The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MAY 15, 1854.

COURT CIRCULAR.

The Queen and Prince Albert left Buckingham-
pa'ace at five minutes past twelve o'clock on Saturday
for Woolwieb Dockyard, to witness the launch of the
Royal Albert screw steam ship. Her Majesty and his
Royal Highness were accompanied by the Prince of
Wales, the Princess Royal, Prince Alfred, and the
Princess Alice, and were attended by tl e Duchess of
Wellington, the Viscountess Jocelyn, Lady Caroline
Barrington, the Hon. Caroline Cavendish, Hon. Flora
Macdonald, Lord Rivers, Viscount Torrington, Sir F.
Stovin, Colonel Wylde, Colonel Bouverie, Captain Du
Plat, and Mr. Gibbs. The august party occupied five
of the Queen's carriages, and was escorted by a party of
Carpi veers.
Her Majesty and his Royal Highness returned from
the launch at five minutes before three o'clock.
The Duchess of Kent, attended by Lady Anna Maria
Dawson and Lord James Murray, was also present at
the launch of the Royal Albert.
Her Majesty and Prince Albert honoured the per-
formance of French Plays at the St. James's Theatre
with their pi eence in the evening. The royal suite
consisted of the Viscountess Jocelyn, the Hon. Flora
Macdonald, Lord Rivers, Colonel Bouverie, and Captain
1)u Plat.
Yesterday the Queen and Prince Albert, the Prince of
Wales, the Princess Royal, the Princess Alice, the
Duchess of Kent, the Ladies and Gentlemen in Waiting,
and the domestic household, attended divine service in
the Private Chapel of BuckirNhatn Palace. The Hon.
and 1 Gerald Wellesley officiated.
The Duchess of Kent, attended by Lady Anna Maria
Dawson and Lord James Murray, honoured the per-
formance of the French Plays with her presence on Sa-

turday evening.
The Duchess of Kent visited the Duchess of Gloucester
yesterday at Gloucester-ho Use.

CABINET COUNCIL—A Cabinet Council was held at
the Foreign-office, Downing-street, on Saturday after-
noon. The Ministers present were the Earl of Aber-
deen, Lord John Russell, the Marquis of Lansdowne,
the Lord Chancellor, Earl Granville, the Duke of
Argyll, Viscount Palmerston, the Earl of Clarendon,
the D❑ke of Newcastle, the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, Sir James Graham, Sir Charles Wood, the Right
Hon. Sidney Herbert, and Sir William Molesworth.
The Council sat two hours and a half.

Mr. John Boyle, acting trustee of the• Marquis of
Bute's estates+, and Mr. Richard Roy, had an• interview
with the General Board of Health on Saturday, with
reference to the drainage of Bute Town, Cardiff.
Despatches were received on Saturday, at the Colonial-
office, from the Guvernor of the Falkland Islands.

On Wednesday next her Majesty is to give the first
State ball this season in Buckingham Palace. The
party will be very numerous, comprising the principal
State functionaries and nobility, British and foreign.
Saturday next i 4 appointed for the celebration of the
Queen's birth-day. The Drawing Room held at St.
James's Palace on that day will, of course, be the crown-
ing reception of the year, the whole of the elite of the
Court making it a duty to pay their respects on this
anniversary. The day will be celebrated by a great
number of State banquets given by the Queen's Minis-
ters and her Majesty's State officers, each inviting the
circle of gentlemen with whom he is officially more im-
mediately connected.

NEWS-(THIS DAY.)

CORN EXCHANGE.

Very moderate supplies of wheat were on offer in the
leading country markets held on Saturday. All kinds sold
readily, at a slight improvement in the quotations. Barley
and malt were very dull, but oats were i❑ good request at
extreme currencies. Beaus, peas, and flour were
neglected.
Very little change has taken place in the value of wheat
on the continent and in the United States. Prices, how-
ever, have ruled steady. The stocks appear to have become
limited in several quarters. Up to our market lasi week
the receipts of English grain were very moderate. From
abroad, they amounted to 21,940 qrs. of wheat, 8,645
barley, 9,797 oats, 4,604 beans, 14 peas, 91 tares, 4,369
linseed, 2.476 rapeseed, 11 mustard seed, 10 sundry seeds,
3,1-H sacks and 3,-75 barrels of flour. •
Fresh up to this morning's market coastwise, the arri-
vals of wheat from Essex, Kent, were very moderate,
but in good condition. By land carriage, they were
limited, hence the show of samples was small. An elec-
tric message having reached us from Liverpool, stating
that flour has advanced there, to-day, ls. per barrel, and
the country markets coining firmer, the demand for all
kinds of wheat of home produce ruled rather active, at an
advance in the prices obtained. on Monday last, of from ls.
to 2s. per quarter, and a good clearance was effected. For
forward delivery there were more inquiries. •
'We were well supplied wit's foreign wheat ; neverthe-
less, there was an active inquiry for all descriptions, at
is to 2s per quarter above the rates of Monday last.
Floating cargoes were in good request, and the quota-
tions had an upward tendency.
The show of English barley was moderate. Of foreign
good. Sales progressed slowly, but we have no change to
notice in prices.
For malt we had a very (lull market, owing to the ad-
vance in the duty.
There was a moderate sale for oats—the show of which
was by no means large, at full quotations.
English beans were dearer, and quite as dear as last
week. Foreign parcels were very dull.
All kinds of peas moved off slowly on former terms.
`We had rather more doing in flour, and Americaa par-
cels were is per barrel dearer than on this day se'nnight.

