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what month you are in. Cheap and bright sugar is or Blue Monday being more perseveringly kept than displayed as a leading article:' go in and buy a pound any other holiday in the London working-man's ca-it is kept ready weighed and papered-and on open-lendar. ing the packet at home, you will find the contents marvellously darker in colour than the sample exposed in the window. Call for a pound of butter at a provision shop, you will always see a weight left in one of the brightly-polished scales. If it be necessary to change it, the one required is always thrown in before the first is removed. This is so invariably the case, as to excite a suspicion of unequal balance. It is, however, regarded as one of the legitimate advantages of trade, arising out of the keenness of competition. Widely ramified, it descends to the lowest. Cast an eye into the measures of the venders of nuts and gooseberries in the streets, you will see a false bottom placed so as to diminish the interior capacity by one-fourth. We once asked an old woman, whose stand has been for years on the approaches to Blackfriars Bridge, whether she felt no compunction for her daily frauds on the public. Sure,' was the retort, doesn't everybody do it, and could I get a living if I didn't do the same?'

WANT OF LABOURERS IN AUSTRALIA. ATTENTION has been lately drawn to the deficiency of labourers, more especially shepherds, in the Australian colonies, and New South Wales in particular. Probably the want has been immediately felt in consequence of the recent stoppage of the stream of convict exiles which long poured into these distant settlements. Be this, however, as it may, the demand for labourers is at present unusually great.

On passing the cab-stands, you may observe that the drivers seem more than usually alert during the hours that business men are making their way into town. If you chance to turn your head, a dozen fingers are held up to answer what is considered a call, and as many voices cry out, Keb, sir?' It is puzzling at times to know how these men get a living, paying as they do fourteen shillings a day to the owner of the vehicle. They like to see the day begin fine, and come on rainy at ten or eleven in the forenoon, after people have been drawn from their homes. On the approach of a shower, every cab is off the stand in an instant, as if by magic; and the waterman' runs hither and thither hastily to collect from each driver his lawful fee of one halfpenny for every fare that leaves the stand. A shower clears the pavement rapidly: people who have no umbrellas shelter themselves forthwith under awnings, covered passages, or gateways, and watch the falling drops with manifest impatience, or quiz any unfortunate wight forced to abide the storm. The Londoners astonish their country friends who venture to town, by recommending an observance of a rule of town life, Always take your umbrella when it is fine; when it is wet, do as you like.'

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In lately conversing with a gentleman, a large stockfarmer from Australia, we found him speak with earnest solicitude on this subject. Things,' said he, have taken a great change for the better with us. From our vast pasturages we can produce any imaginable quantity of wool and tallow, articles always sure of a market; but of what use are these great sheep-walks, unless we can get shepherds?' What kind of men would best answer?' we inquired. The reply was- Any man of active habits and trustworthy character would answer: in fact, I have known first-rate shepherds who were once London cabmen: we don't expect professional shepherds who are well off at home to come out to us.' As corroborative of this general demand for labourers, this person brought under our notice the case of his relation, Mr Boyd, who had chanced to visit Australia at the time when sheep were at their lowest value, and had been tempted to embark largely in wool-growing. Finding himself, however, greatly embarrassed for want of assistance, he resorted to the novel and hazardous experiment of introducing natives from the not very distant islands in the Pacific. Having procured a vessel for the purpose, he instructed its commander to call at as many inhabited islands as possible, so that he might satisfy himself not only as to the people best fitted for the wants of the colonists, but also as to the number likely to be procured. In due time,' to adopt the language of the Times in its account of the expedition, the vessel returned with sixty-five of the natives of the New Hebrides group (distant about three weeks' sail from Sydney), of various ages, from fourteen to twenty-five; while the general accounts given of the But all this while the season is getting on: the lamps cruise were such as to warrant an expectation of satisare no longer lighted at four in the afternoon; the factory and extensive results. Mr Boyd's wish was, smoke seems less dense, and patches of blue sky are that in the first instance only fifty should be engaged; occasionally visible; thick and heavy overcoats have but so eager were these people to be taken on board, gradually retreated in favour of the light wrapper or that it was only through the authority of their chiefs Taglioni,' and the latter will soon follow, as the sun that the number could be limited; the explanation of acquires power; women come out in shawls and man- this desire for removal being, that the inhabitants of all tillas instead of furs and cloaks; enterprising painters the Coral Islands are in a condition, during upwards of have begun to 'decorate' house fronts in the suburban eight months of the year, little short of starvation. roads; grass plots and box edgings in the little front With respect to the habits of the people, and their fitgardens are clipped; early flowers peep out, and newly-ness for the occupations of civilised life, it is stated that gravelled paths give a cheerful aspect to the diminutive although cannibalism and infanticide prevail amongst enclosures; a tinge of green appears on the bare them to a fearful extent, they manifest in their interbranches of the trees that border the road, and the ivy, course with strangers a very great degree of tractability that thrives in spite of the smoke, wears a brighter hue, and intelligence; and hence it is considered that their refreshing to the eye after the dreary months of winter. vices may be attributed rather to the influence of the By and by, the lilac and laburnum are in full bloom, and sufferings to which they are periodically exposed, than you may almost cheat yourself with the fancy that the to any ineradicable peculiarity. The expense of introfirst mile of road is a country walk. But it is singular ducing them is about L.8 per man, and Mr Boyd's into note the change on nearing the more densely-popu- tention is to employ them as shepherds. At the same lated districts. It was a fine day when you started-time, from the description given of them, it would seem casual acquaintances said so. A mile farther on, where everything is deadened by a damp haze, it is also a fine day;' and as you go on, and find mud and murkiness, people still say a 'fine day.' Anything short of downright rain is a fine day in London.

