CHAMBERS' EDINBURGH JOURNAL

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

 No. 445. NEW SERIES. SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1852. PRICE 1-1/2_d. _

ECONOMY IN DISTRIBUTION. 

We had lately occasion to proceed by an omnibus from a country town toa station on a railway, by which we were to return to the city wherewe have our customary abode. On arriving at the station, we learnedthat we should have to wait an hour for an _up_ train, the omnibusbeing timed in relation to a _down_ one, which was about to pass. Hadthis arrangement been the only one readily practicable, in the case, we should have felt it necessary to submit uncomplainingly to the lossof our hour; but it really was not so. We had come in one of threeomnibuses, none of which had more than two or three passengers. Whyshould not one have come at this hour with _down_ passengers, andanother come an hour later with _up_ ones, thus by the same troublegiving more accommodation? We found that the three omnibuses are runby so many hotels, and that an arrangement for general convenience wasimpossible, as it might have interfered with the hotel business. Onthe continent, the government would have ordered matters otherwise:with us, the genius of _laissez faire_ permits them to be as wedescribe. 

It is in the same part of the country that a system exists amongstbakers, which we described many years ago in these pages. There arethree towns, triangularly arranged, about ten miles from each other. One or more bakers in each has a van, in which he sends bread everyday to the other two. As there is no witchcraft in the making ofbread, it might be as well for the inhabitants of each town to besupplied by the bakers of their own place exclusively, and then theexpense of the carriage would be saved. Such, however, is the keennessof competition in the case, that each baker strives to get supportersin the neighbouring towns, and willingly pays for van, horse, anddriver in order to retain their custom. We presume each van goesthirty miles a day, and that there is not much less than 2000 miles ofthis unprofitable travelling weekly in connection with the threetowns. 

Any one who has a sincere respect for the principle of untrammelledindustry, must lament to see these its abuses or drawbacks. But ourcommercial world is full of such anomalies. The cause is readilytraced in the excessive number of persons engaged in the varioustrades. Not many years ago, the number of bakers in a town known tous, of the same size as one of those above referred to, was fourteen, while everybody acknowledged that four might have sufficed. In suchcircumstances, it is not wonderful that expedients like that of thevan are resorted to, notwithstanding that it can only diminish theaggregate of profit derived by an already starving trade. 

Few persons who walk along a street of nicely-decorated and apparentlywell-stocked shops, have the slightest conception of the hollowness ofmany of the appearances. The reality has been tested in part by theincome-tax inquisition, which shews a surprising number ofrespectable-looking shops not reaching that degree of profit whichbrings the owner within the scope of the exaction. It may be that somemen who are liable, contrive to make themselves appear as not so; butthis cannot be to such an extent as greatly to affect the generalfact. In the assessing of the tax, no result comes out oftener thanone of this kind: Receipts for the year, L. 2200; estimated profit at15 per cent. , L. 330; deductions for rent of shop, taxes, shopmen'swages, and bad debts, L. 193; leaving, as net profit, L. 137. Thecommissioners are left to wonder how the trader can support his familyin a decent manner upon so small a return, till they reflect thatpossibly a son brings in a little as a shopman, or a daughter as aday-governess; or that possibly an old female relative lives with thefamily, and throws her little income into the general stock. It is, after all, a fact capable of the clearest demonstration, that a vastnumber of shopkeepers' families maintain decent appearances upon anincome below that enjoyed by many artisans--what goes, in the onecase, for the decent appearances, being enjoyed in substantialcomforts in the other, or else misapplied, to the degradation of bodyand mind. 

The evil primarily lies in an erroneous distribution of industry. Where twenty men offer themselves to do a duty to society for whichthree are sufficient, it cannot be good for any party; whereas, werethe extra seventeen to apply themselves to other departments of thelabour required for all, it would be better times for the wholetwenty. The light, easy, and pleasant occupations are those most aptto be beset by superfluous hands. Shopkeeping is generally easy, andoften pleasant; hence the excessive number of individuals applyingthemselves to it. In the difficulties of the case, conspicuousness ofsituation, extravagant decoration, and abundant advertising, areresorted to, as means of obtaining a preference. Many, to help outprofits, resort to tricks and cheating. The expense thus incurred, above what is necessary, in distributing certain goods, must beenormous. To bring most articles to the hands of the consumer shouldbe a simple business. Every member of the public must feel that hisclothes will be as good, coming from a wareroom on a third floor atL. 30 a year, as from a flashy corner shop which costs L. 300. He willfeel that to make him buy a new hat when he needs one, it is notnecessary that an advertising van should be continually rumbling alongthe streets. His tea and sugar from the nearest grocer cannot be anybetter because of there being fifty other grocers within two miles ofhis residence, and forty of these not required. Yet, by reason of thegreat competition in nearly all trades, these vast expenses, which donothing for the public, are continually incurred. Means misapplied aremeans lost. The community is just so much the poorer. And we mustpronounce the superfluous shopkeepers, those who live by the rents offine shops, and those who are concerned in the business of advertisingbeyond what is strictly necessary for the information of the public, as incumbrances on the industry of the country. 

One unfortunate concomitant of competition is, that it prompts in theindividual trader an idea which places him in a false position towardsthe general interest. It is the general interest that all things fitfor use should be abundant; but when a man is concerned in producingany of those things, he sees it to be for his immediate interest thatthey should be scarce, because what he has to sell will then bring agreater price. It is the general interest that all useful thingsshould be produced and distributed as cheaply as possible; but eachindividual producer and distributer feels that the dearer they are, itis the better for him. It is thus that a trade comes to regard itselfas something detached from the community; that a man also views hispeculiar trading interest as a first principle, to which everythingelse must give way. It might, indeed, be easily shewn, that whateveris good for the whole community, must be in the long-run beneficial toeach member. He either cannot look far enough for that, or he feelshimself unable to dispense with the immediate benefit from that whichis bad for the public. In short, each trade considers the world asliving for it, not it as living for the world--a mistake so monstrous, that there is little reason to wonder at the enormous misexpenditureto which it gives rise. 

The idea essentially connected with these false positions, that_because_ there are certain persons in a trade in a particular place, they _ought_ to be there, and that the primary consideration regardingthem is how to enable them to continue living by that trade--as ifthey were fixed there by some decree of Providence--is one of the mostperverse and difficult to deal with in political economy. Theassertion of any principle ruling to the contrary purpose, seems tothe multitude of superficial thinkers as a kind of cruelty to thepersons, the severity of the natural law being, by an easy slide ofthought, laid to the charge of the mere philosopher who detects andannounces its operation. In reality, those are the cruel people whowould contentedly see a great number of their fellow-creatures goingon from year to year in a misery, which, being brought upon themselvesby ignorance, and the want of a right spirit of enterprise, can onlybe banished or lessened by their being rightly informed, and inducedto enter upon a proper course. 

If there were a right knowledge and just views of these subjectsdiffused through the community, a man would be ashamed to enter upon abusiness in which a sufficient number of persons was already engaged, knowing that he was thereby trifling with his time and fortunes, andperhaps encouraging in himself a love of ease, or some other desirewhich he was not entitled to gratify. He would rather go to some newcountry, where he might eat in rough independence the rewards of anactual toil. What is really required, however, is not that men shouldleave their own country, but enter upon such pursuits there as maypreserve an equal instead of an unequal distribution of industrythroughout the various fields in which there is something to be donefor the general advantage. Distribution should be less a favouritedepartment, and production more so. With more producers and fewerdistributers, the waste we have endeavoured to describe would be sofar saved, and there would be fewer miserable people on the earth. 

Even amidst all the delusions which prevail upon the subject, it iscurious to observe that there is a strong current towards arectification of what is amiss. The interests of the individual, whichproduce so much fallacy, after all bring a correction. The active, original-minded tradesman, seeing that, with an ordinary share of theentire business of his department, he can scarcely make bread andbutter, bethinks him of setting up a leviathan shop, in which he mayserve the whole town with mercery at a comparatively small profit tohimself, looking to large and frequent returns for his remuneration. The public, with all its sentimentalisms, never fails to take thearticle, quality being equal, at the lowest price, and accordingly theleviathan dealer thrives, while nearly all the small dealers areextirpated. Now this is a course of things which produces partialinconveniences; but its general effect is good. It lessens the cost ofdistribution for the consumer, and it decides many to take to new andmore hopeful courses, who otherwise might cling to a branch ofbusiness that had become nearly sapless. Underselling generally hasthe same results. When in a trade in which distribution usually costs43 per cent. , one man announces himself as willing to lessen this by15 or 20 per cent. , his conduct is apt to appear unbrotherly andselfish to the rest; but the fact is, that for goods of any kind tocost 43 per cent. , in mere distribution, is a monstrosity; and he whocan in any measure lessen that cost, will be regarded by the communityas acting in the spirit of a just economy, and as deserving of theirgratitude. These may be considered as the rude struggles ofcompetition towards a righting of its own evils. The public sees twoselfishnesses working in the case, and it naturally patronises thatwhich subserves its own interest. 

The waste arising from an over-costly system of distribution, willprobably lead to other correctives of even a more sweeping kind thanthat of underselling, or the setting up of leviathan shops. For thegreater number of the articles required for daily use, men begin tofind that a simple co-operative arrangement is sufficient. A certainnumber agree to combine in order to obtain articles at wholesaleprices; after which a clerk, shopman, and porter suffice to distributethem. They thus save, in many trades, as much as 15 per cent. So farfrom their being under any peculiar disadvantage as to the quality ofthe articles, they are rather safer than usual in that respect; andindeed a freedom from the danger of getting adulterated or inferiorgoods is one of the recommendations of the system. It would probablyextend more rapidly, were it not for the difficulties attending thelaw of partnership, which, however, will in all likelihood be speedilyremoved. 

We make these remarks on distribution mainly in the hope of savingindividuals from entering upon a career in which, not being trulyuseful to their fellow-creatures, they have little to expect of goodfor themselves. At present, shopkeeping is limited by what an ablewriter of the day calls the _bankruptcy check_;[1] that is, men gointo it, and remain in it, while they can just barely sustainthemselves, not regarding that they do not and cannot thrive, and thatthey are only adding to a mass of idleness already burdensome to thecommunity. What we desire is, to see men so far enlightened in theprinciples of economy, that they will be at least less apt to rushinto fields where their help is not wanted. We wish to assist increating a public opinion on this subject, which, fixing onshopkeeping in such circumstances the odium of a masked idleness, willtend to send the undecided into courses of real activity andserviceableness; thus securing their own good by the only plan whichcan be safely depended upon--that of first securing the good of theentire community. 

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Mr F. O. Ward. 

THE VENDETTA. 

In the morning, we were off the coast of Sardinia, steaming rapidlyalong for the Straits of Bonifacio. The night had been tranquil, andthe morning was more tranquil still; but no one who knew thecapricious Mediterranean felt confident of continued fair weather. However, at sea the mind takes little thought for the morrow, or evenfor the afternoon; and as we sat in the warm shade of the awning, looking out to the purple horizon in the east, or to the rocky andvaried coast to the west, I felt, and if the countenance be nottreacherous, all felt that it was good even for landsmen to be movingover waters uncrisped except by the active paddles, beneath a sky allradiant with light. My companions were chiefly Levant merchants, orsallow East Indians; for I was on board the French packet _Le Caire_, on its way from Alexandria, of Egypt, to Marseille. 

I had several times passed the Straits, each time with renewedpleasure and admiration. It would be difficult to imagine ascene more wild and peculiar. After rounding the huge rock ofTavolara--apparently a promontory running boldly out into the sea, butin reality an island, we are at once at the mouth of the Straits. Themountains of Corsica, generally enveloped in clouds, rise above thehorizon ahead, and near at hand a thousand rocks and islands ofvarious dimensions appear to choke up the passage. The narrow southernchannel, always selected by day, is intricate, and would be dangerousto strangers; and indeed the whole of the Straits are considered sodifficult, that the fact of Nelson, without previous experience, having taken his fleet through, is cited even by French sailors as aprodigy. 

