Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

virtues. In various publications he defends his memory, and celebrates his praise. "His name," says he, "is a word of congratulation; and The immortal memory of King William will be a health as long as drinking healths is suffered in this part of the world."

Newgate had no terrors for De Foe. He continued to write his "Review" in an unsubdued tone. The Tories, mortified by his wit and satire, "tried hard to enlist him in their service; but he preferred poverty to the shame of serving a cause that his soul abhorred," and remained in durance while they were in power. Some time after Harley's accession to office," the queen, through him, became acquainted with De Foe's merits, and was made condesirous to mitigate. For this purpose she sent relief to his wife and family through Lord Godolphin; sent him a sufficient sum for the payment of his fine, and the expenses attending his discharge from prison."

Almost any other man than De Foe would have sunk under the trials and persecutions to which he was hourly and daily exposed for many years, by the unceasing malice of his political enemies. Not only was he subjected to their slander and abuse, but threatened with violence. His writings were misquoted; even reprinted in the most garbled manner to suit party purposes. His works pirated and hawked about to prevent his receiving emolument from them; his property intercepted, and made away with in the most lawless manner. He was obliged to withhold his name from his works to ensure their reaching the public. His Reviews were stolen out of the Coffee-houses to prevent their being read. printer and publisher were threatened with extinction for their connexion with him. His debts were bought up that proceedings might be had against him. However, with undaunted courage he set his face against all that came across his path, and he continued to lash the vices of the age with an unsparing hand.

His

From this time De Foe's pen became exceedingly prolific, and tract after tract kept pouring from the press on almost every topic that started into notice: it would be endless to enumerate them.scious of the injustice of his punishment, which she now appeared Among these was the celebrated piece of grave irony called the Shortest Way with the Dissenters" (published anonymously), by which all parties were at first imposed upon. It met with applause in the two Universities as the work of a violent Churchman, while the Dissenters became alarmed lest the measures recommended should be actually put in execution. Under this impression they joined in the general outcry against the author. De Foe complained "how hard it was that his intentions should not have been perceived by all the town; and that not one man could see it, either Churchman or Dissenter." Mr. Chalmers observes, "This is one of the strongest proofs how much the minds of men were inflamed against each other, and how little the virtues of mutual forbearance and personal kindness existed amidst the clamour of contradiction which then shook the kingdom, and gave rise to some of the most remarkable events in our annals." A proclamation was issued, offering 50%. for De Foe's apprehension. A formal complaint was also made to the House of Commons, who ordered the book to be burned by the common hangman in New Palace-yard. The printer and bookseller being taken into custody, De Foe surrendered. His wit was construed into a libel, and nothing but weakness or wickedness on the part of the bar, bench, and jury, can account for the issue of the trial. Party feeling pervaded even the seat of justice, as was apparent in the severity of his sentence, which was, "that he pay a fine of 200 marks to the queen; stand three times in the pillory; be imprisoned during the queen's pleasure; and find sureties for his good behaviour for seven years." De Foe was particularly hurt with the Dissenters: of them he says, "All the fault I can find in myself as to these people is, that when I had drawn the picture, I did not, like the Dutchman with his man and bear, write under them, This is the man, and this is the bear, lest the people should mistake me and having, in a compliment to their judgment, shunned so sharp a reflection upon their senses, I have left them at liberty to treat me like one that put a value upon their penetration at the expense of my own." The pillory was no disgrace to him, for, contrary to the expectations of his enemies, he was greeted with triumphant acclamations by the populace; and "the mob, instead of pelting him, resorted to the unmannerly act of drinking his health.' De Foe, undaunted, published on the very day of his exhibition "A Hymn to the Pillory." "In this ode," says Mr. Chalmers, "the reader will find satire pointed by his sufferings, generous sentiments arising from his situation, and an unexpected flow of easy verse.' In this he had ample revenge upon his enemies. Cibber remarks, that "As the ministry did not think proper to prosecute him for this fresh insult against them, that forbearance was construed a confession of guilt in their former proceedings.'

