which CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL. paupers, vagrants, and mendicants, are reported by their officers to lodge. 3. To cause the whitewashing of the rooms of such houses at least twice every year, and if, after notice to that effect from the clerk of the Board, dated ten days previously, the inspector shall find that the occupier has neglected to comply with such direction, to authorise the Board to cause the house to be whitewashed by such persons as they may appoint for that purpose, and to recover the cost of such whitewashing and cleansing by application to the occupier or owner of such property, or by a summary mode, upon refusal, of either of them. 4. When the inspector shall report that three or more families live under the same roof, to authorise the Board to cause such house to be whitewashed and cleansed in a similar manner at least twice a-year, at the expense of the owner." ences, These are the principal suggestions of the Report which bear on the point under consideration. As, in spite of the pauper night-houses, and other similar establishments which may be erected, and which it is highly advisable to establish, many of the indigent poor will always flock to lodging-houses of the kind now existing, these suggestions may be attended to with advantage in every great city. But, in addition to whitewashing and cleansing, the necessity of ventilation, or the admission of free currents of air into human dwellings, ought ever to be kept in view. With constant renewals of fresh air, even a lodging-house, or a crowded workhouse, may be healthy. Dr Southwood Smith mentions a striking case in point. In the Whitechapel workhouse, 89 out of 104 girls were recently attacked with fever; and this has been but a too common occurrence there. In the Jews' Hospital, again, situated nearly in the same locality, and exposed to the same general influfever has never once occurred as an epidemic among the children for these eight years. Dr Southwood Smith was much struck by this circumstance, but, on inquiring into the matter, his wonder ceased. He saw clearly that it was owing to the different mode in which the dormitories of the two houses were ventilated. He found that 104 girls slept in close-placed beds in the Whitechapel workhouse, in one long room, only seven feet high, with sloping roof, and most The children of the other imperfect ventilation. house had dormitories with lofty walls, well separated beds, and ten large ventilators in the roof. Dr Southwood Smith calculated that the Jews' Hospital dormitories had a supply of air four times greater than As if to place the that admitted into the other one. matter beyond doubt, it proved on inquiry that the Jews' Hospital children had scarcely ever been without fever at one time, but the evil had entirely ceased when their dormitories were altered and more fully ventilated. Thus, nearly at one and the same time, 89 out of 104 poor girls in the Whitechapel establishment have had fever, through want of ventilation. A strong case like this is preferable to a thousand argu ments. It is true that the possibility of effectually ventilating single houses depends greatly on the state of the air in the locality where they are placed. But we are supposing that, where changes are made at all, steps shall be taken for the improvement at once of districts, and of particular spots, courts, lanes, and houses, in these districts. The mode in which a house is built, also, materially affects its capabilities for ventilation; but, generally speaking, in any tolerably open and clean locality, houses may receive a pretty free supply of air, if the inhabitants fully appreciate its value, and take care to promote it. The Report already quoted proposes that the Board of Guardians of London be empowered to prevent the formation of any street less than a certain number of feet in width, of courts Roominess is the great with covered entries, &c. desideratum, whether in street, court, or dwelling. Were it merely for the sake of admitting light, the residences of human beings should be open and unconfined. Plants die in the total absence of light, and a similar effect, to a certain extent, is produced by it on the animal frame. Through the agency of light, man is supplied with no inconsiderable part of the oxygen upon which his life depends. As to the "habit of dwelling in previously deserted houses, cellars, &c., and the keeping of animals in dwelling-houses," the risk of contracting disease in the one case, and, in the other, of generating putrescent effluvia of a noxious kind, is so obvious that the safety of the community demands the extinction of these practices wherever they may be found to exist. family came under their care, consisting of "three The neglect of vaccination by the poorer orders in The arguments in this paper, and the one which a close observation of the laws of nature, he may secure ter of the English princess, and to resuscitate around "Ah," said the lady, "look at that little Leicester; what think you of him?" "Poor fellow! he does not see that the queen wished to make a caricature of him, by putting him into such garb!" said the gentleman in return. a "Lord Burleigh's representative," continued the "And see," rejoined her companion, "how Sir Chrislady, "has got the wig, at least-but nothing more." topher Hatton bears himself! The English chevalier, to make himself a walking minuet." it is said, could dance well, but his personator is pleased In such a style did the cavalier and the lady chat for one another's amusement in the window recess. At last, the lady, with an appearance of nonchalance, but with a tone of voice that betrayed some deeper interest in the matter, said to her companion, “ Apropos the queen herself how do you like her?" "The queen!" replied the cavalier in a low voice, "do you think she re"Yes," continued the lady; casting around him a troubled glance. "Between us-just as much as Madame Laura resembles Elizabeth of England?" sembles Maria Theresa of France!" was the youth's answer. As the last words left his lips, he grew deadly pale. His companion alone seemed to enjoy the remark. "Admirable !" cried she, and signalised her sense of the joke which was conveyed to her by the words, by a hearty laugh. But her mirth received a sudden check, as her eye fell on the personage who now stood in front of her and her companion. "Who is this Madame Laura?" said the Queen Christina; for it was she herself who now appeared before the cavalier and the lady, having overheard all that had passed. A STORY OF SWEDEN.