The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-06 00:00:00

RAILWAYS.

Cash. Account.
Orleans' 1376 25 .. 1380
Northern 927 50 .. 925
New ditto
Lyons and Mediterranean 907 5 ) .. 906 25
Geneva 512 60 .. 515
Southern
Western 567 50 .. 565
Eastern
Sardinian 398 75 .. 400
Austrian
Lombard ..... ......
Exchange on London, at sight, paper, 25f. 10e. ; money,
25f. 9c.; three months, paper, 24f. 95c. ; money, 24f. 931 c.

LITERATURE.

Poems. By the Author of " John Halifax, Gentle

man," &c. Hurst and Blackett.
A volume of poems by an authoress whose works
have been so widely circulated, and have attained
so high a reputation, must naturally excite some
attention. It is always interesting to observe the
progress of well-known writers when leaving the
beaten track for a newer and more difficult path ,
to watch whether the powers and qualities which
have enabled them to gain distinction in the one
course will sustain them in the other. The poems
before us have scarcely the claim of novelty to re-
commend them, as they have appeared anonymously
in the pages of periodicals. Their frequent repub-
lication, both in this country and in America,
has induced the authoress to claim and collect
them. They are deserving of this attention, as
many of them show traces of the ori-
ginality and power which characterise Miss
Muloch's prose writings. We do not, how-
ever, consider that her talent is naturally poetic.
Fine thoughts and happy turns of expression might
always be expected in the pages of a writer of such
undoubted ability ; but there is little question that
she has done wisely in devoting her abilities to
prose. The pieces which please us least in the pre-
sent collection are the most ambitious—blank verse,
with a metaphysical tinge of sentiment. Some of
the simpler poems are full of thought and feeling.
We quote a specimen—one of the best in the
book:—

BURIED TO.- ♦Y.

Buried to-day;
When the soft greon buds aro bursting out,
And up on the south wind comes a shout
Of village boys and girls at play
In the mild spring evening gray.

Taken away ;
Sturdy of heart and stout of limb,
From eyes that drew half their light from him,
And put low, low, underneath the clay,
In his spring—on this spring day.
Passes away
•
All the pride of boy-life begun,
All the hope of life yet to run ;
Who dares to question when One saith ‘• Nay ?"
Murmur not—only pray.
Enters to-day
Another body in church-yard sod,
Another soul on the life in God.
His Christ was buried—and lives alway :
Tnist Him, and go your way.
The following verses are very graceful and pleas-
ing. The idea is a suggestive one, and was, we
think, capable of further extension :

TILE NIGHT BEFORE THE MOWING.
All shimmering in the morning shine
And diamonded with dew,
And quivering in the scented wind
That thrills its green heart through,—
The little field, the smiling field,
With all its flowers a-blowing,
How happy looks the golden field
The day before the mowing
All still 'neath the departing light,
Twilight, though void of stars,
Save where, low westering, Venus hides
From the red eye of Mars ;
How quiet lies the silent field
With all its beauties glowing;
Just stirring—like a child asleep,—
The night before the mowing.
Sharp steel, inevitable hand,
Cut keen, cut kind I Our field
We know full well must be laid low
Before its wealth it yield :
Labour and mirth and plenty blest
Its blameless death bestowing :
And yet we weep, and yet we weep,
The night before the mowing.
Several of the other poems are expressive and pa-
thetic, and though the volume may not give
evidence of great poetic power, the reader will
doubtless be pleased to meet again with these verses
in a collected form.

Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures, and
Mines. New Edition. Edited by Robert Hunt.
F.R.S., F.S.S. Parts 1,2, and 3. Longman.
A large portion of the public have long
estimated Dr. Andrew Ure's important work at its
high and just value; and a fresh issue, containing
the whole of the recent discoveries and applications
of chemistry and manufactures, claims the attention
of every individual connected with scientific pur-
suits or commercial agencies. Physics, mechanics,
and general native and foreign productions are de-
tailed and rendered tangible without any severe
elaboration of the subjects, and mining operations
and metallurgical essays are lucidly described. The
Dictionary, with its present enlarged amount of in-
formation, will be extended from its original form
in two volumes to three, published in monthly
parts, and will embrace a variety of new features
in experience and research. Nearly 2,000 wood
engravings add materially to the perfection of the
work. The clearest arrangements for facility
of reference will be afforded, and the design and
execution of the publication stamp it as a first class
production on the vital and engrossing topics of
artistic discoveries and British commerce.

The Foreign Stereoscopic Cabinet. Lovell Reeve
Henrietta-street, Covent-garden.

Mr. Reeve has produced some exquisite speci-
mens in this branch of art, and the present ones
submitted to our inspection are peculiarly good.
The " Burial Place of John Philip Kemble, at
Lausanne," carries great interest with it ; and the
" Sketch of Character at Rouen," and " The
Halle," or Trade Hall at Bruges, are vivid and
clear representations, especially welcome to those
who cannot indulge in " taking a tour on the
Continent."

THIS DAYS MARKETS.

CORN EXCHANGE.

A very limited supply of English wheat was received
fresh up to-day coastwise and by land-carriage. The
attendance of buyers was small; nevertheless, good and
fine famples changed hands somewhat steadily, at fully
Monday's prices. Damp qualities, however, moved off
slowly, at about late quotations.

We wero tolerably well, but not to say heavily, supplied
with foreign wheat. The amount of business doing in all
kinds was limited, yet holders generally were very firm.
Floating oargoes of grain, off Falmouth, were a slow
inquiry.

Fine barley was very scarce, and in request, at full cur-
rencies. Other qualities maintained their previous value.
There was very little doing in the malt trade. Prices,
however, were supported.
Oats—the show of which was limited—ruled steady,
and the quotations had an upward tendency.
Beans, peas, and flour were a slow inquiry, at late rates