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"Ha, ha!" he spluttered, complacently, with his mouth half full of salmon, "I haven't eat any of these 'ere for a long while!" They look very fine !" said the next but one adjoining, in a manner that implied a strong desire to ascertain whether they did not taste respectably.

"Very, very!" replied the fat man, as he scooped nine-tenths of all there were in the dish on to his own plate. Sundry eyes glanced pitch-forks at him. They were evidently astonished. They should not have been. The gentleman came from a western pork-growing district. He fatted his own swine. "I'm special fond of peas!" said he, half in enthusiasm at his own appetite, and half as a sort of an apology.

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Split me if I didn't think so," exclaimed the wag. "Well, it's nothing strange !" snapped out Vinegar, taking the part of the obese, and chuckling at the discomfiture of the others. "Some people will eat until, being unable to help themselves, we shall be compelled to lift them out of their seat!" exclaimed one of the disappointed, giving the fat man a look that was not to be misconstrued.

I looked about me for some peas, but saw none. As I was scrutinizing, my eyes encountered the rueful and bewildered face of a modest young man, with an empty plate. In all probability he had never dined before in a hotel; at least the diffident manner with which he received the inattention paid to his modest requests, seemed to say as much. A constant fear, too, lest he should not behave quite like the rest, (!!) appeared to haunt him; and the longer he was neglected, the more he appeared embarrassed. Poor fellow he had not yet received a mouthful to eat. What a bore is modesty! Brass is, emphatically, an accomplishment. The young man looked very ridiculous for the lack of it; and I pitied him.

"Waiter!" said I, winking peculiarly to an Adonis with squint eyes, and a mouth like a cod-fish. He sprang to my side. The wink had touched his feelings. I knew it would. A waiter's heart is open to a wink, when words are useless.

"Get me some peas and fresh salmon, on a clean plate." The fellow's eyes concentrated into the deepest squint, as he looked inquiringly, first into my face, and then at the space between my thumb and forefinger. Apparently not seeing there what he had expected, his sprightly, helpful manner died away very suddenly, and his answer, as he stared mechanically up the table, was unqualifiedly brief.

"Guess there arn't any here-don't see any."

I pointed to my thumb and fore-finger. A quarter-dollar filled the space so lately vacant.

"Do you see any now?"

The mouth opened wide and assumed an amiable grin, and the eyes an extra squint, and for half a minute glanced scrutinizingly around the table.

"I think I does," said he. His sight was completely restored. "I thought you would," said I, dropping the coin into his horny palm. What wonders the root of all evil' can accomplish! It makes the best vegetable pills in the world, and may be used with equally astonishing success in all climates.

The disinterested servant brought me the peas and salmon with great alacrity, and looked as if he would like to have the silver dose repeated, but I had no further use for him, and stared coldly upon his enthusiasm. He was a philosopher, and a deeply-read student of human nature. He understood that cold look as readily as he had done the wink, and, to adopt a western phrase, quickly "obsquatulated. " Helping myself to a portion of the viands which I had been so fortunate as to obtain, I passed the remainder to my modest neighbour. He appeared very grateful, but was too much embarrassed to thank me. Having helped himself to salmon, he was proceeding (leisurely, lest he should seem indecorous) to take some peas, when the dish

was unceremoniously seized, and carried to the obese, who had bribed the waiter with a shilling to execute the manoeuvre. Whereupon my modest friend looked very blank, and Vinegar took occasion to dilate sarcastically upon the expense of feeding pigs in the west; in which the fat man, unsophisticated, and seeing no allusion, coincided with fervour. He had swine to sell, and crying up the expense of fattening them would tend to increase their value in the market. And here ensued a confab between the wag and the obese, in which the latter was made the unwitting butt of a thousand and one small shafts, touching his professional and personal affinities.

"Clear the tables!" sang out the authoritative voice of one decked in a short white apron, who brandished in a masterly manner a huge carving-knife and fork. This was no less a personage than the head waiter or "butler," as he directed his fellow. servants to call him. He knew the responsibility of his situation, and filled it with great dignity. His own talents had raised him, step by step, from the comparatively low office of a knifescourer and cook's errand boy, to the high stand which, knife in hand, he now occupied. His history is an excellent illustration of the old maxim, that "talent, like water, will find its level." I could dwell upon the hopes and aspirations of the lowly knifescourer-his surcharged bosom overflowing in the lonely watches of the night, as he plied his rag and "rotten-stone;" his longings for the berth of porter; the attainment of his wish; his enthusiasm upon his first debut with Day and Martin; his still craving ambition; in short, his whole rise and progress and final attainment to that pinnacle of usefulness, the situation of head waiter.

My modest neighbour, supposing that the last-named order was intended as an insinuation that the guests had eaten enough, arose and walked off. Upon reaching the door, and turning round, he seemed to perceive his mistake, and that the order was but for a clearance of the meats, to make room for the pastry; but, ashamed to expose his ignorance of "etiquette," by returning to the table, he left the room, hoping, I doubt not; from the bottom of his soul, that those he had left behind him would ascribe his withdrawal to surfeit rather than ignorance. He probably adjourned to a neighbouring eating-house, to appease his tantalized appetite.

