"Then allow me to say that in my opinion you would not be doing your duty to the poor."

"The guardians are the best judges of that," she sharply replied.

Bearing in mind the peculiar proceedings of several very respectable boards of guardians, I could not agree with her, but I did not say so.

The potatoes served out to the paupers were almost black,-indeed I have seen better ones given to the pigs,-and were shovelled into boxes with a commmon shovel; the parsnips, the only other vegetable supplied, were apparently nicely cooked, judging from the sample on my own plate, and looked palatable. I did not taste the ale.

Being rejoined by my friend, I called his attention to the badly-cooked joints, and he was nearly as incensed as I had been, and administered a severe reprimand to the master for his carelessness, who, however, threw the blame upon "the cook." The master and matron were both excessively attentive to us, too attentive for my purpose, as they tried to hurry us through the different rooms. Giving my friend a hint to this effect, he took the keys of the wards from the master, and we pursued our investigations alone. We proceeded through a long cold passage to the "aged and infirm women's wards," where some hundred poor old souls in various stages of helplessness were either feeding themselves, or were being fed. One old lady, nearly ninety, had made for herself a Christmas cap with colored paper, of which she seemed as proud as a young lady of her courtdress; another confidentially showed me a worn letter from her son, long since deceased, of whom, the nurse informed us, she was continually talking, and whose last letter she was constantly spelling over. Another, too ill to eat anything, was lying in bed with her face to the wall, taking notice of nothing that was going on around, and although she was not long for this world, little attention was paid to her comfort, for immediately over her head was an open window, and three or four other windows in the ward were also wide open. In fact I felt cold even with my

Never in my

overcoat closely buttoned. life had I seen so much misery, except in the squalid dwellings of the very, very poor in our large cities, where, no doubt, the aged and infirm would receive even less attention than they did here. Before leaving this ward the puddings were brought in, and were really eatable. They had been boiled in cylinders of eighteen inches circumference, and a piece six inches in diameter was cut off for each person. We next proceeded to the ward where the ablebodied men and the "casuals" were at dinner, and very noisy and convivial most of them seemed. Exceptions, however, there were. Sullen, morose-looking fellows shrank back into corners as we approached, and although the tobacco and coppers, which they received with a grunt, tempted them from their retreats, they quickly retired to them again. It was a sad sight, so many strong men living upon the rates, perhaps the saddest in the house. And here let me say a few words concerning the working of the law, which drives, actually drives, and keeps some of these able-bodied men upon the union funds.

A well-educated man, the father of six hearty children, had the misfortune to become deaf, and, in consequence, was discharged from his situation as clerk, which he had held for many years at a very small salary, so small that he had found it impossible to lay by something for "a rainy day." His loss so preyed upon his mind that fever was the result, and he was ill for three months. During his illness, in order to provide necessaries for her sick husband and family and to pay the rent, his wife, a delicately-reared woman, sold part of the furniture. He eventually got better, and at once sought for employment, but owing to his infirmity he was for two months unsuccessful, and then he obtained a situation as porter, at fifteen shillings a week. Shortly afterwards his wife fell ill, and for a long time she lingered in a state of extreme weakness, when at length death released her from that misery, which, the doctor said, had broken her heart. Friendless and poor, the husband nearly starved himself and his children in order to bury his wife decently. He sold every vestige of furniture, except a kitchen table, three chairs, and the beds, which were placed upon the floor, and even these few things in the

course of a week or two were seized for the non-payment of poor-rates! What could he do now? He went to the relieving-officer, who refused to grant him outdoor relief. The prescription of the guardians also, to whom he appealed, was "the house." And to "the house" the family went. They were there better fed than at home, and the father gathered strength, and his deafness decreasing, he thought it time to look for a situation. Having no money to buy newspapers, he could not see the advertisements announcing vacancies, and whenever he was allowed to discharge himself from the house to seek employment, the affectionate poorlaws, after separating him from his children in the house, thoughtfully ordered that he should always take his six children out with him, for fear that he would never come back to them, or be a further burden upon the rates, which by this time he would have helped to pay, had he, in the first instance, been assisted with temporary out-door relief. The result was that whenever he availed himself of the permission to seek a situation, he and his family tasted no food all day, the workhouse authorities refusing them readmittance before night. As might have been expected, the father became tired of hearing the cry of his children for bread, and preferring half a loaf to none at all, he and they have become, unless some mighty revolution occurs, permanent paupers. This is only one case out of hundreds of a similar character showing the pauperizing tendency of the poor-laws. Can we wonder that, "Once a pauper, always a pauper ?"

