purely personal-I have, too, as my wife would say,
'a little temper of my own;' but Paulina being now
accustomed to it, with all these little advantages we
get on, as a general rule, harmoniously enough.
What did I say?—harmoniously?
Alas! for more
than a twelvemonth past that word has been a hollow
mockery in my house. For the last twelve months
our domestic peace has been destroyed, our quiet
evenings disturbed, our conjugal affection sorely tried,
by a certain grinding, wearing worry, a ceaseless
agony of sound, that makes me wish the whole
science of acoustics-nay, the very sense of hearing

I could not answer 'No;' I blushed every shade from red to purple, but I could not say 'No.' I thought of the May-rose, and a curacy; I felt in my waistcoat-pocket for the pink letter, no longer there; I looked at the turquoise ring, but I did not say 'No.' 'What a fool the boy is!' said my uncle with an almost hysterical laugh of relief. 'You put me quite in a fright by your confounded shyness.' With these words, he left me; and while I was revolving some means of escape, I saw Justina's little blood-mare, and the horse I usually rode, led up to the door ready for mounting; and she herself came flying down stairs in hat and habit, a remarkably becoming-utterly unknown! dress to her, while her clear voice sounded through the spacious hall: 'Gerald! Gerald! are you not ready?'

So I found myself taken for granted again; and against my will, or rather without my will, was soon cantering down the lane by her side, as usual. At first, I resolved to be so sulky that she should be obliged to ask me for an explanation; then I would confess all about the May-rose, and throw myself on her mercy; but nothing of this happened. I could not but be flattered by the change in her manner: all her pert flippancy had disappeared-she was all gentleness and winning softness; so I put off my confession till we turned back. When we get upon the downs,' said I to myself. But on the downs we had a gallop; and she had a fight with the little mare, to make her leap over a furze-bush, which incident we talked of as we rode home. I waited in vain for an à propos to the May-rose. 'Well,' thought I, 'I am determined to speak as soon as we get into the turnipfield.' In the turnip-field, however, out flew a covey of partridges, which made us both devoutly wish we had guns. I began some bitter remarks upon the cruelty of the wish in her, and my horror of sportingladies in general. Instead of being affronted, as I hoped, she said, with great sweetness: 'O Gerald, I shall give up all that sort of thing now. It is just that which makes me so sure you really like me, that I am now, don't deny it—exactly the reverse of all your notions of what "lovely woman" ought to be.' 'I don't intend to deny it.'

'Well, that's candid, at any rate. Now, describe what your ideal love ought to have been.'

Here was an opportunity. I had nothing to do but paint a flattering likeness of my May-rose-not having a miniature of her in my bosom ready to produce and boldly declare that was my ideal and my real love-my betrothed. But somehow or other, before we got to the end of the turnip-field, the conversation took another turn, by my admiring the droop of Justina's feather over the broad edge of her hat; and the general on his fat cob coming to meet us, took a load from my heart, as I thought I must now put it off till to-morrow.

THE FOE IN THE HOUSEHOLD.

My object in writing this paper is twofold-first, I
would wish to disabuse the world as to the real char-
acter of a certain race of beings, most unduly valued
by the mass of mankind as their natural friends; and
secondly, when my case has been considered, I would
fain appeal to the sympathies of my pitying reader,
and beg for some advice in this my sore distress.
Let me explain the circumstances.

About eighteen months since, Paulina told me one morning that our kitchen-range had become too small for the culinary wants of our increasing household; the boiler did not hold water enough for the wash; the oven would not bake bread enough to last the week; &c., &c. I took the information calmlythough a new range was a matter of some expense having learned during my marital experience that when Paulina wants anything for the house, it is certainly for my ultimate comfort to give in-those little women are so very determined! Well, soon afterwards she again invaded my study, and, with a beaming face, announced that she had found the very thing in her afternoon's marketing expedition with cook to the neighbouring town.

'Such a bargain, Reggie! and with quite the last improvements: the boiler holds twelve gallons, and there is such a love of an oven! and so cheap too.'

'Second-hand is it, Paulina ?' I asked, with a warning recollection of divers bargains of my wife's before.

'Yes, dear, second-hand. But just go and see it: there's not a fault in it, cook says. She is quite set on having it, Reggie; and so am I: it's really worth having, my love!'

