The Sun.
London, England, 1832-12-14 00:00:00

THE FUNDS.

The accounts this morning from the theatre of war at Ant_
werp are not of that lively interest as was expected; one day
we hear of great exertions on the part of the French to capture
fort St. Laurent, the next day brings us intelligence that he as-
sault is given up. The truth is, nothings is known on the
subject, nor the intentions of the French Commander-in-Chief.
Of its being a difficult task to perform we have no doubt, owing
to the determined defence of the garrison. which causes the be-
siegers to operate with great caution. It appears by the official
report of Marshal Gerard that the Dutch army is concentrated
in the environs of Eyndoven, and are acting on the defensive.
Consols opened as they left off yesterday, 83i a for the Ac-
count, at which price they are at present.
Nothing from Oporto or Lisbon as yet.
HALF-PAST ONE.

We have no further information as yet from Antwerp, but
the Calais boat being arrived, we may expect to hear something
Rather in the course of the evening. Since the early part of
the morning, when Consols were at 83% % for the Account,
a start has taken place in the market, and they may be
quoted at present at 84 14 Z for the Account, caused by a pur-
chase of eighty thousand Reduced, by which it is inferred that
some favourable information has been received from Holland,
relating to the Dutch affairs. No news as yet from Oporto or
Lisbon.

This is settling day in the Foreign Market; the chief bu-
siness doing is settling their Accounts.

Consols are now 84i g

THREE O'CLOCK

Consols for Account 84 98.

The Conservative Junta, we understand, have
despatched Mr. WILLIA3t HOLMES to Lowther Castle, to
make arrangements to facilitate Lord LOWTHER'S return
for Westmorland. Mr. Hot:qv% sat for the schedulised
borough of Haslemere in the last Parliament, but he has
not announced himself as a candidate for the suffrages of
any of the new constituent bodies. Lord LOWTHER, who
is himself a practised electioneerer, is now travelling in Italy.
The politics of Lord DUDLEY COUTTS
STUART, the first Member returned to the Reformed Par-
!lament, are in direct opposition to those of his noble rela-
tive, the Marquis of BUTE, who fights under the political
banner of the Duke of WELLINGTON ; while Lord DUDLEY
STUART, supports the present Government. Lord JAMES
STUART, the heir presumptive to the Noble Marquis, is
also a liberal, and on that very account, it is said, is now
likely to lose his seat for Cardiff. His Lordship has, how-
ever, come forward for the city of Perth, with every pro.
spect of success.

On Wednesday after') oon GEORGE KIBBEY,
a blacksmith, living at No. 18, Chalton.street, New-
road, was at work in a shop adjoining his premises, when
his wife entered to call him to tea, and was in the act of
speaking to him at the instant he was striking a heavy
blow with a sledge hammer. The head of the hammer,
weighing between eight and nine pounds, flew off, and
struck her full on the forehead, with tremendous force.
She was instantly felled to the earth, as if struck dead ! It
has since been ascertained that her skull is most dan-
gerously and extensively fractured, and but very sight
hopes are entertained of her recovery. The parties have
only been married about three months, and the husband
is in a most distracted state of mind at this melancholy

occurrence.

LITERATURE.

LYRIC LEAVES. LONDON, 1630.

Mr. Cornelius Webbe, the author of the
modest little volume before us, has written much
both in prose and verse, of a very agreeable,
miscellaneous character. A paper by him en-
titled the " Hypochrondriac," inserted in one of
the earliest numbers of the Metropolitan, is
by far the best article that has yet appeared in
that periodical. His poems are marked by feel-
ing and simplicity, though the former is apt at
times to degenerate into mawkishness. But this
blemish is less apparent in the present, than in
any of the preceding volumes. Long practice,
and habits of familiarity with many of the
most approved writers of the Elizabethan age,
have chastened Mr. Webbe's taste, an4enabled
him to dispense with that strainingqafter effect,
which is the besetting sin of most immature

writers. There are many—very many poems in
this collection which may be read with unmixed
gratification, where natural thoughts are ex-
pressed in a natural and feeling spirit. But
" Fairy Revels" is not of this number. Mr.
Webbe handles a fairy as a fishmonger handles
a turbot, with a coarse, weighty, business-like
grasp, and runs riot in his details of the extra-
ordinary appetite of this " sprite o' the ele-
ments." His King Oberon gormandizes like
Dando, and " cries havoc and lets slip" his far
from unsubstantial grinders on
" Fat, tumid thighs of plump Hyblwan bees,
Strung on white cricket bones by twos and threes,"

just as if he was a Common-Councilman at a
Lord Mayor's feast. This is bad taste. We have
as great an aversion to read of the gastronomic
achievements of a fairy, as Lord Byron had to see
a lady eat (there is more reason on our side),
but if they must eat, then, Mr. Webbe, we con-
jure you by your fealty to the sacred Nine, to
permit them to do so in fairy fashion, not like
sharks or aldermen. Besides, the days of
" fairy revels " are already with the years be-
yond the flood. They are dead without hope of
resurrection. The national faith and the na-

tional fancy recognise them as legitimate subjects
for poetry no longer. Even as far back as the
middle of the 17th century, Bishop Corbet, in
his sprightly " Lament for the Fairies," com-
plains that the age had become sceptical on the
subject, and that

