The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-06 00:00:00

THE SUN. LONDON, THURSDAY fr, Y fr; lv 114 el DECEMBER 6 1855,

LINES r,PASED FIXED RENTAL 9,

Itim.wkil.

Loath
COWPang

Clamp Price.
yeater lay.

easuleas
this day

Bedford and
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Clydesdale .J(%
Col. Stour Vy.
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E. Un. H. Sh.
Glas. Barr. &
Neils. Direct
Do. New
Glstr. lit Dn. Fr
Hrtlpl. Dk, &
Railway
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Do. Shares.
Lon.& Greenw
Do. Preferetwe
Lon.,Til., &S.
Lowestoft gr.
4 per cent.
Do. 6 per et.
'Wane]) Batas.
and Matloolr
Middlosbi
Redcar

London &
N.
We
Caledon...
E. Un. &
E. C...
E. Count.
ezadonian.

Do
(it. Westt
Yk. New.
& Bcrw.
Y. & N M
Do..

Do..

S. Easter,
Do
Peto k Co

Norfolk
Do

L.& N.
&
Stektori
Midland, .1

Midld.Bra.if
Newmarket
Bury Exteu...
N.& Est.s p. c.
Do. 6 ner et.
Do. Fixeds p
Prest.
Do. Qr.,. A
Roystn.& Hit.
Shef.Roth rn
Gooleg.s p. c.
Shrews.&Her,
S. Staffordsh.
Wear Valleygr
6 per cent...
Do

Conn,
E. Conut.

L. &N.W
Do

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Laneash &
Yorksh.
T. Brassey
M. MC tean
Stook t. &
Darlingt

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lqtwetn.

0
St.
20

St.
St.
St.
St.

6
12i:
124
127:
St.

1
1
106.
20
1

90 - 93
94 - 98

toi 105

12 - 13

1123 -- 117

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8) -

par /p
b 7

28 - 132

n - 81
3 -

361 -- 311
83 - 85

PREFERENCE SHARES,

A berdeen
Do. N 0.2, 7 p. c. .
I tlyth andTyn,- 10 pe
c. pref. (issd.atsol,
Brie. & Ex. 4 p. e. Sig
Do. 4 p. c. Shares
laledonian £lO
ohester & Holyhea.l
Guar. 5i per cent
Do. do. Pref. No. 2..
Do. do. Prof. No. 2..
Cork dcßandonsap.c.
Du.n.Prth .4i A her. J.
1. Anglian Cis. A Sh.
Do. do. Cis. B 6 p. c.
Do. do Cls. C 7 p. c.
Tastern Comities Ex-
tension, 5 p. c. No
No. 2

')o. New 6 p. a. St
?stet Un., G. 6 p, e
i)o. 5/., 10 per cent
10/. Debentr.Sh.
Do. do. 4 per cent...
411.11 t, Larica4h, 6 p.
a:. &W. York. J. tithe
'PA Prth.&Dtm.4p.c.
Furness

r)las. 5.W.G.5 p. c.
Treat Northn. 5 p. c
.0, 5 p. C. Redeem
it 10 p. c. prom.
Po. 4A p. c
Do. 5 p.c. Scrip, Red.
it 5 p. c. pm...

all
100
10

4t. N. of Scot. Ist Prp
It. S. W. (Ireland,
Do. 4per C. Prif.

h. Westo. (Berke
!Tants Ex. 5 p. c).
Do. con. red. 4 p.c.
Do. con. red. 4 p.
Doirred 4p.c.
, .

10f3
all

_ .
D.,. Birm. Pref. Sb
Do. Cheater 8 p. c.P.Q.
Do. do. 5 p. c. d 0...
Do. Birm. Gua. Stk
Do. Ches. Gua. Sh..
Do. do. do

Do. do. do
Lux. &York. F.
+o. 6 p. c. Stock
..on. & Brigh. 0.5 p.c.
1,0. Pref., 5 p. e. St,
r)o. New Guar.6 p.
Do. do. 5 per cent_
'.on.&N. W., Coy. 4,
Nuneaton 5 p. ct
~,on. St S. W. 7 per c'.
Lundy. & Color,
Tiondy.& Ennis. 4 .
!an., Shef., & tin.
New, £]Q
4 l )o. £6

100
10
100
,100
rlOO

0.-arypt.k Carl. 4 p
)o. 4i per cent

T5(l. Consol.6
)o. Consol. Bristol
6 per cent.

