The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-18 00:00:00

IRONJIASTERS' QUARTERLYMBETING,

DUDLEY, Saturday Evening.—The concluding
meeting of the ironmasters of this district for the
current quarter was held in this town this even-
ing. The business -transacted was on the same
limited scale which has characterised the assemblies
at Wolverhampton and Birmingham : consumers
have entered into engagements only just sufficiently
extensive to supply their immediate requirements ;
in that respect, the result of • these meetings must
be regarded as anything but satisfactory, for,
although.tbere has been no movement for a reduc-
tion of prices, and the principal firms who control
those .matters have a sufficient quantity of orders to
to keep their mills and forges in pretty full work,
they do not attempt to conceal the fact that the
trade is flat, and that there is a prospect of iron of
moderate quality being sold at a lower figure than
has lately prevailed. The export houses have
bought comparatively little iron this quarter-day ;
and all the contracts given out have been much
below the average.
Pig-iron is • quite half•a-crown a ton lower than
it was three months, ago, but in a great number
of instances the sales effected were at ss. below the
price which then ruled, it being only such of the
pig .masters as make a very good quality who could
obtain . £3 12s. 6d. per ton ; and men of this class
preferred to hold rather than accept a reduction.
The attendance at the meeting tonight was thin ;
it had been hoped that the Government explana-
tions relative to the state of foreign affairs would
have been made last night, and that if of a satis-
factory character a - tone would be given to the
trade by restoring confidence amongst consumers, but
the discussion in the House of Commons having
been again postponed, it was felt that there was
little prospect of much business being transacted ;
and such turned out to be the result ; neither can
any change be anticipated until political affairs on
the continent give less cause for disquietude.
The manufacturing trades in this quarter are
generally, dull, and the workpeople are not so, fully
employed as they were three months since. The
quarterly accounts are reported to have been pretty
nunctually paid.

L I

The Dean ; or, the Popular Preacher. A Tale.
By Berkeley Aiken, author of " Anne Sher-
wood." 3 vols. Saunders and Otley.
Those who admired Anne Sherwood will be
pleased at the opportunity thus afforded them of
perusing another work by the same author. In this
book they will find much to attract their attention
from the great ability that is conspicuous through-
out its pages. It is true that some readers may
not like the parts that relate to clerical contro-
versy, but these are sketched with great skill, and
display acuteness in perception and vigour in de-
scription. The chief character is the Dean O'Moore,
who is a peculiar man, gifted with extraordinary
talents, but unfortunately he was devoid of prin-
ciple, which deficiency, sad in every state of life, is
doubly so when it appears in one who has chosen a
holy and sacred calling. It is powerfully shown
to us how in the hour of his greatest triumph,
when crowds of admiring and enthusiastic hearers
thronged his church, when fame seemed to beckon
him on to yet higher summits, he was unable to
look into his mind or search his heart. The only
shining light in his character was his appreciation
of his son, who was possessed in an eminent degre e
of those pure principles which were so wanting in
his gifted father. John O'Moore is indeed the re-
deeming feature of the work, and it is gratifying
to watch how his influence gradually extended
over many circles, and where it did not actually
effect an alteration, it produced a deep impression,
that might eventually work for good. If anything
could have moved the Dean, it must have been a
life like that of his son ; and when he lay at last
on his death bed, there was reason to hope that he
had given his thoughts to the great work of his
own repentance, and that the inner life at last bore
some faint resemblance to the outer existence.
Mary,-the youngest daughter, is a charming dispo-
sition, and the many sufferings which she endured
in her distracted and disorganised family render
her an object of interest. There are many persons
met with in the story, and they are more or less
admirably. described. Lady Romford is a good
sketch 'of a weak, vain woman? who fancied her
firstthusband's rank: had endowed her with heredi-
tarY nobility. The'story of Mrs. Mauleverer and
her daughter is replete with interest, and one feels
strongly impressed with the difference of their con-
duct, in frankly acknowledging their origin to that of
their relation the Dean, who denied his country, dis-
owned his connections, and was ashamed of all his
antecedents, instead of being proud to proclaim
himself as self-made. It is true that he had done
many deeds for which he would blush had they
come to the knowledge of the world ; but he went
to a foolish extreme in . supposing he 'could for ever
keep secret the history of his early days. There is
ample scope in the structure of this story for the
display of talent in its delineation, and the reader
will find that the opportunity has not been lost,
but that a work is presented to their notice that is
powerful from its concentration, and striking from
its style, and that it successfully fulfils the purpose
for which it is intended.

Pleasure. A Poem, By Nicholas Michell, author
of " Ruins of Many Lands," &c. Tegg and Co.
Mr. Nicholas Michell is favourably known as
the author of several works displaying a cultivated
mind and some degree of poetic ability. The
subject he has now chosen is scarcely so well calcu•
lated to display his powers to the best advantage
as his former volumes. The subject is too purely
didactic, and makes a greater demand on the
creative powers. In the " Ruins of Many Lands,"
and in " Spirits of the Past," a foundation, as it
were, was provided by the subject, giving the
author free scope to display his powers of descrip-
tion and his extensive knowledge. In " Pleasure '
he has taken a bolder flight. The object of the
wok is to describe the pursuit of pleasure under
various phases, such as ambition, love, learning,
literature, &c., illustrating the descriptions by
eminent examples, drawing the conclusion which
all who are familiar with the high principles incul-
cated in Mr. Michell's works must anticipate. It is
obvious that such an attempt demands the highest
powers ; and though it is impossible not to admire
the elegance and correctness of the author's style
and the smoothness of his versification, we cannot
help thinking a less ambitious task would have suited
him better. We trust in his next work he will
seek a subject more adapted to his powers, v hich
are batter fitted for the illustration of ph: sin;
and tender imaginings than for the vivid port ay
of the startling contrasts of human life. H
writings arc more calculated to gratify us by their
refinement and cultivation, than to impress vs by
their originality and force.