"What pudding is this, waiter?" said a gentleman opposite. "It's a pud-ding, Sir-r," was the satisfactory reply.

"We know it's a pudding, but what kind of a pudding is it? Find out what pudding it is."

"That's aisily done," said he, as with the utmost sang-froid he perforated the crust of the doubtful dish with his dirty thumb. "Sure, gentlemen, it's a rice!"

"You ignorant ape! don't you know better than that? You ought to be lynched!

"He would if he was in our parts," said the fat gentleman, swallowing a glass of Champagne, which he had taken, uninvited, from my bottle.

"Look here, Cabbage-head!" said Vinegar, twigging the offender's ear; bring me my soup

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!

I left the table. It was my last hotel dinner.

AMELIORATION OF THE CRIMINAL LAW. ONE practical result of our reading should be, that it has a tendency to make us call to those who sit upon their watch-towers, "Watchmen, what of the night?" and to make us glad, if they have seen, in the events of the past, or in the promise of the future, anything to enable them to return the cheerful cry: "The morn ing cometh !" We believe that the morning cometh: and it will be the most pleasant of our duties to record, from time to time, the circumstances on which that impression is founded.

On the present occasion, when desirous of finding evidence, in the circumstances of the year gone by, that a day-spring from on high was visiting our minds and hearts, scarcely any one thing more forcibly struck our attention than the fact that the year 1838 had the fine distinction of being, in the metropolis, an. unbloody year. It is true that blood has flowed from the accidents of life and the carelessness of men; it is true that more than one man has laid his impious hand upon the sacred life of his brother; it is even true that there are parts of England where the hand of Justice has exacted the life of the guilty:All this is true; and to these things we do not refer. We confine our remarks to the districts which collectively form this immense metropolis: and we call attention to the fact,

that the tribunals of LONDON have not been, in the past year, stained with blood. Fifty years ago-nay twenty-nay ten-if a man had been told that some future year might come, in which London-abounding in iniquity, and full of all the incentives and opportunities of sin-should not witness a capital punishment, that man would have wondered how the prophet had managed to escape from Bethlem or St. Luke's.-But this great thing has happened in our days, and shall we not be glad? Yea, we are glad, we do rejoice, that we have lived to see this grand and beautiful indication, that at last the human heart is getting civilised. We must take care not to be misunderstood. The circumstance that, in the past year, the metropolis of England had not been degraded by even one of those horrid exhibitions which harden the wicked, and make good men hang their heads, would itself have been of small importance. It might have resulted from some happy combination of fortuitous circumstances: but there is something more in it, and something better, than this. It is a marked result of anterior causes-of causes which must continue to operate in producing effects still more remarkable than these. Perhaps most of our readers will imagine they have found these causes in the mitigation of the criminal code-once the severest and most stained with blood of any upon earth. But it is not so. A little reflection will show that the mitigation was itself but a slow and reluctant concession to the resistless operation of an anterior cause the advancing civilisation of the human heart: which, we fully believe has, of late years, been far more than commensurate with our very great progress in more outward civilisation. While the law sought to drown crime in rivers of blood, learned and wise men sat down at their desks to tell us why these things were so, and why it was needful they should be so, and how it was impossible that they should be otherwise: good and mild men saw in these things the perfection of wisdom! Thus Paley, after adverting to the milder principles of other criminal codes, proceeds: The law of England is constructed upon a different and better policy. By the number of statutes enacting capital offences, it sweeps into the net every crime which, under any possible circumstance, may merit the punishment of death; but when the execution of the sentence comes to be deliberated upon, a small proportion of each class are singled out-the general character, or the peculiar aggravations of whose crimes render them fit examples of public justice. By this expedient, few actually suffer death, while the dread and danger of it hang over the crimes of many. The tenderness of the law cannot be taken advantage of. The life of the subject is spared, as far as the necessity of restraint and intimidation permit; yet no one will adventure upon the commission of any enormous crime, from a knowledge that the laws have not provided for its punishment. The wisdom and humanity of this design furnish a just excuse for the multiplicity of capital offences, which the laws of England are accused of enacting beyond those of other countries. The charge of cruelty is answered by observing, that these laws were never meant to be carried into indiscriminate execution; that the legislature, when it establishes its last and highest sanctions, trusts to the benignity of the crown to relax their severity, as often as circumstances appear to palliate the offence, or even as often as those circumstances of aggravation are wanting which rendered the rigorous interposition necessary. Upon this plan, it is enough to vindicate the lenity of the laws, that some instances are to be found in each class of capital crimes which require the restraint of capital punishment, and that this restraint could not be applied without subjecting the whole class to the same condemnation.' All this was sound doctrine fifty years ago; yet there are, we apprehend, few who read it now without perceiving in it much that is atrocious, much that is futile, and much that is repugnant to moral principle. In fact, the reader in our day is shocked with that, with which, fifty years since, most judgments were satisfied; aud we claim this differing perception as a collateral evidence that the heart has become more civilised.