CUttfit:NCY t•Ekt
Whoa/ —Esiex Kent.
Red •• .. new 73, to 853
ditto.. • • ........ old 77s 89•

KutAL Mr,AstfitE.

Malt—Chevalier • • •• 75s to 76,
!Oats Yorkshire and

)ttto, White new 77s 893
old 76s 903
Norfolk and Lin-
coln, Red, old 73s 84s
Ditto new ...... 74 84;
Rye—Old •••• ••...... 51s 52s
New , •• 50i 51s
Oa:gay—Grinding.— .. 369 383
\letting .•••• 394 41s
... 423 44s
att —Suffolk and Nor-
folk•• •••• 68s 71s
crown .•• ••••........ 60.; 628

Line°ln3l4., Feed 30s 34►
Potato
Youghal and Cork
Black. •..•.. 30s 3B

Cork, White. •• .35s
Scotch. Feed. .• 35s
....... 45s 54:
Pigeons ...... 49 66.
Peas—Grey .. 44s 48s
Maple 48a 53s
.... .. 56s 62.

Boilers .......... sfis 6es
eleur—Towu-made... 663 70s
Auffolk 583 62,
Atooktit & Norfolk 583 64s

Xingston and Ware 73e Ws

SMITHFIELD.

Last week's imports of foreign stock into London were
again very moderate, the total supply being only
898 head. In the corresponding week in 1853 we re-
ceived 3,401 ; in 1852, 1,995 ; in 1831, 2,893 ; in 1850,
1,376 ; in 1849, 1,363.

IMPORTS INTO LONDON LAST WEEK.
From 'Beasts. Sheep. Lambs.
Flamburgh 39 180
Rotterdam 4 93 ... 1 ... 138
Harlingen 2 ... 134 ...
Ostend — ...
Oporto ... .
Guernsey

Calves. Pigs

2 ... -

193 ... - ...

1 ... -

Total— 327 ".

407 ...

2 ... 162 ... -

The yearly comparison of weekly imports is as under :
Beasts. Sheep. Lambs. Calves. Pigs.
1953 628 2,185 ... 5 ... 527 56
1852 lBO 1,414 3 394 4
1851 534 ... 1,850 8 442 ... 59
1850 3BB ... 731 15 ... 240 ... 2
1849 193 860 5 ... 301 ... 4
The show of foreign stock in to-day's market was again
limited in number, and very deficient in quality. The
whole changed hands at extreme rates.
There was a decided falling off in the arrivals of home-
fed beasts fresh up to our market to-day, owing to which,
and the large number of both town and country buyers in
attendance, the beef trade ruled brisk, at an advance in
the prices obtained on Monday last of fully 4d per Blbs.
The general top figure for beef was 4s Bd, but a few supe-
rior Scots realised 44101 per 81bs.
From Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Cambridgeshire
we received 2,200 Scots and short-horns ; from other parts
of England, 700 of various breeds ; and from Scotland,
592 horned and polled Scots.
Notwithstanding that the 'supply of sheep was exten-
sive, we had a good inquiry for all breeds, at prices quite
equal to those of Monday last. The best old Downs, out
of the wool, realized 55 per 81bs without difficulty.
There was a full average number of lambs in the market,
and which sold readily, at extreme rates, viz., from 5s 2d
to 6s 8,1 per 81bs.
Calves were in good supply and fair request, at full
prices.
We had a slow sale for p
in their value.

igs, but no change took place

Per Blbs to sit
s. d. s. d.
Inferior Beasts.... 3 4to 3 6
Second quality.... 3 8 310
Prime large oxen 4 0 4 41
Prime Scots, &c. 4 6 4 8
Inferior Sheep ...3 6 3 81
Second quality ...3 10 4 4
Prime erse.-wlled.4 6 4 8

Lk the offals.

s. d. s. d.
Prime Southdown 410 5 0
Large crse. calves 4 4 5 0
Prime small d 0... 5 2 5 6
!Largo hogs 3 0 4 2
13mall porkers 4 4 4 8
iSucklingealves ..22 0 29 0
Ruarter old pigs 21 0 27 0
. 5s 2d to 6s Bd.

