had occurred some weeks previous to our visit, and it was not until 20 drams of powder had been used several times, that the desired result was obtained. Our informer stated that he had even then his doubts whether the bursting was not caused in consequence of the bullet not being quite rammed home.

The browning of the barrel is a very delicate operation, and one which must be very trying to at least one of the individuals concerned, for in a room in which the thermometer must stand at about 140 degrees, a man remains upwards of twenty minutes to superintend the drying. Here it is that the mechanic is at last affected by external circumstances. The state of the weather is, in the browning, an important matter. If it should be wet, not more than half as much work can be accomplished as though it were dry. Flaws are more likely to occur during wet than during fine dry weather, and for every flaw, somebody has to be mulcted, for all is contract-work. A very small speck upon a barrel had been detected by the sharp eyes of the examiner; a chalk-mark against it shewed that this would not be allowed to pass; and twopencehalfpenny was the loss which the man who had imperfectly done his work would suffer for this one flaw.

Upon the ringing of a bell, from twelve to fourteen hundred men and boys turn out in the open air; they fill to the ceiling the half-dozen public-houses which possess a monopoly here. Crammed in rooms, seated on benches outside, on gates, rails, &c., these fourteen hundred mechanics take their rough and ready meal. Vainly do a sturdy bar-man and his three assistants attempt, by unexampled activity, to supply the demand for 'pots of arf and arf.' Time is short; in one hour must all these thirsty Vulcans supply their dried-up juices; and around the bar, from pigeon-holes near and far, or even outside, there is a continual cry for varieties of malt. Even the throats of these men are but mortal, and at length they cry enough; and about a quarter of an hour before the period of feeding expires, a partial silence ensues, whilst the fumes of a thousand pipes are wafted over the marshes. A bell rings, and again are the 'publics' deserted, whilst footsteps alone tell of the recent crowd-the bar-keeper having, however, a substantial memento of the recent visit.

The weapon that is at length turned out is, with its bayonet, 6 feet inch long, and weighs 9 pounds 3 ounces. The length of the barrel is 3 feet 3 inches; its weight is 4 pounds 2 ounces; and the diameter of the bore is 577 inch. The bullet is elongated, and takes three-quarters of a turn whilst in the barrel. The general figure of the bullet is cylindrical, its front-end rounded, and its rear-end has a conicalshaped cavity formed in it. The delay which was so great a drawback when the old rifle was required to be used, is now entirely done away with. The wooden plug which is now placed in the bullet instead of the iron cup, greatly diminishes the fouling. The diameter of the bullet is 568 inch; length, 1.0625; and weight, 530 grains. The service-charge of the rifle is 2 drams, and the weight of sixty rounds of ammunition, including 75 caps, is 5 pounds 8 ounces. The rifle is sighted up to 900 yards, but its practice is good at much longer ranges. A bullet, when fired from a distance of 100 yards, would pass through twelve half-inch planks. The advance which had been made in rifled firearms placed the artillery for a time at a disadvantage; but the recent invention of Sir W. Armstrong will now place matters upon a different footing. Before any more inventions are made with either weapon, it will be necessary to fix upon the guns small telescopes, to enable the gunners to distinguish friends from enemies, before destruction is dealt out. With the aid of the Enfield rifle and the Armstrong gun, we may fairly expect to hold our

own against any or all our enemies, provided that our rulers will take care neither to be caught napping, nor to be lulled by false ideas of security. If England will be true to herself, she need fear no foe.

A ROMANCE OF THE PASSING ERA. WE have a number of strange stories of Scotsmen turning up in distant regions of the world, in positions wonderfully in contrast with their native poverty and obscurity; one, for instance, of a certain vizier at Constantinople proving to be identical with the son of the bellman of Kirkcaldy. But perhaps none of these tales, veracious or fabulous, involves a more romantic transition than one which the possession of some rather novel documents puts it in our power now to relate. This new story, moreover, involves a set of alleged powers or susceptibilities more wonderful than any ever laid in the name of Cagliostro, or any of the magicians of the middle ages.

