The Sun. — London, England, 1860-05-04 00:00:00

BENSON'S WATCHES. " Perfection of mechanism."—Morning Post. Goldl Silver 2 to 50 guineas. Send 2 stamps for Benson's Illustrated Pamphlet, deser:p tire of every construction of watch now made, with their prices. Watches sent to all parts of the kingdom free by post, or to India and the Colonies for ss. extra. 33 and 34, Ludgate-hill, London, E.C. Established 1749. T HEATRE -ROYAL, HAYMARKET. Lessee, Mr. J. B. Bnekstone. THIS EVENING, will be performed VICTIMS. Messrs. Buckstone, Farren, Cullenford, &c. ; Mrs. B. White, Miss M. Ternan, Mrs. Griffiths, &c. Followed by the Farce, entitled THE RIFLE, AND HOW TO USE IT. Messrs. Buckstone, Compton, Rogers, Mrs. B. White, Mri. Wilkins, and Mrs. E. Fitzwilliam. After which, a new fairy romance, THE PILGRIM OF LOVE. ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.- Lessee, Mr. A. Harris. THIS EVENING, to commence with 3IY WIFE'S OUT. Mr. Widdicomb and Miss L. Keeley. Followed by THE FOOL'S REVENGE. Bertuccio, a Jester, Mr. Phelps. To conclude with the extrarartanza of THE SYLPHIDE. Miss C. Leclercq, Miss Louise Keeley, Miss Helen Howard, Miss Rose Leclercq, Mr. Shore, Mr. Saker, and Mr. Frank Matthews, Commence at 7. ADELPHT, NEW THEATRE-ROYAL. Sole Proprietor and Mana_aer. Mr. Benj. Webster. Engagement of the celebrated American Actress, Miss JULIA DALY, and Mr. LEIGH MURRAY. THIS EVENING, TO PARENTS AND GUARDIANS. Mr. Leigh Murray, J. L. Toole, C. Selby, Romer; Miss 11. Simms, K. Kelly, Laidlaw. and Mrs. Chatterley. After which, OUR FEMALE AMERICAN COUSIN. Messrs. Stuart, C. Selby, Billington, Eburne, Miss Julia Daly, K. Kelly, Laidlaw, and Mrs. Chatterley. To conclude with the Fairy Extravaganza, THE FAIR NE WITH THE GOLDEN LOCKS. King Lachrymoso, Mr. J. L. Toole ; Count Pleniposo, Mr. P. Bedford ; Viscount Verysoso, Mr. C. J. Smith ; Graceful, Miss K. Kelly ; Queen Lucidora, Miss Emily Thorne ; Mollmopsa, Mrs. Billington. Sox-office open from 10 till 5. Private boxes, £2 2s. ; Family Boxes, £l. Orchestra Stalls, ss. ; Balcony, 4s. ; Front Circle Stalls, 3s. ; Pit Stalls, 25.; Pit, is. 6d. ; Amphitheatre, is ; Gallery, 6d. Acting Manager—Mr. Wm. Smith. ROY AL LYCEUM THEATRE.- Under the management of Mr. Wm. Brough. THIS EVENING, a new comic drama entitled NEXT OF KIN. Messrs. Emery, S. Calhaem, Tilbury, &c. ; Mesdames E. Travers and K. Saxon. After which, the burlesque of THE FORTY THIEVES. Miss Lydia Thompson. Miss Clara St. Casse, Miss E.Travers, Miss K. Saxon, Mrs. Wallis ; Messrs. Emery, Tilbury, &c. ; and a numerous Corps de Ballet. Followed by WHITEBAIT AT GREENWICH. Sir W. Don. To conclude with THE MIDDY ASHORE. Miss Lydia Thompson. Commence at 7. ROYAL ST. JAMES'S THEATRE, King-street, St. James's. Lessee, Mr. T. B. Chatter ton. Directress, Miss Wyndham. The nearest Theatre to Chelsea, Pimlico, and Westminster, the Park being open to carriages and foot passengers all hours of the night. THIS EVENING the performances will nnnret... with a new and original comedy, entitled A FRIEND IN NEED. Y Robinson, C. Young, &c. After which, A LADY AND GENTLEMAN IN A PE CULIAR PERPLEXING PREDICAMENT. Mr. Charles Young and Miss Wyndham. Followed by a new burlesque, LUC REZIA BORGIA AT HOME AND ALL ABROAD. Mesdames Wyndham, E. Scott, Cecilia Ranoe, Miss Clara Morgan, and the Corps de Ballet. Reduced Prices—Gallery, 6d ; Pit, Is. The Box-ofEce open from 11 to 5 daily. Doors open at half-past six ; perform ance commences at 7. A STLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.- Proprietor, Mr. Was. BATTY. Manager, Mr. EDWIN - HUGHES. First Appearance of Little MONONI and the celebrated Delavanti Troupe, who are engaged at a great expense. Great and unprecedented success of the NEW GRAND MILITARY SPECTACLE, universal , y pronounced to be the most perfect and magnificent production ever witnessed in this Theatre. The enthusiastic approbation bestowed upon the novel and varied Scenes in the Cirque is the best assurance of the unequalled talent of the eminent Equestrian Artistes who nightly appear. THIS EVENING, and during the Week, To commence with the Great Military Spectacle, in Four Acts, called " Tsar HISTORY OF A FLAG," succeeded by an incomparable programme of Scenes in the Arena, sup :.orted by the most renowned and talented Equestrian and Gymnas tic Artistes in Europe. The magnificent Chan ieliers are manufactured expressly by Messrs. Defiles and Son, of Houndsditch. Doors open at half-past 6 o'clock, performance commence at 7. Box-office open daily from 11 till 4. Stage Manager—Mr. W. WEST. CONCERTS.- CANTERBURY HALL THIS EVENING, C. H. GOUNOD'S OPERA, FAUST. First Time in this Country. Faust Mr. Henry Herbert,. Mephistopheles Mr. C. Bernard. Siobel Mrs. Anderson. Marguerite Conductor Mr. Jonghmans. And selections from Dinorah, Trovatore, Msebeth, and numerous other Entertainments. Balcony, is, Hall, 6d. Comic Vocalists —Messrs. George Hodson (the Irish Come. dlan and Mimic), and W. T. Critchfield. Several interesting Pictures are added to the Fine Arts Gallery. The suite of Halls have been re-decorated and beautified, and constitute one of the most unique and brilliant sights of the metropolis. The gallery is open from 5 till 11 on Sunday Evening. THE WEATHER.-SUN OFFICE, MAY 4, 1560. THERMOMETER, TN THE SHADE. 62—highest since noon yesterday. 41—lowest this morning and during the night. 60—this day at noon. B.k.ItOMETER-30.2'. WIND, South-East ; moderate, with fine weather. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE. THIS DAY.—Morning, 12h. 21m.—Afternoon, 12h. 45m To-MORROW.-Morning, lh. 25m.—Afternoon, lh. 48m. 4_,X? , 4 44 4 Z 44414 - ?; „gr • tiw~ _7~-'y' ` ~ Lvr -' THE SHIN. LONDON, FRIDAY, MAY 4, 1860. If the Opposition prefer a Midsummer Night's Reform they have carried their point. May is to b° devoted to real business and the Whitsuntide Holidays, and June to the chief measure of the session. As to the holidays, *Jose who have wasted six days over what they might have settled just as well on the first or second day deserve no holidays, but as thQ naughty cannot be punished without punishing the good also, the former must e'en have their holidays for the sake of the latter. Let us only congratulate ourselves that the firmness of Lord PALMERSTON, and the growing impatience of the country has at length put a stop to the idle prate which has discredited the British House of Commons in the eyes of the civilised world. Mr. GLADSTONE exprcssed the universal feeling when he observed that he believed there was no example within the recollection of any member present of a debate being continued fur six nights without there being a nwtion upon which the Rouse was to divide. Such a debate exhausts, he says, one eighth part of the whole time at the disposal of Government during V. session of Parliament ! If this be not wasting public time, and wasting it in a manner unworthy of an assembly which professes to be not a " discus sion forum," but a, meeting of business-like men, we should like to know what is so. We have taken as many days to get this bill read a second time, remarked Mr. GLADSTONE, as sufficed for the work of creation. The proposal to defer going into committee for more than a month, is the penalty or reward of this factiousness. We could wish it to prove the penalty ; but, that those who did not deserve it would suffer also ; we hope the penalty will, therefore, come on the obs truetives in another shape, not that of prolongation of the session, but of being compelled to curtail their talk in committee. They have had enough of it already, and since simplici(y is the merit or fault of the bill, as parties may choose to view it, there can be no need to make long work of such simple details. It would almost seem impossible to find much occasion for prolonged discussion, unless by proposing additional elauees. The £lO county franchise seems to be a settl©d thing. The £6 one for boroughs appears to be, as Mr. GLADSTONE observed, the gist of the complaint against the bill ; but that has surely been discussed and debated and turned about in every way wipe ad nausea:m We do not believe that any mortal in the house or out of it can add to our knowledge either of the number of voters it will create or of their quality. We can hardly doubt that the first registration will give between 160,000 and 200,000 additional borough electors, and should be not at all surprised if tte increase be CU below the smaller number. And as to the 1;11 quality of the persons enfranchised—if we know, as most of us do, a few boroughs of different character, we know as much as ever the Lords' committee can tell us. There is, therefore, we be lieve but little room for discussion on this main point. The rating clauses of the present act are not to be touched, but a little debate may arise on the subject of compound rating. It is, we believe, a matter of little consequence, Very few have been, and very few will be, the cases in which persons, whose rates are paid by the landlord, will claim to be rated in their own names. Mr. GLADSTONE entered into the arithmetical details of the subject with extraordinary zest, and if anything could be wanting to supplement Sir G. C. LEWIS'S satisfactory statements, the hon. member for Oxford abundantly supplied it. We do not sce how any candid opponent could deny his proof that in regard to political power at elections the work ing classes would not, under the bill, " come in for the lion's share of the spoil ;" almost amusing, too, was his conclusive proof that the whole possible addition, from any cases in which, what is termed the "gross estimated rental" was below the real rental, could not exceed the dangerous amount of L 2,400! Entirely, also, do we agree with the eloquent speaker in his denial of the relevancy of alarming inferences drawn from the state of things in America. For one thing, the suffrage proposed is nothing like the American suffrage. It is not universal. It is at present more than one-fifth of the adult males. Uuder the new bill it will be somewhat lower, but not so low, as one fourth. It is reckless to confound such differences. But chiefly, as we have before said, and we are pleased to see that Mr. GLADSTONE sets forth the view, with earnest eloquence, Englishmen are not Ameri cans. Their whole character and temperament is different. Universal Suffrage itself in England, Mr. GLADSTONE affirms, and justly, would not be the same thing as Universal Suffrage in America. " With a very extended suffrage you would still see monarchy and the aristocracy flourish as they do now by the pre-eminent and affectionate support of the people. . . . that very same feeling, that same tone, character, and sentiment which makes the working classes repose contentedly in your arms, and accept your legislation without a mur mur, that same feeling which makes them content without the suffrage will make them still more con tent, and still more trustworthy as the main sup port of the institutions of the country." Nobly said, Mr. GLADSTONE ! We believe that a working class constituency would surpass your Oxford one, and return you without a contest. The important features of Mr. GLADSTONE'S speech are two—one his cordial and earnest argu ment on behalf of the working class franchise, showing that he, at least, supported it with no hesitating convictions ; and, secondly, his firm avowal that the Government means to pass the bill. Referring to the suggestion that the Govern ment should withdraw the bill, he said that no such idea, or intention, or dream, as the adoption of such a course presupposes, has ever entered our heads ; and, in his opinion, any Ministry which could introduce a bill on such a subject, which, from want of caution and the defects of the bill itself, required to be withdrawn, would, in so acting, have covered itself with irretrievable dis grace. We trust, therefore, that the country may assume that the Ministry does not mean to disgrace itself, but that it will insist in the Lords, as well as in the Commons, that the little it has conceded shall become the law of the land this ses sion. It would certainly be intolerable to have to recommence all our work next winter. And, let obstructors be assured, that they would then have to concede much more. It will net be wise for their own interests to let political missionaries can vass the working classes next autumn and winter, retailing to them the hard and ungenerous things which many of their opponents have said of them. The ugly rush might even come next July. Sunday, but not Sabbatarianism, was again un der discussion in the House of Lords. The lesson taught by the way in which Lord EBuRT was compelled to withdraw his bill, has evidently had a - wholesome influence, and the wish is now evident amongst our legislators to deal with the Sunday on purely secular grounds. As long as they do this we shall be the last to complain. It is not securing to the labouring man, as far as legisla tion can do it, his much-needed holiday, that we object to ; what we repudiate is Sunday legislation covertly aiming at religious objects, and based on the grossly false assumption that the Ten Com mandments delivered to the Jews are as such binding upon us. Those commandments include moral and ceremonial precepts. The former binding in their own nature—the latter binding only from the circumstances of those to whom they were addressed, and the will of the law giver. It is mere effrontery to assume that be cause Jews were commanded to rest on the seventh day of the week Christians are bound to abstain from labour on the first. We have often thought the two great commandments of the Christian Legis lator would be much more appropriate over Chris tian altars, and much more befitting recitation in Christian worship than the antiquated ten of the circumcised nation. And certain we are that neither in those two commandments, which contain the very kernel of the Christian religion, nor any where else in the New Testament, is Jewish Sabbatarianism enjoined on the Gentiles. But let us not be misunderstood. The spirit of the second great Commandment harmonises alto gether with the spirit of the Jewish Commandment. That the working man should have a day —a weekly day of absolute rest from his ceaseless, generally monotonous, labours, is every way desirable. Every . . humane man must wish it. We believe it was the principal reason for its being given to the rude, semibarbarous race of slaves who had just escaped from Egypt. We could say ten thousand things in behalf of securing to the utmost, and for all, a perfect weekly holiday. But that is all. Even the Jewish command said not one word about worship on that day, and Christianity knows nothing, as an apostle assures us, of " days" at ail. We do not then object to a Sunday Trading Bill, we only object to any restrictions being introduced which are even indirectly intended to force the people to go to a place of worship, if that be posl sible. The province of our legislators, we conceive to be just this :—As a matter of fact, we have a weekly day on which the great mass of the popula tion, rich and poor, voluntarily cease from labour, or lay aside what they consider their business avoca tions—some from motives of religion, some from custom, some because they like repose. Laws exist which were intended to prohibit work and trading at all on a Sunday; and they can be, and in occa- sional instances, by county justices, at the instigation of Church zeal, or game•law spite, they have been enforced. These laws ought not to exist in their present form. What we seem to need, in order to secure by law to all the holiiay which so many have by custom, is—a statute which' prevents all needless trading and needless employment of labour —to prevent, in short, any man's holiday from being tampered with. We must confess, however, that when we come to the practical part 0 the business, we are entirely baffled. Almost each separate prohibition would involve cases of hard ship, and we