misery of human kind, until, at the last, the agent considered it to be his duty to save what remained for the benefit of the absent landlord. Had Mr Russel been in Ireland at the time, he would doubtless have softened this last trial; but he was in England or France, or somewhere far away, and requiring all the rents, which had now been long unpaid.

When heavy distress comes upon a man, unless his mind be very highly strung, he will yield to the dangerous and evil advice which, in better times, and with happier feelings, he would have spurned. John Leahy was not strong-minded, and his poor wife's most bitter trial was to see him gradually drawn into the vortex of the discontented. Of such, who so abound in the neighbourhood of Limerick, he was acquainted with many; and Alice's observations led to the belief, that, unless he emigrated, he would become a worn-out and morally ruined man-that his life would be the last sacrifice to "the law." This idea haunted her by day and night; and whenever the remnants of their prosperity were seized, Alice Leahy resolved that the emigration often

hinted at, often debated, should take place. The arrival

of what she knew must come, and that soon, was communicated by the entrance of two of "the neighbours," while she was dressing her child. "The agent's caretaker," they said, "and two or three more with him, were coming; John Leahy must guess for what, but they would stand by their 'ould comrade' to the last; they'd never see him wronged; there were many more of the same mind, to whom he had only to lift up his finger."

The Giant's eyes glittered, and he seized the gun
"Hear me, for
again, but his wife grasped his arm.
the last time, John," she exclaimed; "hear me. Sup-
pose you war left by the landlord in this house, with
so little land, with no money, with not so much as the
price for seed potatoes, every thing going to rack and
ruin, what would you have? what good would it do
you? You've neither means nor money to keep us
from starving; all we had is gone-gone-in the law!
and you would end all by breaking the law, and trying
to keep what isn't your own."

"What do you mane by that!" exclaimed John,
fiercely; "not my own! these walls not my own!"
"Not now when you can't pay for them," she an-
swered calmly.

"Blessed father!" he said, "and is it you that send
the reproach to my heart is it you that but just
this minute tould me what you war, to show you'd be
only make me worse.
so no longer is it come to this wid ye? But that
What have I now to care
for ?"

"Yer character, John. The worst any could say of ye was, that you war too fond of law !--but if ye keep yer landlord from his own share, who then can say John Leahy's an honest man? The land is his; we cannot pay for it; he never was hard upon us when we tried to pay; but, in spite of his advice, look what you did yourself. Look, John: I have a friend who will give us enough to take us away from the ould place in dacency-enough to take us to another land. No one can say then, this was a rogue's house. In another land we can live and work. What matters our poverty there?-no one will be to the fore to reJohn Leahy turned pale as death at this informa- member our riches. John, agra! the landlord bore tion, but took down and prepared to load an old gun, with us long; he saw the farm going to destruction, which, rusty though it seemed, was quite able to do and he wasn't like many another, wishful to turn out mischief. One of the men ran to secure the pigs in ould residenthers for new. John, avourneen! retheir sty, and the other showed he had not come un-member, in this bitther time of trial, remember that the landlord stuck to us longer than we stuck to

armed.

66

you will live or die with him, beg with him; put yer arms round him, Ally; say the prayer I taught ye; I've strength for it all, John, darlint. May the Almighty bless you!-your peaceableness has given me strength; I'm able for it all, if you'll keep quiet. My husband will be an example to the whole country; all will see what he is now; they thought him a disturber of the law; they will find their mistake." She closed the door, paused a moment, and then, as if afraid of a sudden outbreak, turned the key upon it, and removed the gun. Kind neighbours, and dear friends," she said, advancing to the open door, "my husband and I are for ever obliged to ye for yer kindness; we shall soon be far away from ye, but we shall never forget ye; we know that the agent is acting for the best, in doing his duty for his employer. Boys and girls, just is just, and it's fitter he should have it, than such as ye all know who. We thank ye kindly, but entreat that a finger may not be raised in defiance of those that are coming. We take ye to witness, kind friends, that we offer no opposition; we have no one to blame but ourselves-not even the law my husband thought long ago to get the betther of; for its nature is to take advantage where it can, and we can't expect any thing to go against nature. Thank ye kindly, Mrs Doolan, but let the stones go; a woman's best arms are a prayer and a blessing, and you'll all give us those before we lave ye." There was something so different from any thing the kind-hearted but wrongheaded people expected in all this, something so brave in a weak delicate-looking woman stifling her feelings, and resolving to give up every thing, because it was just to do so, particularly when (according to the opinions of their defenders) they might have repelled the invaders, and fought it out there was something so unusual in the dignified bearing of the still beautiful Alice, that even Mrs Doolan let the stones she had gathered slide out of her apron on one side, as if ashamed of her intention, while the men still persisted in their entreaties to let them have one fight for her any way before she'd quit them for good and all. They also (as the distrainers were now at the gate) called loudly to John Leahy to come out, but the heartbroken man heard them not, overcome as much by the reason and eloquence of his wife, as by the Little Alice screamed, and clung to her trembling mother. For an instant that mother's brow, cheek, “Me, you mane me!" interrupted the Giant, sul- pent-up but most powerful feelings of his nature. Ashamed-ruined-the innocent caresses of his kily. throat, were suffused with crimson; she then became child wrought his heart to agony; and pressing the "Then let it stand so," she said, "and still you know little creature to his bosom, he gave way to those white and rigid like a corpse; and her husband, for- it's the truth. John, rouse up the pride of an honest desperate sobs which storm the frame of a strong getting all but the love of his youth, caught her to his heart! We may hould out for two or three months, man, but seldom, perhaps never, more than once in bosom. but in the end we must quit. We saw that before you a whole lifetime. John Leahy, stimulated by bad "Let 'em do what they like!" he exclaimed, dash-owned to it the other night. Do not let blood be spilt advisers, had refused on more than one occasion to ing down the gun; "let them do what they like, now when you can hinder it. This isn't like a hard land-yield possession to the agent, with whom, indeed, he had lord," she repeated, gaining strength from justice. never been on good terms, If Mr Russel had been in she is dead." "I tell ye, John, I've turned every thing over in my Ireland, though he could not prevail on him to abandon own mind; it can't be helped; give up at onst, bravely. law, he would have preserved his influence over him, It is brave to resign like a man." and that would have prevented much that was painful. As the men advanced, they perfectly understood they astonished when Mrs Leahy advanced to the gate, and were engaged in a service of danger, and were greatly said they might enter. The peasantry could hardly be prevailed on to depart; they clamoured to see the poor farmer, but his wife's presence of mind, and the power which conscious integrity invariably gives to through as trying a scene as it ever fell to the lot of those who otherwise would be powerless, carried her woman to endure. She told them he would thank them to-morrow; the women clung to and embraced her, saying she was fitter for heaven than earth; the insulted the distrainers as much as their kindly dread men, while they cursed their disappointment, and of hurting Alice's feelings permitted, declared she was an angel, and called down blessings on her head; and the necessary officer of the law, a strong but well "battered" specimen of human nature, who had received and returned many a sound drubbing, removed his hat, and waited to think over what was the mildest way of performing his duty. When she had seen the last of their faction depart, when the strong necessity for exertion was over, her woman's heart fainted as it had done before; and one of the men, not so accustomed to scenes of misery as the others, departed without intimating his intention to his companions, to tell the agent how peaceably they had obtained possession, and of the extraordinary conduct of Alice. It was the finest example set to the country," he said, "for years, and surely his honour would be as mild as he could, considering."