The range accordingly, after due examination, arrived one fine morning in August, and was fitted into the kitchen fireplace-no easy matter, by the by, for our chimney, country-fashion, is of enormous size, and this range, with quite the last improvements, had been constructed with a view to economise all possible space. However, it was at last fixed in its place, and for several days afterwards I noticed that Paulina made many more visits than usual to the kitchen; on divers pretexts, of course, but really, I knew very well, to admire her new acquisition. Each time she returned overflowing with its praises.

'Oh, Reggie! what do you think?' she exclaimed one day, bursting into my study, whence she had been expelled for talking, half an hour before. "There is actually a cricket come in the new range! Just fancy, love, a dear delightful cricket! Cook has heard it chirping several times, and just now I heard one little note myself.'

'Well, Paulina, what then?' I asked, by no means comprehending her enthusiasm.

'Oh, Reggie, you silly old man! don't you know how lucky it is to have a cricket in the house? Nice merry things! why, a cricket always brings luck, and is such pretty company too:

Little inmate, full of mirth,
Chirping on my household hearth.

I shall teach Isabelle that pretty piece, Reggie, I
think.'

'Don't you think it would be advisable to wait till she can speak, Paulina?' I asked, dryly.

(N.B.-Isabelle, our eldest, was then sixteen months

old.)

I am a man of a nervous nature, and disposed for a quiet life. I write a good deal for the press, and, besides pen and paper, own as my worldly goods a 'Oh now, Reggie! she can say "Papa," and little house, a little competency, a little but devoted "Pretty," and "Ta" already, you know; and, of wife, and two little lively children. The same diminu- course, I mean when she is older. But are not you tive may also be applied with truth to a peculiarity | pleased, Reggie, about the cricket in the range?'

'No, Paulina-bother the range!' I exclaimed, out of all patience. I declare I am heartily sick of the word; but there now, don't look vexed, dear-only you really are so childish about your range and your crickets! Can't you be more of a woman, my dear, and let one alone when one is busy?'

Paulina withdrew with a decided tendency to tears in her eyes; and I, feeling I had been cross, was extra snappish to her all the rest of the day, as was natural. Alas! was not this cloud in our sky, occasioned by the first cricket, a warning of the storms his successors were to bring?

For some months, checked by her last rebuff, my wife carefully avoided all allusion to her kitchen experience. I knew in my heart this must be rather a trial to her, though so decided a relief to myself, that I made no remark. At last, however, I began to observe a certain anxious look in my Paulina's face, which, as the children were quite well, I could not account for. I waited and waited an explanation, but none came, and the worried expression seemed growing habitual. I did not like this, so one evening I determined to ask the cause; and then, with a deep sigh, it all came out.

"Oh, Reggie, I haven't liked to tease you; but I am just worried out of my life! Cook has given me warning; and all the cupboards are full, and my pickles are eaten up, cork and all, and I can't keep a thing for them-and, O dear, what am I to do?'

'My poor little wife! there, don't fret so, darling; come here to me, and tell me all about it. Do you know you are quite incoherent, dear, and I don't know now what is wrong one bit? Come-who eats my Paulina's pickles, cork and all; and what ails the cook and the cupboards ?'

'They are in such multitudes, Reggie,' she sobbed; 'the kitchen-floor is black with them at night, and the noise the noise is deafening; and'

"The noise of what?-of the pickles? My dear Paulina, do be a little more explicit. Is it the cupboards that are in multitudes ? and what can be the matter with the kitchen-floor?'

"Those dreadful crickets, Reggie!' But the piteous tone in which the fearful word was uttered, upset my gravity completely.

'Only the crickets, my dear girl? and I thought you liked them so much-such "pretty company," you know! Why, little woman, you really are very inconstant in your affections.'

'Don't laugh, Reggie-now don't, please; indeed, it is not a bit of a joke. The servants won't sit in the kitchen for them, except cook, who must, and she has given warning. Just come and listen yourself.'

I was strongly inclined to laugh at the whole affair; but, seeing she was in earnest, I got up to please her. She led me to the green baize-door which separates the kitchen and back-passages from more civilised parts of the house; and, opening it, finger on lip, whispered: Now, Reggie?'

A sharp continuous squeak reached my ears, like nothing I have ever heard but the sound a toy-bird emits when the leather is squeezed. It went on, repeated and evidently answered by scores of shrill voices of the like kind all round us.

Well, Reggie, dear?' said my wife, when we got back to the quiet dining-room. I thought I detected a certain triumph in her voice and upturned eyes; my manly pride was roused in a moment. I did not immediately see any remedy, so thought it best to make light of the evil.

her yourself, my dear. I never interfere, you know;' and I settled myself again to my paper, despite Paulina's imploring face.