The imbecile wards next claimed our attention, and we were greatly pleased with the thorough cleanliness of the apartments, and of the bedding. Here, however, as in all other parts of the house, were too many open windows, and more cold air than was required for ventilation. The dangerous patients, the maniacs, were strapped to their beds in a separate room, guarded by two big keepers. Some, we noticed, were devouring their food like beasts, while others were too obstinate to eat at all. Their fearful howling and yelling soon drove us away.

Returning to the male imbecile wards we found that all the occupants, however deficient in other knowledge, understood the value of money, and were not unac

quainted with the use of the "fragrant weed," both in the form of tobacco and snuff, the old men being unaccountably fond of the latter. Large quantities of oranges and nuts were also distributed. The walls of all the lunatic wards, I must not omit to state, were covered with paintings executed, in the most gorgeous and glittering colors, by the inmates. A loyal pauper, an old man, had decorated one of the rooms with portraits of the various members of the royal family. In another apartment a radical painter had been equally clever in depicting Washington, Oliver Cromwell, John Bright, Mr. Gladstone, and Mr. George Odger. Among other portraits in various rooms were pictures of murderers, highwaymen, and other criminals. I particularly noticed life-size portraits of Müller, Dick Turpin, Claude Duval, and Jack Sheppard, and wondered why the master and the guardians allowed them to remain. The walls were also adorned with paintings of naval and military heroes, and pictorial representations of the battles and victories of which Englishmen are proud.

One could have spent the whole of the day with these "daft" folks, if only in listening to what they had to say. An old gentleman between seventy and eighty mysteriously beckoned me into a corner, and as mysteriously unbuttoned his jacket in order to display to my, of course enraptured, gaze, a lot of brass buttons strung together, and to tell me how rich he was, and that he was afraid of exhibitIng his treasures openly because his companions would certainly murder him in order to obtain possession of them. eral times they had attempted to rob and murder him, he said.

Sev

The keeper afterwards informed us that he had been a small farmer, had worked hard, and scraped together a few hundred pounds, and had almost worshipped them. One unlucky day he was prevailed upon by a plausible agent to invest his all in a bubble company ("limited")-the crash came, and the poor farmer was a wreck, mentally and financially.

Another old fellow told me in confidence that he was elder brother to Queen Victoria, and, by right, sovereign of Great Britain. He showed me a letter headed Dieu et mon droit he had just written to his august ally the King of Mesopotamia, requesting him to declare war against the

government of England for refusing to recognize his claims, and against France for aiding and abetting England therein. He expected, he told me, a letter every moment from his ambassador at the court of Pekin, the Emperor of China being so favorably inclined towards him that he would have declared war against England long ago, but for the distressing fact that his mother-in-law wouldn't allow him to spend any of his pocket-money!

Poor, unhappy-ay, yet happy-mortals. Content and cheerful; no complaining, no murmuring; thankful for the least attention or kindness, treated with care and consideration-they are better off than many a sane man. Thank heaven! all boards of guardians are not entirely selfish and callous.

On entering the female imbecile wards we were greatly astonished at the different behavior of the occupants, as compared with that of the sterner sex. The men were all as grave as senators are supposed to be; the women were as noisy as birds in a rookery, all talking and shouting at the same time, each in a different tone, and upon diverse subjects. They became comparatively quiet on seeing us prepare to distribute our snuff and fruit, one or two old ladies anxiously inquiring whether we would sell them all the snuff we had with us, to be paid for "next Christmas." One old woman showed us a short, dirty pipe, and asked for tobacco, remarking that "snuff would do very well for the girls."

On receiving their little packages they danced and sang, and ultimately became so unruly that the keeper threatened to lock all of them up for the rest of the day. This threat produced order for a time, and during the pause we were enabled to observe the stage and the actors. Females, whose ages ranged from three to eighty, were there, dressed all alike, young and old, in short checked frocks and long unbleached pinafores, and representing every degree of imbecility, although to look at and speak with several of them you would think them as sane as yourself. One young girl, with a fresh complexion and beautiful black eyes, really quite a handsome lass, particularly attracted our attention. For three or four weeks together, the attendant informed us, she would be quite rational, and then would be seized with madness of a terrible character.

