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breeze;

But more I love your monuments, reared by the hand of toil;
Those yellow sheaves and golden stacks which crown the

_
to manifest itself.' As already stated, the chroni-
"re Ling of other harvesters, who mow down fields of men, cler displays marked sympathy with the clerical
'Who widows make, and orphans too, then deify the slain ; proceedings of the times he treats of, maintaining
.Bat tell me, are those crimson piles, heaped up in bloody strife, almost with a forlorn chivalrousness the purity of
deserving more the song of praise than bread, the staff of life? ecclesiastical motives, and the efficacy as well as
the sanctity of sacerdotal movements. As an in-
e of such purity and efficacy, take the fol-

generous soil

'Long may ye live, and healthfully, to quaff the cup of peace,
saan
And may your flocks and little ones, and lowing herds increase.
lowing
And oh I may He who giveth bread send plenty to your door
Enough to spread the rich man's board and satisfy the poor

EMBASSY TO TIT

-OPE, AND ITS T

belonging

to the

Greek empire arrived at the court of Rome, clothed it
lid, with riding-horses and sumpter-horses.

'God bless ye, merry harvesters, let every Briton sing,
Till with the sound the hills awake, and lowly valleys ring ; •
numerous household, who attack(
'Heath cottage,ball,and temple-roofprolongthejoyous strain, most violent language charged him with having erred
.mod bless ye, merry harvesters, again, again, again. enormously in the faith, and also with having been the
- - - -.. _ -_—___ __.., cause that all the people of
_Latium had erred, who say

Cod bless ye, merry harves
Who sow the seed, and harrow it, then leave the rest to God,—
To Him who sendeth sun and rain, and seed and harvest-

Soit, inasmuch as by them he was asserted to proceed from
the Father, according to the demonstration and established
}belief of the Greeks. And this error of the Greeks is one

time:
God speed ye all, ye sturdy sons of England's happy cl

, long standing. They also accused him of other im-
proper things, which his court notoriously practised. But
And ye who own the fruitful soil, as Boaz did of old, the Pope bestowed valuable presents on them, and sent
Pray don't forget those helping hands that store your purse them away well instructed in the faith.
with gold ; Of course they were well instructed in the faith,
But when young Ruth the gleaner comes, go bid your honest the instruction being accompanied by weighty and
golden arguments ; persuasives long since consi-
at. '• dered to have peculiar efficacy on Greek under-
,t. ..,tne standings, although not so geneially believed to
at. e harvest have been applied in much profusion by his Holi-
ness. Towards the conclusion of Matthew's Chroni-
' u. '' we des we find the following version of the death of
Sir William Wallace, the valiant and indomitable
•,s Scottish patriot, whose genuine love of country,

Drop here and there, and liberally, an ear of precious grain

God help ye all, ye harvesters, and when that day shall
'When those who sow and reap in tears shall shout the

May ye among those ripened shocks be found of art

And find yourselves safe lodged in Heaven as r
garnered seed.

1 self-denial, and singleness of purpose, formed a
brilliant and a noble contrast to the sordid and
mercenary conduct of the Scottish nobility of that

REVIEWS OF BOOKS.

I Period :-.

