The Express.
London, England, 1847-10-28 00:00:00

THE LITERATURE OF THE LOWER ORDERS.

BATCH THI FIRST.
The lower orders of English society hare a litera-
ture of their own, the mere existence of which is not familiar
to the general public, while it may be safely asserted that in
singular character and significance as manifestation of the
popular mind, and its vast influence for good or evil in the
education of the masses, are almost entirely overlooked. This
literature, like the class to which it is addressed, has its own
peculiar ideas and idiosyncrasies—its own system of mo-
rals and merits. Between it, especially in its most rabid
or normal forme, and the higher and better known
offsprings of the press. there is little in common—
their tones are distinct. The spirit in which they deal with
the questions which influence and agitate society u different
Their types of life are unlike. They generally disagree in
their ideals of character. Their notions of the heroic ere
wide as the poles asunder. Their virtues and their vices—
their deeds to be imitated, and their things to be shunned—
are in no way referable to the same standard. The ethics
which flourish in the inferior hemisphere ef thought, suffi-
ciently differ from thaw which are recognised in the upper,
to startle the accidental intruder tuts the unaccustomed
domain.
Yet this literature is an unquestionable power in the sphere
in which it works. The moralities which it enshrines go
home to the bosoms of its many readers, with the high
sanctions attached to the printing press—always a powerful
warranty to the imperfectly educated, as all who ere con-
yenant with the processes of intellectual development in the
ignorant are well aware. The characters which it invests
with the attractive attributes of heroism ; the tone which it
assumes in its judgments; and the charities., or uncharitable-
ness, which it inculeates—all become so much mental and
moral aliment for the recipient--who on his aide has neither
the will nor the ability to dispute its dicta.
The importance of fully comprehending the nature, cha-
racter, and extent, of this popular literature, can hardly
be over-estimated. To disregard it is neither wise nor
safe from peril. It behove. the citizen- and the
statesman equally to know what influences are at work,
moulding and determining the characters and opiniene
of the masses. Within t le of their activity, these vici-
ous publications are as yerntial and imperious as the daily
newspapers or the great quarterly reviews are in theirs, and
perhaps, more so, as in the former place the elements of
individual and independent judgment are not ready formed
' and prepared to contest any given point or principle with
No
.accepted teacher. The uneducated, and, proximately,
the tesperfeely-eduesteti, are compelled to accept everything
on trust. Their opinions must be, in a great measure at
least, presented to them ready made. The functions of the
instructor are thus at once rendered the most honourable
and the most nepossitde is society. No matter which
is intimately essmsehed with the growth of virtue and
intelligens), is the waking classes -can be without its
interest. While the subject of education for the
maser, and the tine connected with seeondary punish-
ments and dr esleWes et Ignorance with crime, engross so
largo • deamicl genseal !attention in the country and the
semi ar sdela sr sad promise to come so prominently be-
fee ImpsehlAsgidatere in the approaching sessions of
perk=we this& we shall be discharging a duty to the
deisg a Nevin to the cause of a better education
Ch:l4ae pomp* in rendering a brief account of some of the
inuirmsdallthe by which its intellectual education is at
pr Imed essdeeted.
n a few short notices, we propose, then, to inquire into,
and report upon, the issues of the people's press : to examine
and indicate the character and tendencies of those under-
currents
of literature which have hitherto failed to command
that attention which their importance entitles them to re-
ceive. The man who declared that any one might make the
laws of a country—so that he was permitted to write its
popular ballade—probably did not exaggerate the power of
the people's literature in producing and determining the
national character. It is therefore of the first moment that
the springs of that literature should be well watched, and
every possible moans taken to keep them unpolluted. The
knowledge of an evil is, however, an absolute preliminary to
its removal. Investigation must precede legislation.
As our first batch of illustrations, we shall take the wine
weekly publications of Mr. Edward Lloyd, of Salisbury -
square. This publisher issues, we believe, more than
a dozen serials weekly—at a uniform rate of one penny each.
Of all these, enormous numbers an sold. The greater
portion of them consists of tales and romances—an turning
upon scenes of robbery and seduction, both of which are
delineated with an infinite amount of particular details of an
exciting and most unhealthy nature. The robber or the
pirate is always made a hero—daring, impamiened, with
resolute will, loose character, cruel, and yet chivalric after
a rude fashion. These are the elements of an idol in this
school of romance. The betrayed and culpable heroine it a
martyr, the disgusting anatomy of whose mind is often
attempted to be given, and in whose history and adventures
the sympathies of the untutored, and especially female,
reader are feverishly engrossed. All the incidents of the story
are in keeping with the characters of the chief personage..
A succession of sickly but exciting scenes is kept up—
theft, seduction, violeace, adultery, and murder, stalk
through their pages as if they were the most common-place
and agreeable things in the world. Contact with such a
literature is inevitable eorntption. Nothing can prevent it.
The readers of such works are of the lowest order of intel-
lect and education ; the more perilous it therefore becomes
to them. We have good reason, too, for believing that
those main are, for the greater past, females—coun-

