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and some letters of that prudent monarch illustrate the the last remnants of this capricious taste-hoops, wigs, anxiety of the nobles to display jewels and diamonds of cocked hats, and all-passed away with the peace of great value in their caps. 'I send you,' writes the king Europe at the first French Revolution. But its portraits, to his son, the unfortunate Charles I., who was then on like the literature of the period, indicate the general a matrimonial expedition, the three brethern that ye frivolity and emptiness of the public mind, and a state knowe full well, but newly set, and the mirroure of of things in which real knowledge, or even thought, France, the fellow of the Portugal dyamont, quiche was confined to the few. The pictures of our own day I wold wishe you to wear alone in your hatte, with now meet us, having no temptation to linger among a little blacke feather.' The story of Louis XIII.'s the short waists and long skirts of the war. But it is queen bestowing her diamond epaulette on the Duke time to close our sketch, for we cannot anticipate the of Buckingham, which that luckless gallant returned | verdict of posterity on the character of our own coswith expedition, on account of the wrath and jealousy tume. its absence occasioned, has a prominent place in the court scandals of the period.

It was in the reign of the learned monarch that the farthingale attained its highest magnitude-an article, be it observed, very similar in effect to the modern crinoline; and there is an anecdote on record which might apply to the last-mentioned garment also, regarding a Turkish sultana, who, when visited by Lady Wych, the wife of the British ambassador, in all the fulness of her farthingale, seriously inquired if the peculiar appearance it gave to her ladyship's figure were the natural formation of all English women; and when informed to the contrary, she exclaimed, 'God is good, but wonderful are the fancies of the Nazarenes!' With Charles I. came the cavalier costume, whose abundance of lawn, lace, and ribbons, drooping plume, short cloaks, and mingled grace and foppery, the pencil of Vandyke has made as celebrated as the events of the Civil War. Long doublets and starch were now dethroned, after a reign which comprehended both that of James and Elizabeth. It is remarkable that the latter was of all colours which prevailed in turn, the last of the band being yellow; but the inventrix of it was executed for poisoning Sir Thomas Overbury, it was said, in a yellow starched ruff; and fashion could not tolerate the acquaintance of the gallows. The plain and serious fashions of the Puritan party stand out in strong relief amid so much finery; and even in the portraits of the period, whether of Cromwell in his plain coarse coat and sword, contrasted with Charles covered with gold lace, and wearing a jewel in one of his ears, or a court lady opposed by the russet gown and hat of a parliamentary citizen's daughter, may be read the character of the struggle which then excited so much warlike zeal, and since called forth so much earnest controversy.

• THE DARK HOUR.'

BY BERTHOLD AUERBACH.-TRANSLATED BY META TAYLOR.

Most men, who live in the home-circle of their families, enjoy spending the dark hour' in quiet. Children grow restless about this time, but the elder folks draw over the fire, and sit musing silently, or now and then exchanging a gentle word of affection. These are mo ments when the mind receives and imparts the most refreshing and purest thoughts. There seems to be a general reluctance to break the approaching darkness by lighting a candle; for all, unconsciously, have a certain feeling of the holy power of nature, which spreads out before us, so oft unheeded, the wonderful phenomena of light and darkness. Oh the cozy, comfortable chat in the dark hour! One sits looking at another by the flickering light of the fire, and the few words spoken are caught attentively: the eye, too, has repose, for the mind is undisturbed by the object on which it rests. A single word will often fall upon the ear like an impres sive note of music, and convey a feeling which long after finds an echo in the soul.