* CHRISTINA of Sweden, only child and successor to Gustavus Adolphus, the Lion of the North, and right arm, as he was called, of the Protestant faith, ascended the throne of her ancestors at a very early age. She was a woman of considerable talents, but more reAt this question, the cavalier, previously much agimarkable for energy of character, and an indomitable will; qualities which she inherited from her father, and which her position, as the uncontrolled head of tated, was compelled to lean on the window. But he an almost absolute monarchy, nursed into more than recovered himself sufficiently to reply, though with an masculine strength. Her wilfulness always displayed altered and faltering voice, to the queen's interrogaitself in a rash, though sometimes in a generous way; tory, "Madame Laura, please your majesty, is a Pariand in one of her fits of the latter kind, ere she sian lady, who has the honour to resemble the Queen Christina looked on the speaker with an air of doubt "Count d'Harcourt," said she after had advanced far in life, she formally resigned her of France-both in dignity of manners and beauty." crown, for the good, as she imagined, of her people. The sacrifice was soon repented of, but too late for and indecision. a pause, biting her lips at the same time, "this is a retrieval, and she spent her latter days in retirement. It was this extraordinary woman's leading wish, when trait of French gallantry for which the Queen of on the throne, to be compared to Elizabeth of Eng- Sweden may thank you at some future period." Nodland, and she imitated that princess even in her cold-ding slightly and haughtily to the count's fair compastep moved to the spot where a band of courtiers were hearted and unworthy coquetries. Hereby hangs the nion, Christina then turned away, and with majestic tale we have now to tell. engaged at the card-table. Meanwhile the whisper passed from tongue to tongue, “The queen has spoken particularly to the young Frenchman; his fortune is made." The object of their remarks, on the other hand, was at that moment muttering to himself, "I am ruined-lost!" And taking leave of his former Count d'Harcourt left the assembly. companion, almost without a word on either side, the On another cause of disease among the poor of large communities, namely, intemperance, we do not consider it necessary to dwell here. The evil has already been often adverted to in this Journal, and indeed is treated of at some length in another part of the present number. Besides, the subject is at this day undergoing ample discussion in this and every other civilised land; and in the numerous publications devoted especially to the question, the injurious influence of the practice upon health may be seen stated The young Queen of Sweden gave a magnificent That this is an evil of the first magnitude, at length. fête or masquerade in her palace at Stockholm. This is undeniable. The poor have a very general dislike to be removed fête had a peculiar character, and one which doubled to hospitals when attacked by illness, or to permit its splendour and attractions, while exhibiting, at the same time, the ruling foible of the heroine of the any member of their families to be taken thither in the like circumstances. How injurious such prejudices north. Christina wished, for one night, to have the are in their practical effect, will appear from the follow-pleasure of openly and expressly bearing the characing case, one of many that might be adduced. The surgeons of the workhouse at Bermondsey state that a * Translated from the French. Christina, after speaking as has been related, went 116 66 directly to the ambassador of France, whom she drew "Madame Laura-Madame Laura!" rejoined the Upon the diplomatist avouching that he never in his life had heard of such a lady, Christina tapped the ground restlessly with her foot, and appeared annoyed. "Then your excellency," said she at length, with an imperious voice, "will have the goodness to favour me by finding out the lady. Let an express set out for Paris this night, and return without a moment's delay with full details respecting the position and character of this Madame Laura." The ambassador bowed respectfully, and retired to give immediate orders to a courier to proceed on this extraordinary mission. It has been said that the Queen of Sweden imitated or at least resembled Elizabeth in her fashion of coquetting with some favoured noble of her court. The personage on whom, at the date of our story, the favour of Christina seemed to have fallen, was that young Frenchman, who, exiled for political reasons from his own country, had come to Sweden in the hope of obtaining military service. The queen received him with peculiar marks of distinction, gave him a commission in her life-guards, and conducted herself towards him, altogether, in such a manner as would have given even a very modest man reason to believe himself an object of marked regard. To a young man of twenty-five, bold and ambitious, such a conviction was likely to be flattering and seductive. We cannot say that it was not so in the case of Count d'Harcourt, but whatever might be his dreams of ambition, his affections had lighted on another object than the sovereign of Sweden. This was the Baroness Helena of Steinberg, a young and beautiful countrywoman of his own, and the widow of a deceased Swedish noble. The baroness returned d'Harcourt's passion warmly, and the jealous eye of love soon advised her of the potent rival with whom she had to combat for his affection. On the occasion of the masked ball, Christina had herself deigned to suggest the character of Essex to the young Count d'Harcourt. The baroness, when informed of the circumstance, saw its full significance, and was bold enough to venture on answering the hint of the queen by a covert allusion of the same practical kind. Finding a portrait of Lady Sidney, widow of Sir Philip, whom Essex had privately made his countess, the baroness had assumed the character of that lady at the risk of giving offence. Hence the unwillingness of d'Harcourt to attract attention at the masquerade, the baroness being then his companion. Well would it have been for the young noble had he been equally cautious with regard to his speech! But, in reality, the costume of Christina, which had called from him the mysterious remark about Madame Laura, was somewhat ridiculous. The numberless frills of Elizabeth's usual dress, with all its other stiff and stately points, were very much out of place on the restless, careless, and petulant Queen of Sweden. Perhaps she was partly suspicious of this on reflection, and the more galling was the idea of being an object of ridicule to the man she favoured, and, above all, to her rival in his regard. "Yes," cried she, "if I am ridiculous, Sleep, or the calm of night, brought a change over The count, who had been preparing himself for leaving Stockholm, was surprised and confounded on receiving this intelligence. He was the more so, as he had not the least doubt but that the queen must have discovered the secret of his allusion to Madame Laura, from some of the Frenchmen about the court. The conduct of Christina thus appeared to him in a most magnanimous light, and a light very dangerous to his fidelity to the Baroness de Steinberg. Still more was this the case, when after the lapse of but a few months, he was raised to the rank of colonel, and, subsequently, on the occasion of his performance of a gallant action, was honoured with the rank of general, and the key of chamberlain of the household. He was induced also to become a naturalised Swede, as a step to further greatness. All eyes were now turned upon the rising young Frenchman, and it was thought that the premiership, was in a trying position. He was charmed with if not a higher honour, was within his grasp. He the queen's generosity of heart, and believed that she must love him, though nothing but her kindly actions, and, it may be, her looks, had indicated it hither to; and he had never dared to enter upon such a subject. Indeed, dazzled as he was by the prospect of personal favour from a young, powerful, and not unlovely princess, d'Harcourt