The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-09 00:00:00

cwts Prices for English rule from 64s to 104 s;
and fine self freely, but ordinary is dull of sale. For
Bacon there is a fair market, and with a brisk demand.
Irish small Meat realise 44s to 48s, heavy ditto 42s to
455. Several purchases have been made in Middles ;
Irish and American at from 403 to 435. Trade is brisk
for Lard, and rates are on the advance, Irish Bladdered
selling at 50s to 575, Keg and Firkin 45s to
50a, Hambro' from 46s to 565, and Ame-
rican Bladdered 52s to 543. 1151M3 met with
little attention, Irish and English can be obtained at
48s to 60a. A large demand prevails for barrelled pro-
visions, and the market has a firm tone, sales of Irish
India Beef made at 110 s to 1163 per cwt. Prime Mess
903 to 955, India Pork 115 s to 120 s; Prime Mess 675 6d
to 703 per barrel, and inferior 623 6d to 65s per barrel.
Cheese finds a brisk sale, Edam 35s to 425, Gouda 303
to 38s; Kanta 18s to 18a 6d, and American 32s to 465.
TALLOW.—In consequence of a reduction of 3d to 6d
per cwt having been submitted to for Russian on the spot
a good home trade has been experienced. Fine old yel-
low Candle is now 35s to 35s 3d, and new 358 6d to 35s 9d
per cwt. Operations are of little moment for delivery, with
sellers at 35s 6d for next two months, and at 37s to 37s 3d
for the latter part of the year. Some melted cannot be
obtained under 36s net cash, and a good demand pre-
vails. Of South American 300 pkgs at auction mostly
sold at 32a to 35s 9d for low to fine. Of 650 casks
Australian, about one half found buyers; Mutton 32s to
35s 9d, Beef 33s to 345; 600 casks wrecked Petersburgh
all sold 33s to 355; an d 485 casks Soap Tallow 32s 3d
to 33s per cwt.

Ons.—Prices are not better for Seal Oil, although se-
veral purchases have been made; pale is 30/ to 301 103,
and other sorts 271 103 to 291 105. Cod is still wanted,
and realize from 32/ 10s to 331, there being no increase
of supply. Several purchases have been made in
Southern, low to fine quality at from 321 to 34/, and
supply remains small. For Sperm the market remains
in a firm position, and several transactions have taken
place at 831 to 85/; Headmatter is 86/ to 94/. There is
an increasing demand for Rapeseed Oil, and a less
quantity is pressed for sale; brown realized 29s 6d to
363, pale 30s 6d to 31s, and Foreign Refined 31s 6d
to 325, Prices range firm for Olive. and a good
demand still prevails; Gallipoli is 44/ to 45/, and
other sorts 421 103 to 431 10s per tun. In
Linseed Oil important purchases have been
mad for shipping. and home consumption, there are not
sellers for present delivery under 26s 6d. Palm remains
in good request from 25s 6d to 275. For Cocoa Nut
there are several buyers; Cochin at 34s to 365; Ceylon
33s to 355; Sydney 303 to 31s. Lard Oil is wanted at
47s to 50s per cwt.