[ocr errors]

""

Till this befell him, and his being imprisoned, De Foe was in good circumstances, and could keep his coach; but he was now ruined in business, and lost 35007. While in Newgate, he studied the habits and pursuits of the prisoners, which he made so good use of on future occasions; and engaged himself in the composition of various political works. The Reformation in Scotland also was now a favourite study of De Foe; and, as will be seen, he had afterwards an active part assigned him in advocating the Union of the two kingdoms, when he spent much of his time in Scotland: was exceedingly partial to the country, its inhabitants, their manners, and form of religion, and wrote largely on the contests of the opposing parties. It was likewise while in prison that he projected his " Review," a periodical work of four 4to pages, which was published for nine successive years without intermission, during the greater part of the time three times a week, and without having received any assistance whatever in its production; an extraordinary undertaking for one man, when his various literary and other employments are taken into account. Throughout this work he carried on an unsparing warfare against folly and vice in all their forms and disguises, and, but for the mass of temporary matter with which it is encumbered, it would have long outlived its day. It pointed the way to the Tatlers, Spectators, and Guardians, and may be referred to as containing a vast body of matter on subjects of high interest, written with great spirit and vigour.

De Foe wrote, in 1706, voluminously on the subject of the union with Scotland, and acquired ministerial favour, which opened the way for him to be received into the service of the queen. His acquirements and his general knowledge pointed him out as a fit person for a mission to Scotland, and he was received there in a character almost diplomatic. His labours in that country procured him great approbation. While in Edinburgh, he published "Caledonia, &c., A poem in honour of Scotland and the Scots nation." Of the Union he says, in his Review, "I have told Scotland of improvement in trade, wealth, and shipping, that shall accrue to them on the happy conclusion of this affair; and I am pleased doubly with this, that I am likely to be one of the first men that shall give them the pleasure of the experiment." During his residence in Scotland the "Review" continued to be regularly published.

De Foe returned to London in January 1708, and was rewarded with an appointment and a fixed salary, but he visited Scotland several times during that and the following year. When the Union was completed, he published in Scotland the first edition of "The Union of Great Britain," folio, pp. 685.

In his Review, De Foe gave discourses concerning trade from time to time, which excited great interest. Of the unproductive classes of society he writes, "When I am describing the people,' says he, "I mean not the passive, good for nothing, who walk starving through the thoroughfare of life, and have no share in the active part of it, leaving no notice to posterity that ever they have been here; but the people who labour, or employ those that labour; trade, or assist those that trade; enjoy, or assist them that enjoy this life, like men, like benefactors to their country, and like Christians assisting futurity by laying up funds of wealth, and improvements for posterity, and a posterity instructed to manage them."

De Foe informs us that Church-politics now became the order of the day; that women and children, and the very street-gentry, arranged themselves in the hostile attitudes of party. The following is a curious picture of the times :-"The women lay aside their tea and chocolate, leave off visiting after dinner, and, forming themselves in cabals, turn privy-councillors, and settle the affairs of state. Every lady of quality has her head more particularly full of business than usual; nay, some of the ladies talk of keeping female secretaries, and none will be fit for the office but such as can speak French, Dutch, and which is worse, Latin. Gallantry and gaiety are now laid aside for business; matters of government and affairs of state are become the province of the ladies; and no wonder they are too much engaged to concern themselves about the common impertinencies of life. Indeed, they have hardly leisure to live, little time to eat and sleep, and none at all to say their prayers. If you turn your eye to the park, the ladies are not there; even the church is thinner than usual, for you know, the mode is for privy-councils to meet on Sundays. The very playhouse feels the effect of it; and the great Betterton died a beggar

[ocr errors]

on this account. Nay, the Tatler, the immortal Tatler, the great Bickerstaff himself, was fain to eave off talking to the ladies, during the Doctor's trial, and turn his sagacious pen to the dark subject of death and the next world; though he has not decided the ancient debate, whether Pluto's regions were, in point of government, a kingdom or a commonwealth." De Foe was now residing at Stoke Newington, in easy circumstances, which place he left for a time to proceed to Scotland on the business of the government. While in Edinburgh, the corporation, grateful for his former services, empowered him to publish the Edinburgh Courant. This was the second newspaper published in Scotland, projected by James Watson, in 1705. The first was the Edinburgh Gazelle, established by the same writer, and printed by authority in 1699. Affairs of more importance soon recalled De Foe to London.

