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as to himself, Great English! wonderful people! a truth translated by the schoolmaster of Hole-cumCorner; who, in his childhood wrecked off Cadiz, had served three years as turnspit in the most Holy Inquisition. Having duly inspected the stocks, the Spaniard was conducted two miles out of the town, to Hempseed Common, to view an antique gibbet, one of the highly-prized, most sacred, and most venerable institutions of Hole-cum-Corner. Here, again, he exclaimed,Great English! wonderful people!' Returning to the town, the illustrious visiter was conducted to the cake-manufactory, where was exhibited to him the whole process of cake making; at which, as before, he declared himself sufficiently astonished, and biting a cake hot from the oven, again exclaimed, Great English! wonderful people!'

The royal Spaniard was, after this, shown over the vast establishment of Squint and Leer, inventors and makers of dolls'-eyes. Here a most gratifying surprise awaited the royal guest, for he was presented, not only with the freedom of the town, in a handsome pearl box, but with a document that enabled him to set up as dolls'-eyes maker in any part of England; a privilege which he declared to be the most flattering mark of national liberality and national affection. He avowed that, in the whole course of his life, he would never look into the eyes of a doll, without thinking of the worthy people of Hole-cum-Corner." The Preacher Parrot" is a happy and original idea of our author. The bird in question has been brought up in an auction mart, where it has picked up a great number of the phrases of the place. Afterwards transferred to various owners, it loses the favour of all in succession by its too apropos repetition of the auctioneers' slang. The following is a specimen of its adventures:-"A very select party was congregated at the house of Mrs Limetwig, to celebrate the birthday of her daughter, the youngest of four, the fair Belinda, who, at the time we write, had entered into her nineteenth year; and although she had no fortune—at least, what is vulgarly understood by the mercenary young men of our day as fortune-she had the nobler kind of wealth in great abundance-she was accomplished to the verge of perfection. Her pine-apples painted on white satin, were equal, if not superior, to any in Covent Garden. And then her portraits of dear and particular friends-they lived and looked! It was only known to a few, but she had contributed some of the fancy heads, to either the Bloomsbury or the Bagnigge Wells Beauties, we forget which. Her modesty withheld her name; but they who had seen one of her faces, could easily point out the whole gallery. They had all the same sweet small mouth; in which the artist finely indicated the ethereal nature of the heroine, showing that with such a mouth it was impossible to eat. A mouth-if we may dare even to approach a masculine simile-almost the size of a shirtbutton-hole; indeed, when any of the teeth were seen, it might almost be doubted if they were not the pearl button itself. And then the Dian-like purity illustrated in such little lips!—they might, with difficulty, compass a whistle, but could never be brought to perpetrate a kiss. The eyes were worthy of the lips; nice little beads, looking up in one head and down in another, as, in obedience to a wire, we see the different orbs of different dolls. And then the flesh and the general expression of the face-so soft, so very sweet, so unlike the flesh that, on this dull earth, is wooed and won and taken before a parson: no, it is clear such beauties live upon honey-dew like humming-birds-on conserves of roses, and jessamine paste. They are a great improvement to the ideal woman of Wordsworth, and are

'much too good

For human nature's daily food.'

It may be thought that we have lingered too long on the one ability of Belinda, seeing that she has so many; but we could not for the life of us let the reader pass in ignorance of the fair hand so successfully helping the advancement of high British art. We have paused -many a time have we paused-before these heads, contemplating them with the same profound sense of the beautiful, that in our schoolboy days we have lavished upon sugar-plums; nay, it may be wrong to own the weakness, but, perhaps, with the self-same wish. To return to the birth-day party.

the young bachelors, but favoured the younger son of the banker with a look entirely for himself. In this pause, a voice cried out, and it seemed as if accompanying the glances of Mrs Limetwig- Does nobody offer?

A titter, deepening into a laugh, went round the room, and Mrs Limetwig and Belinda turned to scarlet. Oh-ha! ha!' observed the mamma, evidently restraining excessive laughter; that teazing bird, which William's godfather brought him-how came it here? and the servant was immediately ordered to secure the intruder. But the parrot was a social parrot, and resolved not to leave the party; hence, after many ineffectual attempts to catch it, for its leg, though weak, had been set by some Samaritan, the bird was

married mon; their salary, individually, is from L.10 to L.12 per annum, paid in money. Besides this allowance, they have each two pecks of oatmeal weekly, nearly two quarts of milk per day, or an equivalent in small beer or money; and frequently a quantity of potatoes during the winter half year. Next, for their lodgment: they are provided with an outhouse connected with the farm-offices, which contains a few rough stools, benches, or chairs, sometimes a table, a pot for boiling water in, fuel, either of wood or coal, salt, light, and a few small articles, which usually belong to the ploughmen themselves, such as a small chest for holding meal, a wooden or tin bowl, and a horn spoon. The place is provided with beds, consisting of common frames, ticks stuffed with chaff, blankets, and coarse linen sheets. Sometimes the 'It was downright cruelty to ask, but would'thus sleeping place is not in the bothy, but in a room spoke the banker's younger son-would Miss Lime- adjoining the stable. The inmates cook their own twig sing his favourite song-the' victuals-in plainer terms, make their own porridge 'Certainly,' answered Mrs Limetwig for her daugh-make their own beds, and perform other offices for ter; and the favourite song-we forget its title and words, but its being very popular may account for that was executed with incomparable power. Your only unmarried daughter? observed the banker's son, in a low voice, to Mrs Limetwig. All married, except my dear Belinda ; and it would break my heart, I believe, to part with her. Yes, sir,' said the mother, affected even by the probability of a separation; 'Belinda, sir, is-is"

suffered to remain.

themselves. The bothy establishment is under no other jurisdiction than that organised by its own inhabitants, and that is as lax as may be. There is no privacy; and a virtuously disposed individual has no chance of escape from his comrades. A farmer, who has had the courage to expose the system in a well-written essay on the subject, declares that the corruption of manners is complete; for, says he, "should any of the inmates of the bothy be The last lot, gentlemen-the last lot!' cried the par- disposed to rational enjoyment, they are most prorot; and the guests burst into uncontrolled laughter. bably exposed to the interruption of noisy ribaldry Belinda, with fine presence of mind, immediately and unbecoming behaviour, which disturb all comstruck the keys of the piano, as though quite uncon-posure, or all commendable social intercourse. I have scious of the interruption, and in a minute or two witnessed his evil on my own premises. I have had, was in the midst of a furious battle-piece. of late years, several single men-servants from a dis'If I might aspire to the notice of Miss Limetwig,' trict of country where there are few bothies. At said the banker's son to the mother, 'I hope that' first, they read in their spare hours; and some con"Going for a song, gentlemen! cried the parrot; and tributed towards procuring a newspaper and periodical again its words were greeted with a shout. It was work for themselves, besides having the use of mine. too much; the creature where could it have learned The interruptions of the old bothy inmates, however, such words?-should be sent from the house.' Such soon altered their habits. They first gave over paying was the sentence pronounced by Mrs Limetwig, and for a paper of their own, and latterly declined to read after some little difficulty carried into execution. But one, except on rare occasions, afforded to them gratis; the charm of the night was broken: Mrs Limetwig and they gradually became very consistent bothy-men. was irritated, Belinda languid, and the banker's son- They professed to regret this, but alleged they were whether the last declaration of the bird had given obliged to yield to the circumstances under which they him pause,' we know not-not once, for the remainder were placed. Indeed, I am persuaded the minority of the evening, ventured to speak of Belinda. She would find it impossible to alter the nature of bothy died a maid, a victim to the intrusion of truth. characteristics, or even to follow the superior bent of What would become of the world, if truth inter- their own minds. One thoughtless or mischievous fered in every marriage?" associate is much more likely to become a leader in a bothy than one of an opposite character. The present situation of unmarried farm-servants cannot, therefore, in the very nature of things, conduce to any other result than that which we have contemplated; and while they continue to be so situated, the same elements of corruption, produced by like exciting causes, will assuredly mingle their bitter fruits with the devoted community."

