthur starts up from his couch and distinguishes " through the dim and haggard air" the two forms interlaced and struggling ferociously. He saves his intended destroyer thus— " Clasp'd round the wolf, swift arms of iron draw From their fierce hold the buried fangs ; on high Up borne, the bailed terrors of its jaw Gnash vain ;—one yell howls, hollow, thro' the sky; And dies abruptly, stifled to a gasp, As the grim heart pants crushing in the grasp." Thrice the Alemani attempts to consummate his sacrifice by plunging his dagger into the bosom of his preserver. Arthur tends upon the wounded wretch with the gentleness of a woman, and ultimately the idolator discloses his pitiless project. " Serv'st thou a goddess,' said the wondering king, Whose rites ask innocent blcod? 0 brother, learn In heaven, in earth, in each created thing, One God, whom all call FATHER, to discern!' Can thy God suffer thy God's foes to live?' God once had foes, and said to man, FoieGivEr " As those sublime words are falling, " dream-like," on the ear of the savage he swoons to sleep ; and towards morning the Cymrian monarch proceeds on his travels. Earl Harold, stepped overnight in his pur suit by the advancing tides, resumes his chase at dawn with his ban-dogs and soldiery. Very soon afterwards he comes upon the Alemani and questions him whether he has seen a solitary horseman— " Track'st thou his steps in love or bate?' Why, so As hawk its quarry, or as man his foe?'" " Thou dolt not serve his God," is the only response of the barbarian. Towards noon Harold beholds King Arthur upon the summit of' a mound, seated like a goodly knight upon his barb. There is no need of either ermine or diadem as his insignia— " Nature herself has crown'd that lion mien, And in the man the king of man is seen." They meet in single combat—Arthur bearing down from the acclivity like a thunder cloud, and cleaving his way through the serried ranks of the Saxons. The latter wheel round, and the monarch again dares them to effect his destruction—at bay. In the midst of these occurrences on the ground, Earl Harold's falcon has slipped its hood, and is swooping round the dove of Arthur. At this instant an arrow whistles through the boughs of an adjacent fore3t, and pierces the falcon, while a host of barbarians, armed with clubs, and clothed in skins, rush from their conceal ment Then " On Arthur's crest the dove refolds its wing; On Arthur's ear a voice comes murmering: ' Man, have 1 served thy God ?' and Arthur saw The priest beside him, leaning on his bow; ' Not till, in all, thou hast fulfilcd the law— Thou hast saved the friend —now, aid to shield the foe;' And as a ship, cleaving the severed tides, Right through the sea of spears the hero rides. " The wihlitroop part submissive as he goes ; Where, like an islet in that stormy main, Gleam'd Alercia's steel; and like a rock arose, Breasting the breakers, the undaunted Thane; He dont his helmet, look'd majestic round; And dropp'd the murderous weapon on the ground; " And with a meek and brotherly embrace Twined round the Saxon's neck the peaceful arm, Strife stood arrested—the mild kingly _face, The loving gesture, like a holy charm, Thrill'd dim' the ranks : you might have heard a breath ! So did soft silence weir. to bury death. " On the fair locks, and on the noble brow, Fell the full splendour of the heavenly ray; The dove, dislodged, flew up—and rested now, Poised in the tranquil and translucent day. The calm wings seem'd to canopy the head; And from each plume a parting glory spread." That is a picture not unworthy of the pen o: Camoens, or of the pencil of Urbino. Scarcely is the last hue touched when the scene changes with a rapidity of itself magically beautiful. The poet depicts a Happy Valley, situated among the Alpine regions, and entirely shut out from the world by impenetrable and insurmountable acclivities of granite. The inhabitants are described as being the descend ants of a colony of certain Etrurians from Fiesole, who had migrated thither from a dread of the ulterior growth of the Roman dominion. The valley itself, its seclusion and its loveliness, are painted with all the dainty suavity of Boccaccio. Of the ruling family (the Lartian) only a single daughter (Egle) sur vives ; and, a 3 the Etrurian law had forbidden the females of that clan to wed out of any other, the Augur is ecmpelled to resort to an ingenious device for the perpetuation of the line. The device, moreover, is " sanctioned by two former precedents." Two splen did temples are situated at opposite extremities of the valley, affording the only ingress to and egress from its retirement. Through the former (a temple dedicated to Tina, the Etrurian Jove) a stranger is to be decoyed by the high priest ; he is to be married to the surviving daughter, and immediately upon the birth