venue boat's crew, they pushed off and succeeded in picking him up, but, strange to say, he had no idea whatever of his perilous situation, and it was with the utmost difficulty they could persuade him he was not still in bed. But the most singular part of this novel adventure was, that the man had left his house at twelve o'clock that night, and walked through a difficuit and to him dangerous road, a distance of nearly two miles, and had actually swum one mile and a half when he was fortunately discovered and picked up." The state of madness gives us, by analogy, the best explanation of the condition of these climbers and swimmers. With one or more crgans or portions of his brain diseased, and the rest sound, the insane person has the perfect use of his external senses, yet may form imperfect conclusions regarding many things around him. The somnambulist, with his senses in activity, but with some of his cerebral organs in a torpid state, is in much the same position as regards his power of forming right judgments on all that he hears or sees. The story of the sleeping swimmer is borne out by a statement from an indisputable authority, Dr Benjamin Franklin. The doctor relates, that on one occasion, while bathing in a hot salt-water bath, he fell asleep, and floated on his back in that state for nearly an hour, as his watch testified to him. Sometimes, in the case of a person liable to somnambulism, it is possible to direct the thoughts of the dreamer to any given subject, by acting on the external senses. Smellie, the writer already quoted, gives the subjoined instance :-" Mr Thomas Parkinson, then a student of medicine in the University of Edinburgh, was accustomed to talk and answer questions in his sleep. This fact was known to his companions. To amuse ourselves, two of us went gently into his chamber while he was asleep. We knew that he was in love with a young lady in Yorkshire, the place of his nativity. We whispered her name repeatedly in He soon began to toss about his hands, and to speak incoherently. He gradually became more calm and recollected. His imagination took the direction we intended. He thought he was stationed under the lady's window, and repeatedly upbraided her for not appearing and speaking to him as she had so often done on former occasions. At last he became impatient, started up, laid hold of books, shoes, and every thing he could easily grasp. Thinking his mis his ear. proper form (through the French souverain from the Low Latin superanus or superancus, one set over others). But people thought it had some connection with the verb to reign, and hence it became sorereign. So perhaps foreign, which was formerly spelt forein (through the French forain from the Latin foraneus, out of doors). Perhaps this was confounded with reign. So the word island people imagine to be compounded of isle and land. Now, in point of fact, isle, which is a contraction of the Latin insula (French ile), has nothing to do with island, which is the German eiland and Saxon calond, and belonging to quite a separate family of words. So again the word waits, the name given to the nightly minstrels who itinerate at Christmas time, is commonly pronounced wakes. People find that the waits wake them; therefore they call them wakes. Now, it is very curious that the word wraits is connected with wake, but in another way. Watch, wake, and the German wachten, are the same, and a wachter or watcher is a wait, a person who watches or keeps awake all night; so that the waits are in fact wakes, not because they keep us awake, but because they keep awake themselves. Webster, in his AmericoEnglish or Anglo-American Dictionary, says that the word waits is not used; we suppose he means not used in America. liar state of somnambulism, and that, during the con- SPECULATIONS ON WORDS. Salt, Sound, Tyrant, Propound.-Changes are con Lay, Lie; Drop, Droop, &c.-In English, as in many other languages, we have from the same root two sets of verbs, one set transitive, the other intransitive. In Latin these are numerous, and in English perhaps more so than is commonly supposed. Compare Fell, Fall. Lay, Lie. Drop, Droop. tress was asleep, he threw these articles against the stantly making in language; and the same tendencies speak of dining their men. opposite wall of his chamber. By what he said, we learnt that his imaginary scene lay in a street, and that he was darting the books and shoes at the lady's window, in order to awake her. She, however, did not appear; and after tiring himself with frequent exertions, he went quietly into bed without wakening. His eyes were nearly shut; and although he freely conversed with us, he did not seem to perceive that any person was present with him. Next day we told him what had happened; but he said that he had only a faint recollection of dreaming about his mistress." which produce the alterations in the speech of the This seems capricious, but it is not more so than Set, Sit (and Set). Raise (and Rouse), Rise. On exactly the same principle the London shopkeepers One of them might say, on engaging a man," I will dine you, but I shall not be able to sleep you." To dine and to sleep a person are phrases formed analogically, though they are not yet in the language of books. Words of this class are numerous in German. Compare Legen (to Lay), Setzen (to Set), Trinken (to Drink), Liegien (to Lie). Tränken (to give to Drink). The common mistake of using lay for lie and laid for lay is one of the vilest vulgarisms. words ways and wis, no ways, and nowise, &c. Ways, Other ways, Otherwise.-People often confound these however, is not the same word as wise. Wise is only another form of guise, and is the same as the German waise "manner." "In no wise" means "in no guise" or fashion or manner. Less, Worse, Chief, Ere, More, Former, First.-Several words are used as comparatives in English which are not so in form; and some are so which do not look so. Less and worse are used as comparatives, but they are positives, and the real comparatives are lesser and worser, which the pragmatical school of English critics would reject altogether. Lord Brougham has forms. Chief, again, the same Lindley Murray school done a great deal to revive these and some other old would rob of its comparative and superlative, chiefer and chiefest; and the adverb most chiefly. These also Lord Brougham has revived in his writings and speeches. On the other hand, ere and more, although they are not commonly looked on as comparatives, are so. Ere we have not in the positive; the Germans, however, have ele, comparative, eher. We have comparative, ere, and superlative, erst. More is the comparative of mo, which is often used Now, compare the German and English list which fol- by Spenser and other old writers-Mo, mo-er (more), lows: It is consistent with our own knowledge, that many country surgeons, who ride much by night, and pursue a most laborious life generally, sleep perfectly well on horseback. This, however, although a position in which the bodily motion is not entirely passive, is not properly somnambulism. Perhaps the most perfect sleep-walkers were Sir John Moore's soldiers, many of whom, in the disastrous and fatiguing retreat to