who are in service, and children whom the
ay
sufferiog, and evil example of crowded and busy
owns have rendered prematurely conscious of the
„aiming instincts of womanhood. Such minds re-
e. the nicest care and the soberest intelleo-
Pal aliment to preserve them is • healthy moral condition ;
lord of which, often simply from want of counsel and
ilirectioe from paeans of superior age and intelligence to
leen, they imbibe only such nourishment as mny be
Arded in this noxious literature, the intoxicating poisons
dwhich tempt them to return to it again and again—as
Teeth, under similar circumstances, are led on to habits of
ammo" us inebriety—until all natural sentiment is stifled,
tree- lad simple womanliness of character Wet, and • diseased
mewl feeling engendered, which ia incurable ia its subject,
sad perhaps, requiring more than one generation to pus
way before its effects can be finally eradicated. How far
;am disastrous but very common results are remediable, is
▪ qusetion of pressing and perilous magnitude fur those
wpme position renders them more immediately responsible
the the lapses of the poor and ignorant—to all, in fact,
who are placed by society in offices and circumstance, of
authority.
Three of the weekly issues of the press in Salisbury-square
we easy particularise, being those of largest circulation, and,
therefore, most mischievous influence. These are called—
arr. penny Sundae Times wad People's Police Garefte,
ayart Entertaining Journal, and Lloyd's Weekly Volume
of Asswimg and butruetite Literature. The first of these,
is the title indicates, is a Sunday newspaper, of course tan-
gasped. of which one of the main features is the police re.
Any thing that should be brought before the courts
of a low, vagabond, or grotesque nature, finds ample
poblieity in its columns, which are also enriched
with the most abominable wood-engravings imagin-
able, the artist giving a decided preference in his
Illustrations to the brutal and the humorous.
After this comes—in the latest number lying before
vs—continuations of two tales of " thrilling interest," en
titled respectively "The Old Sanctuary," and " Almira's
Curse or the Black Tower of Brausdorf ;" which latter is
described as by the author of " The Gipsy Boy," "The
Robber's Foundling," 8,:c.; and the remaining apace is filled
up with matter of an unquestionably cognate character.
The Enterosiniw Ammo( aspires to the rank of a ma-
gazine, and is arranged to bind in volumes—forming an em-
balmed pestilence. The recent numbers contain a disgust-
leg story called "The Stolen Interview ; a Tale of Passion."
The hero is a Dr. Boyd, who, to amuse himself
seduces his patient, the wife of his friend Mr.
Gastrin, and elopes with her—an adventure to
which the lady entertains no formidable objections. Every-
thing occurs in the most commonplace manner—duty, con-
science, go for nothing. Passion is the unction for every sin :
a kindling leek sufficient to overcome every stabler feeling of
the woman's heart. When Mrs. Gastone was a little sad,
"Dr. 11,,d seated himself beside the lady, and, pressing her
hand in his, gave her one of those earnest looks which kin-
dled the fire of passion in her soul, and at once removed
every regret which her departure had oocasioned"—and so
forth It is utterly impossible to receive such guests into
the mind without contamination, or to harbour them
without guilt. The Weekly Volume of Amusing and
logructire Literature is of the same tone and calibre.
In that, too, peculation, seduction, and adultery,
form the staple of the materiels which are worked
up into amusement and instruction for the manes. We are
sorry to have to say that the great majority of these scandal.
our stories are written by females—and, on that account, are
the more luscious and dangerous to the young, because the
filthiness is covered with a sort of sentiment, and the pre-
dation warranted by a woman's signature. Most of the
scenes of the tales, we may add, are laid in North America,
and display • knowledge of American social life—but
whether tfey are written by Americans, and on the
other side of the Atlantic, we have no means of knowing
nor, considering the object which we have in view—the
directing the attention of the teachers and guides of the
uneducated cleans to the magnitude of an unfamiliar and
secret cause of moral disease in the community—is it a
matter of any importance whether the pollution springs
from England or her ancient colony. The evil inhere, and it
must be met on the ground where it openly manifests itself.