On one of the rocky points of the Sardinian coast, I observed theruins of a building, but so deceptive is distance, I could not atfirst determine whether it had been a fortress or a cottage. I askedone of the officers for his telescope; and being still in doubt, questioned him as I returned it. He smiled and said: 'For the lastfive or six years, I have never passed through the Straits by daywithout having had to relate the story connected with that ruin. Ithas become a habit with me to do so; and if you had not spoken, Ishould have been compelled, under penalty of passing a restless night, to have let out my narrative at dinner. You will go down to your berthpresently; for see how the smoke is weighed down by the heavyatmosphere upon the deck, and how it rolls like a snake along thewaters! What you fancy to be merely a local head-wind blowing throughthe Straits, is a mistral tormenting the whole Gulf of Lions. We shallbe tossing about presently in a manner unpleasant to landsmen; andwhen you are safely housed, I will come and beguile a little time byrelating a true story of a Corsican Vendetta. '

The prophecy was correct. In less than a quarter of an hour, _LeCaire_ was pitching through the last narrows against as violent a galeas I ever felt. It was like a wall of moving air. The shores, rocks, and islands were now concealed by driving mist; and as the sea widenedbefore us, it was covered with white-crested waves. Before I wentbelow, a cluster of sails ahead was pointed out as the English fleet;and it was surmised that it would be compelled to repeat Nelson'smanoeuvre, as Sardinia and Corsica form a dangerous lee-shore. However, the atmosphere thickened rapidly; and we soon lost sight ofall objects but the waves amidst which we rolled, and the phantom-likeshores of Corsica. 

The officer joined me, and kept his promise. By constant practice, hehad acquired some skill in the art of telling at least this one story;and I regret that I do not remember his exact words. However, thefollowing is the substance of his narrative:--Giustiniani andBartuccio were inhabitants of the little town of Santa Maddalena, situated on the Corsican side of the Straits. They were both sons ofrespectable parents, and were united from an early age in the bonds offriendship. When they grew up, Giustiniani became clerk in a veryhumble mercantile establishment; whilst Bartuccio, more fortunate, obtained a good place in the custom-house. They continued on excellentterms till the age of about twenty-one years, when an incidentoccurred, that by making rivals of them, made them enemies. 

Giustiniani had occasion to visit the city of Ajaccio, and set out incompany with a small party mounted upon mules. Bartuccio went with himto the crest of the hill, where they parted after an affectionateembrace. The journey was fortunately performed; in about a monthGiustiniani was on his way back, and reached without incident, just asnight set in, a desolate ravine within a few leagues of SantaMaddalena. Here a terrific storm of wind and rain broke upon theparty, which missed the track, and finally dispersed; some seekingshelter in the lee of the rocks, others pushing right and left insearch of the path, or of some hospitable habitation. Giustinianiwandered for more than an hour, until he descended towards the plain, and, attracted by a light, succeeded at length in reaching a littlecottage having a garden planted with trees. The lightning had nowbegun to play, and shewed him the white walls of the cottage streamingwith rain, and the drenched foliage that surrounded it. Guided by therapidly succeeding gleams, he was enabled to find the garden gate, where, there being no bell, he remained for some time shouting invain. The light still beamed gently through one of the upper windows, and seemed to tell of a comfortable interior and cosy inmates. Giustiniani exerted his utmost strength of voice, and presently therewas a movement in the lighted chamber--a form came to the window; and, after some delay, the door of the house was opened, and a voice askedwho demanded admittance at that hour, and in such weather. Ourtraveller explained, and was soon let in by a quiet-looking oldgentleman, who took him up stairs into a little library, where a goodwood-fire was blazing. A young girl of remarkable beauty rose as heentered, and received him with cordial hospitality. Acquaintance wassoon made. Giustiniani told his little story, and learned that hishost was M. Albert Brivard, a retired medical officer, who, with hisdaughter Marie, had selected this out-of-the-way place for economy'ssake. 

According to my informant, Giustiniani at once fell in love with thebeautiful Marie, to such an extent that he could scarcely partake ofthe supper offered him. Perhaps his abstinence arose from otherreasons--love being in reality a hungry passion in its earlystage--for next day the young man was ill of a fever, and incapable ofcontinuing his journey. M. Brivard and his daughter attended himkindly; and as he seemed to become worse towards evening, sent amessenger to Maddalena. The consequence was, that on the followingmorning Bartuccio arrived in a great state of alarm and anxiety; butfate did not permit him again to meet his friend with that whole andundivided passion of friendship in his breast with which he hadquitted him a month before. Giustiniani was asleep when he entered thehouse, and he was received by Marie. In his excited state of mind, hewas apt for new impressions, and half an hour's conversation seems notonly to have filled him with love, but to have excited the samefeeling in the breast of the gentle girl. It would have been moreromantic, perhaps, had Marie been tenderly impressed by poorGiustiniani when he arrived at night, travel-stained and drenched withrain, in the first fit of a fever; 'but woman, ' said the sagaciousnarrator, as he received a tumbler of grog from the steward, 'is amystery'--an opinion I am not inclined to confute. 

In a few days, Giustiniani was well enough to return to his home, which he reached in a gloomy and dissatisfied state of mind. He hadalready observed that Bartuccio, who rode over every day professedlyto see him, felt in reality ill at ease in his company, spoke nolonger with copious familiarity, and left him in a few minutes, professing to be obliged to return to his duty. From his bed, however, he could hear him for some time after laughing and talking with Mariein the garden; and he felt, without knowing it, all the pangs ofjealousy: not that he believed his friend would interfere and disputewith him the possession of the gem which he had discovered, and overwhich he internally claimed a right of property, but he was oppressedwith an uneasy sentiment of future ill, and tormented with adiffidence as to his own powers of pleasing, that made him say adieuto Marie and her father with cold gratitude--that seemed afterwards tothem, and to him when reflection came, sheer ingratitude. 

When he had completely recovered his strength, he recovered also to, acertain extent his serenity of mind. Bartuccio was often with him, andnever mentioned the subject of Marie. One day, therefore, in a stateof mingled hope and love, he resolved to pay a visit to his kind host;and set out on foot. The day was sunny; the landscape, though rugged, beautiful with light; a balmy breeze played gently on his cheek. Theintoxication of returning strength filled him with confidence and joy. He met the old doctor herborising a little way from his house, andsaluted him so cordially, that a hearty shake of the hand was added tothe cold bow with which he was at first received. Giustinianiunderstood a little of botany, and pleased the old man by hisquestions and remarks. They walked slowly towards the house together. When they reached it, M. Brivard quietly remarked: 'You will find mydaughter in the garden, ' and went in with the treasures he hadcollected. The young man's heart bounded with joy. Now was the time. He would throw himself at once at Marie's feet, confess the turbulentpassion she had excited, and receive from her lips his sentence ofhappiness, or---- No, he would not consider the alternative; and withbounding step and eager eye, he ran over the garden, beneath theorange and the myrtle trees, until he reached a little arbour at theother extremity. 

What he saw might well plunge him at once into despair. Marie had justheard and approved the love of Bartuccio, who had clasped her, notunwilling, to his breast. Their moment of joy was brief, for inanother instant Bartuccio was on the ground, with Giustiniani's kneeupon his breast, and a bright poniard glittered in the air. 'Sparehim--spare him!' cried the unfortunate girl, sinking on her knees. Theaccepted lover struggled in vain in the grasp of his frenzied rival, who, however, forbore to strike. 'Swear, Marie, ' he said, 'by yourmother's memory, that you will not marry him for five years, and Iwill give him a respite for so long. ' She swore with earnestness; andthe next moment, Giustiniani had broken through the hedge, and wasrushing franticly towards Santa Maddalena. 

When he recovered from his confusion, Bartuccio, who, from hisphysical inferiority, had been reduced to a passive part in thisscene, endeavoured to persuade Marie that she had taken an absurdoath, which she was not bound to abide by; but M. Brivard, though hehad approved his daughter's choice, knew well the Corsican character, and decreed that for the present at least all talk of marriage shouldbe set aside. In vain Bartuccio pleaded the rights of an acceptedlover. The old man became more obstinate, and not only insisted thathis daughter should abide by her promise, but hinted that if anyattempt were made to oppose his decision, he would at once leave thecountry. 

As may well be imagined, Bartuccio returned to the city with feelingsof bitter hatred against his former friend; and it is probable thatwounded pride worked upon him as violently as disappointed passion. Hewas heard by several persons to utter vows of vengeance--rarelymeaningless in that uncivilised island--and few were surprised whennext day the news spread that Giustiniani had disappeared. Publicopinion at once pointed to Bartuccio as the murderer. He was arrested, and a careful investigation was instituted; but nothing either toexculpate or inculpate him transpired, and after some months ofimprisonment, he was liberated. 

Five years elapsed. During the first half of the period, Bartuccio wascoldly received by both M. Brivard and his daughter, although hestrenuously protested his innocence. Time, however, worked in hisfavour, and he at length assumed the position of a betrothed lover, sothat no one was surprised when, at the expiration of the appointedtime, the marriage took place. Many wondered indeed why, sinceGiustiniani had disappeared, and was probably dead, any regard waspaid to the extorted promise; whilst all augured well of the unionwhich was preceded by so signal an instance of good faith. Theobservant, indeed, noticed that throughout the ceremony Bartuccio wasabsent and uneasy--looking round anxiously over the crowd assembledfrom time to time. 'He is afraid to see the ghost of Giustiniani, 'whispered an imprudent bystander. The bridegroom caught the last word, and starting as if he had received a stab, cried: 'Where, where?' Noone answered; and the ceremony proceeded in ominous gloom. 

Next day, Bartuccio and his young wife, accompanied by M. Brivard, left Santa Maddalena without saying whither they were going; and thegood people of the town made many strange surmises on the subject. Ina week or so, however, a vessel being wrecked in the Straits, furnished fresh matter of conversation; and all these circumstancesbecame utterly forgotten, except by a few. 'But this drama was as yetcrowned by no catastrophe, ' said the officer, 'and all laws of harmonywould be violated if it ended here. ' 'Are you, then, inventing?'inquired I. 'Not at all, ' he replied; 'but destiny is a greatertragedian than Shakspeare, and prepares _dénouements_ with superiorskill. ' I listened with increased interest. 

The day after the departure of the married couple, a small boat with ashoulder-of-mutton sail left the little harbour of Santa Maddalena acouple of hours before sunset, and with a smart breeze on its quarter, went bravely out across the Straits. Some folks who were accustomed tosee this manoeuvre had, it is true, shouted out to the only man onboard, warning him that rough weather was promised; but he paid noheed, and continued on his way. If I were writing a romance, if, indeed, I had any reasonable space, I would keep up the excitement ofcuriosity for some time, describe a variety of terrific adventuresunknown to seamen, and wonderful escapes comprehensible only bylandsmen, and thus make a subordinate hero of the bold navigator. ButI must be content to inform the reader, that he was Paolo, a servantof Giustiniani's mother, who had lived in perfect retirement since herson's disappearance, professing to have no news of him. In reality, however, she knew perfectly well that he had retired to Sardinia, andafter remaining in the interior some time, had established himself inthe little cottage, the ruins of which had attracted my attention. Thereason for his retirement, which he afterwards gave, was that he mightbe enabled to resist the temptation to avenge himself on Bartuccio, and, if possible, conquer his love for Marie. He no longer entertainedany hope of possessing her himself; but he thought that at least shewould grow weary of waiting for the passage of five years, and wouldmarry a stranger--a consummation sufficiently satisfactory, hethought, to restore to him his peace of mind. Once a month at least hereceived, through the medium of the faithful Paolo, assistance andnews from his mother; and to his infinite discomfiture learned, astime proceeded, that his enemy, whilom his friend, was to be madehappy at last. His rage knew no bounds at this; and several times hewas on the point of returning to Santa Maddalena, to do the deed ofvengeance from which he had hitherto refrained. However, he resolvedto await the expiration of the five years. 

Paolo arrived in safety at the cottage some time after dark, andcommunicated the intelligence both of the marriage and the departureof the family. To a certain extent, both he and the mother ofGiustiniani approved the projects of vengeance entertained by thelatter, but thought that the honour of the family was sufficientlycleared by what was evidently a flight. Paolo was disappointed andpuzzled by the manner of the unfortunate recluse. Instead of burstingout into furious denunciations, he became as pale as ashes, and thenhiding his face in his hands, wept aloud. His agony continued for morethan an hour; after which he raised his head, and exhibited a serenebrow to the astonished servitor. 'Let us return to Santa Maddalena, 'he said; and they accordingly departed, leaving the cottage a prey tothe storms, which soon reduced it to ruins, and will probably erelongsweep away every trace. 

