The Sun.
London, England, 1855-05-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MAY 14 1855

MARKET NEWS-(TI118 DAY 4

LITBEATUBE.

CORN EXCHANGE.
The leading country markets held on Saturday were dull
for wheat, and, in some instances, the quotations had a
downward tendency. Barley, peas, and flour were ne-
glected, but oats, malt, and beans were quite as dear as
in the previous week.

Advices fioni New York to the 2d inst. state that, ow-
ing to the splendid appearance of the crops, flour had
fallen in value 25 cents per barrel. In the near continen-
tal markets very little business has been doing on English
account. _

The arrivals of English grain up to our market last
week were very moderate. From abroad we received
11,140 quarters of wheat, 700 barley, 9,446 oats, 4,050
beans, 423 peas, 396 tares, 10,601 linse&, 7,790 rapeseed,
126 sundry seeds, 4,892 sacks and 1,055 Iris of flour.
The arrivals of English wheat fresh up to this morning's
market, coastwise and by land carriage, .3eing very mode-
rate, the show of samples of that grain h to•day's market
was small. The demand for all descriptions was decidedly
more active than on Monday last, and for some time after
the commencement of business, factors refused to sell ex-
cept at an advance of from is to 2s per cr., compared with
Monday last. Tbis improvement was in some instances
paid, but the amount of business done It that improve-
ment was by no means extensive.

The show of foreign wheat was again moderate.
Although the inquiry for most kinds was somewhat firm,
wo have no actual advance to notice in the quotations.
Floating cargoes of grain were held at full prices.
The supply of barley was very moderate, and the sale
for most kinds ruled steady. In the quotations no change
took place.
We had a slight improvement in the malt trade, at very
full prices.

There was a fair demand for good sound oats, at full
quotations ; but inferior samples moved off slowly, at a
decline in price of 6,1 per qr.
Beans were in moderate supply, and steady request, at
full quotations.
There was a fair sale for peas, at last week's currency.
The flour trade was steady. In prices no change took
place.

CURRENCY PER IMPERIAL MEASURE.
Whirl, —Ease& ;4, Kcni, Nialt—Chevalier . • .• 709 to 71s
Rod •• new 68s to 808 Oats Yorkshire and
Ditto •• • • ........ old —s —9 Lincolnsh., Feed 26s 309
.iitto, White new 83s 87s _ Potato
Ditt0........ old 84s 900 Youghal and Cork
Norton. and Lin-
Black •• •• 25s 29s
coln, Red, old 689 819 4 Cork, White .
.... 265 30s
Ditto new ••• • • • 68s 80s Scotch, Feed. •• • • 27s 30s
Rye—Old ••••••• • • • • • —8 —s Beans—TlCk ... •• •• •• 418 44s
Kew „„ .. ~.... 424 449 Pigeons .••.•• • • • • 43s 479
Barley—Grinding ••• • • 299 31s Peas—Grey ...• ••• • • • 35s 38,
malting .••• • • • 32a 33s Maple. •••••• • • •• 38s 40s
Chevalier.... • • 343 35s White... •• •• •• •• 30s 45s
M .It—Suffolk and Nor-
Boilers ......... 435 46s
folk .... •• ...... 62s 678 Flour—Town-made. ••65s 70s
Irown .••• • • • ........ 58a cos Suffolk .......... 529 56s
KingatonandWare 689 70s I Stoektn &Norfolk 51s 55s

SMITHFIELD.
The total imports of foreign stock into London last week
amounted to 2,031 head. In the corresponding week in
1854 we received 898 • in 1853, 3,401; in 1852,,995 ; in
1851, '2,893 ; in 1850,1;176 ; and in 1849, 1,363 head.

IMPORTS INTO LONDON LAST WHIM.
From Beasts. Sheep. Lambs.
Harlingen
60 50 ...
tramburgh llB 513
Hje, ting
Kampen ...... 1
Antwerp
Bremen....