that they might easily be instructed for other services. Regarding the conduct of the party during their three weeks' voyage, the master of the vessel reports as follows:

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My first care on getting to sea was to limit the Steamboats that had been laid up for the winter are quantity of food for each person, particularly salt meat; now swarming on the river, in all the pride of new to have the hold well aired and constantly cleaned, &c.; paint; and for a halfpenny, we may often enjoy the and so successful have I been in my endeavours to prebreeze for a mile or so on our way to office. Pleasure serve all in a healthy state, that I landed them all at vans, too, filled with glad parties for Hampton Court, Twofold Bay, with only one slight case of dysentery havresume their trips, most numerous on a Monday-Sainting occurred during the passage. And I cannot refrain

from mentioning the grateful attachment they have all shown to me, as it exhibits a trait in their characters rarely found amongst savages, and one which will contribute in no small degree to render them manageable during their residence in the colony; but on this score I have no doubt: as short as the time is that they have been with me in the Velocity, they have already learned to make themselves useful, and the alacrity with which they endeavoured to obey any order I gave, fully proves their inclination to work."

'With reference to the numbers to be procured, he adds—“I have no hesitation in assuring you, that from the various groups in the vicinity of New Holland, this vast island, now nearly uninhabited, may be supplied with an almost unlimited number; for as the miseries of an over-population are removed by emigration, the crime of infanticide will cease, and the desolating effects of perpetual warfare-not only carried on for the purpose of eating the slain enemies, but also in the hope of plundering the enemy's country of the fruit and roots produced in it-will end when the principal cause is removed."

Perhaps the chief danger to be apprehended is the common one in all these cases, of the temptation of intoxicating drinks. It must also be remarked that the number imported by Mr Boyd consists entirely of males; and that if this practice be persevered in, there can be no doubt of a repetition of the evils which not many years back were denounced in the first attempts at Coolie emigration to the Mauritius.' |

In this latter remark we cordially agree, and trust that Mr Boyd will find it to his interest, as it is certainly his duty, to maintain something like an equality of the sexes in his importations. By the last accounts, the New Hebrideans employed by Mr Boyd on the Murray River were so well satisfied with their treatment, and so zealously and conscientiously have they worked for their employer, that it has been deemed expedient to return three of them, that they may make a correct report to their fellow-islanders, and induce a more general emigration. All are represented to be an intelligent body of men; and, what is rather remarkable, possessing great powers of calculation by a system of decimals.

supply is only limited by the scarcity of labour and the small demand. With an abundant supply of labour, the capacity of the colony for production is almost without limit.