Two days afterwards, I came home wet through; and my careful wife having, of course, coat and slippers warming for me ready, my soaked garments and boots were carried into the kitchen to dry. After breakfast next morning, I rang and asked for these latter needful casings of my lower man. A long delay ensued; then came a knock-'Please, ma'am, you're wanted;' and as a grand finale, Paulina, returning, laid my unhappy boots before me without a word. What a dismal wreck was there! They were a new pair, lacing up the front: each eyelethole was eaten away round the brass; the polished fronts were all punctured, dimmed, destroyed. 'How's this, Paulina?" I demanded. 'Mice?'

'No, love; crickets! Jane foolishly left your boots on the kitchen fender all night to get quite dry; and oh, I'm so sorry, dear Reggie; but it's just like them!'

I looked ruefully at the ruined articles; L.1, 16s. 6d. they had cost the week before; the mischief did indeed seem to be assuming a more tangible shape. A few nights after, as I sat writing in my study, a faint squeak suddenly issued from the fireplace. Paulina, with a loud scream, started up; seizing the poker, she began to belabour the bricks with all her pigmy strength; a dead silence ensued, and she returned to her seat with a very self-satisfied look at me. I had been watching her efforts with some surprise, and now the truth flashing on me: 'Is it a cricket, my love?' I asked.

'Yes, Reggie; but, thank goodness, I've killed him, I think;' and she glanced towards the fireplace with a new expression dawning in her blue eyes, an expression I had never seen in them before; an expression -shall I say it?-of savage, triumphant cruelty! I was shocked. Could this be my gentle, tender-hearted Paulina?

The squeak began again, but I desired her to sit still. Ah! would she had succeeded in her murderous attempt. From that hour to this, I have had no peace, no comfort in my life. That single cricket has become the patriarch of a nation continually on the increase. From my desecrated hearth, I am become the sport of millions. In the midst of my severest efforts at composition, the strident cries of these hordes of invaders rack and confuse my brain. Voices bewildering, derisive, continuous, distract my mind, and work the throbbing pulses of my weary temples, till thought becomes intolerable, impossible. Nor is my sanctum the only room thus infested; all through the mouldering plaster of the old walls, the indefatigable insects have eaten their way. Drawing-room, dining-room, up stairs, every room in the house has in turn become a prey to these desperate marauders; in the nursery, they swarm in myriads, flying against my children's faces with a heavy thud, and frightening them with their long feelers and great, staring eyes.

Against this last invasion, Paulina struggled hard, though of course in vain. Often have I seen her, in the small hours of the night, proceed, with stealthy slippered feet, and a jug of boiling water in her hand, to the room where her children were sleeping the sleep of innocence, while swarming multitudes of noisy foes were holding their fiend-like orgies on the darkened floor. Often have I watched her climbing over beds and chairs, to preserve her night-dress from such unholy contact, squirt the boiling water into the holes to which some more timid spirits had fled on her entrance. I have seen all this and more. I have seen the wife of my bosom losing every spark of tender womanly feeling in the 'Nonsense, child! the cook's a fool! but manage excess of hatred; and can I chide her? No. I share

'Is that all, Paulina ?' I asked; 'just that little sound. It is really very needless to annoy yourself about 'such a mere trifle! Let the poor things be: they can do no kind of harm.'

'But the cook, dear; and'

to the full in her abhorrence, her loathing aversion. I myself have tried every means I can think of to second her endeavours. Poisons of various kinds have I poked into their holes, or scattered on the floors, insidiously mixing the same with sugar or crumbs of bread-perhaps thirty corpses were found next morning; but their companions, warned by their fate, ate no more. And what are thirty dead foes out of thirty thousand?

embarrassments, he went to America some years since, taking his family with him. He had hoped to re-establish his broken fortunes, but disappointments and early death frustrated these expectations. His family of nine children were left without any other resources than those supplied by endurance and perseverance. After many trials common to their position, two of the sisters conceived the idea of entering the medical prefession. In 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell received her diploma from the president of the Medical College of the University of Geneva, in the state of New York.

In one of her lectures, Dr Blackwell eloquently and feelingly described the privations, the difficulties, the calumnies, which attended her during the prosecution of her studies; but a high interest in the vocation she had adopted, sustained her in her earnest resolve to pioneer the way for an extended sphere of usefulness to women-a sphere in which, under one form or another, they are virtually more or less engaged in already-but for which their education has left them, if not totally unfit, at least very inadequately prepared.