Lambs....
TOTAL SUPPLY.

Beasts .. • • • • ....
Sheep . • • • • •• —25,09 1
,valves .. • • ............ •• 195
Pigs ~, ••

LITERATURE.

Phemie Millar. By the Author of "The Kinnears."
3 vols. Hurst and Blackett.
The interest which unquestionably appertains to
this story does not spring from variety of incident
or change of scene. On the contrary, for the
greater part of the two first volumes, there is
rather a paucity in striking events, the narrative
being the daily chronicle of the family life of the
Miliars. The merit of the book arises from its re-
semblance to truth, from its faithful portraiture of
home life, and home joys and sorrows. In the
latter part of the story the interest is greatly in-
creased, and the general purpose of the author more
developed. Mr. Millar, the father of the heroine,
is a rough, overbearing sort of man in manners and
hearing; although he really possesses great affection
for his family, he renders them all unhappy from
his want of forbearance and sympathy. He was
continually exasperating his eldest son, Bob Mil-
lar, until at last the storm, so long impending over
the unfortunate family, burst forth suddenly, and
the hope and expectation of their hearts disappeared
from them. They disputed on a day which " was
memorable in the chronicles of Craiginch, as that
on which a small party of emigrants were to take
leave of their friends in train for the Australian
bush, and a whale ship was to set sail for the Northern
Ocean." Bob, driven to desperation by continued
injustice and persecution, left suddenly in the
twilight, none knew whither. However, all
satisfied themselves it must be to Australia that he

had departed, and waited, but in vain, fur tidings
of him. Phemie, the heroine, is a strange character
—not an unnatural one, but a very unusual one.
She was not understood by her own family, and
consequently not treated with that consideration
and indulgence that her nervous and excitable dis-
position demanded. She pined under a " restless
yearning for that intense entire sympathy which
poets sing, and young enthusiasts deify." It is
added that she was excusable in part for her de-
sire, as she was alone in her poetic nature. She
was always " hearing voices and seeing sights," to
which the rest of the family were deaf and blind.
After many day-dreams, and fantastic vagaries of
the imagination, Phemie at laSt attached her way-
ward affections, and devoted her fluctuating feel-
ings to a young aspirant for renown, born of
very humble parents, Patrick Hay soon became re-
markable for skill in painting. He was received
in the best society of the place, and thus introduced
to Phemie. However, her parentsand officious elder
sister did not approve of the connexion, and after
some scenes of a painful nature the engagement was
annulled. Phemie did not feel at all reconciled to a
calm course of proceeding; she was constituted like
her eldest brother, and her nature seemed to urge
her to defiance, while duty counselled a patient en-
deavour for a time at least. Her only consolation
was that the slighted object of her attachment
might so distinguish himself as to become an ho-
noured guest, where he was now rejected in dis-
grace. Her consternation was great when she
heard that Pat Hay had abandoned everything,
and prepared to set out on a whaling ex-
pedition. She wrote to him, beseeching him by
everything he held sacred and dear not to give up
all the fair promises and disappoint the bright hopes
of his life for the sake of one disappointment. In
answer, Hay declared that he had an object in
thus transporting himself, and that the pursuit of
his art itself urged him in his course. "He was a
sated guest at an exhausted feast, and the soil was
not to lie fallow that it might send forth a truer
crop." He further said that he looked to the north
seas as a region of romance. In conclusion, he
alluded-to the probability of his seeing her again.
"If I be not permitted to return to Craiginch, do
not recal my image with pain. You will have fond
solemn chambers in your heart where you will
retain the past, and where I will dwell with Bob
and Cohn. Add my name to theirs when you
kneel, as I see you nightly, beside your bed, with
folded hands and eyes closed on this world's
vanities. Commit nay body to the waves we
have watched together, and my soul to
our God and Saviour." The perusal of this
touching letter was a sad task to Phemie,
but it was only the prelude to darker events
in the future. A long time passed, no news
came from Bob, no tidings were received of
Pat Hay, and, last of all afflictions, the favourite
of the family, Colin, drooped and died. At last,
when all hope was fading, even from the enthu-
siastic heroine of the story, a stranger entered at
the twilight hour. He was Bob, the long-lost and
deeply lamented son and brother, come not from
the scorching sun of Australia, but from the ice-
bound shores of Greenland, where he had been
closed in by icebergs, while they had fancied him
forgetting them in the golden valleys of the New
World. That was Phemie's triumph. In the first
jubilee of the meeting never expected to take
place on earth, and in the fulness of joy all were
exulting in, her brother related to them how it
was Patrick Hay who had tracked them to their
gelid fastnesses,and that the man whohad been driven
from the 2,liilars' home had brought back from a
lingering death, the hope and pride, the only son
of that home. " I was glad to see you all to-night,
but I was more glad to see Hay's face in the North
Seas." The reconciliation that followed may be
imagined, and the transition of the long-suffering
heroine from sorrow to gladness. In the sunshine
and splendour of her now happy days much of the
strange and unnatural in the past vanished from
her manners and mind, but there remained some-
thing original and something remarkable in her
gentle and gifted nature. The final impression
stamped on her character by the lights and shades
through which she passed is thus depicted :
" Mamie has lost much of her individuality, she has
shared a common fate, and in her true love which has
struggled into a known authorised honourable fact, the
self-absorbed, unpractical, bewildered being has melted
away among a crowd of young innocent loving hearts,
as happily drawn out of themselves, and as proudly sunk
into another existence as her own, only individualised by
the dreamy depths, the misty heights, the conscious
freedom and
.gladness of her genius share. Ah, yes,
Phemie Millar has in many respects ceased to live an
existence apart from others, but she cannot lose the pure
gold ; although the dross of her nature fall away, sue
cln never become an ordinary self-satisfied matter-of-
fact girl. By the keenness and constancy of her joys
and sorrows—by the liberality and charity of her views
—by the thoughtful analysis which gives her a double
experience of life—by the rich fancy which sheds upon
pleasure, with a full yet controlled hand, a shower of
pearly dew, and broods over pain with an exceeding
humility and tenderness until the sting of anguish be-
come stilled into the repose of resignation, by all these
tokens lift up a crown, not of mere glossy green laurel,
but with the white stars of the amaranth shining through
its dark leaves, and whispering not alone of human love
and human fame, but of Heaven's truth and Heaven's
blessedness, and place it on Phemie Millar's head so full
of wonderful, youthful wisdom, most unique and pleasant
to meet with."