'Such is the scarcity of labour at the present time, and such are the apprehensions in consequence felt, that many influential men have memorialised the government for the renewal of transportation to New South Wales. I may observe, however, that this step has been strongly reprobated by a large majority of the community. The pressure of high wages is so great, however, that the emancipists and ticket-of-leave holders from Van Diemen's Land are brought here by societies formed with that object. These importations are loudly denounced by the townspeople, who are great sufferers by the increase of robberies thereby occasioned-the police being sadly deficient in numbers and honesty. There is no doubt that the influx of these Vandemonians has eased the labour market greatly, as the men are generally expert in shearing, splitting, and farm-work, and, if they turn out well, are more useful, and are under better control, than free emigrants, who give themselves all sorts of airs, and are never satisfied. The most useful man, and by far the hardest worker we have yet had in our employment, is an emancipated convict. But on the other hand, the greatest rogue that my brother was ever troubled with was also one.

The majority of the colonists are very strongly opposed to the introduction of these Pentonville exiles (Penton Villains, or Patent Villains, as they are called). Several of them have already figured at the police courts. In the early days, the importation of these very doubtful characters would have raised a clamour through the whole length and breadth of our virtuous and unpolluted colony; but the fear of contamination, once so strongly urged, has given way before the pressure of high wages, and the self-interest of individuals; and the introduction of any sort of labour, whether penitent villains, or double distilled rogues from Van Diemen's Land, is not only reluctantly submitted to, but openly encouraged. The last batch of Pentonvilles included two lawyers, a clergyman of the Scotch church, and a lieutenant in the army. The most amusing stories are related of these gentlemen. One left his card at all the mercantile houses in town, with an intimation that he would accept a situation as managing clerk, with a salary to commence at L.300 the first year, to be increased subsequently. Another wished to engage as a private tutor. Some one suggested that he would do well to take a situation in the bush, to serve out stores, and to combine teaching with other duties. His indignant reply was, as he turned upon his heel, that "that was an amalgamation of professions of which he did not at all approve." A third advertised for board and residence with a genteel family! But almost all of them hold themselves in the highest estimation, and scorn any but the highest rate of wages. Meanwhile house robberies are becoming of nightly occurrence, and the streets may scarcely be pronounced safe after dark. The town presents the finest field imaginable for burglary, and the bush an equally good one for cattlestealing-accordingly, while one branch of the profession cleared out the country-house of a magistrate, the country thieves, not to be outdone, swept above two hundred head of cattle off a run, brought them into the public market, and sold them by auction. Whilst the lead is taken with such spirit, of course there are numerous humble imitators.

However advantageous and humane it may be to remove from their famished homes these poor islanders, it is surely in every respect a more incumbent duty to remember that there is famine among ourselves, and that we could very well spare many who cannot earn their bread at home. But the colonists cannot be expected to be the importers of our spare citizens, at the great distance at which they are situated from us. Emigration on a considerable scale, and under proper precautions, would require to be carried on by the government as a public duty. We subjoin on the subject an extract from a private letter, dated Melbourne, May 2, 1847, which a correspondent hands us for insertion :In late English papers I have read most harrowing details of the sufferings and positive state of starvation of large masses of the Irish people; and I believe the poor-rates are pressing heavily upon the middle and lower classes in England. At the same time a complete check is put to the advance and prosperity of the whole of the Australian colonies from a deficiency of labour, which has already existed some years, retarding their progress, and has now reached a point which will shortly put a complete stop to their advance. It is distressing to reflect that, whilst such misery exists in the United Kingdom, thousands upon thousands of oxen and 'Shepherds' wages are from L.26 to L.30, according sheep, scarcely surpassed in quality in any part of the to the experience of the men; farm servants, L.30; feglobe, are being slaughtered with us to supply the soap- male house-servants, L.22 to L.25; married couples, boiler and the steam-engine-being melted down for the L.45 to L.55; and I have known boys of twelve years tallow alone. We have already, I may say, a redun- of age to get L.16. These wages are of course accomdancy of food meat is from three-halfpence to two-panied with ample rations. I find our servants to be pence per pound, and must soon come lower still, unless the population be materially increased, or an outlet found for fat stock by an extensive system of salting for exportation. Of bread, and other sorts of food, the

very wasteful; they have such an abundance of good food at their command, that they become careless and dainty, and throw to their dogs as much meat and bread as would support at least one person.

have been the arms of that king of Bohemia who was conquered on the field of Crecy by Edward the Black Prince, and were therefore adopted by him; other heraldic writers assert that they were borne by the Princes of Wales who first paid tribute to the crown of England, though still independent princes. However they may have originated, these mottoes have been used successively by the monarchs of England and their eldest sons from that time down to the present day; excepting that William III. took for his, 'Je mainhers, 'Semper eadem!'-Always the same!' a sort of admission, on their parts, that their right to the throne of England was not indisputable.

