The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-01 00:00:00

of style and language which one would hardly expect to
meet with in the works of a foreigner. The followin
observations, inculcating the necessity of exercising ju-
dicious discrimination in the choice of boots and shoes,
strike us as well worthy an attentive perusal.
. . . . .

" The lower extremities with us are destined to be confined
in leathern cases, sometimes from the knees to the toes ;
these are made without much regard to the different struc-
ture of individuals; all that the most intelligent of the shoe-
makers of the day think of is the length and breadth of the
foot; some of them, it is true, make a last, not from the foot,
but from the boot, instead of modelling the foot, and from
thence making the shoe. To this idea we are so much ac-
customed that we often buy what we require in the most in-
discriminate manner; we go into the first shoe-shop that
presents itself to our view, and purchase a ready-made pair
of shoes, quite satisfied if they are long enough and do not
pinch at the sides; the flexibility of the material is little
thought of, and still less is any attention paid to the natural
form of each foot, fur what fits one is supposed to be equally
well adapted to all. This is, however, a fearful mistake, for
which a thoughtless person has often to undergo great incon-
venience, painful annoyance, and even temporary lameness.
The great desideratum is to leave the foot to its natural
action, to incumber it as little as possible, and not to place it
in immediate contact with hard unyielding materials; and,
shouid there be any defects, to have them carefully remedied,
or the best means taken to obviate them."

The book, which is published in 4t0., is got up in a
most luxurious manner, with wide margin, gilt edges,
and embossed covers. It presents quite an aristocratical
appearance.

THE REAL PROPERTY STATUTES of the
8 and 9 Victoria, w th Introduction, Notes, Forms, and
Index. By George S. Al[null Esq., Barrister;at-Law.

Important innovations in the law affecting real pro-
perty have been made by the Legislature during the
past session. Whether the good intended will be pro-
duced or not remains to be proved; but, after theexample
of the Act of the previous session, we are by no means
sanguine as to the beneficial results of the new statutes.
Mr. Allnutt has done much service to the profession by
collecting and editing these statutes, and the work appears
to have been got up with great care and ability. The
notes will furnish a useful practical guide to solicitors
in deciding upon the cases in which they may with
safety adopt the benefits which have beep offered by the
Legislature. In the introduction, Mr. Allnutt states an
objection to the use cf the forms provided by the " Act
for facilitating the granting of certain Leases," which
we do not remember to have met with elsewhere. He
says:—" Hitherto in most cases leases could be read
and understood by the parties themselves without re-
sorting to their legal advisers, but, as it is not to be pre-
sumed that the Act will be in their possession, they
must., where a lease has been drawn under the Act,
seek assistance for the purpose of understanding words
which are to have an effect far beyond their natural
meaning." In this remark we entirely concur, and we
fear that this is not the only case in which the lawyers
will benefit by these attempted improvements in favour
of their clients.

DISTRESSED CONDITION OF THE
SHOEMAKERS OF NEW YORK.
(From the New York Tribune.)
There is no class of mechanics who average so great
an amount of work for so little money as the journey •
men shoemakers. The number of journeymen out of
employment is also large, and out of all just proportion.
There are hundreds of them in the city constantly wan-
dering from shop to shop in search of work, while many
of them have families in a state of absolute want. One
by one the articles of their furniture have been sold to
supply bread which the disheartened workman could not
earn, and at last the family are turned out of their
miserable garret or cellar because they cannot pay
their rent. Even those who work fare badly enough ;
and many of them live in such a way as to deprive life
of everything save the mere privilege of breath. But
for those entirely cut of situations the case is still worse.
We have been in more than fifty cellars, in different
parts of the city, each inhabited by a shoemaker and
his family. The floor is made of rough plank laid
loosely down, and the ceiling is not quite so high as
a tall man. The walls are dark and damp, and a wide, deso-
late fire-place yawns in the centre to the right of the en-
trance. There is no outlet back, and ofcourse no yard privi-
leges of any kind. The miserable room is lighted only
by a shallow sash partly projecting above the surface of
the ground, and by the little light that struggles down
the steep and rotting stairs. In this apartment
often live the man with his work-bench, his wife
and five or six children of all ages ; and per-
haps a palsied grandfather or grandmother, and often
both. In one corner is a squalid bed, and the
room elsewhere is occupied by the work bench, a
cradle made from a dry-goods box, two or three
broken and seatless chairs, a stewpan, and a kettle.
Here is the whole of that thing so noble in the abstract,
so lofty in the destiny intended for it, so full of every
source of joy and gladness—a family of human beings.
Here they work—here they cook, they eat, they sleep,
they pray—if to pray they have not forgotten. They
procure a little something to eat by the chance jobs of
gentlemen's or children's mending brought in by the rich
people above ground in the neighbourhood, who are not
celebrated for paying a poor cobbler high prices.
Now this picture is faithfully drawn—not over-coloured
in any one particular. We have written nothing that
we have not seen over and over again with our own
eyes. We permitted our correspondent to state his case
in a former number, in his own language. It is doubt-
less well as far as it goes ; but it does not touch the dark
shades in the condition of the shoemakers in this city.
They are the worst paid, and live the least like life of all
men who have spent years in learning trades that they
might know how to live. We met recently, going
up the Hudson, a journeyman shoemaker, pale and
haggard with unremitting toil. He had his wife and