Corunna, were observed to fall asleep on the march, and yet to go on, step by step, with their waking companions. Many tradesmen have been known to get up by night and work for a time at their usual employments, without being at all aware in the morning of what they had done. Gall mentions a miller who did this. One of the most extraordinary cases of this order, however, is that of a student of divinity at Bourdeaux, who was accustomed to rise in the nighttime, and to read and write without the use of his eyes. This case is stated in the French Encyclopedie, under the word Noctambule, and is attested by the Archbishop of Bourdeaux. This prelate, in order to test the young man, interposed an obstacle between his eyes and the paper on which he was reading or writing, but he read and wrote with equal facility and equal accuracy as before. Macnish, who repeats this story, does not mention the fact of the eyes not being used, though this is the most marvellous feature in the case. The reading may not have been aloud, and may only have been apparent. But as for the writing accurately without the use of the eyes, this was certainly a feat which few waking persons could have accomplished. In addition to these cases, many others might be gathered, and particularly from Mr Macnish's Anatomy of Sleep; but that book is so accessible that it is enough to refer to it for further information. We shall only mention one other case which is there given. It is that of Dr Blacklock, who "on one occasion rose from bed, to which he had retired at an early hour, came into the room where his family were assembled, conversed with them, and afterwards entertained them with a pleasant song, without any of them suspecting he was asleep, and without his retaining, after he awoke, the least recollection of what he had done." Being blind, his family would have the more difficulty in discovering his unusual condition. Somnambulism, it was stated at the close of the farm-servant's case, had of late years assumed a new and more interesting aspect. This has arisen from the discovery (if it be allowable to call it a discovery) that animal magnetism is capable of inducing a pecu--ED. Germ.-Donner Morass Sin Hip Thick Sap Lay (a song) Thunder. Lend. Sünde.-Germ. Propound, compound, expound, have acquired the d in Spelling influenced by a false etymology. Sovereign, *Colquhoun on Animal Magnetism. 2 vols. mo-st. The comparative and superlative of some words + The Scotch say tyrran, laying the accent on the first syllable. do not think it desirable to restore the apostrophes they look ugly and save no time; but such a word i CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL. as stept we see no reason why we should write stepp'd or stepped, any more than why wept should be written wepped. So whipt, stript, &c. Mr Julius Charles Han would write publisht, lookt, wisht, talkt, &c.; and certainly, in so doing, we should only be restoring the old method of writing them. THE ASS AND THE TREASURE, AN ARABIAN TALE. [The ass, in Europe, is a by-word for all that is dull, obstinate, and stupid. Very different is the case in the East; and not unnaturally so, seeing that the animal, under the more genial skies he tried to lead the conversation by degrees to the Troubled as he was with his own matters, Rajeb could of no use to me. he was in error, RAJEB was a young man of Cairo, who had been left by his father with a fortune of about two thousand piastres. Had he embarked this little fortune in trade, and been industrious, he might have lived very comfortably; but he fell in love soon after his father died, and could think of nothing but the fair object of his passion. She was a young girl, whose countenance he had first seen for a moment, when by chance she put aside her veil to drink at the fountain of a mosque. She was very plainly dressed, and appeared to belong to some humble but decent family. But she was rich in beauty, at least, and in modesty, for she hastily replaced her veil on seeing a young man looking at her, and walked away without turning to the right or the left, or looking back as coquettes do. Rajeb followed her, and saw her enter a plain house, of the kind inhabited by the middle orders. From this time forward, Rajeb was consumed by the passion which had sprung up in his breast. Of the object of it he could learn no more than that she was as virtuous and well-behaved as she was beautiful. At length he went to the parents of his mistress, and asked her hand in marriage. They received him very kindly; but when he came to speak of the dowry which they expected to be given by their daughter's husband, they demanded the sum of five thousand piastres. This was above the lover's means, and he exclaimed loudly against the enormity of the sum; but they were obstinate, and Rajeb could only prevail on them to give him a few days to reflect, and to look about him for means. If he did not appear at the end of the stated time, they would hold themselves at liberty, they told him, to accept of other offers. Rajeb returned home, lamenting and reproaching "Ah! himself with having idled away his past time. if I had worked hard," said he, "I might have increased my fortune, and might now have been happy!" He took out his money and counted it several times, but he could not thus make it more than it was-two thou-ingly, they set out, and the ass with them. By the way, sand piastres. He lay down on his bed, and tried to sleep, but his mind was too much occupied with projects for procuring the required dowry to permit him At last he bethought him of a maternal uncle at Tantah, whom he had not seen for eighteen years, and He who was said to be rich. Rajeb had no sooner thought of this person than he resolved to visit him. would borrow the three thousand piastres; a rich reThe young man lation could not refuse such a sum. longed for the coming of day to set out on this hopeful to rest. errand. economy. white!" Morning at length dawned, and Rajeb started on his journey. In order to save money he went on foot, hoping, also, to interest his uncle the more by this When he reached the first houses of Tantah, he inquired for his uncle Jousoff, "the rich Jousoff," of several boys whom he met. "The rich Jousoff!" cried they, "say rather the old beggarly miser Jousoff, who regrets to throw away a bone when he has picked it One of the boys, however, conducted Rajeb to his uncle's house. The young man entered it trembling, for the description which he had heard was by no means encouraging. When his uncle came to him, Rajeb saw an old, withered, ragged, dirty being, who cried, "What do you want ?" in a rough voice. “Ah, my dear uncle !” cried Rajeb, throwing his arms about the old man, "do you not remember me? I am Rajeb, the son of your sister little Rajeb, whom you loved when a boy; I am come, dear uncle, to see if you are well." "Very well," said Jousoff, "I am very well, but very poor. I shall not be able to show you very splendid hospitality." "What then?" said Rajeb, cheerfully; "riches and poverty come from God." At these words, they entered the old man's apartment, dark and dingy, without any other furniture than an old mat and a jar of water; neither pipes nor coffee were