still felt his heart to be with the Baroness de Steinberg. His fidelity to the latter, and his ambition, came at length to a direct trial-a struggle for superiority. The Baroness de Steinberg had seen, with mingled feelings of pain and pleasure, the elevation of her lover, but the sense of pain predominated. She saw that ambition was estranging him from her. One day, accordingly, she The queen was seated in council when he was an- The smile of the queen made the intoxicated young declare it, as I can now say, as a woman, what I might A groan was all the reply of the undeceived and The impatient queen received an answer from Paris in eight days, so actively did the courier fulfil the orders given. "Madame Laura," said the document which he brought, "is a court lady who has become mad. Her mania consists in a belief that she is queen of France, and in her endeavour to rival the real sovereign, Maria Theresa, in all her dresses and decorations. The poor woman passes her life in this sole occupation. The queen never assumes a habit, which is not seen immediately afterwards on Madame Laura. As she is as inoffensive as ridiculous, nobody meddles" I knew that you loved me, but I wished to hear you with her, and she is every where known in Paris by the name of the queen's caricature." This dispatch had additional details of the same kind, and concluded by exhibiting a portraiture of poor Madame Laura, dressed as Maria Theresa, and looking inexpressibly ridiculous. The rage of the Queen of Sweden knew no bounds. She had conceived that there was some little point about d'Harcourt's comparison somewhat unfavourable, but to find that she had been compared altogether to a vain and ridiculous madwoman-she, the heroine and pride of the north-she, who had almost allowed the author of this gross insult to know that she loved him-she, to be an object of contempt to this strange youth and his Lady Sidney, the woman for whom he seemed to reject herself-such a thought was torturing to the heart of the proud and wilful princess. "Wretches!" she exclaimed, "this is the comparison you would have had me to believe a compliment !" Filled with such emotions, the queen again chanced to look at the detailed account of Madame Laura. "Innocent as the madness of the lady really is," said "she is an austere sovereign, one part of the paper, and by no means inclined to admit clemency among the royal virtues. She speaks ever of executing "Yes, I have raised you," continued the queen, "only for the enjoyment of this hour. Elizabeth raised the Earl of Essex step by step to place and honour. So have I done by you. But there is a further step. If I cannot be Elizabeth, as Madame Laura, whom resemble so much, and who is equally cruel as mad, I may fairly finish the similitude. You remember the end of Essex!" "Death!" exclaimed the agitated count involun- "I "This man," said she to them, "is insane. Let him Insanity really attacked the unhappy man. OCCASIONAL NOTES. CURIOUS FEATURE OF THE BOOKSELLING BUSINESS IN THE present Journal is regularly reprinted by Mr MEN SURVIVED BY THEIR FIRMS. It is very common when any individual or copartnery has been successful in business, and when the business survives its originators, to make no change in the firm, or business designation, in order that the new man or men may have the benefit of a respected name to second their own efforts and deserts. In the eye of a strict morality, this can in no instance be quite crime of obtaining money under false pretences. right, for it certainly involves a modification of the Sanctioned, however, by custom, and practically not productive of any evil consequences, it may be overlooked in all ordinary mercantile concerns, where one honest and active man of business may be fairly presumed to be as good as another. Clearly, however, it special personal qualities are called into exercise. Say, is not so excusable in business concerns in which for instance, that an ingenious man has become famous instruments of his making bring a higher price or for his skill in making musical instruments, and that meet a quicker sale than those of other makers, it would obviously be an act of deception for any person or persons, after his death, under the pretence of keeping Here the business is not alive his business, to make and sell similar instruments marked with his name. simply mercantile : there must have been some pecuwhich it is in the highest degree unlikely that his liar ingenuity, skill, or shrewdness in the original man, successors possess; and therefore they are not entitled to keep up his name. So, also, if an engraver of maps has acquired celebrity in his particular art, it is plainly CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL. wrong to keep alive his name in a business concern after his death, seeing that the art of engraving maps involves a degree of geographical knowledge, or at least of conscientiousness and industry in consulting authorities, as well as of skill and taste in engraving, which another man may not have. His successors may say, the late man did not in his latter days engrave maps with his own hand, but employed clever subalterns, all of whom we still have about us, so that in reality the work issued from our office is now as good as ever it was. All this may be true, but it is far from being satisfactory. If the late man did not latterly do any thing with his own hand, he probably exercised a general superintendence which was useful. At least, he gave the guarantee of his name that the work was properly executed-that name being generally recognised as that of a man of credit and renown in the construction of maps, and who might be supposed to be on his guard lest it should suffer by appearing in connection with inferior work. But, now that he has been dead and gone for many years, the superintendence may be of a very different character, the maps may be engraved under circumstances much less advantageous for neatness and accuracy, and the guarantee given is not that of the persons concerned, but that of a man past all human accountability. Neither will it do to say that the death of the original man is well known, and that the phrase can deceive nobody. His " engraved by death must be unknown to a great number of persons, who, in trusting to the above phrase as a recommendation, must unquestionably be deceived. It may even chance that individuals, ignorant of the reputation of the man, may purchase the productions of his successors, merely from seeing his name paraded in a way meant to convey the idea of recommendation. Can this be called no deceiving? Take the case, however, in any way we will, it must appear as a kind of imposture. The phrase itself, " engraved by the person meant having been dead for years, is a downright statement of what is not true. It is a false statement, obviously designed for a purpose, and that purpose must be the benefit of those who use the phrase. If not, why do they not at once use their own names, or adopt the phrase "successors?" in either of which cases there could be no dubiety. Obliquities of this sort are, we humbly conceive, unworthy of men engaged in honourable callings. Solomon's Balm of Gilead may be sold after Mr Solomon himself is dead, and no one, who swallows the balm itself, will strain at the matter of the name. But when we find any thing partaking of the