The subject of our sketch is a young man, born near Edinburgh in March 1833, but who was taken at the age of nine by his parents to America, where he has spent the greater part of his subsequent life. When we state that he was, only eight years ago, apprentice to a humble trade in the town of Norwich, Connecticut, and has since been the favoured visitor of several European courts, and was last summer married to a Russian lady of noble birth and large fortune, and all this without the possession of any special talents, attainments, or external attractions, the curiosity of the reader will probably be thoroughly aroused regarding him. The peculiarities by which he has actually been enabled to attain so high distinctions are such as usually render a man an object of suspicion-it is true, but the fact and circumstances of the elevation do not the less constitute a modern marvel of a kind well deserving of notice. The whole case becomes the more interesting to us, from its being strangely involved with that of a living sovereign of equally marvellous history, and the development of whose destiny is yet in the future.

Mr Daniel D. Hume is a slender, fair-complexioned young man, with no peculiarity of appearance beyond that of extremely weak health. He has till lately had no education but that of his original grade. Obliged at seventeen by bad health to quit the humble trade to which he had been apprenticed, he was in some danger of destitution, his father being too poor to assist him; but it chanced at that time that a great number of people of the middle and upper classes in America were interested in a system held by them as a new revelation of the spiritual or ultra-physical world, while condemned by the outer public as a monstrous delusion. Whether true, or partially true,

true in the external facts, and only misunderstood and misnamed-or altogether moonshine and follycertain it is that thousands of passing-shrewd people, who at first regarded it in the latter light, were brought round to see something else in it, and to enter on its investigation with a portion of the ardour of the national mind. There was such a group of people at Springfield, Massachusetts, and some rich men among them. To them Hume came, penniless and forlorn, for patronage and a livelihood, because from childhood he had possessed the gifts which qualified him to be one of those passive priests of the new temple, named in America 'mediums'—that is, human organisms fitted to bring out the latent spiritual existences, and enable them to hold converse with living persons. More than this, wherever Hume was, spirits worked around him, producing the most singular mechanical results. Thus, when left at three years old to play on the carpet, and too weakly to move about, his playthings were brought to his hands by invisible means. Of things more than mortal, he

had then, as the poet supposes of Shakspeare, his visions. Being thus endowed, he was eagerly received into the circles,' or investigation-clubs, as they might be called, at Springfield, one gentleman named Elmer being good enough to give him a home, in which he remained about a year. There were,' says a local journal,* 'great stories of the marvels he performed while here, and many of the "solid men" of the city had the honour of riding tables that were lifted and tumbled about by the stress of his mysterious power.' Amongst those who came to a belief in the honest reality of these things, was a young native of Minorca, named Andreau, a printer, who in time favoured the public with an account of his experiences. He professed to have been, while in Hume's presence, touched by invisible hands; bells moved by invisible means round the company; and the floor and furniture shook as if under an earthquake. But at length Hume tired of the life he led at Springfield, and came to New York, with the design of studying medicine as a profession; and he actually entered on such a course under the care of a homoeopathic physician, named Gray.

A gentleman signing himself L. J. Worth, lately communicated, through a New York paper, some particulars of an experience he had had in Hume's company, in November 1854, when billeted' with him at the village of Ravenswood. I proposed to Hume,' he says, 'to allow me to lie down with him when he went to bed, for an hour or two, as I was told that some curious manifestations might be expected. Accordingly, taking off only my coat and boots, I ensconced myself alongside of him under the bed-clothes, first locking the door and fastening the window-shutters, and ascertaining that we were the sole occupants of the room.

'Almost immediately after the light was extinguished, I heard raps all around me-on the floor, on the walls, on the head-board, on my pillow; in fact, everywhere. The sounds varied in intensity from light taps on the pillow to loud, resounding blows upon the floor and walls. I asked many questions, and received intelligent answers by means of these raps. I saw, also, in various parts of the room, nebulous-looking and wandering lights, now and then crossed by dark irregular shadows. Soon I felt soft and gentle touches, as if by a human hand, upon the top and back of my head, followed quickly by the placing of a cool, moist hand upon my forehead, which I was told by means of the raps was the hand of Hume's deceased mother. In a few moments, another spirit came, and after touching me from my feet upwards, also placed a hand upon my forehead, gently pulling and smoothing my beard, and closing up my eyes, and then rapping out answers to many questions upon the closed lid. His hand felt soft and warm. Still another spirit now came, and stepped upon the bed, and began walking over it, feeling to me as if a child had climbed up and was walking over us, stepping carefully over us, and between us, but not upon us, the bed-clothes being indented at each footfall. In a few moments, however, the spirit lay down on the outside of the bed, and on us both, pressing with all the weight, and precisely in the same manner that a living child might have done.