Giustiniani reached his mother's house unperceived, and spent manyhours in close conversation with his delighted parent. He did not, however, shew himself in the town, but departed on the track of thefugitives the very next day. He traced them to Ajaccio, thence toMarseille, to Nice, back to Marseille, to Paris, but there he lost theclue. Several months passed in this way; his money was all spent, andhe was compelled to accept a situation in the counting-house of amerchant of the Marais, and to give up the chase and the working outof the catastrophe he had planned for his Vendetta. 

A couple of years afterwards, Giustiniani had occasion to go to one ofthe towns of the north of France--Lille, I believe. In itsneighbourhood, as my narrator told me--and on him I throw the wholeresponsibility, if there seem anything improbable in what is tocome--the young man was once more overtaken by a storm, and compelledto seek refuge in a cottage, which the gleams of the lightningrevealed to him. This time he was on foot, and after knocking at thedoor, was admitted at once by a young woman, who seemed to have beenwaiting in the passage for his arrival. She was about to throw herselfinto his arms, when suddenly she started back, and exclaimed: 'It isnot he!' Taking up a candle, which she had placed on the floor, shecast its light on her own face and that of the stranger, who hadremained immovable, as if petrified by the sound of her voice. 'Madam, ' said he, brought to himself by this action, 'I am a strangerin these parts, overtaken by the storm, and I beg an hour'shospitality. '

'You are welcome, sir, ' replied Marie, the wife of Bartuccio, for itwas she; but she did not at the moment recognise the unfortunate manwho stood before her. 

They were soon in a comfortable room, where was M. Brivard, nowsomewhat broken by age, and a cradle, in which slept a handsome boyabout a year old. Giustiniani, after the interchange of a fewwords--perhaps in order to avoid undergoing too close an examinationof his countenance--bent over the cradle to peruse the features of thechild; and the pillow was afterwards found wet with tears. By aninvoluntary motion, he clutched at the place where the poniard waswont to be, and then sat down upon a chair that stood in a dim corner. A few minutes afterwards, Bartuccio came joyously into the room, embraced his wife, asked her if she was cold, for she trembled verymuch--spoke civilly to the stranger, and began to throw off his wetcloak and coat. At this moment the tall form of Giustiniani rose likea phantom in the corner, and passions, which he himself had thoughtsmothered, worked through his worn countenance. Brivard saw and nowunderstood, and was nailed to his chair by unspeakable terror, whilstBartuccio gaily called for his slippers. Suddenly Marie, who hadwatched every motion of the stranger, and, with the vivid intuition ofwife and mother, had understood what part was hers to play, rushed tothe cradle, seized the sleeping child, and without saying a word, placed it in Giustiniani's arms. The strong-passioned man lookedamazed, yet not displeased, and, after a moment's hesitation, sank onhis knees, and embraced the babe, that, awaking, curled its littlearms round his head----

A tremendous crash aloft interrupted the well-prepared peroration ofthe narrator; and, to say the truth, I was not sorry that a sail wascarried away, and one of our boats stove in at this precise moment, for I had heard quite enough to enable me to guess the conclusion ofthe history of this harmless Vendetta. 

WRECK-CHART AND LIFE-BOATS. 

Many of our readers are probably aware that Prince Albert, in hiscapacity of president of the Society of Arts, Manufactures, andCommerce, suggested that lectures should be delivered on the resultsof the different classes of the Great Exhibition, by gentlemenpeculiarly qualified by their several professions and pursuits. Thissuggestion has been admirably carried out; but we propose at presentto direct attention only to one of the twenty-four lectures inquestion--namely, that on life-boats, by Captain Washington, R. N. ;our individual calling in early life having been such as to enable usto understand thoroughly the technical details, and judge of theaccuracy of the views and opinions propounded by the gallant andintelligent lecturer. [2]

First, we will speak of the wreck-chart of the British islandsprefixed to the lecture. Round the entire coast is a prodigious numberof _black dots_, of two kinds--one a simple round dot, and the otherhaving a line drawn through it. They all point out the locality ofshipwrecks during the year 1850, and the latter dot shews the wreck tohave been total. The English coasts are most thickly dotted, but thisis to be expected from the greater proportion of shipping; next in thescale is Ireland, and then Scotland, which has comparatively few blackdots, the densest portion being on the west coast, from Ayr to Largs, where we count eleven, nine indicating total wrecks. In the Firth ofForth there are but three, one total. A sprinkling of dots is seenamong the Eastern Hebrides, but not so many as one would expect. Turning to England, we count about forty-five wrecks in the BristolChannel alone, by far the greater number being total. On the GoodwillSands there are fourteen, all total but one. On the Gunfleet Sandsthere are nine, four total. They are numerous on the Norfolk andLincolnshire coasts, especially off Yarmouth and the Washway. On theWelsh coast, particularly around Beaumaris, Holyhead, &c. , the numberis very great. In the firth leading to Liverpool, we count no lessthan twenty-one, of which twelve are total. On the north coast ofEngland the numbers are appalling. Off Hartlepool are fifteen, eightbeing total. Off Sunderland are twelve, all total but three. OffNewcastle are fifteen, eight total. Ah, that fearful, iron-bound coastof Northumberland! We have hugged it close in calm weather, with afair breeze, and the views we caught of its shores made us shudder tothink of what would befall a vessel on a stormy night and the shorealee. The following is the awful summary of 1850:--'The wrecks ofBritish and foreign vessels on the coasts and in the seas of theUnited Kingdom were 681. Of these, 277 were total wrecks; sunk byleaks or collisions, 84; stranded and damaged so as to require todischarge cargo, 304; abandoned, 16. Total wrecks, &c. , 681; totallives lost, 784. '

Certain peculiar marks on this chart indicate the spots wherelife-boats are kept. In the vicinity of Liverpool we count no lessthan seven, and not one too many; but in many parts of the coast, where numerous wrecks occur, there are none. In all England there areeighty life-boats; in Ireland, eight; in Scotland, eight. A mostportentous note on the chart informs us, that '_about one-half of theboats are unserviceable!_' Think of Scotland, with its rocky seaboardof 1500 miles: only eight life-boats, and some of these 'quiteunserviceable!' The boats at St Andrews, Aberdeen, and Montrose, havesaved eighty-three lives; and the rockets at eight stations, sixty-seven lives. 'Orkney and Shetland are without any provision forsaving life; and with the exception of Port Logan, in Wigtonshire, where there is a mortar, the whole of the west coast of Scotland, fromCape Wrath to Solway Firth--an extent of 900 miles, without includingislands--is in the same state. ' With regard to the chief distributionof English life-boats, there is one to every eight miles on theNorthumberland coast; one to every ten miles in Durham and Yorkshire;one to fifteen miles in Lincolnshire; and one to five miles in Norfolkand Suffolk--a fact which, the lecturer well observes, is highlycreditable to the county associations of the two last counties. But'from Falmouth round the Land's End, by Trevose Head to HartlandPoint, an extent of 150 miles of the most exposed sea-coast inEngland, there is not one really efficient life-boat. ' On the Welshcoasts are twelve boats, some very defective. At the five Liverpoolstations are nine good boats, 'liberally supported by the docktrustees, and having permanent boats' crews. ' These Liverpool boatshave, during the last eleven years, assisted 269 vessels, and broughtashore 1128 persons. As to the Isle of Man, situated in the track ofan enormous traffic, with shores frequently studded with wrecks, weare told that there is not a single life-boat; for the four boatsestablished there by Sir William Hillary, Baronet, 'have been allowedto fall into decay, and hardly a vestige of them remains!' The paltryeight life-boats for the whole Irish coast of 1400 miles are stated tobe likewise inefficient. 

On the whole, it appears to us that the present number of efficientlife-boats is not more than one-fourth of what ought to be constantlykept ready for immediate service. Only think of the amount of wrecksoccurring occasionally in a single gale: On the 13th January 1843, notless than 103 vessels were lost on the British coasts. In 1846, nearlyforty vessels were driven ashore in Hartlepool Bay alone. In the monthof March 1850, the wrecks on our coasts were 134; in the gale of the25th and 26th September 1851, the number wrecked, stranded, or damagedby collision, was 117; and in January of the present year, the numberwas 120. The above are the numbers actually ascertained; but it iswell known that _Lloyd's List_ is an imperfect register, although atpresent the best existing. 

A secondary mode of communicating with a stranded vessel is by firingrockets with a line attached to them, by which means a hawser may bedrawn from the ship and fastened to the shore. Mortars are likewiseused for the same purpose; the latter plan having been invented bySergeant Bell, and first tried in 1792. Bell's plan was very greatlyimproved by Captain Manby; and all the mortars now in use for thepurpose are called after him. Mr Dennett, of the Isle of Wight, firstintroduced the rocket-plan in 1825. Rockets or mortars, or both, arekept at most of the coast-guard stations; but in numerous cases werefound worthless on trial, owing to the lines breaking, or the rocketsbeing old and badly made. Nevertheless, at twenty-two stations, 214lives have been saved by them. The evil is, that neither rockets normortars are of any use unless the wreck lies within a short distanceof the shore; for the maximum range attained is only 350 yards, and inthe teeth of a violent wind, often not above 200 to 300 yards. If aship, therefore, is stranded on a low shelving shore, she is almostcertain to be beyond the range of the life-rocket or of Manby'smortar. The main reliance, therefore, is the life-boat, and to it wereturn. 

The Duke of Northumberland recently offered a reward for the bestmodel of a life-boat. This offer was responded to by English, French, Dutch, German, and American boat-builders; and the amazing number of280 models and plans was sent in. About fifty of the best of thesewere contributed by the duke to the Great Exhibition; and he had alsoa report and plans and drawings of them printed, of which hedistributed 1300 copies throughout the world. Baron Dupin, chairman ofthe Jury of Class VIII. , thus summed up the award of the juryconcerning them:--'These models figure among the most valuableproductions in our Great Exhibition, and furnish an example ofliberality in the cause of humanity and practical science neversurpassed, if ever equalled. Such are the motives from which we havejudged his Grace the Duke of Northumberland worthy of receiving theCouncil Medal. '

The inventor of life-boats, as is well known, was Henry Greathead, ofSouth Shields, in 1789. His boat was 30 feet long, with 10 feetbreadth of beam, 3-1/4 feet depth of waist, stem and stern alikenearly 6 feet high, and pulled ten oars (double-banked. ) A cork liningwent fore and aft 12 inches thick, on the inside of the boat, from thefloor to the thwarts; and outside was a cork fender, 16 inches deep, 4inches wide, and 21 feet long. 'She could not free herself of water, nor self-right in the event of being upset. ' She was launched in 1790, and in the year 1802, the inventor was rewarded by the Society of Artswith its gold medal and fifty guineas; and parliament voted himL. 1200, 'in acknowledgment of the utility of his invention. ' Manypresumed improvements and modifications of the original boat have beeneffected, with more or less success. James Beeching, a Yarmouthboat-builder, has carried off the prize offered by the duke, and wemay therefore suppose his was the best of the models submitted. Captain Washington thus describes Beeching's model sent to theExhibition: 'It may be seen from the model of that boat, that from herform she would both pull and sail well in all weathers; would havegreat stability, and be a good sea-boat. She has moderately smallinternal capacity under the level of the thwarts for holding water, and ample means for freeing herself readily of any water that might beshipped; she is ballasted by means of water admitted into a tank orwell at the bottom after she is afloat; and by means of that ballastand raised air-cases at the extremities, she would right herself inthe event of being upset. It will thus be seen, that this modelcombines most of the qualities required in a life-boat; and the boatwhich has since been built after it, and is now stationed at Ramsgate, is said to answer her purpose admirably. '

M. Lahure, of Havre, sent a full-sized boat of _iron_; and Mr Francis, of New York, also sent a model life-boat of corrugated galvanisediron. Captain Washington thinks, that if metal is used at all, itshould be copper in preference to any other. For our own part, we canonly say, that we have helped to build boats, though not life-boats, and we have helped likewise to man boats, but we should like to havegood sound timber beneath our feet in preference to any metalwhatever; and we should prefer cork for the floating substance toair-tight cases, or copper tubing, or any of the other contrivancesthat have been adopted to give buoyancy to a swamped boat. Air-casesare very liable to leak, or may be stove in by the sea, or be crushedby coming in contact with the wreck or rocks, but cork can never beinjured. And as to metal air-cases, it was found on opening the sidesof a life-boat at Woolwich Dockyard, that her copper tubes, supposedto be air-tight, were corroded into holes; for copper will corrodewhen in contact with sea-water, especially when alternately wet ordry, as is the case in life-boats. 

