The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-11 00:00:00

TIIE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, JUNE 11, 1842

posprp to the weather, and by insufficient nourishment,
by the time they haVe reached 50, and pass tt long win-
terrofdecripitude, a prey to many chronic diseases. We
look, therefore, for great benefit to all the labouring
classes,.from the forcible manner in which some of the
most intense hardships of their condition are now command •
ingthe attention of even their political opponents. - At
the same time, the honour of our country, the honour of
human nature, and what is due to truth, to justice, and
to the colliers themselves, require that their condition
and character be not worse represented than the facts
warrant. To some extent this has been done; exaggera-
tion is perceptible-in the Report of the Commissioners
on Mines ;- in bringing the subject before the public,
nearly all the circumstances which could give relief to
the dark picture have been studiously kept out of view.
We must state that in South Staffordshire, North

Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire, Leizestershire,
in the Ashby-de-la-Znich district, in Derbyshire, in
Oldbam,in Cumberland (except in one mine belonging to
the Earl of LONSDALLO in the vast coalfields of Durham
and Northumberland, in the west of Scotland, in North
Waifs, in the Forest of Dean, in
„South Gloucestershire,
in North Somersetshire, and in Ireland, no females, no
female child; and no young or adult woman works in
any of the. collieries under ground. Now, that statement
at once relieves an immense part of our coal districts
from the horrors which have been painfully and elabo-
rately set forth as indiscriminately common ti them n:1,
One fact is recorded of the Oldham people which we
must quote, because it proves that much more may be
left to the good feelings of the colliers themselves than
Lord Astit.EY seems to suppose,•if they .be only placed
in a condition to make less toil necessary.
" No females, (says the Report, p. 36,) of any age, are em-
ployed in underground labour. The men unite in a dislike
to their being brought into circumstances so disgusting.
although their employment is common within a few miles.
of Manchester on the other side; and the only man who
coming from that side has been known to take his wife into
the pit was compelled.to leave the district; the men said they
would leave the work if he continued. All classes of wit-
nesses are uniform and decided in making this statement."
There is some other evidence to the same effect.:—

George Carr, collier, Tankersley, said—" I make no more
money than the colliers at Silkstone, nor so much ; but I would
be hard put to it before I would bring a lass of mine into the
pit,—no not if I were ever so ill put to it. It is a shameful
practice.."—P. 32.
In many of the eases where women have gone into
the mines to work, it has been the result of urgent ne-
cessity. - That, or starvation, has been the alternative'
Ex. grutia :
Margaret Boxer, 50 years old, enal-heaver--" I hew the coal ;
have done so since my husband failed .d his breath ; he hes
been off work . twelve years. I have a son, a daughter, and
niece working with me below, and we have sore work to get
maintenance. I go down early to hew coals for my girls to
draw. - The work is not fit for women, and men could prevent
it were they to labour more regulatly ; indeed, men about the
place don't wish wives to work in mines, but the masters seem
to encourage it."—Page 80.
What a noble example of an honest woman submitting
to such drudgery to get a maintenance ! MAIIGAIIET
'BOXEIi may put to shame scores of the pauper and
pensioned hereditary law-makers, who, with health and
strength, age and property, are not ashamed to
.quarter
their sisters and brothers oil the piblid pliNe. which is
filled by extortiq it great deal from such persons as
INlAnAiter box En.
Ann Eggley, at page 75, says—." Father said, last night,
it was both a shame and a disgrace for girls to work as we (SO,
but there was nought else for us to do. I have tried to et
winding to do, but could not." The father stys--;" I cannot
do without sending trey gills bb the pit. I don't like their
coming down, btt I have one at home, and I cannot get any
work for her to rlo. I have tried it."
Margaret Gomley says —" I had rather set cards than go
into the pit ;" but she could not help herself. Jane (i)m—
-" I work day and night, week about. I don't like working in
the night shift, but I must keep my turn; Of eleni
(go without food)." So " Janet Cumining has -no
li king for the work ; father makes Inc like it.".
Asabella Read, 12 years old—" I eo not like the work,
nor do the lasses; they are made to like it." " Agnes Moffat,
began working at 10 years of age; father took sister and I down;
he gets our wages." Margaret Jacques, 17 years of age—" 1
have been seven years at coal bearing ; it is horrible work ; it
was not my choice, but we do our parents' will." Margaret
Drysdale, 15 years old, coal-butters" I don't like the Work, but
mother is dead, and father brought tee tibWn. I had no choice."
Ann Harris, 15 years putter—" Heartily hates it ; could get
no other work, or would not go down."
These quotations show that young women do not de-