of a prince is to be made away with in the latter temple, dedicated to Mantu the god of the shades—the simple-hearted po pulation all the while believing this stranger to be a celestial visitant. On the occasion of Agle attain ing the hey-day of her virginity, king Arthur is lured into the Happy Valley, and the book draws to a conclusion with his arrival in the presence of his destined bride. Book IV. begins with a delicious apostrophe to Love, in which the poet exclaims— " Hail, Love ! the deattedefyer ! age to age Linking, with flowers, in the still heart of man ! Dream to the bard, and marvel to the sage, Glory and mystery since the world began." Arthur is enabled to converse with eT e gle in the Phoenician language, end his impassioned tones— " Stir the quick blush—as when the south wind heaves Into sweet storm the hush of rosy leaves." In the midst of these lore passages, however, there is interpolated an episode, descriptive of the adventures of Lancelot in quest of his sovereign. After encoun tering theAlemani priest and receiving from,him tidings of Arthur, Lancelot passes into Brettannie, and ulti tnately discovers the destrier of his lord before the rock-gate of the Happy Valley. Then the principal narrative is resumed. King Arthur has almost be come reconciled to his tranquil life among the Etruscans, by the immeasurable beauties of the spot, and the indescribable graces of .Egle. Absorbed in this lethargy of delight, he is startled one day by a message from Merlin, conveyed to him by the carrier-raven of the magician:— " Hoarse croaks the bird, and, with its round bright eye, Fixes the gaze of the recoiling king ; Slowly the hand that trembles, cuts the tie, That binds the white scroll gleaming from the wing, And the se the words,—' Weak loiterer from thy toil, The Saxon's march is on thy father's soil.' " Bounded the Prince !—As when the sudden sun Loosens the ice-chains on the halted rill, Smiles the dumb snow mass, and the cataracts run In molten thunder clown the clanging kill, So ji.um his heart the fetters burst ; and strong In its rough course, the great soul rush'd along." The ensuing interview between Egle and her royal husband is drawn in a spirit of un utterable pa!hos, and is unquestionably the masterpiece of the first portion of this superb and ambitious poem. Although the Queen of the Etru rians reconciles herself to the departure of Arthur from her reliance on his knightly truth, she faints in his embraces : " O'er her hush'd breath his listening ear he bow'd, And the awed children round him wept aloud." Then follows this noble and majestic stanza a fragment sufficient of itself to attest the poetic genius of the author. "But when the soul broke faint from its eclipse ! And his own name came, shaping life's first styli, Llis very heart seem'd breaking in the! ips, Press'd to those fait! ones;—then, tremblengly, Ile rose;—he moved;—he paused;— HIS NERVELE , SVIAND, VEIL'il THE DREAD AGONY OF NAN UNMANN D. The narrative breaks off when the heroic monarch is being conducted by the Augur towards the fine of the funereal Nantu. Such is the character, such are the incidents, such is the eloquent and propitious commencement of " Kin Arthur," the new poem by the author of the "New 'mon" In the mere selec tion of his theme, that author has displayed a consciousness of his own vigorous and inventive faculties ; he has attempted a loftier flight in a loftier field of poetry, and in so doing he has revealed new powers, powers greater than we had anticipated even from , the many admirable excellences of his "New limon,' powers which may, if properly directed , make his name a shining light in our literature, and link his memory with immortal song. While we are ready to pronounce these cordial words of commenda tion, we cannot but acknowledge that the work is by no means faultless—were it so, it would be more than human, it would be a divine inspiration. In some passages, for example, the di ction is execrably in• volved and tortuous, as where e'Egle is made to re mark— " For something bright and high thyself without, Thou makest thy heart an offering; so my heart, Could sacrifice to thee! Then wherefore doubt , There are to thy soul what to mine thou urt? ' Before the meaning of this sentence can be accurately comprehended it becomes necessar y to read it again and again—dissevering the words—unbuilding the construction—and reducing to sueple prose the very clumsy involutions of the rhythm. Again : although it is impossible to deny the right of a poet to change the tenses from past to present, or from present to past, abruptly and repeatedly within the compass of a single paragraph—although, we repeat it, it is impossible to deny the right possessed by a po e t i n this particu'ar, espi•eially atzer the many , furwidablu precedents adduced