THE BOTHY SYSTEM.

A BOTHY is a rude barrack, or place of lodging, for farm-servants, where they are kept very much on the principle that a gentleman keeps his hounds-a roof over their head, a few of the meanest articles of furniture, and no kind of moral superintendence. In former times, it was customary for agriculturists and those in their employment to live under the same roof, and the habitual and familiar intercourse in and out of doors produced ties of friendship. The one party, at least, took an interest in the welfare of the other; and if there was homeliness of manner, there was at the same time propriety of behaviour. The master found himself under the necessity of setting an example, and the servants felt that to forfeit esteem was to lose their means of existence. Thus, the action and reaction of opinion kept all right. In these times, however, all the servants of the establishment did not live under the roof of their employer. Married ploughmen lived in a cottage somewhere on the land, and their families, on occasions, lent assistance in field labour, herding cattle, or, as Burns says, "running an errand to a neebour toun."

A time came when all these old-world practices were blown up. The demand for agricultural produce, consequent on the French war and other circumstances, excited a spirit of improvement in husbandry, which has, in the space of forty years, about as effectually changed the face of Scotland as if the old country had been carried away and a new one set down in its stead. There is now scarcely such a thing as a thatched farm-house of the old fashion. The farm-houses are good slated buildings; the farmer lives in a style better than a landed gentleman half a century ago, paying, at the same time, ten times the old rent; and in several quarters of the country, all the operations connected with the farm are executed by young unmarried men, hired for short terms, and who are usually lodged in a bothy. In some districts, the practice of employing only unmarried men has not yet been introduced; and in such cases, the ploughmen with their families reside in cottages near the homestead, a practice which it is a pity should ever be broken up.

We never see a young lady, surrounded by eight or ten bachelors, take off her gloves, and seat herself at the piano, but we shudder, from an association of ideas-yes, we instantly think of the infernal machine! Who knows how many men may be killed dead on the spot by the first crash! Belinda played divinely. Edgar Flimsy, the younger son of a country banker, looked very serious as the music proceeded. Mrs Limetwig observed the gravity of the young gentleman, and, doubtless to divert it, desired Belinda to sing. Belinda obeyed, and sang in the finest possible taste. Had she been wound up for the occasion like a musical snuff-box, she could not have acquitted herself with more precision, and with less vulgar impulse: every note fell from her lips as if it were chiselled and then her execution! Poor Edgar Flimsy!-his heart was dragged up and down the gamut until exhausted; when, at the last three-land Society has, we observe, lately given a preminute shake of the songstress, it fell into a thousand little pieces. Indeed, we would not own the heart that could stand that shake. There was a general burst of applause, followed for a moment by a profound silence. Mrs Limetwig looked proudly at

The reader will now understand what is meant by the bothy system, which, from whatever cause, we are assured is effecting a serious demoralisation of manners among the peasantry in all the places in which it has taken root. The evil, it appears, has attracted the attention of those philanthropists who take pains to look below the surface of things; and the Highmium to the writer of an essay on the subject. As readers in the south may be interested in knowing the mechanique of a bothy, we can tell them something of it from the account which we have just alluded to. First, of the inmates: they are all un

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Speaking of the habits acquired under this vicious system, the same writer observes, that intemperance is not the least common. "They frequently either purchase whisky, and use it in their bothies on high occasions, or resort in a body to the public-house, where they seldom fail to indulge beyond their physical capabilities. These debauches, especially when committed in their own dwellings, are followed by language the very excess of ribaldry, and by conduct resembling that of a tribe of savages; and as these extraordinary revels last throughout the greater portion of the night, besides all other personal sacrifices and injuries, the want of proper rest incapacitates the misguided and infatuated victims for the work of the succeeding day. While they were inmates of the farm-house, they could not absent themselves without discovery, far less keep a bottle for the use of themselves and friends in the manner described. Now, they may do both. They can go wherever, or do whatever, they please, provided they are at their work in working hours, however indisposed or unprepared for its execution. The temptations and opportunities to indulge in intemperance have not yet made many servants habitual drunkards. They exceed only occasionally, when urged by the contaminating system of association. But at both terms of the year many of them give full license to their depraved appetites. A great proportion of them expend their hard-earned means, on these occasions, most profusely and recklessly. From the period of leaving their old service and entering on their new, being generally every half year, the average expenditure of each unmarried man-servant, on intoxicating liquors and other evil indulgences, cannot be less than ten or fifteen shillings. Some of them expend one or two pounds, thus wasting nearly the half of their wages. The poverty produced by these short-lived seasons of revelry, is the best safeguard against their repeating acts of the same description until the wages are again won, to be expended in a similar manner. This regular routine of inebriety seldom gets a check until the victims are overwhelmed by debt. The money that went into the pocket of mine host,' ought to have gone to pay the shoemaker and tailor. Indeed, so unguarded and indiscreet are bothy servants in general in their expenditure, that they have often to purchase their necessaries on credit. Few are able to pay in ready money, and their wages, even before they are earned, are consequently almost all uplifted, or pledged, for a portion of both necessaries and indulgences; and as they are continually changing their situations, some of them omit to give a

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parting call to their creditors. This improvident and dishonest conduct destroys in them every honourable feeling, and forms a barrier to the cultivation of habits of economy in after life. The reader can judge from these facts, why many rural female-servants have become so depraved in their habits, and inefficient in the discharge of their duties; and, moreover, how little they are qualified to be wives and mothers, and what kind of promise their offspring hold out for the future cultivators of the soil. The labourers are not the only sufferers from this depth of degeneracy into which they are plunged, and are plunging, it is to be feared, still deeper and deeper. Their masters' interests and comforts are materially involved. They are wanting in their duty to themselves, and they cannot be dutiful to others. Many of them, being totally regardless of the interests of their employers, become mere eye-servants; and all the strictness with which they are watched cannot ensure the efficient performance of their duty."

We must have done with this odious picture of rural depravity. Having brought the subject fairly under public attention, we leave it to the consideration of those who have it in their power to carry practical remedies into effect.

GLASS WAISTCOATS.

The very ingenious discovery of working glass into a substance resembling the richest silk, is now being brought into very general operation, and in various ways, such as gentlemen's waistcoats and stocks, ladies' dresses, and many other articles of decoration, in the most splendid patterns. It is superior even to silk in flexibility and softness, and the durability of it (a point, however, of no consideration with the haut ton, among whom at present it exclusively is), as a matter of course, vastly superior. In process of time, when the manufacture has arrived at a more perfect state, and all its little defects remedied, and its wastings discovered, it will in all probability come within the reach of most classes of society, but at present its cost is its only drawback. The magnificence of its appearance is quite remarkable, and when used in any considerable quantity, such as window-curtains, &c., it should be seen before a just appreciation of its richness and elegance can be entertained.-Newspaper paragraph.

CONDUCT BEFORE THE KING AND QUEEN.

