The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-21 00:00:00

PERISHABLE STONE.

To the eye and to the touch, stone suggests the
idea of imperishability, and though marble, sand-
stone, grenite, have their several peculiarities of
susceptibility to decay, the fact is certain that there
is no stone so hard or so homogeneous in :its cha-
racter, but the tooth of time will sooner or later
pierce it, and the unrelenting fingers of the same
austere personage will crumble it to powder. Gra-
nite has the repute of imperishability, yet the finest
granite in the world, that of Syene in Egypt exhi-
bits on the rough faces of its unquarried blocks,
marks of abrasion and disintegration by atmospheric
influences alone, which have occurred since the time
when the workmen of the Pharoahs hewed it out
for pyramids and obelisks. I was one of the salient
objections to the choice of granite for a memorial
obelisk of Prince Albert, that no granite could be
found which could be safely predicated to carry his
memory down to a far posterity. We might have
Egyptian architeoture, if we set as little value on
human life as the old Egyptians, and if we had an
Egyptian climate. When art critics observe in the
galleries of the British Museum how little the
sculptures from the Nile have suffered during the
lapse of centuries, they are apt to overlook the fact
that the dry, pure, bracing air of the land of Ham
preserves even the human body more perfectly than
any climate in the world, and that the softest stone
is there almost as safe as the hardest, provided the
hands of the sp oiler are kept away. Ignorant
Turks and Arabs play pull down a temple to obtain
stone to build a hut, and travellers may chip off
the nose of a sphynx as a curiosity ; but the atmo-
sphere there has no corroding influences, and the
work of the sculpture is as good an emblem of im-
mortality as the palm tree which never dies.— City
Press.

COUNTRY MAREE2 S.

NORWICH-SATURDAY.

There was an increased supply of wheat to-day, and the
millers not being free buyers prices were just a shade
cheaper. There was scarcely any other grain offering.
White wheat. 59s to 62i 1 Red wheat 56s to 580
Malting barley.... 40s to 41st Chevalier barley 37s to 400
New d 0.......... —s to —s 1 Oats.... 2ss to 300
Flour, 39s 6d to —a Od per sack from the miller.

YORK— SAT U RDAY.
There was a fair show of wheat to-day, and last week's
prices were fully supported. In this large county wheat
looks better than was at one time expected. Barley deal
not look well. Oats and beans promise fair.
Wheat, red ...56s to 60s Oats.... 22s to 248
White do .60s to 64s Beans 408 to 42s
Barley .32s to 33s Peas ....—s to --0
Malt, 64s to 66s per qr..; rye, 343 per qr. ; flour, 40s
to 42s per sack. _

LEI CE STER—SATtr.un for.
The supply of wheat to-day at market was moderate,
and the prices of last week were etc eeded by is to 25
—White wheat, 60s to 635; red, 52st to 58s per 36 st.;
old red, —s to —s per 36 stone. Barley was in limited de-
mand—grinding, 29s to 328; malting, 36s to 40s per qr.;
oats, 22s to 28s per 24 stone. Beans were a quiet sale--
new, —s to —8; old, 38s to 43s per 38 stone.

NOTTINGHAM—SATunD
At our market this morning the show of wheat was
very fair, and the sales effected were at the rates of last
week. White • wheat, from 58s to 64s ' • red, ,56s to 605.
Barley—malting, 36s to 42s ; grinding, 1129 s to 31s. Oats
old, at 30s to 35s ; new, 24s to 28s. Beans were sold at 44S
to 50s per qr. Flour, 41s to 445.

NORTHAMP TON—SATURDAY.
There was a • fair show of wheat to-dfly, at higher rateS.
Best wheat, 54s to 58s; seconds, 54s to:s7s. Malting
barley scarca, at late prices—malting sorts, 38s to 30s ;
grinding 30s to 35s per qr. Oats quoted at 24 sto 32$
per 24 stone. Beans, 40s to 42s ; seconds, 37s to 40s.