Farmer Hagenmaier was one evening sitting thus in the parlour with his wife, his son, and his son's wife. The wedding of the young couple had taken place only the day before, and the joy occasioned by the event was fresh in the minds of all. For some time no one spoke a word, and yet one feeling-perhaps one thought

filled their minds. Young Hagenmaier had hold of the hand of his wife, who sat beside him; perhaps the old man guessed the joy there was in his child's heart: he was ensconced in a dark corner, unseen, and thus at length broke the silence:- Ah, children, 'tis an easy matter to talk of loving one another with your whole heart, and to promise to hold fast your love through life; but when it comes to the point, and you have to yield to each other, to control the will for mutual improvement, 'tis often a difficult task, and words are not then enough. There are times when a man is ready to go through fire to serve his wife; but, without a murmur, to drink a cup of coffee which she may have let heedlessly grow cold-believe me, that's a less easy matter. The words of Scripture are full of meaning, which tell us of the foolish virgins whose lamps were extinguished when the bridegroom came: for many a heart is hardened by self-will, whereas every one ought to be prompt to catch and to enjoy the highest happiness. You see, children, in what love and harmony your mother and I live; but do not imagine that this came without a struggle: I was especially obstinate and self-willed, for in my young days I led a careless, independent life. Hark ye, I'll tell you two stories of the time soon after our marriage, and you may learn a lesson from them-I warrant me you will.

The low dresses and affected foppery of Charles II.'s court, in which that well-known superfluity, the periwig had its origin, also indicate the character of the reign as one at once servile, tyrannical, and coarse, though covered with polish: but after the revolution of 1688, Holland begins to take the lead, and sober Dutch fashions come in with the Prince of Orange-the stomacher once more makes its appearance, though not with the diamonds of Elizabeth's day, and the head-dresses are built as high as lace and ribbons can make them; but the periwig continues in its glory, and the chief accomplishments of a beau at the establishment of the Protestant succession consisted of combing it in the theatre or ball-room, and cocking his hat over it in some particular fashion. Armour had dwindled down in the days of William III. to a breastplate, a back-piece, and a hat lined with steel; but the last remnant of old knightly fashions-the sword-was retained (a worse than useless appendage) at the side of every gentleman, amid the square cut coats, stiffened out with buckram and wire, 'Well do I recollect my delight the Sunday when I the long flap waistcoats, and the abundant ruffles which was to go to church with my wife for the first time. distinguish the reign of Anne. As for the ladies, the We had been chatting away the time unawares that 'Spectator' and other popular works have kept alive morning, till starting up, I exclaimed, “Come, quick! the remembrance of the hoops, patches, commodes, and we shall be too late for church." My wife ran to her hair powder in which they delighted to array them-chamber to dress. I was ready long before she was, and selves; and these fashions continue throughout the greater part of the eighteenth century, about the commencement of which snuff-taking is mentioned as one of the habits adopted by belles of the first water, and broadcloth came into general use in gentlemen's apparel:

waiting for her: she had constantly some little matter still to arrange. At first I begged her, in a gentle tone, and jokingly, to be quick; but presently I called louder, intreating and urging her to make haste. Three times did I fill and light my pipe. Each time it went out, as

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I stood kicking my heels impatiently, calling to her at the chamber door. At such moments one feels as if standing upon hot coals, or, in other words, in the fidgets. My face was as red as scarlet when she at length made her appearance. I could not speak, and we left the house.

'We had not gone many steps, when my wife recollected something that she had left behind. All the keys had now to be got out-all the closets to be opened. I stayed waiting in the street, and it seemed to me an age till she returned. I thought of going to church alone, but I was ashamed; and when at last she appeared with a smiling face, and began to pull up my shirt-collar playfully, I turned angrily on my heel, and said in a gruff voice, “Go and dress yourself-you are long enough about it forsooth!" And we walked to church in this manner, without exchanging a word

more.