seend into the pit from wantonness, or a love of ease ;
they go from a sense of duty ; they do the will of their
parents, and from the mere necessities of their condition
Sad it is that they should go to such work at all, bit
when they are tempted by a "high rate of wages,"
aid when "legal restrictions," we quote the language of
the Report at page 2-t, prevent mothers " from sending
their children to the neighbouring factories, in which
they would be expOsed to far less hardship and hazard,''
they consign them to the terrific labour of the mines--
the most dreaded "punishment in barbarous countries for
the worst crimes, in order that they may not `• clem" or
starve. Mr. Sub-Commissioner FLETCHER'S • opinion,
that latterly children are sent into the mines at an earlier
age than formerly, is of great importance. The le-
gislation already adopted by Lord ASHLEY and his
friends, has had the disastrous effect of depriving chil-
dren of the light labour of "winding and setting cards,"
and such employments, and banishing young females from
the factories, to work under ground. Lord ASIILEY and
his friends, too, are, in a great measure, the authors of
this hard necessity. If they were not to debar the
people from getting food they would not dread cleniminp,
and would assuredly enjoy themselves in the sun light
on the surface of the earth ; but he and they have made it
neceary fur women and children to gather their bread,
.and 4org work iv is, in the bowels of the earth.
_ Another exception to the general picture of wretched-
ness generally drawn of the collieries, relates to the
mode -of working the mines. The dirty, wet mines,
the narrow seams, the children and women dragging
carts by chains, have all been emphatically dwelt on ;
but the public have not been at the same time informed
that there are many collieries, clean and well ventilated,

in which the temperature is delightful, in which it is
impossible to employ either young children or females,
and in which the drudgery is done by horses, ponies, or
asses. Possibly dogs might be trained to the work,
where the ways are very low; but the humanity of those
who make laws which chain the people, would revolt at

eo employing the canine species. We quote some pas-
sages from the Report :
" Coalpits are almost always comfortably warm, and, in general,
the deeper they are the warmer. SOUTH STA ItTO It DSHIRE—
I a the held the principal seam of coal is 10 yards thick, the
roads which are cut out of the coal are seven or eight feet wide,
and about nine feet high. In this district the coals are
brought direct from the workings to the foot of the shafts in
ears drawn by eight horses. A railway is laidalong the middle of
the road to make the work easier for the horses. Each horse
is conducted by a buy, usually from thirteen to fourteen sears
of age. In situations/where horses cannot be employed, the cars
are drawn up hill to the foot of the shafts by a jig-chain, and
are worked by the steam-engine. In the coal mines of this
district the state of the places of work, to persons accustomed
to it, is -very comfortable. The coal-beds are sufficiently
high to allow abundance of room. The mines are
warm and dry. There is a supply ,of fresh air from
ventilation, though less than there easily might be. In con-
versation with miners, in the whole course of inquiry as to the
state of the mines, I never heard a single complaint. The pits
are usually of the temperature of a fine summer's day, or, as
one of the witnesses expressed it. 'it is warm, beautifully
warm.' Horses thrive well in the pits. Large, convenient, and
comfortable stables. are dug out of the coal fur them; they
grow fat, and their skins are remarkably smooth and glossy.
The miners in the pit are not exposed to close, over-heated air.
as in some manufactories ; and in winter escape the miseries of
cold rain, snow, end frost. However unpleasant the coal-pits
may be to persons who for the first time go down to see them,
to those who are used to them, they are exceedinglyogrceable."
—Dr. Mitchell's Report.

" In the Pottery district, the seams are of sufficient thickness
to permit the employment of horses and ponies to draw coal
along the main ways to the foot of the shaft, aria no young chil-
dren are employed under ground."
. .

A similar deScription applies to the coal-mines in
Warwickshire, about Ashby-do•la•Zouch, Derbyshire,
&c. ; and the -public will learn with satisfaction, we

think, that the whole of the collieries are not such miser-

able abodes of cruelty and slavery as it has probably

been led to infer from the somewhat partial representa-
tions of some interested persons. We are of opinion
that the morality of the colliers has not received fair

play from either the Commissioners or Lord ASHLEY,
but we cannot now advert to that part of the subject.

METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS.—A deputation on
this very important subject, consisting of Mr. Ormsby
Gore, M.P., Mr. Gaily Knight, the Earl of Love-
lace, Mr. John Martin, Mr. Hickson, Mr. J. Ivatt Briscoe,
Colonel Sykes, Mr. George Godwin, Mr. J. Hume, M.P.,
Mr. T. L. Donaldson, the Honourable 11. Fitzroy, Dr.
S. Smith, Mr. Fowler, Mr. Elphinstone, M.P., and some
other gentlemen interested in the matter, attended by
appointment on Sir Hobert Peel, at Downing-street,
yesterday morning. A Cabinet Council being unexpectedly
summoned, the conference was postponed until next
week. ,

--- NEw FIRE-ENGINE TO TRAVEL ON RAILWAYS.—
A grand trial took place yesterday (Fiiday ) morning at the
Euston-square station of the London and Birmingham Rail-
way, of a very powerful fire engine recently completed for that
Compatiy by Mr. Merryweather, of Long-acre. The engine,
which is the largest ever constructed for land service in this or
any other country, is mounted on railway wheels, and fitted
with shifting spring buffers for travelling safely upon the line to
any place where its services may be required. A number of
Railway Directors, Government officers, and scientific gentle-
men, attended to witness the trial. Being manned by forty of
the railway servants, the engine threw a splendid jet of water,
one inch and a quarter in diameter, upwards of one hundred
feet high ; an inch and an eighth jet was projected still higher
and subsequently two jets, of three-quarters of an inch each,
were delivered simultaneously at a similar elevation. In the
fore part of the engine was placed a hose reel (the invention of
Ur. Bpat t l
wound
oe
u aupon which four hundred feet of leather hose
is l k
ready for use, any portion of which can be
useconds. The whole of the arrangements for
r e
outi!eny d ),
few
up
adapting this maeh:ne to the .particular service for which it is
intended, as well as its general appearance, and the excellence
of its performances, gave great satisfaction to the admiring
spectators. This engine is intended more particularly for the
protection of the extensive works of the Company at the Euston
aiall Camden stations, but its iinniense powers will be readily
available in case of fire on any part of the line.

LITERATURE.