to be seen. Rajeb, however, was patient, and showed no ill humour. That evening they feasted upon a crust of wretched cheese, and some crumbs of black, detestable bread. The cheese, such as it was, was a novelty in that place, and the neighbours who saw the old man buy it, could scarcely believe their eyes. Rajeb was not accustomed to rich fare, but after his journey he stood really in need of soup and roast, or something else that was goods But he ate the bread and cheese, and said nothing. When they had done, the old man. 66 The ass stamped no more, and Rajeb hastened to Its Behold, in this story, a lesson never to despise animals, but always to be gentle and compassionate to them, for they may often repay a hundred-fold the little kindnesses which we do to them. THE COMMERCIAL PRINCIPLE. WE have extracted the following just and glowing "The discovery has not long been made, but it is made at last, that the real source of national prosperity, Even rulers and monarchs, although greatness, and power, is the once contemned pursuit of commerce. generally the last to abandon errors, and to perceive great moral truths, have begun to entertain the idea that that increase of territory, by conquest, is not prois not probable that the civilised world will ever again the power of an empire is not exclusively in its armies; sperity; and that successful warfare is not glory. It in such a frightful series of butcheries and desolations On the way to the market, Rajeb reflected on the produce a Napoleon, or civilised nations again engage subject, and felt himself impelled to purchase the ass by some involuntary feeling, which most people would as were the fruits of his ambition. The knowledge have been disposed merely to call good-nature or pity. that the business of mankind is to create, and not As the ass was young, and had no faults but those destroy, has slowly travelled upward, from the workward. One offered two hundred piastres, another three merchant, to the study of the philosopher, the cabinet It is time, indeed, that this great truth were uniarising from starvation, several purchasers came for- shop of the mechanic, and the warehouse of the When Rajeb saw that his uncle was willing to take this, hundred, and at last the price mounted to five hundred. of the statesman, and the council-chamber of the king. he offered a few piastres more, assured that he would versally acknowledged, for history has been teaching "What do you want with the ass?" said it these thousand years, in the successive rise and fall of empires. Of the great nations of antiquity, we "I am resolved upon having it," was all Ah, well!" said Jousoff, find that the most rapid growth in power and prospe get the ass. that the nephew answered. with a smile of greedy pleasure, "you must give me a rity belonged to the most commercial, as Phoenicia, Rajeb Carthage, and Egypt; and that when they fell, their of enemies, superior in power. Their greatness had was shocked at the miser's demand; but the old man, ruin came not from within, but from the fierce assaults thousand piastres, and then it shall be yours." seeing his nephew's anxiety, would not bate of his exwere stricken down by the overbearing might of miliorbitant request, and the youth at last agreed, and a in itself the elements of duration; and although they bargain was struck. nuous resistance, with numbers far inferior, proving tary dominations, it was not until after long and strethe vigour and soundness of the principles on which of Rome, were of short and uncertain duration. They their national existence had its foundation. The military empires, on the contrary, with the exception had within themselves the seeds of dissolution, and crumbled into ruins with a rapidity of destruction generally commensurate with the celerity of their rule, save only in the long continuance of its greatness; a greatness founded on the valour and warlike elevation. Even Rome itself was no exception to the temper of its people, which every new conquest tended. to diminish, by the introduction of luxurious habits, and the increase of means for their indulgence, gained by the robbery and plunder of the conquered. A power erected on such foundations could not be permanent. Its growth was unnatural, and at length it fell to pieces, as so many other warlike empires had done before it, through the influence of causes inherent in its elevation. The Romans, the Macedonians, the at riches and dominion by the strong arm and the Assyrians, the Persians, all the conquest-seeking nations of antiquity, were mere robbers. They aimed rapacious spirit; and with the very attainment of their cnds, the strong arm grew weak, and their illgotten wealth became the instrument of their destruction. The Carthaginians and l'hoenicians, and every other commercial people, grew in strength and prowealth they acquired was won by toil, and enterprise, sperity with a wholesome and vigorous increase. The and perseverance, and brought with it increase of knowledge and intelligence; and if they fell at last, But without looking more deeply into the causes of they fell nobly, after a long and gallant defence, not by enervation and effeminacy, but by the enormous disparity of force against which they contended. ancient prosperity or ruin, as to which we labour under racy and fulness of historical record, we shall find much uncertainty, by reason of the insufficient accuabundant demonstration of our position in those courses of events which approach nearer to ourselves in point of time, and of which we have fuller and more definite information. In the modern history of nations, agency of commerce, in the creation of national wealth then, we cannot fail to be struck with the manifest and power; for wherever we find commercial activity and a decline of this commercial activity immediately and enterprise existing in vigour, we also find national strength and influence exhibited in a high degree; ass, As Rajeb had left all his money at Cairo, it was agreed Mounting his ass, Rajeb proceeded to Tantah. He followed by a corresponding decadence of population and resources. Look at the states of Italy, for instance-Venice, Tuscany, the Florentine republic, Genoa, and the rest. Time was, when, despite their narrow territorial limits, they stood foremost among the nations in wealth and power; carrying on a most extensive commerce, their ships were found in every sea; their flags were respected, their political influence was paramount, and their great men were proud to bear the title of merchant-princes. But in process of time they neglected the real sources of their power; their rulers began to assume more exclusively the character of princes, and to lay aside that of merchants; they engaged in wars of aggression; and with all this, permitting themselves to be rivalled in their trade by other nations, they descended very quickly to the miserable state of poverty and impotence in which they now exist. Spain, too, once the most commercial country in the world, was also one of the most prosperous and powerful. But in an evil hour the discovery of Columbus laid open to the Spaniards the delusive wealth of Peru and Mexico; and from merchants they became conquerors and