My cheeks glowed with vexation and anger, both with my wife and myself, as I entered the church. My wife went to her seat. Had she once turned round to look for me? I knew not. I leaned against a pillar, and was as stiff as the stone itself. From time to time I caught a word the clergyman said, but instantly forgot him again, and stood staring at the roof and walls, and thinking what a lofty and cold building it was. This had never come into my head before; and I was angry with myself that my thoughts were so distracted, and that I could pay no attention to the sermon. It now occurred to me that this was owing to the misunderstanding with my wife: how indeed could I take to my heart what I heard at such a moment? I longed to make it all up, and looked round at her: she did not, however, raise her eyes, and this vexed me again. Was not she in the wrong? thought I; and ought not she therefore to beg my pardon for dawdling and wasting my time in a way to drive one mad? Look ye, children, thus it is with a man when he gets out of temper, and deceives himself about his own heart and conduct. I was angry with my wife, even for being able to say her prayers so calmly, since she had offended me; and in this manner I behaved like a good-for-nothing fellow, both before and during church time, and imbittered that hour which might have been one of the brightest and happiest in my life. Our misunderstanding might very likely soon have been at an end, if I could have taken my wife's hand, and spoken a kind word with her; but we were separated in the church, and it seemed to me as if our quarrel had estranged our hearts for ever.'

The good woman was here going to interrupt her husband, but he said, 'Nay, nay, lovie; let me tell my story out: I have another to follow; and then you may have all the afterpiece to yourself. So you may imagine, children, that we soon made matters up again; for your mother, in her young days, was a merry soul; and whenever I put on a sour look, and was out of temper, she would laugh at me so good-humouredly, that I was forced to laugh too. And then I could not understand how it was I had been so pettish-and all for the merest trifle, not worth speaking of; but the fact is, when a man's anger is up, he does not understand this.

'Well, now for the other story: it is about just such another half-hour's trial of temper. The wedding of our cousin at Lichtenau was fixed to take place; we were invited to it, and were to be there punctually at a certain hour. The day came, and it was high time to start-there was not a moment to lose. I had put to the old gray mare (which we had at that time), and stood cracking my whip at the door. Your mother seemed as if she would never come. I sent up every woman that passed to help her to get ready. I knew she would not like this, and I did it just on purpose to tease her. What business had she to keep me waiting there? When at length she did come, I rated her soundly. Your mother bit her lips as she got into the chaise, and she held her handkerchief up to her eyes the whole while we drove through the village; whilst I

kept on whipping the old mare, till she kicked fore and aft. But when we got outside the village, your mother began to weep, and said, "For Heaven's sake, husband, how can you act thus, and put yourself and me both to shame before all the folks?"

'These words cut me to the heart: I recollected our first walk to church-my wife was now by my side. I threw the reins on the old mare's neck, and stuck the whip behind me: it was time to put reins upon myself; and I may say with truth that I have thoroughly repented my hastiness of temper. But you see how one can tell, from such trifles as these, whether the true light still burns in the heart. The few minutes that I had thus twice to wait proved to me hours of trial; and thenceforth I learned to study the temper and enter into the wishes of others. Think of this, children, if ever you meet with a similar trial.'

'Now comes the afterpiece!' cried the good woman. And you have forgotten to say, husband, that from that time I never again made you wait, but was always ready before you. Come, now let us light the candles: we have had enough of the dark hour.' They did so bright faces, lighted up with good resolutions, gazed joyously one at another.

LAND OCCUPANCY IN SCOTLAND. SCOTSMEN are sometimes ridiculed for partiality to their native country. It was, after all, an amiable peculiarity, appropriate to a time when Scotland required all the affection of her sons to make her appear a tolerable home. Now that industry and prudence have given her wealth and its enjoyments, we hear much less of national partiality. There are, however, it must be asserted in all seriousness, some institutions in Scotland either greatly superior to any analogous things in England, or in which England is yet altogether deficient, and of which Scotchmen may therefore be allowably somewhat boastful. For example, a perfect system for the registry of property, which makes all incumbrances on land ascertainable by the public. England, too, is only now struggling to obtain the public prosecution of criminals, which Scotland has enjoyed for hundreds of years. The tithe system, which was a bane in England till a few years ago, was settled in Scotland in the reign of Charles I. When one reflects on the period of the origin of many of the good institutions of Scotland, he is tempted to think that the condemnation of the Stuart dynasty, in which it is now the fashion to indulge, is, to say the least of it, too sweeping. Many excellent laws were passed in Scotland by these monarchs, and generally, till the struggles of opinion which commenced with the Reformation, they stood up for the commons against the tyranny of the nobles. To James II., an accomplished prince, who perished in his thirtieth year by the accidental explosion of a cannon (1460), is due the credit of having ratified an act of parliament giving tenants of land those securities which till this day are vainly contested for by leasehold farmers in at least one part of the United Kingdom. This act of the Scots parliament was passed in 1449, and forms the basis of the existing common law and usage respecting the tenantcy of land. It is interesting to observe that the act was expressly ordained for the safetie and favour of the puir people that labouris the ground;' or, in other words, was a law to protect tenants on lease against eviction and misusage in the event of proprietors wishing to oppress them, or in the case of lands being sold or alienated. This law may be said to have defined the leading points in a lease-the term of years, the periods of entry and outgoing, and the rent to be paid.*