'The spirit then wished me good-night by the raps, and apparently departed. The whole occupied about half an hour, and during the whole time Hume and I lay upon our backs covered to the chin by the bedclothes, and touching each other the entire length of our persons, from shoulders to heel; and during it all Hume did not stir in the least, and made no muscular movement, other than that caused by his breathing.' His health failing him again, Hume was recom

*Springfield Republican, November, 1858.

mended by his friends to pay a visit to England, and supplied by them very generously with the means. He arrived in London in April 1855, and lived for some time with Mr Cox of the hotel of that name, Jermyn Street, where many notable persons visited him, and appeared satisfied with the reality of the alleged phenomena attending him. Amongst the private persons whom he visited, was Mr J. S. Rymer, a barrister residing at Ealing, near London, who has since published with his name an account of what took place. He tells us that, after many such marvels as the liftings of tables, the moving about of accordions, and the playing of tunes on them by unseen hands, had occupied several evenings, the following took place: The table was near the window; it was twilightmy second girl was touched by a hand; sounds were heard; the accordion was played. . . . . It was then spelt out by sounds on the table, "Some will shew you their hands to-night." The table was then gently raised and lifted up several times. A hand appeared above the table, and took from the dress of one of the party a miniature brooch, and handed it to several at the table. Hands and arms were then distinctly seen by all at the table, of different forms and sizes; sometimes crossed as in prayer, and at other times pointing upwards.' 'We have not only,' he adds, seen hands and arms, but they have been repeatedly felt by all at table as distinctly as though they were the hands and arms of living mortals, and we have very frequently shaken hands with them as really and substantially as one man shakes hands with another.'* Most people will revolt somewhat at these recitals; but it must be generally owned that, as the avowed belief of an educated gentleman of good character in our age, they are highly remarkable. It may be noticed that they are accompanied by many expressions shewing the earnest religious impressions under which their author lives.

6

With pecuniary means supplied by Mr Rymer, Hume went to Paris in July, accompanied by Mr Rymer's son, and nominally as the young man's tutor. Some American gentlemen then took him along with them to Florence, where he spent the winter, and astonished many English residents with his marvels. Here, however, a revolution took place in his mind. He became convinced that the phenomena in America, however veritable, were of a discommendable nature, in as far as they had not in general a religious aspect. The doctrines of the Catholic church, recommended to him probably by the affinity of the so-called miracles of the saints to his own mysterious gifts, were embraced by him. The priests, however, condemned the exercise of his alleged control of spirits, and he soon after announced that the power had suddenly deserted him. On the 27th of March 1856, he was received into the Catholic church. At first, he feared that he should again be thrown destitute; but a Polish nobleman now took him up, and conducted him to Paris, where he remained for several months in low health and devoid of his former power. At length, after a year's cessation-namely, in February 1857-it returned in all its former force, and he was speedily introduced into very high circles, not excepting that of the court. During the ensuing month, Mr Hume and his spirits were the reigning topic of Paris. In the presence of the emperor, the empress, and a very small and select party, many of the marvels previously described are alleged to have taken place, leaving impressions of mingled wonder and suspicion. The emperor beheld all with his characteristic nonchalance, and never allowed an expression of assent to drop from his lips. It has been stated, however, that, on his saying, one

* Mr Rymer's pamphlet, from which these extracts are made, was published by Mr Baillière, in 1957.

evening, that he could not be convinced of the presence of a spirit unless he should receive from one some raps on the shoulder, immediately some hard blows were given him in that quarter. The empress was made to lift a heavy table which at other times she could scarcely move; and such piece of furniture was one night made to float in the air, so high that her imperial husband's arm could scarcely reach its legs. She put her handkerchief, Spanish fashion, under her garter, and desired Hume to ask his spirits to tell where it was. Presently, it is said, she felt a pair of clammy cold hands disengaging it, and it was immediately after seen floating in the air. According to all the accounts of Hume, his demeanour on these occasions was quiet and unimpassioned, the contrary of the usual conduct of a conjuror. Three gentlemen on one occasion played a trick upon him, which was at first rather damaging, because it raised a laugh against him. It was suggested to him to ask the spirit of Socrates to appear, and, when he obeyed, a figure like the Greek philosopher came forward, and passed before the company. Frederick the Great, in like manner, was summoned, and presented himself; but Hume, detecting something inappropriate, became convinced there was imposture in both cases. At his command, the personator confessed the trick. It was unlucky for this attempt at ridicule, that the appearances presented were not of a nature which ever before took place among the spiritualists, or were within the alleged powers of Hume.