In

In the first place, you must not cough. If you find a cough tickling in your throat, you must arrest it from making any sound; if you find yourself choking with the forbearance, you must choke-but not cough. In the second place, you must not sneeze. If you have a vehement cold, you must take no notice of it: if your nosemembranes feel a great irritation, you must hold your breath; if a sneeze still insists upon making its way, you must oppose it, by keeping your teeth grinding together; if the violence of the repulse breaks some blood-vessel, you must break the blood-vessel-but not sneeze. the third place, you must not, upon any account, stir either hand or foot. If by chance a black pin runs into your head, you must not take it out. If the pain is very great, you must be sure to bear it without wincing; if it brings the tears into your eyes, you must not wipe them off; if they give you a tingling by running down your cheeks, you must look as if nothing was the matter. If the blood should gush from your head, by means of the black pin, you must let it gush; if you are uneasy to think of making such a blurred appearance, you must be uneasy, but you must say nothing about it. If, however, the agony is very great, you may privately bite the inside of your cheek, or of your lips, for a little relief; taking care, meanwhile, to do it so cautiously as to make no apparent dent outwardly. And, with that precaution, if you even gnaw a piece out, it will not be minded, only be sure either to swallow it, or commit it to a corner of the inside of your mouth till they are gone-for you must not spit. I have many other directions, but no more paper; I will endeavour, however, to have them ready for you in time. Perhaps, meanwhile, you would be glad to know if I have myself had opportunity to put in practice these receipts ?-Madame D'Arblay's Diary.

QUACKERY.

Quackery, like sin, is very ancient. It flourished in ancient Rome as well as in modern Europe. Nor does it depend for its prosperity on the ignorance of the uneducated classes. The desire of wealth and health," says Pitt, "seems to put all understandings on a level: the avaricious are duped by every bubble-the lame and unhealthy by every quack." The faith of that singular compound of folly and knavery, the world, is kept up by peers, judges, and bishops, by clowns, operatives, and old women, who furnish certificates to the value of nostrums, and testify in favour of imposture, delusion, and villany. Every material substance and medicament, from the inert herb and common weed to simple water, having no properties beyond mere matter, have been at one period or another boasted up to the vain and empty nothingness of a great name, as the best remedy in the world for the inward bruises of all mankind. Indeed, each has possessed in turn the same reputation, and produced the same imputed benefits as a panacea for the cure of every disease under the sun; and their imaginary virtues have been witnessed and attested by persons from the throne to the garret. In this country the sale of quack medicines has kept pace with the "march of intellect." Forty years ago they yielded an annual revenue to the state of about L.14,000. In 1841 the amount realised was L.50,000. For the last half century, English governments have looked upon this vile revenue as more valuable, in their judgment, than the health of the people, the prosperity of the regular profession, and the improvement of physic. "They manage these things better in France." There the compositions of all nostrums are divulged, compulsorily, to the Academy of Medicine; after which

a license is given for the sale of them, if they are not injurious to the public health. The sale of hurtful nostrums is prohibited by penalties. As to other nostrums, the quack may sell, the dupe may buy-the government only interfering with "the liberty of the subject" (whether that subject be quack or dupe) for the protection of life.-Abridged from a Paper by Dr Fosbroke of Chester.

LINES ON REVISITING THE COUNTRY.
[BY BRYANT, AN AMERICAN POET.]

I STAND upon my native hills again,
Broad, round, and green, that in the southern sky,
With garniture of waving grass and grain,

Orchards and beechen forests, basking lie;
While deep the sunless glens are scooped between,
Where brawl o'er shallow beds the streams unseen.

A lisping voice and glancing eyes are near,
And ever-restless steps of one, who now
Gathers the blossoms of her fourth bright year;
There plays a gladness o'er her fair young brow,
As breaks the varied scene upon her sight,
Upheaved, and spread in verdure and in light.
For I have taught her, with delighted eye,
To gaze upon the mountains-to behold,
With deep affection, the pure, ample sky,

And clouds along the blue abysses roll'd-
To love the song of waters, and to hear
The melody of winds with charmed ear.
Here I have 'scaped the city's stifling heat,
Its horrid sounds, and its polluted air;
And-where the season's milder fervours beat,
And gales, that sweep the forest borders, bear
The song of bird and sound of running stream-
Have come awhile to wander and to dream.

Ay, flame thy fiercest, sun; thou canst not wake,
In this pure air, the plague that walks unseen;
The maize leaf and the maple bough but take

From thy fierce heats a deeper, glossier green;
The mountain wind, that faints not in thy ray,
Sweeps the blue steams of pestilence away.
The mountain wind-most spiritual thing of all
The wide earth knows-when, in the sultry time,
He stoops him from his vast cerulean hall,

He seems the breath of a celestial clime-
As if from Heaven's wide open gates did flow
Health and refreshment on the world below.
-Selections from American Poets.

TEMPERANCE IN IRELAND.

ON this subject it affords us much pleasure to give the following letter (extracted from a newspaper) by Miss Edgeworth, dated "Edgeworthstown, Feb. 28, 1842," to R. Allen, Esq., Secretary of the Irish Temperance Union, Dublin:

"Sir,-Your letter needs no apology. I thank you for having thought it worth while to apply to me, and for desiring to have my opinion on the Temperance Association, along with those of the most benevolent and enlightened friends of humanity.

I am happy to be able-by all the experience we have had in this neighbourhood, and by all that I have heard of evidence from different parts of the country-to confirm the accounts you have from all parts of Britain, and especially from Mr Clarkson- the venerable Clarkson,' as you justly call him. I should content myself with saying-as once a gentleman did after hearing a speech of Burke's-I say ditto to Mr Burke,'-I say ditto to Mr Clarkson-but that I think it may be useful to this good cause, that all should give specific individual evidence of what they know of their own knowledge of the operation of this temperance pledge.

In our village of Edgeworthstown, the whisky-selling has diminished, since the pledge has been taken, within the last two years, so as to leave public houses empty, and to oblige the landlord to lower house-rent considerably. This we know to our pecuniary loss-I need not add, to our moral satisfaction.

The appearance of the people-their quiet demeanour at markets and fairs-has wonderfully improved in general; and to the knowledge of this family, many notorious drinkers, and some, as it was thought, confirmed drunkards, have been completely reformed by taking the pledge.

They have become able and willing to work, and to take care of their farms and business-are decently clothed, and healthy and happy-and now make their wives and children happy, instead, as before the reformation, miserable and broken-hearted. I have heard some of the strong expressions of delight of several of the wives of the reformed drunkards. One wife said to me, Ma'am, I'm the happiest woman now that can be; sure, he says he is wakened from a dream, and now he goes about his business so well; and, ma'am, he can eat more, and he can bear the noise of the children, which he never could formerly.'

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I have heard of many instances where the health has been improved, even where the total abstinence' began late in life, and after habits of daily intemperance.

I have not known of any in which the health has suffered. Very few instances of breaking the pledge have as yet come to our knowledge in this neighbourhood, but some have occurred. The culprits have been completely shunned and disgraced, so that they are awful warnings to others.

So long as public opinion is upheld in this manner, and so continues to act, we may hope that this great power |—this inestimable moral blessing to Ireland, in particular, will continue; and most earnestly I hope and pray that it may.

Beyond all calculations-beyond all the predictions of experience, and all the examples from the past, and all analogy, this wonderful crusade against the bad habits of nations-the bad habits and sensual tastes of individuals-has succeeded and lasted for above two years. It is amazing, and proves the power of moral and religious influence and motive, beyond any other example on record in history.

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FRENCH IDEAS OF ENGLISH SPORT.

