CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF "CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,"
"CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE," &c.

NUMBER 517.

A FEW WEEKS ON THE CONTINENT.
COLOGNE TO MANHEIM.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1841.

who thus spent the time of their voyage in appropriate
devotional exercises. The decency of apparel of the
people, their reverend pastor seated at one end of the
boat, under a broad red umbrella as a protection from
the sun's rays, the careful conducting of the vessel by
four sturdy rowers in antique costumes, and the rising
and falling cadences of the psalmody, afforded alto-
gether matter for interesting observation and reflec-
tion. The opinion formed by us was, that the voyagers
belonged to the Nassau or Protestant side of the
Rhine, along which we were now passing.

LITTLE need be said of Cologne, but that little is pleasing. The town is undergoing a few improvements, the most conspicuous of which is the introduction of gas for lighting, under the management of an English company. Having sufficiently examined the curiosities of the place three years ago, I had nothing left now but to set off for the upper country as speedily as possible. To satisfy the desires of one of my companions, however, I made a round of the churches, and was particularly fortunate in being conducted by an intelligent young gentleman, the son of our innkeeper, who was most assiduous in his attentions and explanations.*

PRICE THREE HALFPENCE.

is its railway to Mayence, or, more properly, to a point
on the Rhine nearly opposite that town. The ter-
minus at the low-lying and sunny environs of Wies-
baden is of imposing aspect, from the number and
extent of the elegant buildings which have been
erected to accommodate passengers. As the railway
is continued from the station opposite Mayence to
Frankfort, and is hence in connexion with a populous
and wealthy district of Germany, there can be little
doubt of its proving a profitable speculation. A local
authority mentions, that from the 1st of January to
the 30th of June, 82,326 travellers had proceeded
from Mayence to Frankfort; and 1,503,758 along its
whole route. From experience, I can testify to the
regularity of the arrangements, the excellence of the
carriages, and the remarkable cheapness of the con-
voyance. The total distance is twenty-five English
miles, and passengers have a choice of four classes of
carriages. By the first class, which is fitted up as a
coupé, with windows in front, the charge for eacli
person is 4s. 6d. ; by the second, which resembles an
English first class, the charge is 3s.; by the third, a
covered carriage with open sides, and having only
wooden seats, it is 2s. 1d.; and by the fourth, which
is entirely open, with cross benches, it is 1s. 5d. Fifty-
one kreutzers, or seventeen pence, for twenty-five miles,
is certainly an amazingly low cliarge, and, as may be
supposed, thousands of persons travel by this line of
railway who formerly seldom left home.

In the latter part of the day we reached the more open part of the river at Johannisberg, where for miles the eye rests on rich fields of vines lying with a warm south and south-western exposure, backed by the high range of the Taunus Mountains. This year, how ever, neither at the usually favoured tract now mentioned, nor at other places, were the vines so prolific or healthy as they had appeared in 1838. At some portions of the banks, the vegetation was brown and withered, in consequence of the long-continued rains in the early part of summer, and it was the general belief that but a poor harvest would reward the toils of the unfortunate cultivators. Such, I was told, is the precariousness of the vintages on the Rhine, that none of a peculiarly good quality has occurred since 1834.

Our visit to the different ecclesiastical edifices took place in the morning; but although we began our round as early as seven o'clock, we found several crowded with worshippers, and in one a school of children, to the number of at least three hundred, were receiving instructions in religious duties from the clergyman and his assistants. It is, perhaps, superfluous to remind the reader that in Prussia, and most other continental countries, religious instruction is communicated solely by the clergy of the different denominations, and that schoolmasters have nothing to say. on the subject, further than enforcing those general admonitions which all inen willingly recognise. It would be interesting to ascertain how far the religious use made of the morning in Roman Catholic countries is productive of a secular advantage; I do not feel competent to express a decided opinion on a matter so interwoven with national customs, but I think it not unlikely that to this cause may be traced the almost universal, and I should say proper, practice on the continent of early rising--an early commencement of the labours of the day, and a correspondingly early remission from toil in the evening.

During our brief stay at Frankfort, we were gratified by observing various symptoms of improvement, particularly in the exterior of the town, which is greatly beautified by spacious open walks for the citizens, while lines of handsome villas are raised, or in course of erection, for the residence of the more opulent class of citizens. One of these edifices, distinguished by the splendour of its appearance, was pointed out to us as the house of one of the Rothschilds; the Jews, who were formerly compelled to live in a confined quarter by themselves, being now allowed to take up their abode where they please. Frankfort contains a large number of Jews, who form an industrious class of citizens; and for the use of brethren in decayed circumstances, Baron Rothschild has erected and endowed a handsome hospital, which is conducted on a liberal scale.

At the pretty little town of Biberich, a seat of the
Grand-Duke of Nassau, we gladly landed from the
steamer, which had become greatly overcrowded by
holiday parties returning from Bingen to Mayence;
and by means of an omnibus waiting the arrival of
the boat, we were carried in about an hour to Wies-
baden. It would have been easy to have gone on direct
by water to Switzerland without loss of time, but I
preferred a land route, for the purpose of seeing the
railways of Nassau and Baden, and of observing if
these countries exhibited any other marked improve-
ments in their economy. I am happy to say that in
almost every locality I saw instances of considerable
advancement. At Wiesbaden, the improvements are
exceedingly striking. The town has within the last
three years been greatly extended and beautified, and
long lines of elegant stone buildings are in the course
of erection at the approach from the Rhine. The
Kursaal has likewise been considerably extended
in its dimensions, and now exhibits in front two
handsome colonnades, both of which are fitted up as
covered walks, and lined on one side with numerous
stalls for the exhibition of merchandise. To this ele-
gant place of resort we repaired in the morning after
our arrival, and had an opportunity of inspecting
many interesting objects of native manufacture. Wies-
baden is celebrated for its carvings of deer's horn, and
of these articles there was a most abundant exhibition.
Great taste is displayed by the numerous artists in
fabricating these fanciful objects-the solid and pure
white horn being cut into fragments, and fashioned
into rings, brooches, bracelets, small boxes, and even
footstools. On all, the carving seems equal to what
we see on the ivory toys of the Chinese-scenes being
pictured in relief with minute accuracy and enormous
labour. The articles are sold to a large extent during
the season to visiters, and bring in no small revenue
to the humble order of artists in Nassau. There are
not, I believe, a sufficiency of deer in the country to
supply the raw material of the manufacture, and
horns are therefore imported in large quantities from
the northern countries of Europe. It is always pleas-
ing thus to find a comparatively obscure town deriving
man above referred to speaks English, the house will be found advantage from an article of commerce produced by
its own ingenious industry.

To accommodate the state of things now alluded to,
steamers proceed at an early hour from Cologne for
Coblentz; but being occupied in sight-seeing, our party
remained till the time of sailing of one of the latest
boats-the John Cockerill, a vessel of great beauty
and cleanliness, which carried us upward along the
smooth bosom of the Rhine in a style which left no-
thing to be desired. After my former descriptions of
the scenery, need I say one word of the Rhine or
its vine-clad banks? Again favoured by the finest
weather, we had the pleasure of enjoying in perfection
the many highly picturesque points of beauty with
which the noble river is environed. Again, at the
middle of the day, and while passing the crags of the
Drachenfels, we dined on deck under an awning,
which was spread to shelter us from the brilliant sun
overhead; and night closed in as our vessel passed the
mouth of the Moselle, and ranged alongside the quay
at Coblentz. Next day, which happened to be Sunday,
the sultriness of the weather had abated, in conse-
quence of a thunder-storm overnight; and with the
promise of another voyage equally agreeable, we pro-
ceeded upwards to Biberich. This upper division of
the river is much more romantic than the part farther
down; and to add to the interest of the scene, as we
passed through the tortuous channel amidst high pre-
cipitous banks, the measured chant of hymns was
occasionally wafted to our ears from boat-loads of pea-
sants, either going to or returning from church, and

*The inn was the Pariser Hof, or Hotel de Paris, in the centre
of the town, kept by Wilhelm Heinrich Leven. As the young

suitable to English strangers unacquainted with the native lan-
gunges.