...
lives of the Queens of Scotland. Vol. IV. By AbocultrtiliteltlTEß
time of ANDtI EXECUTION
st
sWALLACE.
sumption of the
Agnes Strickland, author of " Lives of the blessed Virgin Mary, a certain Scot, by name William
Queens of England." Edinburgh and London : Wallace, an outcast from pity, a robber, a sacrilegious
William Blackwood and Sons. man, an incendiary, and a homicide, a man more cruel
than the cruelty of Herod, and more insane than the fury
The fourth volume of this charming series, like of Nero, who with the accursed Ham discovered the
its predecessor, is devoted to the life of Mary nakedness of a man, which God ordained to be covered
Stuart, .more generally and familiarly known as when he made men aprons, compelling many men and
womena ofee England, mingled together,
iLoirdolouind play,
4'
Mary Queen of Scots." The evil fortunes which
'beset this unhappy Princess, from the moment of mentorsnn with scorpions, and him,
tog bind against.eintheemr;
her birth, in Linlithgow Palace, and. ceased only and scourge them, and pinch them, so as to make them
with her tragical and cruel death in the castle of advance straight forward ; a man who even tore out the
Fotheringay, have long formed subjects for the bowels of infants crying in their cradles, and hanging at
poet and the novelist ; while, during her life, they
and churches,
breasts ; whoburnt alive ioys in schools
my 1,„n gsr :eats i n numbers w
-were not less prolific as themes for the leaders of t the whenba;ttleoe,iF lir7c,had.conslt
lected anar
faction. This volume opens with a description of the King of England, and had seen that he could not re-
Alary as she demeaned herself among the Scottish sist the powerful army of the King, said to the Scots,
Nobles, on her return as a widowed Queen from "Behold I have brought you into a ring, now carol and
France, and closes shortly before the villanous dance as well as you can;"l and so fled himself from the
.assassination of her second husband, Henry Lord bsaavttlllseamvainng his
of 361, aeftther tssitnumh-ratb;
';
q swwincficiefneshes'esi,
Darnley. The authoress, with true woman's sym- was at last taken prisoner by the King's servants, and
pathy, scrutinizes the various circumstances which brought to London, as the King ordained that he should
gave so melancholy an interest to the history of be formally tried, and was on the eve of Saint Bartholo-
the Royal beauty ; and with a not less true woman's mew condemned by theu nobles ofe the kingdom of England
tact, presents them in a light most favourable toen First of
led through thein
hetAi cruelawmasost but
Pstyree:s death.Zon,' dragged at the
the character of her heroine. The bright and tail of a horse, and dragged to a very high gallows, made
amiable traits which were, as is admitted on all on purpose for him, where he was hanged with a halter,
_hands, such conspicuous elements in the personal then taken down half dead, after which his bowels were
qualities of Queen Mary, are dwelt on and dis- taken out and bdiint idn.the fire; then his head was cuteoaffci
and his
.played with all a woman's eloquence of pleading. fixed hoisn a stake and set on London quarters,
alluthtishibm•
That deep crimes and fatal errors stained the name quarters thus divided, were sent to the four quarters of
and blighted the fortunes of Mary Stuart, it is Scotland. Behold the end of a merciless man, whom his
V,earcely in the power of even a partial historian to mercilessness brought to this end !
'disprove ; but in glancing at them, Miss Strickland Such is the version given by Matthew of West-
chows both taste and tact in backing them up by minster, of a deed of cruelty and savage vengeance
"extenuating circumstances." Her youth, her inflicted by a monarch on a prisoner betrayed into
leauty, her talents, and her generous disposition, his hands, and. whose only crime was refusing fealty
are all brought admirably into play in favour of to a sovereign to whom he never owned or owed
Queen Mary, and, contrasted with the sullen- allegiance, and the circumstances of whose death
3noroseness, selfishness, and treachery of those by have tarnished the memory and obscured the re-
-whom she was surrounded and held more like a nown of one of England's bravest and most politic
prisoner at large than treated as an independent
'sovereign. As the advocate of Mary Stuart, so
-far as the work has yet proceeded, Miss Strick-
land has made out her case most successfully and
adeverly ; and it is pleasing to add, that the defence
iii so strongly tinctured with the milk of human
landness, as to lead to a warm regard for the
talented and skilful advocate who pleads before us.
Listen to the eloquent defender of Mary as she
pictures the latter's cunning adversary in his
intrigues against his sovereign's peace :
THE EARL OF MORAY, ILLEGITIMATE BROTHER TO

The Illustrated London

Magazine. Part 111.