robbers. We might enlarge upon this branch of the proofs in support of our position; taking the instance of every kingdom and country in the world, and showing that its wealth, power, and influence, bear a direct ratio to its commerce; but the enumeration would occupy too much space, and we limit ourselves to the two most commercial nations of the earth, Great Britain and the United States; each presenting, but in a different way, the most striking and remarkable illustration of the principle for which we are contending. In the first, we behold one of the greatest powers, occupying the very first rank among the nations, and until very recently holding a sort of recognised supremacy upon the ocean, without any one natural advantage which should secure to it this amplitude of power and dominion. A mere island, of such narrow limits, compared with the other great powers of Europe, that in territorial extent it holds almost the very lowest place; unfavourably situated at the corner, as it were, of the eastern hemisphere, with a climate very far from delightful, and a soil, fertile indeed, but extremely limited in the range of its productions; without forests for shipping, or mines of any thing except tin and coal; with scarcely any streams affording water-power for the driving of machinery; and, in short, as little indebted to nature for the elements of prosperity and greatness as the least potential of the petty kingdoms; this small island has for centuries taken the lead of all the world in activity, population, wealth, power, influence, and even splendour, laying every quarter of the globe, every land, and every sea, under contribution; wielding the sceptre of dominion over an empire, that, like the tricksy spirit of Shakspeare, puts a girdle round about the earth,' and giving laws to millions upon millions of every race and language under heaven. It boasts a navy, which, until within the last twenty years, was greater than those of all the other powers united, and more than once has maintained long and successful war, single-handed, not only against the most powerful and warlike of the continental powers, but against several of them in combination; and finally, in its last and greatest struggle, it was able to resist, and ultimately to overcome, the greatest soldier of modern times, before whose power all the other kingdoms of Europe had gone down in succession, and whose vast armies at one time included legions from almost every nation between the Baltic and the Mediterranean, the Atlantic Ocean and the continent of Asia. Such is the power of England; and the wealth by which it is supported is of the same gigantic measure. And this wealth and power are the immediate fruit of commerce. By commerce the latter is acquired, and the former is sustained; and so long as the commercial supremacy of England is kept up, so long will that little island continue to be the first among nationsthe arbiter of empires, and the wonder of mankind. The illustration afforded by our own country is not less remarkable, although of a somewhat different nature. The amazing influence of commerce upon the growth of nations is exemplified in our history, not by overcoming disadvantages, but by the astonishing rapidity of its operation. We have every thing desirable or necessary for the attainment of prosperity and power. Immense extent of territory, unsurpassed fertility of soil, inexhaustible variety of productions, abundant forests, navigable rivers, mines of coal, iron, copper, lead, and other useful minerals; water-power for machinery, and a sea-coast abounding with harbours; we are divided, by three thousand miles of ocean, from the conflicts and intrigues of European politics, and, by the freedom of our institutions, left at liberty to employ all our energies in the attainment of individual welfare and happiness. And now what is it that has made the United States, within less than half a century, one of the great powers of the earth? Not their natural advantages, certainly, for the same advantages are enjoyed by many other countries, without the same result. Perhaps it may be answered, that our political institutions are the cause of this effect. And so they are, in part. They are the cause, in so far as, by the freedom of action which they secure to every citizen, they have enabled us, as a people, to exert all our energies, with the highest efficacy and advantage, in those pursuits to which inclination prompted; interposing no obstacle either to the choice, or to the successful prosecution, when the choice was made. Favourable circumstances, that to constitute a first-rate merchant, are demanded And now to what conclusion do we arrive as to the character of commerce, in this examination of its influence? We find that it is a civilising principle, eminently favourable to the advancement of science and the cultivation of intellect, potent in its operation upon the welfare of states, adverse to war and discord, a promoter of human happiness, and the natural and efficient stimulus to production, because it is the means by which the advantages of production are realised. Are we not right, then, in pronouncing it liberal and honourable? Must we not give a prompt and indignant denial to the charge so often brought against the mercantile profession, that its tendency is contracting, and its character illiberal? For our own part, we cannot listen with patience to such unfounded and silly imputations. Whether we use the term 'liberal,' in its intellectual sense, as relating to the tone of mind, or in that other and more common sense which regards the sentiments, it seems to us that it is, to say the least, not less applicable to commerce than to any other occupation. The merchant is not debarred, by his pursuit, from the cultivation of his mind; on the contrary, he has facilities and inducements for it of the highest order. LINES TO A LITTLE BOY. My winsome one, my handsome one, my darling little boy, No-no, so much I'll cherish thee, so clasped we'll be in one, That bugbear guilt shall only get the father with the son; when I to thee shall be severe, or thou unkind to me? Can any change which time may bring, this glowing passion Or clench with rage the little hand now fondling round my neck? This heart shall still be wholly thine, or shall not be at all; And to an offering like this thou canst not e'er be coy, So circled by a father's love which wards each ill from thee! Can I suppose another time when this shall all be o'er, And if we speak of liberality in its common sense, And that other prejudice, too, which withholds from commerce the title of honourable-one of the most flagrant and absurd of all the prejudices that beset the human mind. Why, is not the pursuit of commerce honourable! It is creative, beneficent, pacific, light-diffusing, and promotive of human comfort; and to the eye of reason, therefore, infinitely more deserving of honour than the destructive pursuit of war. Yet we cling to the stupid error of the warlike ages, and imagine that there is more honour in killing, burning, ravaging, and laying waste the fair domain provided for man, by divine benevolence, than in disseminating and increasing the enjoyments designed for us