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Paley, it will be observed, alleges that the number of capital punishments actually inflicted were but "few." Few! How many? Ten? Twenty?-We should think these large numbers now. But the words "few" and "many" had, in Paley's time, and a good while after, a very different meaning. And since Paley lays so much stress on the prerogative of mercy, vested in the crown, it may be well to state that George III. was in the habit of paying very minute attention to the Recorder's reports; but as his policy varied at different parts of his reign, so did the numbers of executions. Sometimes it went on at the rate of from 150 to 200 a-year, and sometimes from twelve to twenty. It will be seen from the subjoined note*, that the average number of executions yearly, in London alone, during the fifty years ending 1820, fell little short of thirty: but an average of nearly double this amount might be obtained in a shorter period; thus, the number of metropolitan executions in the ten years, 1780-1789, was not less than 534, being a yearly average for these years of 53. In one of these years the number was as high as 97, and in another not below 92. Indeed we have seen, in the records of so recent a year as 1820, notices of the executions of no less than fourteen persons at the Old Bailey within one week, not one of which was for any crime which would now be capitally punished. Of these six were executed on one day (Nov. 6th), and eight on one other day (Nov. 11.) Contrast this with the fact that in the year of grace 1838, there has not been one capital execution at the Old Bailey; that the office of the hangman has become a sinecure, and almost ceased to be an office; that all the functionaries of death are losing the practice which experience gives; and that the gibbet has nearly ceased to be the sign and by-word of our civilisation. Verily the morning breaketh; and it is not the least of our joys to know that the children of the coming day will have tribunals unstained with blood, and that they will not allow even the law to play these horridly fantastic tricks before high heaven, which made their fathers of yester-night close their eyes in disgust, or grind their teeth with anguish.

The change which has taken place in the doctrine and practice of our criminal law, is certainly very rapid. But it is to be remembered that such changes belong to government, and governments seldom think of any change in an established practice, until public opinion assumes a loud voice. To such men as Basil Montague, Romilly, and Mackintosh, is due the praise of having. in this respect, taught public opinion to speak, and to speak in a voice that would be heard. And it was heard. We are careful to explain this, that public opinion may not be thought to have always given its sanction to the enormities of the law; but that, as in other matters, it was a step in advance of its practical condition. This remark the chronicler of 1820 appends to the notice of the executions (fourteen in one week) which he records :-" These successive executions created through the metropolis the most lively sentiments of horror. The cruelty of our sanguinary laws begins now to be universally felt, an amelioration of their spirit and practice being due to the improved intelligence of the age. The feeling excited was the more pungent, because no circumstance of peculiar atrocity had distinguished the conduct of the criminals. Transportation to Botany Bay would have been the appropriate and satisfactory punishment."

In fact, it was found in the very same year, by a Select Commitee of the House of Commons, that while executions had increased to an extent which was most appalling, the gradual civilisation of the English heart had been indicated by a remarkable decrease of murderous crimes. Its report informs us that "If the increase of the population during a prosperous period of one hundred and thirty years, be taken into the account, and if we bear in mind that, within that time a considerable city has grown up on the southern bank of the Thames, we shall be disposed to consider it no exaggeration to assume, that in the home district (not one the most favourably situated in this respect) murder has abated in the remarkable proportion of three, if not four, to one.'

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Number of Convicts sentenced to death, and the number executed, in the years 1812-1817:

1813. 713

120

1814. 558 70

1815. 553

1816. 890

1817.

1302

57

95

115

It would be easy to answer this passage which we have extracted from Paley. But it needs no answer now. One of his strong points, indeed, he proceeds, unconsciously, to answer himself. For, whereas, in the above passage, he alleges that there was no intention that these severe laws should be executed, he subsequently states, that the certainty of punishment was necessary to the prevention of crime. That a milder penalty, more certainly enforced, is likely to be more operative, than one too severe to be always inflicted, is precisely the contrary doctrine to that which Paley states: but this is the modern and true doctrine; and from giving a yearly average of between 27 and 28. it some happy results have already been obtained.

Years 1812. Sentenced, 532 Executed, 82 The numbers executed in the three following years were 97 in 1818, 108 in 1819, 107 in 1820, being 951 in nine years. Of the 649 in the seven last of these years, 167 were executed in the metropolis; namely, 21 in 1814, II in 1815, 29 in 1816, 16 in 1817, 21 in 1818, 23 in 1819, 46 in 1820. The total number of persons executed in London during the fifty years ending with 1820, was 1371,

The detailed accounts which this (Sir James Mackintosh's) Committee supply, particularly indicate the gradual progress of the abatement.