Early in the summer of 1857, Hume was enabled, by the liberality of Louis Napoleon, to revisit America, chiefly for the purpose of bringing a young girl, his sister, to Paris, the empress having undertaken to have her educated. While in his native village, he employed a part of the means at his disposal in purchasing a farm for his uncle. Returning in September, he was immediately telegraphed for to the court at Fontainbleau, and there introduced to the king of Bavaria. Soon after, we find him at BadenBaden, on an intimate footing with the king of Würtemberg, and other great persons. One cannot but say that, on any theory of imposture, it is most discreditable to all these great folk that none of them have yet been able to detect it.

Not long afterwards, Hume was 'impressed' to go to Rome; by which we suppose is meant, that some of his invisible familiars tacitly impelled him to travel thither. Immediately on arriving, he was met by a friend, who expressed the greatest gratification in seeing him, having for some time been anxious to introduce him to a Russian family of rank, who were interested in his history. He was conducted accordingly, to the lodgings of the Count Koucheleff, where he experienced a most favourable reception, and in three weeks a marriage between him and the count's sister was arranged. In July 1858, he came to London, and thence to Edinburgh, for the purpose of obtaining those certificates of parentage and nativity which are required for a marriage in Russia. The nuptials were celebrated on the 1st of August at St Petersburg, under circumstances of the highest éclat. The emperor sent two of his aides-de-camp to be present, and gave Mr Hume a diamond ring of the value of three hundred guineas. Alexandre Dumas, the celebrated novelist, made a special tour into Russia, to act as groomsman; and he has given us some account of how this was determined on. As a specimen of the man, it is perfect:

'On seeing me enter, the Count and Countess Koucheleff rose, came to meet me, conducted me to an arm-chair, and then sat down, one on my right, the other on my left. "Monsieur Dumas," said the count to me, "we have observed how fatigued you were when going away at two o'clock in the morning." "I confess to you, count," I replied, "that

it quite deranges my habits." "Well," said the countess, "henceforth, we shall suffer you to go at midnight." "It is very easy to say so, countess." "What could I do?" "It must, however, be attempted, but on one condition," said the count. "What?" The countess undertook to answer: "That you come with us to St Petersburg." I bounded, the thing seemed to me so foolish. "Caper, frisk," said the countess, "yet we confidently expect you.” "But it is impossible, countess." "How impossible?" asked the count. "Undoubtedly." "You must set out next Tuesdaythat is to say, in five days."

""Countess," said I to her, "I require three days to decide." "I give you three minutes," said she. "Either we will refuse our sister to Monsieur Hume, or you shall be his groomsman." I rose, went on the balcony, and deliberated. I remembered that my resolution had already been formed to set out for Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt; considered that Mazeline, the ship-builder, demanded five months to finish our vessel; still thought that under the circumstances, nothing could be more interesting than a journey through Russia. I reflected that the readers of Monte Christo, being my especial friends, would accept what I should give them, quite certain that I would do all I possibly could not to alienate them. I thought at last all this mere madness; and this was, I much fear, the reflection which determined me. After two minutes and a half, I returned to the countess. "Well?" she inquired of me. "Well, countess," I responded, "I depart with you." The count warmly pressed my hand. Hume embraced me. And this is how, dear readers, I set out. Behold me already at St Petersburg.'

Whether, contrary to rule, there are to be postmatrimonial chapters to this romance, remains to be seen. It is alleged that the hero undertook with his bride that there are to be no more spirit manifestations. Already, however, the engagement has been broken, for the curiosity of the Russian court was too great to be resisted, and he is said to have given way to their desires.