By the kindness of Mr Pfeil, a merchant in the town, with whom I chanced to travel from Wiesbaden, our party were shown several objects of interest in Frankfort, which might otherwise have escaped our notice. One of these was a copy of the first printed Bible, executed by Guttemberg at Mayence, between the years 1450 and 1455, and which at the dissolution of a monastery became the property of the town. It is now carefully preserved in the public library of the city, under the special charge of one of the custodiers, who brought it forth for our inspection. This rare object of curiosity, which is in the Latin language, consists of two volumes folio, bound in white vellum, and is printed in an exceedingly neat style in large black letter; the first letters of each chapter, however, being executed in a fanciful manner by the pen, in the style of the old missals. As an article of vertu, it is valued at several thousand pounds. What a step in the typographic art from this the first printed copy of the Scriptures, executed with five years' toil, to the steam-printing of our own times! And yet, strange to say, so backward is this art in the country of its birth, that Guttemberg's Bible, executed nearly four hundred years ago, is better printed than the bulk of the German books now issuing from the press. Conducted by our obliging friend, we had an opportunity of mingling in the parties of citizens who

The greatest of all the improvements of Wiesbaden

but as it was novel, and might seem doubtful, he would
seek no other remuneration than the half of the esti-
mated savings of the coach-proprietors during the first
three months of the experiment; further, he stipulated
that his name should be concealed, as he dreaded
suffering from the vengeance of the drivers. The
bargain, on these terms, was immediately struck, and
the plan put into immediate execution. It answered
admirably, and the ingenious tailor, at the end of the

crowded the public walks and gardens in the evening,
enjoying the free atmosphere, now cooled down from
the heats of the day, and also the music played by a
band stationed among the trees. In this gay and
happy scene all classes, the lower as well as the higher,
were assembled, there being no charge whatever for
admission, and the only appearance of distinction being
the rows of handsome equipages, with their elegantly
dressed inmates, which lined the exterior thorough-
fare. To this rational mode of out-of-door amuse-specified period, had the happiness of carrying off a
ment, the intelligent and respectable inhabitants of
Frankfort are particularly attached, though similar
customs exist in all other German cities. Such is
the simplicity of manners, that it is customary in the
pleasant summer evenings for parties of ladies to meet
and drink tea in gardens appropriated to the sale
of refreshments. Introduced to one of these places of
resort, we found a piece of ground laid out tastefully
with small tables beneath the leafy trees, at which sat
groups of ladies, all busily engaged in knitting, sewing,
and chatting, and enlivened by music from a band
stationed in the garden. It is the custom for ladies
to invite their friends to these reunions, instead of
having parties at home-a practice well worthy of
imitation, would our climate and the state of society
permit. The ladies, my travelling companions, were
charmed with these and other arrangements in
the social economy of Frankfort, and exclaimed in
concert-"Well, now, here is a town we could stay
in; it has such a thriving happy look, and a place
more like home than anything we have yet seen."
Not only from my own casual observation, but from
information gained on the spot, I consider Frankfort
to be one of the most agreeable places of residence for
English families who are seeking a quarter to settle
in on the Upper Rhine, and prefer the bustle of a city
to comparative retirement. Most articles of consump-
tion are exceedingly moderate in price. At the time
of my visit, bread of a fine quality was 14d., and coffee
only 8d. per pound. As a great entrepôt of British
and other goods, all articles of foreign luxury are to
be obtained in extensive variety. Since the period of
my last visit, a great improvement has been made in
the coinage of Frankfort, as well as the adjoining
states of Darmstadt, Baden, Bavaria, and I know not
how many others. Much of the base money of these
governments seems to have disappeared, and they have
respectively issued a uniform standard of handsomely
executed silver florins or guilders, each worth sixty
kreutzers, or twenty-pence English. With respect to
smaller coins, the shabby practice still continues of
issuing bits of brass with a thin coating of silver.
When we get into Switzerland, however, we shall
have something more to say on this very convenient
plan of making farthings pass for sixpences.

Frankfort is well supplied with hackney calèshes or droskies. I notice this rather common-place fact in

order to introduce a circumstance which had made a little sensation in the city some time ago. It appears that hackney coachmen here-as I suppose every where else-when sent out with their master's carriage and horses to take the chance of customers on the stands, were exceedingly apt to forget how many fares they had received during the day, and to leave in their own pockets a few florins by way of commission. The coachproprietors by no means approved of this mode of conducting business; but all their efforts to the contrary proved abortive. The case became desperate, and required a desperate remedy. The administration announced that they would give a reward of several hundred florins to any person who would suggest an effectual means of checking the fraud in question. No one brought forward any thing feasible. At last, a man in an humble sphere of life, a tailor in the town, made application to be heard on the subject, and his desire being granted, he offered to furnish a remedy at once safe, easy, and effectual;

*All will agree with Miss Sedgwick in her benevolent wish respecting this place of recreation. "We went into the public gardens, which occupy the place of the old ramparts. This green and flowery belt girdling the town is a pretty illustration

of turning the sword into the pruning hook. The redeemed ground is laid out with economy of space and much taste. We passed through copses, groves, and parterres, and came out upon

a growth of firs encircling a bronze bust of a benefactor who had contributed to this adornment. As I looked at the children and various other happy groups we passed, I wished there were some arithmetic that could calculate the amount of happiness produced by a man who originated a public garden, and set it off against the results of the lives of those great conquerors whose effigies

and trophies cumber the earth!"—Letters from Abroad to Kindred at Home, 1841.

considerably greater number of florins than had been
originally offered. The scheme, as nearly as I could
understand my informant, is this:-The proprietors
of coaches, or droskies, form an association, the busi-
ness of which is conducted at an office in town. Here
all the hackney vehicles are registered and numbered,
with the names of their respective drivers. Here
each driver, on setting out in the morning, receives a
certain quantity of small printed tickets, on which is
inscribed the number of the vehicle, the date, and the
amount of fare-twenty-four kreutzers. Every person
who is conveyed any distance receives one or more of
these tickets, as a receipt for his payment. If the fare
be only twenty-four kreutzers, he receives one ticket;
if forty-eight kreutzers, he receives two; and so on.
At the bottom of each ticket there is a sentence to
the effect, that "whoever brings this ticket to the
Droschkenanstalt (or Droskie Establishment), will re-
ceive two kreutzers." The sum of two kreutzers is
only two-thirds of a penny sterling, and therefore
offers but a small inducement for a passenger to go
across half the town to deliver his ticket; yet, prac-
tically, the check works well. The tickets pass as
coin in the shape of alms to mendicants, or contribu-
tions for the poor, or they are paid away to waiters
or others, to whom small presents must be given;
but many persons retain them till they accumu-
late to a sum which will warrant the trouble of
visiting the Droschkenanstalt. In short, the tickets,
one way or other, find their way back to the place
whence they were issued, and there they appear in
judgment against the sums which have been daily
brought in by the drivers, who are thus compelled to
pursue a course of honesty, and deliver up all they
receive as fares. The only loophole by which they can
escape, is to fall in with strangers who are not ac-
quainted with the custom of asking tickets; but the
system otherwise may be pronounced to be perfect.
In some other towns in Germany-though whether
imitative of Frankfort or not, I cannot say there is
a similar practice of giving tickets, which passengers
are requested to destroy; but being often thrown
away, the driver picks them up and serves them out
a second time. It is clear that the plan of the tailor
of Frankfort is the best which has yet been contrived
to check the depredations of hackney coachmen, and
might advantageously be introduced into towns in
Britain where such a check is required.

is placed in the readiest possible communication with England on the one hand, or the interior of Europe on the other. As we paced along the palace-garden walks on a pleasant summer evening, while the rays of the setting sun glittered like gold on the broad bosom of the beauteous stream, we thought Manheim possessed charms for the tasteful and meditative recluse which those of few places could equal.

