The Sun.
London, England, 1847-07-22 00:00:00

FOREIGN CORN AND HARVEST

HAMBURGH, JULY 16.—The prevailing fine weather,
combined with large arrivals of rye from Russia, has
caused a daily depression in the prices, although the ex-
portation of this article to the adjacent countries con-
tinues without abatement.

DANTZIC, JULY 12.—Throughout the whole of last
week we had the most splendid weather imaginable. On
Friday there was a heavy thunder-storm, which lasted
throughout the whole day. Our market continues flat,
and the fall in the prices is, as might be expected, con-
siderable. We have received several parcels of new
native wheat from the interior.

ST. PETERSBURGH, JULY 9.---The corn trade was very
inanimate throughout the whole week, and our exchange
with foreign houses scarcely perceptible. Something
was doing in rye, but only on account of private indi-
viduals. Our seeds are everywhere going on magnifi-
cently, and the prospects of our harvest continue most
favourable ; under these circumstances, as well as the
flat state of things abroad, we shall, probably not so soon
see a change in this respect.
BRAILA (TURKEY), JUNE 24.—Our sales within these
last few dais were confined to small parcels from Con-
stantinople. The more favourable winds have brought
us some ships, and a fruitful rain has refreshed our
fields, and we again indulge in the most favourable hopes
respecting the harvest.
HAMBURGH, JULY 14.—With respect to our crops we
can only say that the hay has been finer than we have
seen it for many years. Potatoes, beans, flax, and. vege-
tables of all kind, were rich and fine. Our fruit trees
are so laden with fruit that the apple trees especially
bend beneath the weight. The vine has put forth an
unusual number of buds, and although the blossom is
not everywhere equal, we shall notwithstanding have
even a finer vintage than last year. If God vouchsafe
to continue his blessing the year 1847 will be richer in
corn, fruit, hay, wine, and potatoes, than it has been for
a tentury.—Hainburgh Mail, July 16.

LITERATURE.

ATHELSTAN, A TRAGEDY; LIFE AND
DEATH, AN ALLEGORY; AND OTHER
POEMS. By Edmund H. White.
Among the numerous marks of the progress made
of late years in civilisation and the general diffusion
of knowledge, is conspicuous the appearance of
authors in all departments of literature, in all classes
of society. Formerly, whenever literary talents was
exhibited by persons of a subordinate position in the
community, it was regarded as a phenomenon rather
than a matter of ordinary occurrence. Such a phe-
nomenon, in the days of antiquity, was the incom-
parable sop, the Phrygian slave, and the witty
Terence, the freedman of Lucanus. Such, again,
in modern times, was Chatterton, the attorney's
clerk. Now, however, the fact is not the exception
so much as the rule itself. In all the various depart.-
ments of belle lettres we could point to very distin-
guished authors, who have sprung from very lowly
occupations, from Gifford, the leviathan of critcs,
to the three great national poets of Ireland, France,
and Scotland; Moore, the son of a butcher—
Beranger, the waiter at a tavern—and Burns,
the ploughman, and the son of a ploughman.
Instead of depreciating the high and almost divine
dignity of the art, as might be thought by the Lord
Foppington school of readers, it only graces and
adorns that art the more, by accumulating round it,
as it were, the spoil of so many more individual
minds. Especially has this been visible in lyric and
dramatic poetry. Now-a-days we can enumerate a
brilliant band of minor poets, sprung directly from
the people— Ebenezer Elliot, Thom the weaver,
Thomas Miller, the late William Motherwell, and the
late Robert Nicholl. Those men are, or were,
honourable instances of the class we would indicate ;
they severally and collectively elevate the trade to
which they belong to a higher consideration than they
might otherwise have obtained ; for, although it were
an extravagance to expect to find a James Hogg
under the plaid of every Ettrick shepherd, a Thom at
every weaver's bench, an Elliot in every humble house
in Staffordshire, or a Miller behind every counter in the
metropolis, it were equally an extravagance to treat
those shepherds, those weavers, or those shopkeepers,
with discourtesy when we find amongst them men
endowed with as delicate and refined susceptibilities
as those of gentle blood. Another class has now
given forth its bard, his first effusions being nothing
less pretending than a tragedy, an allegory, and
fugitive verses. Edmund H. White is a guard on
the Great Western Railway, and he certainly shows
himself to be a guard of considerable imagination, of
no little sensibility, and of a not wholly neglected
education. One advantage must, we would believe,
inevitably result from the publication of " Athelstan."
The tragedy must produce, at the least, one beneficial
consequence ; it must conduce to the elevation of the
particular class to which its author belongs ; it must
render a railway guard less liable to the incivilities
with which, like all other public servants, he
has been hitherto treated. People will reflect,
after hearing of this production of Edmund
H. White, that it is not altogether impossible that
the railway guard or the railway porter may be a
creature of as refined sentiments, and as delicate sus-
ceptibilities as themselves. Misfortune may have
dragged men of classical education—and we have
known instances—down to that position ; and insolence
to such is as abhorred as it is to yourselves. Remem-
ber that ; remember the book written by Edmund H.
White, and restrain your impetuosity of manner and
language ; take a lesson from the French, gentle
public, to whom every artizan in his blouse and his
peaked cap is worthy of a " Monsieur" and a saluta-
tion. Although we can say but very little in com-
mendation of Athelstan itself, we can certainly say
much less in praise of the Allegory. Among the
fugitive verse-, again, many are irredeemably bad, as
when in rhyme the writer says—
"'Tis a glorious sight, on a summer's night,
To gaze on old ocean's breast;
While the moon's pale ray o'er its bosom plays,
As it silently takes its rest.,
The author, too, had better have thumbed his
grammar before he fingered the poetic tablet, and there-
by have prevented the publication of such stuff as the
following :
"Its bosom then seems, like our childhood's dreams,
Innocent, calm, and serene ;
And the stars which glow, in the waters below,
Enchantment adds to the scene."