Do. 4i p. c. Pref. S'
Do. Pref. 4 per eel
Do. 5/. Pr. f. 4 p. c..
'Ditto L.& H. Prof. Si
Norfolk Dote/di:lry
Do. Pref. 4 p. a. St

ertt, ......
knglo Austria. Gold
A.nglo Californian ...
kustro lian
tnstralian Cordillera
kvo Maria
'laden (G(l.Thachy of
31tonarvon Iron and
Coal .
3vitish Iron
iltraziliaulmp.(issooel
at kr:, pm.)

Do. Cocites :Sc Cuiab
Do. St. Johr Del Rey
illarendon Cons. Min
Co. of Jamaica
Cobre Copper
colonial Gold

107 -- 109
104 - 106

80 - 81
90 -- 92

93 :1

15 - 16

5f - 64

40
5
St.
45

I 1

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••• .. II • •

57 - 59

- 114

107
98 - 100
par 4r•
9. 94

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78 82
78 - 82
15i 164
94 10
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17 18
81 9
124
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110 - 132
92 - P 4
2 - 14
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98 100
88 --
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13 - 14
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9) - 93
9 - 94

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4i - 5i
21 - 23
2t - 34
30 - 32

id il,
63 67

Copper Mill. of Erir
Do. Pref. 7. p. cer.
Copiapo

27 32
3 la
18 20
14 —l6
I
2
1 -a
7i 7i
1 p
--

t+'o.rtuna

General..

I 1 it.NnizgAVeinneg.
[1 Great Polennth
11 Gt Wheal Vor United
11 Liberty
11 Linares.

Lusitanian ,
!slew Granada

Nouveau Monde
Pontgibaud Sily
Lead Min. & Smelt
Port Philip
4uartz Rock
ithymney Iron
New

4antiago de Cuba...
Australian..
IDo. Scrip...
Do. 10 por cent Pre
Pin Croft

21 - 23

,3nited Mexican
taller

West Mariposa
Worthing Mining 01
Australia
Vrtlin

- 8
4}- 4i

3i - 4

... -~ ...

122 4

MISCELLANEOUS.
25 171 Australian Agricdt. 27 28 27
U' all kusl.raln. Royal Mai .
tv 86 Berlin Water Work 7 76
50 40 Irit. American Lan ...
11(X, 12- flanacla
St. 100 Canada Gov. 6p. et
Jan. anu July lO9 110 1096
5 all Crystal Palace 2 2
5 5 Do. Preference ..... 46 4
4 all Crystal Pal.of Franc.
1 Duston Iron Oro
20 11 Eastern Steam._
5 all En.dzAus Cop Sm Co if 16
25 24 Electric Telegraph lB 19
1 all Electric Toleg. of Ti
5 all Gen. Iron Sc Collier
15 t 4 !4en. Steals Navigal.
1e all General Screw Stearn ... 15 14i
0 10 Irish Beetroot Suga,
20 10 Magdalena St. Navin;
10 all Xediteran. Eleo. Tel. 8 10
10 9 4exican&S Amerien 6 61 6/
1 all Nat. Pat. Steam Fuel
1.0 5 Netherlands Land._ 1 1
10 all Do. Do.
5 1 Do. 8p o P iss at 1 d die— par
2 1 N. S. W. Goal & inter.
Stearn Navigat. no.
100 80 New B. &N. R. Land —19 i
1 all N. B Australasian fi
20 15 Nrth.ofEuropeStaan, •
1 all Oriental Gas —
1 2s. Do. " New Shares " . .
all Peel Rr. W.& Minor]. 2 23 26
5, all Peninsular& Orients 66 8
5 10 Do. New •
.p 2
411 Portland Iron C 0...,,
Ott .10 .Loyal Mail Steam 75
11 •4cot. Austral. Invest. 16
1. 6 Ditto New. 1 iP
4outb Austral. Land 5 17
si,bmar. Tel. Scrip
• o• RegisterAd
20 5 i`rust& L. Oo.U. Can.
100 28i Y*4 ,DieD.Ple_i_lA4d 15, g, 17 161

HAWKER v. SEALE, BART.