LITERARY FORGERIES.
(From the Atheneum.)
The " Shelley Letters," published by Mr. Moxon, and
reviewed in our paper a fortnight since, are, it turns out,
with but one or two exceptions, forgeries. It is proper
to say at once that Mr. Moxon has been deceived, and
that uo gentleman from the moment of the discovery
could have acted more straightforwardly and promptly
than he has done in this transaction. As soon as he was
convinced that he had been the means (the innocent
means) of giving to the public a false article, he did his
beet to repair his mistake. He has suppressed the book,
and has called in the copies delivered to the trade.
The discovery was made in quite an accidental manner.
Mr. Moxon had sent a copy of the book to Mr. Tenny-
son. During a visit which Mr. Paigrave was paying to
Mr. Tennyson he dipped into the Shelley volume, and
lighted on a letter written from Florence to Godwin
—the better half of which he at once recognised as
part of an article on Florence written for the Quar-
terly Review so far back as 1840 by his father, Sir
Francis Paigrave. It is good to find a son so well
versed in the writing of his father as young Mr. Pal-
grave proved himself to be on this occasion. He lost
no time, as we may suppose, in communicating his
curious discovery to his father, and Sir Francis, after
comparing the printed letter with the printed article,
wrote at once to Mr. MOXOD, informing him that the
letter—by whomsoever written—was a "crib" from an
article wnich he had written tor the Quarterly kterzew.
Startled at such intelligence, Mr. Moxon replied that
he had bought the letter at a public sale among other
letters also by Shelley, and that the passage of which Sir
Francis claimed the authorship was contained in a let-
ter written by Shelley, oarrying upon it the post-mark
of the period and other written signs which apparently
marked it to be genuine. The Deputy-Keeper of the
Public Records was, it may be readily imagined, equally
startled with Mr. Moxon at the announcement of such
a fact. He wanted to see the letter. The letter was
produced. "It looks genuine; is it not genuine?" "I
am the author of that passage, but not the writer of
that letter," was the reply of Sir Francis. "Bat may
not Sir Francis," it was urged to Mr. Moxon, "have
seen this letter in the noble collection of autographs be-
longing to his father-in-law, Mr. Dawson Turner?" a
question which only added a fresh difficulty to the solu-
tion sought.
In this emergency Mr. Moxon had recourse to the
assistance of a gentleman known to be conversant with
autographs. The letters were placed in his hands with
a request that he would spare no pains to ascertain the
truth about them—and with this information to guide
him—that they had been shown to some Post-office
clerks at the General Post-office, who " to the best of
their belief," pronounced them to be genuine.
The first step taken after this was to compare the
post-marks with Byron's letters to Mr. Murray, posted
from the same cities in the same month and year, and to
the same city—London. Here they failed, and in this
way. Where " Ravenna" on a genuine letter was in a
small sharp type—in the) Shelley letter it was in a large
uncertain type; and in the letters from Venice the post-
mark of the City of Palaces was stamped in an Italic,
and not, as in the Shelley specimens, in a Roman letter!
These were strong facts; but then the dates agreed with
Shelley's sojourn at the several places—the seals were
correct. The handwriting was marvellously Shelley-
like—no hesitation about it—a free accustomed hand.
" Are they not genuine?"
Fron whom did Mr. Moxon buy these letters? They
were bought at Sotheby and Wilkinson's, at large prices.
From whom did Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson receive
them for sale? "We had them from Mr. White, the
bookseller in Pall-mall, over against the Reform Club."
Off runs the gentleman-cletective. " From whom did you,
Mr. White, obtain these letters?" "I bought them of two
women—l believed theta to be genuine, and I paid large
prices for them in that belief." Such are the words
supposed to have been spoken by Mr. White. The two
women would appear to have been like the man in a
clergyman's band, but a lawyer's gown, who brought
Pope's letter to Curl!.
It would be impolitic at this stage of an important in-
quiry to publish the whole of the particulars placed at
our service in elucidating the forgeries of the letters. It
is proper, however, to say thus early that there has been
of late years, as we are assured, a most systematic and
wholesale forgery of letters purporting to be written by
Byron, Shelley, and Ke:tts—that these forgeries carry
upon them such marks of genuineness as have deceived
the entire body of Loudon collectors—that they are
executed with a skill to which the forgeries of Chat-
terten and Ireland can lc y no claim—that they have sold
at public auctions and by the hands of booksellers, to
collectors of experience and rank, and that the imposi-
tion has extended to a large collection of books bearing
not only the signature at' Lord Byron, but notes by him
in many of their pages, the matter of the letters being
selected with a thorough knowledge of Byron's life and
feelings, and the whole of the books chosen with the
minutest knowledge of his tastes and peculiarities.
But the "marvel" of the forgery is not yet told. At
the same sale at which Mr. Moxon bought the Shelley
letters were catalogued for sale a series of (unpublished)
letters from Shelley to hi a wife, revealing the innermost
secrets of his heart, and containing facts, not wholly
dishonourable facts to a i'ather's memory, but such as a
son would wish to conceal. These letters were bought
in by the son of Shelley, the present Sir Percy Shelley
--end are now proved, w e are told, to be forgeries. To
impose on the credulity of a collector is a minor offence,
compared with the crinie of forging evidence against
the dead, and still minor as in one instance against the
fidelity of a woman.

The forgery of Chattert on injured no one but an ima-
ginary priest—the forgery of Ireland made a great poet
aeem to write worse than Settle could have written—
but this forgery blackens the character of a great man,
and worse still, traduces fe mde virtue.

Mr. Moxon is not the o,lly publisher taken in. Mr.
Murray has been a heavy sufferer, though not to the
same extent. Mr. Moxon has printed his Shelley pur-
chases; Mr. Murray—wise through Mr. Moxon's ex-
ample—will not publish his Byron acquisitions.