RECREATIONS OF CHLISTOPHER NORTH,
Vol. I. Blackwood, London and. Edinburgh. 1842.
We have been a long time expectingthe republica-
tion of Christopher North's admirable series of arti-
cles in "Black wood's Magazine," and cannot imagine
how it is that itrhas been so long delayed. However,
better late than' ever; here it is, and a capital volume
it makes—full of fun, frolic, and pathos, wit, elo-.
quent description, and criticism of the acutest and
most enlightened character. The republication is, it
seems, to be confined to three volumes. Only three !
why, we_ were in expectation of three times three,
and cannot consent to be • put off with a sorry lunch,
when we were looking forward to an ample dinner.-
Are we to have no " Noctes"—none of those " noctes
ccenaque Deum," which, duly as the mouths came
round, used to give such delight to the myriad
readers of Maga : These papers alone will make two
volumes ; and then what space remains for those.
masterly essays on the Elizabethan drama, and more
especially on the genius of Homer, 'which some ten
or twelve years since excited such general admira-
tion ?- We must really bargain for at least six vo-
lumes, for the genius of Christopher North requires
plenty of elbow-room, before its movements can
be seen to advantage; it will hot do to cut it
down and pack it up in a small compass;
you might, with quite as much propriety and
hope of success, attempt to pack up a sideboard
in a fiddle-case. We know no living, author, indeed,
who will leas bear abridgment tnan Christopher
North. True, he is diffuse, but he is diffuse, like
Burke, from the abundance of his intellectual stores;
and to curtail his writings is not to curtail mere
words, but thoughts—to cripple a fancy whose pe-
culiar privilege and character it is, like a " chartered
libertine," to run riot in its strength. Shave Sampson,
and his power is gone—abridge Kit North, and the
freest and boldest of imaginative writers becomes the
tamest of twaddlers. I. volume before us opens ap-
propriately with " Christopher in his Sporting Jacket"
—a production of so versatile an order—now melting us
with its pathos, and now splitting our sides with its
outrageous humour; in one passage suggesting some
striking, original thought, and in another, luxuriating
in scenic descriptions such as combine the fancy of
the poet with the lustrous colouring of the painter—
that it would seem to be the production, not of one,
but of a dozen, minds. In this, delightful melange
the author letS us into some of the secrets of
his unb3whiskered boyhood. He leads us to
infer indirectly that he was by no means
a paragon of prim propriety—that he blew
himself up with gunpowder, before he had com-
pleted the first year of his breeches—that the
Latin Grammar was no favourite with him, further
than as it supplied him with wadding for his gun to
shoot cats with—that he was partial to sticking his
Schoolmaster to his chair with pitch, so that when the
good man rose, he left the seat of his small-clothes
behind him—that he was no stranger to the birch and
cane, the flavour of which, however, strange to say,
never agreed with his constitution—that, instigated
by the Devil, he was more than once guilty of the
heinous atrocity of kissing pretty young girls be-
hind the hedge on half holidays—and that, on
One remarkable occasion, he was discovered at
midnight by his agonized guardians lying, par-
tially eclipsed or obfuscated, on the gravel at the
garden gate, looking up at the astonished stars,
and quite electrified by the sight of two full-moons !
Such) it seems-'or something like it—was Christo-
pher, the boy ; but increase of years brought thought,
and wisdom, and fancy in their train, and Christopher
the man, became the poet the philosopher the
Moralist---the critic. He is now—alas, that we should
have to say so --far declined ,into the vale of years ;
eighty winters have shed their snows on his honoured
head, or rather left it az bald as a turnip, besides
digging wrinkles as deep as cart-ruts under each
eye ; and the " old man eloquent" may now, we are
informed, be occasionally teen creeping on warm sum-
mer evenings with his crutch towards Ambrose's, there
to indulge in the unsophisticated luxury of a biscuit
and toast-and-water, for he is a decided Teetotaller,
and when his infirmities will permit, takes the chair
at more than one Temperance Society in Edinburgh,
The article headed " Cottages " abounds, equally with
" Christopher in his Sporting Jacket," in touches
of fantastic humour, not unmixed with higher and
rarer requisites. How racy are the details of the
Annoyance- occasioned by a dead rat behind the cottage
wall, and of the sufferings inflicted on its tenants by
the grubs, moths, slugs, gnats, ani caterpillars that
harboured in the honeysuckles and... jessamines which
Mined so picturesquely round the-portico, and thrust
their officious branches in at the *loth'. Windows
Not. less_ grotesque is: the account of Christopher's
own. adv enture .With a beerhive- Our, Newfoundland
dog," observes the venerable sage,--:--
" Once upset a hive in his vagaries, and the whole
swarm junjustly attacked us. The buzz was an absolute
roar, and for the first time in outlives we were under a
cloud. Such buzzing in our hair ! and of what avail were
fifty-times Washed nankeen breeches against the Polish
lancersl With our trusty crutch we made thousands
bite the dust ; but the wounded and dying crawled up
our legs, and stung us cruelly over the lower regions.
At last we took to flight, and found shelter in the ice-
house. But it seemed as if a new hive had been disturbed
in that cool grotto. Again we sallied out, stripping oil'
garment after garment, till, in purls naturalibus, we
leaped in at a window, which happened to be that of the
drawing-room, where a large party of ladies and gentle-
men were waiting the dinner-bell."
We. remember this incident perfectly, for .we
chanced to be one of. the party -assembled. It was a
dinner given-by the late Dr. Scott, the Odontist,
Timothy and Mrs. Tickler, General lizard and his
lady, and several other contributors to Blackwood's
Magazine. Just as we were all cNpecting the sum-
mons to the table, in rushed Christopher, nearly in
the manner he has described, with not a square inch
of his person uncovered with bees. Two were fight-
ing furiously for a settlement on the tip of his nose,
and at least a dozen more were pegging holes in his
upper lip. Shocked are we to relate, that the "old
man eloquent" blasphemed in a way awful to•think
of ; and then rushing from the drawing-room, made
straight for the water-butt, in order to.cool himself in
its refreshing waters ! But such a state of things as
he left behind him I Tickler was in convulsions, his
wife in hysterics. General lizard, whose ideas of
etiquette were remarkably strict, stumped about on
his wooden-leg, as if considering the propriety of
calling the intruder to account ; and one prim, demure,
maiden lady, thin as a thread-paper, and strait as a
stick of sealing-wax, and who was' of a specially
devout and decorous turn of mind, was compelled
to hide her blushes behind her fan, so that nothing
but her eyes, were visible, just peering above the
screen, at. the hideous apparition that had so unex-
pectedly presented itself ! But Christopher is mistaken
in one respect. Ile was not exactly in a state of primi-
tive nature, for as he made his leap in at the window,
we caught a din glimpse of a shirt, yellow
with age and reiterated ablutions ! But to be