London : Piper, Brothers, and Co

Having spoken recently in terms of general ap-
probation in respect to this very cheap and really
well-got up serial, although we at the same time
felt constrained to administer censure on what we
considered a dangerous slovenliness in one contri-
bution, we are glad to acknowledge that of the
third part we can speak favourably and without
reservation. The papers, generally, are instructive
as well as amusing, and in not a few instances rise
above the ordinary intellectual pabulum served up
for the delectation of the humbler classes of society,
within whose reach the moderate price of this pub-
lication readily brings it. Want of space forbids
us to enumerate the various articles of merit in this
part, but we cannot refrain from offering a word
of special commendation in behalf of one entitled
" Sea-bathing and the Sea-side," by Robert Knox,
M.D. It is written in a pleasing and earnest
manner, and abounds in useful hints to those who
are "in populous city pent," and who seek relief
from lassitude in sojourning by the sea-shore. The
magazine, we think, cannot fail of, as it certainly
deserves, success.

THE QUEEN.
No sense of national or family honour led the base son
of James V. to object to the lineage of the cadet grandson
1)f Dudley the extortioner, as unmeet to disparage the
royal stream of Stuart, by mingling with that of the
representative of a hundred kings. No tender care for
the life of his sister and benefactress impelled him to
shrink from joining the confederacy for consigning her to
the arms of a man " infamed by the death of his first
'wife." Belike the wife-killing reputation of the Lord
Robert was the reason he was chosen for the husband of
Nary Stuart. Neither moral delicacy nor religious
scruples inspired a doubt as to the propriety of allowing
so profligate a man as the minion of Elizabeth to be
-united to the Sovereign of a reformed realm ; it was
sufficient for the Earl of Moray that he was the man
Idiom the Queen of England delighted to honour. But
although he consented to the arrangement, he had not
sufficient temerity to undertake to communicate it to
Mary, much less to recommend it to her.
Of the unscrupulous cunning, the heartless
Ilypocrisy, and the ruthless tyranny of Moray, in
Ihis dealings between Mary and her factious sub-
jects, there unfortunately exist too many and too
convincing evidences to admit of their denial ; and
of these evidences Miss Strickland makes no
stinted use. The unbending austerity of the
reformers, headed by the redoubtable John Knox,
forms also a striking foil to the easy and graceful
laearing and polished manners of the youthful
sovereign ; the picture being artistically balanced
to produce a striking contrast and a strong effect.
(On the one hand we have the gruff earnestness
and homely, even rude eloquence of men struggling
for religious truth, and liberty of conscience ; on
-the other the fascinations of female loveliness,
!often in tears, the winning blandishments of an
-elegant court, and the soft glozing of an affected
moderation brought skilfully into contrast. As
an interesting biographer Miss Strickland has long
been favourably known, and the present work,
-when completed, must add largely to her fame in
that branch of literature, She writes with a
strong and hearty bias. Her scenes are well
chosen, and they are arranged with a fine eye to
aromatic effect. Her pleading is earnest, eloquent,
persuasive ; she never misses a point, and before
'uny jury of her countrymen would, in all likeli-
lood, carry her client off triumphantly, or at the
very worst she would remain certain of a finding
"not proven," however heinous the offence or
-clear the evidence.
The chequered, hazardous, and stormy politics
id the Scottish Court, at the period referred to,
are graphically delineated. The touches of indi-
--vidual character are introduced and elaborated in a
Teasing and convincing manner ; and in point of
fact, like a clever and mdustrious authoress, Miss
--Strickland leaves little to be supplied by other's in
latightening the picture she chooses to present.
her work embraces the stirring interest of a
—romance combined with historical details. The
-volume is very handsomely got up, and is em-
bellished by a beautifully expressive profile of Queen
Nary, whence derived we hardly know, but it
portrays a countenance of rare beauty, and indicates
a charming serenity of temper.

The Protestant Magazine. London : Wertheim
and Macintosh ; and The Bulwark. London :
Seeleys, and Nisbet and Co.
These two stancli advocates of Protestantism
continue valiantly to do battle against Popish
error, intolerance, and cruelty, and in favour of
Protestant truth.