COLD WATER ON COLD WATER. COLD water has been having its own way a long time; running like a mill-race over every natural prejudice in favour of warmth and comfort, and swamping every plea for tolerance in its insolent career. Hydropathy has been keeping the wickets for a good long time, and it is but fair that Hydrophobia should have her innings for a little. For my own part, I detest cold water as I do cold steel. The victim in the German story who is cut in two by so sharp a sword that he only feels a drop of water 'cold at his stomach,' experienced a feeling the converse of mine, whenever what is called spring-which is winterwater touches my epidermis. There is no torture to me so frightful as that of the shower-bath, except, perhaps, that of the three-quarters of an hour of expectation which precede it, when, shivering in that iron frame, I endeavour to screw my courage up to pull the string; but I always pull the bell instead, and get the servant to invoke the deluge at last. Suffocation and a sort of frozen hysterics supervene; but upon the return of consciousness and reason, I leap out, and into bed, undried, indignant, and ashamed. Although I speak of this as my custom, I never voluntarily endured the terrible experience but once, when it shook my constitution to its basis. I would far rather be blindfolded, and run the chance of the seven red-hot ploughshares of the olden time, than venture with my eyes open upon the certain horrors of this modern invention. I believe the sensations of the vertebræ under these circumstances and under those of hanging are almost identical, but

the latter experience is, at least, the shorter of the two. I did not feel myself again, after that showerbath, for more than a fortnight. The devotees of the superstition affirm that a charming glow succeeds this discipline; but if so, it is a glow of a very peculiar nature, which makes one's teeth chatter and one's flesh creep for days together. That, by long habit, persevering fanatics may inure themselves to this practice, is likely enough; just as they may get to eat fire and swallow swords, without inconvenience; but their pretence that nature is on their side, and agreeable to so monstrous a custom, is an assertion only worthy of a native of the Feejee Islands.

me.

Heaven forbid that I should attack cleanliness, or the use of water for any purpose; but I do maintain that, with the exception of my hands and my face, all portions of my frame resent the use of cold water most unmistakably. Other persons may be otherwise constituted, but I rather suspect that the majority of the human race sympathise with That everybody would please himself in this matter, without hindrance or impertinent reflection of any kind, is my desire; but, unfortunately, this they are not permitted to do. The advocates of cold water are perpetually insulting and crowing over those persons whose skin happens to be in a natural state. You don't wash yourself enough,' is their delicate suggestion. 'You should have a shower-bath every morning, summer and winter, as I do. Do you know, whether the ice is broken or not, into my tub I go, every day of my life?'

If these people are fools enough to make themselves thus miserable-for I have seen them eyeing those hideous engines of ablution with unmistakable expressions of agony and fear-what is it to me? And why should they boast of it? If it is so very delightful as they give out, why don't they keep the precious discovery to themselves, as their custom is with regard to other matters? If they really have the assurance to think themselves cleaner than other people, they should at least have the modesty to be silent upon that matter of superiority. Even the 'unco guid,' the extra pious, however sanctimonious and spiritually proud they may appear, do not go about with a brazen trumpet, like these cold-water worshippers. 'We bathe,' say these, thrice in the day; we use the shower-bath, the long-bath, the hipbath, the foot-bath; we have horse-hair bands, horsehair gloves, horse-hair brushes, to scour ourselves withal. All are unclean save ourselves, who are scarcely ever out of cold water from morning to night.' The only reply which we have found to be in the least efficacious against one who boasts himself of these perpetual ablutions, is the following: 'Well, some people do seem to need a good deal more cleaning than others.' It is not a graceful rejoinder, but the discomfiture of the vain-glorious hydropathist is certain.

Everybody knows the story-and therefore, since it is always pleasant to recognise an old friend, I will repeat it-of the bathing adventure of dear stammering Charles Lamb; how, being advised by the doctors to try sea-water for his health, he warned his 'dippers' that they were to pay no attention to his 'coming struggles,' which he knew against such objectionable discipline must needs be tremendous (for, as for going in of his own free-will, the great humorist was not a man to be capable of such an act). As he had expected, there was a great combat between him and his athletic tormentors; but at last they got him in and under water. 'Dud, dud, dud, dud, don't,' stuttered he, as soon as he got back his breath again; but they drowned his remonstrances, before they were articulate, in another plunge. Yer, yer, yer, yer, you're not,' cried he, after the second immersion; but in he was dipped again, without mercy, six miserable times.