After horses, greyhounds, foxes, pigeons, and bull-dogs, we at length come to boxers-the last class of sport, which holds brutes in greater esteem than men; for do not fancy that this classification is the effect of chance, and of a sense of shame or disgust. Not so; the English do nothing without an intention; they never blush at what they do, and are enraptured with delight at the hideous sight of two desperate boxers. Thus the last rank allotted in the hierarchy of sport to those ignoble fights, proves only, that if they tremble when their horse has caught a cold, they have somewhat less feeling when they behold a man's ribs knocked in. In those combats every thing is opprobrious and repulsive-ay, every thing, from the teethless mouth and the brutal looks of those degraded beings, to the preparations and precautions destined to prolong the combat. Each second brings his champion a pail of water, a large horse sponge, and a bottle of brandy or wine. The heroes are stripped to the waist, and, at first, totter, as much from fear as from drunkenness; but the murmurs of the spectators soon warn them that they have not come to witness mere childish play. Vanity then prevails over fear, and the combat becomes serious. At every tooth that drops, at every rib that breaks, at every eye that falls out, there are voices that shout "Bravo!" and hands that applaud. The struggle has already lasted an hour; the boxers are exhausted; they can scarcely stand; their faces are bruised, and covered with blood; their bodies present but a huge sore. But they have not yet rested and assailed one another above fifty times, and a proper combat must be renewed at least sixty or seventy. Their seconds apply the sponge to the flowing blood, wash their eyes, noses, and ears, pour wine or brandy down their throats; and the blows resound again, until one of them, panting, exhausted, almost dead, falls down to get up no more. And yet the crowd is often dissatisfied; often does it cry that there has been treachery or cowardice-instead of one corpse it would have two. This is the ugly side of sport in England, for it is not the populace only that encourage these loathsome spectacles; the most elegant men blush not to witness them, and to speculate upon the fists of a boxer with the same coolness as they speculate upon a horse's legs. In this department of sport we shall never be on a level with the English, and we can but congratulate ourselves upon it.

-La Presse.

EDITORIAL NOTE.

THE Editors of CHAMBERS'S EDINBURGH JOURNAL again beg to intimate that they do not wish any contributions, and that they will not be responsible for the safe-keeping or the return of papers pressed upon them notwithstanding these repeated an nouncements. They also would respectfully submit, that it is too much to expect them to attend to or answer all the letters sent to them. The greater proportion of these communications are inquiries on subjects which the writers themselves, by a small share of industry, could easily settle to their own satisfaction. At all events, the Editors have such onerous duties to perform to the public, in the conducting of the present and the other works on which they are engaged, that to attend to the many inquiries put to them is entirely out of the question. Some may be inclined to think this uncourteous; a knowledge of the facts would show that such was not the case. Many of these correspondents seem not to have the slightest notion that they are giving trouble, or that they have not established a claim to be answered to the full extent of their demands.

Were

the Editors to publish some of their letters, they would form an amusing farrago of conceit, spite, and folly. The class of persons whom a statesman described as bothering him with advices to tax pianos and umbrellas, are a type of these letterwriters. One sends a long, ill-spelled communication respecting the millenium, which, he says, from a peculiar combination of certain letters of the alphabet and certain figures, is proved will take place in the present year he is anxious to know if his calculations are correct. A second has discovered the perpetual motion," and could make watches go by the same power that governs the motions of the planets"-the Editors are to be rewarded with half the profits if they will be at the expense

of taking out a patent for the discovery. A third is a person residing in England, who thinks he is somehow related to a family of distinction and wealth in the north-he requests to be furnished with a private history of the said family for two centuries back; expenses of search will be cheerfully paid. A fourth is most anxious to discover the origin of his name, and will go the length of half a guinea to be satisfied on the subject. Not a few ask a candid opinion on the merits of parcels of poetry (!) which they portion ask answers to questions of the most trifling nature. At enclose for perusal. But, as above mentioned, the greater proleast six persons have asked why the pages of the "Information for the People" are not numbered, any one of whom might have seen that the pages are numbered-the only peculiarity being that the figures are placed at the bottom instead of the top of the page. Perhaps a dozen persons have asked to be furnished with the address of Dr Turnbull in London, although it is expressly mentioned in the article referring to that gentleman that he lives in Russel Square; and surely it could not be very difficult for an inquirer to find out all the rest himself; some people, however, never seem to be able to do any thing for themselves-they always require somebody to lead them or push them on. Once for all. the Editors do not know any thing more of Dr Turnbull's address than that it is-Russel Square, London. London is a large city

in England, and may be reached by stage-coaches, railways, or steam-boats. On arrival, a good plan would be to hire a street cab (contraction of cabriolet), and tell the cabman to drive to Dr Turnbull's, Russel Square; and leave him to find out the house, which there is little fear of his doing. It is hoped this will be considered sufficiently explicit.

The Editors, in conclusion, have a more pleasing duty to perform in thanking many kind friends for their obliging hints, observations, and corrections of errors, which they indulgently and properly ascribe to inadvertency. In all cases in which the errors are not imaginary but real, care is taken to correct them in subsequent impressions.

LONDON: Published, with permission of the proprietors, by W. S. ORR, Paternoster Row.

Printed by Bradbury and Evans, Whitefriars.

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DINBURGE

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

NUMBER 535.

SHORT NOTES ON MATRIMONY. MATRIMONY has never been treated formally in the Journal, but several matters connected with it have received some attention. In an early number, in a paper entitled "Fathers have Flinty Hearts," we endeavoured to combat the idea that parents are in general animated by views opposed to the happiness of their children with regard to marriage. Afterwards, under the title of " Attachments,"+ it was our aim to show that that fixing of the affections upon one object, which the young generally consider as an act, like certain advertisements, "not to be repeated," is in reality only the employment of a power of affection, which, on some subsequent occasion, and under certain favouring circumstances, may be shifted to a second object, which it will regard with as strong a feeling of preference as it ever manifested for the first. We afterwards said what we could to discountenance the dangerous practice of making engagements when there is any thing but the most immediate prospect of their being fulfilled by marriage-a practice which leads to a vast amount of misery otherwise avoidable, and which every one possessing the slightest influence over young persons, ought by all means to discourage. The different but even more alarming class of dangers attending marriage between parties nearly related in blood, was the subject of another paper.§ More recently, we took into consideration the common notion as to the dependence of women upon marriage, and endeavoured to show that their respectability and happiness might be advanced by their appearing and really considering themselves as comparatively independent of matrimony; for which reason we counselled parents to train up their female children to look upon a husband as a thing which it was only well to have, if a good one should readily occur, but which it were better otherwise to want, or for which, at least, no sacrifice should be made, seeing that it is quite possible to lead both an useful and a happy life unmarried. We would now advert to a few other points connected with this subject-a delicate one, we confess, seeing that every error involved in it has been committed by the wisest and most estimable of our friends, but which we shall nevertheless venture on, with some hope of passing over it successfully, being, on this as on all other occasions, sincerely anxious to treat general questions with as little offence to the feelings of individuals as possible.

It is but to reiterate the most commonplace observation, that unequal matches of all kinds are unfavourable to happiness. A match may be unequal in age, in the personal appearance and manners of the parties, in their original grade, and many other respects. In every respect inequality is mischievous, and generally as much so for the party who seems to have the advan tage, as for the other. When, for instance, a female of thirty-five marries a man of twenty, the likelihood of unhappiness ten or twelve years afterwards, is even greater for herself than for her husband. The laws of nature have in this case been signally violated, and nothing but evil can follow. The ages of married pairs should be adjusted according to a sliding scale, in something like the following manner :-When the woman is under twenty-five, the man should not be less than five years older; when she is between twentyfive and thirty-three, he ought to be eight years older; when she is between thirty-three and forty, he should be fully fifteen years her senior; and so on. It may be observed that departures from such a rule are not

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SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 1842.

certain in all cases to be attended with unhappiness; but assuredly, in as far as it is departed from, there is the less likelihood of happiness. So, also, when an individual of a humble grade is adopted by marriage into a comparatively refined circle, there is, upon the whole, most risk of suffering to the inferior person. It is not good for either, but certainly worst for the party who makes the greatest change, and whose position is consequently the falsest. In such a case, one may really be said to gain a loss. Unsuitable matches are awkward and troublesome to more than the parties themselves. It is common for persons who have made such alliances to say that they had a title to please themselves; but this is a maxim to be taken with some exception. A married pair are not quite isolated in society. They are on the contrary associated and connected with many persons who owe to them, and to whom they owe, duty. It is felt by these persons that the unsuitableness of the match is productive of much inconvenience to them, and must needs be so, while such a thing as society exists. It is therefore in some measure necessary, in marriage, to please friends, as well as one's self, if we would discharge all the obligations under which we lie as social beings. When a man or woman of some rank marries a person of greatly inferior condition, a great and real offence is unquestionably committed, and the consequent alienation of friends, though to be deplored, is only what is to be expected.