We cannot here follow Captain Washington through his critical andtechnical details, but we think it right to express our strongsuspicion, that the much-lauded _self-righting_ power of certain newlife-boats is obtained only at the cost of greater liability to upset. Doubtless a boat can be made to right herself after a capsize, butthis really seems to us something like locking the stable-door whenthe steed is stolen; for even if she rights the very instant afterupsetting, three-fourths of the crew are almost certain to perish. Wethink it far more important to construct a boat that will hardlycapsize at all, than to build one that will right itself _after_capsizing; for we repeat our opinion, that the latter boat will proveliable to upset just in proportion to her capability of self-righting. 

Many fatal accidents have happened to life-boats; and the details ofsome mentioned by the lecturer are peculiar and interesting. On thecoast of Northumberland, in 1810, one of Greathead's boats, aftersaving several crews of fishing-cobles, was returning to the shore, when a heavy sea overwhelmed her, and by its sheer weight and forcebroke her in two, and the whole of the crew, thirty-four in number, perished. In 1820, Greathead's original life-boat, after saving thecrew of the ship _Grafton_, at Shields, struck on a rock, and swamped;nevertheless, the brave old boat--although she had not the boastedpower of self-righting--preserved her centre of gravity, and broughtboth crews to land. At Scarborough, in 1836, the life-boat, in goingout to a vessel, turned completely end over end, 'shutting up one ofthe crew inside, where he remained in safety, getting fresh airthrough the tubes in the bottom, and was taken out when the boatdrifted, bottom upwards, on the beach: ten lives were lost. ' In 1841, the life-boat at Blyth, Northumberland, capsized, and ten men weredrowned. At Robin Hood's Bay, Yorkshire, in 1843, the life-boatcapsized, three men remaining under her bottom, while others got uponit. The accident was seen from the shore, and five men put off in acoble, fitted with air-cases like a life-boat; but she almostimmediately turned end over end, and two men were drowned. Thelife-boat herself drifted ashore, and the three men under her bottomwere saved. In all, twelve lives were lost. But the most lamentabledisaster that ever befell a life-boat was at South Shields, onDecember 4, 1849, when twenty-four men, all pilots, went off to rescuethe crew of the _Betsy_, stranded on Herd Sand. 'The boat had reachedthe wreck, and was lying alongside with her head to the eastward, witha rope fast to the quarter, but the bow-fast not secured. Theshipwrecked men were about to descend into the life-boat, when a heavyknot of sea, recoiling from the bow of the vessel, caught the bow ofthe boat and turned her up on end, throwing the whole crew and thewater into the stern-sheets. The bow-fast not holding, the boat drovein this position astern of the vessel, when the ebb-tide, runningrapidly into her stern, the boat completely turned end over end, andwent on shore bottom up. On this occasion, twenty out oftwenty-four--or double the proper crew--were drowned under the boat. On seeing the accident, two other life-boats immediately dashed offfrom North and South Shields, saved four of the men, and rescued thecrew of the _Betsy_. ' It is added, that the life-boats have been inconstant use at Shields since Greathead first launched his boat therein 1790, and excepting the above accident, no life has ever been lostin them, or from want of them. Between 1841 and 1849, they saved 466lives. But good is frequently educed from evil, and it was this verydisaster at Shields that induced the Duke of Northumberland to offer apremium for the best life-boat; and his Grace has now, with princelyliberality, undertaken to place a well-built life-boat at each of themost exposed points of the coast of his own county, with rockets ormortars at every intermediate station. 

As to dimensions, the existing life-boats are of three classes: from20 to 25 feet long, from 25 to 30 feet, and from 30 to 36 feet. Someare only 18 feet long, and on thinly-inhabited coasts are the best, asunless a regular crew is provided, it is often difficult to man alarge boat--at least efficiently. The largest boats are used atCaistor and Corton, in Norfolk, and are 40 to 45 feet long, weigh fromfour to five tons, and cost L. 200 to L. 250 each. They are said to beadmirable vessels of the kind, and well manned. The 36 feet boat isused at Yarmouth, Lowestoft, Deal, &c. , and always goes off undersail. The 30 feet boat is used at Liverpool, Shields, Dundee, &c. ; andone of those at Liverpool brought sixty people ashore on one occasion. Some of the models sent to the Exhibition were of boats that did notweigh more than half a ton; but we fully agree with the lecturer, thata boat so light as that would never be able to pull out to sea in ahead-wind. A life-boat ought to possess a certain weight, or momentum, or it will be driven back by the winds, or sucked back by the sea, like a feather. 

It is exceedingly desirable that all life-boats should have regularlytrained crews, for an ordinary sailor or fisherman is by no meanscompetent to do properly the duty of a life-boatman. The cockswain, especially should be well trained. 

Captain Washington remarks, that 'a careful examination of the returnsof wrecks by the Coast-guard officers, forcibly impresses on the mindthe painful conviction, that the greater part of the casualties thatoccur are not occasioned by stress of weather, but that they aremainly attributable to causes within control, and to which a remedymight be applied. ' This has long been our own opinion, and we haveagain and again expressed it. 'Wherever the boats have been lookedafter, and the crews well trained, as at Liverpool, Shields, and onthe coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk, the most signal success hasrewarded their exertions. The first step is to insure a safe andpowerful life-boat, and this, we feel confident, has beenaccomplished; the next is to build a sufficient number of such boats, place them where required, organise and train the crews, and providefor their supervision and maintenance. . . . There seems no reason why avery few years should not see a life-boat stationed at each of theexposed points on the most frequented parts of the coasts of theUnited Kingdom; by means of which--with the blessing of DivineProvidence upon the endeavours of those who undertake the work--thebest results to the cause of humanity may confidently be anticipated. '

FOOTNOTES:

[2] Published by Bogue, Fleet Street. 

THE SALONS OF PARIS. 

News has just reached us from Paris of the death of Madame Sophie Gay. She was a writer of the half-historical, half-sentimental school ofFrench fiction, of which Madame de Genlis, the Duchess d'Abrantes, andMadame de Souza were specimens more or less worthy; but in ease andgrace, Madame Gay was superior to all we have mentioned. It is, in ourminds, very affecting to witness the last lights of the ancient salonsof Paris dropping out one by one. Mme Gay has herself, in a singlevolume published in 1837, entitled _Salons Célèbres_, left us a verybeautiful picture of them as they were in their prime. We havetranslated--abridging, however, as we went--the opening chapters ofthis work, and may add a notice of more modern salons, as given by thelively pen of Mme Emile de Girardin--_née_ Delphine Gay--daughter ofMme Sophie. The reader will judge whether the fashionable Frenchmenand Frenchwomen have really profited much by the storms and tempeststhat have gone over their heads. To be sure, Mme de Girardin'spictures were given twelve years ago; but we believe they wouldrequire little change, at least up to the conclusion of the Orleansreign in 1848. The volume from which these last extracts are made, isentitled _Lettres Parisiennes_. It has all the wit and talent of thecleverest of fashionable Frenchwomen. The tone is sometimes extremelygood--better than we were led to expect; but the picture it presentsis about as mournful a one as pictures of French frivolity usuallyare. We will, however, leave them to make their own impression. First, then, for Mme Sophie Gay and the ancient _salons_. 

Now that the empire of the salons, she observes, has passed away withthat of women, it would be difficult to convey to our youthful Francean idea of the influence which certain of these were wont to exercise, in state affairs and in the choice of men in power. To have a salon isfar from an easy thing; a crowd of people may, and do every day, giveconcerts and balls in their gilded apartments, and yet they may neverhave salons. Essential conditions are required which can rarely befound in conjunction. The most important of all is the talent andcharacter of the lady who does the honours. Without being old, shemust have passed the age in which a woman is chiefly spoken of for herprettiness or her dress, and be at that point of time when a woman'smind may rule over the self-love of a man more than her youthfulattractions enabled her to rule over his heart. 

Rank and fortune were important items, not quite indispensable, however; for Mme du Deffand was poor, and Mme Geoffrin was the wife ofa manufacturer. In the salons of these two women edicts were framed, and academicians reared; but the questions discussed there were notnearly of the importance of those to which Mme de Staël's salon gaverise. It was essential that the mistress of the house should have adecided and superior taste in a variety of ways; also a total absenceof those little, envious feelings which might have tended to excludethe fashionable woman or successful author. She must know how to bearenemies in her presence, to place talents according to their worth, toshew the tiresome the way to the door--things which require addressand courage. 

The salon of Mme de Staël, during three different periods of her life, took considerable modification from the changes of the time; but itwas always the same in power, if not in brilliancy. 

Under the first Revolution, it was the scene of most momentousdeliberations. Barnave, Talleyrand, Lameth, Dupont, Boissy d'Anglas, Portalis, Chénier, Roederer, and Benjamin Constant, discussed at theplace of familiar meeting many a half-formed decree, and manyimportant state nominations. The only member of the Directory whovisited there was Barras; and it was a common saying, that every visitcost him a good deed; for Mme de Staël never slackened in herintercessions for the victims of the tribunals. She infused courageinto the hearts of those who were pleaders for them. Through hermeans, Talleyrand was recalled, and even named minister of foreignaffairs. 'He wanted some help, ' she said, 'in order to arrive atpower, but none to enable him to keep it when gained. ' Her sagacitywas at fault, if she persuaded herself that the returnedemigrant-priest would bring harmony into public counsels. On theseevenings, pregnant with deeds both evil and good, it was said thatsome very foul conspiracies were concocted, and some of these weredirectly imputed to Mme de Staël; but she earnestly denied the truthof such surmises. Her salon, not herself, was guilty. Most generouslydid she exert herself in behalf of those who suffered after suchconspiracies; but some one was heard to say: 'She is a good woman, butwould push any of her friends into the water for the delight offishing them up again with her own tackle. '

When the Consulate was established, Mme de Staël's salon empire waswatched by the rising influence of the day with a jealous eye. It wascertainly a turbulent scene. Very bitter were the complaints of themen of the Revolution. They had risked so much; they had fought socourageously for liberty! They saw the disorders of the time, but theycould not bear to lose all the fruits of their toil; and Garat andAndrieux, Daunon and Benjamin Constant, urged on by the eloquence ofMme de Staël, framed powerful appeals on these occasions for themorrow. Bonaparte could not tolerate this. His power was too recentlygained--his projects too unripe. In vain did the friends of Mme deStaël say, that a _salon_ could never be dangerous to a rule like his. 'It is not a salon, ' said he; 'it is a club. ' It was, in fact, theantagonism between mind and physical force. The First Consul had saidbefore, of the orators of the Tribune: 'I have no time to answer theserefractory speechifiers: they _do_ nothing but perplex all things;they must be silenced. ' And one great point of attack was Mme deStaël's salon. It was necessary she should abdicate her throne. Asentence of banishment condemned the brilliant lady to lay down thesceptre. Exiled to Geneva, surrounded by friends, sharing her father'slot, occupied with her daughter's education, she had, it may bethought, plenty of objects: she was unquestionably the first literarywoman in Europe, too, and as such, Geneva was as her salon, where shereceived the homage of royalty and talent. Yet, a true Frenchwoman, unable to bear separation from the peculiar atmosphere in which shehad been reared, she pined after it--pined still more for the friendswho visited her only to be partakers of her exile; and so she passedthe whole period of the Napoleon dynasty. 