in Note 6, Book I (precedents including such authorities as Dryden, Milton, and Pope), it is inexcusable to find the writer of " King Arthur" violating the rules of grammar and of melody merely for the sake of a rhyme, as he baa done in this awkward couplet— " Fair .ir and king, from Mel Ynys I Caine, Gwent-land my birthplace, Arthur is my name." Albeit, the manner of the announcement forces upon us an unpleasant recollection of the jingle scrawled in the " Album" of Miss Tagrag by the burlesque hero of " Ten Thothand a Year"— " Tittlebat Titmouse is my name, England is my nation," &c. As to the authorship of " King Arthur" we feel ourselves compelled to uttvr certain conjectures which have been forced upon our mind irresistibly during its perusal. Upon the original publication of the " New Timon" we declared our conviction that the writer whs none other—could be none other, than Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton. That conjecture re ceived almost immediately afterwards a very positive contradiction. Yet now—now that we have conned the second composition of this anonymous poet—we are again compeiled to assert that if the author of " King Arthur" is not Bulwer, he is certainly " The Gentleman in Black." M ore th an o ne coincidence of thought and manner has driven us to this conclusion. And, first, of the coincidences of manner :—The poem is filled with mannerisms, and all these man nerisms are Bulworian, or Lyttonian, if you will. The very habit of writing his adjectives with a capital letter, whenever those adjectives are employed as substantives, or of writing his substantives in the same way when they are used as personifications of things (a habit which is cleverly defended in an elaborate and entertaining note)—rs one peculiar to Sir Bulwer Lytton, as every one acquainted with the metaphysical portions of his prose or poetry already knows. Take for example (page ?•5) that mention of ghostly apparitions, as— " The bloodless People of the Dark, • In the pale shape of Dreams—when to the bed Of Murder glide the simulated deed." Beyond this there are individual words peculiar (in a particular sense) to Bulwer. Those who have wit nessed his drama of " The Sea Captain" know his partiality for a symbolism by the stars, and stars sparkle in a hundred verses of " King Arthur." Solemn is more than a favourite expression of his— it has become a diseased medium of emphasis in several of his productions. In page 13 we have " Reign the sad silence and the solemn star"—in page 16 " The solemn Merlin, from the midnight won '—in page 18 " His wand uplifted in his solemn hand"— in page 31 "Front death with dauntless, but with solemn eye"—in page 40 " Answer'd the King, and at the solemn words''—all in the first book. Another word, or, strictly speaking, a mere abbreviation, is a yet greater favourite with Sir Bulwer Lytton—it is in a manner peculiar to his writtngs, as peculiar to them as the orthography of Sybil to Disraeli, or the adjective ornate to Sin) the. We mean that sonorous monosyllable which recurs in the chorus to the famous war-song in " Rienzi " Blow, trumpets, blow, Blow, trumpets, blow, Gaily to glory we come, Like a King in his pomp To the blast of the tromp, And the roar of the mighty drum." In various pa sages of " King Arthur" the same pet abbreviation is repeatedly introduced, as at page 72, where it is said— " llera!ds the tromp and harpers wake the string;" or, at page 86, iu which the poet observes— " And thrice the tromp his blazun'd herald woke;" or, once more, at page 112, "No need for herald there his tromp to sound." An equal significance may be attached to the dis sylable daqtzl, one of the pet epithets of our author. It is discernible in more than one stanza, as for in stance where Lancelot is depicted (page 173) as shaping his course, " by deedal chasms," or where the llappy Valley is first perceived by a wandering Etrurian (page 127) beyond " a vista'd cavern, long drawn and hollow'd through the dcedal stone." We have a vivid recollection of the extraordinary effect produced by this simple adjective in that renowned chapter in the " Last Days of Pompeii," in which the incantations of Arbaces are ar rested by the tumultuous heavings of an earthquake.—" A mightier spirit than that of the Egyptian was abroad !