The Family Treasury. Parts 11. and 111.
London : Houlston and Stoneman.
A work conducted on the same principles with
the " Family Friend," and by the original editor
of that serial. It offers several advantages over
the " Family.
.Friend," and is indeed a useful as
well as a pleasing fireside companion.

Lights Along the Line. A Geographical and
Topographical Description of the Salubrious
City of Southport. By Yrnelt Koorbezarg.
Liverpool : Deighton and Laughton.

This is a squib, of no inconsiderable power, in
which an alleged lag-behind spirit of somnolency,

said to be characteristic of Southport and its in-
habitants, as well as those of some other localities
" along the line," are smartly, if not harshly,
castigated. The following description will show
the animus and style of observation which pervade
the satire ; it may be called

A MORAL VIEW OP SOVTIIPORT,

Society good. It differs in kind as the seasons
change. The indigenous growth of the city itself is
stunted, though refined and exclusive. Admission to the
higher and tea-drinking circles is not easily obtained :
the qualities requisite to insure an entree within the hal-
lowed atmosphere of fashionable conversazionis, conducted
under the auspices of those:bright ornaments of their sex
who disdain to bind themselves by law to the monster
man, are volubility of utterance, • richness of invention,
unswerving reliance on rira voce communications, and a
stoical disregard of the world at large.

Verily, we opine that if our satirist direct his
artillery against every community vulnerable on
the points which he assails in the above quotation,
not even Warner's celebrated " long range" will
be sufficient to ensure success in his benign en-
deavours to drive scandal and uncharitableness
from their strongholds. The aim in this respect
at least is good, and the brochure of " Lights
along the Line" must be taken, as no doubt it will
be, quantum valeat.

RATIISIt ROMANTIC.—Not far distant from this classic
town resides—or did a short time ago—a fair dame, who
has seen nearly seventy summers, and who was a singu-
larly fortunate person, having a heavy purse, and having
been blessed with two husbands, both of whom have been
gathered to the graves of their fathers. The days of her
mourning being over, the opulent dame arrayed herself in
sable, but fine apparel ; and by means which are more in-
genious than ingenuous succeeded in attracting " a dash-
ing young man within her province. Having thus far
succeeded, the gay old lady, bedecked and bedizened as
she was, proceeded to "make sure of her game." The
youthful suitor was dazzled by her gold, and won by her
generosity. Notes, sovereigns, silver poured into his lap
in great profusion ; and on the day of their marriage the
" beardless boy" was to be still further exalted—he was to
be the sole possessor, not only of the venerable lady, but
of an income of R,500 a-year! Charming prospects!
Jewels, rings, and license were purchased ; the day fixed
for their appearance at the hymeneal altar ; but the in-
toxicating draught lost its wonted power, the spell was
broken, and the opulent and burnished-up old dame ap-
peared before the once charmed youth in all the deformity
of age; the silken cord was broken. and the youth de..
serted the loving old lady ! Nothing daunted, however,
the gallant dame again tried her arts, and again bewitched
another of the " nobler sex ;" her fine feathers, and
rustling satins, and ardent love, and luring gold were
irresistible, and a young man of twenty-three fell a
victim to her witchery. The patriarchal lady. and the
verdant " gent" went to the priest and were joined to-
gether in matrimony. But, alas, for human happiness !
Scarcely bad the "honeymoon" expired, ere the enchant-
ment vanished ; the old lady's powers to hold her be-
trothed failed. He was more unhappy than Proserpine
with Pluto ; the shades of winter fell .upos his gaily-
attired wife, .and, sad to relate, this young man :of twenty-
three took the -wealth of his " better half," won the affec-
tions of a more youthful lady, and repaired -to the soil of
another hemisphere, leaving the duped lover of seventy
summers to bewail the loss of husband ,and fortune, at
her impoveriehtd leisure,--Cambridge Caranicle.