We pronounce no opinion on the credibility of the above, further than that we received it from a respectable quarter; and this suggests to us the repetition of a former advice to colonists, as to the proper steps to be taken for making their wants properly known at home. They must not trust to the people of England hearing anything of them through the colonial papers; for these papers are seen only by a few persons. Neither ought they to trust to a mere statement of their grievances to the colonial office. They should draw up a memorial, duly authorised, and have it pub-taindray!'-'I will maintain!' and Queen Anne for lished in the principal newspapers of Great Britain, so as to bring it directly under the eyes, and within the sympathies, of their fellow-subjects. It is not too late to adopt this practical measure as respects the demand for labourers.

MOTTOES.

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PROVERBS are a condensation of common experiences adapted to universal comprehension; mottoes are a concentration of individual thought or feeling in one point; and consequently both mottoes and proverbs are worthy the attention of the student of human nature, as indicating much more than they express. A 'motto,' the Italian for word,' though now understood to be a short phrase full of meaning, was at first an expressive exclamation, accompanying those heraldic devices used by our ancestors as emblems of their piety, their anger, or their love; or to commemorate any extraordinary adventure into which those passions had led them. Most of such mottoes were in Latin or French, because those languages were almost exclusively used by the two learned and warlike orders who ruled over society in what we now call the dark ages. Shortly, the motto of the baron or knight who led his vassals to the crusade, or to the still more reprehensible attack on his next neighbour, became their slogan, warcry, or watchword; and, when well chosen, often contributed to success in battle. What power and extent of territory were acquired by the Dukes of Normandy while they led on their followers, shouting their famous war-cry, Dieu aide!'-'God helps us!' which, to believe, was better for a man in the fierce struggle with his fellow-man, than breastplate, or helmet, or two-edged blade. In fact, so much did these war-cries foster the spirit of partisanship, that it became necessary in our own island, when the wars of the 'Roses' were terminated by the marriage of Henry VII. to Elizabeth of York, to pass an especial act of parliament for their suppression, making it penal for nobles or their followers to use any cry but that of St George for England!' or 'The King!'

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The motto of the royal arms of England, Dieu et mon droit!' has a disputed origin; some writers attribute it to Richard I., who adopted it to imply that he held his crown from no other sovereign, but only by Divine permission and hereditary right; others affirm that it was first used by Edward III. when he laid claim to the French crown in right of his mother Isabella. Certainly it is from his reign that we date the existence of the Order of the Garter, with its famous motto, Honi soit qui mal y pense!'-literally, 'Evil be to him who thinks evil of it!' as well as the adoption of mottoes on seals. One of the earliest impressions of a seal with a motto is one affixed to a deed executed by an ancestor of the Byron family, dated in the twentieth year of Edward III.; it is,Crede Beronti!' The present motto of the family is, 'Crede Byron!'-Believe or trust in Byron!' From this period the use of seals was rapidly extended; and not only were large sums of money given for gems, for the purpose of converting them into seals, but the newlyawakened arts of design and engraving were eagerly employed to make them at once ornamental and expressive.

The three feathers of the Prince of Wales, with the German motto, 'Ich dien !'-' I serve!' are supposed to

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The kings of France have for their arms three fleurs de lis, or lilies, which were sent, says an old tradition, by an angel from Heaven; and the flowers being in manner of spears, were given to the king of France in sign of everlasting trouble, that he and his successors all way with battle and swords should be punished.' With such a prophecy hanging over them, and such a retrospect as the Revolution, the house of Bourbon do well to take 'Espérance!'-'Hope!' for their motto.

