The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-09 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JULY 9 1855.

LINES LEASED AT FIXED RENTALS.

MARKET NEWS.—(THIS DAY.)
CORN EXCHANGE.
The leading provincial markets held on Saturday were
but moderately supplied with wheat. Most kinds moved
off slowly, yet no material change took place in the quota-
tions. Barley and oats were firm, but all other articles
were a dull inquiry.
The latest advices from New York state that flour was
dull in sale, at a decline of from 25 to ni cents per brl.
Most of the near continental markets have ruled heavy.
The arrivals of English grain up to our market last week
were limited. From abroad we received 11,5t6 qrs. of
wheat, 3,315 barley, 32,225 oats, 165 rye, 8,100 beans, 108
peas, 260 tares, 11,756 linseed, 7,379 rapeseed, and 10,345
sacks of flour.
Fresh up to this morning's market coastwise a very
short supply of English wheat came to hand ; and the re-
ceipts by land carriage from Essex were very moderate.
Although there was a portion of last week's unsold supply
on offer, the show of samples of both red and white was
very moderate. The attendance of buyers was by no means
extensive, yet we had a fair demand for nearly all kinds of
wheat of home produce, at prices about equal to those ob-
tained on Monday last.
We were well supplied with most kinds of foreign
wheat, but more particularly with granaried samples. For
good heavy qualities we had a fair inquiry, at full quota-
tions. In low and damp parcels very little business was
doing, on former terms.
Floating cargoes off the coast, the arrivals of which have
been rather extensive during the past week, have sold at
full prices.
The show of barley, both English and foreign, was very
moderato, and the trade ruled firm, at fully last week's
quotations.
There was a slow sale for malt, on former terms.
We were heavily supplied with foreign oats, but the
show of home-grown qualities was small. The trade was
not so active as on Friday, yet last Monday's prices were
well supported.
Beans and peas were in short supply, and sluggish in-
quiry, on former terms.
The flour trade was inactive, but no change took place
in the quotations.
CURRENCY PER IMPERIAL MEASURE.
Wheat—Essex & Kent, Malt—Chevalier .... 70s to 71s
Red •• new 673 to 78s Oats Yorkshire and
Ditto.. •......... old —s —ft Lincolnsh.,Feed 26s 30s
Ditto, White new 82s BGs Potato .
Ditt0........ old 85s 888 Youghal and Cork
Norfolk and Lin- 81ack....... 25s 29s
col e, Red, old 68s 813 Cork, White 26s 30s
Ditto new ...... 683 803 Scotch, Feed. •• .. 27s 30s
Rye—Old .• •• •• •• •• •• —s —s Beans—Tick 41s 44s
New •• •• 42s 44s Pigeons •• •• 43s 47s
Barloy—Grinding..... Vs 33s Peas—Grey •• •• 35s 38s
Malting ....... 33s 34s Maple. •••• •• •• 38s 40s
Chevalier— . . 353 36s White... •••• •• .• 39s 453
Malt—Stiffolkand \Tor- Boilers ••......., 03s 46s
62s 67s Flour—Town-made... 65s 70s
Brown .•• •• 58s 60s Suffolk 52s 56s
KingstonandWare 68s 70s Stocktn &Norfolk 51s 55s

LITERATURE.

ii~tIWA!I.

Leasing
Compans.

Closing Prices
Sa'unlay.

Business
this day.

Colburn.

The Rival Roses. A Romance of English History.
By the author of " Royalists and Roundheads."
3 vols. Skeet.

