a 'privileged person' and always speaks his mind, he addressed me thus after telling the porter to put my luggage into the hind boot. "Going up to Oxford, I s'pose?'

"I nodded affirmatively.

"To be mutilated?"

"Matriculated, you mean.'

"Certainly-by all means, if you prefer it. Now let me give you a nint-if you don't keep better time at chapel and lecture, when you reside in college, you'll get double-thonged to make up for lost ground I can tell you. Now, jump up-here, Billy, put up the ladder for the gen'elman, he's only a Freshman.'

"As soon as we were clear of the pitching, and I thought he could hear my remarks, I begun a conversation by criticising his team. This he bore in perfect silence, until I said,

"Pretty little animal that left-hand front-horse.'

"To which he replied with a stare, 'That what?'

"That left-hand front-horse-the gray there, with an abbreviated tail.' "Whew! ew! ew! ew!' whistled Mr. Lillywhite and looking very grave, said, 'I tell you how it is young man-I never druv a more ignorant chap in my life. You'd better get off at the fust stage up, take a yeller and go back to your crammer-for I'm blowed if they'll have you at Oxford. Now mind what I say that gray oss is called the near leader, and what you calls a 'brivated tail," is a short dock. Never call it by no other name again.'

"Why do you call it a near leader when it's the farthest horse from you? I ventured to ask, after a quarter of an hour of feeling ashamed of my ignorance.

"Why, you knows nuffin! You see those two osses are called the near osses, becos they runs next the near side of the road, and these two osses is called the off osses becos they run on the side as the driver gets off of.'

"I did not venture any more remarks until we got to the place where we were to change horses, when I asked him if he would take a glass of ale.

"Much obliged to you, sir-never drink malt liquor, it's the most sleep-bringing-oningest thing as is—I always haves sixpenn'orth of cold without at every stage, and if any gen'elman likes to make a shilling'sworth of it all the way up, I never objects.'

"I paid for his brandy-and-water, and had a glass of very excellent Staffordshire ale myself, and we got on much better afterwards, though I limited my inquiries to the localities; such as Whose house is that?" and What village is this?' But after two or three stoppages with corresponding colds without and glasses of ale, which gradually got worse as we drew nearer Oxfordshire, I began to question him upon Oxford matters, and amongst other things, asked him what necessaries he should advise me to bring up with me when I came into residence. I "We were then dragging Long Compton-hill, and I did not get any answer until we got to the bottom, and he pulled up for the skid to be taken off, when he told me never to interfere with a man when he was driving down a steep hill, full inside and out, with a heavy load on the top, becos the politest of 'em could not stand it, 'specially when the roads was slippery, and no hold for the skid.'

"When we were on the level ground, I begged to move the previous question,' touching the necessaries.

"Why you see I'm always ready to put a young man in the right way, and I'll just give you the result of my 'quaintance with Oxford life. You must have two pair of muffles.'

"Muffles! what are they?'

"Boxing-gloves, to be sure-but you know well enough; I saw you squaring at the oss-keeper last stage, and as you came from Rotherwick you know all about that, [so don't go for to gammon me. Well then, two pair of files with masks and gloves to match. If you're a real cricketer, and mean to join the Bullingdon, of course you'll bring your own bat. You shoot, of course? becos if you do and haven't a double, my friend Sykes is your man-ticks for ever, and never duns. Then for fishing, I suppose you've got all right-if not, Loder and Gunner will put you in place they tick too-never recommend a gen'elman to a man as doesn't. Any thing in the dog line Tom Sharps or Webb can supply-only 'member, they don't tick for dogs-becos they ain't recoverable in the vice-chancellor's court. But if you want an out-and-out pinter or setter, just give me a nint, I always look out for master, and many a good one I've picked up for him. You see I rub my boots with a little ile of aniseed, and somehow the dogs follow me, and then poor things after they've run alongside the coach a few miles, they get leg-weary, so out of compassion to the poor dumb animals, I take 'em up and give 'em a lift in the fore-boot. Then if you are in the fancy line at all, I've got a few bulls and half-breds at walk, at Early-bottom, and elsewhere, and can give you the office when a fight is going to come off-but do you ever back a pigeon? I've got sich a breed of carriers; and as for fantails, I won't turn my back on any man; all sixteen feathers in their tails, neither more nor lessbut don't take my word for it-just get beyond Maudlin turnpike-gate, and tell Spooner, who works this coach to Maidenhead, that you are going to see my fantails at Early-bottom, and he'll frank you any day -only you must stand brandy-and-water at every public-he pulls up regularly, but loses no time, as he slacks his hand over the levels. Then you'll want a few rats, and a badger now and then-you can't do better than go to Webb, he's always a handsome assortment of lively ones. For pigeon-shooting, Boyce is the best man-fee him well and he'll pinch your birds without any body seeing him, and make your match safe. You hunt of course?'