The following is a curious specimen of how his conduct was watched and punished even by private individuals :-" On board of a ship," says he, "I loaded some goods. The master is a whig, of a kind more particular than ordinary. He comes to the port, my bill of lading is produced, my title to my goods undisputed; no claim, no pretence, but my goods cannot be found. The ship sailed again, and I am told my goods are carried back, and all the reason given is, that they belong to De Foe, author of the Review, and he is turned about, and writes for keeping up the public credit. Thus, gentlemen, I am ready to be assassinated, arrested without warrant, robbed and plundered by all sides; I can neither trade nor live; and what is this for? Only, as I can yet see, because there being faults on both sides, I tell both sides of it too plainly." He sums up the scenes of his life in this distich:

"No man has tasted different fortunes more,

And thirteen times I have been rich and poor." In the midst of his other avocations, De Foe now gave to the world a considerable work-" The Present State of Parties in Britain, &c." He was again the subject of a prosecution, and under the pretence of writing libels in favour of the Pretender, was committed to Newgate; but the government took the matter out of the hands of the instigator, and he was soon released.

After the death of Queen Anne, De Foe, who had now been a political writer for thirty years, gradually left that field to others, beating out for himself a new path to fame. In bidding adieu to politics, De Foe considered he had an account to settle at parting. The ill-usage he had received from both friends and enemies, was greatly aggravated by the misconstruction that had been put upon his writings; he therefore furnishes a defence of his life and conduct, in "An Appeal to Honour and Justice;" but before he had fully completed it, he was struck with apoplexy. The ill-treatment he had received, it was believed, was the accelerating cause of the calamity. His friends, however, published the tract. De Foe eventually recovered from the attack, and regained sufficient health and vigour of mind to delight the world by his writings.

In 1715 appeared "The Family Instructor," which was followed by many others, which were well received. In 1719, Robinson Crusoe, after making a circuit of the trade for a purchaser, was published, and in four months there were as many editions,-the bookseller clearing a thousand pounds by the bargain. This work is now to be found in most languages of Europe, and gives delight even to the Arab. De Foe, now sixty years of age, lived to be the author of nearly fifty separate works, as may be seen in the Chronological List prefixed to Mr. Wilson's "Memoirs." "The Life and Adventures of Captain Singleton," "The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the famous Moll Flanders," "Life of Colonel Jacque,' 66 "Roxana, or the Fortunate Mistress," The History of the Plague,' "Christian Conversation," "Religious Courtship," "Tour through Britain," "The Complete Tradesman," &c. In many of his latter writings he assumes the name of Andrew Moreton, Esq., that his own name might not mar the success and usefulness that might otherwise attend them. When in his sixty-seventh year, in the preface to a pamphlet, he alludes to his age and infirmities :-"I hope the reader will excuse the vanity of an officious old man, if, like Cato, I inquire whether or no I can yet do anything for the service of my country."

[ocr errors]

No subject-no circumstance, escaped De Foe's watchful eye. Popular prejudice, public impostures, notorious characters, ghosts, miracles, magic, whatever was uppermost in the minds of the public, were forthwith made the vehicles for conveying moral truths. The sale of his latter works was immense, and for some time his circumstances must have been easy. He however was

The trial of the celebrated Dr. Sacheverel,

sinking fast in health, and was tormented by the gout and stone, which in a few months brought his troubles to a final close. For some time previous to his death, his affairs had become again deranged, and he was separated from his family. De Foe's character will stand the severest test. His numerous writings proclaim his worth; and posterity will bestow on him the credit and fame that his contemporaries denied him. In the storms that he had to withstand, he maintained a serenity of mind, inspired by conscious rectitude. "He that cannot live above the scorn of scoundrels," says he, "is not fit to live; dogs will bark, and so they shall, without lessening one moment of my tranquillity." Temperate himself, he denounces drunkards as "philosophers in wickedness," and ridicules swearing as that "frenzy of the tongue, in which there is neither pleasure nor profit." His religious scruples led him to discourage the theatre, the ball-room, and the card-table. De Foe was no friend to the doctor, thinking that unassisted nature, with temperance, would in most cases effect a cure; he therefore advises people to let their friends die a natural death.

[blocks in formation]

Which keeps my little loaf of bread
Unclipt, unflead;

Some brittle sticks of thorn or briar
Make me a fire;
Close by whose living coal I sit,
And glow like it.
Lord, I confess too, when I dine,
The pulse is thine;
And all those other bits that be
There placed by thee.
The worts, the purslain, and the messe
Of water cresse,

Which of thy kindness thou hast sent,
And my content,

Makes those, and my beloved beet,

To be more sweet.