CURIOUS HOW THINGS COME ABOUT
SOMETIMES.

Ar the distance of a mile and a half from a certain
large town in the west of Scotland, there stands, about
a gunshot from the public road, a neat little cottage,
trim gravel walks, and a tidy, well-kept garden. A
or self-contained house, with a circular green in front,
good many years ago, this little, pleasant, modest
residence was occupied by a Mr James Warrington,
an extensive jeweller and watchmaker in the city.
Mr Warrington was at this time in respectable
and worthy man; a character which he justly de-
circumstances, and bore the character of an upright
served. His family consisted of himself, his wife, two
sons, and two daughters. The latter, respectively,
were twelve and fourteen years of age; the former,
seventeen and twenty-one. The name of the eldest
lent dispositions, agreeable person and manners, and
of the two sons was Edward-a young man of excel-
correct principles.

At the time our story opens, Edward Warrington
was paying his addresses to a young lady of the name
of Langdale; and as the attachment of the youthful
forward to a happy consummation of their intimacy.
pair was approved of by their parents, they both looked
In truth, their marriage was only delayed until Ed-
ward should have been formally and legally installed
a partner in his father's business-a proceeding which,
it was proposed, should take place so soon as Mr
plate then impending; it being deemed advisable
Warrington had completed some large payments for
that the concern should be entirely free at the period
of Edward's becoming a partner. It was expected
that this would be accomplished in about six months.
of Mr Warrington, when the latter returned one
Matters, then, stood in this position with the family
morning from the shop-it was a Monday morning,
the only one on which he was in the habit of going to
the shop before breakfast in a state of great agitation
into a little back parlour, followed by his wife in great
and excitement. On entering the house, he hurried
alarm at the unusual perturbation he exhibited, and
flung himself on a sofa in a state of distraction. It
was a second or two before he could speak. At length,
"Jess," he said, addressing his wife," we are ruined-
utterly ruined. The shop has been broken into be-
tween Saturday night and this morning, and at least
five thousand pounds' worth of plate and watches
carried off. I have been along with the police through
all the most blackguard haunts in the city, but can
discover no trace of either the thieves or the goods.
The police say that the robbery has been committed
by experienced hands-clean and cleverly done, as
they call it; and that there is great doubt of any
part of the property ever being recovered."

At the time this misfortune happened, young Warrington was from home; he was on a journey for his father; and the first intimation he had of it was from a newspaper paragraph headed, "Extensive robbery of silver plate and watches." On hearing the distressing intelligence, which, however, he hoped might not turn out so bad as it was represented, Edward Warrington hurried home. On his arrival at his father's house, he found, as might have been expected, the family in the utmost distress, and, to his further grief, discovered that the extent of the robbery stated in the newspapers had not been exaggerated.

After a short stay, we proceeded on our journey by way of Darmstadt, Heidelberg, and Manheim, the transit between the two latter places being performed by a railway lately opened by the government of Baden. The distance was about fifteen miles, and the charges were as low as those of the railway in Nassau. There are, however, only three classes of carriages, the For many weeks the Warringtons indulged in second, which we happened to select, being no better hopes, which, however, became daily more and more faint, that some clue would be found to the robbery, than the Nassau third; fares by it for each person, and a portion, at least, of the stolen property be thirty kreutzers, or 10d. sterling-certainly cheap recovered. These hopes were never realised; the enough for carrying one fifteen miles, at the rate of robbery had been, as the police said, clean and cleverly twenty miles an hour. The line, like that of Nassau, done. No trace of the perpetrators, or of any part of the property, was ever discovered. proceeds through a flat country, and never sinks or In the mean time, the last of the bills due by Mr rises above a few feet from the general level. The Warrington for the plate in the shop-or, rather, for soil is seemingly an alluvial sand, and must have been the plate that had been in the shop, for it was of this less decided than that of the Wiesbaden line; never- punctually paid, and this worthy person left almost easily cut. The success of the undertaking has been plate he had been robbed-became due, were paid, theless, the fact is announced of 29,409 travellers hav- literally without a sixpence. Mr Warrington might ing gone by it between the 1st of January and 30th of have urged the robbery as a plea for bankruptcyJune last. We were informed that it was the design that proceeding having been often adopted on far less of the government to extend the line from Manheim to excusable grounds-and by such means have contrived Carlsruhe and Baden-Baden; and should this be done, to retain some little thing in his hands for the immea large accession of traffic may be reckoned upon. diate support of his family. But he was too upright The opening of a railway communication from and too conscientious a man even to think of such a Heidelberg to Manheim, cannot but exert a beneficial course; he determined, whatever might be the conseinfluence on both these places and the surrounding quence to himself, to pay his debts to the uttermost country. Heidelberg is a town full of interest and farthing, and to bear alone the burden of his own learning, with cheap markets, and a pleasant high- misfortunes-the honest man having no idea of throwland neighbourhood, for it stands within the hillying any portion of that burden on the shoulders of district of the Bergstrasse. The only serious drawback to which I should consider it exposed, is the The ruin which had overtaken the Warringtons, in great number of burschen, or students, attending its the distressing and unexpected way mentioned, put university-a set of noisy, fighting, smoking, dirty- an end for the time to the proposed union between looking wretches, the terror of families prizing either Edward and Miss Langdale; for the latter was of a tranquillity or decorum. Manheim is therefore pre-class, alas! too numerous, too often to be met with ferable as a place of residence to quiet-living folk; in society amiable, accomplished, beautiful, and and being situated on the very margin of the Rhine, it penniless. It was a severe blow to the young couple;

others, as many good people are in the habit of doing

for the

as too upra

hink of sack

t be the case

the utter

den of his on oides of ther

he shoulders c

habit of dig

Varringtes, mentioned, union betwee latter was d

to be met i beautiful, s

young carl

for, perhaps, never did two persons love each other
with so deep and sincere an affection. But there was
no help for it-no present remedy. They must con-
tent themselves with living on till better fortune
should enable them to aspire at a yet greater degree
of happiness.

"We must just have patience, Edward," would the
fair and gentle girl say, looking smilingly in his face
the while, when the former was deploring, with an
impetuosity unusual to him, the hard destiny which
had so cruelly interposed to keep them asunder.
"Patience! Lizzy-patience!" would he reply, as
he walked up and down the apartment with hasty
step and excited manner. "Yes, I will try to have
patience; I will. But it's hard, very hard, to have a
cup so brimful of bliss as mine was, so suddenly dashed
from one's lips."

the restoration of his property, and the subsequent success of the business, to enjoy an age of ease and' tranquillity. A few years more, and a son of Edward Warrington, whose marriage had been a happy one in all respects, came into the shop to assist his father. He was shortly followed by another. The lads grew up; they became men. A signboard appeared, on which was inscribed, "Edward Warrington and Sons." It indicated one of the most extensive and wealthiest concerns in the city.

came a person of the name of Rapsley to settle in a
location next to ours. He was a sheep farmer; had
been several years in business in another part of the
country, and had, by several successful speculations
in wool and grain, acquired a vast deal of money. He
was unmarried, had no family, and no one about his
establishment but hired servants. With this man,
whom we found very obliging, though of rough, blunt,
and eccentric manners, we soon became very intimate.
He seemed to feel for our situation, and evinced an
anxiety to serve us, for which, while grateful, we were
at a loss to account. He used to come often to our
house, and seemed to take a lively interest in the his-
tory of our misfortunes, especially in that part of it
which related to the robbery of our shop, regarding
which he put many questions, and appeared to muse
deeply on our replies. We remarked this singularity
stand what it meant.