If things were so, how came it to pass that in these, still recent days, the law continued to pour out the sacred life of man like water spilt upon the ground? The answer is found in the number and character of the secondary offences which the law of England swept into its most deadly net. The breadth of that net is indicated by the description of the felonies which were then held to be capital, but to which the Committee recommended that the punishment of death should be no longer attached. The public mind is already so far advanced as to be astonished that the punishment of death ever was attached to such offences; and perhaps our present language has not words to express the indignation and grief with which a coming generation shall read such a passage as this, (extracted from the Report in question) in the book of some unborn collector of the curiosities of criminal jurisprudence.

"The statutes creating capital offences, which the Committee have considered, are reducible to two classes; the first relate to acts either so nearly indifferent as to require no penalty, or, if injurious, not of such a magnitude as that they may not safely be left punishable as misdemeanours at common law. Of these the Committee propose the repeal; they are as follows.

“1 and 2 Phil. and Mary, c. 4., Egyptians [gipsies] remaining within the kingdom one month.-18 Charles II., c. 3. Notorious thieves in Cumberland and Northumberland.-9 Geo. I., c. 22. Being armed and disguised in any forest, park, &c.—9 Geo. I. c. 22. Being armed in any warren.-9 Geo. I. c. 22. Being armed in any high road, open heath, common, or down.-9 Geo. I. c. 22. Unlawfully hunting, killing, or stealing deer.-9 Geo. I. c. 22. Robbing warrens, &c.-9 Geo. I. c. 22. Stealing or taking any fish out of any river, pond, &c.-9 Geo. I. c. 22. Hunting in his Majesty's forests or chases.-9 Geo. I. c. 22. Breaking down the head or mound of a fish-pond.-9 Geo. I. c. 28. Being disguised within the Mint.-12 Geo. II. c. 29. Injuring of Westminsterbridge, and other bridges by other Acts.

"The second class consists of those offences, which, though in the opinion of the Committee never fit to be punished with death, are yet so malignant and dangerous as to require the highest punishments, except death, which are known in our laws. These the Committee would make punishable, either by transportation, or imprisonment with hard labour, allowing considerable scope to the discretion of the judges respecting the term for which either punishment is to endure.

"31 Eliz. c. 9. Taking away any maid, widow, or wife, &c.21 Jas. I. c. 26. Acknowledging, or procuring any fine, recovery, &c.-4 Geo. I., c. 2, s. 4. Helping to the recovery of stolen goods.-9 Geo. I., c. 22. Maliciously killing or wounding cattle. -9 Geo. I., c. 22. Cutting down or destroying trees growing, &c.-5 Geo. II., c. 30. Bankrupts not surrendering, &c.5 Geo. II., c. 30. Bankrupts concealing or embezzling their goods.-6 Geo. II., c. 37. Cutting down the bank of any river. -8 Geo. II., c. 20. Destroying any lock, fence, sluice, &c.26 Geo. II., c. 23. Making a false entry in a marriage-register, &c., five felonies.-27 Geo. II., c. 15. Sending threatening letters.-27 Geo. II., c. 19. Destroying bank, &c. Bedford level. -3 Geo. III., c. 16. Personating out-pensioners of Greenwich Hospital. 22 Geo. III., c. 40. Maliciously cutting serges.— 24 Geo. III., c. 47. Harbouring offenders against that (revenue) act, when returned from transportation."

Of the three other capital felonies-of privately stealing in a shop, to the amount of five shillings-of privately stealing in a dwelling-house, to the amount of forty shillings-and of privately stealing from a vessel in a navigable river, to the amount of forty shillings-the House of Commons had already declared its opinion by passing bills for reducing the punishment from death to transportation or imprisonment; and these bills the committee proposed

to revive.

The committee of this year thought their recommendations very bold; and the House of Commons thought them too bold; for the Bill brought in by Sir James Mackintosh, embodying the above recommendations of the Committee, though allowed to be read three times, was rejected on the motion "That this bill do now pass," by a majority of 120 to 114. Yet this measure, which the Legislature deemed so bold and dangerous, did but propose to cut off the outer fringes of Paley's "net," and still left it with a breadth more ample than public opinion could much longer tolerate. Forgery, house-breaking, robbery, sacrilege, letter-stealing, sheep-stealing, horse-stealing, and other offences, were still liable

to the punishment of death. But all these blood-exacting laws have within these few years been virtually (and nearly all of them legally) repealed by the force of public opinion. The law scarcely now dares to sacrifice life except for life, blood except for blood.

This humane, blood-loathing tendency of public opinion, is one among many indications of the advancing civilisation of the public heart; which, by virtue of this civilisation, begins to love peace, to hate war and its rumours, to abhor murder, and dislikes to see even guilty blood poured out for unbloody crime. For these things we are very glad. We thank God for the past, and take courage for the future.

We have merely broken gound on this most interesting subject, and shall return to it again and again.

CHARACTERISTICS OF MEASLES.