Harmony of character is as needful as equality of condition. When fortune joins the gentle to the rude, she certainly commits one of the most wanton of all her pranks. There is a theory which probably has taken its rise in a wish to find a final cause for the many inharmonious unions which are formed that nature delights in uniting opposites. The only countenance which the doctrine has is in the noted caprice which makes tall men select short women, and short men tall women, dark men fair women, and so forth. There is perhaps some principle of taste which produces these odd associations, but it is greatly to be doubted if opposite dispositions ever lead to a feeling of preference. All that we know of mind teaches us, on the contrary, that souls sympathise only under the influence of a community of sentiment. When a gentle nature is drawn into connexion with an ungentle one, it is probably either through the efficacy of some external circumstances, or by the working of that venerative principle which, in all love affairs, produces a blindness to the real qualities of the object. The refined come into conjunction with the coarse, the enlightened with the ignorant, the benevolent with the severe, through similar causes; and from all such alliances only misery can come. The wreck of peace produced by an inharmonious marriage, and the almost hopelessness of redress, present one of the most distressing views of human affairs which we ever meet with. And it is difficult to reconcile with justice our condemning to perpetual misery a person who has only been unfortunate in the choice of a mate. Such pairs are forced, or all but forced, by society to remain together, not exactly because their separating would be an evil in itself, but because it is feared that the least facilitation to divorce would produce a general disposition to dissolve the marriage tie. It has always seemed to us highly questionable if the relaxation of the laws on this subject would be attended with any such effect, for, first, the natural disposition is, not to separate, but to remain together, as is shown by the pertinacity with which even unhallowed unions are maintained; and, second, there is greater laxity in some countries than in others, without having the slightest observable effect in inviting to separation.

PRICE 1d.

But this is a critical subject, and not strictly under our view at present; so we shall leave it with the remark that, in the present arrangements, there is certainly a powerful call for the exercise of caution with regard to the dispositions of the party with whom an alliance is to be formed.

Matrimony presents occasion for the exercise of conscientiousness towards somewhat extraordinary objects. Where any one, by marrying, has a great chance of injuring the happiness of the other party, it certainly ought to be a point of conscience to avoid taking the step. The circumstances of some men-with regard, for instance, to the nature of their profession [this is particularly the case in the army], or with regard to their income [this is a more general case]-are such, that there is no reasonable prospect of happiness for their partner. They are therefore bound to postpone coming under this obligation until they shall be in more favourable circumstances. There is a large class of both men and women who are disqualified for matrimony by their condition as to health. Where there is some simple disease, about which no concealment is affected, or where there is the obvious feebleness of old age, the association will be fair enough, if both parties are willing. But where there is a deep-seated and fatal disease, which does not make an appearance, and where the party so affected marries, or even commences or encourages addresses, without a full disclosure of the nature of the case, the act is a fraud, and one of a gross and dangerous character. It may be that the erring party is young, and ignorant of the full extent of the evil done; but in this case the guilt is only transferred to parents or other guardians. Where there is a liability to hereditary disease, it becomes a duty both to others and one's self to abstain from the marriage tie. It may be very true that such is only an inherited misfortune, and that it is a hardship for such a person to be debarred from an association which others enter into for the promotion of their happiness; but these are only smaller evils which it is proper to submit to in order to avoid greater. By forbearing from matrimony, the evil is kept at its original amount; by marrying, the risk is incurred of widely enlarging it. A person who takes a hereditary disease into the marriage connexion, may be said to be laying the foundation of a life of trial and misery. Like all other selfish wrong acts, it is severely punished. An offspring probably arises, only to be sources of anxiety and affliction to their parents, or to wring their hearts by what reason may afterwards acknowledge as a comparative mercy-premature death. It often happens that such a family observes a regular time in succession for beginning to pine, reaching a crisis, and then dropping into the grave. Imagine the feelings of a parent who sees these nevertheless endeared objects going on to their almost certain doom, conscious that earthly aid is all in vain to counteract the decrees of nature. Or suppose the more agonising feelings with which the first symptoms of a hereditary mental taint are observed arising. The heart of the unconcerned melts with compassion at the mention of such distresses; yet there cannot be a doubt that the parties are only reaping the harvest of the herb of bitterness which they have sowed. Nature tells that certain malignant ailments go from parents to children. Reason therefore infers that persons so affected ought not to marry. This is a counsel which they are bound to obey. Do they disregard the injunction, they have only themselves to blame for the consequences. The most sympathising bystander must see and acknowledge this truth. It is unfortunate that many have but obscure notions of

the government of these matters by invariable natural laws. In perfect ignorance, or in some vague hope of escape, they rush into circumstances which may be said to secure their ruin. Were they fully aware of the truth, they would avoid such circumstances sedulously. Conscientiousness to the other party in the matrimonial contract, demands their doing so. Nay, it is demanded by more than this-conscientiousness towards the possible offspring of the alliance. To usher into existence beings who are only to be a burden to themselves, and condemned from the first to early death, is an act as evil in its consequences as to inflict deadly injury upon a healthy person; and, where this is known, the act is not less strongly forbidden by a right morality. The views of society upon these points are as yet very imperfect; but we do not despair that the time will arrive, when either to marry with disease, or to marry a diseased person, will be shrunk from as one of the most flagitious of acts, and visited, where it occurs, with the same reprobation which is now bestowed on fraudulency and gross outrages of all kinds.

It seems at first sight to admit of some question how far it is right to recommend a selection of the best women and men for husbands and wives, as that would imply that a number are to be left over on account of what are perhaps only natural misfortunes. But, on a more careful consideration, such selection appears quite legitimate. It is better that the weakly and the foolish be left over, than that the sound and rational should be so, because the former are the least likely to enjoy happiness in the married state. Still more clearly is this the case, considering that it is better that the race should be continued from good than from inferior stock. It is therefore only right for both men and women to endeavour to obtain as good specimens of the opposite sex for their partners as possible. A good general figure is a point worth looking to in all cases; but young ladies especially are apt to make it rather too important a one. What would they think of an advice to look for a well-developed head, as a not less important point? The large heads tend to the upper strata of society, the small heads the contrary way. To be married to a youth of perhaps inferior present rank, but who from this cause is rising in life, is apt to turn out much preferable in the long run to marrying a perfect equal, whose development of brain indicates the probability of a declining

course. Let no man, on the other hand, who wishes that his children should possess competent ability, ally himself to a small-headed woman. The volume of brain is hereditary, as well as tallness and a fair skin. Indeed, this is the case with all natural characteristics; and it may be laid down as a general rule, that such qualities as we should like in children, such qualities should we look for in the associate of the conjugal yoke.

THE LIFE AND POETRY OF HORACE. SECOND ARTICLE.