TRIAL BY JURY.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—lnto the general question of the extraordinary
character of that pot tion of our legal system, which ap-
plies to the seeking of pecuniary compensation in cases
which clearly have no connection whatever with pounds,
shillings, and pence, it is not my province to enter, nor
will I stop to descant upon the cruelty and injustice which
are often incidental to those fictions of law that are part
and parcel of the peculiar procedure alluded to. But
there is one anomaly that it may, perhaps, be useful to
notice ; and the case of Hawker v. Scale, Bart., tried
in the Court of Common Pleas last Monday, and re-
ported in the papers of the next day, seems to aft ird a
fitting opportunity for its brief indication. In actions
brought to recover damages for criminal conversation
the parties principally concerned in the issue of the trial
are not represented at all. Hence it is only reason.
able to conclude that—as in the case which elicits
these observations a frightful amount of in-
justice mast sometimes be done. Nair is the gravity
of this gross injustice in any degree lightened by the
consideration that its victim is woman—woman, I may
add, whose actual positive helplessness in the business
of life, and still more in the labyrinth of law, we are too
much addicted to overlook. In certain crises most of
us have felt that she is a ministering angel. We appre-
ciate and understand that—it is a result of common ex-
perience ; but the leiza. inaptitude, the business helpless-
ness of woman seldom, nay never, enters our head, as it,
should do in the proper breadth of its significance. A
woman, wore eepecially of the higher class, is in reality
a child, and nothing but a child in regard to law and
business. Stie knows nothing, absolutely nothing about
either. But I mention this point only incidentally. The
main purpose in view is to invite public attention to a
fact—" a great fact," and a very cruel fact, some wise
men have considered it—namely, that the persons whose
interests are most deeply concerned in the issue of a
trial are not represented. Mrs. Hawker, the other day,
was not represented at all. The forms of law forbade a
not only full and fair representation, but all representa-

tiou whatever of her interests—her vital, dearest lute

rests. Against that lady the doors of the Court of
Common Pleas -were virtually closed. And yet she was
de facto on her trial. Surely, surely this is not as it
should be. It is, I know, law, but it is not justice.
When the issue to her was infinitely more serious than
life and death, she was put aside—gagged and bound, it
may be added, since for all practical purposes of assert.
ing her innocence, and of vindicating her character from
the foul aspersions cast upon it, the law took no more
account of her interests, or her honour, than a herd of
elephants may be supposed to take in the existence of a
grasshopper. De rainimis lex non carat.
Who will be hardy enough to contend that, if the much-
injured lady, who, I firmly believe, after a careful
perusal of the evidence, as reported in the papers, is as
pure and spotless as any woman in the world_i who
will be so intrepid, I ask, as to deny that, if her in-
terests had been represented as they ought to have been,
justice would have been done her ? Her wrongs would
have been redressed, and instead of standing before the
world as she now appears, to the crass and callous mul-
titude, blighted and branded, she would stand forth to
the world in her proper and only character. Were the
state of the law what law reformers urge that it ought
to be her fair fame would not have been thus sullied,
her feelings would not have been thus outraged, nor
would her heart have been pierced by anguish
such as woman alone can suffer from. But jus-

tine has not been done her. She has been condemned,
unheard and unrepresented, the forms of law precluding
her from establishing her innocence. I impugn those
forms,• in order that the Hon. Mr. Locke and other law
reformers may perhaps be induced to look into this de-
partment of injustice, and provide an amendment. At
any rate, in this case, which is but a sample of the
sack, we see an accomplished young lady, of great
beauty and high birth and breeding, by a curious
kind of second-hand process, indirectly convicted of
a crime for which no excuse over is, or ever ought
to be, made. She is thus condemned, too, only on
the evidence, if not entirely, chiefly, of a lodging-
house keeper, living in a kitchen, and her ser-
vant, one Parin de Maralid. How any jury, on the evi-
dence of these two women, could arrive at the conclu-

sion conveyed by their verdict must be, to most men,
perfectly incomprehensible. But verdicts, such as are

now an every-day scandal, will soon bring into contempt
trial by jury. S mae machinery more efficient for the
administration o►f justice than the obsolete fiction of 1-2
good men and true must be devised. For verdicts are
nowadays not seldom a solemn mockery ; they are in-
deed an outrage alike on intelligence and on justice.—
I an, Sir, your obedient servant,

LAW REFORMER.