ABOUT this season of the year, maternal care ought to be directed towards an expected attack of measles amongst those children who have not already had that disease. We therefore call the attention of the young and inexperienced mother to a few observations respecting this disorder, and to the usual symptoms which mark its first and subsequent stages. It is one of those maladies incident to the human frame, which, generally speaking, only attacks once during life, and is usually understood to be contagious; that is, capable of being communicated from the individual labouring under its influence to another who has never had it, by means of their approaching each other, going into a house where it either prevails or has recently prevailed, or by the clothes worn by the infected individual being brought near the unprotected person. The period between the contagion being imbibed into the system, and the appearance of the fever which always attends measles, is difficult to determine, but it may be stated to be from eight to fourteen days. And there is reason to believe, that it becomes infectious before the eruption shows itself: for, otherwise, it would be difficult to account for the many instances in which children have taken the disease, without ever having been immediately exposed to the contagion where it is known to exist. But the susceptibility of receiving the infection varies with different individuals. About eighteen months since, in a family consisting of four children, the following case occurred. The eldest had measles very severely; the others slept in the same room throughout the progress of the disorder; no precaution was taken to prevent their having it, and yet to this period they have all escaped.

Before proceeding to trace the symptoms and progress of this disease, we would wish forcibly to engrave on the minds of parents, that it is of a decidedly inflammatory nature, affecting the skin, the lining membrane of the bowels, and also the same membrane of the tubes or passages which convey the air to the lungs; therefore, great care should be observed to keep the patient in an equal and agreeable temperature, and to avoid that too frequent occurrence, the practice of giving strong and irritating doses of purgative medicine.

Individuals may be subject to an attack of measles at all periods of life, but infancy and age are more exempt than childhood and adolescence. It generally prevails in the beginning of spring, and dies away towards the end of summer, so that it is seldom known during the autumn; but frequent cases present themselves in the winter months. Towards the latter end of November it reappears in an isolated form, infecting probably a few children; as the spring advances its virulence increases, and occasionally it becomes an epidemic, attacking almost all who have not had the complaint.

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The symptoms which usually indicate measles are, listlessness, irritability, restlessness, a loathing of food, to which soon succeed sneezing, coughing, running at the nose, eyes heavy and watery, and unable to bear a strong light; the child rubs its eyes and nose, and experiences a general itching. If closely observed, it will exhibit frequent chills, and a contraction of the features. The skin is hot and dry, with a quick-beating pulse. These symptoms continue for three or four days, and may induce the parent to suppose that the child has taken cold; but it becomes gradually less inclined to exertion, is very unwilling to leave its bed, and in every respect appears to get worse. About the fourth day the rash makes its appearance on the forehead, face, and chin, in the form of small, red, and elevated spots, and these spots may continue, in cold weather, for two or three days, without further eruption, as we have witnessed lately in several cases, but generally speaking, the spots soon coalesce, or run together, forming patches of an irregular figure, but of a distinct red colour, occasionally

vivid though frequently dull and slightly elevated, the intervening portion of the skin retains its natural appearance at this period. There is frequent hoarseness, with dryness and soreness of the throat. On the fifth day the rash has extended to the body, and is very vivid on the face, the eyelids swelled, and often so much so that the child cannot separate them, and is consequently for a time deprived of sight: the face appears enlarged, and the fever continues unabated. On the sixth and seventh days the legs and arms are covered whilst it is declining on the body, and by the tenth day the eruption has partially or totally disappeared, leaving the skin rough and scaly, and the patient usually with a cough and much debility. But the disease frequently runs a more violent course, and at certain periods has too often blighted the hopes of many a fond parent.

LORD THURLOW.

Ar times Lord Thurlow was superlatively great. It was the good fortune of the Reminiscent to hear his celebrated reply to the Duke of Grafton, during the inquiry into Lord Sandwich's administration of Greenwich Hospital. His Grace's action and delivery, when he addressed the House, were singularly dignified and graceful, but his matter was not equal to his manner. He reproached Lord Thurlow with his plebeian extraction, and his recent admission into the peerage. Particular circumstances caused Lord Thurlow's reply to make a deep impression on the Reminiscent. His Lordship had spoken too often, and began to be heard with a civil but visible impatience; under these circumstances he was attacked in the manner we have mentioned. He rose from the woolsack, and advanced slowly to the place from whence the Chancellor generally addressed the House; then fixing on the Duke the look of Jove when he grasps the thunder-" I am amazed," he said in a loud tone of voice, "at the attack which the noble duke has made on me. Yes, my 17 lord considerably raising his voice, "I am amazed at his Grace's speech. The noble duke cannot look before him, behind him, on either side of him, without seeing some noble peer who owes his seat in this House to his successful exertions in the profession to which I belong. Does he not feel that it is as honourable to owe it to these, as to being the accident of an accident? To all these noble lords the language of the noble duke is as applicable and as insultalone. No one venerates the peerage more than I do. But, my lords, I must say, that the peerage solicited me, not I the peerage. Nay, more I can say, and will say, that as a peer of parliament-as Speaker of this right honourable House-as Keeper of the Great Seal—as guardian of his Majesty's conscience-as Lord High Chancellor of England-nay, even in that character alone in which the noble duke would think it an affront to be considered, but which character none can deny me, as a man-I am at this moment as respectable, I beg leave to add, I am at this time as much respected, as the proudest peer I now look down upon."— Butler's Reminiscences.