When we come, moreover, to such euphonious twad-
dle as the subjoined, we are compelled to desist from
further examination of the volume :
" For three long weeks he vainly sought
Employment, far and near ;
His children nightly round him ran
With hungry bellies, pale, and wan,
And eyes dimmed with a t4Hr."
The book should have gone through a careful and
competent supervision before being printed.

SYLVAN'S' PICTORIAL HANDBOOK TO
THE ENGLISH LAKES.

Having already noticed in terms of deserved eulo-
glum the elegant, though somewhat costly volume
upon the " Scenery and Poetry of the English
Lakes," written by Dr. Charles Mackay, we can,
with double reason, express our approbation of this
Hand-book to the same picturesque localities of
Cumberland. Every advantage possessed by the
former publication is (with the exception of the
elegant letter-press, by the accomplished author
of the " Salamandrine") compacted together
into a size much more convenient, and at a
price much more within the reach of the multitude.
We have no hesitation in declaring " Sylvan's Hand-
book to the Lakes" the most popular guide to the
most bewitching landscapes in England ; clear and
distinguishable in arrangement, elegant in general
appearance, and plentifully besprinkled with engrav-
ings from original sketches by Thomas and Edward
Gas. Of the illustrations, especially, we can speak
in the highest praise. Minute, at times almost mi-
croscopic in dimensions, they are yet pencilled with
a skill and faithfulness that betoken not merely an
admiration for the natural beauties around Derwent-
water and Windermere, but a full and delicate appre-
ciation of the poetic genius associated with those
realms of woodland and water. In one page we have
here delineated the entrance to a village within a circle
of the circumference of a shilling piece; in another, a
champaigne country ; in another, a mountainous dis-
trict, or a cataract, such as that at Lodore, described
so quaintly, but vividly, in Southey's rhymes :

" The cataract strong
Then plunges along,
Conflictingly strong.
Striking and raging, as if a war waging,
Its caverns and rocks among.
Rising and leaping,
Sinking and creeping,
Swilling and weeping,
Showering and springing,
Flying and flinging,
Writhing and wringing,
Eddying and whisking,
Spouting and frisking,
Turning and twisting,
Around and around,
With endless rebound,
Smiting and fighting,
A sight to delight in,
Confounding,
Astounding,
Dizzying and deafening the ear with its sound."

Sylvan, as the name bespeaketh, is an earnest lover
of quotations sylvan, of solitudes sylvan, of pano-
ramas sylvan. Were the volume only opened as a
wile to the valetudinarian in his arm-chair, it would
convey an impression almost tantamount to a bodily
visit to the scenes it depicts. As a companions
holvever, into Cumberland, it will prove most valu-
able, we should say rather, perhaps, invaluable. The
arrangement is singularly excellent, and the classifi-
cation of the names at the conclusion is elaborated to
the most minute particularity. Several inimitable
maps are scattered through the " Hand book," from
the first map-engraver in the United Kingdom—Mr.
James Wylde ; forming not the least important or
least interesting feature in the entire publication.

A frightful event occurred last month at Damietta
Arif Effendi, governor of the town, had two tame cro-
crodiles in his garden. A negro having ill-treated one
ot them, the natural ferocity of the animal returned, and
he rushed on the governor's child, aged about 12 years,
who was standing by the negro's side, and killed him.
ACCIDENT AT THE HOUSE OF LORDS.—Yesterday
Mr. Bedford held an inquest at the Red Lion, Princes-
street, Westminster, on the body ot Michael Egan, aged
34. The deceased was a labourer, employed at the New
Houses of Parliament, and about two o'clock on the
afternoon of Saturday last was at work on a stage
erected in the central tower, when he slipped, in conse-
quence of the wood being wet, and tell backwards to the
bottom of the tower, a depth of fifty -five feet. He was
conveyed to the Westminster Hospital, where he ex-
pired shortly after his admission. Verdict "Acciden-
tal death." _ . .

