The Sun.
London, England, 1862-02-24 00:00:00

BOROUGH AND SPITALFIRLDS.

Home grown potatoes continue to arrive somewhat freely
to these markets. Good and prime qualities move off
slowly, at about previous quotations, but inferior parcels
are a heavy sale, and prices are with difficulty supported.
Scotch Regents 100 s. to 140 s, per ton.
Ditto Rocks
York Regents • 120 s. to 150 s. ~
Ditto Flukes ..140x. to 160 s. "
Dittoltocks llOB. to 120 s. "
Kent and Essex Regents .---11. to ......8. /9
Lincolnshire ditto 110 s. to 130.
"
Foreign
SEEDS. »

Cloverseed commands rather more attention, and the
market both for linseed and rapeseed rules firm, at full
quotations. In other seeds very little is doing. Cakes
move off heavily, at barely late rates.
Turnip,White,p.bus.lls to 148
5wede........... —s —s
Mustard, Brown l2e 14s
White,' ........ 7sod SsOd
Tares, Winter ......
786 d Se
Old per quarter s 42s
Canary, per quarter 48e 60s
Rye grass, new..... —s
Clover, Red Eng., et. 488 52s
White ....... 58s 76s
Foreign Red.... 44e 50s
White. 68s 888
Trefoil, new. ..••••• 20s 248

Carraway 22s to 256
Coriander l4B 18e
Henapseed, per qr sos 528
Linseed,Eng.sowing 72s 74s
Crushing 6OB 688
Baltic 548 589
Odessa
Linseed Cake p ton —s —9
English ' £lo 108.C11 59
Foreign £lOlOBl2 Os
Rape Cakes,p ton £6 Os 6 158
Rapeseed, per qr.... 63s 66s

WOOL.
In all War of Wool, both English and colonial, a very

Lives of the Wits and Ifurnourists. By John
Timbs, F.S.A., author of " Curiosities of Lon-
don," &c. 2 vols. Richard Bentley.
Mr. Timbs has long been known in the literary
world by his ingenious complations and valuable
works of reference. Without much original talent,
he has succeeded in producing a series of
works of general utility and interest, containing a
large amount of condensed information. We can-
not altogether coincide in Swift's remark when he
says that• " Abridgments, abstracts, and summaries
have the same use with burning glasses—to collect
the diffused rays of wit and learning in authors,
and make them point with warmth and quickness
upon the reader's 'imagination." Summaries and
abridgments are too often dry and lifeless, robbing
history and biography of all that vitality and inte-
rest which excites the attention and makes a far
deeper and more lasting impression on the memory
than the mere rote knowledge of facts. It is not
for the purpose of instruction—for the first study of
a subject—that abstracts end summaries are valu-
able ; they should rather be addressed to those who
—wishing to verify some assertion, to correct some
inaccurate knowledge, or to renew some forgotten
reading—seek, under the pressure of other occupa-
tions, concise and authentic statements. The
work before us is not exactly of this kind. It is in-
tended for those who are already familiar with the
names and characters of the celebrities it
chronicles, but who wish to obtain fuller and more
exact information concerning them. It is similar
in design to the volumes of Anecdote Biography,
recently published by Mr. Timbs, and is equally
readable and entertaining. The plan followed is
to give first a sketch of the humourist's career,
arranged in paragraphs under appropriate
headings, and subsequently a chapter of " Charac-
teristics, Personal Traits and Opinions," in which
are collected those flashes of wit and sparks of
humour, whose brilliancy has not been extin-
tinguished by the lapse of years and change of
manners. From the number and variety of these
anecdotes, we have no doubt that Mr. Timbs's work
will be widely read and highly prised, while the out-
line given of the wit or humourist's history will be
useful to many readers. The disparaging remarks
which have been made by some persons on Mr.
Timbs's works appear to us to be decidedly unfair.
The compiler does not profess to publish an en-
tirely original book ; the very plan and object of
the undertaking would prevent his doing so. All
the anecdotes, personal details, &c., which
form the staple of his entertaining vo-
lumes are naturally told somewhere else,
but the task of collecting, verifying, and classi-
fying these various stories is no light labour,
and the effect is by no means insignificant. He
who reads one witty saying can now read a hun-
dred others beside it, and epigrams, puns, and re-
torts are traced to their right owners. The work
is founded on the best authorities, which are cited
in the margin, and to the later lines the compiler
has been able to add the results of his own expe-
rience. He tells us that his canon of economy has
been to reject what is no longer essential, and
another rule has made him endeavour to give a local
colour to each anecdote. His list of subjects include
many names of eminence : we have lives of Swift,
Foote, Goldsmith, the two Caimans, Sheridan,
Sydney Smith, Theodore Hook, the two Smiths;
and others. It may therefore be seen that Mr.
Timbs has a rich field for his exertions, and his ef-
forts can hardly fail to gratify his readers. Many
humorous poems, too long for quotation, are given ;
among them, James Smith's clever verses on pun-
fling. We subjoin a few anecdotes out of his large
collection, as affording the best sample of the attrac-
tions of these volumes :