by our Creator. We adopt the insane and atrocious opinion of those iron-clad and iron-souled barbarians of the middle ages, whose business was robbery, and whose amusement was strife and butchery; who held it right to take whatever they could seize by the strong hand, and thought it very chivalrous and noble to run each other through with spears, for the mere glory of the deed; and allow our high intelligence to be hoodwinked by a prejudice, which the common sense of a child rejects as monstrous and absurd. It is not merely as an abstract proposition, curious but of no practical consequence, that we have expatiated on the character and influence of commerce. We have been impressed with a sense and a conviction of its beneficial agency; we have seen that, by its effects upon the progress and the welfare of mankind, it has a dignity and honour of its own; we have recognised, in their full extent, its capacity for good, and the dependence of its operation upon the mode and spirit in which it is pursued; and the reader's good sense will point out to him the way in which its full advantages are to be realised; and his laudable ambition, if he be intending or preparing to engage in commercial pursuits, will prompt him to grasp the means, and employ the agencies, by which that end is to be accomplished. He will see that a first-rate merchant is one of the most useful and honourable members of society; and A father's gushing tenderness, such as I feel for thee; ART OF FLOATING. R. C. Any human being who will have the presence of mind to clasp the hands behind the back, and turn the face towards the zenith, may float at ease, and in perfect safety, in tolerably still water-ay, and sleep there, no matter how long. If, not knowing how to swim, you would escape drowning, when you find yourself in deep cher; let your mouth and nose-not the top part of your water, you have only to consider yourself an empty pitheavy head-be the highest part of you, and you are safe; but thrust up one of your bony hands, and down you go-turning up the handle tips over the pitcher. Having had the happiness to prevent one or two drownings by this simple instruction, we publish it for the benefit of all who either love aquatic sports, or dread them. -Walker. NOVEL MODE OF CONVEYING A STEAM-ENGINE. It is but a short period that the steam-engine has been used to convey post letters on land, and now for the first engine. Messrs Newton and Berry, of the Patent Office, time a post letter is made the means of carrying a steamChancery-lane, London, lately received per post, from Messrs Chadburn Brothers, Sheffield, a perfect working steam-engine, constructed on the oscillating cylinder principle, with its fly-wheel, framing, boiler, and fireplace complete; the whole was enclosed in a case wrapped in paper secured with string, and accompanied with a description of its construction and mode of working. The total weight being under four ounces, was charged as eight letters, which sum being prepaid at Sheffield, cost fellow penny travellers.- Newton's London Journal of eightpence postage, and came safe to hand with its Arts. EDINBURGH: Printed and published by W. and R. CHAMBERS, 19, CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF "CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE," GOING TO SERVICE. "THERE'S many have done it before; and let people say what they like, and however disagreeable it may be, it's no disgrace," said Mrs Mulvany, the shopkeeper's wife in the little town of Ballycastle, or, according to its original designation, Ballycushlawn. "It's no disgrace, Mary Cassidy, and so don't cry, dear; if you are not comfortable after a while, you can come to me. Remember there's a time for every thing, and every thing in time; a place for every thing, and every thing in its place;' dust the corners,' as my poor mistress used to say (she was English, as well as myself, Mary), 'dust the corners, and the middle will dust itself; never leave till to-morrew what ought to be done to-day;' a stitch in time saves nine;' 'keep on doing, and you will soon be done;' keep a civil tongue in your head, and your head will keep you; always remember time and tide wait for no man.' Why, Mary, girl! if my husband, Terence Mulvany, had minded my advice, where he has single pounds now, he'd have had dozens in his purse; but he's an Irishman, Mary, and they're very affectionate in their way, yet very, very thoughtless. But for all that," added the good woman, leaning her large red arms on a counter that was as clean as hard rubbing could make it, "for all that, I would not exchange my Terence for any other husband, no matter what his country." Mrs Mulvany was a bustling, industrious woman. Many people are bustling who are not industrious, but she was both; and she was kind-hearted withal, though her kindness did not take the form it usually takes in Ireland. Her hospitality was not reckless; she would place enough before her husband's guests, but not a great deal too much. Provisions are cheap in her neighbourhood, but she did not conceive that their being so, justified her in any species of extravagance; she considered their abundance an especial blessing, not to be wasted. She did not think that prevailing on persons to eat or drink more than they liked, more than did them good, was a proof of either kindness or generosity; she loved her husband dearly; she worked with him, thought for him, saved for him; but she also remonstrated with him, when, instead of minding his business, he would borrow a pointer, and use, or endeavour to use, the old gun as a fowling-piece. She steadily refused her sanction to card-playing in all its branches, as being an unchristian and unthrifty amusement; and when, having taken a "stiff tumbler" of punch, Terence would express his desire to have another, or, if not another, half a one, or "only a little drop of sperits in the could wather, just to kill the insects," Mrs Mulvany would lay firm, if not violent hands on the ugly green bottle, put it into the cupboard, lock it up, and consign the key to her capacious pocket: this was was nobody by. She had good sense when there enough, if Terence filled his glass too often when a neighbour dropped in, to hold her tongue until he was gone; or, if Terence had really taken too much, to keep it quiet till the next morning; then, indeed, her husband received a lecture, long or short, mild or strong, according to circumstances. Men generally listen to reason when suffering from a bad headache produced by indiscretion, and Terence knew his wife was right; besides, her entire conduct in her own homely way convinced him that his interests were hers, and that the desire of her life was to see him well and happy. To be sure, she wanted him to be happy in her way rather than his own, and was not as yielding, not as subservient, as Irish wives generally are; consequently, the young idling men, who would have enjoyed their hot punch and feasting at Terence Mulvany's expense, but for his wife's care SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 1840. "that she kept his nose to And what has all this to do with "going to service?" Mary Cassidy silently agreed with every word ut- PRICE