Manual of the Law of Maritiatt; Watjare. By
Wm. Hazlitt and Henry Philip Roche, EAqrs.,
Barristers-at-Law. London : Stevens and Nor-
ton ; Edinburgh : T. and T. Clark ; Dublin :
Hodges and Smith.
This is an exceedingly well-timed publication. At
a period when the portals of the Temple of Janus,
which for forty long years had been rusting on their
hinges, when the combined fleets of France and
England occupy the Euxine and the Baltic—usually
little better than Russian Lakes—and when ves-
sels are seized by our cruisers and brought into our
ports for condemnation as prizes—the law of mari-
time warfare will be eagerly inquired into, not
merely by professional men, but by every person
who is interested in the trade and commerce of
the country, or who has friends or relatives who
may be concerned as captors or victims in the
numerous and complicated transactions that must
necessarily arise during the conflict. Full infor-
mation will be more eagerly sought after in conse-
quence of the laudable efforts made by the Western
Powers to divest " Grim-visaged war" of a portion
of its horrors. To the honour of England and of
France they have cordially concurred in this noble
undertaking. They have indignantly repudiated
the semi-piracy of privateerism, and thus inflicted
a death-blow on that atrocious practice. They
have exhibited a degree of liberality previously
unknown in their dealings with neutrals—a course
of policy which, it is to be hoped, will prove as
wise as it is generous, as expedient as it is equit-
able. For the present, at least, we cannot come
into collision with other powers on the question of
pressing British subjects from under their flags.
We do not take them from our own merchant ves-
sels or our own ports. We cannot create heart-
burnings by undue interference with vessels sail-
ing under the flags of other nations, for " to
preserve the commerce of neutrals from all un-
necessary obstruction, her Majesty is willing, for
the present, to waive a part of the belligerent rights
appertaining to her by the law of nations 1"
The recent orders in Council to a certain extent
constitute a new maritime code. It is very desir-
able to see the extent to which, according to the
jas gentium, we have relinquished our strict rights,
and to ascertain exactly the present state of the
law. On this duty Messrs. Hazlitt and Roche
entered, and it is but an act of simple justice
to these learn2d gentlemen to state that they have
most efficiently and ably performed the arduous
task. That they have displayed great industry is
manifest from the time at which they have brought
forth their valuable work. That they have evinced
sound discretion will be equally perceptible to any
one who glances over its pages. They have alike
avoided sins of commission and omission. They
have steered very clear of " book-making." They
I might have inserted many matters from which they
have cautiously abstained. By so doing they might
, have swelled the bulk and enhanced the price of