lean very much to the opinion that law had better leave the whole matter to social sentiment. Happily, the short-time movement is so extending—the conviction is so widely spread ing, that the most is not to be got out of mortals by tasking them to the uttermost—that a reference to our weekly holiday society will be a law to itself. The report of the Field-lane Refuges and Ragged Schools, read at their annual meeting on Wednes day evening last, was in every way satisfactory. The national utility and importance of these excel lent institutions is every day becoming more exten sively recognised. It is felt to be inconsistent with common sense, besides being totally at variance with the principles of charity and benevolence, to leave children to mix with thieves and vagabonds through all their most impressionable years, and then to punish them for putting in practice the lessons they learn in such company. It is now many years since the ragged-school system was first tried. The endless disputes respecting religious and contro versial matters put so many hindrances in the way of National-schools, that it was very evident there would be little chance of the existing generation pro fiting much by them. Earnest-minded and large hearted men, however, found it difficult to reconcile themselves to inaction while hundreds of children were growing up in this metropolis, whose future lives, as blessings or curses, to society were greatly depending on the influences and training of their childhood. From small and unpretend ing beginnings the movement has gathered force until Ragged Schools and Refuges have become recognised institutions of the country. Whether in every point they are the best kind of schools for the poor, whether the instruction they give is always the most profitable possible, whether there be any flaws or defects in the system or its working, are not the questions, although some still raise them. Whatever their defects or deficien cies (and what human institution is without them ?) they supply a pressing want, and give a practical solution to a national difficulty. What would have been the fate of the thousands of children who have attended the ragged schools all over England in the last ten years if they had been left to the education their parents or friends could or would have given them? Let those who cavil on minor points answer this vital question to the disadvan tage of ragged schools if they can, before they maintain their objections. Who is to care for children such as those described in a passage of Mr. TAWELL'S report :—" On one occasion when 510 children were present, 123 were found to be either fatherless or motherless, 12 were orphans, 17 destitute, the parents of seven were in prison, and of two in madhouses, and 13 were deserted by either father or mother." It must be remem bered that it is not only education that is given to these poor children. Mental knowledge, however excellent, would not be sufficient. They are taught how to help themselves, they are given the means of getting their own living, and are often provided with situations on leaving the school. The follow ing interesting statistics prove the practical benefit to the scholars—" During thepast year 166 scholars had obtained situations from the day school, 83 were sent to refuges, 64 to the Royal Navy, 44 to the Shoeblack Society, 14 to the Crossing Sweepers' Brigade, and 11 restored to their friends—in all 382 provided for. The winter average attendance at the boys' night school was 150, and the boys' indus trial classes had been very well attended ; 288 fresh pupils had come to the tailoring classes, and 328 to the shoemakers'. The girls' industrial or servants' preparatory class continued to be of the greatest service ; 56 girls from the class this year received prizes for retaining their places over 12 months." There are several other branches these useful charities, which are highly appreciated by the destitute classes, such as the male night re fuge, which the Secretary asserts is frequented by youths and destitute men of good character, with the exception of about 6 per cent. During the year it has supplied lodging and bread to upwards of 8,000 persons, many of whom through its aid have since obtained employment. The new female night refuge, though only opened on the 21st of last December, had admitted, it was stated, 1,368 women ; 205 of whom had been provided with clothing and sent into service or to refuges, and 215 to other kinds of industrial occupation. These figures show the startling amount of destitution existing in the metropolis and the imperative need for such institutions, which are the more valuable as they do not restrict themselves to affording tem porary assistance, but in many cases succeed in procuring for these unfortunate persons the means of subsistence. The managers spare no trouble in endeavouring to meet the wants of these classes; they have established a Girls Refuge, for the most respectable of the girls in the general refuge, a Clothing Society, a Maternal Society, a Ragged Church Service and a Penny Bank. The latter has been heavily drawn upon during the last year, owing to the builders strike, but while we regret that the hard-earned savings of the men should have been thus misap plied, we must esteem it fortunate that so many labourers should have had the prudence to invest their savings. Summing up the whole of those assisted, relieved, or benefited in various ways, it appears that more than 10,000 of the lowest and most destitute classes have shared in the advantages of these in stitutions ; and that of this number 1,580 have been removed from the streets, and placed in positions where they can maintain themselves by their own labour, thus becoming useful members of society instead of, as heretofore, a curse and a dis grace. After weighing these facts we can scarcely think it possible that a nation possessing so much practical philanthropy as the English, can remain insensible to the merits of such institutions, or that the secretary should still have to lament that the annual subscriptions do not nearly equal the ex penditure. Her Majesty and the Prince Consort honoured the performanc3 at the Haymarket Theatre, last evening, with their presence. In attendance were the Viscountess Jocelyn, Hon. Beatrice Byng, Lord Metheun, Lord Chas. Fitzroy, and Lieut.. Col. Ponsonby. We are sorry to learn that the Earl of Dundonald is so seriously ill that the Countess, although herself much indisposed, has arrived from France to attend on his lord ship. His Excellency the Brazilialli Minister, Madame de Carvalho Moreira, and family have arrived at their re sidence in Cavendish-square, from Paris. The Crystal Palace will be thrown open at six o'clock this evening, at the reduced rate of half-a-crown, to mable the public to witness the great torchlight proces sion inaugurating the Mendelssohn statue. A dinner will take place on Saturday, the 16th of June next, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the formation of the Grenadier Guards, at which his Royal Highness the Prince Consort, as colonel of the regiment, will preside. It is proposed that all officers in and out of the regiment should meet on the occasion. By a telegram received from Australia, dated the 17th of March, it appears that trade at Melbourne continues depressed, and that several failures have taken place, in cluding the houses of W. M. Bell and Co., Rae, Dickson, and Co., Henriques Brothers, and Tickle. The shipments of gold during the month amounted to 148,000 ounces. At a meeting yesterday, of the Committee of London Bankers, the following resolution with reference to the early closing on Saturdays was carried—" That, in con formity with the reselution of the 19th March, the banking interest of the city resolve to close for business at 3 o'clock on Satirdaye on and after Saturday the 19th of May." THEI !SUN, Loilii3oN, FRIDAY - :EVENINGS, MAY 4, 1860, THE ROYAL ACADEMY. PRIVATE VIEW.