"Tis Thou that crown'st my glittering hearth With guiltless mirth,

And giv'st me wassail bowles to drink
Spiced to the brink.
Lord! 'tis thy plenty-dropping hand

That soiles my land,

And giv'st me for my bushel sowne,
Thrice ten for one.

Thou makest my teeming hen to lay
Her egg each day,
Besides my healthful ewes to bear
Me twins each year;
The while the conduits of my kine
Run cream for wine.

All these, and better Thou dost send
Me, to this end,
That I should render for my part
A thankful heart,
Which, fired with incense, I resign
As wholly thine;

But the acceptance! that must be,
My Christ, by Thee.-Herrick.

WEATHER ALMANACS AND THE LAW OF STORMS.

MR. Murphy may be considered as standing in relation to the yet unformed science of meteorology, in much the same capacity that one of the old enthusiastic alchymists may be considered to have stood in relation to chemistry. It is decidedly doing him injustice to call him a "quack." He is not a quack; he is simply an enthusiast in a department of science, presenting a large and most interesting field of observation, and which requires the combined powers of many intelligent and scientific observers for many years to come. One of the dictionary definitions of a quack is, "a boastful pretender to arts which he does not understand;" and the "scientific notices" appended by Mr. Murphy to his almanacs are not calculated to impress the reader with a favourable opinion of the writer. We are apt to associate clearness of expression with distinctness of idea; and the very indifferent English which Mr. Murphy uses conveys the impression, that the writer is wrapping up his thoughts in a vague, incoherent jargon, in order to mistify his readers. But whoever will take the trouble of disentangling Mr. Murphy's meaning from his language, will find that his "theory of the universe" is ingenious, however fanciful it may be.

come to

Mr. Murphy attempts to do what has been attempted before, and, by cleverer men than himself, to upset the Newtonian doctrine of gravitation. It is rather an arduous task: but let him accomplish it, and he may well afford to bear a temporary shower of banter and ridicule. Should the "Weather Almanac " supplant the "Principia," no ordinary immortality awaits its author. If Mr. Murphy, to use his own words, can "shew the futility of the principle of gravitation, considered as the source of planetary movement," let him do so; we do not believe that he will find any predilection for the "principle" apart from the evidence on which it rests. Mere reverence for authority will not stand in the way of successful promulgation of his "first cause in physics," or his "electricity and magnetism considered as the primary active forces of nature in the sun and planets," if they are based on demonstrative evidence.

Mr. Murphy's "Weather Almanac" for 1839 shows a number of improvements, as compared with its predecessor. There is evidently as much reliance placed on its general usefulness as an almanac, to insure its sale, as on the weather predictions. The "trade" gossip on the subject of the sale is, that of the one for 1838, there were 60,000 copies sold; and that 20,000 copies of the one for 1839 were calculated upon, as being likely to "go off." One of the improvements in the new almanac shows considerable tact: for, whether Mr. Murphy obtains his results by "calculation" upon certain discovered principles; or, like the sensible author of a "Historical, Moral, and Weather Almanac," by careful examination of meteorological tables for a series of years, there is considerable likelihood, that, with ordinary care, such a general correctness may be obtained, as to satisfy the majority, who do not compare actual and predicted results very rigidly. Last year formed a decided exception to this general rule; for the lucky coincidence of the "great frost," which attracted such attention to Mr. Murphy's almanac at the beginning of the year, caused a more watchful inspection than would otherwise have been exercised; while the unusual irregularity of the seasons put the predictions very much out. But, either in perfect confidence in the soundness of his views, or acting upon the general rule of there being a chance of general correctness, Mr. Murphy has boldly supplied the purchasers of his almanac with blank columns, in which they may enter their own daily observations on the state of the weather, alongside of the printed predictions. We would urge our readers to act on the suggestion, and to become weather registrars, not for the mere comparatively paltry purpose of finding whether predictions given out in almanacs are right or wrong, but for the higher purpose of forming a very useful habit. In our present very ignorant state with regard to the causes of meteoric phenomena, such habits, adopted and steadily maintained by a large portion of the reading community, would help to stimulate philosophical investigation, by an assurance of a larger audience to which scientific observers could appeal, and also by contributing an additional number of accurate and trustworthy observations to the general stock now available for the purposes of scientific men. The habit itself would be found to be useful, without any reference to the recorded observations being of the slightest value. A few minutes would suffice each day for the purpose; and there are many persons to whom the keeping of a diary of observations on the weather, seasons, &c.. would be of more real advantage than keeping a record of personal feelings.