their volume, and with it their own profits. But
' the learned gentlemen have evinced an unequivocal
deter;nination to give the public full value for their
' money ; and we have no doubt that they will receive
their reward, for not only will they obtain professional
purchasers—to whom the work is indispensable—
but it will, doubtless, be eagerly sought after by
the general public, as combining sound practical
information with that which, at the present
moment, is of surpassing interest to all.
At first, from this salutary determination, it
appeared as if they had left something out that
might be useful. But this is not so. If any
vexata questio should arise, its clear, distinct, and
unequivocal solution will be found in the volume
under notice--that is to say, so far as may be
practicable in the present state of the law. We
can, then, earnestly commend the work, which
embodies the decisions of Lord Stowell and other
eminent English Judges, of the American Courts,
and the opinions of the most eminent jurists. It is,
indeed, well worthy of calm and attentive perusal,
and entitles the learned gentlemen to a prominent
position among legal authors. '

The Stomach and its Difii,,,nities. By Sir James
Eyre, M.D. Second edition. John Churchill.
We are not by any means surprised that the
honours of a reprint have descended I)nn this
masterly little treatise by Sir James iEyre upon
" The Stomach and its liiffieulties." We arenoit
surprised, we say, at the circumstance of its repub-
lication, nay we shall not be at all amazed to ob-
secve the volume passing hereafter rapidly through
edition after edition—because we ourselves have
read it from the title-page to the last word of the
appendix, and can therefore appreciate its ability,
and can vouch for its fascination. Nevertheless,
we don't by any means repose our faith in the
existence of a panacea—be it conveyed through
the oleagenous acridity of cod's-liver-oil, or
through a saline stimulant like brandy and-salt, or
through the pungent grit of a spoonful of mustard-
seed, or through the bean-flavoured mess of a basin
of revalenta, or through any other of those astonish-
ing and eccentric remedies which occasionally
captivate the understanding of the public like a
madness, just as we may see the enthusiasm of the
fashionable world engrossed at intervals by every
imaginable species of monstrosity, from the dancing
rags of " Jim Crow" to the abominably nonsensical
vulgarity of " Villikins and his Dinah." Candidly,
then we repeat, that we don't in any way believe iu
the reality of any one of these miraculous curatives
designed not for oue disease, or even for half-a-dozen,
but comprehensively for "all the ills that flesh is
heir to." Precisely as the gallows was conceived
once upon a time to be the universal medicine of your
legislating philanthropist, one to be applied with ad-
vantage to every conceivable infraction of the laws, as
the saying runs,from pitch and-toss to manslaughter.
We don't believe in these phantasies of the dreamers
of jurisprudence—and exactly in the same way we
altogether discredit the amiable hallucinations of
those visionaries in the science of physic, who pro-
pose with any single agent to extirpate every de-
scription of malady endured by mortals from
asphyxia to consumption, from toothache to hydro-
cephalus. In other words, returning to our original
phrase—we don't believe in a panacea. We don't
believe in it any more than we believe in the elixir
vitce, or in the aurunt potabile, or in any other
beautiful but preposterous imagining of the Rosi-
crucians. We can believe in a specific, but not in
a panacea. We can perfectly well understand, of
course, the advantage of employing under different
circumstances, here a narcotic and here a soporific,
now a sudorific and now a paregoric. But an uni-
versal remedy I We could as readily understand
the reasonableness of people being rubbed into
health by St. John Long upon the principle of
counter-irritation. And so—and so—with all de-
ference be it said, speaking, as we do, in this matter,
after the gifted.pupil of the illustrious Abernethy
—we venture to commend with unstinting terms of
commendation Sir James Eyre's exceedingly clever
and really delightful treatise on "The Stomach
and its Difficulties "—although, at the same time,
we can't for the life of us conceive that the
oxide of silver [Sir J. E.'s hobby just as
the science of Vauban was the hobby of Cor-
poral Trim and my Uncle Toby] is effienoious
in the treatment of dyspepsia to such an extent as
to be not only marvellous, but really and truly
very little indeed short of being absolutely mira-
culous. As a specific, or let us say simply as a
remedy in some cases of dyspepsia, we can readily
credit the advantage of employing this wonderful
oxide of silver either in a fluid form, with a diluted
mixture of acacia, or in powder in combination with
pulv. acacii and a small quantity of pulv. glycyr-
i rhive, or in pills, cum mica rani& But as an
infallible and universally applicable medicine for
the victims of dyspepsia—the luckless martyrs of
indigestion—well, we leave the ardour of our in-
credulity implied by a note of admiration ! Lite-
rally by a note of admiration, for with this reserve
in reference to any enthusiasm in regard to the oxide
of silver, we can speak of the book "as we find it,"
at once eulogistically and conscientiously. It is
penned from first to last in the pleasantest spirit
imaginable—in a tone of sustained vivacity and
good humour infectious, we would wager, even to
the most despondent. Knowing the author only
from the name imprinted upon the title page, we
would, nevertheless, from the internal evidence in
his own regard conveyed, it may be, quite uncon-
sciously and unwittingly through his admirable little
treatise on the " Stomach and its Difficulties," we
would undertake to avow our belief at onoa without
fear of contradiction from his worst enemy, if he
have any (the possibility of which we should almost
question), that Sir James Eyre is the very reverse
of a curmudgeon. Probably enough he may have
had great personal experience in regard to the malady
of which his book treats, but when he wrote it we
are quite satisfied that he could not by possibility
have been dyspeptic—the volume contains every-
where the evidences of the naens scum in corpore
sano, the gay good humour of a man blessed with
a sound body, and a clear head, and a light heart,
and an unruffled temperament. Besides transcrib-
ing upon the fly-leaf of his treatise the memorable
aphorism of Ilippoerate3, Vi,z brzvis, ars longa,
our author takes as the happy motto of his volume
that wise and humorous passage from Horace :
" In primis vceerzs leaf ; nam variFe res
noreant homiui, eredac, memor Mins eseas,
Qua), simplex, cairn tibi sederit : at simul assis
Miseueris elixa, simul conehylia turdis,
Dahlia se in bilem verteut, stoinitcliogue ttsatultum,
lenta feria pit gee."
The author of this thoughtful and rational argu-
ment in reference to " The Stomach and its Diffi-
culties," might have continued to quote from that
golden leaf of the satirist—he might have asked
with Horace—