"No-no-no-only wait till the breath comes back," murmured Alice; "wait;" and, gulping down some water, she summoned her mental strength, which

was great, to aid the little that remained of bodily power. "John Leahy," she said, grasping her husband's arm, and looking in his eyes with the pure and earnest intensity of wedded love; "John Leahy, across that door, now twelve years ago, I came a young bride, a young loving bride, resting my whole heart, and, maybe, too much of the safety of my soul, on you. I have borne you five childre, of which this was the first, and God willed should be the last; the rest are in heaven! Don't look so, John Leahy; have a mite more patience, till my heart beats easier, and I'll go

on."

Several of the neighbours now crowded in at the door, although the "distrainers for rent" were not, nor could not be, in sight for nearly half an hour; but the news had spread, and the people are ever ready at a rescue. Several of the young men had stout sticks, and the women, whose most acceptable service in the sight of heaven is that of being peace-makers on earth, had their aprons full of stones. Seeing Alice half kneeling at her husband's feet, while he endeavoured to raise her again to his bosom, they withdrew, and remained outside ready for action. "And now, John," she said, "let me ask you how often I have been wanting in love or duty to you during them years?" "Never!" he exclaimed, passionately; onst, if this hour, as it may be, is my last-never,

never ONST."

never

"The past is past; ye can't think but that this place, these walls, that little bed where I watched the dying, as I had done the living hours of our babbys, are all in my heart; but, John Leahy, the memory of that, and every thing else, is all we'll have left of it to take to a foreign land, and”

him."

"I can't part the counthry, Alice; it's no use talkand speaking through his clenched teeth. "I did ing; I can't part the counthry," he said, looking round what you wanted three days ago. I made every inquiry as you wished, but I can't part the counthrythe fields, the sod I was born on, or the people !"

"And why should you?" exclaimed James; "aint
windfall of the law shall set foot in it while we stand
we all ready to stand by ye to the last? Sorra a
here." Alice took no notice of these words, but look-
ing at her husband tenderly, and pressing his hand
between hers, she replied, "And do you think that I
down for it? I don't want to lave it because we're
do not love the counthry? wouldn't I lay my life
prospering in it, but because we should burthen it, like
too many others. I love it as much as you, and if you
will stay, let it be still in peace and honesty. Make
no resistance."

house, maybe, the property of Abel Carr! I'd-I'd"-
"Stay!" he said; "what! stay to see this very
"Let us go, then; I have more to lave behind than
you," said his wife.

"The bones of all belonging to me are in the ould
churchyard," he answered, much softened; "but where

will mine rest?"

"With mine," was the reply. "But, John, I lave my brothers, my sister, my ould mother, and she I never can see afther we go. They will hear her last prayer, receive her last blessing; and though you know how I love her, I am content to be far away from her at the last moment, to be with you. My country is where you are, John. My"

"We can see them crossing the near hill," interrupted James; " don't be tramped in the briars, John Leahy; we'll all stand by ye."

The Giant's powerful frame quivered like that of a girl in an ague fit. Strong as he was, he trembled, not from fear, but emotion.

"But for the landlord's claim, it would go to such as Abel Carr," whispered Alice, wisely. "You are right, Alice," replied her husband; "I own it; and now all's gone, I take yer advice. Hide me somewhere," said the heart-broken man; Stop, Alice, stay; inside these walls I was born; where that I can't see or hear 'em; let 'em have inside these walls I will die; and let him who dares to session; and then, when all's gone! Oh, Alice, Alice!" opposite side of the road, and which many a time he had

put me out, take what he'll get."
"Hurra!" exclaimed the man (James Thurles by
name) who had brought the news; "I knew Johnny
the Giant had blood in him yet, for all that the law
drew out; I knew that. Shout, boys and girls, shout!
we'll not have a straw of his thatch touched."

some-
pos-

he added, as, staggering into the bedroom, he fell on
his face upon the bed. "Oh, Alice, to think it should
come to this!-I, onst so proud, so independent, so
high in myself! Thank the neighbours. But, my
God! I cannot let it go-I must"-

66

Ally, come here," said Mrs Leahy to her child; "Ally, come here, and keep with yer father; tell him

Alice found her husband in a state of stupor, and sent her child into the open air, where, poor little maid! she had held such long converse with her dog. Never did distrainers perform their duty with such tardy steps; and the agent, with the trust which Alice Leahy's noble conduct merited, sent word to those he employed, that if they pleased they might remain there for a few days. Leahy went through the form of giving up his house, with a stolid frame, and an eye moveless, and almost rayless. His wife saw, and trembled, for she knew that with a violent temper this appearance was far more dangerous than rage. He then quitted his dwelling, and sat down beneath the shadow of an old tree that grew on the climbed in his childhood. He steadily refused to accept the agent's offer. It was a frightful proof of the growth of evil, for his obstinacy seemed to have returned four fold. He sat down on a wide flat stone, and insisted upon Alice sitting at one side, and his child at the other would suffer none other to approach him, and spurned the poor dog even, that crouched to his feet---spurned it away more than once; but the animal still returned, and

he

CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL.

The Irish peasantry have suffered so desperately
from fever, that they stand in great awe of infection,
bours.
though it seldom makes them forget the rites of hospi-
tality. Many offered their humble homes, and desired
to give "the place" up to her altogether. "Sure the
weather, God be praised! was beautiful, barring the
drop of rain that never harmed Ireland; and it would do
them good to know that the poor man had all they had
to give."

Alice Leahy made her husband's bed in a farmer's
was able to lift up his heart in thankfulness for his re-
barn, and watched him there until it pleased God he
covery. Tears-calm, gentle, refreshing tears-trickled
face of his wife bending over his pallet, and though he
down his pallid cheeks when he recognised the loving
knew his child-knew even poor Bran, who looked with his
had not strength to speak, she saw that he knew her-
sad earnest eyes into his master's countenance. She had
disposed of the articles of furniture, which Mr Russel, in-
as to meet his observation on his recovering his conscious-
formed of the facts, had ordered to be returned to her, so
ness; and he closed his eyes in refreshing slumbers, with-
out apparently reverting to their changed circumstances.
Abel Carr, though he knew his unfortunate opponent had
nothing more to lose, would have caused him to be ar-
rested for the last law expenses, if he had dared; but
both rich and poor so completely united in admiration
there are few instances on record where the hearts of
as in the case of Alice Leahy. The poor revelled in the
of the enduring virtue of a simple unpretending woman,
in pocket; and those who wished well to their country
idea that Abel was not only beggared in reputation, but
took every opportunity of pointing out to those who
were fond of going to law, the curious fact of two men,
the vanquished and the vanquisher, on the verge of star-
with many fine natural qualities, would in all human
vation. But for his wife's admirable conduct, Leahy,
probability have suffered the penalty which awaits
crime; and Abel Carr's success, independently of the
losses he too had suffered by paying "costs," was sacri-
ficed by the fury of those who, whatever their motive
might have been, had no right to judge and execute
judgment.

