thereby "We must" die all. It is a great convenience, nevertheless, and will afford a moral lesson to those middle-aged gentlemen who, as they descend St. James's-street, cast a glance at its figures; for it may serve to remind them, in their peregrinations, how fast a man, at their time of life, goes down hill.

QUICK TRAVELLING TO INDIA.-There seems really a probability of establishing a regular communication between Bombay and Europe, by Suez; and although the idea, now for the twentieth time started, of cutting through the Isthmus, and thus uniting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean by means of a canal, is not likely to be realised—indeed in the prospectus it is not even entertained-the facilities which have been afforded and are promised hold out great hopes of abbreviating the voyage to India in a manner which, half a century-nay, a quarter of a century ago-when we all thought ourselves vastly fine fellows, and extremely learned and clever into the bargain, never would or could have been contemplated.

Mr. Waghorn, who, it appears, is a man of great talent and indefatigable industry, has arrived at Bombay via Alexandria, and has obtained a promise from the Viceroy of Egypt to build a halting-place between Cairo and Suez, and, if necessary, at his own charge, to construct the rail-road between those points. The course Mr. Waghorn proposes is, that steam-vessels should carry the mails, and passengers of course, from Falmouth to Malta; that other steam-vessels should convey them from Malta to Alexandria; while another company, in India, should provide vessels to run from Bombay to carry the mails to Suez, and wait their return; the bags and passengers being conveyed from Cairo to Suez by the projected rail-road. He intends that a postage of five shillings upon each letter should be received by the post-offices of England and India, who, in return, should pay a certain sum of money to the Company for conveying the bags, which, with the passage-money of travellers and the freight of cargoes of light goods, would amply repay the projectors-the companies, on their part, undertaking to pay the dues and duties claimed by the Viceroy of Egypt. To start this undertaking, Mr. Waghorn calculates 24,000l. only to be necessary, and of that 12,500/. is already subscribed. The patronage of this active and most energetic advance in communication, personally or by letter, with some of our remote possessions, is solely attributable to the energy and activity of the Right Hon. Charles Grant, who has exerted himself most laudably in the promotion of the undertaking, and in fixing upon the different ports for the purpose of carrying it into effect.

THE AFFAIR AT LLOYD'S."-There never was known so long a continuance of tempestuous weather at this period of the year as we have had during the last month: the ravages it has made amongst our coasting-vessels, and vessels outward-bound, still near our shores, has been awful. Steam-vessels have been lost, as well as sailing-vessels; and a second shipwreck has occurred at Boulogne, rendered less dreadful than the last only by the smaller number of the sufferers. All that were on board perished, under the eyes of crowds of the inhabitants, who were wholly unable to render them the slightest assistance.

It is apprehended that the losses to the underwriters will be far greater

than in any preceding year: this, with the misfortune-for so we consider it-of losing their able and respectable Chairman, will make this, to them, anything rather than a merry Christmas. With respect to the resignation of Alderman Thompson, we admit that, after the ballot, and when he found the majority in his favour only five out of a division of five hundred, he could do nothing but retire; and, therefore, perhaps that result justifies his original resignation. For our own parts, having the highest respect for the worthy Alderman, and for his character, we cannot but think his retirement uncalled for. The Sunderland Company, of which he is a vice-president, and upon which vice-presidency the subscribers to Lloyd's founded their objections to his conduct, is, although transacting, as a branch of its business, marine insurance in a certain degree, intended to embrace objects of various sorts, none of which enter into the speculations of Lloyd's; and certain we are that Mr. Thompson's personal interests in the one establishment would never have been permitted to interfere with the general interests of the other.

The subscribers to Lloyd's Coffee-house-and, strangely enough, they are recognized in their corporate capacity as a public body-appear to be extremely jealous of their rights; but we are yet to learn why any other set of gentlemen who choose to effect marine insurances are not at perfect liberty to do so, without either their " leave or license." The Sunderland Company may become a formidable rival, for all we know; and now that Mr. Alderman Thompson is relieved from any delicacy upon the subject, he may direct his energies with considerable effect in extending its powers and increasing its influence.

DESECRATION OF CHURCHES.-A circumstance occurred on the 23d of December which ought to decide at once, and for ever, the question of appropriating churches to other uses than those for which they are built and consecrated. The wardmote of Portsoken Ward was held, for the purpose of electing Common Councilmen, in the parish church. It was known long beforehand that the discussions arising out of the claims and protests of Mr. Scales, who has been elected Alderman, and rejected by the Court, would be noisy and stormy; and so, indeed, they proved to be. High words passed, great confusion ensued, and the Lord Mayor was compelled to call in a body of police to preserve order. This in the church. But, as if to place the indecency and indelicacy of such proceedings in the strongest possible light, in the midst of the uproar there arrived a couple of persons to be married.

It was decided that political matters should give way to religion, which, under the circumstances, was rather surprising, and the service of matrimony was begun. But, in the midst of the ceremony, and at the period when these two persons were solemnly pledging their faith to each other before God, Mr. Scales made his appearance, and was received with shouts and cheers, as was also Mr. Alderman Harmer. The clergyman could not proceed; language the most violent and intemperate passed between the conflicting parties; and, amidst oaths, and yells, and shrieks of applause and derision, a posse of constables entered the desecrated building; and in the midst of all this the couple kneeling at the altar were united.