The Flowers of History, especially such as relate
„to the affairs of Britain. Collected by Matthew
if Westminster. Translated by C. D. Yonge,
13. A.. Vol. 11. London : Henry G. Bohn.
This, the second and concluding volume of the
,celebrated Chronicles of Matthew of Westminster,
'forms one of the interesting set known as " Bohn's
Antiquarian Library." The period of time em-
braced in this section extends from 1066 to 1307,
and includes a narrative of many events which
,conduced in an eminent degree to form the salient
points of British character. The circumstances
are generally detailed with much prolixity and
quaintness. As might have been expected from
the venerable chronicler, the affairs of the church
Tom a prominent theme on which his turgid do-
Tence is much applied; still secular affairs do not
"4Polutely escape his notice, although his deduc-
-aen„ •
tin„, in not a few cases, would meet with but
vrolinLe(ttisaympathy in the present matter-of-fact era.
he rniadre chronicles, we learn that, so early as
terioratine of the thirteenth century, a fear of de-
occupied the morale of the English aristocracy
29 will
appear
ronsiderable share of public attention,
k Matthew, from the following extract, entitled

C'NfE
D4I4SZLB tE MARRIED TO SOME NOBLES OF

The same year (1247)21cGLAND.
iribeing of month
Binge
nry 1.) was staying at
sPeeral purpose, fromi the festival of
faint Vitalis to the day aftertha Afp:rsetiles Saints
rhilip and Saint James, two t !,
, ~, maidense frome
iwn in the Countries " aN'o3' or Provence (in consequencel3 1

GUARANTEE.—O,ficer—Confound youl didn't you
guarantee that the horse wouldn't shy before the fire of
an enemy ? Horsedealer.—No more he won't, Tisn't
till arter fire that he kicks
id a very I SAM SLICK says

Ibelieve every critter in the world
ost entertainin' one in it, and that
there's no gettin' on anyhow without him. Consait grows
as nateral as the hair on one's head, but is longer in
comin' out."

blessings that riches can procure, are avoided by the ge-
nerality of the opulent, who, weary of themselves, fly to
company and business for relief. Where, then, lies the

CADIZ'" has been'rcompared to a dish of silver. It is more
like a service of white china on a blue teatray, cups and
saucers, and teapots and coffee-pots, and butter-boats, and
sugar-basins, of all heights, and shapes, and sizes, but
with an undue proportion of coffee-pots.—Cayley's Las
Alforjas ; or, the Bridle Roads of Spain.
FISIIING FOR A COMPLIMENT.—A young man having
preached for Doctor Emmons one day, was anxious to get
a word of applause for his labour of love. The grave
doctor, however, did not introduce the subject, and his
younger brother was obliged to bait the hook for him.

"I hope, sir, I did not weary your people by the length of
my sermon to-day." "No, sir, not at all ; nor by the
depth either." The young man was silent.

How ANY ONE '(says-an anti-peace man) can look at

uuc.iiuuaau WOU, Vlnupvacu J
elastic cartilage, a gill and a half of lubricating oil, and
ten thousand other arrangements for first-class kicking,
and still believe it is a duty to receive an insult without
making a man smell of leather, is one of those eccen-
tricities connected with the human mind which we never
could fathom."