Such are the ordinary symptoms and progress of measles; but it is not our intention to follow it through all its varieties. We would however wish, before concluding, to impress on the minds of the inexperienced mother the necessity of carefully noticing this disease through all its stages, and more particularly at the decline of the eruption, when inflammation of the brain, lungs, or bowels, may very suddenly take place, and render the most prompt and active treatment necessary for the preservation of life. In some cases it will happen that the rash, which is vivid and freely out, suddenly disappears, which change is generally caused by violent and dangerous inflammatory action of some important internal part, and it too often happens, when the eruption thus suddenly disap-ing as it is to myself. But I do not fear to meet it single and pears, that nurses and others who assume a knowledge to which they have no just pretensions, will recommend and give stimulating drinks, such as gin and water, hot wine, or other spirituous compounds. But we earnestly caution mothers against yielding to such advice, and on no account to give stimulants without the consent of the medical attendant, as the smallest quantity given may cause irreparable injury, whilst the withholding the same, until proper professional advice is procured, can never endanger life. We will now close this subject with a few important observations. Avoid keeping the child in a hot room, with a load of bedclothes, and the curtains closely drawn, to prevent, if possible, a breath of air. This external heat always tends to increase the fever, and frequently occasions wandering and delirium. As we before said, let the patient be kept in a comfortable and equable temperature, avoiding the extremes of heat or cold.

The room should, however, be darkened, on account of the inflammation and tenderness of the eyes, which usually attend the complaint, light causing uneasiness and pain.

The diet should be of the blandest kind, such as arrow-root, sago, &c., and the drink barley, rice, or toast-water. During the period of convalescence, every precaution should be taken to avoid exposure either to a cold or a damp atmosphere; the diet should continue for a time to be light and of easy digestion, and the bowels regularly attended to. Were these precautions ordinarily used, parents would frequently be saved great anxiety and trouble, and instead of having an ailing, weak, and debilitated child, or children, requiring the utmost maternal care to save it or them from an early grave, they would be cheered and blessed with a healthy offspring.

PLAN OF STUDYING A LANGUAGE. In my French and Latin translations I adopted an excellent method, which from my own success I would recommend to the imitation of students. I chose some classic writer, such as Cicero, and Vertôt, the most approved for purity and elegance of style. I translated, for instance, an epistle of Cicero into French, and after throwing it aside till the words and phrases were obliterated from my memory, I re-translated my French into such Latin as I could find, and then compared each sentence of my imperfect version, with the ease, the grace, the propriety of the Roman orator. A similar experiment was made on several pages of "The Revolutions of Vertôt." I turned them into Latin, re-turned them, after a sufficient interval, into my own French, and again scrutinised the resemblance or dissimilitude of the copy and the original. By degrees I was less ashamed, by degrees I was more satisfied with myself; and I persevered in the practice of these double translations, which filled several books, till I had acquired the knowledge of both idioms, and the command at least of a correct style. This useful exercise of writing, was accompanied and succeeded by the more pleasing occupation of reading the best authors. The perusal of the Roman classics was at once my exercise and reward.-Gibbon's Misc. Works.

THE TRIAL BY JURY.

THE trial by jury diffuses the most valuable information amongst every rank of citizens. It is a school of which every jury that is impanelled is a separate class, where the dictates of the laws, and the consequences of disobedience to them, are practically taught. The frequent exercise of these important functions, moreover, gives a sense of dignity and self-respect, not only becoming to the character of a free citizen, but which adds to his private happiness. Neither party spirit nor intrigue, nor power, can deprive him of his share in the administration of justice, though they can humble the pride of every other office, and vacate every other place. Every time he is called to act in this capacity, he must feel that though perhaps placed in the humblest station, he is yet the guardian of the life, the liberty, the reputation, of his fellow citizens against injustice and oppression; and that while his plain understanding has been found the best refuge for innocence, his incorruptible integrity is pronounced a sure pledge that guilt will not escape. A state whose most obscure citizens are thus individually elevated to perform these functions, who are alternately the defenders of the injured, the dread of the guilty, the vigilant guardians of the constitution, without whose consent no punishment can be inflicted, no disgrace incurred; who can by their voice arrest the blow of oppression, and direct the hand of justice where to strike-such a state can never sink into slavery, or easily submit to oppression. Corrupt rulers may pervert the constitution, ambitious demagogues may violate its precepts, foreign influence may control its operations, but while the people enjoy the trial by jury, taken by lot from among themselves, they cannot cease to be free. The information it spreads, the sense of dignity it inspires, the courage it creates, will always give them an energy of resistance that can grapple with encroachment, and a renovating spirit that will make arbitrary power despair. The enemies of freedom know this; they know how admirable a vehicle it is to convey the contagion of those liberal principles which attack the vitals of their power; and they guard against its introduction with more care than they would take to avoid a pestilential disease.-Report made to the General Assembly of Louisiana on the Plan of a Penal Code, by Edward Livingston. The Duke of Grafton was the grandson of Charles the Second by one of his mistresses.