going the ish, and the rent the mail. Hence a farm in Scotland * In old language, the lease is called the tack, the period of outwas called a mailing.

The great attention bestowed on territorial management in Scotland during the last hundred years, has served to consolidate the principle and practice of leasing lands, so that the process is now probably as perfect as it is likely ever to be. The following is a familiar account of the manner in which land tenantcy is conducted and operates.

There are few or no tenants holding land by verbal arrangement; that is, no tenants at will. Every farm is let by a written agreement or lease; and a note or missive stating terms of lease is held to be equally valid as a lease, if followed by possession, and that not only against the granter of the lease, but his heirs and successors. Any shuffle by a landlord to oust a tenant in occupation, on the plea that his lease is not technically correct, would meet with no mercy in the Scotch courts; and an attempt to do anything of the sort would incur universal odium. Leases, however, are usually drawn up with great care and precision. The document, of which each party has a copy, defines mutual rights and obligations, specifies the date of entry to the farm, the duration of the lease, the annual rent to be paid, the routine of cropping, &c. Sub-letting is strictly prohibited, and the least approach to such an invasion of the landlord's rights would be instantly checked. The duration of the lease is ordinarily from fourteen to nineteen years-nineteen, very probably, if the lands require much improvement: in either case, the lease is heritable, and its rights and obligations descend to the farmer's family or heirs. Nineteen years form a reasonable length of time for a farmer to sow and reap in every sense of the word. Insured possession either in his own person or his family, he has an inducement to bring the land into the best possible condition, to drain it and to manure it at his own expense, and to subject it to the most approved routine of agriculture. That he has his reward, is evidenced in the position of respectability enjoyed by Scotch farmers generally. But does the farmer not scourge or exhaust the land towards the conclusion of his lease? This is provided against in the agreement, and also by common usage. He must leave the land unexhausted and in crop, but the period fixed for leaving is usually in November, when there is little crop or seed in the ground. A proportion of the value of the lime and manures lately employed on the land is paid for by the incoming tenant. So far, therefore, the lessee loses nothing, and any selfish inducement to take scourging crops from the land is removed. The incoming tenant is also bound to pay his predecessor for the seed sown and unreaped; that is, any crop at the time on the land. But if the farm has proved a fair bargain during the currency of the lease, the tenant most likely desires a renewal. In perhaps three-fourths of all cases a renewal is granted for a fresh term of nineteen years, and generally at an advanced rent, corresponding to the increased value of the farm.

No Scotch farmer starting with a new lease, grudges that he has to pay a somewhat higher rent than formerly. This may seem paradoxical; and yet there is nothing unreasonable in it. A lease for nineteen years is understood to clear all scores. For the first few years, nearly all is paying out; for the latter years, nearly all is coming in-the cost of working the land being much more than covered by the large crops which are produced. It is very interesting to observe the patience with which a Scotch farmer will wait for returns. For years, you will see him with his men toiling to eradicate huge stones from the ground, blasting rocks, digging open ditches, draining with tiles, levelling rude heaps, ploughing, liming, and otherwise improving the farm. At first, the crops are poor; then they begin to look a little better; about the eighth or ninth year they are abundant. Now comes the period of repayment. Ten years of heavy crops, with little outgoing, set all to rights. At the end of the nineteenth year the land does not owe the farmer a penny. Such, in usual circumstances, being the case, the farmer