" No housemaid now, for cleanliness,
Finds sixpence in her shoe,"
and a more recent instance of the proneness of
the public to laugh at all such pretty fooleries, is
afforded by Mr. T. Hood's " Midsummer
Night's Dream," who, when he put up a covey
of fairies, some two or three years since, on the
banks of the Lea, between the Horse-and-
Groom, and the Jolly Anglers, was met
with a side-splitting shout of cachinnation by
nine out of ten of his readers. We like "Mr.
Webbe best where he is most natural and un-
affected. The mean between the two extremes
of passio❑ and imagination, is where his genius
expatiates to most advantage. He is perfectly at

home in his sketches of our milder and more
homely English scenery. Here he paints to the
life, like Morland or Gainsborough. He sel-
dom grOpples with a mountain, or sets us a-gape
at the white, flowing Druid-like beard of a cata-
ract, but no man turns to more poetic account a
modest English landscape, with its helms, hedge-
rows, clear, cool ponds, in which the cow stands
ancle• deep, under the shadow of an old bridge,
and over which bends a single willow, with
" its green face fixed upon the flood." He
snuffs a hay-cock, too, with the true relish, and
bids his readers share its fragrance. The sub-
joined lines breathe the true sylvan spirit ; those
in particular marked in italics, show that quick,
lively faculty of observation, which we have so
often admired in that delightful little book the
Indicator :

" I leave the wood,
Retrace my way along the winding vale,
And once more visit life. But all is still—
Silent and sleeping still. No sound is heard,
Not the brown cowfly's sullen, murmurous hum.
Nor droning bee, that labours long, yet sings,
And so makes labour light ; nor the shrill pipe
Of teasing gnat, by tender ladies fear'd ;
Nor lengthen'd low of drouth-impatient kine,
Calling the rain clouds up, which will not sail
Till the wind bids ; nor cock's shrill crow, that counts
The hurrying hours of day. The resting lark
Covers some clover'd spot, or picks his meal
At Nature's feet ;—the thrush is in the hedge,
But all his joy is dumb ;—the cuckoo, too,
That ever wanders with melodious voice,
Now near, now far, in field, in brake, and wood,
Has ceased his flute-like call. The playful lamb,
That bleated ere the dawn, lies slumbering down
By its cud chewing dam. The sturdy ox
Recumbent rests, deep ruminant. The steed
(Through summer free to crop the paddock round,
Till Autumn's horn call him afield again,
To chase the headlong deer and doubling hare)
Lolls his long neck over the bolted gate
Which shuts him in ; and though from labour spared,
Eyes the wide heath afar, where boundless range
His freer mates ; and though their hides ne'er shone
Under the wisped hand and sleeking rub
Of careful groom, with tuneless whistling soothed ;
And though their manes dangle unbraided, lank,
And loose in air—their fetlocks stand untrimm'd,
Hard their employ, more hard their food,--yet longs
(If eyes can speak where language is denied)
For their rude freedom, fellowship, and play.
Nature, and her wild children, in this deep
Sweet silence sleep, and are refresh'd. Meanwhile
Her work goes on with no discernible pause
More than is witness'd now. Fruits to the Sun,
Like infants to their sire, turn their fair cheeks,
And woo his parent kiss. Flowers unto him
Pour the soft incense of their silent praise."

Mr. Webbe has also great mastery over the
pathetic, though his pathos, like his rural
sketches, is of the gentlest and most subdued
character. He has not an atom of sternness or
rigour in his composition. All is softness and
plaintive musing. There are not a few touches
of melancholy in his poem entitled the "Broken
Heart," which make their way at once to the
heart. We extract a few that have particularly
affected us, by the evident sincerity of their pa-
thos. A (lying brother, we should premise, is
addressing his sister:—

" And when silence seals for ever
These true lips, do this by me;—
Kiss and close them, for they never
Parted without blessing thee "
• • • • •
" Breathe the hymn that bard, the dearest,
Framed for lips as pure as thine,
And if a spirit's sigh thou hearest,
By its sadness know it mine."
• • • • •
" No, my gentle sister, pardon
All the wrongs which she has done,
Scorn and condemnation harden
Many a heart, but soften none."

We have noticed this unassuming little volume,
at greater length than is our wont, because its
author is a man who has never yet had justice
done him, while hundreds with not a tithe of

►iis desert, whether as a poet or a humourist,
have had " harp, sack-but, psaltry, dulcimer,
and cymbal," all sounding together in their
praise. Had Mr. Webbe been a flashy versi-
fier, dying away in elaborate ecstacies of passion
or sentiment at least a dozen times in every
second page, and luxuriating in a sugary sweet-
ness of epithet which has no earthly object but
to perplex and dazzle, we think he
_might have
stood as fair a chance as any other rhymester, of
a three months' immortality, but he has pre-
ferred instead to stand upon the broad ground
of nature and simplicity, and that foundation,
he may be assured, will not yet give way beneath
him. We recommend his " Lyric Leaves " to
all who wish to see natural thoughts expressed
in a natural, pleasing manner, without an atom
of flourish or affectation.