'You're not to do it more than once,' was the remark which he had desired to convey to them, the doctors having enjoined upon him the necessity of confining himself, in his delicate state of health, to one dip per diem. I myself, upon a visit to a certain doctor in Germany (who was once my friend), suffered even worse things than the author of Elia. He kept a Hydropathic establishment upon the banks of the romantic Rhine; but although I despised him for it, I went to visit him all the same, since nothing was further from my intention than to let him operate upon me. But alas! upon the very first morning of my arrival-and while the sun had power to light, but by no means to warmtwo fiends, in strange apparel, and with gibbering tongue, seized hold of me, and hauled me forth from my warm bed. They carried me to the bank of that arrowy stream, running as usual as fast as possible from Switzerland, and there, despite my screams and vehement defence, they thrust me in. This violence was not of course committed in the sight of gods and men, but within a dreary grating (very like the fish-stew of a Thames punt) through which the river ran. Stopping a few seconds upon this side of drowning me, these wretches then conveyed me to a sort of wash-house, and swathed me round in winding-sheets, dripping wet, until I was as tightly trussed as a mummy. Then they carried me back to my own chamber, and placing me in my bed-little better than the corpse I looked-departed with a grin.

When the man that had been my friend came to see me in the course of an hour or so, and inquire why I did not come to breakfast, I thought I should have burst with impotent rage, consequent upon my inability to assault him. In vain he attempted to excuse his myrmidons, as not understanding the English language, and being used to very violent objections made by newly arrived patients. He had the assurance to state that, after a week or so, the treatment would seem quite pleasant, and instanced the profuse perspiration into which terror and anger had thrown me, as a proof that the system agreed with me. I need not say, however, that as soon as I was liberated and dressed, I shook the dust off my shoes against that establishment, as well as my fist in the face of its proprietor.

The cup of bitterness, which has at different times been forced upon me by the devotees of cold water, was, finally filled, last autumn, in the Highlands. I was not there with the intention of chasing the wild deer, or following the roe (nor do I even know the difference between those two diversions), and far less of standing up to my knees in running streams with a rod in my hand, whether with the superstitious idea of penance, or of fly-fishing. No, I was at the picturesque village of Kilmurdoch, N. B., with the sole object of writing a work of the imagination, in octosyllabic verse-when the following circumstance occurred, and put every poetical idea out of my head for the rest of the season. I had been roaming, on one occasion, for many hours, in search of the Beautiful, and thoroughly tired and wet-footed, was luxuriating in the idea of a warm bath; for they had a warm bath in the hotel at Kilmurdoch, although it was not a very good one. It was wanted but 'little' in the establishment, and I should say, from personal experience, that it was not wanted 'long.' It was situated in a sort of passage where four doors (and four drafts) met, through which bare-footed maidens, from scullery and kitchen, might pass at any moment, and did it. Being an Englishman of retiring manners, I insisted upon locking all these doors, although I believe the whole current of communication within the house was thereby disturbed,

the continuity, as the electricians have it, brokenby my isolation of that bath-chamber. I think so,

because of the manifold attempts which were made to procure a free transit during the progress of my undressing, and on account of the difficulty I had of drawing the line of propriety, beyond which no trespass should be made; Scotch manners being as much less fastidious in these matters, as their habits are shorter. At last, however, having declared myself in a state of siege, and declined to admit any one, I proceeded to take my ease in my bath.

'Talk about cold water,' I soliloquised, presenting only my nose and my mouth above the steaming surface; give me the water at 90 degrees; and if I had not been afraid of turning on the cold supply instead of the hot one-for there was nothing in the Kilmurdoch apparatus to tell me which was whichI would have made it warmer still. There was the customary rope, however, depending over my head, with a charming little brazen ring at the end of it like a parrot's perch; and there was also some clumsy-looking machine above it, whose nature I did not comprehend, and which, in my dreamy state of contentment, I did not care to investigate. Presently, when I had had enough of lying, Sabrina-like, beneath the pleasant wave, I thought I would swing by the perch, by way of exercise. I was obliged to raise my neck and shoulders out of the warm water for this purpose; and then I put forth my hand to reach the ring, when, as I did so-suffocation, iciness, hail stones, a volley of thunder, and paralysis both physical and mental, supervened simultaneously. I held on grimly and unconsciously to this abominable and evilly magic ring until the last drop of that cold shower-bath was emptied upon my devoted body. But I protest, during the first twenty minutes of it the torrent must have lasted for hours, and the machine have contained water enough for a night's toddy for all Kilmurdoch-I thought it was the end of the world!