DISCOVERY OF ROMAN SKELETONS.

Several Roman skeletons have recently been discovered on the line of the Great Western Railway, in a high portion of ground contiguous to the Berkshire Downs, in reference to which the Medical Gazette contains the following interesting observations:-" The bone is still hard and compact, and has undergone but little alteration of structure. Some of the animal matter has disappeared, and its place been supplied by the carbonate of lime from the nidus in which it reposed, and effervesces strongly when acted upon by the mineral acids. The surface had a reticulated appearance owing to the partial denudation of the external surface by ossiphagous insects. The bones of the head and face are of dimensions exceedingly contracted, at least in comparison with those of a well-formed adult of the present day, The ossa nasi of the skulls possess most extraordinary incurvations, which must have had the effect of subjecting the wearers, though Romans, to particularly "pug" noses, and we are all aware of the characters assigned by popular consent to nasal organs of this peculiar conformation. The great departure from the regular structure, however, remains to be noticed. The existing teeth of the upper jaw (the only ones, unfortunately, preserved) are eleven in number; five of the molares were lost during life, as the sockets or alveolar processes are consolidated by ossification. The crowns of the incisors stand prominently from the jaw, and are evidently not worn to any extent by attrition; but instead of presenting the usual wedgeshaped appearance (having the posterior and anterior surface meeting at a sharp angle), they are of an irregular solid oval form, strongly coated with enamel, and in every respect like the natural molares. The fangs are single, and of the usual long pyramidal form at their insertion in front of the maxillæ. The bicuspides have lost their identity, and partake of the same peculiarity; so that, in fact, the whole now presents the unusual appearance along the entire line of a set of sturdy and uniform molares. I look upon this as a purely accidental conformation, not presuming that the inhabitants of the Eternal City so far departed from the universal system as to wear their molar teeth in the most conspicuous part of their maxillæ.”

PRESENCE OF MIND.

At the battle of Seneff, fought between the French and the Dutch, towards the end of the summer, 1674, the Prince of Orange (afterwards William the Third, of England), commanding the Dutch, was once engaged among a body of French, thinking they were his own men, and bid them charge. They told him they had no more powder. He perceiving they were none of his men, with great presence of mind got out of their hands, and brought up a body of his own army to charge them, who quickly routed them.-Burnet's Own Times.

THORWALDSEN.

That "great events from trivial causes spring," was exemplified in the early history of this distinguished sculptor. His native country, which has recently welcomed his return as a kind of national triumph, witnessed his departure a lone and unfriended stranger to visit and mature his genius in contemplation of the immortal monuments of art which adorn the Eternal City. There, however, he languished in obscurity, and in a moment of despondency he determined to distrust his future fortunes, and return to his household gods. Nay, he had actually made preparations for his departure, when fortunately for him some of his performances attracted the attention of Mr. Thomas Hope, the celebrated author of "Anastasius." He sought out the obscure artist, employed him to complete some of his unfinished works on his own account, and by his commissions, and still more by his kind and consoling advice, rescued the sinking hopes of the artist, and induced him to abandon his design. Mr. Hope was shortly afterwards joined by his brother, Mr. Henry Philip Hope, now of Arklow House, Connaught-place, himself a munificent patron of the arts, and the countenance and encouragement of these two brothers, then in the flower of their youth, rich, elegant, and caressed and known in the first circles of Rome, diffused a knowledge of Thorwaldsen's merit, and his extraordinary powers developing themselves, he soon attained the summit of his profession. But he never forgot those whose timely interference rescued him from obscurity, and has, we believe, always gratefully acknowledged his obligations for the assistance rendered him in his hour of adversity by our generous countrymen.-Newspaper.

EXERCISE.

Walking is the best possible exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far. We value ourselves on having subdued the horse to our use; but I doubt whether we have not lost more than we have gained by it. No one thing has occasioned so much degeneracy of the human body. An Indian goes on foot nearly as far in a day as an enfeebled white does on his horse, and he will tire the best horse. A little walk of half an hour in the morning, when you first rise, is advisable, it shakes off sleep, and produces other good effects in the animal economy.-Jefferson.

CHRISTIANITY.

The late eminent judge Sir Allan Park, once said at a public meeting in the city-"We live in the midst of blessings, till we are utterly insensible of their greatness, and of the source from which they flow. We speak of our civilisation, our arts, our freedom, our laws, and forget entirely how large a share of all is due to Christianity. Blot Christianity out of the page of man's history, and what would his laws have been-what his civilisation?-Christianity is mixed up with our very being and our daily life; there is not a familiar object round us which does not wear its mark, not a being or a thing which does not wear a different aspect because the light of Christian hope is on it, not a law which does not owe its truth and gentleness to Christianity, not a custom which cannot be traced in all its holy and healthful parts to the Gospel."