vv
CITY OF DAMASCUS.—Damascus is the oldest city in
the world. It begins with the earliest patriarchs, and
continues to modern times. While other cities of the
East have risen and decayed, Damascus is still what it
was. It was founded before Baalbec and Palmyra, and it
has outlived them both. While Babylon is a heap in the
desert, and Tyre a ruin of the shore, it remains what it
is called in the prophecies of Isaiah, " the head of Syria."
FEMALE LOVrLINESS never appeared to so good advan-
tage as when set oil with simplicity of dress ; and our dear
human angels, if they would make good their title to that
name, should carefully avoid ornaments which properly
belong to Indian squaws and African princesses. These
tinselries may serve to give effect on the stage or on the
ball-room floor, but in daily life there is no substitute for
the charm of simplicity. The absence of a true taste and
refinement or delicacy cannot be compensated for by the
possession of the most princely fortune. Mind measures
gold, but gold cannot measure mind. Through dress the
mind may be read, as through the delicate tissue of the
lettered page. A modest woman will dress modestly. A
really refined and intellectual woman will bear the marks
of careful selection and taste.:---Family Treasury.
" THE PRESS," exclaims the New York Tribune, with
some bitterness, and a great deal of truth, " when at
public feasts the dishes are licked clean, the bread is
crumbled, the nuts are dug out, the glasses are empty,
overturned, or broken ; the last declaimer of stump-
stereotype has finished his Clay, his Calhoun, or his
Webster, the company is two-thirds gone, and one-third
tired, ' The Press !" fellow-citizens, is then toasted, with
a ghastly smile and an asthmatic cheer, in which the
public men who are left do not join, though the public
men are indebted nineteen parts of twenty to that press,
for their reputations and fortunes,—to the body of educated
reporters for their good taste and philanthrophy in mend-
ing so freely their vulgar rhetoric and contemptible