SKETCHES OF SUPERSTITIONS.
OCCULT SCIENCES OF THE ANCIENTS.

Mr Warrington, who was now a heart-broken as in Rapsley's conduct, but could not, of course, under papers which have now been given on the subject of

well as a ruined man, struggled on for a few years in
a small way of business, his son Edward assisting him,
but with no good result; they could not make a living
of it. In these circumstances, both father and son
listened eagerly to the advice of a near relative of the
former, who proposed their going out to New South
Wales, and offered them, upon advantageous terms,
the loan of from two to three hundred pounds to en-
gage in the farming or grazing line there, together
with a sum sufficient to defray their expenses out.

THE present article, we conceive, may fitly be introduced towards the close of the lengthened series of Superstitions. Its purpose is to review a number of the most remarkable phenomena recorded in history, For some time, we knew nothing more of the life which have been viewed by ignorance and credulity and character of our neighbour than what was comas miracles and prodigies, as well as to examine how prised in the circumstances regarding him above far these were attributable either to the simple and mentioned; but we at length found out that he was spontaneous agency of nature, or to the practices of an emancipated convict. On making this discovery, designing men, better skilled in occult sciences than we avoided his society as much as possible, and as- those on whom they sought to impose. A very able sumed a distance and coldness of manner towards him, work on this subject was published in Paris a few with the view of inducing him to refrain from visiting years ago by M. Eusebe Salverte, which, though not us; but although he could not but perceive this change translated, as far as we are aware, into English, was in our manner, he persevered in calling on us as usual. so minutely and ably reviewed in the Foreign QuarMatters went on in this way for some little time-terly Review at the time of its appearance, that we we endeavouring to get rid of our new acquaintance have the advantage of possessing a full sketch of the by a repulsive deportment, and he persevering in main- learned author's investigations. This treatise, with taining his footing in despite of this treatment-when some others on the same subject, and particularly the he called on us one morning at breakfast time. We recent work called Thaumaturgia, supply ample ma remarked something unusual in his manner on this terials for our comparatively brief sketch. occasion. He seemed to have some express purpose in view-some object to accomplish-something parti-referable to the simple operation of natural causes, cular, in short, to communicate.

With this proposal the Warringtons gladly closed, and, in two months after, sailed from Greenock for Sydney. The parting between Edward and Eliza on this occasion, was marked by all the poignancy of grief which usually attends the severing of two fond hearts. It was, indeed, arranged that if any reasonable degree of success attended the united efforts of the Warring tons in the new country to which they were going, Edward should return for Eliza, and carry her out his wedded wife. But all this was so vague and uncertain, that it tended but little to alleviate the pain of their separation. They, however, "tore themselves asunder," after many solemn pledges to keep their faith inviolate till death, and a mutual understanding that they should, in the mean time, maintain a close and regular correspondence.

For many years after the Warringtons went to New South Wales, they had a severe struggle with all the most formidable difficulties that usually beset the emigrant of limited means. They had been, besides, exceedingly unfortunate in the choice of a location, and the consequence was an amount of labour and discomfort under which they believed they must finally sink. Their prospects were, in short, of the most gloomy kind, and year after year passed away without bringing the slightest improvement. Indeed, it was the reverse, for, at the end of some eight or ten years, the Warringtons were again on the brink of ruin.

Having refused, in his blunt way, to share in our morning meal, to which common civility induced us to invite him, he sat smoking in sullen silence by the fire till we had done. On seeing that we had concluded, Rapsley, who seemed to have been anxiously and impatiently waiting this result, drew his pipe, a short black stump, from his mouth, and addressing my father, said Mr Warrington, I'd wish that you'd take a turn out with me a bit; I've something particular to say to you?'

My father was rather surprised at the request, but
still more so at the earnest manner of Rapsley. Oh,
surely, surely, Mr Rapsley,' said my father, but with
some dryness of manner, for he had no idea of the
latter's proposed familiarity and companionship. They
went out together, leaving us in a state of tantalising
suspense and curiosity to know what Rapsley's in-
tended communication might be we could not con-
The letters that Edward wrote home to Eliza, dur- jecture what could possibly be the subject of it,
ing this period, were full of love and affection, but although we supposed many things. In about an
they contained, also, the most discouraging accounts hour after, my father returned. He was in a greatly
of the present condition and prospects of the writer excited state; but it was the excitation of joy mingled
and his family. Each letter, in short, although it with surprise. We crowded round him. Well, my
tended to strengthen Eliza's confidence in the fidelity children,' he said, throwing himself down in a chair,
of her lover, only showed how hopeless was the pro-here is a most extraordinary affair. Who do you
spect of their union,
think this man Rapsley is? Why, the identical per-
son who broke into and robbed my shop ten years
ago! He has told me so himself just now. But
this is not all. He says, if I will let him know the
exact amount of which I was robbed on that occasion,
he will refund every farthing with interest. Need I
describe to you, Eliza, our amazement, our joy, at this
communication? I don't suppose it's necessary. We,
however, had doubts of the money being produced;
but in this we did Rapsley an injustice. In three
weeks after, this person put into my father's hands
three drafts, on three different banks in Sydney,
amounting together to L.7500. On being thus
strangely and unexpectedly put in possession of so
large a sum, we resolved on returning to our native
land. This determination having been communicated
to Rapsley, he insisted on defraying the expense of our
passage home, and, on our leaving, presented my father
with an additional L.1000, by way of compensation
for the injury he had done him, to which he added
many expressions of sincere sorrow for his crime."

A period of nearly ten years had now elapsed, and
the last letter Eliza had from Edward was as despond-
ing as the one preceding. It was about a year after
she had received this letter, and when she was anxi-
ously looking for another which had been unusually
delayed, that Eliza was startled at a pretty late hour
one evening, by a loud and impatient rapping at her
father's door. The door was opened by the servant.
Miss Langdale listened-she heard her name men-
tioned. "Heavens! whose voice was that? Was it
not his?" She grew pale as death; her limbs shook
beneath her; she grasped a chair for support. A foot
was heard lightly and rapidly ascending the stair;
the door of the apartment in which she was, was
flung violently open--a person rushed in-in the next
instant she was in the arms of Edward Warrington!
What could this mean? what could have brought
him home? He was in high health and spirits, too,
and presented any thing but the appearance of a care-
worn and unsuccessful man. It was a mystery. Miss
Langdale looked her perplexity. Edward understood
the look; he smiled and said-"You are rather sur-
prised to see me, Eliza, but I shall astonish you more
when I shall have told you all. In the mean time, let
me mention that I have not returned alone; the
whole family are with me-father, mother, sisters,
and brother-all in excellent health and spirits, and,
what will appear to you still more inexplicable, with
plenty of gold in store,' as the old song says. The
family I have left at the Black Bull inn, from which
they intend going into private lodgings in a day or
two, and there remaining until a suitable house is
taken and furnished. Father and I intend thereafter
commencing our old business, and, if possible, in our
old shop. And I intend," said Edward, looking slyly
at Eliza, "immediately after that again, or before, if
she prefers it, leading, as the newspapers phrase it,
the blooming Eliza Langdale to the hymeneal altar
that is, of course, if the said blooming Eliza Langdale
has no objections to be so led."

Miss Langdale blushed. Her perplexity and amaze-
ment increased; she hinted that an explanation would
be acceptable.

Edward smiled and said: "It's rather a curious story-something in the romance way-but you shall have it briefly. About a year and a half ago, there

Such, in substance, was the communication made by Edward Warrington to Miss Langdale.