[ocr errors]

While Mr. Murphy professes to have discovered not merely the law of the weather, but the great law of the universe, another far more practical observer has been confining himself to a particular department of meteorology, "the law of storms." Mr. Murphy "begs to add the mite of his approval as to the general soundness of his (Col. Reid's) views, but more particularly in regard to the doctrine of the vortex, as being the figure described by a storm.' But Colonel Reid himself does not advance his own theory or "views" as being "sound," i. e. established, but rather as a probable opinion, apparently supported by a number of facts, and therefore worthy of receiving a more extended and searching investigation. Colonel Reid, who belongs to the Royal Engineers, was employed to restore government buildings at Barbadoes, which were blown down by a tremendous hurricane in 1831. This led him to study the subject of storms. In seeking for information, he found a theory suggested in a work on Winds and Monsoons, by Colonel Capper, which was published in 1801. This theory seemed to him a reasonable one, and to be supported by a variety of facts, and he therefore set about endeavouring to ascertain what result a much more extensive collection of facts would yield, either by way of strengthening or destroying the theory. To this task he set himself with zeal, earnestness, and industry; and, amongst other modes of research, examined the "logs" of a great number of ships which had encountered violent storms. Besides furnishing a paper on the subject to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at its last meeting in Newcastle, he has published a book-" An attempt to develop the Law of Storms by means of facts, arranged according to place and time; and hence to point out a cause for the variable winds, with a view to practical use in navigation."

The reader may often have observed, in a gusty day, the dust on a road caught up by the wind, and made to perform a kind of whirling motion, at the same time that it is carried along. This may serve as an illustration of Colonel Reid's "law of storms." He thinks that those hurricanes in warm climates, whose tremendous effects we know more by report than by experience, are whirlwinds revolving on their own axes, but having a progressive motion. On this theory, a hurricane has a double motion, like that of a planet,- -a rotary motion, "whirling as a wheel," and an onward motion, moving through a given space. The storms are supposed to rise near the equator, and to whirl towards the poles, gradually losing their whirling or circling form as they move north or south-those which move towards the north pole, or in the northern hemisphere, whirling or revolving from east to west, and those which move towards the south pole, or in the southern hemisphere, whirling from west to east. This is supposed to explain many of the remarkable circumstances which are often observed during a hurricane in the West Indies. Occasionally, a particular spot in the very heart of a storm will escape without injury, while all around has been desolated. In other places, during the progress of a hurricane, the wind appears to blow from opposite points of the compass. In the first case, the spot is inclosed in a kind of magic ring, the storm raging round it, but not upon it; in the second case the shifting of the wind is the result of the revolving motion of the storm.

[ocr errors]

Should this theory of the circular and progressive motion of hurricanes be established as an actual fact, or law," it may ultimately be turned to great "practical use in navigation.' But it will require observations much more extended and much more minute to establish the theory: for though Colonel Reid has done very much, as an individual, it will be necessary to obtain the labours of many individuals completely to develop it. In his work, however, he has brought together a very great number of facts illustrative of the subject; and the admirably lucid manner in which he has treated it is an example to all practical scientific men.

SPECULATION.

THE great number of persons afflicted with dyspepsia are to be found among care-worn speculators, stock-brokers, and ardent students; or among those whose nervous system has, by injudicious education, been too greatly developed, and rendered readily excitable. There can be no doubt that sedentary habits concur with mental excitement in producing this disease; but exercise derives much of its utility to them by determining the blood from the head to the extremities. So long as excessive mental excitement is kept up, but little relief can be obtained by the strictest attention to dietetics. Abstinence from mental toil, cheerful company, a country excursion, and relaxation of mind, will soon accomplish a cure, where all the dietetic precepts and medicines in the world would prove inefficacious.

PROSPECTS AND DUTIES OF OUR YOUNG MEN. STEAM and railroads are turning the entire population of England into a marching regiment. There was once a time when a man might have acquired a little reputation by venturing away from home; he could return and make his fellows wonder "with a foolish face of praise" at all he had seen and heard. But everybody travels now-he who has been "nowhere" feels himself becoming quite ridiculous. Even Hodge has an itching to venture farther than the neighbouring market-town; and already, to travel by that venerable conveyance, the waggon, is becoming about as whimsical as to ride upon a file. The sanctities of remoteness are all removing; old associations are breaking up; places that once had a shadowy and mysterious character are becoming plain, palpable and distinct; the "distance" that "lent enchantment to the view," is taken away; and that garrulous old man, the aveller, is losing all his consequence, and becoming a commonplace and very ordinary personage.