RETURNS FROM THE GAS COMPANIES IN

THE UNITED KINGDOM.

This parliamentary paper, which was issued on
Friday, possesses considerable interest, as it contains the
statistics of the manufacture and consumption of gas. At the
present time, when public attention is so strongly directed to
sanitary reform, it is doubly valuable, for it is manifest that
the efficient lighting of our towns must form • prominent
future in all acts for their improvement.
The history of gas lighting is of modern date. In 1807,
and for some subsequent years, Pall-mall was the only
street in which gas was used. Now, we believe, that nearly
en ry street in the metropolis is lighted by gas, and the con-
sumption may be stated at 9,000,000 of cubic feet every 24
hours. The paper before us embraces returns from
94 towns in England, 2 in Wales, 7 in Scotland, and 3 in
Ireland. The returns consist- -1. Of the date of the este-
dlshment of each company ; 2. Rates per 1,000 cubic feet
at which the gas has been supplied ; 3. Price of the best
coils in each year ; 4. Amount of fixed capital ; 6. Rate per
rent. of dividend in each year. The oldest company is the
Chartered, established in London in 1810. The other com-
panies were established at various periods subsequent to the
above year. In all the old companies there is a remarkable
difference:between the rate at which gas was supplied when the
company was first created and at the present time. This, in
London, varies from I7s. and 15x. in 1810 and 1817 to 6e. and
7s. in 1846 ; these prices in both instances applying to the
charge of 1,000 cubic feet. In the provincial towns the dif-
ference is even greater. In Norwich, the price in 1820, for
oil gas, was 4sa. ; in 1847, 65. Bd. for coal gu. In Bristol, the
price from 1823 t 01836 was 40s. for oil gas; in 1847,6 a. foraged
gas; but even when coal gas. was originally employed there
is a difference of from ss. to ,s. per 1,000 cubic feet between
the years 1820 and 1840. This great difference does not pro
midst) much from the reduced price of cowl, nor from the
company receiving smaller profits, but from improvements
in the mode of manufacturing the go, which produce eco-
nomy as well as excellence. Indeed, in several towns the
best coal was considerably cheaper is 1820-5 than at pre-
sent. The Birmingham Gas Company, in the former years,
paid 4s. per ton for their coals ; whereas, in 1816, they paid
from 12s. U. to 21e. 3d. The returns from Coventry, Bath,
Dudley, Leeds, Warrington, and other towns, show that
teals were cheaper twenty years ago than they. are now.
In the metropolis, on the other hand, the price of coal
hag fallen from about 265. in 1820 to 16s. in
1846 ; these prices must be understood to apply
to the coal used by the companies. The amount of dividends
enjoyed by the various companies ranges from 151. 15s. per
cent. being that of the Manchester Gas Company, to 11. 10a.
per cent. The averagedividend is 81. per cent. The amount
of dividend is not ruled by the rates at which the gas is sup-
plied. In Manchester, where, as we have seen, the highest
dividend is declared, the price of gas per 1,000 cubic feet is
only ss. 6d., whereas, in other towns, where the profits only
allow a much smaller dividend, the cost of 1,000 cubic feet
of gam
i ranges from 6s. to 109. The average price in the
metropolis s 6s. 81d. per 1,000 cubic feet ; and the average
dividend enjoyed by eleven companies is 61. 16e. 4d. per
cent. lathe principal towns of Scotland the cost of gas is
6e. 3d. per 1,000 cubic feet. In Ireland 6s. 2d. ; and in
Wales, 75.6 d. The amount of fixed capital returned by the
companies was as follows ;-in England, 5,415,2951. ; in
Wales (embracing, however, only two towns), 19,0001. ; in
Ireland, 22.5,0001. ; and in Scotland, 408,1871.

