The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-17 00:00:00

ISLE OF SKYE.

A correspondent writes, of date the 4th current,
from the neighbourhood of Portree :
" The weather continues wet and wild. For some
days we had a slight frost, which SOOO gave way to
high winds and torrents of rain. Had the quantity
of rain which fell for the last four months been me-
chanically gauged, it would have been found unpre-
cedented even in . the Isle of Mist.' The; crops of
last autumn suffered greatly in consequence. They
will not yield two-thirds of the produce of the pre-
vious harvest's [crop. The poor people are therefore
much more depressed in circumstances than they
were twelve months ago. The great majority must
necessarily be supported, ere long, by the Highland
Relief Fund. The parochial local committees are
now superseded, without any feeling of regret on their
own part. Last season their duties were arduous
and irksome. They performed them, however, man-
fully—and it is to be hoped, with a very few excep-
tions, impartially. Without fee or reward, and at
the expense of much time and toil, they did their
utmost to discharge the duties imposed on them..
While their services may have been found fault with,
on the one hand by the recipients, as being too
illiberal—and on the other hand, by the Central
Board, as being the reverse, they have no cause to
regret that they are relieved of such a troublesome
and thankless office.—lnverness Courier.

_
ECONOMICS WITHIN THE RE.
COLLECTION OF A SEXAGENARIAN.
(From the Inverness Courier.)
The following comparisons of the state of things in
1847 and from 1787 to 1797—fifty or sixty years ago
—has been made by an intelligent correspondent :
TRAVELLING BY COACIL—Stage-coaches were then
much slower, so that there was both loss of time and
increase of expense at inns. Between Edinburgh
and Glasgow, and Edinburgh and Perth, was a regu-
lar day's Journey ; and there was also dinner by the
way. Then there were no outside seats as we have at
present. Now stage-coach travelling is of quite an
opposite description, and is in a great measure super-
seded by railway coaches ; the outside of the stage-
eoach being advantageously compensated by the
second and third class carriages.
SEA CONVEYANCE was then by sailing vessels, the
very swiftest being sometimes a week or ten days
between Leith and London. Steamers now accom-
plish the same distance in little more than a day and
a half. One advantage the old mode had to people
whose time was of little value—such as half-pay
officers and the like—that in the event of a tedious
passage, good provisions were included in your two
guineas passage money. It is told of a Berwick
citizen that, going to London in a smack on one
occasion, the vessel having made a quick passage of
little more than forty-eight hours, it was announced
to him in the evening that they were in the Thames ;
instead of expressing satisfaction, he growled out,
" Is this all we have got for our money I'
CLOTHES.—The substitution of cotton for linen in
shirts, and also the great fall in the price of cotton
cloth of all descriptions, within the two periods, is
particularly applicable to women's dress. The com-
mon use of black clothes by men—in this way one
good suit and one more common is sufficient for ordi-
nary use : then, a good cap and a good black suit
were thought necessary. Hats which look well and
wear well are much cheaper now.
HAIR POWDER was then in general use among the
younger men of the middle classes, the daily em-
ployment of the friseur being absolutely requisite, as
the hair had to be dressed and tied behind in a queue.
With the common soldier in the army precisely the
same dressing of the hair was enforced, only, instead
of powder, they used common flour, and they had
to act alternately the part of friseur to each other.
Elderly men wore often powdered wigs, with stiff
curls. About the end of last century the use of hair
powder among the younger people was given up very
suddenly. The first change was a fashion from
France of curling the hair very much, in imitation of
the heads of the ancient statues. Military hair dres-
sing was also abolished in one day, by a mandate by
the head medical department of the army.
SHOES are about the same price now as then, but
wear better; the upper leather then giving way soon.
Boots are now much more generally worn. In this
respect, therefore, the old school had the advantage
in economy.
STOCKINGS.—By the general use of trousers any,
kinds of stockings, even of the most ordinary
description, may be worn. Formerly trousers were
only worn by sailors. With the middle ands
higher classes breeches were universally worn.
and a superior and much more expensive kind of
stockings were necessary and always in use. In short,
we have the picture of a fashionably-dressed young
man of 1787, when we observe the costume of the
usher who attends the Queen.
WRITING MATERIALS.—Writing paper is now
much finer and cheaper than formerly. Pens—The
use of steel getting gradually universal, being not
only cheaper, but requiring no mending, saves a great
deal of time, particularly where good penmanship is
necessary. Quills require good eyes and sharp knives,
and will hardly bear above twice mending.
LIGHT AND HEAT.—Of coals we have now a much
more ample supply by canals and railways, and the
article is, upon the whole, better and cheaper. Gas
generally takes the place of candles, and certe
ad
ainly
yields more light for the same price, and has th
vantage of the light being more uniform, without
snuffing.
CURRENCY.—Fortnerly, there was a large propor-
tion of lead, copper, silver, gold, and notes. The
silver was both bad and light, the gold light, and the
notes some in bad credit and all liable to forgery. The
case is very different now.
ARTICLES OF FOOD.—Neither the prices of bread
or corn have varied so mucd that one period does not
very well admit of being compared with another.
Thus, the price of 1847 differs more in 1846 than it
does in 1797. Butcher meat, ilison the whole, is cer-
tainly higher priced now. It is rather curious, indeed,
thatf or some time Scots beef has brought the highest
prices in the London market. Neither is mutton
equal in flavour to that of the old blackfaced breed,
more attention being now paid to the quality of the
wool. Three articles, however, which, with pro-
priety, may be called necessaries—tea, coffee, sugar,
—are likely to be more permanently cheaper than