It is a gratifying fact, that when mottoes fell into disuse as war-cries, they were adopted for another and far more interesting purpose. Printing was just invented, and rose, if not rapidly, at least certainly, to be the most important art that the mind of man could devise, or his hand could practise. Learning, hitherto confined to the college or the cloister, was now diffused among mankind, visiting the court, the camp, and the city, and humanising all who owned her influence. Printed books superseded the rare and costly manuscripts heretofore in use, and found such eager and numerous purchasers, that spurious and imperfect editions of the more celebrated works began to be circulated. To remedy this evil, and to give security and protection to those printers whose publications combined great literary merit with rare typographical excellence, princes and potentates granted them permission to use on the title-page some symbol and motto, to counterfeit which was legally as well as morally criminal. Thus Aldus Manutius, who established the famous Aldine press at Venice, and was the inventor of the type called Italic, adopted for his sign on his title-pages a dolphin and anchor. Henry Stephens, the founder of the celebrated family of printers of that name, when established at Paris, took for his symbol an olive-tree, which long continued to be used by his sons, particularly by Robert, the most eminent of them, who was equally noted for virtue, learning, and skill in his occupation. It is of him that an anecdote is recorded, worthy to be coupled with that of Charles V. picking up the pencil of Titian, for it took place about the same period, and is as honourable to Francis I. as is the better-known condescension of his famous rival. Everybody knows that Charles patronised Titian; that our Henry VIII., rude and brutal as he was, protected Holbein; and that Leonardo da Vinci died in the arms of Francis: few know that the same Francis, going, as was his custom, to the printing-office of Stephens, found him engaged in reading a proof. The courtiers in his train would have required the instant attendance of the printer; but Francis, ever high-minded and chivalrous, would not allow the interruption, but waited until he had finished a small enough condescension, it may perhaps be thought, but a great one in the then state of society. For this monarch, who was a judicious promoter of learning and the fine arts, books were first ornamentally bound, having the edges of the leaves gilt, and the arms and motto of the owner impressed on the covers.

One of the earliest printers, of much celebrity in England, was Henry Day, who enjoyed the favour of Queen Elizabeth. Upwards of two hundred works issued from his press, all distinguished by his symbol-the rising sun, with a boy awaking his companion, with the words, Arise, for it is day!' in allusion to the dawning day of Protestant reformation, which was much pro

he was plain John Scott, he went to London in search of fortune, in one of the stage-coaches known to our fathers, but of which our children will have no recollection: the motto on the doors of the vehicle_was,

moted by the dissemination of tracts, now first printed and published. Day was the inventor of the Saxon letter. Christopher Plantin, of Antwerp, adopted for his emblem and motto a hand and pair of compasses, with Labore et constantia !'-' By labour and perseve-Bis dat, qui cito dat!' on whose meaning, Twice rance!' And by rigid adherence to this motto, he became rich and eminent: who indeed, let his station in life be what it may, can fail to improve it by acting in like manner? Juan de la Cuesta of Madrid, the printer and publisher of the first edition of Don Quixote, took for his device a stork, surrounded by the words, Post tenebras, spero lucem!'-' After the darkness, I expect light!' He was the intimate friend of Cervantes, and was well acquainted with all his struggles and difficulties, so that we, who now know how much sorrow and suffering made up the story of his life, ought to appreciate the touching appeal thus made to the heart of posterity. From his gloomy confinement in the narrow dungeon where he passed so long a period, through the jealousy of the litigious Mancheyans, this inimitable but persecuted man looked forward to a period when the light of fame should surround him. Nor was he mistaken. Some fame was his in life; but, as too often happens, it was not until the darkness of death had settled on his eyes that his great merit was fully acknowledged. Let us hope that the hopefulness so strongly expressed in his motto never deserted him, but that he felt the full force of the fine Spanish proverb that he puts, on the occasion of some disaster, into the mouth of Don Quixote, 'There is yet sunshine on the wall.'

done, if done quickly!' he ruminated all the journey.
To everything that occurred, whether serious or ludi-
crous, he applied it; it remained fixed in his mind
through life; and when he himself relates the anecdote,
after having attained the highest honours of his pro-
fession, and realising a splendid fortune, he doubts,
very characteristically, and very justly also, whether
it would not have been wiser on his part to have more
frequently made it the rule of his own conduct.
In closing the subject of mottoes, let us refer to that
engraved on a sun-dial in the Jardin des Plantes at
Paris: 'Horas non numero nisi serenas!'-'I count none
but sunny hours!' the only course for a sun-dial, but
neither the only nor the wisest one for man. They
have little true knowledge who have never felt that the
darkness which alternates with the daylight has bene-
fits as great, if not as glorious-that the storm which
sweeps over, and even threatens to destroy us, may, in
fact, save us from unseen or specious danger. In the
human heart, as in the bosom of the earth, there are
seeds which can only germinate in the winter of ad-
versity, which yet may have an after-growth of beauty
and utility sufficient to repay the patience which has
endured trustingly, and counted carefully, the dark
and chilly hours.

ART OF MAKING MEN HAPPY.