Of the class of seemingly marvellous phenomena whether unseen, neglected, or misunderstood, numberless instances might be drawn from the pages of history-and instances where the attestation is too strong to permit a doubt of the actual occurrence of the apparent marvel. Take, for example, the muchfamed miracle which Milton thus speaks of:

"Thammuz came next behind;
Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate
In amorous ditties all a summer's day;
While smooth Adonis from his native rock
-Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood
Of Thammuz, yearly wounded."

This marvel arose from the fact of the river Adonis
being impregnated during certain seasons with dust
raised from the red soil of Mount Libanus, near which
its course lay. Any man of common acuteness, who
took the trouble to look into this matter, must have
discovered the truth; but the ignorant public were
perfectly contented with the supernatural solution,
and there the matter rested. Again, a rock near
Corfu bore, and still bears, the likeness of a ship. It
was accordingly set down, in the religious creed of
Greece and Rome, as the identical Phæacian ship
which Neptune turned into stone, on account of its
having previously borne Ulysses, the slayer of his son
Polypheme. A number of similar resemblances have
since been discovered; and one, existing near the Cape
of Good Hope, has been held by some as the real
origin of the legend of the Flying Dutchman. Cer-
tain plants, also, are mentioned by Pliny as having
the magical property" of congealing water. The
truth here is, that the juice of vegetables of a highly
mucilaginous character becomes inspissated or highly
thickened on being poured into water, but of course
quite in a natural manner. A like erroneous inter-
pretation of a simple natural fact was made by Virgil
in the case of silk. He says that it was gathered by
the seres "from the leaves of the trees on which it
grew," when it was only deposited there by the silk-
When very young, a brood of rattlesnakes
was observed to retreat into the mouth of the mother
on the approach of danger; and this at once raised
the report, which Virgil sanctions, that such animals
bring their progeny into the world by the mouth.

The sequel of our little tale is now soon told. By
a curious chance, Mr Warrington got both his old
shop and his old house again, the latter having been
a much-loved residence; and in a short time the former
presented almost precisely the same appearance which
it had done a dozen years before, when Mr Warring-
ton was in the hey-day of his prosperity. By and by,
Messrs Warrington and Son fell into one of the best
businesses in the line in the city; for, although many
of the oldest and best friends of the former had dis-
appeared during the interval of his absence, many yet
remained to him, and these lent a willing and effective
hand towards reinstating him in his former position.
Looking at the gentlemanly figure and mild counte-
nance of the respectable old man, for the ten years
that had passed had thus classed him, as he stood
behind his counter-his spectacles raised high on his
forehead--his hair whitened, perhaps as much by dis-
tress of mind as by age-no one would have dreamt
of the vicissitudes he had gone through.

Immediately after the business of the Messrs War-
rington had been started, Edward and Miss Langdale
were married. A few years more, and the elder War-
rington retired from the concern; being enabled, by

worm.

Other marvels of a purely natural origin are mentioned in abundance by the historians of Rome. For example, they describe with awe the appearance of two suns at one time in the heavens. This is a phenomenon which has often been witnessed in England and other places, and is caused simply by the clouds being so arranged as to reflect the image of the actual luminary. Armies were seen in old days fighting in the air; and as the phenomenon always took place when mortal troops were really campaigning on the solid earth, the appearance was held as a fearful supernatural omen. The same thing has been seen in recent times. Sully, an unquestionable authority, saw troops battling in the air before the battle of Ivry. His master, Henry, was then skirmishing at a short distance, and, beyond doubt, the appearance was caused by reflection in a peculiar state of the atmo sphere. This explains why the marvel always took place when armies were really in the field. If it be remarked that it was frequently observed on the eve of and not during battle, we believe the explanation of this to be, that the reflected semblance of an army, even when at rest, would be so wavering and so much broken, as to have the appearance of troops actually in an engagement. Again, fiery spears are mentioned as having been seen in the heavens. We need not go beyond the boreal lights for an interpretation of this species of vision. Showers of milk, of blood, of stones,

sary.

That the use of metallic mirrors was well known to
the ancients, is evident. Aulus Gellius (Noct. Att.
xvi. 18), on the authority of Varro, mentions mirrors
which presented multiplied and inverted images, and,
what is more remarkable, which in a particular posi
tion lost the property of reflecting. The stories of
the destruction of the Roman fleet by the burning
mirror of Archimedes, and that of Vitalian by a simi-
lar contrivance of Proclus, may be apocryphal, without
invalidating the fact that the ancients knew that such
a use might be made of them; and from this to the
examination of the image formed in their focus, the
interval was trifling. But further, the exquisite de-
licacy of the engraving of antique gems seems to in-
volve the supposition of some arrangement of lenses
corresponding to a microscope, which again implies
some previous knowledge of the telescope, particularly
if the statement of Suidas is to be considered conclu-
sive as to the fact that burning mirrors were occa-
sionally made of glass." Sir William Drummond also
points out the strong improbability that the ancients
could have attained their astronomical knowledge
without the aid of proper instruments. From their
numbering fifteen planetary bodies, for example, it is
reasonable to infer that the Brahmins had discovered
the satellites of Jupiter. It is certain that the Per-
sians and Egyptians believed the Milky Way to be a
galaxy of stars, a fact only verified by Galileo with
the telescope.

of ashes, and of frogs, have all been paralleled in our The knowledge of acoustics possessed by the ancients own times; or at least substances have fallen which is shown to have been very considerable, by the numemight really receive some of these appellations, while, rous marvels reported of the oracles of old, the conin other cases, they did not come from the sky at all. trivances effecting which have been discovered in The blood-red spots left on stones and leaves in sum- many cases. Being a faculty dependent on man's mer are deposited, it is now known, by flies, and those physical constitution, the counterfeiting of sounds, or seen on snow have been ascertained to be a vegetable ventriloquism, must doubtless have been a customary production. Milky spots might readily result from practice with the priests. At the command of the the solution of light-coloured acrolites in water, or gymnosophists of Upper Egypt, a tree spoke to Apolfrom a fall of them mixed with snow. In May 1819, lonius. "The voice was distinct, but weak, and similar hailstones of great size, some of them weighing a to the voice of a woman." Though the "weakness" pound, fell in the commune of Grignoncourt, in the would indicate the concealment of the speaker (a child, department of the Vosges. On being allowed to melt, most probably) in the tree, yet a knowledge of the art a thin coffee-coloured stone, flat, and about the size of Monsieur Alexandre would have accomplished the of a two-franc piece, with a hole in the centre, was trick even without resorting to such means. But the found in each. The solution of these would produce common stratagem in the case of oracular images and a dingy milky appearance in water. As to falls of heads was simply the dexterous concealment of some simple stones, these are too common to require ex-party in or near the image. Theophilus, bishop of Alexplanation. Millions of them fell at one time within andria, exposed the cheats of the pagan priesthood by these few weeks in the north of Europe. Showers of showing that their talking statues were hollow within, frogs and fishes are also too frequent in Scotland and communicated with dark passages in the walls. alone to render a supernatural interpretation neces- At Pompeii, at this hour, such passages are visible in the sanctuaries of the temples. A knowledge of acousOf natural phenomena such as these, the priests tics would be requisite to render even these conand soothsayers of antiquity took ample advantage, trivances safe and available, but the ancients were always interpreting them in any way they thought acquainted with deeper secrets connected with the fit. They could, however, make miracles, when nature science. "As an engine of terror, we find the imitative gave them none. It may be inferred that the Chaldean thunder of the Egyptian Labyrinth (Plin. Hist. Nat. inagi, for example, possessed a considerable amount of xxxvi. 13), and a contrivance which distinguished this knowledge of the physical sciences, though self-in-model of all similar buildings was likely to be repeated terest and the rules of their caste dictated its conceal- in every other. Organs, hydraulic organs especially, ment from the general public. Their undoubted ad- were well known to the ancients. The inference, we vances in astronomy and other exact sciences lead us think, is plain in the latter case, and the former leads to such a conclusion, and it is borne out by our ac- at once to the supposition of some scheme analogous quaintance with their studies. The learned Jew, to that employed for the invisible girl, and exhibitions Moses Maimonides, reveals to us that the first part of of a similar description; an hypothesis which throws the Chaldean magic consisted in the study of metals, some light upon the expression of Mercurius Trismeplants, and animals; the second comprehended the gistus, that the Egyptian priests' possessed the art of [WE here introduce to the notice of the reader a narstudy of the weather, the air, astronomy generally, constructing gods,' statues endued with intelligence, rative which has been written at our request by the and the fit times and seasons for experimental and which predicted the future, and interpreted dreams individual whose adventures it relates. The author is magical operations; while the third part of the course (Merc. Tris. Pymander. Asclepius, 145, 165). He one of the depressed class of hand-loom weavers, prohad reference to the ceremonies to be practised at or even states that theurgists devoted to less pure doc-bably in no respect different from the rest of that before such processes. While the first part of the trines could make gods, statues animated by demons, body, excepting in his possessing an intellect somecourse directly indicates the pointed attention paid by and which, by supernatural virtues, were but slightly what above the common standard. Accident having these earliest philosophers of the world to chemistry, inferior to the sacred works of the true priests; in made us acquainted with him, we were inclined to organic and inorganic, even the last section of the other words, says M. Salverte, the same secret in believe that a piece of autobiography from such a man course must be viewed as of importance in the case of physics was employed by two rival colleges of priests. might, from its truthfulness, not only prove striking experimental deceptions. It would be very conve- The principles which govern the reverberation of as a picture of human life, but possess some value as a nient for a trickster to tell his dupes that the success sound are so easily to be apprehended by an acute report to one class of the community of the condition of the marvel depended on their adherence to certain observer, that however absurd may have been the and experiences of another.] rules, such as shutting their eyes at a fixed period in exoteric doctrines of the priests with regard to echo, the operations. To envelop a simple fact in a cloud we can scarcely suppose them to have been ignorant, of unmeaning rules was the best way, moreover, of if not of its true nature, at least of the laws by which giving it a mystic and profound character. Here also it is governed; and adding this to the fact, that under lies the cause of much acquired knowledge being lost peculiar circumstances an echo has been returned in the course of time, instead of augmentations being from the clonds, there will be found few more efficient made to it. The later magi possessed, for the most instruments of delusion and terror." part, but the shadow without the substance.