THE EASTEI‘N COUNTIES BAILWAY.

sification, we could not but remember with
plea-
sure many another worthier ebullition of his ge-
nius. Whether we laid aside with the sadness of
chagrin " Christmas Eve and Easter Day," or, on
the other hand, took up " Men and Women" with
the eagerness of expectation, we could not but
call to mind with a deep sense of intellectual obli-
gation the music and the fragrance resulting from
the concord and the beauty of his " Bells and
Pomegranates." We could not but muse with a
certain degree of satisfaction over the memories of
the dim " Sordello " and of the mysterious " Para-
celsus." We could not but recognise the high dra-
matic power manifested in " The Blot on the
'Scutcheon." Above all, we could not but cherish in
our most grateful recollection the lyrical splendour
of "Pippa Passes"—to our mind Robert Brown iug's
undoubted masterpiece. Remembering " Pippa
Passes" thus gratefully, although we were driven
perforce to cast aside with scorn the moon-struck
rhapsody of " Christmas Eve and Easter Day,"
we have recently taken up with hopeful curiosity
the two newly-printed volumes of verse from the
same hand, quaintly designated for want of some
better title " Men and Women." The leaves of
these volumes we have since then turned over
with varying sensations of satisfaction and disap-
pointment. We have been revolted, for example,
by the clever flippancy of " Bishop Blougram's
Apology"—an apology in which superstition and
irreligion are jumbled detestably together in very
frightful antithesis. We have been charmed by
the graces scattered profusely over the genial
stanzas dedicated to the subject of " Old Pic-
tures in Florence." We have listened with
alternating emotions to our author's mus-
ings comfortably "By the Fireside," and
picturesquely " Among the Ruins." We have
looked, with him, now " Up at the Villa," now
" Down in the City." We have heard him sing of
the corpse of "Evelyn Hope" and of the ghost of
"6 Fra Lippo Lippi"—celebrating hero " A. Tocatta
of Galuppi's," here again a fugue of " Master
Hugues of Saxe Gotha." Startled may be one
while by some such poetry as this :
" So your fugue broadens and thickens,
Greatens and deepens and lengthenQ,'
Till one exclaims—' But where's music, the dickens ?
Blot ye the gold, while your spider-web strengthens,
Blacked to the stoutest of tickens 1' "

Or bewildered by versification as incoherent as the
following—
" Who thinks Hugues wrote for the deaf ?
Proved a mere mountain in labour ?
Better submit—try again—what's the cleft ?
'Faith, it's no trifle for pipe and for tabor
Four fiats—the minor in F.

Friend, your fugue taxes the finger.
Learning it once, who would lose it
Yet all the while a misgiving will linger—
Truth's golden o'er us although we refuse it—
Nature, thro' dust-clouds we fling her !
Hugues I I advise mei porta
(Counterpoint glares like a Gorgon)
Bid One, Two, Three, Four, Five, clear the arena !
Say the word, straight I unstop the Full-Organ,
Blare out the mode Palestine.

While in the roof, if I'm right there—
...Lo, you, the wick, in the socket !
Hallo, you sacristan, show us a light there !
Down it dips, gone like a rocket !
What, you want, do you, to come unawares,
Sweeping the church up for first morning prayers,
And find a poor devil at end of his cares
At the foot of your rotten-planked rat-riddled stairs !
Du I carry the moon in my pocket !"
Dropping perchance at another moment upon a
crazy halo scrap of interrogative quatrains such as
the subjoined—

‘4
" Ah, did you once see Shelley plain
And did he atop and speak to you ?
And did you speak to him again ?
How strange it seems, and new !
But you were living before that,
And you are living after,
And the memory I started at—
My starting moves your laughter !
I crossed a moor with a name of its own
And a use in the world no doubt,
Yet a hand's-breath of it shines alone
'Mid the blank miles round about—
For there I picked up on the heather
And there I put inside my breast
A moulted feather, an eagle-feather—
Well, I forget the rest."
Decidedly, after all, we very much question whe-
ther a single one among these fifty minor poems by
Robert Browning can add one leaf of bay to the
garland worn by him for some time past as the poet
of " Pippa Passes," of the " Blot on the 'Scut-
cheon,' " Sordello," of " Paracelsus," and
(generally) of " Bells and Pomegranates." Frag-
mentary verses "In Three Days," " In a Year,"
" In a Balcony," about " A Light Woman," and a
" Patriot," and " Before," and " Aft,er," and
"Popularity," and " Misconceptions," pieces re-
lating to " Saul," and '' Pi otus," and " Clara,"
and " De Gustibus"—and for that matter, too, 1)e
Omnibus—may be sprinkled sparsely hero and
there with poetic beauties without materially tend-
ing in any way to enhance the writer's literary
reputation. Particularly when, as in the present
instance, these beauties aro plentifully intermingled
with eccentricities, and prejudices, and absurdities,
and platitudes beyond the grasp f the most for-
bearing
reader's capacity for either patience or for-
giveness. Altogether the ground opened to us by
this new work from the hand of Mr. Browning,
though it may be starred at intervals with the
primrose, and the violet, and the lily, and the car-
nation, is bristling all over with the nettle, and
the thistle, and the burdock, with—

" Agari, and fungi, and mildew, and mould"—
mental weeds, and brambles, and parasites, as un-
sightly as unprofitable.