Meanwhile, in the interval between the banishment of Mme de Staël andher return, the most captivating mistress of a Paris salon appears tohave been Mme de Beaumont. She was the daughter of M. De Montmorin, the minister of foreign affairs, who had immediately followed Necker. She married early, and not happily. She lived with her father, separated from her husband, and was intrusted to transcribe some ofthe very important correspondence between Mirabeau and the court. Inthe Reign of Terror, her father, and it is thought others of herfamily, fell by the guillotine; but she herself was spared, evenagainst her will. She retired for awhile into the country, visitingamong her friends, who did all they could to console her. She was theobject of the strongest attachment on the part of Châteaubriand, Joubert, Fontanes, Molé, and many others; and when, once more, quietand order were restored, even at the sacrifice of much of liberty, shecame to Paris again. Her old friends rallied about her, her spiritsseemed to revive for awhile, and her salon was for a year or two ascene of remarkable enjoyment. One who truly appreciated her, and whowas worthy to be himself the centre of a social circle--M. Joubert, the author of some beautiful thoughts on literature and divers othersubjects--thus tenderly commemorates the evenings to which we havealluded: 'Peaceful society! where none of those disuniting pretensionswhich spoil enjoyment could come; where acknowledged talent was notdivorced from good temper; where praise was given to whatever waspraiseworthy; where nothing was thought of but what was reallyattractive. Peaceful society! whose scattered members can never uniteagain without speaking of her who was the connecting link that broughtthem all together. '

To our minds, there seems something unique and infinitely touching inthis bursting out, though but for a short time, of the slumberingfires of an older society, from underneath the heaps of hard and alienmaterial which had gone far to extinguish every spark of gentlenessand refinement. The relics of families--their hearts still bleedingfrom their wounds--came to forget, if possible, the terrible past, andindulge their quiet hopes for the future. Very soon, indeed, the dreamwas dispelled; the tyranny proved to some unbearable; and some itvanquished in their highest part--their inward conscience--making themsubservient when they might have shunned the danger altogether. Butwhile the quiet interval lasted, it was like an Indian summer, prolonging the intellectual and tasteful beauty which was soon to beoverwhelmed by the vulgar splendours of the Empire. 

The greatest loss this circle could have had was the first. Mme deBeaumont died at Rome in 1804--attended only by Châteaubriand--who hasgiven an account of the closing scene in his memoirs, and thenceforthit does not appear that the same society reassembled. 

But another and third edition of the salon, under Mme de Staël, waswitnessed at the Restoration. Hitherto we have sketched from MmeSophie Gay's pictures. At this period, she declares herself unable tobear the mortification of mingling with the public of Paris: she couldnot see the Cossacks without shuddering. She shut herself up in herhouse, and knew what passed only through the kindness of friends, whowrote narratives for her amusement of any remarkable incidents theymight note. Among these communications, Mme Sophie Gay has preservedone from the Marquis de Custine, and she has given it as a faithfulpicture of one of the last of Mme de Staël's soirées in Paris. 

'I am just returned, and will not go to bed without telling you whathas most amused me--not that _amused_ is the right word, for Mme deStaël's salon is more than a scene of amusement: it is a glass inwhich is reflected the history of the time. What we see and hear thereis more instructive than books, more exciting than many comedies. . . . 

'You know that the Duke of Wellington was to visit her this eveningfor the first time. I went in good time; she was not yet in the room:several others were also waiting--such as the Abbé de Pradt, BenjaminConstant, La Fayette. They were conversing; I remained in one corner, as if listening to them. . . . At length Mme de Staël came in. "I amlate, " she said; "but it is not my fault. I was invited to dineat----, and was obliged to go. " A great many of the guests were come:all were looking for the hero of the evening--we had seen him only aspart of a show, now we wanted to hear him converse. At length heentered. The nobleness of his figure and simplicity of his mannersproduced a most agreeable impression on us. His pride, as it ought, has nearly the grace of timidity. Mme de Staël, impressed by a styleand manner so little like that of our countrymen, said: "He carrieshis glory as if it were a nothing. " Then, by a quick recall ofpatriotism, she whispered in my ear: "One must admit, however, thatnature never made a great man at less expense. " It seemed to me thatthe whole man was portrayed in these brief remarks. 

'You would suppose, after this _début_, that we had a very pleasantevening: you shall judge. The Duke had not reached the end of thesalon, when the Abbé de Pradt fastened on him, and actually forced himto listen for at least three-quarters of an hour, while he expressedhis ideas--the ideas of the Abbé de Pradt!--upon military tactics. Conceive the wrath of Mme de Staël, and the annoyance of everybodythere! M. Schlegel said, that he could fancy he was listening to thatrhetorician who pronounced a discourse on the art of war to Hannibal. 

'This remark did not make amends for the nuisance of hearing in goodFrench what we all knew before, when what we wanted was to listen tonew things, in a foreign accent. Among the very few words which theEnglish general was allowed to put in, I caught one sentence whichstruck me. While the abbé took breath, or coughed, the warrior hadjust time to tell us, that the most awful day in the life of acommander is that in which he has gained a battle; because, beforehaving passed a night on the ground, and being assured on the morrowof the departure of the enemy, the conqueror cannot even know whetherhe is not conquered. 

'Everything has its cost in this world, and if every man told us hissecret, we should see that the most dazzling triumphs are paid for attheir full price. However that may be, I thought there was sense andgood taste in the Duke's remark. It seemed as if he tried to make usforgive him for exciting our curiosity so much. 

'Many people went away discouraged by the bad manners of M. De Pradt. The hero himself was thinking of a retreat, when Mme de Staël came torelease him from the ambuscade into which he had fallen. She retainedhim near the door, and there was a grave conversation on the Englishconstitution. Mme de Staël could not reconcile the idea of politicalliberty, with the prevalence of servile forms remaining in theindividual relationships of a society so jealous of that liberty asEngland. 

'"Language and aristocratic customs do not annoy people living in acountry that is really free, " said the Duke. "We use these unimportantformulæ in compliment to the past, and preserve our ceremonies as wekeep a memorial, even when it has lost its primitive destination. "

'"But is it true, " asked Mme de Staël, "that your lord chancellorspeaks to the king on his bended knee during the opening address orsitting of parliament?"

'"Yes; quite true. "

'"How _does_ he do it?"

'"He speaks to him kneeling, as I have told you. "

'"But how?"

'"Must I shew you? You _will_ have it!" answered the Duke; and hethrew himself at the feet of our Corinna. 

'"I wish everybody could see him, " cried Mme de Staël. 

'And everybody there did applaud with one accord. I would not answerfor the same unanimity of approbation among the same people after theyhad reached the foot of the staircase. 

'Everybody went away, only I stayed two hours with the mistress of thehouse and M. Schlegel, whose anger against the abbé did not wear out. These two hours Mme de Staël's conversation enchanted me, proving howmuch there is to attach us in one who can live at one and the sametime so near and yet so far above the world. . . . I might pass manyevenings in recounting in detail the conversation of this evening. There is more than matter for a book in a two hours' talk with Mme deStaël. I had better go to bed, that I may be able to tell youto-morrow all I can only leave you to guess at now. '[3]

And now we come to a later period, and Mme Sophie Gay shall give placeto her lively and clever daughter Delphine, Mme Emile Girardin. 

'Parisian society, ' she writes, 'now, in 1839, offers the strangestaspect that ever was seen--a mixture of luxury and rudeness, Englishpropriety and French negligence, political absurdities andrevolutionary terrors, of which it is hard to form a just conception. The luxury of the salons is truly Eastern, not only the salons, indeed, but the anterooms: an anteroom in a handsome hotel is morerichly adorned than the most beautiful drawing-room of the provincialprefecture. There, footmen more or less powdered--for there are rebelswho choose to wear so little powder, that you would rather take themfor millers, in livery, than for servants of the anteroom--theseself-styled powdered lackeys offer you a great book, bound in velvet, with the corners bronzed and gilt, in which you are asked to writeyour name. If the lady of the house is visible, you are pompouslyushered into the sanctuary--that is to say, into the second salon orparlour, or closet, or _atelier_, whichever best assorts with thepretensions of the lady. A dog darts upon you, barks, makes a show ofbiting you; he is quieted, submits, and regains his purple cushion, growling. Dogs are very much in fashion: together with the fire, flowers, an old aunt, and two toadies, they make up part of the livingaccompaniments of a genteel salon. As you are an elegant person, ofcourse you are ill-dressed: your coat is dusty, your boots speckledwith mud, your hair uncombed, you exhale a strong odour of tobacco. Atfirst glance, such things seem rather disagreeable, common, andinelegant. No such thing: this is exactly the most fashionable stylewe have; it seems to say: "I have just dismounted from the finesthorse in Paris. I am a man of fashion, of that distinguished positionin society, that I can go in a morning to call on a duchess, _dressedlike a highwayman_. "

'On the other hand, the mistress of the house is charming. One must dowomen the justice to say, that they never take a pride in ugliness;that they never make elegance to consist in appearing to the greatestpossible disadvantage. The woman whom you are visiting, then, isdressed in the best taste. A beautiful lace cap covers her light hair;she wears a soft figured Gros do Naples; her stockings are ofexquisite fineness; her shoes irreproachable (we doubt not they bearthe mark of either Gros or Müller); her Valenciennes cuffs areirresistible: everything betokens care and fastidious nicety. Thefreshness of her appearance is a satire on the negligence of yours. One cannot comprehend why this elegant woman should have preparedherself in so costly a manner to receive this man; and in the evening, really the contrast is greater still. Young men no longer wearstockings when they go into a party; yet they dare not just yetpresent themselves in boots; and therefore they come in _brodequins_, like students. We are in the age of the _juste-milieu_; and this isappropriate enough. The _brodequin_ is in its right place half-waybetween shoes and boots. These ill-dressed men are surrounded by womenblazing in jewels and diamonds, coronets and diadems. It is impossibleto believe that such differently dressed beings can be of the samecountry and station in society; and yet they are all talking andchirping together: and what conversation! what a conflict of subjects!what an inexplicable picture of forethought and thoughtlessness! orrather of apathy!

'"And do you also believe in a revolution, M. De P----?" inquires acharming princess, spreading out her fan. 

'"Certainly, madame; and I hope we shall have one sooner than some maythink. "

'"What! monsieur--you make me tremble. "

'"Can you, then, be afraid of a revolution which will bring about whatyou wish for?"

'"No; but we shall have some cruel moments to pass through. "

'"Some may; but not everybody. "

'"Bah! revolutions make no selection; and then, when once the scaffoldis set up"----

'"How fast you travel, madame: in our day we shall never bear withscaffolds. The days of Terror will never return!"

'"I think with M. De P----, " chimes in a young dandy, playing with aChinese ape on the table: "I rather look for civil war. "

'"I do not expect it; we have not energy enough for a civil war. " . . . 

'"But you will have household assassinations, probably, if that willbe any comfort. "

'"And then, the pillage of Paris!"

'"Pillage!"

'"Certainly. " And every one cries:

'"Oh, well, if there is pillage, I will be in it. "

'"I shall come to your house, madame, " says one. "I shall carry awaythis beautiful vase. "

'"And I, the plate. "

'"And I, the charming portrait. "

'"I have no fixed idea yet. I shall come to your house to-morrow, madame, to choose, " &c. 

'"All this will be very amusing; and yet, when the day comes, I shallnot be sorry to be in Italy. "

'"Well, let us set out, then. "

'"Not yet, but soon. I will warn you when it is best to go. " And sothey talk on of all these horrible things, half buried under canopiesof _lampas_, surrounded by flowers, by the light of thousands ofwax-candles burning in golden lustres; and these women, who foreseesuch great catastrophes--tragical events, which may divide them fromall they love, from parents, from friends--have beautiful dresses, with trimmings from England, and make the prettiest little gestureswhile speaking. It is because in France vanity is so deeply rootedthat it leads to indifference. Presumption stands in lieu of courage. They believe in disasters, but only for others: they never seem toexpect them for themselves. '

So much for national character. If all this be a truthful picture, andreally we see no reason for doubt, it does but add another to the manyproofs of the springing elasticity of that element of light-heartedshort-sightedness which is so proverbially characteristic of theFrench. But we will say no more, for our paper has already exceededthe limits we had assigned to it; and the things that _are_ must everprevail in our pages over those that have been. 

FOOTNOTES:

[3] Perhaps the reader of the above will partake our own feeling ofsurprise at one circumstance which it records. How happened it, thatthe accomplished lady of a Parisian salon could not shield her chiefguest, and all her guests, from the impertinence of one among them? Tous this seems incomprehensible, and excites our suspicion that Mme deStaël could not have been among those mistresses of the science oftact, of whom elsewhere Mme Gay speaks. The whole charm of the eveningwas here allowed to be spoiled. 

THE OLD CASTLES AND MANSIONS OF SCOTLAND. 