Calves. Pigs
20 ... 2
191

- 31 ... 4
-- 49
- 152 -

Total._

... 449 ... 46

The yearly comparison of weekly imports is as under :
Beasts. Sheep. Lambs. Calves. Pigs.
1854 327 467 2 —. 162
1853 628 2,185 —. 5 . 527 56
1852 lBO 1,414 _. 3 —. 394 4
1851 534 _. 1,850 —. 6—. 442 —. 59
1850 3SB 731 ]5 ... 240 2
To-day's market was but moderately supplied with fo-
reign stock, the quality of which was inferior.
There was a decided falling off in the arrivals of home-
fed beasts fresh up to our market this morning compared
with Monday last, whilst their general quality w..s by no
means first-rate. As the attendance of buyers was good,
the beef trade ruled active, at an advance in the quotations
obtained on this day se'nnight of 2d per 81bs, and a good
clearance was effected. The top figure for Scots was 4s 8d
per 81bs. From .4orfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Cambridge-
shire we received 2,200 Scots and short horns ; from other
parts of England 400 of various breeds ; and from Scotland
600 horned and polled Scots. The receipts by sea, from
Ireland, last week were 39 beasts and 191 sheep.
We were very moderately supplied with sheep, the con-
dition of which showed a falling off. The mutton
trade was very brisk, at an improvement in value, com-
pared with Monday last, of from 2d to 4d per 81bs. The
best old Downs, out of the wool, were selling at fully 5s
per 81bs. It must be understood that our tabular quota-
tions refer solely to sheep out of the wool.
The supply of lambs was moderate, and the demand for
all breeds was firm, at fully Friday's advance—the best
lambs being worth 6s 10d per 81bs.
Prime small calves were very scarce, and 2d per 81bs
higher—the top figure being 5s 4d per 81bs ; but other
kinds of veal were a slow sale.
The demand for pigs ruled very inactive. In prices no
change took place.
Per 81bs to sink the offals.
s. d. a. d.
Inferior Beasts.... 3 2to 3

s. d. s d.
IPrimeSouthdown 4 8 5 0
Large crse. calves 4 0 4 8
(Prime small d 0... 410 5 4
Large hogs
30 4 0
Small porkers 4 2 4 4
Suckling calves.. 22 0 29 0
;Quarter old pigs 20 0 25 0
. 5s 2d to 6s Lid.
1 FOLEIGN SUPPLY.

Second quality.... 3 8 3 101
Prime large oxen 4 0 4 4)
Prime Scots, &c. 4 6 4 8'
1
Inferior Sheep ...3 6 3 8,
Second quality ...3 10 4 0
Prime crse.-wiled.4 2 4 4

iamb
TOTAL SUPPLY.

Beasts .. •• • • •• •• 3,786 8ea5t5.......... •••• . 761
sheep ~......20,110 Sheen 230
Calves .. • • •••• • • •• 140 j Calves.. .• 115
A statement and comparison of the supplies and prices of fat
stock exhibited and sold in Smithfield Cattle Market, on
Monday, May 15, 1854, and this day, Monday, May 11,
1855, Per 81bs, to sink the offals.
May 15, 1854. May 14,1855.
s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d
Coarse and inferior beasts ... 3 4to 3 6 3 2to 3 6
Second quality ditto ... 3 8 310 3 8 310
Primo largo oxen ... "'4 0 4 4 4 0 4 4
4 6 4 8 4 6 4 8
Prime Scots, dm •.. ...
Coarse and inferior sheep 3 6 3 8 3 6 3 8
Second quality ditto ... ... 310 4 43 10 4 0
Prime coarse woolled ditto 4 6 4 8 4 2 4 4
Prime Southdown ditto 410 5 0 4 8 5 0
Lambs ''• • ••• 5 2 6 8 5 2 610
Large coarse calves 4 4 5 0.4 0 4 8
Prime small ditto 5 2 5 6'4 10 5 4
Large hogs ••• ... 3 0 4 2 3 0 4 0
Neat small porkers 4 4 4 6 4 2 4 4
Beasts... 4,106 3,786
Sheep 25,090 20,110
Calves... 295 140
530
Pigs 310
SUPPLIES ON SALE, May 16,1853..—8ea5t5, 4,064 ; sheep and
]amb 3, 20,460 ; calves, 217; pigs, 335.
May 17, 1852.—Beasts, 3,714; sheep and lambs, 22,980 ;
calves, 207 ; pigs, 340.