"Vides, ut pallilus omnia

Cama desurgat dubia, ?" -
He who has throughout his sagacious volume re-
probated the chief origin of the agonies of indi-
gestion, the source of the megrims, and the blue-
devils, and dyspepsia, might well have closed his
excerpt from the verses of the classic epicure :-
---..--- " Quin corpus onusturn
Hesternis vitiis animum quoque prcegravat una,
Atque adfligit hum() particulam aura."
Does any one who opens the book before us as a
confirmed dyspeptic sufferer, desire by rational
means to recover that "divince particulam aurm"
from the melancholy torments of indigestion—he
will find wise counsel enough in the anecdotal
pages dedicated by Sir James Eyre to "The
Stomach and its Difficulties." Our author is always
honestly outspoken, like that wise master of his
—John Abernethy—.to whom his volume is reve-
rently and tenderly inscribed in " affectionate
remembrance." Hear, for example, how Sir James
Eyre speaks of
GLUTTONS AND GLUTTONY.
" But eating in excess is the vice of the present day,
and so well managed, that even religious persona will not
see its sinfulness—sinful, no doubt, as absorbing and
wasting so much more food than the body requires,
which so many absolutely need ; and unwise, regarding
it in the lowest point of view, as lessening the enjoy.
ments of appetite by inordinate use. Thus these sell-
manias dig their graves with their teeth; and surely
march thereto by the slow but certain steps of prema-
ture decay. But as our constitutions bear not bold and
sudden changes, the snag-rein must be added to the
bridle of common sense thus recommended, and so the
victory over superfluous feeding gradually obtained."
Hearken to what he says about alcoholic drinks
generally :