-THIS DAY. A thought from Plato (Vol. x., p. 329, ed. Bipont) is the motto for the current (92d) cata logue of the Royal Academy Exhibition. It is to the effect that " Beauty alone has this characteris tic, that it is at once the most visible and the most pleasing of qualities." Of the charming truth thus sententiously enunciated, the walls of the Aca demy still, in the recurring spring season, afford as usual a most brilliant illustration. Not that there is, to our thinking, one solitary Great Picture in the whole display. There are several works undoubtedly very remarkable, some that are very beautiful, but not one that, according to our notion, can be absolutely designated as Great. Mulready, for one, makes no ap pearance whatever. His eagerly anticipated picture this year is—non iraventus. Maclise again has nothing. Ward has nothing. Eastlake nothing. Sir Edwin Landseer, however, has one , a large painting, hung in the place of honour (106), a " Flood in the Highlands." The readers of the closing scene of " The Mill on the Floss" will look with interest to the great animal painter's repre sentation of that wild and chaotic spectacle of ruin —a localised deluge. P. F. Poole has, in (40), an exquisite work of art, a picture demonstrative of the fact that the artist is in truth in the meridian of his powers. It is a poetic embodiment in lustrous colours of that closing scene in Sir Bulwer Lytton's classical romance of" The Last Days of Pompeii" the escape of Glaucus and lone with the blind girl Nydia from the appalling outbreak of Vesu vius. The three figures in the boat are there revealed floating ever and ever in the very atmosphere of Dreamland to the sound of the lyre of Nydia, in the more golden than silvery beams of the Italian moonlight. J. E. Millais has also a single picture of rare excellence, too, of its kind —(29) " The Black Brunswickcrs," a companion painting to the famous and popular chef d'ceuvre of the artist, "The Release of the Huguenot." Here, however, it is a parting, not a meeting. Several of the details are really marvellous—the en graving of Napoleon le Grand on the wall—the white satin of the lady's dress—the pet spaniel. S. A. Hart is prolific in his contributions con sidering the elaboration of the scenes depicted ; the most ambitious of them being (74)—" A historical limning illustrative of the origin of Magna Charta and of the patriotic glory of Arch bishop Langton. W. C. T. Dobson, the new Asso ciate, has several graceful works, each of them being instantly recognisable—instance (81) "Die Heimkehr !" F. Grant's happiest portrait is in comparably, out of the six he exhibits this season, (72) the life-like effigy of the Right Hon. J. W. Henley. Charming is J. C. Horsley's (87) " Showing a Preference"—a love-glimpse under a white umbrella or rather a parar-sol. The taste for umbrellas this year on the walls of the Academy is something grotesque. It is of course just a coincidence, but the oddest of coincidences in its way—like the shower of apple; blossom sprink led on the walls last season. What shall we say of J. C. Hook's noble picture (186) " Stand Clear !" What ? But that it is an instant justification of his election to the dignity of Royal Academican ! W. P. Frith has in (162) a painting in every re spect worthy of the artist whose hand gave us the microcosm of " The Derby Day." The subject here however is wonderfully different—an in cident in the lawless career of that courtliest of highwaymen Claude Daval—an incident commemorated in his History of England, (Vol. 1., p. 383) by the late Lord Macaulay. The fine lady who ransoms the bulk of her father's waylaid treasures by getting out of the travelling carriage to dance a cotillion, or rather a coranto, with Claude Duval, upon the heath, possesses a sweet, startled face that, once seen, will not readily be forgotten. The whole picture is a work of admi rable merit. H. O'Neil, the other newly-elected associate, has a very daring and remarkable paint ing (223), simply entitled " A Volunteer." It is a representation of the wildest terror and anguish, huddled together upon the deck of a wrecked vessel at the moment when one of the brave tars, with a rope girt about his waist, is about to plunge into the raging waters : bent upon opening thus, if pos sible, a communication between the shore and the shipwrecked—those appalled men and horror stricken women and children. J. Sane contributes to the collection several of his child-portraits— those almost angelic delineations of infantine grace, a grace with him almost always (by a chance of rare good fortune) golden-haired. One of these is the likeness (309) of the youthful Lord Clifton. G. Lance, again, in (317), squanders marvelously in the early spring time a store of "Full Ripe" fruit from his inexhaustible cornucopeia. Poor Frank Stone has left behind him, to adorn the walls of the Academy Exhibition, thus posthumously (409), a French illustration of the truth sung by our Eng lish Shakspere in the gay ditty of the rogue Auto lycuS— " A merry heart goes all the day, Your sad one tires in a mile-a!" Miss Mutrie this year far surpasses herself in her delicious flower picture, ex. gr. (460), the hank of " Heather" and trailing honeysuckle. A. Solomon's (478) " Drowned ! Drowned !" is a wonderful shadowing forth upon canvas of Hood's Bridge of Sighs," with the additional ghastliness (we eau hardly say the supplementary pathos) re sulting from the introduction upon the scene of a throng of haggard masqueraders. The unwhole some wretchedness of the whole scene is almost too much to admit of our according to this really fine work what it so well deserves—our earnest admiration. We have not yet mentioned J. R. Herbert's (128) " The Lily among the Lilies," and we have delayed doing so because, in spite of the genius of the distinguished artist, of which genius it is the latest manifestation—a genius, moreover, that will not be looked for here in vain—we are not satisfied. The orchids and the other blossoms embroidering the ground are wonderful—the atmosphere of the pic ture is wonderful—but the_countenanee of the "Lily of Israel" is altogether without a touch of all those exquisite charms of expression which beamed from the same countenance of divine maternity in the same eminent painter's indisputable mas terpiece. Regarding the present picture in the vivid recollection of that great work, we are disappointed. T. Webster—to turn from the representative of the highest school in English art to one of the chief glories of the more modest genre school—Webster has two small pictures in the present year's Exhibition—(l2l) Autumn and (133) Winter, neither of them above aver age specimens of our pictorical humourist. W. Dyce has three paintings in this 1860 collec tion, about the smallest of these being to our mind the most successful in every particular, certainly the most impressive (122), " The Man of Sorrows" —a miniature representation of our Lord seated musing, in awfullgrief, in the midst of a rocky wilder ness A word must be written en passant in regard to the best court picture ever painted—J. Phillips (58) perfectly truthful and exquisitely beautiful painting of "The Marriage of the Princess Royal with Prince Frederick William." For a master piece like this, one might almost look as a matter of course for the artist's knighthood. Our hurried survey of the gallery, however, is abruptly closed, from the necessity of our re marks at once going to press. The present is but an evidence of our first hasty impression after sauntering round the rooms of the Academy on the day set apart for the Private View. Yesterday was the Royal visit to the Academy. To-morrow will bring the annual dinner in the evening. On Monday the public will at length be admitted. Among the more distinguished of those who thronged the Gallery this afternoon at the Private View we observed his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, his Grace the Duke of Argyll, the Right Hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord J. Russell, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Bishop of Oxford, the Dean of Westminster, Clarkson Stanfied, R.A., E. M. Ward, R.A., and Mrs. E. M. Ward, W. E, Frost, A.M.A., LATEST NEWS. The following telegrams were received at Mr. Reuter's office : BOLOGNA, MAY 3. The Syndics of the Romagna have presented addresses to the King, adding 5,000,000 f. as a voluntary contribution to the expenses of the State. The clergy of Bologna have also presented an address to his Majesty. To-day his Majesty will review the troops and receive two other addresses from the clergy of the Rom agna. BERLIN, MAY 3. In to-day's sitting of the Chamber of Deputies a debate took place in reference to the Schleswig Holstein question. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Baron von Schleinitz, in his speech on this subject, said :—" Having in view the prosent state of things in Schleswig, the Federal Diet could hardly neglect any further its duty of examining what Germany is entitled to demand in conse quence of the Conventions concluded in 1851 and 1852. We cannot accept the acts of Denmark as a fulfilment of the obligations she had undertaken. Prussia takes the interests of the German Duchies to heart, and, both as a Federal and a European Power, she will do for them all that lies in her power." TRIESTE, MAY 3. Advices received from Constantinople to the 28th ultimo report that Belgium had offered tho Porto 40,000,000 francs for the Island of Cyprus. BOLOGNA, MAY 3. A splendid ball was given at the theatre yester day evening in honour of the King, who was most enthusiastically received. A hymn was sung by 100 of the principal lady inhabitants. The hall was crowded. The number of persons present was about 4,500. MARSEILLES, MAY 3, It is reported here, on the authority of letters received from Bombay to the 11th ultimo, that orders had been given in Bombay and Madras to suspend the despatch of troops to China, hopes being entertained of an amicable arrangement of the pending difficulties. Khan Bahadoor had been hung. The disturbances among the indigo planters appeared to be subsiding. MARSEILLES, MAY a A letter received here from Palermo reports tha the insurrection had again broken out in the in terior of Sicily. ALEXANDRIA Said Pasha has nominated several officers chosen from among the native Christians. This example of tolerance has produced a sensation. AUSTRALIA. MELBOURNE, MARCH 17, The state of trade is very unsatisfactory. Seve ral failures have taken place, including Messrs. W. M. Bell and Co. ; Rae, Dickson, and Co. ; Henri ques Brothers, and Tickle. 148,000 ounces of gold have been shipped during the month. Exchange on London is quoted at par. Wool is firm ; the quotations are, greasy, 10d. to 141 d. ; fleece, 171 d. to 23d. Tallow scarce. Hides limited. SYDNEY, MARCH 17. The new gold fields are very productive and attract diggers from Victoria. Trade is brisk. The supply of wool plentiful. Exchange on Lon don, 1 per cent. prem. Government debentures— an active demand for terminables, but intermin ables are dull. ADELAIDE, AIARcII 18. Parliament has been dissolved. The elections of new members are proceeding. Seasonable rains have fallen lately. Exchange on London—The banks buy at 1 discount and sell at 1 premium. Trade is dull, but no failures have taken place. Flour £lB per ton. Copper scarce, £lO5 per ton. Burra shares are quoted £153. INDIA. CALCUTTA, APRIL 7. The Bank of Bengal has reduced its rate of dis count 1 per cent. all round. Government securities—Four per Cents., 16 discount; Five per Cents., 33 : discount. Exchange unaltered. Freights to London, 80s. BOMBAY, APRIL 11. The markets are firm. Exchange on London, 2 11. Freights to London, 655. FRANCE. A bill for improving the navy, approved by the Council of State, has been presented to the Legis lative Corps. By this bill the number of vice-ad mirals is increased to 12, and that of rear-admirals to 24. The Recherche, transport, commanded by a lieutenant of the Imperial Navy, has sailed from Brest with military stores for Senegal. THE BRAZILIAN AND RIVER PLATE MAILS. SOUTHAMPTON, FRIDAY. The Royal Mail Company's steamer Magdalena, Captain Woolward, with the above mails, has ar tived. Her dates are—Buenos Ayres, 29th March ; Montevideo, Ist April ; Rio de Janeiro, Bth ; Bahia, 12th ; Pernambuco, 14th ; St. Vincent, 22d ; and Lisbon, the 30th. She bring 155 passengers, and specie and bullion valued at £27,080. At Montevideo, her Majesty's sloop Spy. At Buenos Ayres, her Majesty's ships, Leopard, Ar dent, Oberon, Curacoa, en route for Buenos Ayres. At Rio de Janeiro, Madagascar, and Industry. The Royal Mail Steam Company's steamer Mersey left Rio for the River Plate on the Bth of April. The Oneida left St. Vincent for the Brazils on the 20th of April. The screw steamer Bahiana, from Bombay and the Cape of Good Hope, arrived at St. Vincent on the 21st of April, with damage to her machinery and short of supplies. Her passen gers were transferred to the Magdalena. The screw steamer Portugal, with 240 passengers, left Pernam buco on the Pith of April, three days before the Magdalena ; she had not reached St. Vincent on the 22d. The ship Petrel, of Bristol, had arrived at St. Vincent. The screw steamer Milford Haven, from Milford Haven for the Brazils, reached Lis bon on the 30th. At Buenos Ayres during the month there had been great accession to business generally, in both imports and exports. The demand for produce had been languid, owing to the continued advance in prices. Cattle were rapidly improving in condi tion, and estancieros were disposed to ask high rates. The general tone of the market was satis factory, and money exceedingly plentiful, and con fidence universal. The political news was unimportant. Sales of the hides during the month, 45,000, at from 61 to 651 reals ; slaughter during the month, 30,000 head. Sales of wool for export limited ; parcels of good quality sold at 100 to 115 dollars; demand is slack, and speculators hold out for high rates. Exchange to the amount of £200,000 was passed' , for this packet at 663, to 675. IIDERATURB. Jottings from my Journal. By Eliza Cook. Routledge. Few of the readers of that popular periodical, Eliza Cook's Journal, can hate forgotten than de lightful prose sketches bearing the name of the gifted poetess, which occasionally enlivened its pages. Written in an animated and brilliant style, they were totally free from pretension, and though containing plenty of sound sense mid sober counsel for those who liked to appropriate it, they often hid their graver meaning under playful jest or good natured satire. It is therefore with great satisfac tion that we see a selection of these sketches now offered to the public in this cheap and convenient form, and thus rendered accessible to a large circle of readers. Ranging over a variety of subjects, they are mostly on familiar topics, such as household peculiarities, respectable prejudices, and pardon able eccentricities. We are instructed how to " Make the Best of it" in the problems and perplexities of life ; we aro reminded of the lamentable results which sometimes fol low " Making a Day of it ;" we are shown the miseries of " Best Rooms" and the comforts of " Easy Chairs." We get a peep at " Flowers and Trees," and "Our Cottage in the Country." We have the iniquities of " People who de not like Poetry" clearly manifested to us, we are introduced to the attractive presence of our First and Second Sweethearts. " Our First Sweetheart" is among the most fresh and captivating papers in the volume. The easy and truthful pictures it affords are not drawn by an every-day pencil, as such passages as the following will testify : "One side of this Eden wilderness was bounded by a rippling stream of lucid water, known as ' Miller's Brook,' across which, close by the frogs' hermitage, were a couple of rough planks, forming a bridge, leading on to a fresh, grassy bank, where flags, and rushes, and forget-me-nots, grew thick and odorous, under the shadow of poplars and alders ; and beyond lay the Long Water Meadows,' with Dives's farm in the distance. On the other side was an ancient rambling sort of orchard, inclosed with old grey paling, all covered with yellow lichens, and wifted with wiry ivy, with an occasional azure periwinkle and red dog rose peeping out, reminding one of Infancy's blue eyes'and ruddy cheeks playing with the wrinkled brow and silver hair of a grandfather. Ay, that was an orchard where bouncing cats-head apples shook their fists in the nigger faces of muscle-plums ; where greengages bursting with sugary juice tumbled into the cool grass, and gipsy filberts rattled down about our ears with very gentle assistance ; then the mulberries and the `swans-egg' pears, and the damsons and the cherries—oh, such cherries !