THREE HALFPENCE. greenest spot" that had received the promise of a sweeping. Mary discovered in the morning, while commencing her breakfast, that the milk had never been properly strained before it was set for cream to make butter; consequently the cow hairs stuck round that com"Indeed, and it is very troublesome they are," said pound, like a cheveau-de-frise. Mary could not eat. "It's mighty troublesome they the lady, picking out the offenders one by one, and laying them on the breakfast cloth, which bore tokens of being" used to it." are; and while I think of it, I'll just speak about it to Nelly. Ring the bell, Mary." Mary tried; the bell was mute. "Well, call, then, dear; tongues were made before bells; but, any way, if Jerry had strengthened the crank when I told him, with a bit of wire, we needn't be made hoarse with calling, or lame with tramping have the bell-hanger, I suppose, when we can get him." after those blind and stupid sarvants; now, we must "A stitch in time saves nine," thought Mary Cassidy, as Nelly entered. "Nelly, the hairs prevent our eating the butter," "Bad luck and bad manners to 'em for that same," said "the misthress," with the greatest composure. replied Nelly, leaning her shoulder against the door post, and running her finger backwards and forwards across the back of the nearest chair, so as to form a meandering figure in the dust. "Nelly, it's your fault." "Bedad! I'm as clear from it as if I had just risen from the priest's knee, God bless him! My faut, agra! Bedad! misthress, it's the faut of the strainer, that's gone into smithereens ever since yerself, ma'am, took it to bate paes in." "Devil take the peas!" chimed in the husband. "Sure milk-vessels should be kept to themselves; I had the taste of split peas off the butter for a month." "Ay!" said Nelly, making a very long slide with her finger in the dust; "ay, and last market-day, butther through one of Andy Muckle's jokes--may Pether, Sandy Pether, the gra-boy, lost the sale of the the devil choke him wid the next, I pray! He said it was cows' hairs he was bringing to market instead of cows' butter." "Still, Nelly, that is your fault," said her mistress, "See that now! Bedad! ma'am, I thought ye'd say in a more angry tone. so! Sure ye could not expect me to hinder the strainer of wearing, and the paes, and". "Don't dare to talk to me of the peas," exclaimed the good woman, angry that her fault should be exposed; "could you not have mended the strainer?" "It's a-past mendin' now." "But at first ?" "Oh! at fust! Sure it was only a dawshy hole at fust; and Miss Nancy used to take the world's delight in seeing the kitling put her paw through it. The hole did no harrum at the fust going off, as we used to lift the strainer on one side." "If Mrs Mulvany heard this," thought Mary, "how she would storm!" and ventured immediately to suggest, that until a new strainer could be purchased, a piece of coarse linen should be sewn round the wood. She would do it with pleasure herself, "as it was a pity to lose the sale of the butter." "Oh, very well," said Nelly, rather piqued than pleased; "miss might do it to be sure, if the misthress liked. The butther had the hairs in it many a day, and the misthress took it aisy enough; and as to the sale of the butther, the laugh was agin Pether in the market. But, to be sure, some people, especially those reared by half English, such as Mrs Mulvany, was mighty nice;" and Nelly flounced away, her mistress talking loudly of the "dirt of the servants," quite forgetting that she had set the example, if example was needed, of carelessness, by corrupting the milk-strainer by the impurity of other matter. Dinner was ordered at four that day, and as poor Mary was wandering about, observing, without knowing it, how different every thing was from the thrift and care manifested in Mrs Mulvany's dwelling, two of the children came running to tell her that "Peenawn the piper was outside the back door, playing Rattle her down the Hill,' the hunter's jig, and that Nelly and Molly, and little Jemmy, war dancing a double jig." Mary thought it must be near the hour of dinner; as she passed the clock she looked up; it was not going (a sure sign of a mismanaged house); but in the kitchen, the ducks, suspended by a string of twisted worsted before a fire, roaring like a burning mountain, were at a dead stop, while a dog was licking round and round the edge of a huge cracked dish that did duty as a dripping-pan, as the cook (!) had not been able to find time to rid" the baked potatoes out of the proper dripping-pan, though they had been nearly destroyed by the picking of chickens and the licking of animals, to whom the kitchen was free ground; and over this kitchen there was no presiding genius, as the cook had fled at the sound of the pipes to turn her foot in a jig, leaving the dinner to dress itself. Mary drove away the dog, and turned the ducks, seeing there was no chance of the servants "keeping on doing and consequently being soon done;" but the servants regarded her care with scorn, and held her labour in contempt. Indeed, they war not going to lose their step of a dance for nothin'; the dinner would be time enough. Masther nor misthress was never ready to the minute; why should they bother then ?-it wasn't every day they heard the pipes." If Mary had known enough to understand the full force of the observation, "master nor mistress was never ready at the minute," she would have understood how necessary the practice of punctuality is to enforce its observance. The slovenly habits of this house did Mary Cassidy infinite service, for she had a sufficient quantity of good taste to perceive they were such as to mar every thing like comfort and economy. Five months elapsed after she went to Mrs Singleton's before she wrote the following letter to Mrs Mulvany:"MY DEAR FRIEND-for so you have ever proved yourself to be to a poor friendless girl-and you will therefore, I am sure, let me call you so-I am doing, thanks to your advice, very well indeed, and, I may say, give great satisfaction; and if it warn't for Mary Dacey, the lady's maid, I should be as happy as if I wasn't at service at all; every thing is regular as the clock, and my mistress so particular. You are a good girl,' says she to me one morning; Mary Cassidy, you are a very good girl; I have examined all the corners, and find them well dusted.' Ma'am,' says I, making a dutiful answer, Mrs Mulvany told me to sweep the corners, and the middle would sweep itself,' and that pleased her very much, and she said I was a nice clean girl. But what puts betwixt me and my rest entirely is Mary Dacey. Oh, Mrs Mulvany, if it wasn't for Mary Dacey, there wouldn't be a happier girl betwixt this and the Bay of Dublin than myself. Now, you see, the mistress asked me when I came if I had any followers, and I felt my checks burn up like a coal of fire, for you know I never encouraged but the one, and he went to sea before my poor uncle (the heavens be his bed!) died; but he did not go without breaking the ring which hangs about my neck at this minute, though, even if he is alive, maybe it's too proud he'd be to think of a poor servant, though he'd regard a priest's niece. However, I