• The profits we applied in moordance with the act of parliameat
to effecting improvement. within the township of flattener.

BENEVOLENT SOCIETY OF 4=ll:The usual half-
Imre meeting of this satiety, w aa established in 1824,
for die relief of persons edusated at ''s Hospital=
widows, and orphans, wu held last evening at the
Tavern; Mr. T. Hughes, vice-president, in the their. The
minutes of the preceding meeting having bean duly eon.
fumed, Mr. Sidebotham, the secretary, stated the resulted
the election for pensioner, which had taken pleme that day.
The successful candidates were Sarah Spencer sad MO M&
Delafons and Willis. The candidate., both sisecoseful ad
unsuccessful, attended, and the latter were presented with 11,
sovereign each. The report of the directors was then road.
It was brief, and contained little beyond a statement of the
various applications for relief whim had been ;received
during the half-year; sums of 51. and upwards haring
been bestowed in most cases, except in two, where loans had
been applied for, and these had been punctually repaid. The
amount subscribed on the occasion of the dinner in April
bat (6461. 16e.) had enabled the directors to increase the
amount of stock belonging to the society by the purchase of
M. Three-and-a-Half per Cent. Consols. The number of
pensioners on the books was at present 18, which included
the three that day elected. The receipts daring the hoS
year, including a balance of 1481. 9s. 6d. boottala fkininak
sistiented to 1,0591 13s. Id., of which a gelesal WNW SW
maimed of 1481. 13s. 7d..—Mr. Barnard amell Ilie silsgslos
of the report, which was carried woilliannff. Is
Magratulated the society upon its meseetela• MOP
flans, which, although not quite all that could be
trim particularly cheering, when the general deprs
benevolent bodies was taken into consideration. Oa the
motion of Mr. Perkins' Liest.-Col. Pettingall was than
elected a vice-president of the society, and the places of the
retiring directors haying been filled up, Mr. Perkins pr-
.s
e resolution to the effect that in all cases of legacies
Daubed to the society, the executor first named in the
of the testator, or the acting executor, should enjoy
duriag his life the earns privilege of voting at elections as
Would belong to the testator were he living—subject how-
ever to the provisions of other rates of the society. The reso-
lution was carried without dissent, and the proceedings
closed, slier the navel complimentary votes to the president,
chairman, and officers. A handsome service of plate was
exhibited in the room ; it had been presented by the society
to the secretary for his services in their cause.
L'aErvi. IMPROVEMENTS IN POSTAGE STAMPS.—
The Post-office stamps having to be detached, either by
cutting or tearing them from each other, great incon-
venience is felt, particularly by those of extensive corre-
pondence. To provide a remedy for the inconvenience thus
experienced, a plan has been invented, by the aid of a
machine, by which more than double the number of stamp
'keen' that is now annually required may be so minutely in-
dented in the direction of the white lines, as to allow the
stamp to be instantly detached from the sheet without the
operation of cutting—perfect, too, in every respect. The
•

contrivance will alio enable purchasers to fold a sheet of
*maps, or any leas quantity, with unerring regularity, and
in one-tenth of the time that is at present consumed in the
operation.7fferapatles Journal.

CIVIC REWAILDB.—We have not a word to toy
anion Si, Peter Laurie's enthusiastic speech in honour of
Mr. Brooke, nor the heartiness with which the Common
Council received his motion to pirmant that gentleman with
the City freedom in the established gold box. Mr. Brooke
is ma spade of peace and cdvilisadon, eat It is not anon

that Sir Peter's enthusiasm takes so rational a direction.
Only we would suggest to the civic assemblage, that the
apostleship of civilisation and benevolence has had as de-
voted members within the sound of Bow-bells as in the forests
of Borneo
.; that if Sarawak has had its hero, Farringdon has
furnished its martyr ; that if Mr. Brooke succeeded in his
attempt to suppress Malay piracy, Dr. Lynch perished In
his struggle with London fever ; that " to protect the op-
pressed, emancipate the slave, and civilise the savage," is no
nobler work than to succour the sick, toil fur the suffering,
and enlighten the ignorant ; —that the humanity which
penetrates the Jungle is twin-brother to that which walks
the h spital. 'No selfish motive impelled " Dr. Lynch any
mom than Kr. Brooke ; no avarice disgraced the conquests
the one over filth and fever, NI more than those of the
other over bloodshed and barbarity. The one triumphed,
the other died, in the straggle. The Common Council is
justly eager to reward the actor: why should it hang back
from honouring the martyr? By all means let it present Mr.
Brooke with his gold box; but why should it not, at the
same time, present the widow and orphans of Dr. Lynch
with the gold in another form ?—l'unch.