—a giant and crushing power, before which sunk into sudden impotence his passion and his arts. IT woke—lT stirred—that Dread Demon of the Earthquake—laughing to scorn alike the magic of human guile, and the malice of human wrath. As a Titan on whom the mountains are piled, it roused itself from the sleep of years—it moved on its dada' couch—the caverns below trem- bled and groaned beneath the motion of its limbs." That is the paragraph ; and it is a fragment not only of one of the finest passages in the " Last Days of Pom peii," but of one of the noblest inspirations of the novelist. We have transcribed the passage for a double reason, because it affords an example of the striking coincidences of .thought between Bulwer and the author of "King Arthur." In the opening book of this poem the incantations of Merlin are interrupted by an occurrence precisely similar to that which in terrupted the incantations of Arbaces : " Mute stood the King, when 10, the dragon-keep Shook to its rack'd foundations, as when all Corycia's caverns and the Delphic steep Shook to the foot-tread of Invading Gaul; Or as his path when flaming Etna frees, Shakes seine proud city on Sicilian seas." Then, moreover, we ask any intelligent mind whether there is not a more than subtle coincidence of thought between this couplet (see " King Arthur," p.177): " Few find the path, 0 bliss! 0 woo to find! What bliss the blossom !—ah 1 what woe the wind .r" and the canzonet of Nydia the blind girl, in the " Last Days of Pompeii"— " The wind and the beam loved the rose, And the rose loved one ; But who reeks the wind as it blows, Or loves not the sun ?" Is there not a coincidence of thought between the picture of the loves of Percy and Helen towards the conclusion of "Lucretia," and the sublime question asked by the poet in this volume, when pourtraying the loves of Arthur and .z'Eglc— " Who ever gazed on perfect happiness, IVo r felt it as the shadow cast front God?" Above all, is there not a marvellous and most asto nishing coincidence of thought between the prin ciple advocated in the preface to that same "Lu cretia"—the principle that labour is the happiness as well as the doom of man — and the principle en forced in almost every page and incident of " King Arthur'" In page 30, where TOIL is called "plan's first and noblest birthright," in page 181, where it is termed " the doom of strength," and even in the foot-note to page 167, where the glorious motto of Richard Cur de Lion (Labor viris canvenit— " Labour becomes men") is quoted in terms of admi ratio3. One more extract and we shall have com pleted our remarks upon these coincidences. In the " Student," and subsequently in " Zanoni,' a conjec ture is started by Bulwer that we can scarcely imagine the vast and almost inconceivable distances of space between the stars to be void, when we find that nearly every gi ain of dust upon this globe is teeming with life, and that every drop of water swarms with animated existence. In " lung Arthur" (page 61), occurs this stanza : " Can every leaf a taming world contain ? Can every globule gird a countless race, Yet one death slumber, in its dreamless reign, Clasp all the illum:d magnificence of space ? Life crowd a grain, from Lies vast realms effaced ? The leaf a world—the firmament a waste ?" After what we have here written, shall we not say again with redouLled mit ht.sis—lf Sir Bulwer Lytton is not the author if " King Arthur," then is the poet of the "-New Timcn," the Gentleman Black? iii Whoever he be, he has already displayed a very remaikable poetic genius—a genius which can clothe its dreaniings in language of masculine eloquence. EAST INDIA COMPANY.--RATES OF EXCUANGE.— The directors of the East India Company have given notice that, from the present date, until subsequent notice, the rates of exchange at which they will recei ve cash for bills on Beng al and Madrus will be Is. 9id. th e company's rupee , and for bills on Bombay ls. 10d. the company's rupee. LOYAL DEidONSTRATION IN ilosouß or lIER All- JESTY'S ACCOUCIIF.MENT AT TUE NATI ONAL TUEATRES. —On Saturday night at the conclusion of the porforw ances_ of each of the metropolitan theatres the National Anthem was sung by the entire strength of each com pany in celebration of the safe delivery of her Majesty. The National Anthem was received everywhere with much enthusiasm.—Observer. CORPORATION OF TIIE SONS OF TUE CLERGY.—. On Saturday afternoon a special general court of go vernors was held at the society's house, Bloomsbury place, to elect a president in the room of the late la mented Primate. The nomination of the Most Rev. Dr. Sumner, the present Archbishop of Canterbury, as suc cessor to the office, was carried without a single disien• tient voice. ST. MARTIN'S-IN TIIE-FIELDS.—A meeting of the special constables for this parish was held in the vestry room on Saturday, for the purpose of appointing a general leader of the body. Mr. Churchwarden Dalton having been voted into the chair, Mr. Churchwarden Palmer moved, and Captain Payne seconded, that the Earl of Arundel and Surrey should be appointed to that honourable post, which was carried unanimously. Mr. Churchwarden Dalton then called upon the meeting to give three cheers for the Queen, who had that morn ing been safely delivered of a Princess, which was most loyally reslonded to. v _.`.~