MEANING OF THE WORD DEODAND. The word deodand signifies a thing given to God Almighty. Our law upon this subject is extremely barbarous as well as impious. The deodand was of Catholic origin, and the priests made, or pretended to make, the offer to God, for the repose of the person killed. If a person falls from any part of a cart not in motion, the whole of it, as well as every thing in it and about it, is forfeited to the Deity. No deodands are given for accidents happening at sea; not that the law does not suppose God to have been present at the death, or not to be entitled to the perquisites, but because the jurisdiction of the Court of Queen's Bench does not extend by the common law to the high seas. All animals or things occasioning the death of man are, by the laws of England, deodands, or perquisites of God. Jurymen, in fixing the value of the forfeit, invariably perjure themselves. An intelligent correspondent from a manufac turing town writes to us, that in the last fifty years he has seen given to God as deodands, seven waggons, two waggon-wheels, nineteen carts, one wheel-barrow, eleven stage-coaches, three private carriages, forty horses, one sword, one muleand two jackasses-all gifts to God by the law of England! When will the people get rid of the remnants of the superstitions of their ignorant ancestors?— London Paper.

BENEFICENCE.

A tender-hearted and compassionate disposition, which inclines men to pity and feel the misfortunes of others, and which is, even for its own sake, incapable of involving any man in ruin and misery, is, of all tempers of mind, the most amiable; and though it seldom receives much honour, deserves the highest.Fielding.

SUBSTITUTE FOR THE SUN.

The newly-invented light of M. Gaudin, on which experiments were recently made at Paris, is an improved modification of the well-known invention of Lieut. Drummond. While Drummond pours a stream of oxygen gas, through spirits of wine, upon unslaked lime, Gaudin makes use of a more etherial kind of oxygen, which he conducts through burning essence of turpentine. The Drummond light is fifteen hundred times stronger than that of burning gas; the Gaudin light is, we are assured by the inventor, as strong as that of the sun, or thirty thousand times stronger than gas, and, of course, ten times more so than the Drummond. The method by which M. Gaudin proposes to turn the new invention to use is singularly striking, He proposes to erect in the island of the Pont Neuf, in the middle of the Seine and centre of Paris, a lighthouse, five hundred feet high, in which is to be placed a light from a hundred thousand to a million gas-pipes strong, the power to be varied as the nights are light or dark. Paris will thus enjoy a sort of perpetual day, and as soon as the sun of the heaveus has set, the sun of the Pont Neuf will rise.-Mechanic's Magazine.

ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA.

The native population is very thinly spread over the regions I have explored, amounting to nearly a seventh part of Australia. I cannot estimate the num. ber at more than 6,000; but on the contrary, I believe it to be considerably less. They may increase rapidly, if wild cattle become numerous; and, as an instance, I may refer to the number and good appearance of the Cudjallagong tribe, near Macquarrie range, where they occasionally fall in with a herd of wild cattle. The kangaroo disappears from cattle runs, and is also killed by stockmen merely for the sake of the skin; but no mercy is shown to the natives who may help themselves to a bullock or a sheep. Such a state of things must infallibly lead to the extirpation of the aboriginal natives, as in Van Dieman's Laud, unless timely measures are taken for their civilisation and protection. I have heard some affecting allusions made by natives to the white man's killing the kangaroo. At present, almost every stockman has several strong kangaroo dogs; and it would only be an act of justice towards the aborigines, to prohibit white men by law from killing these creatures, which are as essential to the natives as cattle to the Europeans.-Major Mitchell's Expeditions.

PASSAGE OF THE RAPIDS OF ST. MARY'S.

The canoe being ready, I went to the upper end of the portage, and we launched into the river. It was a small fishing-canoe, about ten feet long, quite new and light, and elegant and buoyant as a bird on the waters. I reclined on a mat at the bottom, Indian fashion (there are no seats in a genuine Indian canoe); in a minute we were within the verge of the rapids, and down we went with a whirl and a splash! the white surge leaping around me-over me. The Indian, with astonishing dexterity, kept the head of the canoe to the breakers, and somehow or other we danced through them. I could see as I looked over the edge of the canoe that the passage between the rocks was sometimes not more than two feet in width, and we had to turn angles-a touch of which would have sent us to destruction; all this I could see through the transparent eddying waters: but, I can truly say, I had not even a momentary sensation of fear-but rather of giddy, breathless, delicious excitement. I could even admire the beautiful attitude of a fisher, past whom we swept as we came to the bottom. The whole affair, from the moment I entered the canoe till I reached the landing place, occupied seven minutes, and the distance is about three quarters of a

mile.- Wm. Jamieson.

London: WILLIAM SMITH, 113, Fleet Street. Edinburgh: FRASER AND CO. Dublin: CURRY & Co.-Printed by Bradbury & Evans, Whitefriars.

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