said, and trembling alive with the shame, None at this present time, ma'am,' for you told me to speak the truth. have At this present time!' she repeated; then you hope to 'If it's pleasing to God and yourself, ma'am,' I answered, curtseying; for,' I added, I broke the ring with one that's beyant seas, and that, I'm afraid, will never trouble yer honour about me.' Now, Mrs Mulvany, was there any thing to laugh at in that? Sure I was in fear, and am in fear, that I may never see him again! But the mistress laughed outright, and then said, 'Well, I am sure you have told the truth, and if you continue to do so, we shall have no reason to repent Mrs Mulvany's recommendation. But, Mary, the reason I asked was, that, if you had a lover, I would find out who and what he was, and, if he was steady and well conducted, never object to your seeing him occasionally in my house, though I do not permit young girls to meet young men out of my house. It is perfectly natural,' she said, that you and every other young woman in due time should wish to be settled; and as I hope to be not only a mistress but a friend to you, and to all who serve me, I wish to know whom you know, that I may be able to advise you for the best, and reward you for good conduct. Always tell me the truth, frankly and simply as you have done now, and I will always be your friend.' I'm sure they talked of my little token in the parlour, for Miss Annette looked very slyly out of her blue eyes at me the next morning, and asked me if I wore nothing about my neck but my handkercher; but was not that very good entirely of the mistress? Now, I never was used to lying; but, look, after those words of hers, Mrs Mulvany, honey, I'd suffer myself to be eut into sparables before I'd tell her a word of lie; and that's what's ruining me with Mary Dacey-the lies I mean. Oh, Mrs Mul vany, the contrariness of Mary goes beyant the beyands -it's shocking, so it is. There's an old henwife in it-a little put-together of a woman; and she gave out that all the young pullets were cocks, and the old hens past laying, so there never was any fresh eggs for breakfast. Moreover, she let a goose-plucker into the goosery at night, on condition that she was only to take half the feathers off the poor innocent birds. As it was done on the sly, even I did not know it, and the plucker was going on with the brutal work, until one old gander, who, I daresay, was up to the mischief, went bang through the window, and never set foot on the ground until he flew right under the mistress's window, and then the cackling he made woke the dog, that woke the mistress, and she wakes the master, and rings the servants' bell. Up I bounced, and, to my astonishment, Mary was not in her bed. I ran down to the mistress, and,' Cassidy,' she says-the quality think a surname grander than a Christian one, I suppose-Cassidy,' she says, there's a light in the goosery; go and see what's the matter, and tell Dacey to come to me.' Well, I went down, and the gander kept on roaring a thousand murders; and when I got out, there was the plucker and the hen-wife, one on a boss, the other on a creepie, plucking for the dear life at an old goose, and half the flock shivering in a corner, and Mary Dacey with a dirty pack of cards in her hand, that had been reading her fortune.* Go back,' says the old goose-plucker, and say there was a cat or a weazel among the geese.' 'I'll tell no untruth,' I answered; and the master saw the light, besides the gander! 'I wish the devil had him-and I'll give him something will make him stiffer in the wings soon,' says the hen-wife. 'Mistress asked for you,' I said, wondering at their craft, and addressing my words to Mary. Tell her I'm very bad entirely with the toothache,' she said, and that I can't get out of bed.' 'I tell you what,' I replied: you, Anty Mullowny, have no right to sell the birds' feathers unknowst to the mistress.' She won't sell them herself, so I do no harm,' she said. They are not yours,' says L. "Praich to the skylarks, priest's niece,' she answers. 'Mary,' I said to the lady's maid, for the love of God, and the sake of your character, run in at once; I can tell no lie for you or any one else; I must say if I am asked, and tell the truth." Oh dear, how mighty righteous we are of a suddent!' exclaimed Mary; but do go your own way; make tales and carry tales, and see what you'll get by it. I don't care.' 'Mary, remember what Don't Care came to,' I answered; and as to making tales, you know I never did that; but certainly I will not see my master and mistress plundered without informing them of it.' 'It does not take a penny out of their pocket,' said the plucker, while the old hen-woman shook her fist in my face, and the lady's maid dropped me a sneer of a curtsey. Well, Mrs Mulvany, I don't know how it would have ended, had they not seen, from the light of a candle he carried, the master himself picking his steps through the sludge of the yard, on account of the drain of the duckpond being going to be repaired; and the moment Mary Dacey saw the flare of the candle, she turned white as a silver penny. 'I'm done,' she says, I'm done for ever, if the master catches me here.' We're all done,' says the gooseplucker, shaking a whirl of feathers from her that looked like a snow-storm. We're all done!' And as she said the word, old Anty bundled herself into where a goose, poor thing, was sitting on her eggs, and like lightning she puts herself down on the eggs, and takes the goose in her lap, drawing her head down, for she is but a mite of a woman; the goose-plucker stood her ground, but Mary Dacey fell on her knees to me. Oh, Mary, avourneen,' she said, 'just stand here that I may creep down behind you, which will get the master to pass me over-do-now do. For the sake of your uncle's soul, don't tell on a poor motherless girl like yerself; I'll burn the cards, and never do wrong again.' Well, Mrs Mulvany, I did let her do as she desired; and maybe when the master came in, was'nt he in a towering passion entirely; for being a gentleman mighty used to his own way, he didn't like being disturbed; and then every minute he opened his mouth to spake, the flaff of the down got into his throat, and then he was dancing mad entirely; and the goose herself, poor thing, got unaisy about her eggs, as good raison she had; and after turning the plucker out, and she on her knees to his honour, Mary,' he says to me, that goose is distressed at something; I hope they haven't poisoned as well as pluck't them; and while he walked over to the far corner with the light to see what ailed the bird, Mary Dacey slipt out, and my heart grew lighter then, for I thought she'd mend for good. And indeed I could not help laughing, for the master, angry as he was, did the same thing as he pulled Anty off the eggs; and when the poor goose found them broke, she got into her tantrums, and raised a regular rebellion among the other geesc, so that old Jerry the gander, who had sold the passt on the goose-plucker, came tottering home; and the upshot of it all was, that, in spite of a thousand lies, and as many curses, old Anty was sent off the next morning, and two more, who certainly deserved it, with her; but they