nature of imposture in connection with intellectual pursuits or operations, we unavoidably feel shocked, because it is in such pursuits and operations that we naturally expect to find the purest integrity and candour. TAIT'S MAGAZINE FOR APRIL. THE TOTAL ABSTINENCE MOVEMENT IN MUNSTER. MR TAIT'S Magazine has the great merit of being much cheaper than others of the same class. Laying aside its politics, which, after all, occupy but a small portion of the work, its literary matter, especially in the department of tales, is generally of a high character. In the number before us, the leading article is one descriptive of the late abstinence movement In the south of Ireland. We have seen this movement alluded to by snatches in many newspapers, but have not before met with any thing like a historical summary of the affair, and we therefore consider the present paper as one of considerable interest and importance. It will probably for the first time afford a just idea, on this side of the water, of Father Matthew's operations, which, though exemplifying, we believe, all the features of the moral epidemic, and therefore resting, we fear, on not the soundest basis, are certainly in the mean time of a most beneficial character, and may even be supposed to promise some measure of permanent good. Mr Matthew is, as is generally known, a Catholic clergyman in Cork. Early in 1838 he established in that city a Total Abstinence Society, which on the 20th of January 1840, numbered 500,000 members. "This rapid increase," says the author of the article before us," is sufficiently remarkable in itself, but it calls for our deepest attention if it can be shown to proceed from a great national movement; a voluntary effort on the part of the people, which developes some of the most peculiar features of Irish character." He has watched and witnessed the progress of the business, and he has come to the conclusion," that a great majority of those who have received the temperance pledge from Mr Matthew, took the step in consequence of observing the improvement visible in the health and circumstances of friends and neighbours who had ioined the society, and that in comparatively few instances was any persuasive attempted by superiors, either lay or clerical." We shall now quote the account given by our author of the history of the society. "The first attempt to establish a total abstinence society in the south of Ireland, was made in Cork by some members of the Society of Friends. This was attended with little or no success, and they solicited Mr Matthew to commence one on similar principles, rightly judging that twenty years' zealous performance of the duties of his office, which had gained for him rance. the enviable reputation of being the poor man's friend, 6 The rapid increase of the Tee-Total Temperance Society soon began to attract public attention, and several applications were made to Mr Matthew to visit various towns for the sake of making converts. These he uniformly refused, alleging that all who were in earnest would come to him, and that the fatigue and privations incident to a long journey, especially if made on foot, would be likely to impress the occasion of it deeply on their minds. The first exception to this rule occurred when he visited Limerick to preach a charity sermon, on which occasion troops were obliged to be called out to prevent loss of life, from the mere presMr Matthew was subsequently requested, by his ecclesure of the thousands who crowded to take the pledge. siastical superiors, to visit Waterford and Clonmel, as the numbers of country people who flocked into Cork were in many instances overreached and plundered by designing individuals, who professed to accommodate strangers. It thus appears that, after the first required on the part of Mr Matthew than the enrolestablishment of the society, no further measures were ment of the crowds who daily presented themselves for admission. To make this clear, we will allow the tee-totallers to speak for themselves, merely premising that, in all the cases we shall bring forward, the witnesses were examined by ourselves; some casually when in our employ as guides, boatmen, &c.; others ness, as tailors, shoemakers, &c.; and that the drift when in their shops, or engaged in their trade or busiof our questions has always been to discover the immediate cause of their taking the pledge, and its effects upon their health and circumstances: 1. John Fleming, aged forty, guide and bugleman at Killarney, took the pledge in June 1839. After receiving money, he never could rest till he had spent it; and when he could not drink it all himself, used to treat others. Joined the Tee-Total Society in consequence of having sold his bugle, and enlisted when very drunk. Was imprisoned for taking money on false pretences, he having taken the money to enlist when too old to enter the service. When released, was persuaded by his sister-in-law, who keeps a whisky shop, to go to Cork. Walked there, and drank two glasses of whisky and two pints of ale on the road; walked back next day, drank milk, and found the road shorter. Used, after drinking, to sleep badly, and eat no breakfast; now, sleeps uniformly well, and can eat any thing. Has, in the course of the summer, paid many pounds of debt previously incurred, besides living on a superior diet. At first the publicans offered to treat him to whisky, punch, &c.; now, no one thinks of proposing it to him. Is much better in health, and never feels the want of spirits either when wet or cold. 2. John Collins, turned seventy, boot and shoe maker at Killarney. Went to Cork, August 7, 1839. From his childhood was in the habit of drinking whenever he could get the price of a glass of whisky. Used to take the money for his children's breakfast, and buy whisky, leaving them and himself without food. Had four sons, whom he taught to drink as well as himself; and when they came home at night drunk, used to fight his sons, and kick and beat his wife. [By the solicitations of his son, he went to Cork, and took the pledge from Father Matthew.] The next day he tried to walk from Cork (fifty-eight miles), taking nothing but a little sour milk; thought he should have died, but felt quite content, though sure that a glass of whisky would cure him. Felt faint and weak for three weeks; since that, has never found the want of drink; is better in health, lives well, and on the best terms with his family. Used to have potatoes, perhaps dry bread, very often nothing; now, has meat once a-day, and tea or coffee for breakfast; the same again before going to bed. 3. Francis Donnoghue, aged forty-one, druggist, 4. Denis MacCarthy, aged fifty-seven, boatman at 5. Timothy MacCarthy, aged thirty, carpenter at 6. John Brien, aged thirty-nine, bellhanger at Killarney, took the pledge 8th June 1839. Before he took the pledge, was drunk, more or less, every day. Wonders, now, how he could have got through his business: lost many of his employers, and got involved, of his clothes in pawn. Thinks no one drank from so that no one would credit him; generally had some Cork. When his neighbours heard of his going, they such pure love of whisky as himself. Lost Lord Kenmare's employment, and then determined to go to shook their heads, and said, 'If Brien gives up drinking, we'll think something of Father Matthew's new system. He'll never get