We remained in conversation with this young woman a considerable time, and found her ordinarily intelligent. There was a large swing at one end of the room, and she proposed that my friend the fat guardian should place himself therein, and allow the girls to give him a swing. He got in, and I was about to follow when she caught me by the arm, and whispered, "Don't you go; stop here and see the fun."

I stopped there and saw the fun; but I question whether my friend did. A dozen of the girls, first of all, swung him backwards and forwards, gently, and he was exclaiming, "Beautiful! Delightful!" when the motion became swifter and swifter, until every ascent threatened to throw him out; but he held firmly to the rods, and breathlessly shouted, "Stop, stop!"

The giddy girls paid no attention to my requests for the discontinuance of their sport until the attendants, seeing the state of the case, made a rush to the end of the room, and quickly dispersed the mischiefloving and mischief-making damsels.

They then treated us to some singing, which was accompanied by one of the patients on a worn-out pianoforte, or rather a pianopiano, for there was nothing forte about it, except perhaps its age. During one of the songs an old lady of fifty whispered to me, "You would hardly think it, would you, that every one of these people are mad, and the attendants here, and me, are the only sensible persons in the place ?"

I looked at her. Was I talking to a mad woman? Yes! there was no doubt about it-her dress proved it. She then began muttering to herself, and presently addressed me again, catching hold of my coat collar.

"Ann, take your hands off the gentleman, immediately," said one of the attendants.

civil, obliging, deserving, and flourishing shopkeeper in the greengrocery line.

Upon the conclusion of this eloquent address, the shouts of "God bless our noble-hearted guardians" were renewed with increased vigor. It nevertheless struck me that, if I had the distinguished honor of being a "noble-hearted," I should certainly wish to see a little more spirit and earnestness than were manifested on this occasion. For the next half-hour we listened to the playing of the drum-andfife band; and so skilfully did the performers acquit themselves, that we presented each with a shilling, receiving in return, given with great gusto this time, the watchword of the day, "God bless our noble-hearted guardians." A visit to the chapel, which was beautifully decorated with evergreens, &c., store-rooms, officers' quarters, and chaplain's apartments, brought our Christmas day in the workhouse to a close.

I was pleased with the cleanliness throughout the house, and with the guardians for providing the paupers with a bountiful dinner. I was displeased-and it is at the suggestion of my guardian friend that I publicly say so-I was displeased with the sinful spoiling of good

food by bad cooking; with the very cold atmosphere of the room where lay the new-born babes; with the cold apartments of the aged and infirm, in one of which, as I stated before, was a pauper dying immediately under an open window, the other occupants of the room feasting and trying to make merry; with the carelessness and cruelty of some of the officers; with the method of training adopted in the schools; and especially with the associating of the rogues and vagabonds with the honest poor, such contact, in my estimation, producing the most pernicious results.

A careful classification of paupers, as recommended long ago by Poor-Law reformers, must be made ere many years have elapsed; and I hope a separate house altogether will be provided for the deserving poor, for at present they are worse off in the Union workhouse than in prison. I am not a chronic grumbler, neither am I a prophet; but I am firmly convinced that the sooner we commence a wholesale revision of the poor-laws, the better will it be for the stability of our constitution.

JAMES PITT.

THE fortune bequeathed by the late Mr. Brassey, the contractor, is probably, as the Observer says, the largest which ever passed the Court of Probate,-for the very few estates which exceed his in value are usually transferred by settlement. This fortune is believed to have exceeded seven millions] sterling, the personalty alone having been sworn under six and a half millions. With the possible exception of an instance in the history of the Rothschild family--a family of whose colossal wealth everybody talks, while nobody knows very much—and the doubtful exception of Mr. Vanderbilt, reported by New York gossips to possess nearly a hundred million of dollars-this is certainly the largest amount of money ever accumulated by one man by industry and enterprise, during his own life-time, and its bulk suggests that some great change must have passed over the fortune-making capabilities of business men. The area

of their operations must in some way or other have been enormously increased, until they resembled the operations of a government rather than those of an individual, until, as it were, they must be enabled to secure the services of entire armies of faithful agents. We believe this to have been the case, and to be due to the operation of two causes, one of them entirely good in its action, the other and more important one very doubtful. The national boundaries formerly fixed to speculation are rapidly disappearing. Supposing that an able man with a talent for business of almost any kind can secure a sufficiency of competent and trustworthy agents, there is no necessity for limiting his work to one country. He can repeat himself, as it were, as often as he pleases, and repeating himself implies a repetition of his profits. Mr. Brassey can only build one railway at a time, be the profit never so great, just as one Ambas