The motto of this work is the following :
" I pluck this White Rose with Plantagenet,
I pluck this Red Rose with young Somerset."
A most appropriate text, as the story turns en-
tirely on the countless incidents and adventures
that belong to that eventful period in English his-
tory, in which the houses of York and Lancaster
contended for supremacy. The epoch more parti-
cularly referred to here is that in which Margaret
of Anjou made so many heroic attempts to set for-
ward the cause of her unfortunate husband. Her
character and that of her victorious rival, Edward
the Fourth, are vividly given. The style belongs to
the old cast of romances entirely, with the plots
and intrigues, the disguises and deceits, the im-
prisonments and tortures. Blanche Neril is a very
pleasing heroine, and admirably calculated to grace
the pages of romance in any age or country. It is satis-
factory to meet with the sketch of so refined and reso-
lute a character among so many who were led away by
vanity or spoiled by ambition. The plot shows a
genius for construction, and it is only by strict at-
tention that the reader is enabled to unravel the
complicated thread of mystery which involves the
private and public affairs. Sir Aleyme Fitzherbert
is a noble specimen of ancient English knighthood
—incapable of deceit or treachery, ever ready to
succour the oppressed, and clinging faithfully to a
fallen cause, to the destruction of his worldly pros-
pects, and the wreck of his private happiness.
Those who are pleased with the exciting and stirring
will find abundance of interest in these pages, as
they refer to the terrible and startling in history,
and relate the manoeuvres of fiction in the old days
of romance. A painful part of the story is that of
the sufferings of Ermengarde ; and Welwood ex-
piring in the torture chamber is an instance of the
horrors of history at that time. Such terrible
scenes are, however, to be expected from the period
chosen for delineation ; and there are few lovers of
historical fiction who will not be satisfied with the
romance of the "Rival Roses."

Sketches of the Irish Bar : with Essays, Literary and
Political. By W. H. Curran, Esq. Henry

With one exception—a friendly tribute to the
memory of Chief Baron Woulfe, these sketches first
appeared in the New Monthly Magazine in a series
to which Mr. Sheil contributed,. and are now pre-
sented in a collected form, for the same reasons,
we are told, which caused the republication of the
" Legal and Political Sketches" of the latter writer,
viz., as, we suppose, their intrinsic merit and a
demand for them. However this may be, we
hail their disinterment with pleasure, and peruse
them with almost equal zest to that with which we
read them years ago, in the classic pages presided
over by Campbell. Irish wit, brilliance, and elo-
quence, and Irish independence and moral worth,
delineated by an Irishman so competent as Mr.
Curran, could not fail to insure appropriate mat-
ter for an effective book, and few, we are confident,
will lay down the present work without the antici-
pation of further pleasure in the perusal of it.
Among the "Sketches of the Irish Bar," which evince
much care as well as vigour and discrimination of
character, if not the point and brilliance of Shell,
will be found one of the celebrated Plunkett, and
another of the still more famous O'Connell.
Among the Essays are remarks on German criti-
cism, and on the writings of Quevedo; besides
which, a sketch of Irving, the Scottish divine,
somewhat hardly executed, and a few Irish portraits
may be noticed.

Love's Martyrdom,. A Play in Five Acts. By
John Saunders. Chapman and Hall.