A kind friend suggested a hedgehog, and I put one in the coal-hole; but whether he was alarmed by the numbers he was required to combat, or pined for his native fields, it is certain that after a few daysduring which our foes made more noise than ever he made his escape one morning, and, hurrying down the road, too bent on flight to be cautious, was overtaken by his fate in the person of an energetic gipsy, who skinned him for eating, on the spot, with many demonstrations of joy. But this is a digression. Hedgehog, traps, and poisons I have thus tried in vain; and now, what are we to do? My temper has given way entirely under such repeated disappointments; my nerves can't stand the ceaseless persecution to which they are subjected. I am grown horribly cross This brings us to the subject touched upon in the to Paulina, peevish to the children, savage to the first lecture; namely, the utility and importance of servants. My literary labours have become impos-physiological knowledge to women generally. Books sible; and how are we, then, to live? Must I leave without number have been written on home-duties this old house, which I have rent-free from my god- and maternal obligations-the morale of all this is father, and so offend him mortally? and even if, accepted and unquestioned. One lecturer, with much braving his certain displeasure, we should determine point, delicacy, and justness of reasoning, demonstrated to go-among our household stuff, do what we will, the fact that physiology is the basis upon which women somewhere a cricket will hide, and go with us. must found a knowledge of these special duties. We are all aware of the effects of the general health and equanimity of the mother, upon her offspring. We all know that the management of infancy has a direct and sometimes fearful influence upon the future life of the child. And especially while the physical and moral faculties are in progress of development, is the mother's judicious care and direction necessary. Granted, the important function of woman as the guardian of childhood and youth. Now, let us for a moment imagine a person intrusted with a complicated and delicate piece of machinery, which must, and, indeed, can only be preserved by constant care and attention. Imagine that person to be ignorant of the principles of the construction of that machine; unobservant of its workings, its powers of application, its possible derangements; unconscious that certain conditions are injurious, and often fatal to its organisation: imagine, we repeat, such a state of things, and what would be the result? The answer is selfevident, and yet that precious thing called health-the health not only of individuals, but of families-is included even the most elemental knowledge of in the hands of women whose education has never physiology.

Good, philanthropic public, I throw myself on your kindness. Help me to a remedy; tell me of some new poison, of some new instrument of death; and oh! warned by my sad example, never, never buy a second-hand range with quite the last improvements,' and a cricket in the oven!

LECTURES BY A LADY-DOCTOR. THREE lectures on physiological and medical science, addressed to women, were delivered recently in London by Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D. This circumstance gave an opportunity to such persons as were either curious, sceptical, or otherwise interested in the subject of 'women-doctors,' to hear the cause advocated by one of themselves. We were among the number of the curious, and on Wednesday, 2d March, we found our way to the Marylebone Institute. A goodly company of ladies were already assembled; and among the number were not a few whom the world honours for good work done in literature, art, and, above all, in charitable labour.

After a brief delay, Dr Elizabeth Blackwell entered Be it clearly understood that we are now speaking the room. She stood with quiet dignity on the plat- of physiological knowledge in reference to the preserform by the desk, while Mrs Jameson read the vation of health; professional aid is sought when address which had been presented to her, requesting remedial efforts are absolutely essential, but how her to give these lectures. Dr Blackwell was received frequently does it not happen that this state of diswith a general expression of sympathy. Many of the ease is consequent upon want of foresight, want of persons present were fully aware of the almost unex-judgment, want, in fact, of the application of the commonest hygienic principles. ampled difficulties which had attended the prosecution In the savage state, where nature is allowed free of her singular career-a career which has initiated play, it is true pharmacy is confined to some few women to the possibility of a professional study of simple herbs, and professorships are not. medicine. A sketch of this lady's life has already who are living in an artificial condition, are bound to appeared in this Journal, but to such of our readers as assist nature out of the difficulties with which we may be unacquainted with the facts, we will briefly ourselves environ her. Dr Blackwell dwelt at some give the following particulars. length upon the laws of health, the fitness of the pursuit for feminine study, and the possibility of improving the general standard of health. There is a homely saying: 'It is easier to prevent than cure,' but it is a saying more frequently quoted than practised-so-called 'common sense is insufficient

Elizabeth Blackwell is an Englishwoman, and not an American, as some persons have erroneously believed. Her father was a Bristol merchant, much respected in his native city, but, in consequence of commercial

But we

Science and Arts.

CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS.

SATURDAY, APRIL 23, 1859.