back from Cork without He can't hold out a fortnight. At the end of a fortgetting drunk. When he came back sober, they said, night they gave him six weeks; and seeing him still sober, they went themselves." Other nine cases, much resembling these, are given; after which the writer proceeds to consider the question which must naturally arise in every mind, "Will this last?" He is inclined to augur that it will, with many at least, and this for various reasons-first, that improved health, wealth, and comfort, are found to flow from temperance; and, second, because, being so an interesting part of the subject. universal, surrounding example and precept are favourable to its continuance. We now follow him into "It will readily be supposed that the abstraction of half a million of drunkards from the population must falling off in the duties on spirits during the past year, exercise a very decided influence on the statistics of the province; and, accordingly, we find a considerable and an increase in those upon tea and other excisable articles. We could also refer, with the greatest satisfaction, to police reports, and addresses of magistrates at petty sessions. But we are aware that the great diminution in crime observable in the south of Ireland, for the last twelve months, is, by many, attributed to the absence of all political excitement; and we therefore prefer to confine ourselves to those facts which Marian laughed at her nurse's picture; but she had built her own castle, and resolved, poor girl, to inhabit it the first opportunity. MARIAN AS A COMPANION TO A LADY. cannot possibly be attributed to any other cause than Sundays, on account of the small drop of beer I take; tee-totalism. Of this kind are the following details, and then I see so much badness in it, that I'm glad communicated to us by Dr Bullen, surgeon to the it's a Sunday I see it, for it can't be so bad that day North Infirmary in Cork, one of the largest hospitals as any other; and, indeed, there's nothing in a paper in Ireland; an hospital which, during the last eleven much worse than advertisements for teachers, where months, has received 1258 in-door, and 14,500 out-door, they are expected to be the most edicated and wonpatients. Dr Bullen states, that cases of casualties, derful of God's crayturs-with every quality of angels consisting of personal assaults consequent upon drink--French, and Latin, and algebra, and music, and to ing, after payment of wages on Saturday night, have have the charge of only five or six children, and needlewithin the last nine months been reduced to one-third work, and hard-work, and wardrobe-work, and the of their former average amount. That the cases of devil knows what-and then, at the heel of the hunt wives brought to the hospital in consequence of brutal comes in, that as it's a comfortable situation, no salary beating or kicking by their husbands, which formerly the first year." averaged two a-week, have within the same period nearly ceased. That the casualties arising from falls from scaffolding, injuries by machinery, &c., have been reduced fifty per cent. He also states that, in the course of his extensive practice, although frequently meeting with delirium tremens, and other dreadful complaints brought on by excessive drinking, he has not met with one case of disease referable to the sudden and total disuse of spirits. At the last renewal of licences, in the city of Limerick, eighty publicans and venders of spirits abstained from applying for a renewal. In the small town of Killarney, fourteen have given up dealing in spirits; and we are happy to find that in most cases they have established soup and coffee shops, bake-houses, and other similar accommodations for the poorer classes, which will materially assist in diminishing the temptation to a relapse. At Cork, in addition to a great diminution in the applications for spirit licences, sixteen publicans have been declared insolvent, all of whom attributed their failure to Mr Matthew's success. Similar details might be collected from almost every town south of Dublin; but as the progress of the society was, for the first year, comparatively slow (at the end of twelve months about 7000 members had been enrolled), the effect of so good a change in the morals and habits of the people will not be fully apparent in the statistics of the country for at least twelve months to come." The writer concludes with some speculations on the probable effects of sobriety in Munster upon the cultivation of the soil, and in admitting English capital and enterprise to come into the province. That it will, if lasting, work great good in these respects, will scarcely, we suppose, be doubted. MRS HALL'S MARIAN.* MARIAN is a young lady befriended by an affectionate Irish nurse, named Katty Macane. In the first of the two following extracts, Katty gives her views respecting a well-known employment for young ladiesseverely true in the main, though perhaps a little exaggerated. In the second, Marian is represented as actually in a situation, but of a somewhat different kind. GOING A-GOVERNESSING. "I will be a governess," said Marian, triumphantly; "great women have been teachers, I have heard Miss Kitty say-great and good women. Kings must have teachers; queens must have governesses." Katty Macane compressed her lips and elevated her brows. One night Marian had exhausted all her arts of pleasing (those who are constrained to please ever feel as if they lacked the means to do so); she had quilled her patroness a new tour de téte, invented expressly for the purpose of concealing the junction between the real and false hair; she had gauffred a frill; she had oiled her curls; she had played her favourite waltzes, and practised a new quadrille; she had gone to the fruiterer's to select some raisins; she had been called stupid and idle and ill-tempered before the grinning servants, and had bitten her lips to enforce silence to insults she dared not reply to; she had made some blanc-mange, attempted to clear obstinate opaque jelly, and been called from it to attend to some trifling alteration in the pinning of a riband or the trimming of a shoe, by which means the blanc-mange was spoiled, and the jelly left to run cold-for servants always make common cause against an humble companion, particularly if she be honest and independent. Finally, she undressed Mrs Trufit; and then, while she tried on various nightcaps, and wailed and moaned and egotised, was obliged to half-dress her again, as she declared her bed was ill made, and Marian must remake it; then she ordered her to sing her asleep. Marian commenced with a lullaby; but no, that would not do. How could Marian suppose she could be sung to sleep like common people, particularly common stage-people, who always go to sleep to a lullaby? No, she could go to sleep to nothing that was not light and animating; and the poor girl was forced to suffocate her feelings and sing the song of mirth in the region of misery. When her tormentor was fairly asleep, instead of going, as a servant could, to her regular repose, poor Marian was obliged to return to the narrow precincts of what the fantastic lady called her "boudoir"-a back-room within a back-room-and there write various letters and orders which she had been directed to dispatch "the first thing in the morning." Her young eyes ached, her cheek was