The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-13 00:00:00

BILLINGSGATE.

Salmon, 1s 6d to 2s Od ; trout, Os Od to Os Od ; eels, Os 8d
to is Od ; prawns, Os Od ; pike, skate, sturgeon, and hali-
but, 6d per lb ; turbots, 2s 6d to 15s Od ; cod, 3s Od to
9s Od ; brills, 2s 6d to 10s Od ; doreys, 2s 6d to 8s Od ; mul-
lets, is Od to is 6d ; lobsters, is Od to 3s, Od ; crabs, Os 6d
to 2s 6d ; plaice and garnets, Os Od to Os Od each ; soles,
Os 6d to 2s 6d per pair ; common oysters, 12s Od to 60s Od;
natives, 84s Od to 90s Od per bushel ; whitings, 4s Od to
10s Od ; haddocks, 5s Od to 20s Od ; smelts Os Od to Os Od ;
flounders, Os Od per dozen ; mackerel, —s Od to Os Od per
120 ; fresh herrings, Os Od to Os Od per 120 ; bloaters, Os Od
to Os Od per 100 ; carp and tench, Us Od to Os Od per brace.

LITERATURE.

The Hawkshawes. A Novel. By M. A. Bird,
author of " Spell-Bound." 2 Vols. Maxwell

and Co.

With many of the serial romance-readers of the
day the initials of M. A. B. have long been familiar
favourites. That intense and vivid power of excit-
ing interest which characterised some of the former
productions of this writer, rendering the reader as
well as the romance " Spell-bound," is to be found
again in " The Hawkshawes," which is a story
somewhat original in its plot, and certainly very
striking (even in these days) in its incidents. The
story, we must premise, is " sensational," that as-
surance being, however, hardly necessary when the
name of Mr. Maxwell appears on the title-page. That
gentleman appears anxious to hold among the London
publishers a position similar to that aspired to in for-
mer days by Crebillon among the French dramatists.
When reproached for selecting terrible themes for
his principal dramas, the Poet is said to have
replied, " Corneille s'est empare du ciel et Moliere de
la terre ; rien ne m'etait laisse que l'enfer et je m'y
suis fete'!" A similar ambition apparently ani-
mates the " sensational" authors of the day. Those
readers who still aspire to be amazed and startled
by extraordinary combinations of incidents will
find abundant matter of interest and bewilderment
in " The Hawkshawes." We will not betray the
secrets of the story, as mystery is all essential to
the marvellous. We will content ourselves with
commending the work to those readers who take
delight in exciting stories. The authoress of " The
Hawkshawes" has, however, qualities of a higher
rank than those of an ordinary sensation-writer.
Her style is very pleasing and some of her
characters are very natural. The opening chapters
relating the breaking up of Ellen Maynard's early
home are written with a simple pathos which arrests
the reader's interest at the very outset of the story.
There is also a quiet humour visible in some of the
descriptions, as, for example, when Ellen, previous
to their departure, is turning over her mother's
hoarded treasures, Mrs. Maynard being " one of
those careful women who, under the idea that it may
be useful some day, never throw anything away,"
her accumulation of useless rubbish is of course
something remarkable. " There were bundles upon
bundles of old letters, possessing the peculiar charm
of being of no use or interest even to the owner ;
account books, that ought to have lighted fires
twenty years before ; piles of Ellen's own copy
books, just as they had been sent from school ; and
bales and boxes of garments of so ancient a cut that
one might have been puzzled to decide whether they
might or might not have been acceptable at the
British Museum." Occasional touches like the
above give a lighter and more pleasing interest to
" The Hawkshawes," and will increase its attraction
yin the eyes of man readers.

Shakspere's Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Facsimile
Reprint. Lionel Booth.

Bent upon making as complete as possible his
admirable Reprint of the First Edition of Shakspere,
the Famous Folio of 1623, Mr. Booth has just issued
in a supplementary form an exact copy of—as the
drama was then entitled—" The much-admired
Play called Pericles, Prince of Tyre, with the true
relation of the whole history, adventures, and
fortunes of the said Prince, written by W. Shak-
spere "—" Pericles " having, thus, been published
during Shakspere's lifetime, but never before printed
in Folio. The Facsimile edition of Pericles
thus issued from the press by Mr. Booth is copied,
as he tells us, " with the same care as [was ?]
exercised in the reproduction of the first Folio"
from the third impression in folio of " Mr. William
Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies,
printed for P.C., London, 1664." It being sup-
plementarily issued thus as a separate play in
order to enable those who already possess the three
parts of the Reprint of the 1623 Edition to bind up
with those three parts, this play of " Pericles," the
only acknowledged play of Shakspere's not printed
in the First Folio. It is a happy afterthought, and
one upon which we may e qually congratulate the
publisher of the Facsimile Reprint of the famous
Folio Edition of 1623 and the possessors of that
unique tribute to the genius of Shakspere.