grammar:'
DEFINITION OF A GENTLEMAN.—III the case of Wag
v. Kelson, tried at the late :Bristol assizes, Mr. Justice
Talfourd thus defined the character of a gentleman :—The
evidence proved that the defendant, while in the theatre,
had said to the plaintiff, "Do not speak to me ; I am a
gentleman, and you are a tradesman." " Gentleman,"
said the learned judge, "is a term which does not apply
to any station, but to the mind and the feelings in every
station. The man of rank who deports himself with .
dignity and candour, and the tradesman who discharges
the duties of life with honour and integrity, are alike
entitled to it ; nay, the humblest artizan, who fulfils the
obligation cast upon him with virtue and with honour, is
more entitled to the name of gentleman than the man who
could indulge in offensive and ribald remarks, however
high his station.
THE loNieav IsLarros.—lt is difficult to imagine:seven
islands, so utterly distinct in race, in ideas, in language,
in interests, locality and social organisation, as those which
it pleased fate to confer on Great Britain, with the task of
governing them. Cerigo is a rock peopled by malefactors.
Zante is a paradise, with a wealthy middle class, and a
small semi-Italian noblesse. Cephalonia is more Greek
than Greece itself, with large proprietors, and a hungry
and disinherited peasantry. Santa Maura is a desert, re-
duced to kindred barbarism with the mainland, which it
touches. Ithaca consists of barren cliffs, with an unwhole-
some shore. Paxos is a low island, which the waves have
cut in two, and which civilization has endowed with a
Martello tower. Corfu is a little polyglot kingdom,
cleaving the Adriatic, a watch-tower commanding Italy,
and the only sea issue of Austria, as well as the coasts of
Turkey and Greece.
ORNAMENT.—Nature is the true guide in our applica-
tion of ornament. She delights in it, but ever in the sub-
verviency to use. Men generally pursue an opposite
course, and adorn only to encumber. With the refined
few, simplicity is the feature of greatest merit in orna-
ment. The trifling, the vulgar-minded, and the ignorant
prize only what is striking and costly—something showy
in contrast, and difficult to be obtained. Nothing. can
more severely or more truly satirise this taste than the
fancy of the negro chief in the interior of Africa, who re-
ceived an Englishman's visit of ceremony in a drummer's
jacket and a judge's wig. I always think of this per-
-1 soilage when I see a lady loaded with jewels : and if I had
a wife, and she had such encumbrances, from the anxiety
of which I saw no other chance of her being relieved, I
should heartily rejoice in one of those mysterious disap-
pearances which have been so frequent of late, and which,
it may be, have sometimes originated in a feeling on the
part of the husband similar to mine.—Walker's Original.
CONVENTUAL MYSTERIES.—" History has recorded the
fact, that in the apartments of. the Inquisitors of Spain,
there were found sixty-two young women, who had been
corrupted and ruined by the inquisitors, and kept there
where the public could never know it. The French sol-
diery flung open the inquisition, and revealed the secret.
There is no security in Italy against the same evil in a
very large proportion of the nunneries ; for every crime
of earth and hell may possibly be rife throughout their
cloisters, and the cry of injured innocence and outraged
virtue, stifled within the walls, remain unheard by the
world without. While we were at Rome, an abbess of
one of the nunneries rushed forth frantically from the
opened gates, plunged into the Tiber, and there sought in
its deep waters to drown the memory and the remorse of
the past ! We were surprised at the pains taken to deny
and conceal this fact, though known and witnessed by
hundreds. The ecclesiastics could not bear to hear it
mentioned.—Pilgrimage to Rome, by Rev. H. Seymour.
CHILDREN.—I think them the poetry of the world—the
fresh flowers of our hearths and homes ; little conjurors,
with their natural magic—evoking by their spells what
delights and enriches all ranks, and equalizes the different
classes of society. Often as they bring with them anxieties
and cares, and live to occasion sorrow and grief, we should
get on very badly without them. Only think if there was
never anything anywhere to be seen but great grown-up
men and women. How we should long for the sight of a
little child ! Every infant comes into the world like a
delegated prophet—the harbinger and herald of good
tidings, whose office it is to " turn the hearts of the
fathers to the children," and to draw "the disobedient to
the wisdom of the just." A child softens and purifies the
heart, warming and melting it by its gentle presence ; it
enriches the soul by new feelings, and awakens within it
what is favourable to virtue. It is a beam of light—a
fountain of love—a teacher whose lessons few can resist.
Infants renal us from much that engenders and encourages
selfishness, that freezes the affections, roughens the
manners, indurates the heart ; they brighten the home,
deepen love, invigorate exertion, infuse courage, and vivify
and sustain the charities of life.
QUICKSILVER MINERS.—The diseased forms of the
men working as excavators belong only too prominently
to a picture of Almaden. You meet men in the streets
with wasted faces, fetid breaths, and trembling hands;
blind, paralytic. The heat in the lower workings of the
mine is very considerable, the ventilation is imperfect,.
vapour of quicksilver floats upon the air, and condenses
on the walls, down which it trickles in little runlets of
pure liquid metal. Even visitors are sensibly affected by
it, and retain for .some time the metallic flavour in their
mouths. The miners, who number more than 4,000, are
divided into three gangs, or watches, working six hours
each, and leaving the fourth six hours of the twenty-four—
from ten at night until four in the morning—as an inter-
val of perfect rest. On account of the heat, and the dele-
terious nature of the vapour, summer is made an idle
time, winter the great period of activity among the popu-
lation. As the winter closes, the appearance of the miners
begins very emphatically to tell its own tale, and great
numbers hasten to their native plains and mountains to
recruit. Their homes are chiefly scattered about Estre-
madura, Andalusia, and Portugal. Crowds of Portuguese,
after harvest, flock to obtain employment at Almaden,
selling not their labour only but their health. The
most robust cannot work in the mine longer than about
fourteen days in succession, generally eight or nine
days make as long a period of such labour as can be
endured without rest. Those who exceed that time are
obliged eventually to give up work and breathe unadul-
terated air for perhaps two months together. If they
work without due precaution, and almost inevitably if
they indulge in wine, miners at Almaden aged between
25 or 30 waste away, lose hair and teeth, acquire an in-
sufferable breath, or become sometimes afflicted with
tremblings that render them unable to supply their own
wants ; they have to be fed like infants. If the disease
be not checked vigorously, cramps and nervous attacks
of the most agonising kind follow upon these symp-
toms and lead on to death. They who work within
due bounds, and live moderately, using a good deal of
milk, if they take care always to clean their persons
thoroughly after each six hours of work—the full day's
labour—live not seldom to old age. These diseases afflict
the miners only. The men engaged upon the ore and
quicksilver outside the mines, in smelting and other oper-
ations, da --.suffer.Rouse hold Words.