has no pretension to consider the land as his, or to say, 'I have a claim for making this property what it is.' True, he made a garden out of a wilderness; but he has been more than paid for it. If he has been a sagacious farmer, and not engaged to pay too high a rent, the land and he are quits. When the lease refers to land already improved, the nature of the tenure is not altered: the lessee in such instances runs less risk, and has less toil than on a highly-improvable farm; but he pays rent in proportion, and looks alone to the fourteen or nineteen years' possession for a redemption of all outlays.

On every farm there must necessarily be improvements or meliorations of a substantial and lasting kind, which the tenant cannot be expected to execute even on the principle of self-remuneration. We here allude to the erection of a suitable dwelling-house, a barn, thrashing - mill, and stables, the building of stone walls, planting of hedges, making roads, and so forth. These things, which are of a permanent character, are always executed at the cost of the landlord, and remain his property, the tenant being bound only to keep them in repair. In many instances, a landlord builds a new house for his tenant, on the occasion of a fresh lease with an advance of rent; and thus, from time to time, the farm buildings in Scotland have been renewed in a substantial manner, greatly to the improved appearance of the country. There are few examples of Scotch farmers building houses entirely at their own cost. Occasionally, where the laird lacks funds, the tenant will engage to pay part of the money, but only on the condition of being repaid in the form of certain annual deductions from the rent; and it is so expressed in the lease. When a new farm-house is to be erected, the tenant, if a man of capital and taste, may possibly offer to pay a certain share of the expense out of his own pocket, provided he is allowed to have a building to his mind. If the landlord agree to this proposal, it is on the express understanding that no claim is in future to be put forward on account of such an outlay; nor is it to be handed down as a burden on succeeding tenants. In general, the landlord is anxious to make the tenant comfortable, and to live on good terms with him; and many examples could be given of landlords voluntarily exceeding the covenants by which they are bound. The farmer is for the most part equally, if not more, desirous of conciliating the goodwill of his landlord. The truth is, each has the power to serve and to annoy the other; and there are therefore the best reasons for adopting terms of mutual conciliation. The only source of discord may be said to be in the game-laws, which are rigidly maintained by some landlords, greatly to the loss and discontent of their tenants.

Of the private relationship of landlord and tenant, however, we have here no special reason to speak. As respects territorial management, Scotch landed proprietors manifest a keen sense of what is economically proper. In late years they have disregarded the slow process of melioration presented by existing leases; that is to say, seeing that certain improvements are desirable, which have not been stipulated for in the lease, or considered in the rent, they enter into a special agreement on the subject. It may be arranged that, for the sum which the landlord lays out, the tenant agrees to pay interest at a moderate per centage during the remainder of the lease. By this means land is brought at once into the finest state of tillage, and the landlord is certain of receiving an advanced rent next time the farm is to be let.

It will be gathered from all we have said that the Scotch farmer ceases to have any claim whatever on his farm when his lease expires, excepting only what he may have to receive from recently laid down manure, or the seed of unreaped crops. Houses, fences, drains, meliorations of all sorts, become, as a matter of course, the property of the landlord; because all have been executed either directly at his expense, or in virtue of

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a covenant, by which the tenant has been requited for his personal toil and pecuniary outlay. No tenant farmer in Scotland, therefore, ever asks a sum for good-will' from his successor: the idea of such a thing would be looked on as preposterous and impudent in the highest degree. With his successor he has nothing to do, except to settle for the transient matters above alluded to.

Such are the rational, the simple, and satisfactory usages in Scotland respecting lease-tenure. In that country there are no agrarian disturbances; agriculture is pursued as a profession by men of skill and capital; and while the farmers benefit themselves, they also benefit the public, by throwing into the market the abundant produce of their highly-cultivated fields. All this, however, could only have been brought about by the care and enterprise of the landlords. If the landed proprietors had hung back, either through perversity or negligence had they left tenants to do anything they liked the face of the country would have been altogether different.