It was a fine summer evening, and John Leahy's health
was comparatively restored; the next day he was to
leave for ever the land of his fathers. Alice and their
child accompanied him midway up a mountain which
once been his seemed but as a patch of very small ex-
commanded a view so extensive, that the farm which had
tent; he shaded his eyes with his hand so as to intercept
the rays of the setting sun, and enable him to take a
farewell look of all he had known so long and loved so
well. Neither husband nor wife spoke, but they both
wept bitterly. The sun set gloriously; they waited until
he had sunk in the not far distant ocean that was to bear
them to another land; and then, while the whistle of
the plover and the low of the kine were yet upon the
air, they descended together, little Alice and Bran
for a four-leaved shamrogue that was to bring her luck
lingering behind-Alice to gather wild-flowers, and seek
in "furrin parts," and Bran to sniff at every rabbit-hole
"Alice," said John to his wife, when they were turn-
that was not concealed beneath the prickly furze.
night;"Alice, if it had not been for the generosity of
ing into the bohreen leading to their place of rest for the
wherewith to begin life again in another land-and I find
your brothers and your friends, I should not have had
"The Lord above is very good!" she answered, though
you war right; I could not have borne with it here."
sobbing bitterly.
"Look!" he exclaimed, "if I hear you cry that way,
know it is my fault---my crime
it will break my heart.
! If you cannot go without tears and sobs
like these, we will remain, although I work as a day-

They might have charged John Leahy with any crime they pleased; for before the following morning had thoroughly dispelled the shades of night, the unhappy man was enduring the phrensy of a brain fever. Nothing could exceed the interest created throughout the counMr Botherum himself stept out of his try by this event. usual practice on the occasion, and declared "that so convinced was he of the incapability of Alice Leahy's concealing, much less perpetrating such a crime---so convinced was he that though John Leahy might have committed a breach of the law in defending his own house, nothing could have induced him to do the cowardly deed of an incendiary, that he would, if it came to a trial, undertake their defence without professional fee or reward. Irish interest once excited is not satisfied with lip service; the neighbourhood was in a state of fermentation during the few hours the Leahys were incarcerated; the peasantry gloried in the bare idea of effecting a rescue, but it was not needed. There was no evidence against them; the state of the poor fevered man spoke for itself; and when Alice and her unconscious husband were discharged, she, while supporting his head on the car sent to convey them to "a neighbour's house," observed, in the thankful spirit of a true Christian, but had good in it. Sure it was a blessing he wasn't right in himself to feel the disgrace such a suspicion would bring on him." Her excellent spirit was not weary of well-doing; she nursed him through that fearful malady with untiring fortitude; she refused to accept "Hardly charity, John," said his delicate-minded the agent's offer, and return, till he was recovered, to wife. "Not charity, sure; the generosity of our own their old home. It would be only breaking her heart entirely," she said, "to go back to and then leave it, people maybe is bounty, but not charity, John; though, even if it was," she added in a more subdued tone, "betther than us have wanted it and had it, and but for it my heart would never warm to Ireland as I know it will to the last hour of my days. The Lord of heaven, who knows the beating of my heart, and the prayers of my soul, look down upon it !---bless it with peace !---increase its power !---turn its enemies into friends !---make it wise

"that no evil

which she must do, for they had no means to keep it on;' and though she did not say so, she knew that Mr Russel himself could not afford, even if he had the inclination, to let them have such a house rent free; besides, she remembered, that, owing to her husband's love for law, persisting so obstinately in his course against his landlord's well founded opinion, he had completely worn out his patience, and that he must feel as if a firebrand were quenched when" Johnny the Giant" left the country. Nor would she accept shelter in any of the cottages of her neigh

are in nine cases out of ten unconscious of the won

ders by which they are surrounded, always included Bedlam in the list of places which they deemed it necessary to visit. Every reader must recollect the exquisite picture of that abode of misery given by our own Mackenzie in the Man of Feeling. It is curious to compare it with Willis's description of the present inmates.

him. We were sitting over our wine when White Cloud
and the Sioux-killer came in with their interpreter.
There were several gentlemen present, one of them in the
naval undress uniform, whose face the Sioux-killer scru-
tinised very sharply. They smiled in bowing to Power,
but made very grave inclinations to the rest of us. The
chief took his seat, assuming a very erect and dignified
attitude, which he preserved immoveable during the in-
terview; but the Sioux-killer drew up his legs, resting
them on the round of his chair, and with his head and
body bent forward, seemed to forget himself and give his
undivided attention to the study of Power and his friend.
Tumblers of champagne were given them, which they
drank with great relish, though the Sioux-killer provoked
a little ridicule from White Cloud by coughing as he
swallowed it. The interpreter was a half breed, between
an Indian and a negro, and a most intelligent fellow. He
had been reared in the Toway tribe, but had been among
the whites a great deal for the last five years, and had
picked up English very fairly. He told us that White
Cloud was the son of old White Cloud, who died three
command over the tribe by his mildness and dignity.
years since, and that the young chief had acquired entire
much against the will of the tribe; but he commenced
He had paid the debts of the Toways to the traders, very
by declaring firmly, that he would be just, and had car-
ried his point. He had come to Washington to receive
a great deal of money from the sale of the lands of the
tribe, and the distribution of it lay entirely in his own
power. Only one old warrior had ventured to rise in
council, and object to his measures; but when White
submitted. This information, and that which followed,
Cloud spoke, he had dropped his head on his bosom, and
was given in English, of which neither of the Toways
understood a word. Mr Power expressed a surprise that
the Sioux-killer should have known him in his citizen's
dress. The interpreter translated, and the Indian said
in answer, The dress is very different; but when I see
a man's eye, I know him again.'

serpents, and other emblematical figures abounding in every part of the city, he would draw comparisons, in an allegorical but not very ambiguous style, between the glorious times which witnessed the erection of these monuments, and the degraded period in which he and his hearers were condemned to live. Growing bolder day by day, he ventured upon open denunciations of the tyranny of the nobles, and inflamed the passions of his audiences by dwelling on the bitter subject of their wrongs. Strange to say, the nobles were blinded enough to be totally insensible to the serious and dangerous tendency of Rienzi's proceedings. Every thing "plebeian" was so utterly despised by them, that many of them actually came in person to listen to his political lectures, looking upon him much in the same light as they did Punchinello, or that Rienzi, taking a lesson from the elder Brutus, the common buffoons of the carnival. It is even said who feigned madness till the hour came for the deliverance of his country, condescended to enter the Colonna palace by invitation, to amuse the company with his threats and predictions. The abject state of slavery to which the nobles had reduced the people, could not be more glaringly shown than by such a circumstance as this.