NEWGATE AND LEADENHALL.
The supplies of each kind of meat on sale in these mar-
kets are moderately good. Prime beef, mutton, lamb, and
veal are in good request, at very full prices. In other
kinds only a moderate business is doing, on former terms.
Per 81bs by the carcase.
5. d. s. d. a. d. s. d.
Beef, inferior 210 3 2 Mutton, Inferior 3 0 3 6
Do., middling 4 4 3 6 Do., middling ..... 3 8 310
Do., prime large 3 8 3 10 Do., prime ......... 4 0 4 4
De , do. small ' 0 4 2 j Veal .................3 8 5 0
Fork, large 34 3 8 Pork, small ........ 310 4
Lamb ... 5i Od to 6s 4d.

BOROUGH HOP.
There are very few home grown hops on sale here, and
the supply of foreign is limited. Most kinds move off
freely, at very full prices. Last week's imports were 117
bales from New York, 10 from Hambro', and 15 from
Havre. :Mid and East Kent pockets, 141 Os to 201. ; Weald
of Kent ditto, 131 10s to 151. 103 ; Sussex, 1W Os to 11/
Us; and yearlings, 010 s to 0/ per cwt.

BOROUGH AND SPITA LFIELDS.
For the time of year, our markets are fairly supplied
with most kinds of potatoes. Although the trade is dull,
prices of the best qualities are advancing. York Regents,
120 s to 170 s ; Kent and Essex do., 105 s to 120 s ; Scotch
reds, 100 s to 130 s; blues, 93s to 110 s; Lincolnshire Re-
gents, llos to 120 s per ton.

WOOL.
The public sales have been well attended since our last
report, and the whole of the parcels offered have sold at
very full prices. The following rates have been paid :
Port Philip, clean sheep's, is 3d to 2s 3d ; lambs', is 7d
to 2s ld ; pieces, 9d to is 6d; grease, 7d to is 3d.
Sydney--clean sheep's. is 3d to 2s 1d ; lambs' is 5d to is
9d ; locks, 7d to is 5d ; skin, is 10 to l s 2d ; grease,
9d to 10d. an Diemen's Land—clean sheep's, is 5d to
is 9d ; lamb's, is 8l to is lld ; skin, is 2d to is 40.
Cape—clean sheep's, 8d to is 6d; lambs', is 4d to is
6d •, grease, 7d to is Old. Buenos Ayres—sheep's, 7d to
is lld; Is 2d to is 11d. East India—sheep's,
lipe
wools are 9O to is 33d ;
lO d t oin
la to ls. Mogadore—sheep's, 40 to 10d. Russian—
sheep's, 60 to 6d. Turkey—sheep's, 4d to Bd. Austra-
lian—clean sheep's, is to is 6d ; grease, lld to ls ; pieces
I.ld to2s2d; s
Privately,
Englishmoderate request, and quite as dear as last week The
grease,l7s d; ltaomibo'ds, per ls
lb
imports have been large, viz., 600 bales from Algoa Bay,
31. from Antwerp, 29 from Ghent, 3,633 from Adelaide, 30
from Buenos Ayres, 400 from Bombay, 1,100 from Laun-
ceston, 500 from Hobart Town, 114 from Odessa, 100 from
Trieste, and 200 from various other quarters.
The following are the current rates of English wool :
Down Legs, is Od to 1s ld ; Down owes, lld to is Od ,
half-bred hogs, 11A to is Old ; half-bred wethers, lld to ls;
Kent fleeces, is Od to is ld; Leicester fleeces (mixed), 10,,d
to is ; combing skins, 10d to is Old; flannel wool, lld to
is id ; blanket wool, 6LI to 11d per lb.