It is melancholy to reflect on the condition to which a fine country may be brought through the inattention of landlords; it is chiefly in consequence of such inattention that the present outcry for tenant-right' in Ireland has arisen. We can sympathise with this outcry, for it never would have been heard had Irish proprietors done their duty. In Ireland, leases of land have never been conducted on that uniform and satisfactory principle which is customary in Scotland. In many instances their stipulations are broken with impunity by both parties. We have heard of landlords breaking them on the plea that they were invalid, though they must have been parties to that invalidity. The English law, we fear, has much to answer for on this account. Its cumbrous machinery, and unintelligible technicalities, are unsuitable to Irish capacities and Irish feelings. To turn a poor and ignorant man summarily out of his farm, to break or trample on his lease, and leave him to seek legal redress only by a suit in Chancery, is nothing short of oppression. Evictions, of course, do not usually take place without some grounds of procedure-bad farming, subletting, non-payment of rent, and so forth-but is not the habitual inattention of landlords to their estates a very common cause of abuse? Tenants have been allowed to go on for years as they liked; they have been permitted, without challenge, to make improvements during their leases, and to receive payment from their successors at the close. In this alone there are the elements of inextricable confusion. An entering tenant will be seen paying to the outgoing tenant L100 for possession of an improved farm; and to this sum the new tenant will perhaps add as much more for fresh improvements, as if the property were his own. These sums may be expended for substantial and rational improvements, or they may not. They may be paid for perishable acquisitions, for embellishments of little practical utility, or they may be paid for mere good-will; but for all these the tenant considers he has an equitable claim either against the landlord or against the succeeding tenant. Farther, he considers that he is entitled to sell his right to whom he pleases, and to induct whom he pleases, as if he were disposing of an established business.

These claims are clearly erroneous to a very great extent; and yet they are not only contended for by tenants in Ireland, in memorials to government, at public meetings, and defended and enforced by clergymen and other influential persons; but the principle is also upheld in parliament, and sought to be embodied in public acts. Upon such a principle, a landlord might be improved out of his estate, not only without his consent, but against his will, and in defiance of all propriety Farm-houses might be turned into mansion houses, wholly unsuited to the size and value of the farms; and common fences made into handsome park walls. In a late case, the sum of L.1800 had been expended, and

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was demanded, for such improvements, on a farm yielding only L.64 of rent to the landlord. The annual interest of L.1800 being L.90, it thus happened that, according to tenant right, the landlord would have had to pay L.90 a-year to get tranquil possession of a farm yielding only L.64 a-year. Was this at all reasonable? Certainly not; but the error fundamentally lay in the landlord not taking care to lease his lands on a sound principle, not looking after his property till it was too late; and we can scarcely pity him for the charges to which, by his negligence, he had exposed himself.

The clamour for tenant-right originates in a sense of wrong and suffering. Without any distinct definition of rights and obligations, the Irish farmer improves his land, and builds a house upon it, and then all at once he is turned abroad on the world, obliged to lose all he had expended. Can we wonder that this injustice should excite commotion? Making every allowance, however, for the hardships endured under the present system, we do not think that the imparting of tenant-right, as it is called, is the proper method of rectifying affairs. The right way of going to work seems to be as follows:

1. The nature of the claim of each tenant should be examined; what has been expended superfluously should be disallowed; and the balance, if any, for real improvements should be paid by the landlord. If the landlord cannot pay this balance, his property ought to be sold to the amount.

2. But in many instances the lands are in the hands of mortgagees; in such cases the balance to be a charge on the property after the mortgagee's claims are satisfied. A sale, with count and reckoning, would speedily and satisfactorily settle the matter.

3. Solvent landlords, being now placed in possession of their properties, they ought in all cases to be compelled to grant definite leases, briefly and simply expressed; and no lease should be valid which has not been examined and certified by a public officer appointed for the purpose of summarily settling disputes as to land in every county.