THE NEW SOCIAL-SCIENCE VOLUME.* THE Social Science Conference has brought out its second volume, being the transactions of the meeting at Liverpool in October last. We have had so much concern in the social improvements of the last twentyfive years-may we not in all humility say, had some share in originating them-particularly the sanitary movement?-that we cannot refrain from expressing our delight in seeing so goodly a proof of the extended interest felt in these subjects. Here are some of the foremost men of the land-Lord Brougham, Lord John Russell, the Bishop of Chester, the Earl of Shaftesbury, the Earl of Carlisle, Sir James Stephenpouring themselves out in earnest eloquent addresses on questions affecting the practical good of the public. Here is a great range of lesser, but intelligent and cultivated men, coming together, each with his modicum of facts, observations, suggestions, illustrating what is done or doing for practical improvements, or pointing the way to further advances of the like nature. We may surely begin to augur something for the cause of true civilisation, when we see such a concentration of enlightened and disinterested effort taking shape from year to year amongst us.

In our narrow limits, we can but propose to cull a few flowers out of this valuable volume-though it is no easy matter to so restrict ourselves.

We learn from the address of Mr W. Cowper, M.P., that, while large means of education have been of late years provided in England, there are nevertheless 2,262,000 children, between the ages of three and fifteen, who are not at school, the greater number

Transactions of the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, 1858. Edited by George W. Hastings, LL.B. London: Parker. 1859.

being absent without any necessity or justification. The great evil is declared by another observer-and we must give our full accord to the remark-to be the indifference of parents. Mr Cowper points to the centre of Europe, from the Baltic to the Adriatic, where, under every variety of government, there is a compulsory education of from six to eight years for all children. Why should not such a system, under certain, perhaps necessary, modifications be adopted for England? One thing we can tell our countrya democratic reform of the House of Commons, without an education for the entire community, will be something of a solecism, and one not likely to be attended with pleasant consequences.

Sir James Stephen gives an address on emigration, perhaps the most philosophical effusion in the volume. He reckons among the benefits of having colonies, that we have in them at least firmer allies than in other states. They are also the best customers. In 1856, the ships entering our ports from and for our colonies, were so numerous, that, if brought together on any one average day of the 365, they would have formed a fleet of 197 sail,' and, ‘on any such average day, their cargoes were of the value of L.280,000 and upwards.' The emigration from Ireland in 1847 and seven following years exceeded 1,700,000. Out of terrible calamities have sprung 'fruits for which the sufferers themselves, the land of their birth, and the land of their adoption, should all join in one glad chorus of grateful adoration. Of those adopted lands,' Sir James goes on to say, and of the reception of the sufferers in them, the parliamentary witnesses drew pictures usually attractive, and sometimes even fascinating. Some of them extolled the invigorating climate and the cordial society of Eastern Canada; some celebrated the unrivalled fertility of the Upper Province; some dwelt on the exhaustless capital and demand for labour in the United States; and some on the perpetual spring, the interminable pastures, and the mineral wealth of Australia. There were witnesses who graphically described the Irish emigrants as, touching the western shores of the Atlantic, they leaped at once from wages of half-a-crown to wages of a guinea and a half by the week. Others exhibited domestic dramas, of which the half-cleared wilderness was the scene, the Irish emigrant the hero, and a seat in some municipal or provincial council the splendid catastrophe. Many celebrate the fact that, in the person of the redoubted General Jackson, the presidential chair of the United States was filled by the son of such an emigrant. With one voice they all bear testimony to the thrift, sobriety, and diligence, and to the state of comfort in which the emigrants were living. Mr Godley assigns to them three daily meals of butcher's-meat, and clothing like that of a thriving farmer in the West Riding. But Count Strelezki reaches the climax-"In the United States, in Canada, and in Australia," he says, "I saw the Irish living as well as the Anglo-Saxons, acquiring their grumbling habits, and thus continually improving their condition!" Think of O'Connell's "hereditary bondsman," "close-buttoned to the chin-broad cloth without, and a warm heart within," grumbling over his sirloin at the hardness of the times, and fattening as he growls! And warm indeed were the hearts of those noble exiles. We know something, and have all heard much of Irish eloquence; but neither Burke nor Sheridan, Plunkett nor Grattan, Curran nor O'Connell, has left behind him anything so moving as some of the letters laid before parliament, in which the Irish in Canada invited their kindred at home to join them there. To their grammar and spelling, indeed, belongs only the praise of a bare originality; but the tenderness and the pathos, the gracefulness and the gaiety, the quiet humour and the homely wisdom, with which they address themselves to their deserted