JOHN LEECH.
Pictures of Life and Character : From the Collec-
tion of Mr. Punch. By John Leech. Bradbury
and Evans.
Whenever, 0 pensive public ! you are suffering
from, an attack of the national malady ycloped the
mcegrims, there is happily within call a Leech at
whose mere coming the evil symptoms are so effec-
tually
dissipated that a cure is accomplished,
straightway, as it were, at a glance and in a .
twinkling. That queer little hieroglyph in which .
he occasionally indulges by way of signature has
doubtless often hinted to others, as it has done so ,
repeatedly to ourselves, that his is the genuine
Bottle-imp capable of exorcising a whole legion of
blue devila ! Scattering them to the winds, more-
over, not with a gleam of kindred blue fire
and a twang of demoniac brimstone, but with
flashes of fun and explosions of laughter.
A bottle-imp like that of John Leech, we take it,
will be accepted by every individual in his right
senses,as preferable, any day in the long run, for
the accomplishment of this pleasant work of exor-
cism, to the potent spirits of either Jean Raisin or
John Barleycorn. It will be found by the gene-
rality
not a jot less agreeable to . the palate, infi-
nitely more reliable as a wholesome, and, be it said,
an uninebriating tonic, and in every respect more
completely and permanently exhilarating. Our
favourite Leech, in truth, acts throughout from a
secure foundation. , He, has discovered the verita-
ble iron cro) from which, with his potent lever (one
by the way, that Messrs. Bradbury and Evans
well know to have an excellent "purchase"), he ,
can at pleasure lift a world of sadness from the spirits ,
of the afflicted. He understands perfectly well the ,
diagnosis of the disease requiring to be vanquished. ,
He is perfectly well acquainted with its every token
—whether perceived through the jaundiced eye, or
the soured temper, or the attrabilious complexion.
Fcr each consequent misery he.has one universally
applicable remedy, call it what you will—a panacea
applied to the sufferer by means of a marvellous
talisman in the shape of a wood block, touched
with a magical anodyne in the form of printers'
ink: Here before us lies a glorious omnium gatherum
of his prescriptions—manifold in aspect, but identi-
cal in the materials from which they are composed
and which in turn they are intended to disseminate,
namely, the kindliest sarcasm and the most innocent
merriment. They deal only with the pharmacopoeia
of Fun ; comprising among their principal ingre-
dients—drastics, carminatives, and antiphlogistics,
under the guise of the witty, the satirical, and the
humorous. Wonderful correctives to the spleen,
which we are glad to know are readily enough
dispensed, week after week, in threepenny
draughts of Punch—(agreeably flavoured to
taste by the biting veijuice of a Jerrold, and the
saccharine acidity of a Lemon)—and which, for the
sake of national good humour and popular good
fellowship, we are hardly less glad to know cannot
be quite so readily dispenses with by the more
jovial and joke-loving masses of the population. -
It is something, we think, to have a comic Leech
like this, one who laughs us into good temper, and
good health, and good digestion. We recognise
him at once as one who has matriculated at the
best University of all—that of the ' World-at-
Large—not at those of Sectarianism or Exclusive-
ness. We receive him as one who has won his
diploma at the College of Mirth, not at those
of Dullness and Affectation. Although we might
have found it in our hearts in days past—for
example, say, in those of Will Hogarth—to dust
the wigs of some among those solemn old swells of
Physic with their jewelled. snuff-boxes and their
gold-headed canes: we can acknowledge, on the
contrary, our respect for a quaint adviser like this,
coming before us blithely, however, as an avowed
jester, and not sombrously as a professional
humbug: armed, no less magnificently, with all
the insignia of Leechcraft. With him, however,
the gold-headed cane of office has snapped in twain
—each moiety of it becoming, thereupon, delight-
fully epitomised—this into a patent golden pen,
better than one of Mordan's gold pens, diamond
tipped—that into a potent golden pencil, better
than one of Mordan's gold pencils, even in that pecu-
liarity by which the latter are declared through ad-
vertisement to be especially distinguished, namely,
that of being ever-pointed. Alternately employing
for the purpose one or other of these marvellous
wands of office, the paramount genius of our great
comic 1 eriodical, the Genius of Fun, who is, in
truth, the life and soul of the London Charivari,
has now for some years past by the .aid of his
Bottle-Imp, his other self, his Familiar, driven
out from among us legion after legion of those little
atomic fiends, the sprites summoned by Spleen,
swarm upon swarm, from the realms of Azure
Devilry.
Altogether, there are comprised in this delight-
ful selection of " Pictures of Life and Charac-
ter," from the collection of Mr. Punch, very
nearly five hundred humorous illustrations. The
catalogue at the end of the volume enumerates, in
fact, exactly 484 ; but in addition to the woodcuts