In entering into details respecting the knowledge possessed by the ancients in the physical sciences, we must take up the subject at a period somewhat later than that of the Chaldean magi. But we have various hints respecting the early physics of the East in existing works. The flying-chariot, for example, of the 110th and 115th nights of the Arabian Tales, is mentioned not as a magical structure, but as a masterpiece of human art. A vessel with a small boat attached to it is also mentioned in these tales. The description of this machine comes very near to that of a balloon. "The vessel," it is said, "shooting into the air, rapidly transports the traveller to the place of his destination." As attempts have apparently been made by man in all ages to traverse the air, it is not unlikely that the idea of this machine may have been suggested by some real attempts at aërostation with rarefied air. The astonishing tricks of the modern Indian jugglers, now well known, seem to have been early practised. The old writer Apollonius mentions, that when he visited an Indian temple, the priests struck the ground in cadence with their wands, and the ground undulated like the sea to the height of about two yards. It is probable that the wands gave the signal here to a scene-shifter. Some light is thrown on the mechanical means by which this trick was effected, by the visible remains of a similar kind of apparatus in the sanctuary of the temple of Ceres at Eleusis. The floor is rough, unpolished, and on a much lower level than that of the entrance portico. That a moveable wooden floor once covered this, is rendered extremely probable by the existence of two deep grooves, which apparently received pulleys for raising some heavy body; there are also grooves in which the counterpoises might have been suspended, and eight large holes, pierced in as many blocks of marble raised above the ground, in which pegs might have been inserted, to fix, when necessary, the wood-work at its proper level. Priests in India, and priests in Greece, seem to have been all of one kidney.

This subject, we find, cannot be satisfactorily reviewed in one article. The chemistry of the ancients, with other sciences, will therefore be taken up in another number.

A CHAPTER IN THE LIFE OF A POOR
MAN.

In the spring of 1837, the failure of certain great commercial establishments in America, combining with other causes, silenced, in one week, upwards of 6000 looms in Dundee and the various agencies in its connexion, and spread dismay throughout the whole county of Forfar. Amongst the many villages thus trade-stricken, one felt the blow more severely than that of Newtyle, near Cupar-Angus. This village was new, having sprung up since the completion of the Dundee Railway a few years ago. It consisted chiefly of weaving-shops and dwellings for the weavers. The inhabitants, about two hundred in number, were strangers to the place and to each other, having been recently collected from distant places by advertisements promising them many advantages, but which, when the evil day came, were little regarded. While employers were, some unwilling and many unable, to do any thing for the relief of those whom they had brought together for their own purposes, the people of the neighbourhood, including those of the old vil. lage of Newtyle, regarded them with stern prejudice, as intruders that naebody kent naething about." It were too much to say that they were positively persecuted by their neighbours, but certainly they received no sympathy in their distresses from that quarter, much less any relief.

The most effective principles of the science of optics
are so simple in their character, that the discovery of
them by the ancients can scarcely be doubted; and it
is reasonable, also, to conclude, that from them sprung
the illusive appearances of spirits, demons, palaces,
and the like, presented by the priesthood to the people.
The rudest form of the camera requires, we know,
but a small aperture in the side of an otherwise per-
fectly dark room, and yet that shape of the instru-
ment is a perfectly efficient one. Could we believe
such a natural phenomenon to have escaped the eyes
of men so generally acute as the priests of antiquity?
Again, does not the following passage almost demon-
strate that the phantasmagoria is not a modern in-
vention, but a re-discovery? It is from a very ancient
writer. "In a manifestation which ought not to be
revealed...there appeared on the wall of the temple a
mass of light, which seems at first very distant; it
transforms itself, as if in contracting, into a face
evidently divine and supernatural, but of a severe
aspect, mingled with mildness, and very beautiful.
According to what is taught in a mysterious religion,
the Alexandrians honour this as Osiris and Adonis."
The Foreign Quarterly reviewer, already quoted,
thus speaks on the subject of the optical knowledge
of the ancients. "Under the head of Optics, M. Sal-
verte slightly considers the question if telescopes were
known to the ancients, which he answers in the affir-
mative; to this conclusion we had long since arrived,
and shall briefly state the grounds on which that
opinion principally depends. If we admit that tradi-
tion must have truth for its basis, the traditionary
evidence on this point is strong, the direct evidence
the same, the inductions still stronger, Aristotle
(Meteor. 1) states that mirrors were employed by the
Greeks when they surveyed the appearances of the
heavens. We learn from D'Herbelot that the Per-
sians pretend that Alexander the Great found a mirror
in Babylon in which the universe was represented.
The Pharos of Alexandria is said to have contained,
under the Ptolemies, a mirror in which the approach
of distant vessels might be discerned. Strabo remarks
(lib. iii. c. 138), that vapours produce the same effect
as the tubes in magnifying objects of vision by refrac-
tion, thereby implying, as Sir William Drummond
has observed, that lenses were placed in the tubes of
the dioptrons. In the Arabian Nights' Entertain-
ments, night 606, an ivory tube one foot in length and
one inch in diameter, furnished with a glass at each
extremity, is spoken of, by applying which tube to
the eye, objects that we desire to see may be discovered.
Roger Bacon speaks of Cæsar having examined the
coast of Britain from that of Gaul by means of a glass.