"On the end of a bench in one of the courts, quite apart from the other patients, sat the youth who came up two hundred miles from the country to marry the queen! You will remember the story of his forcing himself into Buckingham Palace. He was a stout sandyhaired sad-looking young man, of perhaps twenty-four; and with his arms crossed, and his eyes on the ground, he sat like a statue, never moving even an eyelash while we were there. There was a very gentleman-like man working at the water-wheel, or rather walking round with his hand on the bar in a gait that would have suited the most finished exquisite of a drawing-room---Mr Davis, who shot (I think) at Lord Londonderry. Then, in an upper room, we saw the Captain Brown who shook his fist in the queen's face when she went to the city, really a most officer-like and handsome fellow; and, in the next room, poor old Hatfield, who shot at George III., and has been in Bedlam forty years---quite sane! He was a gallant dragoon, and his face is seamed with scars got in battle before his crime. He employs himself with writing poetry on the death of his birds and cats, whom he has outlived in prison---all the society he has had in this long and weary imprisonment. He received us very courteously, and called our attention to his favourite canary, showed us his poetry, and all with a sad, mild, subdued resignation, that quite moved me. In the female wards I saw nothing very striking except one very noblelooking woman, who was standing at her grated window entirely absorbed in reading her Bible. Her face expressed the most heart-rending melancholy I had ever witnessed. She had been for years under the terrible belief that she had committed the 'unpardonable sin looking men who were his enemies (referring to the three Rienzi continued his former practices, but the pressure

and though quiet all the day, her agony at night becomes terrible. What a comment on a much practised mode of preaching the mild and forgiving religion of our Saviour! As I was leaving one of the wards, a young woman of nineteen or twenty came up to me with a very polite curtsey, and said, Will you be so kind as to have me released from this dreadful place? I am afraid I cannot,' said I. Then,' she replied, laying her hand on my arm with a most appealing earnestness, perhaps you will on Monday; you know I've nothing to pack. The matron here interposed, and led her away, but she kept her eye on us until the door closed. She was confined

there for the murder of her child."

6

These specimens will suffice to show the nature of the facts which the Loiterer has recorded in his Travels; he has however interspersed them with many poetic fictions, which, however beautiful, are less interesting than the realities which English life presents to the observation of an intelligent foreigner. We would gladly exchange the poetry and romance of the three volumes for another such picture as that of the Indian Chiefs at the Washington Theatre, and their subsequent interview with Mr Tyrone Power, a portion of which we shall extract for the amusement of our

readers.

"The dress circle' of the theatre at Power's benefit not long since, was graced by three Indians, in full costume-the chief of the Foxes, the chief of the Toways, and a celebrated warrior of the latter tribe, called the

Sioux-killer. The Fox is an old man of apparently fifty, with a heavy aquiline nose, a treacherous eye sharp as an eagle's, and a person rather small in proportion to his head and features. He was dressed in a bright scarlet blanket, and a crown of feathers, with an eagle's plume, standing erect on the top of his head, all dyed in the same deep hue. His face was painted to match, except his lips, which looked of a most ghastly sallow in contrast with his fiery nose, forehead, and cheeks. His tomahawk lay in the hollow of his arm, decked with feathers of the same brilliant colour with the rest of his drapery. Next him sat the Sioux-killer, in a dingy blanket, with a crown made of a quantity of the feathers of a pea-hen, which fell over his face and concealed his features almost entirely. He is very small, but is famous for his personal feats, having among other things walked one hundred and thirty miles in thirty successive hours, and killed three Sioux (hence his name) in one battle pact and wiry-looking, and his eye glowed through his veil of hen feathers like a coal of fire. Next to the Sioux-killer' sat White Cloud,' the chief of the Toways; his face was the least warlike of the three, and expressed a good nature and freedom from guile very remarkable in an Indian. He is about twenty-four, has very large features, and a fine erect person, with broad shoulders and chest. He was painted less than the Fox chief, but of nearly the same colour, and carried in the hollow of his arm a small glittering tomahawk, ornamented with blue feathers. His head was encircled with a sort of turban of silver fringed-cloth, with some metallic pendants for ear-rings, and his blanket, not particularly clean or handsome, was partly open on the breast, and disclosed a calico shirt, which was probably sold to him by a trader in the west. They were all very attentive to

with that nation. He is but twenty-three, but very com

the play, but the Fox chief and White Cloud departed from the traditionary dignity of Indians, and laughed a great deal at some of Power's fun. The Sioux-killer sat between them as motionless and grim as a marble knight on a tombstone. The next day I had the pleasure of dining with Mr Power, who lived at the same hotel with the Indian delegation; and while at dinner, he received a message from the Toways, expressing a wish to call on

He then told Power that he wished in the theatre to raise his war-cry, and help him to fight the three badbailiffs in a scene in Paddy Carey)."

RIENZI, THE TRIBUNE.

IN one of the meanest districts of the city of Rome, a
quarter inhabited only by humble mechanics and
Jews, was born, in the early years of the fourteenth
century, Nicholas Rienzi Gabrini, commonly called
Cola di Rienzi, the last of the tribunes, or popular
magistrates, of Rome. He was the son of an innkeeper
and a washerwoman; and in those days, when all the
avenues to power and distinction were exclusively
occupied by the families of the great, it might have
his life in the obscure and lowly sphere which had
been anticipated that young Rienzi would have passed
witnessed his birth. But his parents, either in conse-
quence of some early promise in the boy, or through
some accidental cause, were induced to bestow on him,
at the cost of great privations to themselves, the rare
him with the talents necessary to turn his opportunities
gift of a liberal education; and nature had endowed
and orators of his country formed the favourite study
to advantage. The writings of the ancient historians
of his youth, and in her magnificent monumental re-
mains he saw emblems of her past glory that fired his
fancy and nursed in his breast the spark of patriotism.
rent from the Rome of elder times. It had long lost
But the Rome of Rienzi's early day was sadly diffe-
the political empire of the world; and even the pon-
tifical power, which had in some measure compen-
sated the loss of imperial rule, had been reft from
the city, the Popes having transferred their court
and government to Avignon. Rome could only boast,
at this era, of a delegated head, an apostolic vicar
or viceroy, in whose hands was lodged the osten-
sible dominion of the city. But the nobles were its
true governors; the great families of Colonna, Ursini,
and a few others, held the whole authority, virtually,
in their hands. Grossly they abused their power, sub-
jecting the citizens to the cruellest oppression and
tyranny, outraging systematically the honour of their
families, and corrupting at will the course of justice.
Such was the condition of Rome in the early years of
the fourteenth century.

Young Rienzi saw and deeply deplored the evils of
his country. A disinterested desire to relieve it from
its oppressors sprang up in his breast, and he began in
a remarkable manner to pave the way for the accom-
plishment of that great end. At accidental meetings
of the people, whether in large or small bodies, he
allowed his voice to be heard, and took every occasion
to recall to the remembrance of his hearers the glories
of their ancestry. Alluding to them, he would cry,
"Where are now those Romans? their virtue, their
justice, their power? oh! why was I not born in those
happy times?" Being a fluent and energetic speaker,
Rienzi speedily became a favourite with the populace,
and his addresses to them in the streets grew more and
more frequent. Daily he would assemble bands of them
around him, and, pointing their attention to the lions,