—may-dukes and bigaroons, and blackhearts and morellos, hanging like coral and jasper wreaths from the drooping boughs, propped up here and there by a broken rail. Ah, what mouths, what pinafores, what hands, used to be seen in that old orchard during the cherry season ; what morning gluttony, what evening excesses, were carried on in defiance of all paternal authority and serious prognostications of cholera and sudden death. We taught the very sheep dog to mum ble the delicious fc.od, and old ' Watch' was often seen with his grizzled muzzle deeply stained with the forbidden fruit --to say nothing of the pony having real nonpareils handed to him by dozens through a gap in the paling, and whole capfuls of the finest Orleans,' or melting swans-eggs,' being bestowed in munificent generosity on any ragged wayfarer who looked with longing eyes on our depreda tions. " This paradise of an orchard led through a gate into a lrthgthy sort of a copse, the copse led into a cloverfield, and ' the cloverfield skirted a lane with luxuriant hedgerows, where bees, butterflies, and grasshoppers made assignations with the honeysuckle and sweet-woodruff; where the infant stragglers half hid themselves among the wild briony and tall foxgloves, and sat threadling `cheeses' from the mal low, or flinging ox-eyed daisies at each o th er by the hour together. About a quarter of a mile down this lane, just at the commencement of the vilfage, was The blacksmith's rustic forge and thatched cottage, *here the ringing ham mer made cheerful music, and as happy a family dwelt as one might meet in a day's march, and with whom we scraped an enthusiastic and immediate acquaintance. " Widow Hewitt was a dear, primitive old woman, with only two faults in the world. The first, and by ar the most terrible in our estimation, was an inveterate prejudice in favour of camomile tea, and the strength of her prejudice was only equalled by that of the decoction. Her preserves were superb, and her apple-pies—her real ' apple-pies'— were something to talk about, putting to the blush the make-believe fashion of trumpery tarts, where an ounce of fruit is spread over any quantity or quality of crust, with prison bars laid across, as if to protect the beggarly thing from invasion ; her cake was equal to her pie, and berhome mad e wines were equal to her cake. Somehow,we soon got on such terms with the old lady that we had the run of a certain corner cupbeard, and revelled in raspberry-jam, greengage marmalade, and sparkling gooseberry ; but, alas I there was a bubbly. jock' to our gastric felicity in the form of that horrid camomile tea, which the dear old lady insisted on administering, in the full dose of half a pint, to every luck • less being within reach of her prescription. No matter what was the ailment—fever, sprained ankle, or neuralgia, —it could only be cured by camomile tea. Camomile tea was her ' life-preserver ;' it was necessary to existence, in her opinion, as the air we breath ; and, as old Gimble the wheelwright said, ' It wur a merciful providence she didn't take to quack pison-stuff on the same scale.' She bribed The Sunday-school children into its bitterness once a month; she persuaded the landlord of 'The Chequers' that it would remove his grog-blossoms; she made the dressmaker be lieve that it would clear her complexion;' and it was as serted that she had attempted to dose thd "old foxhound, Music, when he came to them a puppy with the distemper. Certain it is that old Music always displayed active signs of disapprobation whenever he caught sight of the brown pitcher that held the elixir, and it is also certain that he scratched up the camomile flowers on the common with a force that savoured more of revenge than mischief. Dame Hewitt's other fault was in thinking that her son, who managed the business, was the only son in the world worthy of a mother. Certainly, Ben was a fine-hearted, hand some young raan ; he was seldom seen at The Chequers,' and played the fiddle at church every Sunday; he knew a good deal of Shakspere and Goldsmith ; always had a flower in his jacket button-hole; managed to shoe the most vicious horses without difficulty, and had a knack of quiet ing obstreperous babies in a magical manner. Ben's eyes and whispers were enough to disturb the peace of all the Phillises and Daphnes in the neighbourhood ; and when his mother declared that the baronet's son was not to be compared to him, there is little doubt that her opinion was fully concurred in by more young ladies than one." We are assured in these pages that even luggage has its philosophy, a fact that will scarcely be dis puted by any one who reads and recognises the versimilitude of the following sketch : " That there is philosophy in luggage, we are convinced ; we have known people who travelled with unnumbered boxes and bags, and yet were without essential comforts, and we have held pleasant company with these who had extremely compact arrangements, yet needed nothing. Some persons are as diffuse and unmeaning in their packing as in their conversation. We have seen a bit of top-string put round a chest of two hundredweight ; we have seen an address left on a valise indicating that it was to be sent to Bristol, when the owner fully intended it at the present time to go to Cam bridge ; we have seen hampers burst at the most awkward moment, and parcels come undone' when it was impossible to do them up again, whereat the lords of creation' generally got in a way,' and make speeches as sharp as their razors. Somehow, men seldom put up heroically with trifling an noyances. They can look a bankruptcy in the face with the courage of a lion, and often bear the death of a wife, who brought them ten thousand pounds, with Spartan re signation; but give them an ill-cooked dinner, ask them to wait for you five minutes, or let a parcel, as wo have stated above, run restive in their hands, and one might think a linchpin was coming out of the world's axle by the fuss and fume they make. Poor things I they are but human, after all. Certainly, it is very provoking to find ourselves at a railway station, as the reputed proprietors of divers ad juncts, nobody knowing exactly what or where—trunks uncorded, bags unfastened, brown paper bundles in most equivocal security, cloaks here, rugs there, and umbrellas out yonder. One gets into a heated bewilderment, that leaves us in our corner seat, with our ' back to the horses,' in a state something between scarlet fever and nettle-rash. " Be assured that philosophy and luggage have an affi nity that yields great personal comfort, an we advise all who pack up' for general travelling excursions, to do with as few packages as they can, and keep those packages as concentrated as possible. Strap all loose wrappers together, and tie up all parasols, sticks, and the like, closely and firmly, yet so arranged that they are easily available in case of requisition, and put plain addresses on every package. " Eschew all the impeding animalcula of locomotion— such as indescribable baskets filled with overything that is never wanted, bunches of flowers that are dead long before they reach the hands they were intended for ; ibags of bis cuits which you never eat, or if you do, only remind you of the possibility of getting bread from sawdust. Carry no more books and papers than you can put in your pocket, and above all, as the highest practical point of the philo sophy of luggage,' renounce band-boxes." Who has not experienced the uncomfortable con dition so pathetically described in the following passage, when visiting a household which are slaves to their " Best roon':— " Very trying things are these best rooms,' especially where the lady proprietor is excessively particular,' and walks round with her laced cambric, which she insinuates into every crevice, to ascertain if the unhappy housemaid has done her duty efficiently. Heaven preserve us from a hostess who is devoted to a best room !' "The children, if there happened to be such humanising things in the establishment, look upon the walls with a sort of religious awe. They never play' in the best room ;' they never dream of clutching at the splendid bell-rope ; they never have the most remote idea of making Lord Mayor's coaches of the embroidered footstools ; they never think of playing at ' 80-peep' behind the richly-fringed damask drapery ; they never dare to speculate as to whether, with a stout pin, they could pick out the eyes of the queer little man on the Indian card-box; mirth and mischief are thoroughly mesmerised, and the little darlings sit or stand as though their life-tide had been suddenly manufactured into the best starch.' "And let ns confess, that we experience no inconsider able sense of misery ourselves in such a situation. It may be that a trace of the gipsy blood is in our veins, or that some natural disqualification for ' gentility,' equally ignoble, marks us, but we certainly are never quite comfortable in a room that is only occupied on 'grand occasions.' " We remember being once put into a ' best room,' in order that our devotions te Apollo might be undisturbed. It was, doubtless, a considerate and gracious condescension on the part of our entertainers; but never shalkwe forget the shudder that cause over us as the door closed, and we stood alone amid all the 'pumps and vanities' of a domestic Iceland. The room was large enough for all needed com fort and agreeable ' elbow space,' but perfectly apoplectic with upholstered repletion. Every article of furnit ure wa s mathematically placed; every chair sad ottoman was as prim and proper as a row of young ladies during the first hour of an evening party. The chandeliers and candelabras were done up in sombre -looking garments, and the curtains and sweeping draperies assumed the same sullen frigidity. Not a tint of the carpet could be seen, scarce a ray of light wa s admitted through the closely-blinded windows, at d we stood transfixed between a gorgeous console' in book-mus lin, and a grand divan' in a brown Holland Taglioni,' with our inspiration oozing out rapidly." Music and musical people occupy a prominent part of the sketches—the " Musical Corner " of the - journal having been one of its most attractive fea tures. The folly of parents insisting on their daughters possessing the "Universal Accomplish ment," and expending large annual sums t acquire an art for which the requisite taste and talent eati never be instilled by professors, is for cibly exhibited. let *As hope the obvious good sense of these remarks will con - Vinae some heads of families of their mistake on this point. Arts are not like hafidirafts that require nothing but practice and application to secure proficiency ; yet hay often do we see girls who confess they dislike ramie, chained to the piano for three or four hours a-day' s , at a great cost of money to the parent, pa tience to the teacher, and discomfort and vexa tion to the young pupil. In others of the sketches we find some good advice to those who sing and play with tolerable skill, and if some of these hint* are taken we shall soon have a considerable im provement in our amateur musical parties. Young ladies are shown that words and meanings may be perfectly distinct in sentimental ballads, and are re commended to select songs whose words will be worthy of a clear and distinct enunciation—a rare quality in singers. An excellent paper on danee music should be read by all who wish to enable their friends to enjoy a quadrille or a polka even at some sacrifice of musical dignity. " Giving up Music" is another of the harmonious subjects, and very sensible advice it contains, certainly not unneeded, since most of us can recall the names of ladies who were accomplished musicians in their single days, but who, when they took the cares of a household upon them, forthwith " gave up, music." One of the most attractive of these musi cal articles is that on " Old Tunes," from which we quote the conclusion : "We believe we could dance with the gout to ' St. Patrick's Day,' and sing with the toothache if ' See the Rosy Morn appearing' were chorused around us. As for ' Roy's Wife,' despite of her celebrity for jilting, we are ever ready to be off with her on her slightest whisper ; and ' We're a' Noddin ' has kept us out of our bed many an extra ten minutes, when some little' or big ' warbler' has volunteered it just as the chamber candles were lighted. "When have we tripped so joyously through the fes tive maze,' as in the free-and-easy time of Christmas jollity,' after supper, when young and old, grave and gay, are enlisted, nolens volens,' into hands across, down the middle. and up again,' while Money in both Pockets,' The Young May Moon,' or Rory O'More,' was inspir ing our ecstatic antics ; and then, shall we reveal our foolish emotions of plaintive sympathy awakened by the ' Robin's Petition,' or Savourneen Dheelish,' when a dreamy dim ness has gathered before our eyes, until the very blaze of the cheerful fire has lost its distinctive form, and we have seen nothing but the poor, starving little bird shivering in the snow-storm, and the exiled wanderer in his mournful solitude. Oh, we do love these old tunes and ditties, and hope we ever shall love them ! And how many more are there in this hard-grinding world, who snatch glimpses of happiness from these antiquated sources. How the children of the poor will cluster round some ragged servitor of Apollo who scrapes away at some of these vulgar tunes,' and how they involuntarily assume attitudes and steps of most ani mated, though grotesque arrangement. These steps al ways appear to us the identical ones mentioned so often by philosophers, as being between the sublime and the ridicu lous, yet we scarcely dare to smile at the approach of Igno rance to the altar of Spiritual Beauty, uncouth as the ad vance may be. Let them shuffle and twist, and slide and jump, in their own uncivilised way ; they have ' music in their souls,' and it is an opportunity for their getting nigher to God., through the medium of an' old tune. " And what would the mother do without these old tunes,' to hush her infant to teat, or arouse it into chuck ling joy Who ever heard a mother or nurse attempt to soothe her young one with a scientific bravura, or a ballad from the latest opera ? 'Why, the thing is not to be ima gined No, it is the old tunes '—the quaint and ancient morsels of common melody—that are naturally uppermost on the nursery tongue, and pass from generation to genera tion, with undiminished charms. " There are few hearts but what have a grey stone or two erected in them to the memory of some departed loved ones. These consecrated tablets are mercifulty shadowed by time into a soft oblivion, and we are spared the pang of continually tracing their mournful inscription, until a ray of light is thrown by some thought-star, and we con over the sad words with renewed devotion. All poets and philo , e sophers have discovered how slight a touch will bring back our warmest recollections, and, perhaps, among the strongest links which hold us to the dead, there is none stronger than the old tune' which they liked to listen to, or used to sing. 