Apollonius also saw tripods or stools, which, like those of Olympus mentioned by Homer, took their places at table without any apparent moving cause. Great mechanical ingenuity must have been exercised in such a case as this, to hide the process from the eyes of an acute and inquisitive stranger. The Roman magistrates, in the year 186 B. C., detected the trick of a machine which raised into the air individuals whom the priests wished to represent as carried off by the gods; and the same kind of machine was afterwards openly introduced into the theatres.

was at

A little while thinned the village, those only remaining who had many children, and were obliged to consider well before they started. To these (and 1 was of the number) one web was supplied weekly, bringing five shillings. The weaver will know what sort of job the weaving of an "Osnaburg" that price. It had been a stiff winter and unkindly spring, but it passed away, as other winters and springs must do. I will not expatiate on six human lives subsisted on five shillings weekly-on babies prematurely thoughtful-on comely faces withering-on desponding youth and too quickly declining age. These things are perhaps too often talked of. Let me describe but one morning of modified starvation at Newtyle, and then pass on.

Imagine a cold spring forenoon. It is eleven o'clock, but our little dwelling shows none of the signs of that time of day. The four children are still asleep. There is a bed-cover hung before the window, to keep all within as much like night as possible; and the mother sits beside the beds of her children, to lull them back to sleep whenever any shows an inclination to awake. For this there is a cause, for our weekly five shillings have not come as expected, and the only food in the house consists of a handful of oatmeal saved from the supper of last night. Our fuel is also exhausted. My wife and I were conversing in sunken whispers about making an attempt to cook the handful of meal, when the youngest child awoke beyond its mother's power to hush it again to sleep, and then fell a-whimpering, and finally broke out in a steady scream, which of course rendered it impossible any longer to keep the rest in a state of unconsciousness. Face after face sprung up, each with one consent exclaiming, "Oh,

M

mother, mother, gie me a piece!" How weak a word
is sorrow to apply to the feelings of myself and wife
during the remainder of that dreary forenoon!
We thus lingered on during the spring, still hoping
that things would come a little round, or that at least
warmer weather would enable us, with more safety, to
venture on a change of residence. At length, seeing
that our strength was rapidly declining, I resolved to
wait no longer. Proceeding to Dundee, I there ex-
changed, at a pawnbroker's, a last and most valued
relic of better days for ten shillings, four of which I
spent on such little articles as usually constitute "a
pack," designing this to be carried by my wife, while
other four shillings I expended on second-hand books,
as a stock of merchandise for myself; but I was very
unfortunate in my selection, which consisted chiefly
of little volumes containing abridgments of modern
authors, these authors being generally of a kind little
to the taste of a rustic population.

On a Thursday morning we forsook our melancholy
habitation, leaving in it my two looms and some fur-
niture (for we thought of returning to it), and the key
with the landlord. On the third day, Saturday, we
passed through the village of Inchsture in the Carse
of Gowrie, and proceeded towards Kinnaird. Sunset
was followed by cold sour east winds and rain. The
children becoming weary and fretful, we made fre-
quent inquiries of other forlorn-looking beings whom
we met, to ascertain which farm-town in the vicinity
was most likely to afford us quarters. Jean, my wife,
was sorely exhausted, bearing an infant constantly at
the breast, and often carrying the youngest boy also,
who had fairly broken down in the course of the day.
It was nine o'clock when we approached the large and
comfortable-looking steading of B, standing about
a quarter of a mile off the road. Leaving my poor
flock on the wayside, I pushed down the path to the
farm-house with considerable confidence, for I had
been informed that B (meaning, by this local
appellation, the farmer) was a humane man, who never
turned the wanderer from his door. Unfortunately
for us, the worthy farmer was from home, and not
expected to return that night. His housekeeper had
admitted several poor people already, and could admit
no more. I pleaded with her the infancy of my family,
the lateness of the night, and their utter unfitness to
proceed that we sought nothing but shelter-that
the meanest shed would be a blessing. Heaven's mercy
was never more earnestly pleaded for than was a night's
lodging by me on that occasion. But "No, no, no," was
the unvarying answer to all my entreaties.

66

It

have been between three and four o'clock, when Jean | for a morsel of bread. Goldsmith had piped his way wakened me. Oh, that scream!-I think I can hear over half the continent. These were precedents init now. The other children, startled from sleep, joined deed! Moreover, neither of these worthies had chilin frightful wail over their dead sister. Our poor dren in Methven or elsewhere, that ever I had heard Jeanie had, unobserved by us, sunk during the night of. Nor is it recorded in the history of those great under the effects of the exposure of the preceding men, whether they had at any time been under the evening, following, as that did, a long course of hard-compulsion of a landlady who attached a special conship, too great to be borne by a young frame. Such a sequence to the moment that undid the shoe-tie. visitation could only be well borne by one hardened to Musing over these and many other considerations, misery and wearied of existence. I sat a while and we found ourselves in a beautiful green lane, fairly looked on them: comfort I had none to give-none to out of the town, and opposite a genteel-looking house, take: I spake not-what could be said words? oh, at the windows of which sat several well-dressed people. no! The worst is over when words can serve us. And I think that it might be our bewildered and hesitatyet it is not just when the wound is given that pain is ing movements that attracted their notice-perhaps felt. How comes it, I wonder, that minor evils will not favourably. "A quarter of an hour longer," said affect even to agony, while paramount sorrow over- I, "and it will be darker; let us walk out a bit." The does itself, and stands in stultified calmness? Strange sun had been down a good while, and the gloaming to say, on first becoming aware of the bereavement of was lovely. In spite of every thing, I felt a momenthat terrible night, I sat for some minutes gazing up- tary reprieve. I dipped my dry flute in a little burn, wards at the fluttering and wheeling movements of a and began to play. It rang sweetly amongst the trees. party of swallows, our fellow-lodgers, who had been I moved on and on, still playing, and still facing the disturbed by our unearthly outery. After a while, I town. The "Flowers of the Forest" brought me proceeded to awaken the people in the house, who before the house lately mentioned. My music raised entered at once into our feelings, and did every thing one window after another, and in less than ten miwhich Christian kindness could dictate as proper to nutes put me in possession of 3s. 9d. of good British be done on the melancholy occasion. A numerous money. I sent the mother home with this treasure, and respectable party of neighbours assembled that and directed her to send our oldest girl to me. day to assist at the funeral. In an obscure corner of was by this time nearly dark. Every body says, Kinnaird churchyard lies our favourite, little Jeanie. Things just need a beginning." I had made a be Early on Monday we resumed our heartless pilgri- ginning, and a very good one too. I had a smart turn mage-wandering onwards without any settled pur- for strathspeys, and there appeared to be a fair run pose or end. The busy singing world above us was upon them. By this time I was nearly into the middle a nuisance; and around, the loaded fields bore nothing of the town. When I finally made my bow and refor us-we were things apart. Nor knew we where tired to my lodging, it was with four shillings and that night our couch might be, or where to-morrow some pence, in addition to what was sent before. My our grave. "Tis but fair to say, however, that our little girl got a beautiful shawl, and several articles children never were ill-off during the daytime. Where of wearing apparel. Shall I not bless the good folk our goods were not bought, we were nevertheless of Methven? Let me ever chance to meet a Methven offered " a piece to the bairnies." One thing which weaver in distress, and I will share my last bannock might contribute to this was, that our appearance, as with him. These men-for I knew them, as they knew yet, was respectable, and it seemed as if the people me, by instinct-these men not only helped me themsaw in us neither the shrewd hawker nor the habi- selves, but testified their gratitude to every one that tual mendicant, so that we were better supplied with did so. There was enough to encourage further perfood than had been our lot for many a month before. severance; but I felt, after all, that I had begun too But oh, the ever-recurring sunset! Then came the late in life ever to acquire that "ease and grace" inhour of sad conjecturing and sorrowful outlook. To dispensable to him who would successfully "carry the seek lodging at a farm before sunset, was to ensure gaberlunzie on." I must forego it, at least in a downrefusal. After nightfall, the children, worn out with right street capacity. the day's wanderings, turned fretful, and slept whenever we sat down. After experience taught us cunning in this, as in other things-the tactics of habitual I returned to my family. They had crept closer vagrants being to remain in concealment near a farm together, and, except the mother, were fast asleep. of good name, until a suitable lateness warranted the “Ŏh, Willie, Willie, what keepit ye?" inquired that attack. This night, however, we felt so much in need trembling woman; “I'm dootfu' o' Jeanie," she added; of a comfortable resting-place, that it was agreed we "isha she waesome-like? Let's in frae the cauld." should make for Errol. There we settled for the night "We've nae way to gang, lass," said I, "whate'er in a house kept for the humblest description of "tracome o' us. Yon folk winna hae us." Few more vellers." It is one of those places of entertainment words passed. I drew her mantle over the wet and whose most engaging feature is the easy price. Its chilled sleepers, and sat down beside them. My head inmates, unaccustomed even to the luxury of a fire, throbbed with pain, and for a time became the tene- easily enough dispense with seats; and where five or ment of thoughts I would not now reveal. They par- six people are packed up alive in one box, a supertook less of sorrow than of indignation, and it seemed abundance of bed-clothes would be found uncomfortto me that this same world was a thing very much to able. Hence the easy charges. Our fellow-lodgers be hated; and, on the whole, the sooner that one like were of all nations, to the amount of two dozen or so. me could get out of it, the better for its sake and mine As it has been my lot, since then, to pass many a night own. I felt myself, as it were, shut out from man- and day in similar society, and having somewhat of a kind-enclosed-prisoned in misery-no out-look-turn for observation, my memory could furnish many none! My miserable wife and little ones, who alone records of "gangrel bodies," that are not altogether cared for me-what would I not have done for their wanting in interest; but of that another time. Leavsakes at that hour! Here let me speak out-and being Errol next day, we passed up the Carse to Perth, heard, too, while I tell it-that the world does not at were kept there a few days by some old acquaintances, all times know how unsafely it sits: when Despair has started from thence towards Methven, sold little on loosed Honour's last hold upon the heart-when tran- the way thither, but were kindly treated by the workscendent wretchedness lays weeping Reason in the ers at Hunting Tower and Cromwell Park. The people dust--when every unsympathising on-looker is deemed there were themselves on limited work; indeed, many an enemy-who THEN can limit the consequences of them had none; yet they shared their little with For my own part, I confess that, ever since that those that had less. It is always so: but for the poor, dreadful night, I can never hear of an extraordinary the poorer would perish. criminal, without the wish to pierce through the mere judicial view of his career, under which, I am persuaded, there would often be found to exist an unseen impulse-a chain, with one end fixed in nature's holiest ground, that drew him on to his destiny.