" And here let me say, in regard to port wine, that
where my patients have had the resolution to renounce
it as a habit, and drink good full bodied claret, with
Scotch or Irish whisky and water occasionally, their old
enemy has invariably left them. Sherry agrees with
the majority of persons better than Madeira, and assi-
milates better with that seducing tempter—champagne;'
which never having been seen formerly, excepting at the
tables of the rich and the great, is now found every-
where. The dietetic physician cannot say much in its
commendation. A single glass even would cause the
cheeks of Napoleon to become red ; but then, though a
great sufferer in other respects, his stomach was his
weakest organ. An outside barbarian,' a remnant of
the olden time, will be seen occasionally to venture upon
a jorura of John Barleycorn, or even a glass of port,
with his cheese, an article of diet which, being only eat-
able with the aforenamed liquids, is rwilly lo:ing caste.
Ale and porter with the middle and higher classes are
now rarely introduced at table, their use with wine, ex-
cepting with sherry, bein incompatible. Malt liquor
is now prescr bed by physicians, in certain suitable cases
only. The lower grades of society prescribe it for them-
selves empirically, and without consideration."
Listen, moreover, to his judicious
HINTS FOR THE SICK ROOll.
" If valetudinarians would confine themselves, while
under medical care, to one kind of meat on each day
(ringing the changes occasionally), with wholesome stal
bread, taking brandy-and-water, or sherry-and-water, as
beverage therewith, how greatly would their cure and

their ability to indulge in other thing% be expedited;
hut they must clamour for unwholesome puddings and
ce;etables, and even (to them) poisonous pastry. Of
3oine of these t h u former a selection can always be made,
out one of the greatest annoyances which medical men
,neet with, 14 the cuckoo cry from the friends, (l) not the
patient, of ' What may we give him to eat, doctor r not
knowing, and therefore not considering, that where
hundreds have died from starvation, millions hats
perished from stuffing."

However, we might so go on quoting down to the
end of the chapter, until the extracts accumulated
into a veritable infringement of the law of copy.
right. Wherefore, let us close the volume without
further parley, thanking Sir James Eyre for hie
sage advice and his agreeable anecdotes—obdurately
reserving our opinion in regard to the efficacy of
the oxide of silver as a remedy for the dyspeptic,
but ready at once to accord to the book and its
author the guerdon of our sincere and unaffected
commendation.

Day and Night Songs. By William Allingham.
Routledge and Co.

From his first appearance, we have all along
thought that Mr. Ailingham stands in the foremost
rank among our young poets—with Mr. Patmore
and Mr. kleredith, with the author of the "Life
Drama," and the author of " The Roman," and the
author of "Babe Christabel." His earlier volume,
notwithstanding its many beauties and its varied
merit, appears to have been recalled from publica-
tion by the writer himself—either as being un-
worthy, or as being, let us suppose, unsuccessful.
However this may be, the book has been re-
called, and is no longer purchasable. A selec-
tion of the best of the minor poems con-
tained in it, together with several which have ap-
pea,rol since then (1830) in lloysehold Words
and Fraser's Magazine—numbering thirty-two al-
together—are here given to the world again in a
shilling volurnette, issued from the press by the
firm of which the enterprising head is Mr. George
Routledge. Several of these fugitive pieces are
eminently fantastic, and some of them too emi-
nently beautiful. Among the former, that is to
say among the eminently fantastic, we would class
" The IlEolian Harp " and " The Lover and
the Birds." While among the latter, that is
among the eminently beautiful, we would grant a
conspicuous place to " The Wayside Well" and
" The Venus of the Needle." The last mentioned
might have been written by Leigh Hunt. We give
the charming little poem entire as a favourable
specimen of the more quaintly graceful mood a
the muse of Mr. Allingham.

VENUS OF THE NEEDLE.
" 0 Maryanne, you pretty girl,
Intent on silken labour,
Of seinpstresses the pink and pearl,
Excuse a peeping neighbour !
" Those eyes, for ever drooping, give
The long brown lashes rarely ;
Bnt violets in the shadows live,—
For once unveil them fairly.
" Hast thou not lent that flounce enough
Of looks so long and earnest ?
Lo, here's more ' penetrable stuff'
To which thou never turned.
" Ye graceful fingers, deftly sped !
How slender, and how nimble !
O might I wind their skeins of thread,
Or but pick up their thimble !
" How blest the youth whom love should bring,
And happy stars embolden,
To change the dome into a ring,
The silver into golden !
" Who'll steal some morning to her side
To take her finger's measure.
While Maryanne pretends to chide,
And blushes deep with pleasure.
" watch her sew her wedding-gown,
Well conscious that it is hers ;
Who'll glean a tress, without a frown,
With those so ready scissors.
" Who'll taste those ripenings of the south,
The fragrant and delicious—
Don't put the pins into your mouth,
0 Maryanne, my precious !
"I almost wish it were my trust
To teach how shocking that is ;
I wish I had not, as I must,
To quit this tempting lattice.
" Sure aim takes Cupid, fluttering foe,
Across a street so narrow ;
A thread of silk to string his bow,
A needle for his arrow !"
There is something odd and gracefUl, too, in that
genuine nursery song about the " Fairies," be.
ginning :

"Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a hunting
For fear of little men ;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping altogether;
Green jacket, red cap,
And grey-cock's feather :"
Perhaps the two loveliest stanzas in the whole col-
lection of these " Day and Night Songs" are those
in the poem already mentioned as " The Wayside
Well," and to the music of which we remember to
have first listened thruu ;h the pages of Household
Words :

" Fair greeting face ascends,
Like a naiad daughter,
When the peasant lassie bends
To thy trembling water.
" When a 1 Lddie brings her pail
Down the twilight meadow,
Tender falls the whisper'd tale,
Soft the double shadow !"
Mr. Allingham is selditn, if ever, happy in his
refrains. He has not the ear of music or the gift
of judgment, for which Berauger is so wondrously
remarkable. The " refrain"' for example to the song
of the "Milkmaid" becomes, before the close of the
third verse, intolerably monotonous. Occasionally,
moreover, our young poet has the fashionable vice of
young poets nowadays that of obscurity— but
generally, let us say, however, in justice, his
lucidity is in the highest degree commendable.
Whatever faults he has, nevertheless (and of these
faults some have been here indicated), they are
almost all of them faults readily admitting of refor-
mation. That he can so reform them we are no
less satisfied than we are convinced that his contem-
porary, Mr. Coventry Patmore, has already shown
himself capable improvement. Commending
him to the development of his undoubted powers,
therefore, commending him earnestly to that " la-
bour of love," we would bid farewell for a while to
Mr. Allingbam, with an acknowledged interest in
his progress, as among the latter class of those
friends of his to whom the little volume before us is
thus dedicated—
" To my friends, known and unknown :"
with our acknowledged interest we say, as among
I his " unknown friends," in looking forward to the
more mature growth of the young poet's budding
reputation.

Zea.land. With a
fAaeeklaaulro: thln:•ectetillit)lSlauirovfe)Nrs.ewbmtth, Elder, and
Co.
Enticingly are the holy words inscribed upon the
title-page "This land is full of silver and gold, neither
is there any end of thesetreas ures"—a glorious motto
for the title-page of this history of Auckland, with
a view of Auckland opposite as the befitting fron-
tispiece. Altogether, this volume is very remark-
able. It deserves the most earnest examination,as
the carefully-arranged and scrupulously im-
partial narrative of the rise of a very noble
colony—the advance of its population from
uncertain fortune to prospective affluence. It con-
sists, of course, as the title indicates, principally of
a description of the capital of New Zealand—the
mushroom metropolis of the little empire grown
almost, one might say, in a night, though not des-
tined, it would seem, to pass away quite as quickly
as it sprang into existence—the remote city of
Auckland. Besides the account of Auckland, how-
ever, the work describes the country adjacent, and
includes likewise a number of interesting particu-
lars in reference to the gold discovery in New Zea-
land. Although the book issues from the press
anonymously, we are given to understand that it
is the production of one qualified to write upon
the subject from his own experience—one who is
himself a resident at Auckland—Mr. William
Swainson, the naturalist. To Mr. Swainson all
those who are interested in the future of Auckland,
the probable advance of New Zealand as ofe of the
most important of our southern colonies, will find
themselves, on a perusal of his vol um
e,indebted
for a work replete with information, and fraught
with entertainment. It is. the production of con.
siderable industry in the way of continuous obser-
vation—a production in no respect either superfi-
cial in knowledge or disjointed in arrangement.
Mr. Swainson has here in these eight chapters and
an appendix contributed abundant materials for
the future annalist of Oceania.

CRONSTADT.—We understand that a clergyman of the
Church of England, who left this town (Norwich) some
year or two since and settled in St. Petersburg, has just
returned, and imparted some rather important informa-
tion to the Admiralty respecting the p
aiition and re.
sources of Cronstadt. We believe his opinion is most
decidedly that that place is pregnable, more evecially
from one point with which he is well acquainted, and,
having formerly been in the British service, his opinion
and judgment must be entitled to some respect. The
rev, gentleman considers also that, however formidable
the fortifications may be, they would, in the event of an
attack, prove more destructive to the defenders than to
the attacking party—being so ill constructed that the
first discharge of the long gnus would utterly destroy
the unfortunates who man them, the smoke being alone
sufficient to suffocate them. - The rev. gentleman was
also able to put the Admiralty in possession of full par-
ticulars of the, so-called infernal machines, which, it ie
said, consist of cylinders charged with powder and com-
bustibles, sunk beneath the suiface of, the watts- and
dented by a buoy, and upon a collision with the ship's
bottom will explode, with what effect zza7 be iraigizod,
I. •-Norfolk 076ronicie,