The father of mental philosophy, Aristotle, begins his work on ethicsby telling us, that nothing exists without some theory or reasonattached to it. The following out of this view leads toclassification--that great engine of knowledge. We see things at firstin isolated individuality or confused masses. Investigation teaches usto separate them into groups, which have some common and importantprinciple of unity, though each individual of the group may bedifferent from the others in detail. Thus we arrive at the greatclassifications of natural science, with which every one is more orless familiar. But the works of men have their classification too, forin human effort like causes produce like effects. Most people knowwhat schools of poetry, painting, and music are. In architecture, weknow, too, that there are great divisions--such as classic and Gothic. But many have yet to learn how far classification may go; and it is anew feature to have the peculiar national architecture of Scotlandseparated from that of England, and its peculiarities traced tointeresting national events and habits. The common observer is apt tothink that all buildings are much alike, or that each is alone in itspeculiarities. Before classification can take place, there must be acollection and comparison of leading characteristics; and this is noteasily accomplished with the edifices scattered over a whole country. It may be said that it was never done for Scotland, until Mr Billingscompleted his great series of engravings of the baronial andecclesiastical antiquities of Scotland. 

Taking the former--the baronial--for our text, we find ourselves nowfor the first time in a condition to discover the leading features ofthe Scottish school of architecture, and to connect it with thehistory of Scotland. We know that until the wars of Wallace and Bruce, the two countries, England and Scotland, could scarcely be said to beentirely separated; at all events, they did not stand in openhostility to each other. Endless animosities, however, naturallyfollowed a war in which the one country tried to enslave the other, and where the weaker only escaped annihilation by a desperatestruggle. It is not unnatural, therefore, to expect that the habits ofthe two countries diverged from each other as time passed on; and thisprocess is very distinctly shewn in the character of the edifices usedby the barons and lairds of Scotland. A very few of the oldeststrongholds resemble those of the same period in England. The Englishbaronial castle of the thirteenth century generally consisted ofseveral massive square or round towers, broad at the base, andtapering upwards, arranged at distances from each other, so that loftyembattled walls or curtains stood between them, making a ground-planof which the towers formed the angles. The doors and windows weregenerally in the Gothic or pointed style of architecture, and thevaulted chambers were frequently of the same. There are not abovethree or four such edifices in Scotland. The most complete, perhaps, is the old part of Caerlaverock, in Dumfriesshire; another finespecimen is Dirleton, in East Lothian; and to these may be addedBothwell, in Clydesdale, and Kildrummie, in Aberdeenshire. 

This style was long followed in England. It is known as the baronial, and architects in all parts of the country, when building a modernmansion in the castellated manner, have invariably followed it. It iseasy to see, however, that it was early abandoned in Scotland, thepeople not taking their forms of architecture from a nation with whichthey had no connection but that of hostility. The first species ofnational baronial architecture to which they resorted was a verysimple one, characteristic of an impoverished people. It consisted oflittle more than four stone walls, forming what in fortification iscalled a blockhouse. The walls were extremely thick, with fewapertures, and these suspiciously small. But these old towers or keepswere not without some scientific preparations for defence. In the moreancient baronial castles, the large square or round towers at theangles served to flank the walls or curtains between them; that is, supposing an enemy to be approaching the main gate, he could beattacked on either side from the towers at the angles. To serve thesame purpose, the Scottish keeps had small bastions or turrets at thecorners, which, projecting over the wall, flanked it on each face. Thesimple expedient here adopted is at the root of all the complexdevices of fortification. The main thing is just to build a strongedifice, and then, by flanking outworks, to prevent an enemy fromgetting up to it. In other respects, these square towers were scarcelyto be considered peculiarly Scottish. They are to be found in allparts of the world--along the Wall of China; in the Russian steppes;in Italy, where they are sometimes remains of republican Rome; and inCentral India. They constitute, in fact, the most primitive form of afortified house. 

When we come a century or two later, the difference between theEnglish and Scottish styles becomes more distinct and interesting. Almost every one is acquainted with that beautiful style of buildingcalled in England the Tudor or Elizabethan, with its decoratedchimneys, its ornamented gables, and large oriel or bow windows. It isnot well suited for defence, and denotes a rich country, where privatewarfare has decayed. This class of edifice is rarely, if at all, to befound north of the border; but much as it is to be admired, acontemporary style sprang up in Scotland entirely distinct from it, yet, in our opinion, quite fitted to rival it in interest and beauty. It was derived, in some measure, from Flanders, but chiefly fromFrance. The Scots naturally looked to their friends as an example, rather than to their enemies. Many of the Scottish gentry made theirfortunes in the French service, and when they came home, naturallydesired to imitate, on such a scale as they could afford, the châteauxof their allies and patrons. The state of the country, too, made it amore suitable pattern than the Tudor style. France was still a countryof feudal warfare--so was Scotland; and it was necessary in both tohave defence associated with ornament. The chief peculiarity of thisnew style was, the quantity of sharp-topped turrets, which form a sortof crest to the many details of the lower parts of the buildings. These are not solely ornamental; they succeeded the bastions of theold square towers, and served the same purpose. Among the secondarypeculiarities of these buildings, may be counted an extremely rich andprofuse ornamentation of the upper parts--probably the only portionsout of the way of mischief. Indeed, the edifice is sometimes a meresquare block for two or three storeys, while it is crowned, as itwere, with a rich group of turrets and minarets, gables, window-tops, ornamented chimneys, and gilded vanes. In many instances, the greatsquare block of older days received this fantastic French terminationat a later time--as, for instance, the famous castle of Glammis, inStrathmore. 

It almost appears as if this style, which has its own peculiarbeauties, had been adopted out of a national antagonism to thecontemporary style in England. The Tudor architecture has always ahorizontal tendency, spreading itself out in broad open screens orwall-plates, diversified by occasional angular eminences--as, forinstance, in the tops of the decorated windows. But in theGallo-Scottish style everything tends to the perpendicular, not onlyin the long, narrow shapes of the buildings themselves, and theirtall, spiral turrets, but in the many decorations which incrust them. This decoration has an extremely rich look, from the quantity ofbreaks, and the absence of bare wall or long straight lines. Thus, tosave the uniform plainness of the straight gable-line, it is brokeninto small gradations called 'crow-steps. ' Every one who looks at oldhouses in Scotland must be familiar with this feature, and must havenoticed its picturesqueness. It appears to have been derived from theFlemish houses, where, however, the steps or terraces are much larger, and not so effective, since, instead of merely breaking and enrichingthe line of the gable, they break it up, as it were, into separatepieces. 

The Scottish style has not, indeed, slavishly adopted any foreignmodel. It is, as we have remarked, chiefly adopted from the French;but it has characteristics and beauties of its own. No one, webelieve, had any conception of their extent and variety, until theywere brought to light by the artistic labours of Mr Billings. In someinstances, to bring out the full effect of the ornamental parts ofthese buildings without overloading his picture with the more cumbrousplain stone-work, he brings forward, by some artistic manoeuvre, thecrest of the building, as if the spectator saw it from a scaffold or aballoon level with the highest storey. The effect of the richOriental-looking mass of decoration thus concentrated is extremelystriking, and one is apt to ask, if it is possible that the country sooften characterised as bare, cold, and impoverished, could haveproduced these gorgeous edifices. Their number and distributionthrough the most remote parts of the land are equally remarkable. Among Mr Billings's specimens, we have, in the southern part ofScotland, Pinkie, near Musselburgh; Auchans and Kelburn, in Ayrshire;Newark, on the Clyde; Airth and Argyle's Lodging, in Stirling. Goingnorthward, we come to Elcho and Glammis, and to Muchalls and Crathes, in Kincardineshire. It is remarkable, that the further north we go, the French style becomes more conspicuous and complete. Many of thefinest specimens are to be found in Aberdeenshire. Fyvie Castle, whichwas built for a Scottish chancellor--Seton, Earl of Dunfermline--isalmost a complete French château of the sixteenth century, such as thetraveller may have seen in sunny Guienne or Anjou; and there it standstransplanted, like an exotic, among the bleak hills of the north. Itis only natural to find in connection with such a circumstance, thatSeton received his education in France, and passed a considerable partof his life there. Whether from such an example or not, theAberdeenshire lairds seem to have been all ambitious of possessingFrench châteaux; and thus in the county of primitive rock, where thereis certainly little else to remind us of French habits or ideas, wehave some admirable specimens of that foreign architectural school inCastle Fraser, Craigievar, Midmar, Tolquhon, Dalpersie, and Udny. Nearer Inverness, we have Balveny, Castle-Stewart, and Cawdor. 

The same foreign influence is exhibited in our street architecture, some specimens of which are engraved in the work to which we havereferred. [4] Every one knows that the lofty Scottish edifices withcommon stairs--houses built above each other, in fact--give our largetowns a character totally different from those of England; but it isequally clear that the practice was derived from France, where it isstill in full observance literally among all classes, since thedifferent social grades occupy separate floors of the same edifices. In the _coup d'état_ of 1851, it will be remembered, that in makingthe arrests of the leading men supposed to be inimical to LouisNapoleon, one of the difficulties--as the affair took place atmidnight--was to know the floors in which they lived; for these greatstatesmen and generals inhabited houses with common stairs. 

We have here discussed one special feature of Mr Billings's work, onaccount of the remarks which it suggests; but it is only right tomention, before parting with it, that it contains engravings of everything that is remarkable in the ancient architecture of Scotland, whether it be called civil and baronial or ecclesiastical. Certainly, the remains of antiquity in North Britain were never previously soamply and completely illustrated. Nor is it without reason, that somecontemporary critics have maintained this to be the most entirecollection of the sort which any nation possesses. The chief merits ofthe views consist in their accuracy and effect. They are wonderfullyclear and minute, so that every detail of the least importance isbrought out as distinctly as in a model, while this is accomplishedwithout sacrifice of their artistic effect as pictures. 

FOOTNOTES:

[4] Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland. By WilliamBurn and W. Billings. 4 vols. 4to. Blackwoods, Edinburgh. 

AMERICAN HONOUR. 

About seventy-five years ago, there was at Charleston, in SouthCarolina, a family consisting of several members. It belonged to themiddle class--that is to say, contained barristers, bankers, merchants, solicitors, and so on--all of them animated, at least sofar as appears, by a high sense of honour and integrity. But noblesentiments are no certain guarantee against poverty. One of themembers of the family in question became embarrassed, borrowed L. 1000of one of his relatives, but was soon after seized with paralysis, and, having kept his bed five years, died, leaving behind him a widowwith several children. He could bequeath them no property, instead ofwhich they received as their inheritance high principles, and a strongaffection for the memory of their father. The widow also was, in thisrespect, perfectly in harmony with her sons. By dint, therefore, ofprudence, industry, and economy, they amassed among them the sum ofL. 400, which they rigidly appropriated to the repayment of a part oftheir father's debt. The old man had, indeed, called them togetheraround his death-bed, and told them that, instead of a fortune, heleft them a duty to perform; and that if it could not be accomplishedin one generation, it must be handed down from father to son, untilthe descendants of the B----s had paid every farthing to thedescendants of the S----s. 

While matters stood in this predicament, the creditor part of thefamily removed to England, and the debtors remained at Charleston, struggling with difficulties and embarrassments, which not onlydisabled them from paying the paternal debt, but kept them perpetuallyin honourable poverty. Of course, the wish to pay in such mindssurvived the ability. It would have been to them an enjoyment of ahigh order to hunt out their relatives in England, and place in theirhands the owing L. 600. This pleasure, which they were destined neverto taste, often formed the subject of conversation around theirfireside; and the children, as they grew up, were initiated into themystery of the L. 600. 

But that generation passed away, and another succeeded to theliability; not that there existed any liability in law, for though adeed had been executed, it had lapsed in the course of time, so thatthere was really no obligation but that which was the strongest ofall--an uneradicable sense of right. Often and often did the B----s ofCharleston meet and consult together on this famous debt, which everyone wished, but no one could afford, to pay. The sons were married, and had children whom it was incumbent on them to support; thedaughters had married, too, but their husbands possibly did notacquire with their wives the chivalrous sense of duty which possessedthe breast of every member, male and female, of the B. Family, andinspired them with a wish to do justice when fortune permitted. 

It would be infinitely agreeable to collect and peruse the letters andrecords of consultations which passed or took place between themembers of this family on the subject of the L. 600. These documentswould form the materials of one of the most delightful romances in theworld--the romance of honour, which never dies in some families, butis transmitted from generation to generation like a treasure above allprice. When this brief notice is read in Charleston, it may possiblylead to the collection of these materials, which, with the propernames of all the persons engaged, should, we think, be laid before theworld as a pleasing record of hereditary nobility of sentiment. 