I will resume my story. The gloaming light was
scarcely sufficient to allow me to write a little note,
which I carried to a stately mansion hard by. It was
to entreat what we had been denied at B- This
application was also fruitless. The servant had been
ordered to take in no such notes, and he could not
break through the rule. On rejoining my little group,
my heart lightened at the presence of a serving-man,
who at that moment came near, and who, observing
our wretchedness, could not pass without endeavouring
to succour us. The kind words of this worthy peasant
sunk deep into our hearts. I do not know his name;
but never can I forget him. Assisted by him, we ar-
rived, about eleven o'clock, at the farm-house of John
Cooper, West-town of Kinnaird, where we were imme-
diately admitted. The accommodation, we were told,
was poor-but what an alternative from the storm-
beaten wayside! The servants were not yet in bed;
and we were permitted a short time to warm ourselves
at the bothy fire. During this interval, the infant
seemed to revive; it fastened heartily to the breast,
and soon fell asleep. We were next led to an out
house. A man stood by with a lantern, while with
straw and blankets we made a pretty fair bed. In
less than half an hour, the whole slept sweetly in their
dark and almost roofless dormitory. I think it must

Just before entering Methven, I sold a small book
to a person breaking stones for the road. After some
conversation, I discovered he was musical, and was
strongly tempted to sell him my flute. He had taken
a fancy to it, and offered a good price. I resisted: it
had long been my companion, and sometimes my so-
lace; and, indeed, to speak truth, I had, for some days
past, attended to certain "forlorn hope" whisperings,
implying the possible necessity of using that instru-
ment in a way more to be lamented than admired.
The sum-total of my earthly moneys was 54d., which
my little volume had seduced from the pocket of the
musical lapidary. With this treasure, we sat by the
fireside of "Mrs L.'s" lodging-house in Methven. The
good woman gave us to understand that our entertain-
ment would cost 6d., at the same time declaring it to
be a standing rule in her establishment to see pay-
ment made of all such matters before the parties
"took aff their shoon." I only wondered, when I
looked round on the bare feet that luxuriated round
her hearth, how she contrived to put this test into
execution. The demand for our lodging-money was
decided, and so was I. I took my wobegone partner
aside, whispered her to pick my flute from out our
"budgets," put on her mantle, and follow me. As
we went along, I disclosed my purpose of playing in
the outskirts of the village. This was a new line of
action, not to be taken without some qualms. But
then the landlady. Besides, nobler natures and higher
names than I could ever aim at, had betaken them-
selves to similar means. Homer had sung his epics

After some consideration, I bethought me of an-
other mode of exercising my talents for my support.
I had, ever since I remember, an irrepressible tendency
to make verses, and many of these had won applause
from my friends and fellow-workmen. I determined
to press this faculty into my service on the present
occasion. Accordingly, after sundry downsittings and
contemplations, by waysides and in barns, my Muse
produced the following ode

TO MY FLUTE.
"Tis nae to harp, to lyre, nor lute,
I cttle now to sing;
To thee alane, my lo'esome flute,
This hamely strain I bring!
Oh, let us flee on memory's wing,
O'er twice ten winters flee,
An' try ance mair that aye sweet spring
Whilk young love breathed in thee.
Companion o' my happy then,
Wi' smilin frien's around;
In ilka butt, in ilka ben,

A couthie welcome found-
Ere yet thy master proved the wound
That ne'er gaed skaithless by;
That gies to flutes their saftest sound,
To hearts their saddest sigh.

Since then, my bairns hae danced to thee,
To thee my Jean has sung;
And mony a night, wi' guiltless glee,
Our hearty hallan rung.

But noo, wi' hardship worn and wrung,
I'll roam the warld about;
For her and for our friendless young,
Come forth, my faithful flute!
Your artless notes may win the ear
That wadna hear me speak,
And for your sake that pity spare,
My full heart couldna seek.
And whan the winter's cranreugh bleak
Drives houseless bodies in,
I'll aiblins get the ingle-cheek,

A' for your lightsome din.

This I designed to be printed on fine paper, with a fly-leaf attached, and folded in the style of a note, to be presented to none under a footman, by a decentlydressed, modest-looking man (myself, of course), who, after waiting ten minutes, the time wanted to utter the "Oh, la's !" and "Who may he be's?" would, I expected, be asked into the drawing-room, when the admiring circle would be ravished with his sweet-toned minstrelsy. After compliments sufficient for any mere man, this person I supposed to retire with that in his pocket that could not rightly be expended without a great deal of prudent consideration. Such was my dream. I accordingly proceeded to act as I had designed. With a few copies of my poem, I set out once more upon my travels, and, to do justice to the scheme, it was on one or two occasions successful to the extent anticipated. In one laird's house I received a guerdon of half a guinea; but, after all, it was but beggar's work, and my soul in time grew sick of it. It was with no sighings after flesh-pots, that, in a few weeks, on times becoming a little better, I settled down once more to my loom.

[We now deem it proper to mention, that the above