An original English play worthy of the name in
these days of ineffable translations or adaptations
from the French is deserving of especial congratu-
lation. And such a play—though some of the cha-
racters suggest, they do no more, the idea of
imitation, and there is much we could wish altered
or omitted—is that before us. It is really a fine
play despite its faults, which are precisely those
which a true dramatic poet might be expected
to commit in a first essay—faults of inexperience,
while, on the other hand, its merits are of an order
which gives ample ground for hope as well as con-
gratulation. Though less luxuriantly fanciful
than some first essays a vigorous imagination is
perceptible throughout, and no impression of ex-
haustion is left after perusal. Highly wrought as
some of the scenes are their stirring vitality is healthy,
and partakes in no degree of the spasmodic. A. d e epbut
not overmastering fervour pervades the entire play,
and this not merely constitutes an additional charm
to its happy delineations of character, choice poetic
ideas, and striking felicities of expression, but also
fastens the reader's attention, and hurries him on
through the intricacies of the plot to its deliouenient
with that willingness which good earnest writing
invariably inspires. Having so recently noticed
the plot of the piece it is unnecessary to reproduce
it here; and we will only say of it that, without
possessing any startling novelty, it is sufficiently
original and natural to excite interest and avoid
offence, and is developed with much greater clear-
ness than might be supposed by those who wit-
nessed the first representation of the play. In the
early scenes and in the final one, condensation even
for the closet, much more the stage, would be of
decided service. Three acts, indeed, would have
sufficed for the story, and had the play been thtp
confined its most striking defects would have been
avoided. We should have had fewer indif-
ferent, needless, and hazardous lines, and a
more effective drama. The want of acquaintance
with the stage perceptible throughout, while it
accounts for this, suggests the remedy. On the
other hand, some of the " situations" are exceed-
ingly good ; and this fact, with the real passion,
and powers of delineation, and nervous expression
of the writer, afford hope of his becoming a popular
dramatist. Let him take to his study of the hum-
bler class of dramatic requirements the plays of
Bulwer, not one of which but to an observant eye
bears unmistakeable marks of severe condensation
and elision. He must not, however, by any means
forsake the noble school to which he belongs.
Turning to the characters, that of Franklyn the
Hunchback and Love's artyr stands out facile
princeps. Barring a little exaggeration, it is as well
developed as it is finely conceived. The fiery
bursts of passion, and sudden accesses of remorse
and tenderness, and the maddening struggle in
which a high place in love's martyrology
is achieved by this noble generous nature
—previously warped by a perpetual brooding
over a personal defect, and more or less real
injuries and insults consequent thereon—are true
to nature, and not the least obvious proofs of dra-
matic power. The lesson which he is made to rea-
lise gives occasion for a line which all must ad-
mire :

" Our sorrows are the steps before heaven's gate."
The character of Margaret is well conceived, and
the phase of its early manifestation delicately chosen
before her admiration of Franklyn—his genius and
manliness—has quickened into love. Thus it is
only when the object seems lost—in the very mo-
ment of utmost trial that love asserts its legitimate
supremacy, and the fulness of her womanly nature
is revealed. Then the pride that brought down
her sorrow forsakes her, and she madly exults in
proclaiming, in the ears of her friend, the intensity
of the hopeless love she feels. The character of
Laneham, the kindly, high-souled artist, friend,
and brother, will have many admirers, and most
deservedly. The vacillating Clarence, the pure-
minded though fallen Julia, and the selfish and
unprincipled Freelove, are skilfully though less
effectively portrayed. The scenes which embrace
the dream of Laneham, and his interviews with his
sister and Margaret, may be numbered among the
best in the play—such as the second and fourth
scenes of Act 3, the greater part of the second
and third scenes in Act 4, and the last of
" this eventful history," which, however, is
one-third longer than it should be, the long
episode of Julia, though beautiful, damaging it.
It was our intention to have quoted a few of those
passages in the play which have struck us for their
truth and beauty, but must refrain, and conclude
our notice by the expression of a sincere desire to
be enabled before long to congratulate Mr. Saun-
ders on a triumph yet more complete, and still
worthier of his genius than the present, honour-
able as it is.

May Flowers. By Acheta, author of " March
Winds and April Showers." Lovell Reeve.
This volume is " the sequel or sequence" of its
predecessor, being also " notes and notions on a few
created things," and as such it bears the title of
" May Flowers," which all lovers of 'old sayings
know follow March winds and April showers. The
readers of the former works of this charming author
will hail with pleasure another little volume from
his pen. His earnest love of nature, and varied
knowledge of the wonders of earth, sea, and air,
and their inhabitants, the marvels he discovers in
every withered leaf or insect contrivance, all servo
to invest his works with a freshness and attractive-
ness not common in works of this class. The easy
style in which information is conveyed, intermixed
with reflection, incident, and anecdote, render it
peculiarly calculated to awake an interest in the
wonders of nature in the minds of those whom
such studies have hitherto failed to attract.
In one of the incidental chapters the author
takes up a cause that needs advocating, and attacks
a vice but too prevalent. Under the title of "The
Harpy that Broods in every Corner," he pourtrays
the numerous forms under which cruelty holds do-
' minion over the animal leundora• The cruelty