formerly. -
In one important article we spend more than we
did formerly—that is to say, house accommodation.
Our houses are more roomy, better aired, and have
more conveniences than in old times.

PRISION COMPANIONSIIIP.—How long the lamp of
conversation holds out to burn between two persons only,
is curiously set down in the following passage from
Count Confalonieri's account of his imprisonment :
" I ant an old man now; yet by fifteen years my soul is
younger than my body! Fifteen years I existed (for I
did not live— it was not life) in the self-same dungeon,
ten feet square! During six years I had a companion;
during nine I was alone! I never could rightly distin-
guish the face of him who shared my captivity in the
eternal twilight of our cell. The first year we talked
incessantly together; we related our past lives, our joys
for ever gone, over and over again. The next year we
communicated to each other our thoughts and ideas on
all subjects. The third year we had no idea to
communicate ; we were beginning to lose the
power of reflection. The fourth, at the interval of a
month or so, we would open our lips to ask each other if
it were indeed possible that the world went on as gay
and bustling as when we formed a portion of mankind.
The fifth, wo were silent. The sixth, be was taken
away, I never knew where, to execution or to liberty,
but I was glad when ho was gone; even solitude was
better than the dim vision of that pale, vacant facia
After that I was alone; only one event broke in upon
my nine years' vacancy. One day (it must have been a
year or two after my companion left me) the dungeon
door was opened, and a voice—whence proceeding I
know not—uttered these words,—' By order of his Im-
perial Majesty, I intimate to you that your wife died a
year ago. Then the door was shut; I heard no more;
they had but flung this great agony in upon me, and left
me alone with it again."
FRENCH EGGS.—There have been very numerous
arrivals of eggs within these few days from France. The
Belfast, from Calais, brought 66 cases ; the- Neptune,
from Gravelines, 97 cases and 4 baskets ; the Lion, from
Gravelines, 61 cases ; the Carolinda, from Caen, 99
cases ; the Poule, from Cherbourg, 181 cases ; the Hy.
polite, from Gravelines, 81 cases ; the Coq, from Cher-
bourg, 182 cases of the article. The price of eggs in the
metropolis, at the present time, is about half that of the
corresponding period of last year, notwithstanding the
great demand which must have obtained during the
recent festive season for this useful article of food.
BRISTOL SUGAR MARKET, JAN. 14.—The trade
continues to show a disposition to get into stock, and a
steaiy business has been done since our last, at full
prices.-13ristel Mercury.