4. Every lease should be drawn up in the name of the actual proprietor of the land, or at least with his sanction, and the actual farmer. Subletting to be a valid ground of ejectment.

5. A register of leases to be kept in every county, open to public inspection.

6. No ejectment to be legal except between ten o'clock A. M. and two o'clock P. M.; and not without a previous notice of ten days in a metropolitan and provincial newspaper.

He would be a bold man who said that arrangements of the above nature would give peace to the rural districts of Ireland; but they at least aim at disentangling affairs, and placing them on a permanently sure foundation. Will the landholders, however, agree to such trenchant measures, even with the view of relieving themselves from the effects of their heedlessness? and will they turn over a new leaf, and in future, like their brethren in Scotland, pay that degree of attention to their properties which is alone calculated to prevent agrarian disturbance?

A HINT TO YOUNG MEN.

Every young man in this metropolis, if he will only attend to his business, whatever it is, and keep out of scrapes, is a rising man, and has all the prizes and honours of the nation before him, if not for himself or his children, at least for his children's children. There is no reason to complain when this is the case. We have no exclusions at the east or the west end of London; take them in a club of race. Take any dozen men in good circumstances, either in Pall-Mall, or in the Exchange, and inquire into their origin. One is an Irishman, another a Scotchman, another is a Welshman. Perhaps half of them can show a Celt in his pedigree. The same number can produce an ancestor driven to this country by the revocation of the Edict of

Nantes, or a foreigner of still more recent date. So much for race. As for condition, the great-grandfather of one was a labourer; of another a gentleman's butler, of another a weaver, of another a journeyman blacksmith, of another a hairdresser, and so forth. So far from the trade and commerce of London being at all a monopoly, it is notorious that nearly all the tradesmen of London, or their immediate ancestors, came from the country. In the manufacturing districts, these examples of successful industry are still more numerous. Manchester, for example, is made out of nothing. Now this state of things suits the British taste very much better than any scheme for making and keeping all men equal. The fact is, that we don't like equality. Saxons are a spreading, a stirring, an ambitious, and a conquering race. We prefer hope to enjoyment, and would rather look forward to be something better than to be always the same. Englishmen of any thought have just the same feeling about their posterity. They hope to rise in their offspring. They also know that they will do so, if they are steady and industrious, and train up their children as they ought to do. Every working man with two ideas in his head knows very well that it is his own fault if he does not thrive, live in a comfortable house, rented at more than L.10 a-year, have a little money safely invested, and before many years, find himself and his family safe at least from the workhouse.-Times newspaper.

SALE OF BOOKS.

In the year 1511, eighteen hundred copies of Erasmus's work entitled 'Encomium Moria' ('The Praise of Folly') were sold; and in 1527, twenty-four thousand copies of his 'Colloquies' were disposed of. In the sixteenth century, sixty editions of the Orlando Furioso' were published. It is stated that as many as eighteen hundred editions of the 'De Imitatione Christi' of Thomas-à-Kempis have been issued. Such was the popularity of Daniel Defoe's satire, called 'The True-born Englishman' (1708), that more than eighty thousand pirated copies of it are believed to have been sold in the streets of London. In 1732, Franklin began to publish, in America, Poor Richard's Almanac,' the demand for which became so great, that ten thousand copies were sold in one year-a very large number, considering the comparative paucity of readers in the new continent at that time. Richardson's novel of Pamela' met with great success, having gone through five editions in the course of a year. When Dr Johnson's Rambler' was first published, the sale seldom exceeded five hundred; and it is curious that the only paper in the series that had a prosperous sale, and may be said to have been popular, was No. 91, which Dr Johnson did not write, but is said to have been written by Richardson. So popular were the essays published under the title of 'The Craftsman' (1726), written by Bolingbroke, Pulteney, and other writers, in opposition to Sir Robert Walpole's measures, that ten or twelve thousand were frequently sold on the day of publication. The first edition of M. Thiers's History of the Consulate and the Empire of France under Napoleon, consisting of ten thousand copies, was exhausted in Paris on the day of publication, within the space of a few hours; and orders were soon received for six thousand copies of the second edition. Of Hannah More's religious novel, Calebs in Search of a Wife' (1809), ten editions were sold in the year of its publication. Constable calculated that nearly fifty thousand copies of Scott's 'Lady of the Lake' were sold in Great Britain, from the time of its first appearance, in 1810, up to the middle of 1836. The two thousand copies of the first edition of Marmion' were all sold, at the rate of a guinea and a-half each, in less than a month; and up to the middle of 1836, it is computed that about fifty thousand copies had been sold. In the ten years that have elapsed since this calculation was made, the aggregate number of copies sold of both these favourite poems has considerably increased. From the fact of one hundred and thirty editions of Hoyle on Gaming' having been published, and only sixteen editions of 'The Whole Duty of Man,' an unfavourable estimate has been drawn of the morality of the times.