serious. The present volume, in addition to its
reckless, headlong, jovial humour, contains passages
impregnated with such sterling, elevated thought—
such impassioned eloquence, and philosophical criti-
cism, as we may vainly hope to find in the works of
any other writer of the day. Nor must we omit to
notice, by way of summing up, the generous, en-
larged spirit that breathes in every page, and the
sunniness of temperament that lends a glow to every
sentiment. The volume, in short, is full of pleasur-
able emotions, and warms the heart like a cordial.

THE USE AND STUDY OF HISTORY.
Machen, Dubin, 1842. r•

So long as man continues to sympathise with his
fellow-man, which we all do to a greater extent than
we give ourselves credit for, notwithstanding Our con-
stant complaint of, .and avowed contempt 'for, the 1
pre-
judices, the vices, and the selfishness of hUmanity—so
One of our most
Ipolleiagsiewgil,l
at the eits study of
eofufhistory
e.fsotr
Irofitable; pursuits.
1)-i
A man may certainly push his way through life
u - exercise
without it—that is to say, he may become a respect-
able ofaver, or a worthy common-sense
Member Parliament, and adequately fulfil such
drudegfe
,
industryduties
as
s a
n demand
perseverance;
distinguished intellectual figure—never stand out in
the world's eye as a great statesman, or even as a
merely
tbhte he
willmake a
never of plodding
great lawyer, unless he be familiar with the past as
well as with the present, and have carefully hived in
his mind the valuable lessons of experience . in which
history abounds. It is the past that has shaped and
moulded the present, and acts as our beacon, whether for
guide or warning; and to be conversant only with
the world about us, taking no notice, or being wholly
ignorant of the vast social and political changes of
that which is gone by, is to possess at best but an im-
perfect, twilight sort of intelligence. In his present
Lectures on the "Use and Study of History," Mr.
Maccullagh eloquently and earnestly insists on the ad-
vantages attending this pursuit; and in reference to
the spirit in which it should be read and studied, ob-
serves—" I shall feel it necessary to repeat more than
once an admonition against the desire of exploring
apt lines of parallel, or catching atquotahle fragments
to suit your preconceived- opinions. • This is not to
use history like men, but to play with it like children ;
this is not to listen mutely and reverently to its still,
small voice, but to make a parrot's clatter with its in•
cidental tones. Your own goad sense will tell you
that a calm and teachable frame of mind is the only
safe one wherein to ascend that PI i
--11.nence, whence
you may behold all the kingdoms of the world and the
glory of them.—history is a solemn thing." Mr.
Maccullagh's passing criticisms on the Greek,
Latin, and Italian historians, show an acute, thought-
ful, analytical, and inquisitive mind, and one that
observes and decides for itself,lnstead of echoing the
opinions of others. We are pleased to find him, in a
note, bearing the following testimony to Thirlwall's
History of Greece :—" It is a book which ought to be
in every popular library, and from whose eloquent
and fai hi'Lt narrative, clearer and better conceptions
of Greek life may be gathered, than from any Other

English work with which lam acquainted." Bishop
Thirlwall is, indeed, by many degrees the best Greek
historian we have, both as respects his manner and
his matter. Mitford is too prejudiced—too narrow in
his views—too one-sided in his judgments; he dis-
courses on the democracies of Greece in the super-
cilious spirit of an aristocrat; and in pourtraying the
character of Demosthenes, has been guilty of the most
signal injustice. As for his style, it is bald, feeble,
and perfectly untuneable ; but, in truth, his work al-
together has been most preposterously overrated, and
will, we trust, soon find its proper level in public
estimation.

PLIGLITED TROTH.
Saunders and Otley, London, 1842.
There is some energy in this dramatic tale, but it
is the fitful energy of convulsion rather than of sound
settled health. The characters, too, are all over-
charged, and many of them are too frequently placed
in false positions, from which it is difficult—indeed
almost impossible—to extricate them with propriety.
Throupout the production exaggeration is the
author s besetting fault ; but there is one incident,
namely, the last interview between Grimwood and
his roguish steward, Wormall, that is wrought up
with true dramatic skill, and notwithstanding its
undoubted power, is less free from exaggeration than
any other scene in the play.