blanched, yet, long after the clock struck one, she commenced her task. All the servants, except the footman, had gone to bed, and he waited for his master. She had known that her only real friend her poor Irish nurse-had watched the entire day to see her, and she had cried more than once at the impossibility of meeting her faithful friend. Her fingers performed their almost mechanical "To go a-governessing is looking at the world operation, while tear after tear dropped upon her through the back windows. I never heard such folly! hand. "I would not bear it!" she exclaimed, as a To be, as a body may say, between hawk and buzzard; torrent of painful recollections crowded on her retoo low for the drawing-room, too high for the kit-membrance; " I would not bear it, but that she has chen; belonging neither to the earth beneath nor the no other to serve her faithfully in the whole world heavens above; slighted by the mistress; insulted by but me; and she was kind to me in my childhoodthe servants; winked at by the gentlemen visitors, she was kind to me in my childhood." And then she and shook off by the lady ones; blamed for the faults continued her task until the loud knocking of Mr of the children; barked at by the dogs, scratched by Trufit and a continuation of louder talking in the hall the cats; a thing without a place; a free woman, treated as a born slave. Listen to me, avourneen. I have known at home and abroad, big and little, thirteen governesses in my time; twelve were born miserable, and were always kept so; the thirteenth was lucky, for she died in her first place. Och, alanna! God break hard fortune before any woman's child-I'd rayther, or as soon, see you in yer grave, as going agovernessing." "Better than living a dependent," said Marian, still more proudly; " any thing better than that." "Now listen to me. Ye're too young yet to dream of such a thing, for if ye war a rock o' sense, and a tree o' wisdom, which I never knew gentle or simple to be at your age, my precious darling, stately as ye're looking setting a case you war all I say, did you ever know a governess, who, if she worked the brain out of her head, let alone her fingers to the bone, wasn't considered a dependent?" "She earns her income," persisted Marian; "she gives her talents for her employer's money; one could not do without the other." "Och, good-morrow to ye, my lady!" exclaimed Katty, with the bitterness of a woman who knows the world; "ye've read that in some romance. Look in the newspapers though, indeed, it's better ye didn't. I, that have been a camp follower for many a yearsarved under the duke (God keep him in health, and strength, and happiness, and glory, which he can't fail to be in, to the end of his days, and longer, seeing he's taken the shine out of Bonyparte and Marlboro', whose fine place is close to where the big boys goes to school-Oxford they call it)-well, I never looks at a paper on account of the wakeness in my eyes, and the pot-boy not lending me the loan of one, barrin' on * Three volumes. London, Henry Colburn. 1839. assured her that "the master" had returned; presently she heard the sound of several footsteps ascend to the front drawing-room, and then Mr Trufit say to the servant, "All gone to bed?-cook gone to bed? Call her up, and let her hunt out the larder, bring the tray up here! What! no candles -no fire?" "I will fetch candles, sir, and I suppose there is a fire in my mistress's boudoir, as Miss Marian is there." Mr Trufit took the candle from the footman's hand, large; his nose high and arched; his lips thin and compressed; his eye black as jet, and only seen distinctly when he elevated his thick shaggy brows, which were of snowy whiteness, and hung completely over his eyes; his forehead was high and wrinkled, surmounted by an abundance of white hair, which, instead of lying straight and smooth, as it generally does in old age, curled and bushed about his head, in a way that showed it was much cared for by his valet. A stayed respectable-looking woman sat opposite to her master, and prepared his tea, which she handed him as he sat, or rather sank, in his cushioned chair. His dress was in keeping with his house. His stock ings were of white-ribbed silk; his shoes brightly polished; his waistcoat was of white embroidered silk; and the skirts of his brocaded dressing-gown were spread upon his knees, while the ermine collar appeared as if never disturbed from its position round his throat. His cravat was trimmed with lace, and fell upon his bosom; and the loose sleeves of his dressing-gown, as they fell back nearly to his elbows, showed that his shirt was of the finest linen, and his sleeve-buttons composed of superb brilliants. A beautiful Persian greyhound had laid its head upon its master's knee, and looked wistfully up to the face which, severe as was its ordinary expression, smiled kindly, if not sweetly, upon Hafiz. "Has this paper been wiped and dried?" inquired the old gentleman, as he looked at the Morning Post. "Yes, Sir Henry, it is perfectly dry and clean, I assure you." "It is very odd, Mrs Upton, that you never remember to put the paper on the right-hand side of the muffineer." "I beg your pardon, Sir Henry; I did place it at the right hand, but Mullins displaced it; I should have seen to it." "Thank you, Mrs Upton. You are sure it is not damp ? Very good-very good." And he forthwith commenced reading a paragraph, and then taking his tea, toast, muffins, and cold pie, in rotation, and in a manner which proved him an adept in the art of good living. When the general had finished his repast, Mrs Upton poured some cream into a cup of water, and presented it to Hafiz, and then the old general smiled, and, folding the paper, handed it, with a courtly inclination of his head, to Mrs Upton, saying, as great newsmongers generally do, after reading from the title to the printer's name, "There is nothing in it." The housekeeper curtseyed her thanks-the breakfast things were removed-the gentleman's chair wheeled round to the fire, and his reading-table placed by his side. "Please, Sir Henry," said the urbane Mrs Upton, "would you be so good as to tell me if you expect any one to-day, and what you would desire for dinner?" "I dare say," replied the general, " I shall see my grandson this morning. When I was his age, I would have been a-field before this hour; but times are changed-times are changed!" "Master Peronett's a fine youth, though, Sir Henry -a very fine youth; so much handsomer than Master Godfrey, his cousin!