From the mottoes of printers to those of men of letters the transition is easy. That adopted by the celebrated There is an art in making a man happy which very few Erasmus, 'Festina lente!'-' Hasten slowly!' was consi- understand. It is not always by putting the hand in the dered by him to convey so much meaning, that he wished pocket that we remove afflictions; there must be someit might be carved in stone on public buildings, as well thing more. There must be advice, and labour, and actias printed in books. Less paradoxical is that used by vity; we must bestir ourselves, leave our arm-chairs, throw an ingenious countryman of Erasmus, Tulp, or Tul-off our slippers, and go abroad, if we would effectually pius, a physician of Rotterdam, who, besides being emi- serve our fellow-creatures. When to this active and effecnent in his profession, encouraged his fellow-citizens tual benevolence the more prompt efficacy of money is to resist the attacks of Louis Quatorze on their freedom. added, how great and how lasting may not the good be! He took for his symbol a lamp burning, with the Few, however, possess this quality of philanthropy; for it costs less to give a guinea than to give an hour.-Five Nights motto, Aliis inserviendo consumor!'-I consume my of St Albans. self for the advantage of others!' And if, among the many occupations pursued by men of talent for the benefit of their fellow-men, there be one more self-sacrificing, more truly useful than another, it is that of the clever and conscientious practitioner of medicine-he who wounds to heal' when it is necessary, but who also knows how to administer the balm of sympathy to the worn and sinking sufferer.

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The virtuous and learned Selden wrote in all his books, Freedom above everything!' Yet this freedom, so highly valued, was sacrificed by him to his still greater love of truth and consistency. During his illegal imprisonment by James I., being debarred the use of his books and papers, he declared that his mind had been undefiled by any wish to purchase liberty by a compromise of his opinions: in fact, he had the best freedom-that of the mind. Dr Robertson, the famous historian, commenced at fourteen to take notes of what he read, and he wrote in all the books so used for this purpose, Vita sine litteris mors!'-Life without learning is death!'-and to the spirit of this motto he adhered throughout life. He devoted himself to study,' says Lord Brougham in his Lives of Men of Letters, 'examining and revolving the facts of history, contemplating ethical and theological truths, amusing his fancy with the strains of Greek and Roman poetry, or warming it at the fire of ancient eloquence, so congenial to his mind, at once argumentative and rhetorical.' To choose a motto so early in life, to retain it so long, and to act up to it with such persevering industry, seems to indicate a firmness and consistency of character worthy of imitation.

An amusing instance of the influence over Lord Eldon of a motto on the panels of a stage-coach, is related in Twiss's life of that eminent lawyer. When

THE OLD BACHELOR'S BRIDE.
LITTLE BESSY-pretty Bessy-vainly I have tried,
From 'midst the idle, fluttering throngs, to find a fitting bride;
And now a steady bachelor of two score years and one,
I'm almost in despair that I-must end my days alone;
So I will train a wife to suit my wishes, or I'll none!
Little Bessy-pretty Bessy-thou shalt be my wife
When fifteen years are added to thy present three years' life;
In modest, meek humility, a model for thy sex-
A temper cheerful, tranquil, kind, which nothing e'er can vex-
Refined and courtly bearing too, with learning quite complex!
Little Bessy-pretty Bessy-life is full of care,

And I must not expect to be exempted from my share;

But music hath the magic power of dissipating gloom,
And soft old songs you'll carol forth in our warm, cosy room,
Amid the perfumed wreathing clouds of my dear meerschaum's

fume.

Little Bessy-pretty Bessy-thy white fingers trim
Must mould confections to the taste of epicurean whim;
No Berlin wool, no silken twist, with beads of gold or steel,

Shalt thou weave into mystic gems from many a shining creel;
No-rather would I list the hum of thrifty spinning-wheel.
Little Bessy-pretty Bessy-thou must stay at home;
All gossip parlance hating, nor ever wish to roam;
Simplicity's adornment thy attiring must display,

Avoiding all profusion, but moderately gay,
And ready always to be seen from dawn to close of day.
Although I own my private doubts-I shan't meet many such :
Little Bessy-pretty Bessy-sure I ask not much;
So, if you'll promise me to wed-a rich old man and kind,
And to his failings and his age to be for ever blind-
I'll marry you in fifteen years-if then thou'rt to my mind!