CHEMISTRY AND THE CHOLERA.—A correspondent
of the Oxford Herald questions the wisdom of a recent sug-
gestion made by Mr. Herapath of Bristol, that chlorine gas
be generated in houses where the cholera is likely to come.
The writer says: " Every suggestion from such a distin-
guished analytical chemist as Mr. Ilerapath is entitled to
respect and attention. I pass over his conclusions se to the
cause and character of cholera as purely speculative, and
proceed to the immediate purpose of this notice. lie I
re-
commends the general use of chlorine gas as a disinfectant,
and gives a formula of its evolution, but without
one word of caution as to its possible deleterious
influence. His object is 'to give public opinion a right
direction, so as to help future boards of health but, as it
seems very likely that public opinion will anticipate boards
of health, the public may set about preparing this' chemical
preventive ' with no other direction than he has given, and
without knowing that this gas is highly injurious to respira-
tion. Persons in this place already talk about purchasing
the materials, and having them ready to mix In the passage
of their dwellings, as simply as they would talk of putting a
hot poker into a cup of vinegar. Irrespirable gases may, if
sufficiently diluted with atmospheric air, be breathed with
safety, yet inexperienced, and certainly uncautioned per.
sons, might charge the surrounding air with a dangerous
proportion, and inhale a quantity productive of serious
mischief. Dr. Ryan gave • lecture here last winter, in
which the extrication of chlorine gas formed part of the
illustrations: there was enough liberated to excite coughing
among the audience, which he jocosely treated as affectation,
and begged the ladies to indulge in leas vocal exercise. Soon
after, the doctor got a dose of it himself, and joined in the
concert ; but he, poor man, was obliged to curtail his lecture,
and has been senonsly ill ever since, in consequence of that
inhalation of chlorine gas. Although the Times might not
call this a ' great fact,' it ought undoubtedly to be a great
warning. At the cholera hospital in Oxford, sixteen years
ago, this gas was frequently evolved by the same process, as
a disinfectant, as well as on several subsequent occasions ;
and, though Mr. Herepeth deserves the thanks of the com-
munity for directing attention to its use, yet, after the above
instance, the gentle public would act wisely to mix their
manganese and vitriol cons grano salis-amplo."
INQUEST, YESTERDAY. MANSLAUGHTER. Be-
fore Mr. Wakley, M.P., at the Pitt's Head, Henry-street,
Portland-town, concerning the death of Thomas Henry Bur-
' mincham, aged 26, a greengrocer's servant. On Sunday
evening last, at the Sir Isaac Newton public-house in the
above locality, deceased and a man named Good, also a
greengrocer, whilst drinking, began to dispute and quarrel
about the amount of business done at.their respective shops:
the result was a reciprocal challenge to tight. The parties,
accompanied by four others, proceeded to settle their dif-
ference in a field near Primrose-hill, it being then eleven
o'clock at night. They fought one scrambling round, at the
end of which both were down. Good rose immediately:
but while decased was striving to do so, he fell again, as it
was supposed, from a blow struck by Good ; none of the
witnesses, however, actually saw the blow, but Good ac-
knowledged to the landlord of the Sir Isaac Newton that he
had knocked deceased down with his left band. Deceased
was picked up in an inser.sible state, and conveyed to his re-
sidence by his friends who had accompanied him ; Good and
his friends refusing to assist. —Mr. Britton, surgeon, called in
by the police, found deceased quite dead, and having sobs.--
quently made a post mortem examination, stated that the
right lateral sinus of the brain was ruptured causing ex-
tensive effusion of blood in the brain. There was no cone-
aponding external injury. The rupture of the sinus was the
cause of death ; but he would not swear positively that it
had been caused by a blow, though it was his impression
that such was the case.—After a long discussion, twelve out
of fourteen jurymen returned a verdict of " Manslaughter"
against Good.