The Life of Jeanne D' Albret, Omen of Navarre.
By Martha Walker Freer. 2 vols. Hurst and
Blackett.

It will be remembered that some time ago a Life
of Marguerite D'Angouleme, was published, being
the first that had ever appeared in this country.
The same authoress who so ably recounted the his-
tory of the brilliant sister of Francis the First has
now given us the memoirs of her daughter. very
different, however, are the histories of the two suc-
cessive Queens of Navarre—ono, the favourite of
the King, the idol of the court, surrounded from
her earliest youth by flatterers and admirers, with
almost paramount influence over her powerful bro-
ther ; and, though she favoured the new doctrines,
yet her support of them was rather evidenced by
the concessions she obtained for others than by
the persecutions she endured herself. Far other-
wise
was it with her daughter. Of a more serious
and resolute disposition than her mother, Jeanne
had not that beauty and those winning manners
that endeared Queen Marguerite to all around her.
Her early education, too, was unfavourable ; by the
command of her uncle, Francis 1., she was brought
up alone in the gloomy castle of Plessis-les-Tours.
King Francis, who always regarded his brother-in-
law, Henry of Navarre, with jealousy and sus-
picion, feared that he intended to bestow his
daughter's hand on Prince Philip of Spain. Sor-
row, deceit, and rebellion darkened the life of
Queen Jeanne. She met with neglect and insults
from the court over which her mother reigned pre-
eminent, her husband neglected and deserted her,
and the unhappy religious disputes of the period
sowed dissension among her subjects. Her unfail-
ing energy, great penetration, and undeviating rec-
titude of purpose, upheld her through all the snares
and misfortunes which lay in her path, and hough
her zeal and warmth of temper led her to indiscreet
or extreme acts, still in that age of bigotry, perse-
cution, and intolerance, Queen Jeanne appears a
bright exception. She was possessed of great de-
termination of character, which manifested itself
at a very early age. King Francis had resolved
that she should marry the Duke of Cleves, the
brother of Henry the Eighth's fourth queen. To
this marriage the Princess Jeanne strongly objected,
and finding her entreaties of no avail she took the
in
the
extraordinary measure of drawing up
the presence of some of her household, both on
a protes
the
day of her betrothal and of the marriagethree ceremony,
which was afterwards performed, though
Prin-
cess remained under the care of herother._ When
it is considered that the Princess had only com-
pleted her twelfth year this determination must be
regarded as singular,although
had the secret approbation of her
father. K:
it is supposed she
l t
Francis remained unmoved un e D
nice
of
Cleves, alarmed
by the presenceti of h the Spanish
army, made submission to the Emperor, which so
affronted the French sovereign that he took his
niece's protests into consideration, and obtained a
dispensation annulling the marriage. Jeanne,
however, does not appear to have chosen very
wisely for herself, for Antoine de Bourbon, Duke
de Vendome, was a consort quite unworthy of her.
She survived him ten years, the most eventful of
her lifer as sole ruler of Beam and its adjacent
Provinces, and guardian of her son, the great Henri
Quatre. She was the ruling spirit of the Huguenots,
their wisest counsellor, and in the hour of defeat
and despondency she was the one to rally and en-
courage them. Aided by great natural acuteness
and a love of truth, which enabled her to detect
its counterfeit, she alone, of all the Huguenot
leaders, put no faith in the treacherous over-
tures of the Court. Catherine de Medicis
was her inveterate enemy. She found in
tb.e Queen of Navarre an opponent she
could neithe • bribe, intimidate, nor deceive ;
and so well known was this aversion that, on_t_h
e
death of Jeanne, it .was everywhere believed by
the Huguenots that it was the work of poison.
o the
King himself is said to have given credence
rumour. A medical examination, however proved
t "While Jeanne
. this accusation to be unius-