AFTER the Odes of Horace, his Satires fall under review. Of these he has left eighteen, which are distributed into two books. Luxury, avarice, and affectation, the prevalent vices of the time, he assails with much sound sense and easy raillery. Employing on purpose, in this class of compositions, a homely, conversational style, whence his allusion to his "pedestrian muse," he not only directs his powerful ridicule against the local and ephemeral modes of vice and vanity, but probes, with a steady and scientific hand, those permanent principles in human nature, which are ever ready to throw off a fresh race of follies as soon as their predecessors have vanished. Take the following verses, which form the introductory section of the First Satire, as a specimen. The poet illustrates the discontent produced by covetousness. He addresses Mæcenas :

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How happens it, my friend, that none 's content,
Nor likes the lot or choice or chance hath lent;
Turns from his own employ with perverse will,
And after that of others hankers still?
"Oh, happy merchants!" thus the veteran sighs,
As o'er his war-worn frame he casts his eyes;
While thus the merchant, tossing on the brine-
"A soldier's life is better far than mine:
For why, I'm ever on the rack; but he-
An hour will bring him death or victory!"
The man of law, to whom at cock-crow swarm

A pack of clients, lauds the quiet farm:

The simple farmer to the city come,

Vows none are bless'd but those that live at Rome.
There's many a case would suit my aim as well,
'Twould tire the babbler Fabius' self to tell:
So here's my point. Suppose some god should say,
Good-naturedly, "Well, each may have his way:
You, soldier, be a trader; lawyer, you

Shall, since you wish it, be a farmer too.

So off! Why linger ye?" Why, each is fain

To lose the boon, and be himself again.

And yet they might be bless'd! Why, where's the wonder
If he, the wrathful sovereign of the thunder,
Should puff his cheeks, and, for the future, swear
He'll not so readily fulfil their prayer?

-Satires, I. 1.

In the satire of which we next translate a portion, Horace describes, with exquisite humour, the molestation he had suffered from the pertinacity of a bore. After various ineffectual attempts to shake off this weaver of long tales," he hopes at last to carry his point by the connivance of a friend, in a little stratagem which his seasonable appearance has suggested. He is, as the event proves, too sanguine. The waggish acquaintance enjoys the poet's vexation too keenly to

come to the rescue; affects respect for the day, which
happened to be one of those held sacred by the Jews;
and so sheers off, leaving Horace in the hands of his
tormentor. At this juncture, the plaintiff in a suit,
in which the babbler was defendant, luckily appears,
and effects the desired riddance. An allusion here re-
quires a little explanation. When a prosecutor wished
to compel the attendance of his adversary before the
prætor, the adversary being unwilling to go, he was
at liberty to drag him thither by force, provided he
first touched the ear of any person present, and se-
cured his attestation to the refusal.
If this ceremony
were omitted, the arrest was deemed illegal. "The
ancients believed that the seat of the memory was in
the tip of the ear; and hence their custom of touch-
ing it, in order to remind another of a thing, or for
the purpose of calling him to witness any circum-
stance or occurrence." *

Thus chatter'd he: when Fuscus comes in view,
A friend of mine that well my pesterer knew.
Our greetings over, straightway I begin
To twitch, significant, his callous skin,
Provokingly pinch-proof; I nod full sly;
A thousand gestures show my agony:

I summon worlds of meaning into a squint ;
In vain the rogue plays shy to every hint.
"You had some matter to disclose, I thought-
Something or other, though I know not what:
A secret 'twas; I long to hear't, I vow."
"True, I remember; but won't tell you now.
Another time, for all I've got to say,
Will serve-I see you are engaged to-day:
Besides, 'tis thirtieth Sabbath; surely you
On no account would thus affront the Jew?"
"I've no such scruples, I assure you."
Oh,
But all the world are not enlighten'd so;

I have my weak side, I must own with pain-
My friend, excuse me, we shall meet again."
Black day! he leaves me: when, by happy chance,
Who but the foresaid plaintiff should advance!
"Where now, you scoundrel ?" (he accosts my friend) :
"Sir, you'll be evidence?" (to me): I lend
My ear with right good-will: away they go,
A mob their convoy: Phoebus saved me so.

-Satires, I. 9.

At Rome, in the time of IIorace, fortune-hunting had become a profession. In an imaginary dialogue between Ulysses and Tiresias, the blind prophet of Thebes, introduced in the Odyssey, the poet covertly satirises the mean practices of his countrymen. From this performance we extract the following passages. The version is by Dr Dunkin, the coadjutor of Francis.

tee.

ULYSSES.

How poor and naked I return, behold,
Unerring prophet, as you first foretold.
The wooing tribe,† in revellings employ'd,
My stores have lavish'd, and my herds destroy'd
But high descent and meritorious deeds,
Unblest with wealth, are viler than sca-weeds.

TIRESIAS.

Since, to be brief, you shudder at the thought
Of want, attend how riches may be caught.
Suppose a thrush, or any dainty thing,
Be sent to you, dispatch it on the wing
To some rich dotard. What your garden yields,
The choicest honours of your cultured fields,
To him be sacrificed, and let him taste,
Before your gods, the vegetable feast.
Though he be perjured, though a low-born knave,
Stain'd with fraternal blood, a fugitive slave,
Yet wait upon him at his least command,
And always bid him take the upper hand.

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In Roman wills, which were generally written on tablets overspread with wax, the first line or clause was occupied by the name of the testator; the second, as is above intimated, would contain that of the legaA man was at liberty to pass by his nearest relatives, and constitute whom he pleased his heirs, provided the persons nominated were Roman citizens. The lively sarcastic vein which pervades and is proper to the satires of Horace, is likewise so characteristic of his Epistles, that many eminent critics have viewed the latter as simply a continuation of the former. The distinction between the two classes of compositions is, however, sufficiently marked by a variety of circumstances. The individuality of address, the range of topics, and the constant exclusion of dialogue, clearly establish the propriety of the title under which the epistles have come down to us.

The letters of the first book, of which there are twenty, are mostly familiar or moral. The poet skips with great alacrity from gay to grave. At one time he is eulogising Homer; at another, excusing himself for having ill-pared nails or a threadbare shirt; now he is discoursing on the excellence of virtue, anon he is inviting a friend to supper. These productions are supposed to have been written when their author was verging on fifty. We translate entire, as a favourable specimen of the lighter sort, the epistle to a celebrated contemporary poet :

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I know thou art: that form of thine, so fair,
Is genius' home, nor soul is wanting there.
Heaven gave thee wealth, nor did kind Heaven refuse
A better boor-the wit that wealth to use:
What could her suckling nurse's wish assign,
Save person, genius, fortune, fame like thine?
Yet take advice: howe'er your life be pass'd,
Act as you thought each day that dawns your last;
For so, should many chance to be in store,
You'll relish each new-comer all the more,
And live, with keener zest, the unexpected hour.
In fine, my friend, if ever dull you be,
Then come my way, and have a laugh at me:
In good condition, fat and sleek, am I-
A well-fed pig of Epicurus' sty.

-Epistles, L. 4.

The epistle to Bullatius, of which we extract only the concluding section, may be read as a commentary place." From an obscure intimation in one of his on Milton's emphatic axiom-"The mind is its own odes, it would seem that Horace had once been in danger of shipwreck. The remembrance of his former jeopardy might whet the zeal with which he reprobates the rage for travel. We here use the version of Francis:

Believe me, at delicious Rhodes to live,
To a sound mind no greater bliss can give
Than a thick coat in summer's burning ray,
Or a light mantle on a snowy day,
Or to a swimmer Tiber's freezing stream,
Or sunny rooms in August's mid-day flame.

While yet 'tis in your power, while fortune smiles,
At Rome with rapture vaunt those happy isles;
Then with a grateful hand the bliss receive,
If Heaven an hour more fortunate shall give.
Seize on the present joy, and thus possess,
Where'er you live, an inward happiness.
If reason only can our cares allay,
Not the bold site that wide commands the sea;
If they who through the venturous ocean range,
Not their own passions, but the climate change;
Anxious through seas and land to search for rest
Is but laborious idleness at best:

In desert Ulubræ the bliss you'll find,
If you preserve a firm and equal mind.