When an embassy was sent from Rome to the papal court of Avignon, Rienzi had acquired influence enough over the people to be appointed one of the thirteen deputies representing the order of the commons. At Avignon, he attracted notice by his bold and ready oratory, and there he also met a congenial spirit in the poet Petrarch. On returning to Rome,

of poverty for a time chilled his aspiring hopes, and he was absolutely reduced to seek the charity of an hospital. With the appointment of apostolic notary, which yielded him a fair income, his spirit revived and he recommenced his daring addresses to the people. Still the nobles remained in supine blindness, allowing the orator to ripen the minds of the people for any outbreak. An accident brought on the crisis. Rienzi's brother was assassinated, and the survivor loudly demanded vengeance. But the murderer was protected by the Colonna influence, and Rienzi found his appeals fruitless. From this hour he was resolute of the nobles. It was in the middle of May 1347 that in his design of immediately overturning the power he entered on the first step towards the completion of his object, by assembling on Mount Aventine, at midnight, a body of one hundred citizens favourable te his purpose. "Friends and fellow-citizens," said for vengeance, and would justify a severe retaliation; Rienzi, "the blood of my slaughtered brother cries blessings of liberty without involving our country in but it is your wish and mine to procure the inestimable bloodshed and confusion. The accomplishment of your wishes, the establishment of the good estate (the speaker's favourite phrase), is rapidly advancing, if exert the power you possess with spirit, perseverance, you have only fortitude and forbearance enough to and moderation. The strength of our oppressors is imaginary; they are without union, without virtue, without resources." Rienzi ended his harangue by announcing his intention of immediately assembling the people, unarmed, by proclamation, and recommended to his hearers so to demean themselves as "to prove to the world that a few precious drops of Roman blood were still circulating in their veins."

Next day, accordingly, a proclamation was made all the people to assemble before the church of St over the whole city, by sound of trumpet, calling on Angelo on the following evening, to provide for the "restoration of the good estate." The nobles still remained inactive, and seemed totally ignorant of the tion is confirmed by the circumstance of the Pope's real character of Rienzi's movements. This supposivicar, the Bishop of Orvieto, consenting to be present at the proposed assembly before the church of St Angelo. During the whole of the night preceding that meeting, Rienzi and his friends were occupied in the celebration of masses, in order to propitiate Heaven in favour of their enterprise. When the appointed hour came, an immense crowd had assembled. Not only the whole space before the church, but the windows and roofs of the adjoining houses, and every place which commanded a view of the spot, were covered to calculate or tell. After a sufficient time had elapsed with spectators, whose numbers it would be difficult to stimulate the curiosity of the people to the highest pitch, the doors of the church were thrown open, and Rienzi, bare-headed, and dressed in complete armour, presented himself to the crowd, having on his right hand the papal vicar, and behind him the principal carried by men attired in purple and gold. On these conspirators. Four silken banners followed next, banners were emblazoned allegorical figures of Justice, Liberty, and Peace. A procession, accompanied by

king!"

martial music, now commenced, the whole assembled multitude following in the wake. Being gifted by nature with a tall and handsome person, Rienzi played his part nobly and dignifiedly in the pageant, and the admiring populace, ignorant of what was to be done, yet hopeful of good, sent up loud and lengthened shouts of applause. On reaching the Capitol, Rienzi ascended a lofty balcony, from which he addressed the people. Assuming that they were fully masters of the city, he congratulated them on the bloodless victory they had gained. Charmed by his noble appearance and his captivating eloquence, the people raised a shout, exclaiming with one accord, "Rienzi shall be Meanwhile, the nobles looked on in stupor, yet unconscious whether they were in danger or not. Stephen Colonna brought the matter to a decision. Absent from Rome at the time of this great meeting, he hastened to the city on hearing of it, and when Rienzi sent a messenger to the Colonna palace, its master declared that at his leisure he would cast the mad notary from the windows of the Capitol. On receiving this message, Rienzi rang the great bell, and gave the alarm. A great crowd of citizens rushed to the Colonna palace, and its haughty lord was compelled to fly with precipitation to his country castle of Palaestrina. A general order was issued, commanding all the nobles to follow his example, and they, stunned by the unanimity of this movement, obeyed with haste and in silence.

The author of this remarkable revolution, which freed the Roman citizens at one blow from the presence of all their oppressors, would not assume the title which, in the warmth of their gratitude, the people would have freely accorded to him. He declared that he would not bear an appellation which a Tarquin and a Nero had disgraced. After a time, however, seeing the necessity of having his authority sanctioned in some regular form, he consented to take the title of tribune, which in ancient days indicated a guardian of popular privileges. But the power of Rienzi was really that of a dictator, and it is admitted by all historians, that he at the outset wielded it admirably. He introduced new and excellent laws, reformed the finances, extinguished sanctuaries and such-like privileges, and, in short, established an entirely novel order of things. "A den of robbers (says one historian) was converted to the discipline of a camp or a convent; patient to hear, swift to redress, inexorable to punish, his tribunal was always accessible to the poor and the stranger." Another historian declares that "in this time the woods began to rejoice that they were no longer infested with robbers; the oxen began to plough; the roads and inns were replenished with travellers; trade, plenty, and good faith, were restored in the markets; and a purse of gold might be exposed without danger in the midst of the highway."

his own cause.

to effect the overthrow of the tribune. He obtained
information of the plot, and, inviting the heads of it
to a banquet, he seized them all and threw them into
prison. But he either wished merely to show them
his power, or dared not carry his first stern intent into
execution; for, after detaining them for a night in
mortal fear, and preparing every thing for their exe-
cution, he suddenly changed his tone, and became the
supplicant for their lives with the council of the people,
pledging himself for their obedience and submission
thenceforward. Of course, at his word, the barons
were liberated, but they were not the men to pardon
the deadly alarm into which they had been thrown.
Within a few weeks they fled simultaneously to their
country estates, raised their vassals, and marched
against Rome. The great bell of the Capitol sounded
the alarm, and Rienzi had still influence enough to
rouse the citizens to resistance. A battle took place
within the walls, and the barons were routed. Seven
of the house of Colonna fell on that occasion, and the
triumphant tribune, who had shown but little military
prowess, was inhuman enough to refuse them the
honours of burial. The maidens of the family at
length interred the bodies of their kinsmen, and their
tears, together with the latent respect of the people
for that ancient house, stirred up a more general feel-
ing of bitterness against the tribune.

Rienzi did not long enjoy his success over the nobles.
The pope, disgusted, like others, by his arrogance,
and irritated by the treatment shown to one of his
legates, fulminated a bull of excommunication against
him, and soon after Count Pepin de Minorbino intro-
duced himself into Rome with one hundred and fifty
soldiers, and took possession of it with the greatest
ease. It is true that Rienzi, as usual, tolled the great
bell of the Capitol for hours together, but no man rose
to aid him, and, without a blow being struck, he fell
into the hands of Count Pepin. The tribune showed,
it is said, great pusillanimity, and abdicated the govern-
ment, weeping over the ingratitude of his countrymen.
He was thrown into the Castle of St Angelo, and was
soon as much forgotten, seemingly, as if his short reign
of a few months had never taken place.

been able to endure prosperity, he might have left behind him one of the most glorious names in history. Petrarch, the poet, was his friend, and has expressed high admiration of his character and abilities, as they were developed in his early career.

PHYSICAL AGENTS AFFECTING MAN.
THE ATMOSPHERE OF CITIES.