therein mentioned, thereare several others scattered
over the pages, with a lavish hand and an abound-
ing fancy, by John Leech—grotesque conceits
without any specific title by which they can be
directly particularised. So that altogether, as we
have said, the book contains very little short, in-
deed, of half-a-thousand comic embellishments.
What a feast of fun, and a flow of exhilaration !
What a never-ending source of hilarity ! What a
provocative of smiles—grins—guffaws—roars of
laughter ! Open the volume anywhere, and
we defy the experimentalist to preserve his
gravity of visage, be he ever so much of a cur-
mudgeon. Every touch of this Scarron of the
Pencil is a direct incentive to merriment. Every
line is an immediate appeal to our risibility. Every
twist and turn of his crayon is tantamount to a
dig in the ribs, or a tickle of the diaphragm. And
no wonder. For the publication befire us, remem-
ber, is nothing less than the very quintessence of
all that is ludicrous, extracted from the London
Charivari, during a career of some fourteen years'
duration—fourteen years of literary and pic-
torial extravagance. In Leech's " Pictures
of Life and Character," in short may be found the
creme de /a creme of the drolleries of Punch—
skimmed off. 721 goblets, or weekly numbers,
otherwise off 28 ample bowls or half-yearly volumes.
The selection for the most part, however, being
restricted to the minor illustrations—the engrav-
ings scattered like blossoms over the trim parterre
of the letterpress. It is deserving of conside-
ration, by the way, by the Messrs. Bradbury
and Evans, whether it might not be- advisable
to gather together the pick of the larger
sketches—now numbering between seven and eight
hundred—and reprint them in a separate volume,
the size of the periodical in which they made their
original appearance. It would constitute a very
curious coinmtmoration of the varying themes of
publicinterest during the last decade and a half,
a noteworthy sketch-book of the hopes, and fears,
and passions, and absurdities of a very busy and
ambitious generatiOn.

Something of this kind, indeed, is effected by Mr.
Leech's " Pictures of Life and Character." Through-
out them may be traced the continued and some-
times extravagant fluctuations of fashion—from the
loud patterned shirts and the stupendously chequered
trousers of Gentism-Rampant, to the stunning
overcoats and dapper waist ditto, the jingling
chatelaines and protuberant parashades of Fast-
Youngladyhood. Beyond these, even, the out-
rageous freaks in the way of female costume origi-
nated some years back by Mistress Colonel Bloomer
—that George Sand of Millinery, the Mary Wol-
stonecraft of the Petticoat.
An extraordinary number of old favourites will

be recognised by the readers of Punch on turning
over the 94 pages of these accumulated " Pictures
of Life and Character." Everybody will be
charmed to meet old Briggs again, and to follow
him, once more—grinning--through the' pro.
tracted series of his wholly preposterous mis-
adventures. Shaking one's sides over his do-
mestic mishaps, and fairly roaring outright
over his astounding-feats -of horsemanship. For
another of our artist's supposititious heroes, tracked
by him through absurdity after absurdity in a pro-
longed, and we feared at one time interminable,
chapter of accidents, we confess we never had any
liking whatsoever. From the beginning to the
end we have entirely failed to recognise the fun of
the thing—we mean in the instance of the " Brook
Green Volunteer." For us the fellow has been
from the outset quite intolerable—so that we have
not without chagrin observed the revival of his
witless ugliness in the midst of the humorous frolic
of this otherwise delectable gathering of ludicrous
embellishments.
Air. Leech is always great in his sketches of
young ladies and little children. His skill, or
rather genius, in these delineations is, of course,
set forth, therefore, conspicuously enough in these,
his delicious "Pictures of Life and Character." It is
something wonderful, the sweetness and tenderness
with with which our great artist-humouris
the lineaments. of maidenlyand matronly
toeebsPeaountyas
and calls forth with a few master-touches h
theu fun, all
wood-block the innocence, theh grace,ns of childhood.
the bewitching but nameless
Nothing in truth can be itLohroc
sometimes all this is
exquisite in its way
than the delicacy
t hand must be warmed
accomPlished. One recognises at a glance on these
occasions, how the d
into loving, man
life by the tliyobabings of the
manly nature being visibly
gentle heart—the
fervour of a
evidenced Yet with the tenderest
in these marvellous little limnings of fair
dames a
nd young children.
—mingled almost prov 4
of these masteduches
hWr-moving for their
• iy—others the most laug