-Epistles, L. 11. The second book contains only three epistles. In the opinion of Hurd, these are the best and most exquisite" of the works of Horace. The first and third are throughout critical; an epithet scarcely applicable to the light gossip of the second. The former compositions bear a relation to his other epistolary and satirical writings, very similar to that subsisting between Pope's "Epistles" and his "Essay on Criticism." We must reserve our attention for the third, which is better known under the appellation of the Art of Poetry. In this composition he sets out somewhat abruptly, with a very forcible illustration of the grotesque effect produced by patches of false ornament in composition; guards against abuse of the poetic license; enforces the necessity of a just estimate of one's own powers; adverts to the beauty of an unaffected diction, admitting at the same time that words have their generation as well as men, and observes that custom is the supreme arbiter of language; and then specifies the different measures appropriate to the various orders of poetry. Here he launches into a disquisition on the drama, both as written and acted, enjoining a strict attention to the proprieties of situation and character, and counselling the removal of murders and the like revolting spectacles from the stage. He exhorts aspirants to dramatic fame to the daily and nightly study of the Grecian models; ridicules, in his keenest style, the folly and presumption of those who declined to "use the pruning-knife," pleading genius as an apology for the neglect of revision; and yet rebukes the captious criticism, which, passing by without eulogy the conspicuous beauties of a composition, only fastens, like the flesh-fly, on the tainted part. He then, addressing himself especially to the elder of the young Pisos, enlarges on the necessity of distinguished excellence in order to the establishment of such a reputation as he seems to have set his heart on; observing that, though moderate talents might command success in other lines of useful exertion, poetical mediocrity was alike intolerable "to gods, to men, and to booksellers." After delivering the celebrated advice, to suppress a piece till the ninth year after its production, and pronouncing a warm panegyric on the masters of ancient song, he glances at the oft-mooted question, whether art or genius enters the more largely into the composition of good poetry. He declares both indispensable; and holds up, in conclusion, by way of bugbear to all unlicensed trespassers on Parnassus, a highly graphic picture of a bard run mad.

In the passage which we select as a specimen, there occurs a much-quoted line, which runs literally thus: "He bears off every point who has blended the useful with the sweet." The allusion is to the manner of recording votes at the elective assemblies of the Romans. Each of these was indicated by a dot on a tablet; consequently, he who bore off all the dots was the successful candidate. Hence is derived the English phrase, to carry one's point.

Poets design to profit, or delight,
Or useful things in pleasing verse convey.
When morals you instil, be brief; and then
Your precepts will be readily retained.
*
*

*

*

The aged will explode an idle tale,
And stories too severe disgust the young;
But he who joins instruction with delight,
Profit with pleasure, gains the praise of all;
For such a work shall live, pass o'er the seas,
And bear to future times the author's fame.
Yet there are faults which pardon may deserve:
Not every string obeys the master's hand,

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-Duncombe's Version.

circumstances; but it is indubitable, that irregularities in the distribution of the blood-vessels do sometimes take place, causing operations otherwise safe to become seriously dangerous. Such irregularities are very rare, however, and the old surgeons only resorted to this explanation, because they were unacquainted with the existence of any peculiar constitutional tendency to hemorrhage in individuals. In those early cases, where a cure was effected, pressure was the means employed; in one instance, a melted plaster was introduced into the socket of the tooth, and, in another, a portion of a bean, fixed down, was successfully used to stop the bleeding.

The truth respecting the existence of a hemorrIn that class of his writings which has come under review in the present article, Horace appears as the hagic predisposition in individuals, was made strikingly possessor of qualities which rarely enter into the apparent in a case recorded by Mr Blagden in 1816. mental conformations of those whom he has himself Joseph Langton had a tooth extracted when a boy; an oozing of blood followed, and ceased only at the so felicitously dubbed, the genus irritabile catum. end of twenty-one days. The slightest wound, in That accurate self-knowledge, that exact measurement of his own intellectual proportions, that fine instinct this boy's case, caused dangerous hemorrhage; and one trifling hurt in the forehead, in 1815, had been which taught him the limits of his own strength, and followed by a flow of blood, which even the tying of prevented him from overstraining it, to which these, both ends of the small bleeding vessel failed to check. and indeed all his works, are the infallible indices, are Blood still oozed from the open surface, but caustic endowments but seldom seen allied to that ardent, (potass) at length stopt it. The boy and his friends generous, imaginative temperament, which is the very were so far made aware of the existence of some source and soul of poetry. And yet these apparently dangerous peculiarity in his constitution, that, when antagonist attributes weld together in, and impart toothache again troubled him, it was for a time conits distinctive idiosyncracy to the genius of Horace. His satires and epistles show the man of the world-sidered better to bear it than risk the extraction. At last, the tooth, one of the grinders on the left side the keen Crabbe-like observer of every-day life and of the upper jaw, was taken out. Profuse bleeding manners the shrewd yet good-natured unmasker of followed; and, on the day succeeding the operation, the faults and the follies of his fellows. He peers into caustic, cold applications, and pressure by plugging, the most secret nooks of the human heart, and lays were all tried, but with, at best, merely temporary his finger on the very foibles that seemed best screened advantage. On the fourth day, the hemorrhage still from detection. In these admirable performances, there is no straining and no affectation; he does not continued, and the actual cautery, or red-hot iron, was applied, which checked the flow for a few hours. sink into vulgarity, nor does he strut in heroics. On the fifth day, the bleeding went on, and the boy was reduced so low, that it was resolved to tie the carotid artery of the left side of the neck, one of the great sources of the blood in the face and head. The operation was performed; but to the ill-fated youth it proved only a new avenue to dissolution. The wound made by the operation began in the course of a few minutes to bleed profusely; ice checked it; but, on the removal of the ice, it instantly broke out afresh. As for the bleeding from the tooth, it was stopped for a few hours by the operation, but again returned; and, on the seventh day from the removal of the tooth, the boy died.

There is no writer with whom one feels so soon on the easy footing of a companion.

"Horace still charms with graceful negligence,
And without method talks us into sense;
Will, like a friend, familiarly convey
The truest notions in the easiest way."

It is in the Odes, however, that Horace towers into the poet, and puts on the grandeur of the "diviner mind." These, in his own judgment, formed the monument on which his name was to stand inscribed for the homage of posterity. For music of cadence, for purity of diction, and for beauty of sentiment and imagery, each of the odes will ever be esteemed a model and a study; and in his hands the Latin tongue becomes an instrument more delicate and flexible than it ever approves itself in those of any other writer.

PREDISPOSITION TO BLEEDINGS.

IT is now pretty clearly understood that almost every individual human being has something peculiar in his physical organisation—some characteristic which renders him liable to special impressions from certain classes of circumstances and casualties. By this it is not meant that every single person differs in constitution from every other person. Scientific observers have seen grounds for arranging mankind into classes, according to their peculiarities of constitution; and it it is found that, as our temperament may chance to be nervous, or sanguine, or bilious, we will be exposed to particular impressions, in each case, from particular circumstances. There is a species of idiosyncrasy, however, which has not attracted so much attention as other constitutional peculiarities, being, indeed, of comparatively rare occurrence. At the same time, it is a physical singularity of the most remarkable kind, mysterious in its nature and striking in its effects. When it comes before medical men in the case of any patient, they term it the Hemorrhagic Diathesis; that is, a tendency to bleedings or fluxes of blood, from any hurt or lesion of the skin, to an extent far greater than is common with persons ordinarily constituted. So strong is this liability in some instances, that a leech-bite has caused death, the flow of blood having proved irrepressible by all the usual means. Another feature, distinguishing this idiosyncrasy, is its hereditary character. It has been observed to pass from generation to generation, and to pervade whole families. From attending to the cases of this kind on record, both instruction and warning, interesting to many, may perhaps be derived.