IN the arrangement of the system of the universe, the
human being has been obviously left, to a great extent,
the creature of circumstances; or, in other words, has
been placed under the domination of certain general
laws, the operation of which may be so far modified by
circumstances, as to render him more or less comfort-
able and happy in his earthly position. An incalcu-
lable amount of evil has resulted in past times from
the prevalence of an opposite opinion. That species
of piety, which induces man to sit down and fold his
hands under the visitation of disease and other varie-
ties of suffering, in the belief that he is thus showing
a laudable resignation to the will of heaven, is at once
disparaging to the character of the divine being, and
at variance with the principles deducible from an
observation of his laws, their mode of working, and
their consequences. The race of man have been sub-
jected to few evils for which a remedy, partial or
complete, has not been provided; and nothing can
than the fact that such is the case. The world is at
more perfectly display the benevolence of the Creator,
last becoming sensible of this great truth. Disease,
and other physical evils, are now traced to their true
source the neglect, namely, or violation of the gene-
ral laws under which man has been placed. This
subject well deserves the most minute attention that
can be paid to it; and as we have now before us
various documents exhibiting the results of practical
investigations made into it in Great Britain, some
space may be devoted to the consideration of the ques-
tion in detail, although we have already noticed cer-
tain branches of it in a detached manner.

Count Pepin restored the authority of the aristocracy and the church, conciliating the people, however, at the same time, by the election of a new civic tribune with a degree of nominal power. Things speedily Air and food are the supporters of man's existence, returned to their former condition. The nobles re- and it is plain that a proper supply of these, as regards sumed their cruel tyranny over the people, and rob- quality and quantity, is the great desideratum for the beries and assassinations became again frequent, or rather incessant, on Roman ground. For seven maintenance of his physical well-being. The air we years matters remained thus, and the wearied people breathe is liable to be affected by causes of two kinds, began to think with regret of the energetic rule of those which affect its quality, and those which affect Rienzi, and to remember nothing of him but his vir- its temperature. In both these respects the atmotues. Meanwhile, what had become of the fallen sphere may be so deteriorated, as to be rendered injutribune? After a month's durance in St Angelo, he rious to human health and life, and this is especially had made his escape in the guise of a monk, and wan- the case when both influences operate at once, as they dered through various cities of Germany, Italy, and too often do. The aggregation of a multitude of huother countries, endeavouring to gain the friendship of various princes and potentates. At length he man beings in one spot, is, of all others, the most boldly presented himself at the court of the emperor common cause by which the healthful properties of Charles IV., and was sent by that monarch to Avig- the air are impaired or destroyed. The establishment non, in the condition of a captive. Pope Clement of this fact, the examination of the mode in which the kept him in prison, but on the succession of Pope Inno-noxious influences are exerted, as well as the considecent, new hopes dawned on the deposed tribune. La- ration of the applicability of effective remedies, demand menting the troublous and disordered state of Rome, the first place in a discussion of this kind. It seems Innocent was advised to send Rienzi thither, as being impossible, even if it were acknowledged to be proper, the only man who could restore peace to the disturbed to prevent mankind from associating in one spot in city of St Peter. Rienzi, it may be believed, joyfully great numbers; and, therefore, the manner in which accepted the charge. After swearing allegiance to they can do this with the greatest safety, or rather the papal power, he set out for the scene of his glories, with least detriment to themselves, becomes a matter his follies, and his fall. of the deepest importance.

Rienzi behaved generously, perhaps not wisely, towards the banished nobles. He soon recalled them to the city, exacting only from them an oath of allegiance to the new government and to the church, which he had judiciously taken pains to identify with The haughty nobles felt deeply their humiliation, yet fear constrained them into obedience. A simple Roman citizen of the period, speaking of their condition and feelings, says, "Bareheaded, their hands crossed on their breast, they stood in presence of the tribune with downcast looks; and they trembled, good heavens! how they trembled!" These and other triumphs rendered the head of Rienzi giddy. At no time was he distinguished for cool reason and selfcommand, and ere he had been elevated a month or The re-entrance of the senator Rienzi, as he was In the First Annual Report of the Registrar-General two, he grew ridiculous for pride and ostentation. now styled, into Rome, was a scene of triumph and of births, deaths, and marriages, an appendix appears, and merciful; deliverer of Rome; defender of Italy; tained that he would be a blessing to the city; but districts. Mr Farr, the able preparer of these stateHis acts and decrees were headed, "Nicholas, severe rejoicing. For a time afterwards, hopes were enter-containing accurate statements of the mortality of great towns, when compared with that of country friend of mankind, and of liberty, peace, and justice; these hopes proved fallacious. His own character, we tribune august!" On public occasions, he clothed are informed, had undergone a serious change for the ments, drew his calculations from thirty-two metrohimself in a parti-coloured robe of velvet, lined with fur, and embroidered with gold. In his hand he suspicious, and cruel, and his once fine face and person mingham, &c.; while on the other side he placed the worse during his exile. He had become intemperate, politan unions, and twenty-four of the largest towns in England, including Manchester, Liverpool, Bircarried a sceptre of shining steel, crowned with a globe now presented a bloated swollen appearance, indicating white horse, the emblem of royalty; the great banner a delegated servant of the Pope-scarcely a trusted in six months from twelve principal classes of diseases, and cross of gold. In processions he rode on a pure the grossness of his living. He was now, besides, but counties of Cornwall, Devon, and others, containing nearly an equal amount of population. The deaths. of the republic was held above his head; fifty halber-one. The barons were all more inimical to him than diers and a troop of horse attended him; his trumpets ever; and hence it was, that Rienzi's new reign was a are contrasted in the following table :and tymbals were of massive silver; and at every step continued scene of tumult during the four months that of his march handfuls of gold and silver were scattered it lasted. At the end of that time, a disturbance, among the people. His love of pomp, however, was fomented by the nobles, broke out, and an angry mulcarried to still greater lengths. He caused himself to titude besieged the Capitol, where Rienzi had taken Epidemic, endemic, and be created a Knight of the Order of the Holy Ghost, up his abode. The senator was deserted by his guards; under circumstances of splendour unequalled since the yet, in that last hour, he made a vigorous effort to days of the empire. On another occasion he had him- regain his authority. With the banner of liberty in self crowned with seven crowns of different metals his hand, he presented himself on the balcony to and leaves, representing the seven gifts of the Holy address the people. Had they listened to him, the Spirit. The degree to which his reason was affected charm of his eloquence might still have moved them; by his elevation, may be conceived by his having the but the noise drowned his voice, and stones and arrows folly to summon before him the two rival emperors of were directed at his person, and on being struck in Germany, and Pope Clement, "commanding" the the hand, he retired weeping. It was evening ere the Of uncertain seat, latter, at the same time, to "reside in his diocese of rioters forced their way into the building, where they Rome." Unsheathing his maiden sword, also, on the seized their former idol as he attempted to escape in occasion of his knighthood, he "thrice brandished it to disguise. They dragged him into the street, and for the three parts of the world, and thrice repeated the one whole hour he stood in the midst of them, pale, extravagant declaration,' And this, too, is mine !'" silent, and motionless. There was still a nobility in All this from the man who, but a few years before, his aspect which restrained the mob from injuring was known to every one to have had but one garment him. But one individual finally struck him with a in the world, and to have begged for bread at the gate dagger, and the charm seemed broken. A thousand of a house of charity, was most vexatious, even to his blows followed, the most of them borne by a lifeless firmest supporters among the people. To the barons corpse. it was intolerable, and, forgetting their private feuds, the houses of Colonna, Ursini, and others, conspired

Thus fell Rienzi the tribune, a man of extraordinary endowments and extraordinary fate. Had he

contagious diseases, Sporadic Diseases. Of the nervous system,

Age,

In London and 24
other towns, con-
taining a popula-
tion of 3,553,000.