"I was afraid to say I had never tried it, so nodded, and he continued, "Well, if I was you, I wouldn't bring my own osses up-there'll always be a screw loose. Go to my friend Isaac, or Kickum, they'll use you well and never dun you; but make a bargain beforehand, as that keeps all on the square, and saves jostling when you come to a settlement.' "But I must leave off now and write again to-morrow, as I am just going to lunch with one of our men. I could not eat any breakfast, but feel rather peckish now, and fancy that I can make play at a couple of wild ducks and a dish of snipes. After lunch we are going to lark to Woodstock, to view the gloveresses. So adieu, till next post.

"Yours truly,

"C. WINKEY."

(To be continued.)

SKETCHES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A PHYSICIAN.*-No. IV.

ON THE NATURE, THE CAUSES, AND THE PREVENTION OF CONSUMPTION.

"Vitæ summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam."

"All my whole life being but death's preface,

My sleep but at the next door."

HOR. CAR., L. 1, Od. 4.

FLETCHER'S PILGRIM, Act ii., Sc. 2.

NOTWITHSTANDING the truth clothed in these quotations-notwithstanding life is often little more than a chronic malady, mankind feel an insuperable aversion to part with it. But, if dangers always more or less overshadow the path of life, many of them are assuredly of our own creation. This need not be ;-by relieving ourselves of the causes of threatened evil, our forward prospect, instead of presenting coming events chequering the future, in such a manner as to make us dread that much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed, will be found strewed with many a flower which is now hidden by the haze of apprehension.

I was led to these reflections on examining the table of mortality for the metropolis, issued by the General Register-office, for the week ending the 28th of March, of the present year. It informs us that the number of deaths from Consumption is one hundred and fifty-one, in a mortality of one thousand and thirteen ;-a most appalling proportion, being nearly one in every six, and five-sevenths of the deaths from all causes, including old age and violent deaths.+

When we reflect that the victims of this merciless Destroyer are chiefly those newly ushered upon the stage of busy and active life; those who have just completed studies intended to fit them to sustain honourably their parts in the great drama of society, and who have rationally looked forward to a long course of useful exertion, and not a few who, in the fervour of creative imagination, have dared to lift their eyes above this transitory scene: when we reflect, also, that they are the best and most amiable of our species; the ardent and keenly susceptible sons and daughters of genius; the beautiful, the delicate, the sympathetic, in a word, the flowers of the world, who thus fall, in the dewy morning of their career, before the scythe of the mower. Such being the case, we cannot avoid inquiring, Are there no means of staying this overwhelming torrent of destruction? In reply, we must admit, that when Consumption has once closely invaded the citadel of life, and actually intrenched itself even in one of its outposts, all the efforts of human skill, directed by the most consummate knowledge, have hitherto proved unavailing to dislodge the foe. It is only when discovered afar off, and met in his distant approach, that this enemy of life can be combated with any rational anticipation of success.

* Continued from No. ccxxx., page 271.

There is some consolation that this proportion, great as it is, does, not nearly equal that which existed half a century ago; but the decrease is only among the lower orders of society; among the middle and the upper ranks the proportion has increased.

To drop metaphor, this disease, although when confirmed it cannot be cured, yet, it may be successfully warded off, when its tendency is early detected in the constitution. Such being the case, does it admit of a question whether the dread that may be awakened by unveiling the characteristics which denote a tendency to the disease, or the benefit which must follow a knowledge of the exciting causes, and of the means of destroying the influence of these, be greatest? If it be the duty of those who see, to point out the dangers which lie in the path of the blind, there can be only one opinion respecting the course which should be adopted; and with this conviction I intend to detail, in intelligible language, those features of the malady, which will enable it to be recognised by parents; for, in disease, as in war, it is only by possessing a correct knowledge of the strength and the character of an enemy that we can collect and marshal our forces for the encounter; and, if not to overcome, to afford, at least, the best chance of resisting successfully his attack. By thus enabling the disease to be recognised, and displaying the insidious manner of its invasion, the public will be prepared to estimate the value of the means proposed for securing immunity from its approach, leaving to the physician to combat the malady when it is actually present; urging, at the same time, this truth upon the attention of the patient and his friends-that folly is not more opposed to wisdom than the modern empiric to the true physician.