• LYS
The report presented by the directors of the Com-
mercial Bank of London at their meeting on Tuesday,
showed that, after writing off all bad and doubtful debts,
and paying the charges and current expenses of the past
year, the net profits amounted to 13,878/. 2s. 10d. Out
of this sum a dividend at the rate of 6 per cent. per
annum for the half-year ending the 31st December last
had already been paid, and it was now proposed that a
dividend for the half-year ending the 30th ult., at the
same rate, should be declared, and, as usual, free from
income tax. After the payment of this dividend, and
allowing for rebate of interest on current bills, a sum of
4,4731. 19s. 7d. remained to be carried to the reserve
fund, which, with the additions made during the year,
would increase that fund to 14,8251 ss. Bd. The report
and accounts were unanimously adopted.
ROYAL THAMES YACHT CLUB.—The match which
was fixed for the 22d inst. has, we are informed, been
postponed.
A number of the Cabinet Ministers attanded the
Ministerial white bait dinner yesterday at Greenwich.

THE LAW OF MARRIAGE.
The fodowing correspondence has taken place:—
" 57, Coleman-sttett, Friday, July 9.
Sir,—May we beg the favour of your informing us
whether communications made to the Commissioners on
the law of marriage will be received by them confiden-
tially, where pit-ties require it, and to what address such
communications should be sent ?
" We make this ii:quiry with a view of publishing
your offi;!Pd answer as xiensively as possible, our elc
perienc- having sati.fird us of the difficulty of eliciting
information from parties interested, except under the
seal of confidence, an ,1 we are sure that the Commis'
stoners will apprcc-ate the difficulty, when they reflect
upon the extreme delicacy of the condition in Which
such parties are placed.
We have the honour to be, Sir,
"Your very .:bedient servants,
"CROW )ER and MAYNARD.
" To the Secretary of her Maje:ty's Commissioners
on the Law of Marriage."
" G wydyr liouse,July 13,1847.
"Gentlemen,—l am authorised by the Commissioners(
for inquiring into the state and operation of the law s
marriage, to inform you that communications made to
them shall Le received by them confidentially according
to your suggestion, wherever the parties making such
communications desire it.
" I have also to request that such communications be
made in writing, and addressed to me as ‘S.-crt-tary to
the Law of Marrit.ge Commission.' under cover, to the
'Secretary of State 1,1- the Home Department.' with gibe
words Law of Marriage Commission' written on t"

corner of the c..ver. -
" I am desired by the Commiisviers to add their
suggestion that the communications so Eddresstd to
them should be confined as far as possible to informs'
win regarding the facts which may have a bearing °II
the subject (>1 their inquiry, especially as to the number
of marriages within the prohibited degrees of affltiitl,in
the districts in regard to which the writ• rs possess '11;
formation, and withio whA particular degrees; in "'ed
classes of society such marriages are chiefly contract
.f
and whether the number of such marriages has dill:
niched or increased since the passing of Lord 14°
burst's Act in 1535.

I have th,- honour to remain, Gentlemen,
`• Your obedient servant,
" HERMAN lIERIVAT-4,'
Seereta; y to the COMIIIiS9IOO •
" Messrs. Crowder and M4ynard."

BRITISH ARCHIEOLOGICAL
SOCIETY.r
WARWICK, TUESDAY MORNING.—The first I—. „
read at the evening meeting yesterday was from the re;
of the Rev. Beal, Post, on " Rouse's Chronicles,'
which the reverend associate traced chronicle writing
from that of Gildas down to the time it subsided let°
regular history, commencing with that of Polydorei
Virgil, written by command of Henry VIH,
printed and publi.hed in 1533, and allud.ng to theme or,o
of Buchanan f,r Scotland, and White, of Bas.ngste'',"l,
for England, which appear in 1582 and 1602 ; n"Lt
Speed, Rapin, Tindal, and Carte; and last to HUM° illl,, c
Smollett, which the writer pronounced to be radiq'
defective, and only awaited its death-blow from the fit

eminent writer who should arise. gag
This was followed by a paper from Mr. Tho—t,
Wright, on the " Romance of Guy of Warwin
which, from its interesting legendary character asp
local associations, was received with much aPP,111144
throughout. After Mr. C. 11. Eracebridge ban h. 70
before the associates some extracts from a manescl-i,:y
in the library of Magdalen College, Oxford, on t'Lf
subject, the same gentleman read an elaborate 053
reterring to the figures of the Earls of Chester' of
stained glass, now ornamenting the hall windows
Atherstone-house, in this county.
tllidm
This miming the congress was resumed, Sir
Betham in the chair. The papers read were--°..0"
Meyrick's on the " Armour of one of the Earls of
..a,llllO,
wick," preserved in the Beauchamp Chapel; Mr. ells
Roger's; Roger's; and Mr. George Isaacs on " Limoge's 0117,00
as applied to goldsmith's work and objects of Pers;eri
decoration." These latter papers, which were 'the
elaborate, appeared to excite much interest among jej
antiquarians present, who, soon after twelve, proe';o
in a body to visit Warwick Castle, under the guilt' bla
of Mr. J. G. Jackson, where they met with a hosplos.
r.ception. They subsequently visited Leicester's .0 of
pital, and the Beauchamp Chapel, where the Merlotti,
Sir Samuel Meyrick's excellent communication
duly canvassed. The President's soirée to-night, '",„1.0.
Shire-hall, will form an attractive feature in the r
ceedings.