In rural districts, containing a population. of 3,500,000.

12,766

6,045

7,705

3.607

respiratory organs,
organs of circulation,
digestive organs,
urinary organs,
organs of generation,
organs of locomotion,
integumentary system,

12,619

7,847

590

309

3,476

1,832

219

161

Violent deaths,
Not specified,

Total,

47,953 the increased mortality in large communities; and This table completely establishes the general fact of the immense share which the atmosphere has in causwhen the matter is still more closely inquired into, ing this augmentation appears with equal clearness. The classes of disease upon which the difference between the mortality of towns and country districts chiefly hinges, are precisely those in which the air is

sant.

defective, that "the stench is abominable" and inces- proof were wanted, reference might be made to other
Here "the fever (a recent complaint) was ex- cities besides London. In Edinburgh, the attention
tremely mortal, and raged in almost every house." of the public has been recently directed to the perni-
Of other parts of Whitechapel, Dr S. Smith gives a cious effects of the system of irrigating lands in the
similar account. "In Johnson's-change there is no vicinity with the filthy fluid refuse of the city, as it
drainage of any kind, a great accumulation of filth, passes on its way to the sea. It has been distinctly
and the sense of closeness is stifling." Here a cess-proved, by the testimony of numerous persons, pro-
pool overflowed recently, and was left unheeded. "In fessional and otherwise, that the dwellings in the
the house next the cess-pool a malignant fever broke neighbourhood of these foul stanks are rendered ex-
out after this, and extended to almost every house in tremely unhealthy, low fevers and various other dis-
the courts." The whole district of Whitechapel, in eases being the result to the occupants. Other cases
truth, was in a very bad condition, and, in consequence, might be pointed out, but it would be, we believe, a
"fever raged dreadfully in the whole of this district, work of supererogation; and the question with us
six persons of a family being frequently ill together, should now be-the evil being admitted-how is it to
all in one room, and four in one bed.”
be remedied? Drs Kay and Arnot give the follow-
ing directions upon this important subject, and we
would press them as strongly as possible on the public
attention. "The means of removing completely the
noxious animal and vegetable matters brought to or
produced in cities, evidently are:-

most influential. In the first three classes of disease,
for example, marked in the preceding table, the mor-
tality is shown to have been doubled by the concen-
tration of the population in cities, and the increase is
not much less as respects the diseases of the lungs.
The deaths from consumption and typhus, diseases
that appear to have a peculiar dependence on atmo-
spheric influences, are stated by Mr Farr to have
been increased in towns in the respective ratios of 39
and 221 per cent.
On the whole, the results of his observations have
led Mr Farr broadly to assert that the "source of the
higher mortality is in the insalubrity of the atmo-
sphere." Other causes certainly aid, however, in no
inconsiderable degree, in bringing about this general
result. But if we think for a moment of the usual
At the present moment, it is our wish simply to
effects produced by a dense population on the atmo- exhibit the consequences of local insalubrity in the
sphere, we shall find strong cause to coincide with the atmosphere, without referring to the concurring in-
opinion above expressed. Every human being expires fluence of other causes, such as personal and moral
about 666 cubic feet of air daily, and the gas so ex- habits, &c., which will be alluded to in another place.
pired, if it were collected in a reservoir, would destroy From an accurate examination of all the districts of
any animal compelled to inhale it, man himself among London, Drs Arnot and Kay found disease to be gene-
the number. Every one will remember the horrible rated and fostered by the subjoined circumstances, all
illustration of this truth, afforded by the Black Hole of them of the kind now under consideration. 1. Im-
catastrophe at Calcutta, where, out of one hundred and perfection or want of sewers and drains in the parish
forty-six human beings shut up at night in a single or district. 2. The existence of uncovered or stagnant
close room, only twenty-three came out next morning drains or ditches, containing vegetable and animal
alive. These persons perished from being made to matter in a state of decomposition. 3. Open stagnant
breathe the same air over and over again. This single pools of water rendered putrid by the admixture of
cause, then, it is obvious, is in itself capable of pro-animal or vegetable substances. 4. Undrained marsh-
ducing the most deleterious results. When we add land. 5. Accumulations of refuse, either thrown from
to this the effluvia arising from putrifying substances, the houses, or otherwise collected in the streets, courts,
animal and vegetable; the emanations from streets, and lanes. 6. Lodgement of filth in large cess-pools
stanks, and sewers; the products of combustion, and and privies, in situations where the inhabitants are
the smoke of fires, both of which are in themselves exposed to the exhalations. 7. The situation of slaugh-
poisonous; with all the thousand noxious exhala- ter-houses in densely peopled districts, among narrow
tions which man's habits and occupations assemble streets, and the defective regulation of these establish-
around him; we shall find city air, in its unmitigated ments. 8. The state of some of the public burial-
impurity, to be a thing which people might well fly from grounds, in thickly peopled districts. 9. The want of
with terror and dismay. In the open country, all ventilation in narrow alleys and close courts inhabited
exhalations of this destructive nature speedily mix with by the working-classes.
the currents of the atmosphere, and are diffused so as
to be perfectly harmless. But instead of one inhabi-
tant to the square mile, which is about the density of
the population in the plains of Asia, locate (says
the Report already quoted) 200,000 individuals upon a
square mile, as soldiers in a camp, and the poison will
be concentrated 200,000 fold; intersect the space in
every direction by 10,000 high walls, which overhang
the narrow streets, shut out the sunlight, and inter-
cept the movements of the atmosphere; let the
rejected vegetables, the offal of slaughtered animals,
the filth produced in every way, decay in the houses
and courts, or stagnate in the wet streets; bury the
dead in the midst of the living; and the atmosphere
will be an active poison, which will destroy, as it did
in London formerly, and as it does in Constantinople
now, 5 [and a fractional part] per cent. of the inha-
bitants annually, and generate, when the temperature
is high, recurring plagues, in which a fourth part of
the entire population will perish."

1. A perfect system of sufficiently sloping drains or sewers, by which, from every house and street, all fluid refuse shall quickly depart by the action of gravitation alone; the streets, alleys, courts, &c., being moreover well paved, so that the refuse may be easily distinguished and detached.

2. A plentiful supply of water to dilute and carry off all such refuse, and to allow of sufficient washing of streets, houses, clothes, and persons.

3. An effective service of scavengers to remove regularly the rubbish and impurities which water cannot carry away, and fit receptacles for such matters until removed.

4. Free ventilation by wide streets, open alleys, and well-constructed houses, to dilute and carry away all hurtful aëriform matters.

5. Keeping as distant as possible from the people the practice of all the arts and processes capable of producing malaria or tainting the air. Hence the situation of cattle-markets, slaughter-houses, cowhouses, tripe-shops, gas-factories, burying-grounds, and the like, should be determined by competent authorities.