After the lapse of many years, a widow and her three nephews foundthemselves in possession of the necessary means for paying the familydebt. Three-quarters of a century had elapsed. The children and thechildren's children of the original borrower had passed away; but thehonour of the B. Family had been transmitted intact to the fourthgeneration, and a search was immediately commenced to discover thecreditors in England. This, however, as may well be supposed, was noeasy task. The members of the S. Family had multiplied and separated, married and intermarried, become poor and wealthy, distinguished andobscure by turns, changed their topographical as well as their socialposition, and disappeared entirely from the spot they had occupied ontheir first arrival from America. 

But honour is indefatigable, and by degrees a letter reached a personin Kensington, who happened to possess some knowledge of a lady of theS. Family, married to a solicitor practising with great success anddistinction in London. When the letter came to hand, she at firstdoubted whether it might not be a sort of grave hoax, intended toexcite expectation for the pleasure of witnessing its disappointment. However, the English solicitor, accustomed to the incidents of life, thought there would at least be no harm in replying to the letter fromCharleston, and discovering in this way the real state of the affair. 

Some delay necessarily occurred, especially as the B. Family inAmerica were old world sort of people, accustomed to transact businessslowly and methodically, and with due attention to the minutestpoints. But at length a reply came, in which the writer observed, thatif a deed of release were drawn up, signed by all the partiesconcerned in England, and transmitted to America, the L. 600 shouldimmediately be forwarded for distribution among the members of the S. Family. Some demur now arose. Some of the persons concerned growingprudent as the chances of recovering the money appeared to multiply, thought it would be wrong to send the deed of release before the moneyhad been received. But the solicitor had not learned, in the practiceof his profession, to form so low an estimate of human nature. Heconsidered confidence in this case to be synonymous with prudence, andat anyrate resolved to take upon himself the entire responsibility ofcomplying with the wishes of the Americans. He accordingly drew up thenecessary document, got it signed by as many as participated in hisviews, and sent it across the Atlantic, without the slightest doubt orhesitation. There had been something in the rough, blunt honesty of MrB----'s letter that inspired in the man of law the utmost reliance onhis faith, though during the interval which elapsed between thetransmission of the deed and the reception of an answer from theStates, several of his friends exhibited a disposition to makethemselves merry at the expense of his chivalry. But when we considerall the particulars of the case, we can hardly fail to perceive thathe ran no risk whatever; for even if the debt had not legally lapsed, the people who had retained it in their memory through threegenerations--who had from father to son practised strict economy inorder to relieve themselves from the burden--who had, with muchdifficulty and some expense, sought out the heirs of their creditor ina distant country, could scarcely be suspected of any inclination tofinish off with a fraud at last. 

Still, if there was honour on one side, there was enlarged confidenceon the other; and in the course of a few months, the American mailbrought to London the famous L. 600 due since before the War ofIndependence. The business now was to divide and distribute it. Ofcourse, each of the creditors was loud in expressions of admiration ofthe honour of the B. Family, whose representative, while forwardingthe money, asked with much simplicity to have a few old Englishnewspapers sent out to him by way of acknowledgment. For his own part, however, he experienced a strong desire to behold some of the personsto whom he had thus paid a debt of the last century; and he gave awarm and pressing invitation to any of them, to come out and stay aslong as they thought proper at his house in Charleston. Had theinvitation been accepted, we cannot doubt that Brother Jonathan wouldhave acted as hospitably in the character of host as he behavedhonourably in that of debtor. It would have been a pleasure, we mightindeed say a distinction, to live under the same roof with such a man, whose very name carries us back to the primitive times of the colony, when Charleston was a city of the British Empire, and English laws, manners, habits, and feelings regulated the proceedings and relationsof its inhabitants. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the Londonsolicitor will some day drop in quietly upon his friend in Charleston, to smoke a cigar, and discuss old times with him. He will in that caseprobably fancy himself chatting with a contemporary of Rip Van Winkle. Doubtless there are thousands of such men in the States, wherefrequently everything that is estimable in the English character iscultivated with assiduity. 

How the property was distributed among the S. Family in England, weneed not say. Each surviving individual had his or her share. Thesolicitor was only connected with them by marriage; but with good oldEnglish ideas of uprightness and integrity, he was fully able toappreciate the Charleston lawyer's sentiments. He would have doneexactly the same himself under similar circumstances; and therefore, had the sum been tens of thousands instead of hundreds, it could notbe said to have fallen into bad hands. Whether the transaction abovenoticed has led or not to a continued correspondence between thefamilies, we are unable to say; but we think the creditors in Englandwould naturally have felt a pleasure in exchanging intelligence fromtime to time with their worthy debtors in Charleston. These things, however, are private, and therefore we do not intend to trench uponthem. 

THE PARLOUR AQUARIUM. 

It is not many years since Mr Ward first drew the attention ofbotanists to the cultivation of plants in closely-glazed cases; butthe most sanguine dreams of the discoverer could not then haveforetold the many useful purposes to which the Wardian Case has becomeapplicable, nor the important influence which it was destined toobtain in promoting the pleasant pursuits of gardening and botany. TheWardian Case has been instrumental in diffusing a love of thesepursuits among all classes of society. It has opened up to those whosepursuits confine them within the limits of the city's smoke-cloud, ameans whereby they may obtain 'a peep at nature, if they can no more. 'Far removed from green fields and leafy woods, they may, for instance, enjoy their leisure mornings in watching one of the most beautifulphenomena of vegetable development--the evolution of the circinatefronds of the fern; a plant in every respect associated with eleganceand beauty. This kind of gardening has, therefore, become of lateyears one of the most fashionable, while at the same time one of themost pleasant sources of domestic amusement. 

An interesting companion to the Wardian Case has lately been presentedin the Aquatic Plant Case, or Parlour Aquarium, due to the ingenuityof Mr Warington, and which has for its object, as its name indicates, the cultivation of aquatic or water plants. It may be described as acombination of the Wardian Case and the gold-fish globe, the objectbeing to illustrate the mutual dependence of animal and vegetablelife. Mr Warington has lately detailed his experiments. 'The smallgold-fish were placed in a glass-receiver of about twelve gallons'capacity, having a cover of thin muslin stretched over a stout copperwire, bent into a circle, placed over its mouth, so as to exclude asmuch as possible the sooty dust of the London atmosphere, without, atthe same time, impeding the free passage of the atmospheric air. Thisreceiver was about half-filled with ordinary spring-water, andsupplied at the bottom with sand and mud, together with loose stonesof limestone tufa from Matlock, and of sandstone: these were arrangedso that the fish could get below. . . . A small plant of _Vallisneriaspiralis_ was introduced, its roots being inserted in the mud andsand, and covered by one of the loose stones, so as to retain theplant in its position. . . . The materials being thus arranged, allappeared to go on well for a short time, until circumstances occurredwhich indicated that another and very material agent was required toperfect the adjustment. ' The decaying leaves of the vallisneriaproduced a slime which began to affect the fish injuriously: this itwas necessary to get quit of. Mr Warington introduced five or sixsnails (_Limnea stagnalis_), 'which soon removed the nuisance, andrestored the fish to a healthy state; thus perfecting the balancebetween the animal and vegetable inhabitants, and enabling both toperform their functions with health and energy. So luxuriant was thegrowth of the vallisneria under these circumstances, that by theautumn the one solitary plant originally introduced had thrown outvery numerous offshoots and suckers, thus multiplying to the extent ofupwards of thirty-five strong plants, and these threw up their longspiral flower-stems in all directions, so that at one time more thanforty blossoms were counted lying on the surface of the water. Thefish have been lively, bright in colour, and appear very healthy; andthe snails also--judging from the enormous quantities of gelatinousmasses of eggs which they have deposited on all parts of the receiver, as well as on the fragments of stone--appear to thrive wonderfully, affording a large quantity of food to the fish in the form of theyoung snails, which are devoured as soon as they exhibit signs ofvitality and locomotion, and before their shell has become hardened. '

In remarking upon the result of his experiments, Mr Waringtonobserves: 'Thus we have that admirable balance sustained between theanimal and vegetable kingdoms, and that in a liquid element. The fish, in its respiration, consumes the oxygen held in solution by the wateras atmospheric air, furnishes carbonic acid, feeds on the insects andyoung snails, and excretes material well adapted as a rich food to theplant, and well fitted for its luxuriant growth. The plant, by itsrespiration, consumes the carbonic acid produced by the fish, appropriating the carbon to the construction of its tissues andfibres, and liberates the oxygen in its gaseous state to sustain thehealthy functions of the animal life; at the same time that it feedson the rejected matter, which has fulfilled its purposes in thenourishment of the fish and snail, and preserves the water constantlyin a clean and healthy condition. While the slimy snail, finding itsproper nutriment in the decomposing vegetable matter and minuteconfervoid growth, prevents their accumulation by removing them; andby its vital powers converts what would otherwise act as a poison intoa rich and fruitful nutriment, again to constitute a pabulum for thevegetable growth, while it also acts the important part of a purveyorto its finny neighbours. '[5] This perfect adjustment in the economy ofthe animal and vegetable kingdoms, whereby the vital functions of eachare permanently maintained, is one of the most beautiful phenomena oforganic nature. 

The Parlour Aquarium affords valuable, we might say invaluable, facilities to the naturalist in the prosecution of his researches. Thebotanist can now conveniently watch the development of aquatic plantsunder conditions _not_ unnatural, throughout the entire period oftheir existence, from their germination to the production of flowersand the perfection of seeds; and we are in hopes that much of theobscurity that invests many aquatic vegetables will in consequence becleared up. The zoologist is perhaps even more indebted to theinvention. The habits, not only of the fishes, but of the mollusca, can be accurately studied under natural conditions, and many importantfacts of their history ascertained and illustrated. The water-beetlesand other aquatic insects will also come in for a share of attention. 

In concluding his paper in the _Garden Companion_ (i. P. 7), MrWarington states, that he is at present attempting a similararrangement with a confined portion of sea-water, employing some ofthe green sea-weeds as the vegetable members of the circle, and thecommon winkle or whelk to represent the water-snails. In a Report ofthe Yorkshire Naturalist's Club, November 5, 1851, [6] we observe itstated, that Mr Charlesworth read an extract from a letter from agentleman in America, detailing some successful experiments on keepingmarine molluscs alive in sea-water for months; but our inquiries havenot been successful in eliciting any further information on thesubject. 

Experiments of our own have led to the conclusion, that some familiesof aquatic plants are altogether unsuitable for the ParlourAquarium--such as, potamogeton, chara, &c. , which very sooncommunicate a putrescent odour to the water in which they are grown, rendering it highly disagreeable in a sitting-room. 

FOOTNOTES:

[5] _Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society_, iii, 52. 

[6] _Naturalist_, vol. I. 239. 

A WEDDING DINNER. 

The English are often reproached with love of good cheer, andcertainly if foreigners were to judge of us from the manner in whichwe celebrate our Christmas, we cannot wonder at their supposing'biftik' to be necessary to our happiness. But high feasting has notin any age been confined to the English, and perhaps the followingaccount, translated from an old chronicle, of a wedding-dinner givenby the Milanese, in 1336, to our Duke of Clarence, son of Edward III. , may prove not unamusing or unsuggestive. 

Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, was the widower of Elizabeth ofUlster, and his second wife, Zolante, was the sister of GiovanniGaleazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan. The latter nuptials were celebratedat Milan with great pomp. The most illustrious personages were invitedfrom every part of Europe; tournaments, balls, and other diversions, occupied the guests, who were all furnished with splendid apartments, till the whole company being assembled, Giovanni Galeazzo conductedthe newly-married couple from the church to his palace. In one immensehall were laid out a hundred tables for the most distinguished guests, including the mightiest princes in Italy, the most beautiful women, and the most celebrated characters of the age; among whom we must notomit to mention Francesco Petrarca. Other tables were placed in theadjoining apartments. Seneschals, in the most sumptuous dresses, brought in the massive dishes of gold and silver. The cup-bearersperformed their duties on horseback, galloping round the hall andhanding the choicest wines in costly vases of gold, silver, orcrystal. This custom of servants waiting at table on horseback appearssingular in our time, but it serves to give an idea of the splendourof other days and the enormous size of the apartments. It also tendsto explain why most of the noble mansions still extant from the timeof which we speak, instead of a staircase, have a gradual ascent ofbricks, generally leading to a hall of large dimensions. Andfrequently we see evident tokens that flights of steps have beensubstituted in later times. 