The most efficient mode of examining the subject is probably the following:-1. to explain what the disease is; 2. to point out the constitutions most liable to its attack; 3. to inquire how much is due to hereditary transmission; 4. how much to improper diet, deficient exercise, impure air, errors in clothing, education, occupation, alternations of temperature and climate, in developing the disease; and, finally, to suggest the means of counteracting these deleterious influences.

In the first place, Consumption is too generally regarded as merely a disease of the lungs, instead of a constitutional affection.

In some instances, although fortunately few, the disease is coeval with birth. Like the rosebud in which the cankerworm is nurtured, which unfolds its blushing loveliness for a short space and fades, the infant is born to struggle through a painful existence for a few brief months, to languish, and to die. On the other hand, in many, the tendency to the disease is merely impressed upon the habit by hereditary transmission; but it does not show itself for years, its development requiring the presence of certain exciting causes, the most common of which is a neglected cold. In a third class, neither of the parents have laboured under either consumption, or a tendency to it, but one or the other has been the victim of some derangement of health, which has worn down the vigour of the frame, and entailed upon their offspring a constitution susceptible of diseased action, and thence fitted for the formation of tubercles, the germs of Consumption. In such a habit, the malady for the first time makes its appearance; and, if the individual marry, it becomes hereditary. But long before it is perceived, in either of the last-mentioned instances, the disease has existed, and has been slowly and insidiously advancing; the cold has only awakened it into greater activity, and rendered the symptoms obvious which were before latent or doubtful.

The previous constitutional affection, however, is generally altogether overlooked. From taking cold, or from some other perceptible event, the commencement of the malady is dated by the anxious parents or relatives; but the fate of the sufferer is already determinable from the progress which it has made. This question thence arises, how are we to recognise the disease lurking in the constitution? Is there any physical form of body, complexion, or character, corporeal or mental, which should lead us to suspect its existence, and to take measures to anticipate and prevent its development?

In attempting such a description, it is to be regretted that the picture may blanch the cheek of many a fond and doting mother, who, secretly exulting in the opening beauties of her infant offspring, contemplates in the budding promise of the present the ripened perfection of the future. A blissful vision, too often, alas! never to be realized. Nor is this to be wondered at, whilst the errors in the physical education of the body, and the hot-bed preternatural forcing of the intellectual faculties which now prevail, shall continue to influence the higher ranks of the community. But, if the picture shall rouse the attention of parents to a more rational mode of educating their children, both physically and mentally, and shall thereby produce a gradual abatement of the prevalence of Consumption in every class of society, then will the temporary alarm weigh as a straw in the balance against the advantages which must result.

2. The constitution in which the predisposition to Consumption lurks, is that which physiologists term the tuberculous, from the seeds of the disease, if I may employ such a term, being pale, yellowish, round, opaque bodies (tubercles), which are separated from the blood in a diseased condition of the habit, and deposited in various parts of the body. When they cause pulmonary consumption, they first slowly derange the breathing function by their accumulation in the lungs, and next destroy the organization of these organs by the change which they themselves undergo after they are awakened into activity. Cold, producing cough, or any form of inflammation of the lungs; croup; hooping-cough; and fevers, either general or those accompanied with affections of the skin, such as scarlet fever, and measles; and a variety of other circumstances, to be afterwards mentioned, are the chief exciting causes which rouse latent tubercles in the lungs to a state of activity capable of inducing Consumption. But let us now inquireWhat are the physiognomical characters which indicate the tuberculous constitution?

It is only when the disease is hereditary that these physiognomical characters are very striking; and, as this hereditary transmission is undoubted, and involves some curious matter of inquiry, it may not be improper, before describing the features of the tuberculous constitution, to offer a few brief remarks respecting this source of consumption.

3. Without referring to the causes which effect the transmission of peculiar conformations of the body, or of disposition, mind, and temper, from parent to child, it is equally well ascertained that morbid actions, and consequent diseased productions, existing in parents, are continued in their offspring. Now, if we admit that the blood is the general pabulum of the various textures and organs of the animal body, it is