6. Preventing the great crowding of the lodging honses of the poor."

The greater number of these suggestions are capable of being carried into practice with ease by any community, particularly if the work be pursued step by step. The alteration of existing streets and alleys built upon a crowded and injurious plan, could not be effected, certainly, excepting by very slow degrees, yet every opportunity of amendment of this kind ought to be seized. Those suggestions that refer to the construction of sewers, the cleansing of streets by an effective body of scavengers, and the supply of water, might be followed up at once in those cities where they are required, and most assuredly public funds could never be more judiciously expended. In the closes and common stairs of the Scottish metropolis, a most complete change of affairs is needed. As much putrid matter, animal and vegetable, is lodged about one of these as might disseminate poison through a whole neighbourhood; and what that poison can do, Dr Smith has told us. These are the things which render such a disease as typhus terrible, and make cities suffer from it to the extent of 122 per cent. above the ratio of its fatality in the country. With open streets, clean and well paved, with close and properly acting sewers, with abundance of water, and a few other provisions, plague or pestilence would find it difficult to effect a lodgement.

The condition of individual houses, their manner of ventilation, and the state of the atmosphere within them, will form the subject of a succeeding paper.

In the Fourth and Fifth Annual Reports of the Poor-Law Commissioners, Drs Arnot and Kay, by a specific reference to the state of health in the various districts of London, exhibit individually, and in detail, the destructive nature of each of the nuisances now enumerated. In almost all of them, it will be noticed, the cause of the noxiousness is the evaporation of putrescent animal and vegetable matter. On this point Dr Southwood Smith remarks, that it has now been demonstrated, by " direct experiment," that, in certain situations in which the air is loaded with exhalations from marshes and stagnant pools, the matter they convey is poisonous, and "consists of animal and vegetable substances in a high state of putrescency. If a quantity of air in which such exhalations are present be collected, the vapour may be condensed by cold and other agents; a residue is obtained, which, on examination, is found to be putrescent animal or vegetable matter. This matter constitutes a deadly poison. A minute quantity of it, applied to But notwithstanding all this formidable array of an animal previously in sound health, destroys life, anti-salubrious agencies, to which a city atmosphere is with the most intense symptoms of malignant fever. exposed, observation and experience give us the com- If, for example, ten or twelve drops of a fluid conforting assurance, that health will be little more im-taining this highly putrid matter be injected into the paired upon one than upon a hundred square miles, if jugular vein of a dog, the animal is seized with acute proper means (and these means are at command) be fever; all the ordinary symptoms speedily follow; and employed for supplying the two hundred thousand in a short time the dog is actually seized with the black dwellers thereon with pure air, and for removing the romit, identical in the nature of the matter evacuated principal sources of poisonous exhalations. To a cerwith that thrown up by a person labouring under the tain extent, this is done in almost every great city. yellow fever (that disease so fatally prevalent on the Those parts of them, at least, which are of modern marshy coasts of a hot clime). By varying the inconstruction, enjoy many provisions, pointed out by tensity and the dose of the poison thus obtained, it is experience, which obviate the tendency to insalubrity possible to produce fever of almost any type, and in the atmosphere; and the beneficial consequences of endowed with almost any degree of mortal power." these provisions appear most strikingly, when the state In marshy, boggy grounds, the poison is chiefly of a of health in these quarters is compared with that in vegetable character; in cities it is principally animal WHEN Mr Bruce of Kinnaird returned from his many the old districts, where the wide streets, the free house- in its nature, or contains a mixture of both. In either years' absence in Barbary and Abyssinia, to his country hold ventilation, the plenteous supply of water, and case, were it not for the radiation of caloric from the mansion on the carse of Falkirk, he was greatly dissatisthe well-constructed sewers, that form the essential earth which rarifies the lower air and carries it up- fied with the way in which his collieries had been sources of advantage in the modern divisions, unfor- wards, aided by that force of diffusion, as it has been wrought. After some stormy disputes with the indivitunately do not exist. The mean annual mortality, termed, which a benevolent power has bestowed on all duals who had leased them, he agreed to submit the in a variety of the districts of London, is stated as gaseous bodies, the effects of these putrescent exhala- matter to a committee of experienced coal-engineers, who follows:tions would be fatal beyond conception; as it is, there accordingly met at Kinnaird, inspected the mines, and can be no doubt that the varied diseases affecting those used every endeavour to form an impartial judgment. who breathe the tainted air are merely the result of Conversing one day with these gentlemen, he challenged the varied nature and intensity of the poison, acting something which one of them said respecting the condion different constitutions and under different circum- tion of the mines; whereupon the engineer said that, if stances. "But it would be a most inadequate view of Mr Bruce was not afraid, he might go down and satisfy himself on the point by personal investigation. The word the pernicious agency of the poison, if it were sup"afraid" startled the ear of the traveller, whose composed to be restricted to the diseases commonly pro-manding figure and bold demeanour had been the chief duced by its direct operation. It is a matter of means of bringing him unscathed through so many danconstant observation, that, even when not present in gers. "Afraid!" said he, in his magnificent way: sufficient intensity to produce fever, this poison, by disturbing the function of some organ or set of organs, and thereby weakening the general system, acts as a powerful predisposing cause of some of the most common and fatal maladies to which the human body is subject." Diseases of the digestive organs, and diseases of the lungs, form a large proportion of our annual mortality. As for the latter class of maladies, it is obvious that vitiated air must further and foster them to an excessive degree; and "no one who lives (says Dr S. Smith) in a marshy or malarian district, is ever for a single hour free from some disease of the digestive organs."

ANNUAL DEATHS AMONG 1000 FEMALES IN

Whitechapel,

Shoreditch,

Bermondsey,

Holborn,

Strand,

St George, Southwark,

39

Kensington,

32

St Pancras,

30

London City,

29

27

Camberwell,
Hackney,

18

Stepney, 17 It is to be observed here, that some of the new suburban districts are not less unhealthy than the closest old ones. This has been clearly traced to the undrained marshes and other similar nuisances to which the comparative paucity of inhabitants exposes the suburbs. But in every case, it may safely be averred, the mortality is in exact proportion to the condition of the district as regards ventilation and cleanliness. We have before us, for example, Dr Southwood Smith's report on Whitechapel, a region fatally prominent in the preceding table. Describing parts of this district, he uses the following language:-"In Baker's alley the houses are dark, gloomy, and extremely filthy. Between the wall and the houses there is a gutter, in which is always present a quantity of stagnant fluid full of all sorts of putrifying matter, the effluvia from which are most offensive, and the sense of closeness extreme." In this same alley the interior arrangements of the houses are so

He speaks of Nubian sands," quoth one to another that evening; "we'll show him something worse to-morrow, if I am not mistaken." Next day, accordingly, the illustrious traveller appeared at the mouth of the pit, clothes proper to the occasion, down he went, along with and after investing his dignified person in the coarse his corps of engineers. The strata are not there very thick at the best, and many of the wastes were consider ably crushed or fallen in. It was therefore by no means pleasant walking through Mr Bruce's mines. Nevertheless, as had been concerted amongst them, on they went, up one waste, down another, leading the unfortunate Abyssinian such a dance as never traveller danced before,