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE-(THIS DAY.)

FROM LLOYD'S.

DEAL, DEC. I3.—Wind S.S.W.—Remains the Ganges,
Ingram, for Bengal. Sailed his Majesty's ship Satellite, for
the North Sea. Remain the combined English and French
squadrons, consisting of his Majesty's ships Donegal, Vice.
Admiral Sir P. Malcolm, Revenge, Spartiate, Stag, Castor,
Conway, Snake, and Dee steamer; and the French line-of-battle
ship La Suffrein, L'Ariane corvette, and two frigates.
PORTSMOUTH, DEC. 13.—Wind S.—Arrived his Ma-
jesty's ship Cruiser, from Bengal, sailed from Mauritius the
12th September. Sailed the Prince Regent transport, fur
Woolwich.

PLYMOUTH, DEC. 12.—Wind light and variable.—Ar.
rived off port the Virginia, Harmsen, from Baltimore; Isabella
Meyer, Henri, from New York; and Hopewell, Dobson, from
Quebec.

FALMOUTH, DEC. 12.—Wind light and variable.l
LIVERPOOL, DEC. 12.—Arrived the Majestic, Lawson,
from Bombay; William Grey, Conant, from New Orleans ;
and Countess of Chichester, Thompson, from Africa.
CROOKHAVEN, DEC. 12.—Arrived the Sneaton Castle,
Huddart, from Quebec.

DUBLIN, DEC. 12.—Arrived the Fame, Phillips, ;And
Ann, English, from London.

Arrived off the Wightthe Lady Kennaway, Moncrieif, front
Bengal.

The Lion, Ferguson, from Liverpool to Buenos Ayres, was
lost the lath September, near Monte Video; crew and part of
the cargo saved,

The Henry, Walker, from Shields to New York, was wrecked
on the island of Jura during a gale on the 3d inst. ; crew saved.
The Redentore, Kenwick, from Smyrna to Amsterdam, was
wrecked on the Hoakes the 9th instant; crew saved.

DUEL IN GREENWICH PARK,
BETWEEN LIEUTENANT WM. O'CONNELL AND

AIR. KEARNEY.

Yesterday morning a meeting took place in Greenwich
Park between Lieutenant O'Connell, nephew to Daniel
O'Connell, Esq., and a Mr. Kearney, said to be a Cornet
in the 10th Hussars, at which the !atter was severely
wounded. The following are the p trticulars which led to
the unfortunate transaction :—Mr. O'Connell, accom-
panied by a friend of his, on Saturday evening last was at
a fashionable hell in Jermyn-street, St. James's, when he
observed some unfair play practised upon a young gentl.•-
man who bad been entrapped to play by the black legs
connected with the establishment. Mr. O'Connell stood

forward and openly acquainted the young gentletnan,who
had already lost a very considerable sum of money, of the
manner in which he was being duped by the parties con-
cerned in the game. Mr. O'Connell's exposure gave rise
to a most serious quarrel, which ended in a general fight-,
and the eyes of Lieutenant O'Connell were blackened and
the cartilege of his nose fractured. In the end Messrs.
Kearney and O'Connell exchanged cards, and the parties
agreed through their seconds to meet at 8 yesterday morn-
ing iu the Deer Park at Greenwich. At 5 o'clock Mr.
O'Connell left his lodgings in Beaufort-buildings, Strand,
in a p ,st-chaise, attended by his second, Mr. Cordey, and
carrying with him a brace of duelling pistols, which he
had procured at Mr. Tatham's, at Charing-cross the night
before. On reaching the ground (a retired part of the
Park) at the appoint d time they found Mr. Kearney hail
arrived with his friends before them. A reconciliation
was endeavout ed to be effected by the seconds of the ad-
vesreries, but could not, and, the ground having beta
stepped, the parties fired, when Mr. Kearney received the
ball of his antagonist just above the right hip. lie tell to
the ground, and was instantly placed in his carriage and
conveyed with all haste to town, where he was promptly
attended by Dr. White, of Parliament-street, who dressed
the wound, which is believed will not turn out fatal. &-
fere the whole of the parties left the ground a policeman
of the It division arrived, and arrested Mr. O'Connell and
his friend, who were conveyed before the Magistrate in
the town, and the charge having been preferred, Mr.
O'Connell was ordered to find bail in the sum of 5001.
Mr. O'Connell despatched a messenger to his friend Cap-
tain Larkin, of Greenwich College, who having entered
into the required sureties, he was allowed to depart until
he was called upon to make his future appearance. Mr.
O'Connell, on his arrival in town, returned the pistols to
Mr. Tatham, sad then left London for Chatham.

The seconds were for Mr. O'Connell, R. Gardiner:
Esq., county Sligo ; and for Mr. Kearney, R. Amoco
E.g. A few friends accompanied the p.rties to the ground,
linongat whom was Daniel O'Connell, of the 38th Regt.