The extraction of teeth has frequently called into perilous and fatal action the hemorrhagic diathesis; and surgeons seem to have had their attention first directed to the subject by accidents resulting from that operation. In a work published at Paris in 1778, by M. Jourdain, a dentist, we find various early cases alluded to. Haller mentions a case of mortal hemorrhagy, caused by the extraction of a tooth. Plater gives an example of a locksmith, who had a tooth extracted, and was seized in consequence with a flux of blood, which resisted all remedies, whether in the form of compression, touching with caustic, or cauterisation with red-hot iron, and terminated fatally. In these and other early cases, the surgeons conceived that a small artery, or vessel carrying blood directly from the heart, had been wounded, thus producing the fatal issue. No artery, at least of such a bulk as to cause any danger, lies at the roots of the teeth in ordinary

* A wretched versifier in the train of Alexander the Great. †The irritable tribe of poets.

There did appear to be in this case something peculiar about the poor lad's tooth, matter of a purulent kind having come from the socket; but the other circumstances prove sufficiently that a remarkable predisposition to bleeding, from any lesion of the skin whatever, existed in the boy, and was the immediate cause of death. It has been observed that this extraordinary peculiarity was hereditary, and pervaded families. Krimer mentions one family, of which the male descendants, for four generations, had been strangely liable to bleedings; and M. Sanson, in a treatise published in 1836, mentions a case, where a man died from a slight hemorrhage, having been preceded to the grave by six children, all of whom were cut off by the bleeding consequent on casual wounds. In an American essay on the same subject, the following case is recorded among others :-"A. B., of the state of Maryland, has had six children, four of whom have died of a loss of blood from the most trifling scratches or bruises. A small pebble fell on the nail of a finger of the last of them when at play, being a year or two old; in a short time, the blood issued from the end of the finger, till he bled to death." The sister of these children had no such peculiarity. Mr Liston also relates the case of a family of seven brothers, all of whom were affected by the hemorrhagic diathesis, while their five sisters could bear wounds without any unusual danger. Of one of these brothers whom Mr Liston saw, it is mentioned that he was a large, strong-made man, without any thing peculiar or unhealthy in his aspect.

The last instance in proof of a hemorrhagic predisposition in individuals which we shall give here, is a very remarkable one which occurred in Edinburgh in December 1841. Two reports have been given of it in the medical journals-one by Dr Roberts, dentist, and the other by Dr David Hay, who accompanies his statement with a number of analogous cases, of which those already noticed form examples. Mr C. P., a gentleman of middle age, came to Dr Roberts on the 19th of December, and had a decayed wisdom-tooth taken from the under jaw. No unusual bleeding ensued at first; but, on the evening of the same day, a continuous stream of blood was flowing from the socket. Dr Roberts, being applied to, checked it for the time by a plug of lint, compressed with a piece of cork. It soon broke out anew, however, and, for three weeks and two days, continued to bleed, with occasional intermissions caused by the various remedies employed. Full trials were made of caustic, the use of which is to burn and shrivel up the ends of the bleeding vessels, so impeding the sanguineous flow. The cautery, or red-hot iron, was applied more than once; and on the second trial of it, the lip was slightly burned by accident. The result of this accident showed but too clearly what the nature of the case was; an oozing of blood took place from the burn, which continued for days. Cold lotions were used, and pressure exerted in various ways; all was in vain. In place of a lessened flow of blood to the head, it

seemed, after several days, as if more blood were actually directed to that region. The face became much swollen and discoloured, as if from the effects of a blow; and an oozing also commenced from the gums and nostrils. Still considerable hopes were entertained from the 23d to the 31st of December, the oozing remaining comparatively slight, though almost continuous; but the worst symptoms suddenly recurred, and the patient sank on the 11th of January, notwithstanding all the exertions of his able attendants.

It may not be very common for cases to occur, where the predisposition to bleedings is so extremely strong as in the instances recorded. But where they are liable to occur, even in a modified form, guarded conduct is advisable; and, moreover, from what takes place in the instance of one member of a family, another may at least learn a lesson of prudence. The unfortunate gentleman, whose case has just been stated, had a tooth extracted three years before his death, and a bleeding of three days' duration followed. Had he been aware of such a case as that of the boy Langton, or had he been generally informed on the subject, he would in all likelihood have received a warning which might have prolonged his life. He erred, indeed, in not relating his former experience to Dr Roberts, who might have timeously cautioned him.

For these reasons, the relation of such cases to the

One

public may, it appears to us, be of great service. The cause of the hemorrhagic diathesis is supposed to be a deficiency of the fibrine or thicker portions of the blood, which prevents the formation of a coagulum or clot at the mouths of wounded vessels. Flows of blood are naturally stopped, in ordinary cases, by such clots. The remedial means to be employed, where bleedings occur in persons predisposed to them, must depend, to a certain extent, upon the site of the bleeding. It is not uncommon for leech-bites to cause long and dangerous bleedings in children. Frequently, the employment of pressure, continued for a lengthened time, is efficacious in checking the flow; but sometimes ordinary pressure, caustics, and even hot iron, are applied in vain. The passage of a very fine needle from lip to lip of the wound, and the twisting afterwards upon the needle of thread in the shape of a figure of eight, has often been found effective where other means have failed. Often, in the case of persons even but slightly predisposed to bleeding, an alarming flux comes from the nostrils, which resists cold applications and other common remedies. Pressure is here the most effective remedy, and it is one, happily, which can be readily used by non-professional persons. Lint may answer the purpose, but other substances have been found more efficacious. substance, we are assured upon excellent authority, answers the end peculiarly well, and has been long in use among the common people of some districts of Great Britain. This is simply a portion of the blood dried. The fluid matter being expelled by heat, the fibrine and thicker parts are left, which are the very materials wanted by the thin flowing blood to make a clot. This remedy is at once simple, and must necessarily be ever at hand. With regard to bleedings from the socket of an extracted tooth, fatal in so many cases, it seems to us, after an examination of the cases recorded, that, where the hemorrhagic diathesis is marked and strong, pressure is the only safe and effectual remedy. The repeated use of caustics appears to blister the gums, and but to add fresh outlets, ultimately, for the oozing blood. Even the operation of tying the carotid artery, in the boy Langton's case, only accelerated the fatal result. Pressure, while it can do no injury, seems best fitted to do good. The question is what is the best material to use in exerting pressure on the socket? Obviously such a substance as will best contribute to the formation of a clot in the mouths of the open vessels. The simple pressure of a hard unyielding substance will scarcely do this, as a hard body cannot mould itself into the shape of the cavity, and the blood will too readily force a way past it. One medical gentleman has been successful, where all other remedies failed, with plaster of Paris, introduced into the socket in a soft state. In this case, the liquid parts of the flowing blood would be absorbed by the plaster, and the thick parts, forming the clot, left at the mouths of the vessels. It is probable that this substance will be found a valuable resource in such cases. The other substance mentioned above, namely, blood dried or nearly dried, would in all probability form an equally valuable material for filling the socket, though we are not aware if it has yet been used in the case of bleedings from the teeth. Where either of these substances, or common lint, or any other material, is used to fill up the socket, it is necessary to keep it down and compress it, by means of cork, or something of the kind, properly fixed.

As bleedings are much more easily checked at the outset, for the most part, than after they have been permitted to continue for a time, these hints regarding the use of pressure may prove not altogether unserviceable in guiding the public, where medical aid is not at hand. And, moreover, as already observed, the present remarks may afford that caution which, in the case of Mr C. P., might have lengthened a valuable life. At the same time, it should be kept in mind, that instances of a strong hemorrhagic diathesis are rare; and that, in ordinary cases, fluxes of blood are perfectly under the command of medical men, whether after operations or otherwise. It would

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