'What a gush of gentle sorrow will spring in the father's breast, when by chance he hears the self same air that his fair girl learnt, years ago, to please him. The child is missing in his home—her place is vacant—she is gone from his warm hearth-stone to the cold sepulchre ; but the ' old tune' lives on, and has the power to thrust the world and its allurements from his mind—to take him back to scenes of bygone happiness, and lead him onward to the future in hope and faith. The son never forgets the melody that his mother used to sing to him in his early years. Simply and imperfectly as it might be rendered by her, yet he was gladdened and ex cited by it, and he will recognise it when his own hair is white, and his limbs tottering, with a tender respect, as the old tune' which he loved when he was a boy. Oh, old tunes' are blessed things 1 and, come where and when they may, the one who is akin to heaven as well as earth, will bow to their influence. Never let us be ashamed of finding ourselves laid hold of by Tom Bowling' or Black-eyed Susan.' Let us not deem it a weakness to detect our feet in an incipient vertigo, at the bidding of ' Mrs. M'Leod' or Paddy Carey ;' for we have little reverence for the man or woman who is never to be warped from the frigid proprieties of artificial existence, and betray the music in their souls,' at the vulgar interference of old tunes.' " Here is a homely portrait that looks as if it had stepped out of the old-fashioned frame over some household chimneypiece :-- "'The old lady of the old school' generally has an espe cial and peculiar arrangement of working tools, in the shape of scissors, pins, needles, tapes, threads, and so forth, with which none dare to interfere, under penalty of her severe displeasure and very active resistance. She will graciously lend or giv c from her stores, but the articles must be asked for, not taken ; end a vulgar snatch at a piece of bobbin, or an unceremonious appropriation of her best scissors, may be productive of considerable mental excitement. She is ever obstinately bent on threading her needle herself, particularly by candlelight; and when she by chance does allow another to perform the task forler, it is only on the strength of her firm conviction, that the eyes of the needles in our days are made very differently from what they used to be.' "She is a little given to etiquette, and meets strangers with a visible evidence of having studied the 'Minuet de Is Cour ;' but if you can once get her to dilate on the acting of Mrs. Siddons, or get her back to the palmy time of Vauxhall, her formality dissolves wonderfully, under the recital of a crush she endured when she went to see Isa bella,' when she never enjoyed herself so much in her life, far she cried the whole time,' and the delight she felt in listening to Mrs. Bland's ditties, while it poured with rain one summer night. " She cannot be induced to admire railways, and strenu ously declares that people never know when to stop with their inventions and science. She thinks it very strange that the world cannot go fast enough with respectable stage coaches and eight 'horse waggons, as it used to do ; and on her son's proposing to take her to Brighton by express train,' she indignantly and seriously begs him not to talk nonsense.' " The old lady of the old school' frequently appears as the patroness of a venerable spaniel, or antiquated, ringed tabby, whom she protects from the violent clutches of her youngest grandson, with uniform benevolence. The domes tics may occasionally neglect herself, and she pardons the delinquents unconcernedly; but if they venture to forget Fop's dinner, or Tibby's milk, a very decided reminder is volunteered. On inquiry, the dog or cat will often be found to have been the favourite, or eift, of her late husband, and the old lady's love for the dumb thing is a tender and natural compliment to the memory of the departed. "In literature, she prefe rs Sh a k speare an d G o ld sm ith. She honestly declares she cannot understand much of the poetry put forth in our time, but that she can perfectly comprehend Othello' and the Deserted Village;' but then,' as she observes, those writers were simple.' She also has a predile c ti on for Whittington and his Cat' and ' Little Red Ridi ng H oo d . ' All th e juvenile possessions in this department are the gifts of grandmamma, and it is shrewdly suspected she sometimes has a peep into them en tirely on her own account, without even the excuse of little Tom's wanting to know what that pretty yellow book is all about. _ _ "As regards dancing, she cannot bring herself to un derstand the ' Cellarius ' ' or appn;ve of the Gallopade. The Schottische and Mazurka aro invidiously compared with the minuets and gavottes of her young days ; while the Polka and Valse a deux Temps' are denounced as highly indecorous.' She has no nodal; of women swing ing and twirling round, like so many bra:6,ln teetotums. E yen the ' Lancers' and First Set' are not in full favour. but she evinces undying affection and admiration for a coun try dance, and when the opening bars of ' The Triumph' or The Recovery' are heard, and preparations for ' down the middle and up again' are making, then do we see the old lady nodding time with her head, and betraying certain fidgetting symptoms with her feet ; and if it should happen to be Christmas-eve, do nit be astonished if she suffer some favourite and audacious young friend to pull her into the rank, where we find her jigging away in a fashion that causes one to doubt whether her frequent complaints of rheunn tism are justified. At cards she is very serious, and sits down to a rubber with imperturbable gravity and precision. Even the darling grandson stands a fair chance of being snubbed' if be dare to address her while the odd trick' _ _ is pending ; an d, though she be of a most amiable and for giving disposition, she has been known to bear violent animosity for three months towards the most amiable of old gentlemen, because he trumped her best card." The sketch entitled " Come out of That" furnishes a pleasant sample of the author's ready skill in combining jest and earnest, humour and pathos. It commences with a tragi-comic narrative of her troubles with a juvenile nephew of whom she had rashly taken charge. Having reluctantly consented to take him to the Crystal Palace, she arrayed him in velvet tunic and kid gloves, but imprudently leaving him alone for a few minutes she discovered him deep in a cucum ber frame, rake in hand : " Come out of that," shrieked his justly incensed relative and mentor, but in vain. Before she could reach him he was prostrate in the dirtiest corner, to the utter destruc tion of Genoa robe and light kid. Thi s d omes tic melodrama gives rise to a few uflections on analo gous cases among older, if not wiser, folks than the unlucky little culprit of the story, which are written in the author's most vigorous and graphic style. If we turn to lighter subjects, few can help smiling over the quiet fun of " Stirring the Fire," in which we are assured that each mortal considers the right to perform this simple domestic act as his own ex clusive prerogative. After its humorous pictures of the family rivalry existing on the matter, we come to the following animated and amusing com parisons " Our comparison' is rath er l a rge, and we occasionally rove and range into the strangest of fancies under its va garies. We have often thought the sea coal pile very like the calorical of political government, originally intended to promote healthy warmth, but which, under bad ma nagement, often presents very little heat, and a great deal of smoke, the carboniferous grossness of which, at last, chokes up the chimney of the people, until the chimney becomes ou fire, and a revolutionary reform notion, in some she or other, gives it a temporary clear out and most Ma she too , one the to c Cia phi and auil tot gei tio: gid roc all it a tioi cat wo Ro An Br Ha Pa biE Pr Vi Tr Pe