[ocr errors]

All young men have a natural desire to travel. Some "green island" of imagination is ever holding out to them its tempting aspect, and inviting them to venture forth. They have a passionate desire to go abroad from their homes, some to seek their fortunes, others to survey the world," and mark men and manners. Such a feeling is very strong amongst young men who have to earn their bread by the labour of their hands. They get tired, for a time, of their native places; home becomes too homely for them, at that time when the shell of non-age is burst, and the youth is thrown upon his own resources In former days, many a youth had to crush such desires in the bud; and those who, overcoming the expense, and unawed by the risk of the experiment, contrived to ramble over the country, visited London, or even Paris, were regarded on their return, by their home-keeping fellow-workmen, with something of the feeling with which a member of the Traveller's Club, who has merely crossed the Alps, looks upon a fellow-member who has touched at Nova Zembla, or been on a voyage of discovery to the Antarctic ocean.

But now, we have only to put our precious selves on board a steam-boat, or take a seat in one of the carriages of a railroad train, and away we go, we scarcely know where sometimes, and we sometimes scarcely care. The ancient, standing on the shore, as it were, and watching the receding tide, mourns over the destruction of that sentimental seclusiveness, which threw over even physical nature a sort of moral haze and dimness; but the modern claps his hands, laughs aloud for joy, tells you how the market of labour and the market of produce are brought now almost to a level nearly all over the empire; how prejudices are melting away, and provincial peculiarities vanishing; how trade and commerce are multiplying, and making out for themselves new channels daily; and how, hour by hour, public opinion is augmented, until it becomes like a stone cut out of the mountain without hands, and hurledagainst the image of gold, and iron, and clay, breaks it in pieces.

What influence will all this ease and facility of communication have upon our young men? Taking our population to amount, at present, to 26,000,000, there are, out of that number, about two millions of young men from the age of fifteen to twenty-one. There are, at least, a million of them who have to depend exclusively on themselves, and who are looking about, and revolving in their minds what they shall do the moment they become MEN. The labour-market is crowded—the impulse of the demand for the means of existence comes in aid of the natural inclination at that time of life to venture away from home; and the facility of communication opens a wide door for the gratification of the wish. Instead of hundreds, we shall have thousands of young men perpetually on the move; thousands of half-educated young men, with moral principles but slightly fixed, snapping with ease, and without the slightest consideration, all those ties of relationship and local restraint, which often serve a man instead of defined principles. There is, therefore, a danger, with our present limited

But

means of education, and from the struggle for existence, that a nomadic spirit will grow up with our youth, and that a large portion of the working population will become mere wanderers, the gipsies of civilisation. Workmen settled in some particular locality have something to care for; they may have wives and children, or if single, have acquaintances, friends, employers, to whom they are known, and a specific character to maintain. the wanderers have little feeling or affection for any one; they are isolated creatures, shut up in themselves, and wedded perhaps to mean and coarse enjoyments; and broken down in moral principle, hard-hearted and selfish, they go hither and thither over the whole breadth of the land; and, as was said of the wits in the early period of English literature, they live men know not how, and they die men know not where.

Now, if we have the good fortune to address but a few hundreds out of the two millions of youths in the empire, we would say to such of them as are becoming impatient of home, and long to avail themselves of steam-boats and railroads in changing their habitation—Consider well what you are about, before you take a step that now seems so easy. He, doubtless, is a simpleton who sits at home, when employment may be obtained abroad. In a proper state of society, he might go anywhere, sceking for a resting-place; to a man of enlarged views, who considers that God formed the earth to be inhabited, and that wherever he can extract the means of comfortable existence, and fulfil his duties as a human being, there he may go, and make it his country and his home, it may be, and it ought to be, a matter of comparative indifference whether he remains in England or settles in Australia. But this is a very different thing from the mere rambling of which we are speaking. A young man suddenly quits his native place, and comes to London; he has come out, as it were, from the trade-wind in which his bark of life has sailed; he enters this "great city, this mighty city," a stranger, without a friend, and with scarcely an acquaintance; and he finds himself in the midst of two millions of his fellow-creatures, all of whom have their own wants, interests, and concerns to attend to. He may obtain employment, for the field of labour is large; but if he is impatient of the time which it requires to establish himself, to make himself known, or becomes discouraged by the fluctuations in the share of work he is able to obtain, he may start away to some other district, wandering from London to Birmingham, or Leeds, or Liverpool, crossing the channel to Dubiin, or turning to Edinburgh or Glasgow, and in his progress perhaps contracts habits destructive of all his future peace and comfort.