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gardeners-that effective means of destroying noxious species-one of the main objects of entomology, taken in its widest scope-can be looked for. Such objectors should be referred to a paper read by M. Guérin-Méneville to the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris in January 1847, from which it appeared that while the cultivators of the olive in the south of France-who in two years out of three lost oil to the amount of nearly 6,000,000 of francs annually by the attacks on their olives of the grub of a little fly (Dacus olea)—were utterly unable, with all their 'practical' skill, to help themselves in any shape, M. GuérinMéneville, though no cultivator, applying his entomological knowledge of the genus and species of the insect, and of its peculiar economy, to the case, advised that the olives should be gathered and crushed much earlier than usual, and before the grubs had had time to eat the greater part of the pulp of the fruit; and by their adoption of this simple plan, the proprietors of olives in the years they are attacked by the dacus, can now obtain an increased annual produce of oil, equal in value to L.240,000, which was formerly lost, in consequence of their allowing the grubs to go on eating the olives till they dropped from the tree.Mr Spence's Address to the Entom. Society, January 1848.

LOOK FORWARD, AGE!

BY CALDER CAMPBELL.

THY youth hath long been passed-
The verdure and the flowerage faded long;
Life's sunny smiles, amassed

In pleasant places, amidst dance and song,
Live but in memories, that make them look
Like dried leaves in a book.

Pain, more than pleasure, dwells

Within such memories: therefore seek not thou
To dive within the cells

O'er which their sickly scent dead lilies throw;
Nor ransack records, 'mid whose mildewed leaves
Its net the spider weaves!

Canst thou thy youth restore,

By seeking at its dried-up fount the draught
Which may not ever more,

Howe'er so great thy thirst, by thee be quaffed?
The waters gone to waste, no longer run

All sparkling in the sun.

The gray hairs on thy brow,

Turn they to plenteous auburn, as thy thoughts
Are with the Long-ago,

Careering on the mist that vaguely floats

Over the past, through which all things appear
More bright, because less clear?

And nimbler grow thy feet,

As thou in thought retracest paths once trod,
Undreaming that deceit

Followed thy footsteps o'er the daisied sod?

Pause ere thou try'st youth's dance with limbs that tell How years may vigour quell!

Then gaze not on the past

As on a picture, whence true joys may rise,
Or thou wilt find at last

The bitterness of lying vanities;

And, like the reed that shakes to every wind, Fall with thy fallen mind!

But to the COMING look

Gaze to the eastward-to the rising sun!
See where the gushing brook

Doth from its source in vigorous brightness run;
Read back no leaf, but turn the onward page,
And so look forward, Age!

NOTE.-The individual who wrote a tale in the Journal a few years ago on an incident in the history of the Tankerville family, is requested to correspond with the editor.

Published by W. & R. CHAMBERS, High Street, Edinburgh. Also sold by D. CHAMBERS, 98 Miller Street, Glasgow; W. 8. ORR, 147 Strand, London; and J. M'GLASHAN, 21 D'Olier Street, Dublin.-Printed by W. and R. CHAMBERS, Edinburgh.

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