-1 suppose the soup, soles, haunch of mutton, with some light things, will be enough?" "Quite, thank you-quite enough, Mrs Upton. You think Henry better looking than Godfrey? Well, I can't say I do, Mrs Upton. Godfrey has the Peronett eye-the Peronett eye; very peculiar that I never saw any person, not a Peronett, have the eye, and few Peronetts without it. Now, Henry has not the eye." "But the nose, Sir Henry! Master Peronett has a nose !" "God bless my soul, Mrs Upton, to be sure he has ! -a nose very like his poor father's. But a nose is of little consequence-the eye-the eye is the thing!" "Undoubtedly, Sir Henry-the eye is the distinguishing feature." So. and, having done so, half reeled, half walked, followed by his companions, into the room where Marian, trem-it, bling she knew not why, was occupied with her pen. "Have you got the keys ?" he inquired, in the thick inarticulate tone of drunkenness. "No, sir." "Then go and get them." "Yes, sir, but" replied Marian, rising. "What but-what do you mean?" she is only now gone to sleep-must I disturb her?” "Mrs Trufit has been very unwell, sir, all day, and Marian lit a taper, and proceeded slowly up stairs. AN OLD GENERAL. The sun was shining brightly on the Thames the trees were glittering in their draperies of frosted silver—a fire had been kindled before daylight in the sacred drawing-room, and sparkled brightly within polished bars of the purest steel. The apartment was solitary as usual. The general was at his breakfast table in the library-the urn and necessary appendages were of plain gold-the chair he sat in was covered with Genoa velvet of the deepest crimson. The old officer's appearance was as singular as his dwelling. No one could have mistaken him for an ordinary person. He was exceedingly small of stature, and of delicate proportions; his feet and hands as minute as those of a beautiful woman-and there is no perfection of beauty where they are not exquisitely moulded. His features were prominent, though not "In noble families," said the little man, crossing his legs with evident self-complacency, "the eye always is the distinguishing feature; in the Peronett family, as you have heard me before observe, it is peculiarly The eye is the window of the soul. No; Master Peronett's eyes are not like Godfrey's: I am sorry for for I should have liked the property and the eyes to go together, as they have always done heretofore but it can't be helped. I wish Mrs Gibbs would take back these bantams-they are not of a size; now, I like to see five or six of those white bantams exactly of a size-will you have the goodness to get them weighed to ascertain? Good morning, Mrs Upton. By the way, I forgot to tell you that I fear the housemaid is incorrigible; I assure you the towels in my dressing-room were again folded in three." "I will see to it myself, Sir Henry," said the housekeeper. "Thank you, Mrs Upton; but that is not what I desire; it would never do to set a drill-serjeant to do privates' work-you understand me?" Mrs Upton curtseyed again, and had got as far as the door, when she was called back. "Mrs Upton, pray do not suffer Master Peronett to imagine that I am at all disappointed at his wanting the Peronett eye-it might make him unhappy-dissatisfied with his eyes; and then, Mrs Upton, there is no knowing what the young man might do." "Very true, Sir Henry-he might even think of spectacles!" General Sir Henry Peronett cast a most indignant look at the housekeeper, who, seeing that she had erred, endeavoured to remedy her error. CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL. "Has the gardener trimmed those geraniums, and seen to the fire in the green-house?" "Yes, Sir Henry." liberty; and you know, sir, the first people of rank "Very sorry to trouble you, my good lady, but the the persons represented being mostly of a character catalogue of plants?" "Is quite ready, Sir Henry." "Thank you, Mrs Upton; you deserved, madamyou deserved to be a soldier's wife!" ODD LONDON CHARACTERS OF FORMER produced by a judicious use of wigs, head-dresses, and TIMES. GEORGE ALEXANDER STEVENS. THIS was the first man who ever succeeded in entertaining an audience for a whole evening by his own unassisted powers of amusement. He was a native of London, of obscure birth, and originally designed for some mechanical employment, but in early youth became an actor. The beginning of his career in life was marked by vice and folly, until disease and penury brought on repentant feelings. Such is his own statement in a poem entitled "Religion, or the Libertine Repentant," which he published in 1751. After a provincial career, he came to London in 1752, and obtained an engagement at Covent-Garden Theatre, but did not succeed in making himself a favourite. He prosecuted the profession for several years with no marked success, and also from time to time published novels and prepared short dramatic pieces, but was after all chiefly noted as a witty and amusing companion, and a prime figure at several convivial clubs. It is to be feared that, after he recovered from the habits were resumed, and that for some years his life sickness in which his first poem was written, his early There is extant a letter was far from reputable. which he wrote from Yarmouth jail, while imprisoned there for debt: it is so characteristic of the man, that it may here be reprinted. "Dear Sir, When I parted from you at Doncaster, I imagined, long before this, to have met with some oddities worth acquainting you with. It is grown a fashion of late to write lives-I have now, and for a long time have had, leisure enough to write mine, but want materials for the latter part of it; for my existence cannot properly be called living, but what the painters term still-life; having, since February 13th, been confined in this town jail for a London debt. As a hunted deer is always shunned by the happier herd, so am I deserted by the company, my share taken off, and no support left, save what my wife can spare me out of hers. 'Deserted, in my utmost need, By those my former bounty fed.' Daniel returning home one day fuddled, he stooped A lucky accident at length opened a way by which this poor son of Thespis attained wealth and some share of distinction. While acting as manager in a country town, his attention was attracted by the happy way in which a mechanic employed in the theatre sketched off the characters of the members of the corporation. The idea germinated in his mind, which naturally was one possessed of considerable soon after wrote the first draught of his celebrated powers of delineating whimsical character; and he lecture on heads, which was delivered by Shuter the actor. Here the object was to exhibit a head, either carved in wood, or drawn on pasteboard, and to make a few sprightly remarks upon it; after which another was brought forward and remarked upon, and so on; open to ridicule, such as an old starched bachelor, a blood, a fine lady, and so forth. The mechanic who gave the first idea helped Stevens to make the heads, little thinking what a reception they were ultimately to meet with from the public. Much effect was also other properties. At first, in Shuter's hands, the exhibition did not meet with success, perhaps in some degree for want of a sufficiency of the required apparatus; but Stevens soon after expanded the lecture considerably, and, procuring a proper head and dress for each character, went himself to try its fortune in the country. This was about the year 1764. In a country town, where regular theatricals are unknown or of poor character, any one who can furnish an evening's tolerable amusement at a moderate price, has a good chance. The Lecture on Heads proved to be quite of the character suited to such places, besides that it was in itself a complete novelty. It took amazingly, and the author, returning with some reputation to London, exhibited it with great applause in extensive tour of England and Scotland, every where the Haymarket Theatre. Thence he proceeded on an In 1766, by way of vary meeting the same success. ing the entertainment, with a view to re-appearing on the same ground, he brought out a new Lecture, but it did not succeed so well as the first. He afterwards visited