C. A. M. W.

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

EDINBURGH

JOURNAL

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

No. 213. NEW SERIES.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 29, 1848.

THE SOCIAL INFLUENCE OF TEA.
BY LEITCH RITCHIE.

Is a former paper, it was shown that the foundation of knowledge is simply Curiosity. I now venture, with perhaps a little more originality, to suggest that the moral reform and social improvement for which the present age is remarkable have had their basis inTEA. The bulk of mankind, according to the testimony of all travellers, require something in the nature of a stimulant. Wherever this stimulant is tea, there is to be found, as will presently be shown, the spirit of civilisation in full activity. Where it is wanting, or used in small quantity, barbarous manners are still predominant. I therefore propound that tea and the discontinuance of barbarism are connected in the way of cause and effect.

The original country of tea had arrived, at the date when history began to be written in Europe, at a stage of refinement which was unknown in the west for many centuries after. When the wandering shepherds who migrated from the table-land of Thibet, or the slopes of the Himalaya, or, as other writers will have it, from the Tartarian mountains of the north-east, reached the banks of the great Chinese rivers, they were engaged for a certain time in the slow struggles of barbarism. Even the luxury to which they were gradually led by wealth and ease had something savage in its character. One of their early princes, for instance (who flourished at some trifling distance of time from the Mosaic deluge), giving a great banquet, set his guests to swim in a tank of rice wine, with the meats arranged within reach round the brink. But the great agent of refinement was in the midst of them, though unknown and unheeded at the time; and as the uses of the tea-plant were discovered, and its civilising juice disseminated throughout the land, the Chinese, from some hordes of barbarians, became a great and polished nation. This revolution, be it observed, did not take place, as at a later period in Europe, through the collision of races. The Chinese were shut up, with their tea, between the desert and the ocean; and when visited at the end of many centuries by Europeans, who crossed the deep, or penetrated through a cordon of savage nations for the purpose, they were found to possess the political and social institutions, the manners, and even the frivolities peculiar to civilised life.

Tea is suggestive of a thousand wants, from which spring the decencies and luxuries of society. The savage may drink water out of his calabash till doomsday; but give him tea, and he straightway exercises his faculties in the invention of a cup worthy of such a beverage. Tea was thus the inventor, I have little doubt, of that rich porcelain called china, from which arose numberless ideas of elegance in form, and beauty

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Is it going too far to inquire whether tea may not have borne an important part in the formation of that gentleness and tractability of character which keeps the Chinese calm and orderly even in the midst of political revolutions? Leave them alone to their ceaseless industry, to present offerings to the manes of their grandfathers, to read and write ever new romances, and they care not a straw what dynasty occupies the throne. Why, then, do we find any vestiges at all of barbarism among the Chinese, the very meanest of whom are educated, and may rise to the highest dignity of a subject? Because the poor have no tea. Tea is cheap in China, but still beyond the reach of the lowest classes, who have recourse to decoctions of all sorts of plants, which spoil the taste of the water, without adding to its virtue. Another reason is, that rice wine (if it should not rather be called rice beer), although a very weak beverage, is frequently drunk in such quantities as to intoxicate, and that, in the northern parts of the country more especially, the consumption of spirits and opium is very considerable. Opium-smoking, however, is by no means an imported vice, as it is commonly imagined to be. The English found the people besotted with the drug, which whitened the fields of the richest departments of the country; and they supplied their craving, just as they would have done had its object been cottons or woollens. In order to accomplish this, they were guilty of the political crime (for commerce may be said to have no moral sense) of leaguing themselves with the masses and the functionaries against the autocratical government of Peking, whose powerless edicts had been fulminated against the native cultivation of the poppy, when as yet the 'demons' of Europe had hardly entered the field.

The Japanese are perhaps still greater tea-drinkers than the Chinese; and they afford a more striking instance than the latter of the union of this custom with a high state of refinement and politeness. The first absolute emperor of Japan is said to have been a Chinese warrior, who commenced his reign in the year 640 B. C.-just thirty years after the invention of porcelain in China. Before the middle of the seventeenth century of our era, disgusted with the religious quarrels of the Dutch and Portuguese, and annoyed by the eager selfishness of the traders of various other nations, the Japanese grew tired of the world, and sealed themselves up hermitically in their own islands, where a population, as some say, of 45,000,000 remain to this day in a state of utter isolation. But luckily the tea-plant continued, and continues, to flourish among them; and

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