The truth is, with all the benefits which steam and railroads are imparting to us, they are also, in our crowded community, productive of serious evil. We are driven too fast; and each man, in trying to keep his own feet, cares but little about his neighbour falling. Men become intensely concentrated in themselves; their own feelings and enjoyments become their chief concern and their chief good; while that very facility of communication, which is knitting the extremities of the empire, is disjointing the population. It may be a good thing for our populatior. to become fused, if the process is safely and effectually completed-but the experiment in its progress is a dangerous one. While it is going on, the youth of the present day, who are to be the men of to-morrow, are peculiarly exposed to the deleterious influences.

One of these is the habits of expense and appearance which young men are contracting far beyond their means. There are many young men, who are not in affluent but in comfortable circumstances. compared with age and station in life. But instead of being moderate in their expenditure, and looking forward to futurity, they not merely live to-day, letting the morrow care for itself-but they take care that to-morrow shall find them embarrassed, if not ruined. Oh, it is so easy now to "leave town" for a little; everybody does so, and why should not youths with 1007. or 1507. a year? Are they, forsooth, to be contented with a poor cockney excursion to Greenwich, or Graves

end, or Margate, when all the world is climbing the mountains of Wales and Scotland, travelling the long, monotonous, dusty road between Boulogne and Paris; or steaming it to Rotterdam and the Rhine? So off they go, in the proper travelling season, each man during his absence standing on tip-toe, and striving to appear what he is not. When they return to the desk, they must still hug themselves with the delusion, that they are gentlemen, and can afford to drink their wine. So they congregate in coffee-houses, and other places of resort; they patronize landlords and waiters; learn the trick of accommodation bills, and become familiar with the Insolvent-Court. It is not of the merely vicious young men that we now speak-the haunters of gaming-houses, and the frequenters of third-rate hotels—but of young men whose general conduct entitles them to the appellation of "respectable." What a miserable thing it is, that in London, in the very heart of all the intelligence of the age, there should be so many youths entering on a course of railroad extravagance, and for the sake of seeming to be what they are not in early life, becoming far less than they might be all their lives after !

Young men, help yourselves! Stand aloof from whatever is degrading to personal character, for, as a body, you will never rise without the individual virtues. Aspire high, not in pretence, but in reality. Get all the knowledge you can, but do not vainly try to get all knowledge, for that is beyond the reach of the most laborious student, dedicating all his faculties and time to the work. Avoid that mental trick of the age, by which, owing to the diffusion of knowledge, men are supposed to know everything; and, therefore, they disguise their ignorance, as the Indian conceals his track through the forest, by covering the prints of his footsteps with leaves. If your lot in life is laborious, you must content yourselves with something like a superficial knowledge of many things: but it is better that you should have a general idea of what is doing in the world, than remain ignorant, from the fear of being called smatterers. Personally, take care of yourselves-keep your heads up. Let the tablet of imagination be kept clean and unstained— have no inner chambers of imagery within the temple of the heart, where, in silence and in secrecy, ye turn to worship the foul gods. Shun illicit pleasures—

"I waive the quantum o' the sin,
The hazard o' concealing,
But oh! it hardens a' within,
And petrifies the feeling."

dear young friends, for we speak to you in the earnestness of our souls, shall you give hope to your elder fellows in the present day; and when the palsy of age is benumbing our faculties, our dim eyes will be gladdened by the sight of a generation destined yet to be the strength of Britain, the "salt" of our country.

[We intend occasionally to devote a portion of our Journal to American some special occasion should seem to call for it, nor even by interposing our own opinion in any form, beyond an occasional brief expression of approbation or dissent: but by selecting specimens, both in prose and poetry, which will enable our readers to form their own judgment, and at the same time, give variety and relief to our columns. We commence with an interesting Tale, taken from The Token, one of the American annuals.]