The banquet consisted of eighteen courses; and between each coursepresents of various kinds were offered to the bridegroom, ordistributed by him; so that before the dinner had ended, Lionel hadpresented every individual around him with some article of value, besides 600 richly embroidered garments which he had given to themimes and players engaged for the occasion. 

Here follows a formal account of the dinner, but we must economise ourspace. The first course consisted of young pigs, gilded, with flamesissuing from their mouths; the second, of hares and pike, likewisegilded; the third, of gilded veal and trout; the fourth, ofpartridges, quails, and fish, all gilded; the fifth, of ducks, smallbirds, and fish, all gilded; the sixth, of beef, capons withgarlic-sauce, and sturgeon; the seventh, of veal and capons withlemon-sauce; the eighth, of beef-pies, with cheese and sugar, andeel-pies with sugar and spices; the ninth, of meats, fowl and fish injelly (potted, we presume); the tenth, of gilded meats and lamprey;the eleventh, of roast kid, birds, and fish; the twelfth, of hares andvenison, and fish with vinegar and sugar; the thirteenth, of beef anddeer, with lemon and sugar; the fourteenth, of fowls, capons, andtench, covered with red and green foil; the fifteenth, of pigeons, small birds, beans, salt tongues, and carp; the sixteenth, of rabbits, peacocks, and eels roasted with lemon; the seventeenth, of sour milkand cheese; and the eighteenth, of fruits of the rarest and mostexpensive kinds. 

At each of these courses the duke received a separate gift--beginningwith a pair of _leopards_, with velvet collars and gilded buckles. Then followed numberless braces of pointers, greyhounds, setters, andfalcons, all with trappings and ornaments of silk, gold, and pearls;dozens of breastplates, helmets, lances, shields, saddles, andcomplete suits of armour, enriched with silver, gold, and velvet;numerous pieces of cloth of gold and satin; horses by half-dozens, with saddles and trappings highly ornamented; twelve beautifulmilk-white oxen; 'a vest and cowl embroidered with pearls, representing various flowers; a baronial mantle and cowl lined withermine, and richly embroidered with pearls; a large ewer of massivesilver, four waistbands of wrought silver (now called filigrane); aclump of diamonds and rubies, with a pearl of immense value in thecentre; and a variety of specimens of the choicest wines and mostelegant confectionary. '

In those times, there was little refinement of taste, and the culinaryart was probably in its infancy. Hence we find the dishes in qualityand number rather suited to satisfy the appetites of huntsmen than thedelicate palate of a courtier of our day. Sugar and spices were usedin profusion, perhaps because they were scarce and expensive, ratherthan on account of their flavour. Fowls were coloured red or green;while meat, and such other solid eatables as could only be boiled orroasted, were gilt all over. The expense of such an entertainment musthave been immense; and when we add, that the value of most of thegifts was vastly greater than at present, and that, besides thepresents to the bridegroom, Giovanni Galeazzo gave away 150 beautifulhorses, and his kinsman, Bernabo, jewels and golden coins to a largeamount, the whole sum disbursed on this occasion would appear soenormous as to make one doubt whether a petty sovereign could reallyafford such ostentatious prodigality. But when we consider that theflourishing state of the commerce of Italy attracted thither all thewealth of Europe, we are no longer surprised at an expenditure which, however great, might at that time have been borne not by a reigningduke of Milan or Florence alone, but even by many citizens of thevarious Italian republics. 

During the repast, an innumerable crowd of jesters, mimes, andtrick-players of all sorts, amused the company with their gambols; andsuch was the noise produced by trumpets, drums, and other martialinstruments, by the vociferation of the performers and the applause ofthe spectators, that no single voice could be heard; and acontemporary historian compares it to the wild roar of a tempestuoussea. 

SAVINGS-BANKS IN RUSSIA. 

Until the year 1825, no kind of savings-bank existed in Russia. Thefarmers and peasants, residing for the most part in remote andscattered habitations, were accustomed to keep their little store ofmoney in common earthen-pots buried in the ground, whence it was notunfrequently stolen. It also often happened that, owing to the suddenillness or death of the owner, the place of concealment was unknown toany one; thus the savings were lost, and much family trouble anddifficulty arose. In March 1825, a truly patriotic young merchant, Frederick Hagedom, junior, of Libau, in Courland, perceived theadvantage of savings-banks in other countries of Europe, and thedisadvantages of the system pursued by his poor countrymen. Heresolved, therefore, to institute a savings-bank in Libau. Thepatronage of the governor-general was obtained, and one of themagistrates of the town appointed superintendent: Frederick Hagedomand two other gentlemen were chosen directors. The public of the townsoon testified their approbation of the good work, by bringing intheir silver rubles and copper kopecks at the appointed hours--namely, from five to seven every Saturday evening, and at two periods of theyear daily--from the 1st to the 12th of June and December. Thepeasants, however, did not display the same alacrity and confidence asindeed was to be expected. Their kind benefactor perceiving this, wrote and circulated a short pamphlet in the Lettish language of thecountry, explaining the intention, object, and advantages of the newsavings-bank. This convinced the ignorant country-people that theirold way of keeping their money, even if safe, was not profitable. Thepastors of the village churches also took occasion to speak to theirpeople on the subject, being persuaded, like the benevolent foundersof the savings-bank, that it was a plan which could not fail toimprove the moral and religious character of the peasantry. Theseexertions did not fail to produce the desired effect. 

To accommodate the country-people who came from a distance, it wassoon found advisable to open the savings-bank for their attendancedaily from twelve to one--the Saturday evenings being reserved for theinhabitants of the town. All classes now became desirous of takingadvantage of the savings-bank, and brought in silver rubles andkopecks, instead of keeping them hoarded and useless. 

A sum under five rubles receives no interest--is merely saved andkept--which is, however, no slight benefit to the poor peasant. Abovethat sum, 4 percent, interest is paid. The owner is at liberty towithdraw the principal at will. The tables published in 1845, aftertwenty years' existence, afford a most satisfactory and interestingresult. The increase of members who partake of the benefits hassteadily advanced. One-third of the number are inhabitants of Libau, the remainder are from the country. A very important gain was alsoperceived to arise from the system: a large portion of the silverrubles and Albert-dollars paid in, had evidently been for many yearskept entirely out of circulation, buried in pots in the earth, andconsequently in such a condition, that it was often necessary to havethe coin carefully cleaned, before it was fit to be sent out intocirculation again. Besides the pecuniary advantage, the improvement inthe character of the people has been remarkable. The savings-bank hasstrengthened in a singular degree the love of order, industry, andtemperance. How many cheerful hopes and anticipations are connectedwith savings! It has been ascertained, both in England and France, that since the establishment of savings-banks in those countries, nocriminal has ever been found to have been a member of one. How true abenefactor to his country has the young merchant Hagedom provedhimself to be! May he live long to direct the savings-bank of hisnative town of Libau! And, to conclude with the words of the lastreport of the institution: 'May a gracious Providence continue toprosper this first and oldest institution of the kind in the empire ofRussia, and preserve this institution, so highly beneficial to theeconomical and moral state of the people, in its full prosperity, tofuture generations!'[7]

FOOTNOTES:

[7] Communicated by a lady, as translated from a pamphlet published inRussia. 

CALORIC SHIPS

The idea of substituting a new and superior motive-power for steamwill no doubt strike many minds as extravagant, if not chimerical. Wehave been so accustomed to regard steam-power as the _ne plus ultra_of attainment in subjecting the modified forces of nature to theservice of man, that a discovery which promises to supersede thisagency will have to contend with the most formidable preconceptions aswell as with gigantic interests. Nevertheless, it may now be predictedwith confidence, that we are on the eve of another great revolution, produced by the application of an agent more economical andincalculably safer than steam. A few years hence we shall hear of the'wonders of caloric' instead of the 'wonders of steam. ' To thequestion: 'How did you cross the Atlantic?' the reply will be: 'Bycaloric of course!' On Saturday, I visited the manufactory, and hadthe privilege of inspecting Ericsson's caloric engine of 60horse-power, while it was in operation. It consists of two pairs ofcylinders, the working pistons of which are 72 inches in diameter. Itsgreat peculiarities consist in its very large cylinders and pistons, working with very low pressure, and in the absence of boilers orheaters, there being no other fires employed than those in smallgrates under the bottoms of the working cylinders. During the eightmonths that this test-engine has been in operation, not a cent hasbeen expended for repairs or accidents. The leading principle of thecalorie engine consists in producing motive-power by the employment ofthe expansive force of atmospheric air instead of that of steam; theforce being produced by compression of the air in one part of themachine, and by its dilatation by the application of heat in anotherpart. This dilatation, however, is not effected by continuousapplication of combustibles, but by a peculiar process of transfer, bywhich the caloric is made to operate over and over again--namely, theheat of the air escaping from the working cylinder at each successivestroke of the engine, is transferred to the cold compressed air, entering the same; so that, in fact, a continued application of fuelis only necessary in order to make good the losses of heat occasionedby the unavoidable eradiation of the heated parts of the machine. Theobvious advantages of this great improvement are the great saving offuel and labour in the management of the engine, and its perfectsafety. A ship carrying the amount of coal that the Atlantic steamersnow take for a single trip, could cross and recross the Atlantic twicewithout taking in coal; and the voyage to China or to California couldbe easily accomplished by a caloric ship without the necessity ofstopping at any port to take in fuel. Anthracite coal being far thebest fuel for this new engine, we shall no longer have to purchasebituminous coal in England for return-trips. On the contrary, Englandwill find it advantageous to come to us for our anthracite. A slowradiating fire without flame is what is required, and this is bestsupplied by our anthracite. The _Ericsson_ will be ready for sea byOctober next, and her owners intend to take passengers at a reducedprice, in consequence of the reduced expenses under the newprinciple. --_Boston Transcript. _

VIOLETS:

SENT IN A TINY BOX. 

 Let them lie--ah, let them lie! Plucked flowers--dead to-morrow; Lift the lid up quietly, As you'd lift the mystery Of a buried sorrow. 

 Let them lie--the fragrant things, All their souls thus giving; Let no breeze's ambient wings And no useless water-springs Mock them into living. 

 They have lived--they live no more; Nothing can requite them For the gentle life they bore, And up-yielded in full store While it did delight them. 

 Yet, I ween, flower-corses fair! 'Twas a joyful yielding, Like some soul heroic, rare, That leaps bodiless forth in air For its loved one's shielding. 

 Surely, ye were glad to die In the hand that slew ye, Glad to leave the open sky, And the airs that wandered by, And the bees that knew ye;

 Giving up a small earth-place And a day of blooming, Here to lie in narrow space, Smiling in this smileless face With such sweet perfuming. 

 O ye little violets dead! Coffined from all gazes, We will also smile, and shed Out of heart-flowers withered Perfume of sweet praises. 

 And as ye, for this poor sake, Love with life are buying, So, I doubt not, ONE will make All our gathered flowers to take Richer scent through dying. 

CHINESE LAUNDRY IN CALIFORNIA. 

What a truly industrious people they are! At work, cheerfully andbriskly, at ten o'clock at night. Huge piles of linen andunder-clothing disposed in baskets about the room, near the differentironers. Those at work dampening and ironing--peculiar processes both. A bowl of water is standing at the ironer's side, as in ordinarylaundries, but used very differently. Instead of dipping the fingersin the water, and then snapping them over the clothes, the operatorputs his head in the bowl, fills his mouth with water, and then blowsso that the water comes from his mouth _in a mist_, resembling theemission of steam from an escape-pipe, at the same time so directinghis head that the mist is scattered all over the piece he is about toiron. He then seizes his flat iron. This invention beats the 'Yankees'all to bits. It is a vessel resembling a small, deep, metallicwash-basin, having a highly-polished flat bottom, and a firecontinually burning in it. Thus they keep the iron hot, withoutrunning to the fire every five minutes and spitting on the iron toascertain by the 'sizzle' if it be ready to use. This ironing machinehas a long handle, and is propelled without danger of burning thefingers by the slipping of the 'ironing rag. ' Ladies who use theordinary flat irons will appreciate the improvement. --_Marysville(California) Herald. _

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