The French in Africa. By L. T. Cave, late Captain

in her Majesty's 54th Regiment Skeet.

This work gives a succinct and attractive account
of the subjugation of Algeria by our continental
neighbours. The author has aimed at giving a
short and popular account of a conquest which, he
considers, reflects great honour on the French, and
which, he trusts, may tend to the civilisation of
the Barbary States. The volume possesses the ad-
vantage of a map, and the clear and concise account
of these interesting events will be useful to many
readers.

London, Past, Present, and Future. By John Ash-
ford, author of " Italy's Hope," &c. Hope.
The author of this work has chosen a fine subject
which he is scarcely qualified to do justice to. He
gives us his impressions of all the great metropoli-
tan scenes and localities, in verse not always of the
highest quality, though occasionally we meet some
good lines. The work may amuse some non-
critical readers, and impress them with a sense of
the wonderful variety and varied associations cha-
racteristic of London life.

Here and There in London. By J. Ewing Ritchie,
author of " The London Pulpit," &c. Tweedie.
An entertaining little volume, showing panoramic
sketches of some of the most remarkable scenes in
London, not without a deeper meaning in some of
its more gloomy delineations. We have the Houses
of Lords and Commons, the Reporters' Gallery,
Exeter Hall, the Penny Gaff, Rag Fair, the Cattle
Market, the London Hospital, an omnibus yard,
a Government office, and many other curious scenes
described to us. Many of the sketches give a good
idea of the localities, and the volume will be very
attractive to the stranger in London.

General Debility and Defective Nutrition. By
Alfred Smee, F.R.S. Churchill.

This is a valuable little work on general weak-
ness and proper nourishment. It gives many par-
ticulars as to diet which will prove advantageous
to invalids, and its advice as to the treatment of
debility and its attendant symptoms is likely to
be of practical benefit.

The Universal Review of Politics, Literature, and

Social Science. No. 2. Allen and Co.
We have before had occasion to notice favourably
this new competitor in the lists of literature. This
second number maintains its character for sense
and solidity, though it is perhaps somewhat
too heavy in its character. A little more
variety and animation would render it more ac-
ceptable, although it does not attempt to rival the
lighter serials. The first article will repay the
perusal of all who are interested in our national
character and antecedents. It treats of Anglo-
Roman and Anglo-Saxon History, and displays con-
siderable archaeological knowledge and ingenuity.
In treating of the peculiar names left lingering in
remote localities, the number of Cold Harbours scat-
tered over England is alluded to. It is curious that
no satisfactory account of the origin of this singular
appellation has been discovered by the most per-
severing antiquarian research. The researches of
Mr. Hyde Clarke, who has done so much towards
classifying and examining these curiosities of
nomenclature, are spoken of in conclusion. We
quote the following passage, which gives a sum-
mary of the results arrived at by that able and
careful author
in his ingenious essay
ay

--
The nature of the whole investigation is indicated in
more detail, with the conclusions to which he has yet
arrived, by Mr. Hyde Clarke, in an " Essay on the .Appli-
cation of Topographical Nomenclature to Anglo-Saxon
History," circulated for the purpose of discussion, and
which is understood to be the introduction to the publica-
tion of the results of the labours he has for many years
pursued on this and other departments of English history.
Some essays and papers have likewise appeared in indivi-
dual branches of topographical nomenclature, as, for in-
stance, the subject of Cold Harbours already referred to.
The number of propositions laid down in the " Essayion
dNeofinnfietnelcy lature' is nearly 60, but the author guards himself;
in the present state of the knowledge of the facts, from being
pledged to every detail, when, as he observes,
elements may yet be difcovered which will materially affect
the ultimate decision.
These propositions may be briefly reduced to the follow-
ing abstract in continuation of the observations we have
already made.
The local names in England are of Germanic or Anglo-
Saxon orgin, except so far as they may be interfered with
by Danish names, and limited on the Celtic borders by
Celtic names.
The attempts to explain the etymologies of English places
by Celtic or Latin roots are erroneous.
mi
The names are, in the main part, of ancient origin, as
signed by the first English settlers.
The names of habitations show a wide distribution of the
English race all over the country, at such period
pation. No large body of Roman populationCold°lefctiLve
existed among the early English at all. Roman
names—
except of a few large settlements—are suppressed
The names, however, give evidence of
t 0
00nmoamn
aoncccuitpeas:
occupa-
tion, as particular names are appropriated '
as, chester, stape, trow, with, ware, ford, way, street, pall,
well.
During the period of invasion and conquest, onques
t,tbhoeunWdeslsahs
population did not remain within the English
allies, for all 'Welsh names are suppressed.
There is no evidence in the natal to support an inter-