Some intelligent youth may say, it is all very well to lecture; but what are we to do, who are only the straws and feathers that float on the stream and current of society? We reply-Much, every way. The youth who is determined to be a man, need not be altogether the slave of circumstances, even though society should be running Some of our readers may lay us down with a smile, and perhaps on a railroad. The young men of the present day have a greater one or two with that bad expression in a young man-a sneer. necessity, and are furnished with more ample means, than were the But if the eye of one generous-minded youth light on our paper, youth of the past, to exercise a provident forethought. Why, for perhaps he may be moved to implore the benign influence of instance, should a young man inconsiderately choose an overloaded Almighty God, that he may become a man. And if, turning profession, when, by the exercise of a little inquiry and a little round to his companions, he speak to them with a man's voice, the judgment, he might foresee that it will keep him a poor impover-influence may spread farther than writer or reader dreams. Thus, ished slave all his days? How painful is it, to see intelligent young men jostling each other in the crowded walks of law, medicine, or mercantile pursuits! All subordinate government situations are hunted after by packs of clamorous applicants; and hundreds of young men, educated, intelligent, in the spring-time of life, with feelings warm and generous, and anxious to get what they consider a decent corner to sit down in, are wasting away their time, and pining under the influence of hope deferred. Look into that splen- literature. This we propose to accomplish, not by formal criticism, unless did shop, hung round with India shawls, silk dresses, crape and cambric, "mousseline de laine," Irish linen, ribbons, &c., with its cloth and blanket "departments." Perhaps fifty young men are there, all dressed out with superfluous elegance, their faces tutored into smiles, and lavishing their blandishments on the customers. The watchful eye of the superintendant, or "shopwalker," as he is somewhat significantly termed, is ever glancing round, to see that all are "pushing" business, and suffering no customer to go away unsatisfied, whether he or she has come to spend five pounds or sixpence. Surely these young men are happy -so handsomely dressed are they, so bustling, so affable, and polite. Follow them up to their dormitory in the garrets, for the establishment is a sort of man-milliner's priory, and our youths are all monks of the counter, who dare not marry, though they have taken no vow of celibacy. Mark how the system of herding them together is crushing out self-respect! A canker-worm is ever at their hearts, for they feel as if they were shut out from participation in many of the charities of life: yet if they complain aloud, there are half-a-dozen competitors ready to step into each man's shoes! Why should a young man, having no ulterior views, and without the means of bettering his condition, tie himself to such a "profession" as this?

*It is stated, that in London alone, there are no less than twenty thousand linen-drapers' " assistants." These young men have lately been making laudable exertions to abridge their hours of labour; and certainly, to be confined behind the counter from thirteen to sixteen hours a-day, must leave them quite incapable of any mental exertion. They may, perhaps, succeed in inducing the more independent, and what are termed "respectable" firms, to shut up their establishments earlier in the evenings, and to allow their exhausted shopmen an additional interval of relaxation; if so, we beseech them, for their own sakes, to give no handle to any avaricious employer to withdraw the indulgence. Very far would we be from grudging a cheerful

THE REBEL OF THE CEVENNES.

Ir was in the year 1703, whilst Louis the Fourteenth was engaged in hostilities with foreign powers, that a domestic war of singular character was baffling the skill of one of his bravest generals in the south of France. The persecuted Huguenots had been scattered abroad, carrying with them to other climes their indomitable valour and all-enduring faith,—and much, too, that France might have been glad to retain, for the sake of her own best interests,-their industrious habits, their skill in useful arts, and their correct morals. A few of their expelled clergy had had the courage to return; but, deprived of the wisest and best of the Protestant party, the untutored mountaineers of the Cevennes had become the prey of designing or deluded fanatics. A strange madness had broken out among them; prophets and prophetesses had appeared, and the people listened to the voices of women and children, as to oracles. When the arm of military discipline was raised to lash or crush them into submission, the undaunted spirit of mountain liberty blazed up; and heroes sprung forth from the half-hour; but to be seen in crowds, of an evening, sauntering up and down the streets of the metropolis smoking cigars, or indulging in idle and profane ribaldry, is surely no evidence of a profitable employment of leisure time. But we have little hope of the concession becoming general and permanent. Employers are themselves the slaves of circumstances; "profit" and "loss" too closely meet together, for even a half hour not to be of importance; and we fear that permanent help must come from without, not within. Young men must not rush to be linen-drapers' assistants, merely because they think the business to be "genteel."

« ForrigeFortsæt »