did not tell upon Mary Dacey, which at the time I thought very good of them entirely. But now this is my trouble. I believe Mary's heart softened, but not only must the heart soften with sorrow, but harden against future sin; if it does not, the sorrow does no good. Well, Mary promised me if I did not let on, that she'd change, and give up the card-playing, which, as you told me, brings not only temptation with it, but a hard and heavy curse wherever it is encouraged; and she seemed mighty study and good entirely, until one morning I thought I saw the old goose-plucker in the far shrubbery, waiting under a such as her that servants so often got into trouble; for tree. Now, my poor uncle used to say it was through they maraud through the country, sometimes pulling feathers, sometimes with a basket of hardware, or a pack of soft goods, tempting the foolish girls with finery unfit for them, and taking payment in meal or corn, or apples, or any thing the girls are tempted to take unknowst from their employer, or their parents: this is worst of all, and she was so surely on the watch, that I watched her, and by'n by I saw Mary Dacey go to her and give her something blue, but what I can't say. Well, I met Mary at the turn, and she running home for the dear life. She grew red and pale when she saw me. Where have you been?' I says. 'Down the grove for a mouthful of fresh air,' she says. The air is fine and fresh here, Mary,' I says; glory be to God for it!' Maybe I had a bachelor to meet down there,' she says, laughing it off. May be, Mary,' said I, 'you went to meet the gooseplucker.' Well, what staggered me, was, she swore such an oath she never set eyes on her since that night; and when I reproached her with her wickedness, and said I knew she was there, she turned on me with the greatest abuse, called me a spy, and said I might be an informer if I liked; that, if she did not see the goose-plucker whenever she sent for her, she would tell the mistress, by a synonymous letter, all I had to do with them before. Oh! Mrs Mulvany, what am I to do?-the woman is often about the house, and neither master nor mistress knows it. Mary meets her, I know she does, constantly, and master said the first person who encouraged her about the house, should lose their place; and what he says, he'll do. I know she's after no good, and I tell the cook so, and she says the same; but she says also, it's not your business, nor mine; and if ye tell on Mary, she's an orphin, and can have no character if she's turned away for comrading with that old fortune-telling woman, that's the curse of the neighbourhood." [The letter continued to repeat her anxiety as to what she ought to do, and her fears as to whether or not Mary took any thing of value, and her dread of making enemies, and all the various fears and feelings which a well-meaning mind, that nevertheless wants strength, is likely to urge, both to itself and others, as an excuse for not doing at once what it is a duty to do.] When Mrs Mulvany read the letter, she first of all called to her youngest daughter to be ready to take charge of the shop, as she was going from home for maybe a couple of days. She then asked her husband if she might have the sorrel swinger," as demurely as if she wished him to believe that he really had some command over his stable. And then she ordered "Jem" to saddle the horse, and put on the big pillion and his best "top coat," as she wanted him to look decent. After she had made these arrangements to her perfect satisfaction, she commenced dressing herself in her best, and commented aloud on the contents of the letter, as she did so." That's the way the world gets worse instead of better, and good, honest, industrious servants suspected, because of the bad ones that have gone before them. It's all through the want of a proper feeling of the great principle of truth; that's what it is; confounding the character of an informer, who tells lies, and if he does tell truth, does it for a reward, with that of the truth-teller, who cherishes truth for the love of God, and whose duty it is to prevent evil. What is she to do? Why, if Mary Dacey won't take her warnings, it is her duty, as a servant and a Christian, to tell her mistress. My poor child! she'll get into trouble, that she will! But I don't care a rush for the whole set of them! I'll just give my own Mary's letter into her mistress's hand, plain and above board. Anonymus letter!' he who writes an anonymus letter is a knave, he who believes it a fool. Oh! that servants should be so base as to see their employer robbed; and say, It is not their business,' as if it is not every body's business to prevent robbery, as if we should not speak truth! Oh! if plain-speaking was minded, how seldom we should meet rogues, for they would know that every honest eye was as a watch-tower over the inroads of roguery. To think now that she'd be led by the cook! But that's the way; if one servant does not exactly corrupt another, she saps the foundation of good principles. Mary Dacey, an orphin, indeed! Good reason she should be more careful, after all the warnings, too; and why should she have a character, if she does not deserve it? The idea of letting fraud be practised, because if it was known the person who cheats and robs will not have a character! the person, too, who gives bread, who spends money in his own country instead of going abroad. That little minx, my own Mary, she ought to have known better; but she is young, poor child! However, I'll set it all to rights; I don't care for any of them." And having so decreed, she strapped on her riding skirt, put on a warm shawl, surmounted her handsome lace-cap by a black beaver hat, which boasted the ornament of a steel buckle; and after her husband had lifted her on the pillion, and the “sorrel swinger" was fairly off at his usual hard, high trot, Mr Mulvany was heard to declare that his wife "grew heavier and handsomer every day of her life." She had not proceeded far, when she saw strolling towards her the goose-plucker, who was well known to every one in the country. "Got any thing good and cheap ?" she inquired, as the old rogue looked up at her with an expression of cunning and fear, for rogues had an instinctive dread of Mrs Mulvany. Oh! ma'am, there's no good in telling you; for you less show ye any thing." wont let a poor body come within a mile of ye, much "Well, I'm taking a turn, perhaps," said the shopkeeper; so hand up yer basket, till I have a look." and little looking-glasses that libelled the human face There were threads and tapes, and ribbons and laces, divine, and the usual assemblage of odds and ends; but Mrs Malvany knew, from the weight of the basket, that it contained more than it appeared to do. How long is it," inquired Mrs Mulvany, "since you were at Castle Hazard ?-how long since ye saw my little pet, Mary Cassidy ?" A change, too perceptible not to be at once noted by the quick-witted Mrs Mulvany, passed over the goose plucker's face; and in a tone of mingled anxiety and anger she exclaimed, "Yarra wisha! ma'am, give me my basket; sure it's well enough I knew ye didn't want to buy any thing." "Here's a remnant rolled up of blue satin," persisted |