America, where the lecture was so much reAt Boston he was apprehensive that the austere lished, that he was detained in the country two years. spirit of the place would be against him; but even there he met with a flattering reception, and had crowded audiences for six weeks. Quaker Philadelphia was equally gracious to him. The profits of these exhibitions were very great, for he had no associates to pay; and in a few years it was estimated that he had made ten thousand pounds by the adventure-a vast sum to have been realised by a player in those little fortune with the care which it deserved. Todays. It has been said that he did not husband his wards the end of his days, he sank into that paralytic state in which the animal powers survive, while the mind is totally gone, and thus was a most pitiable spectacle to all connected with him. Previous to this Charles Lee Lewis, who consequently delivered it to period, he had sold his lecture and apparatus to Mr But we shall not avail ourselves of an alibi, but adcomic relish peculiar to Stevens's performance, for the best of his ability; but there must have been some Lewis failed exactly as Shuter had done, and the Lecwe shall take it upon a new ground, and beg a new ture became an entertainment dead to the public. mit of the existence of a cook-maid. Now, my lord, The author himself paid the debt of nature at Biggle-trial; for, as they have curtailed our name from plain swade in Bedfordshire, September 6, 1784, when probably aged little above sixty. The counsel on the other side rose up gracefully, playing with his ruffles prettily, and tossing the ties of his wig about emphatically. He began with, My lord, and you, gentlemen of the jury, I humbly do counsel in this case for the defendant; therefore, my conceive I have the authority to declare that I am no more than filligree work. Some people may think them an embellishment; but to me it is a matter of lord, I shall not flourish away in words; words are the detriment of all rudiment. But, my lord, this is astonishment how any one can be so impertinent to not to be looked at through the medium of right and wrong; for the law knows no medium, and right and wrong are but its shadows. Now, in the first place, a kitchen is nobody's premises; a kitchen is not a they have called a kitchen my client's premises. Now, bakehouse, an inn-house, nor an out-house, nor a dwellwarehouse, nor a washhouse, a brewhouse, nor a ing-house; no, my lord, 'tis absolutely and bona fide neither more nor less than a kitchen, or, as the law more classically expresses, a kitchen is, camera necesdum, pro turtle soupos, calce's-head-hashibus, cum calipee saria pro usus cookare; cum saucepannis, stewpannis, andum, boilandum, fryandum, et plum-pudding mixanscullero, dressero, coalholo, stovis, smoke-jacko, pro roastet calipashibus. * * * Mary into Moll, I hope the court will not allow of this; for if they were to allow of mistakes, what With an economy which till now I was a stranger to, I have made shift hitherto to victual my little The Lecture was till a recent period kept constantly would the law do for when the law don't find misgarrison; but then it has been with the aid of good friends and allies-my clothes. This week's eating in print, with wood engravings representing the heads; takes, it is the business of the law to make them." and we must own that, in our young days, we were Therefore the court allowed them the liberty of a new finishes my last waistcoat; and next I must atone us we have the liberty to go to law.' for my errors on bread and water. We shall now return to the law, for our laws are Themistocles had so many towns to furnish his amongst those who found amusement in it. On per- trial; for the law is our liberty, and it is happy for table, and a whole city bore the charge of his meals. using it lately, we discovered that most of the chamanners fully as much as of forms of natural charac-full of returns, and we shall show a compendium of In some respects I am like him, for I am furnished racters were of a temporary kind-representatives of by the labours of a multitude. A wig has fed me two days the trimmings of a waistcoat as long-a pair of ter-and that much of the wit was also the wit of a law [takes the wig]; parts of practice in the twist of velvet breeches paid my washerwoman-and a ruffled passing mode. Nevertheless, there are some passages the tail. The depth of a full bottom denotes the shirt has found me in shaving. My coats I swallowed which may yet excite a laugh, and which deserve to length of a chancery suit, and the black coif behind, seems to have fallen. Those in ridicule of lawyers a great irritator, and only to be used in cases of necessity. by degrees: the sleeves I breakfasted upon for weeks be rescued from the oblivion into which the volume like a blistering plaster, seems to show us that law is the body, skirts, &c., served me for dinner two months. My silk stockings have paid my lodgings, and are perhaps the best-always, of course, reserving the two pair of new pumps enabled me to smoke several point as to the justice of the satire. The following pipes. It is incredible how my appetite (barometer- are extracts :— like) rises in proportion as my necessities make their terrible advances. I here could say something droll about a stomach; but it is ill jesting with edge-tools, and I am sure that is the sharpest thing about me. tion. You may think I can have no sense of my condition, that, while I am thus wretched, I should offer at ridicule: but, sir, people constituted like me, with a disproportionate levity of spirits, are always most merry when they are most miserable, and quicken like the eyes of the consumptive, which are always brightest the nearer a patient approaches to dissoluHowever, sir, to show that I am not entirely lost to all reflection, I think myself poor enough to want a favour, and humble enough to ask it. Here, sir, I might make an encomium on your good nature, humanity, &c.; but I shall not pay so bad a compliment to your understanding as to endeavour, by a parade of phrases, to win it over to my interest. If you could, any night at a concert, make a small collection for me, it might be a means of obtaining my "We shall now consider the law, as our laws are All which are exemplified in the following case, We shall now beg leave to change the fashion of the head-dress, for, like a poor periwig-maker, I am obliged to mount several patterns on the same block. [Puts on the wig, and takes the nosegay.] Law is law, law is law, and as in such and so forth, and hereby, and aforesaid, provided always, nevertheless, notwithstanding. Law is like a country dance; people are led up and down in it till they are tired. Law is like a book of surgery; there are a great many terrible cases in it. It is also like physic; they that take least of it are best off. Law is like a homely gentlewoman, very well to follow. Law is like a scolding wife, very bad when it follows us. Law is it is also like bad weather, most people are glad when like a new fashion, people are bewitched to get into it; We shall now mention a cause, called Bullum versus Boatum:' it was a cause that came before me. they get out of it. The cause was as follows: There were two farmers; farmer A and farmer B. Farmer A was seised or possessed of a bull: farmer B was possessed of a ferry-boat. Now, the owner of |