Nothing can be more disgusting-nothing more shameful; and, certainly, at a period when the church is attacked from almost every side,

it does seem the height of indecency to permit such proceedings to take place. Would it not be possible either to obtain from the different companies the use of their halls for these elections; or, if not, might not hustings be erected for the purpose; or might not a tavern-rooni suffice for the business? The Bishop of London, whose opinions and feelings upon such subjects are pretty generally known, might surely put a stop to these outrages, (for we can call them nothing else,) and save the churches, so peculiarly under his care, from such exhibitions in future. We should think that, without going to such high authority, the incumbents of the livings themselves might prevent them. Upon this point we are not so sure; but, independent as the citizens of London may be, we do hope that the prelate of the diocese has yet sufficient influence to put an end to a system so indecent, and so subversive of all moral as well as religious feeling.

THE TRADES' UNIONS.-A most alarming evil is growing up in the metropolis at an exceedingly rapid rate, and which threatens the most serious consequences-we mean the formation of Trades' unions. These combinations are proceeding in every part of town, and bid fair, at no very great distance of time, to place the population of London entirely at the mercy of what are called, in the new-fangled language of modern political economy, the "operatives."

It is a subject which, we are aware, is occupying much of the attention of Government; but flagrant and evident as the mischief is, and sure and certain as are its perilous consequences, it seems impossible to check it. In Scotland, where the system is more advanced, the most horrid outrages are committed upon those who decline entering into the compact at Glasgow, a poor woman was violently assaulted by some of the members of the unions, who threw a quantity of sulphuric acid over her, and deprived her of sight; and on the same day, the foreman of the Lancefield Spinning-company, in going to the factory from his own house, was felled to the ground by a tremendous blow from a heavy and sharp weapon, which wounded him desperately on the head.

In London, their operations are more concealed; the members pay one shilling per month, and are sworn to secresy; and to prove the extent to which the combination is going, it is only necessary to state that, in the week before Christmas, no less than eight hundred and seventy journeymen tailors were sworn in, in one day at one house. The avowed object of these men is an advance in wages; which demand on their parts, coupled with a cry-which will become overwhelming after Parliament meets-for a repeal of the corn-laws, will place the country and the Government in a position of extreme delicacy and difficulty. The most curious part of the thing is, the parity of proceedings here with those adopted by the operatives of Paris. We last month noticed this extraordinary sympathy between France and England in the case of incendiarism, and here we perceive it again in the operation of these unions. Appearances would almost lead one to imagine that there might at least be master-spirits at work among the journeymen to whom might be traced the effects visibly and simultaneously produced on either side of the channel.

THE NEW GOVERNOR OF JAMAICA.-The Ma uis of Sligo is appointed Governor of Jamaica, and proceeds immediately to the seat of his domination. It is generally stated that Lord Mulgrave, on his return to England, will succeed the Duke of Devonshire as lord chamberlain of the household.

The Marchioness of Sligo-his lordship's mother-was daughter and co-heiress of Richard Earl Howe, and was a widow in the year 1812; at which period her ladyship's son was tried at the Admiralty sessions, before Lord Stowell (then Sir William Scott), for inducing English sailors to leave the ship to which they belonged, in order to complete the complement of men for his yacht in the Mediterranean. Upon that occasion the Marchioness went into court to intercede for her son ;the appeal, as far as the legal proceedings went, had not the desired effect; for, having been found guilty, the Marquis was sentenced to an imprisonment in Newgate of some months, which he underwent; but the impression made upon his upright judge, by the manners and affectionate conduct of his lordship's mother, was such, that, in a very short period after the trial, she became his wife. The Marchioness died in 1816. This is one of the histories of real life, in which the romantic largely mingles, and tends to prove what some of our most popular writers have frequently asserted, that the improbabilities of fact are very frequently more remarkable than those of fiction.

66

FASHIONS FROM FRANCE.-Velvet, they say, is to be the fashion in England during the next season-it has been the rage in France, and therefore the proud islanders are to become the copyists of their neighbours, and discard silks and broad-cloth, for softer and richer garments. The change will have one disadvantage, if it really should take place; foreign velvet will be of course the favourite, and thus a new source of discontent amongst the operatives will be opened. Of one thing we may be pretty certain, and that is, that the revolution in habits will not be speedily universal; and we further suspect that, in the present day, when dandyism does not consist altogether in dressing, there are very few young men bold enough to "break the ice," and appear in public in velvet coats. The ladies have made their " state more gracious' by reducing the size of their bonnets; for which relief much thanks. When the sleeves shall have recovered from the swellings with which they have now been so long affected, our beauties will look more beautiful yet; for when it is recollected that, in military tactics, eighteen inches is the space allowed for a soldier's breadth in line, it must seem rather disproportionate in a lovely girl of eighteen to occupy at least three times as much ground as a grenadier. Fashion so wonderfully reconciles the eye to the most preposterous absurdities, that the wonder is, how we who now bear with acres of bonnets and mountains of sleeves could have endured the costume of other days, when it was the object of ladies to look more like thread-papers than anything else; as a proof of this mutability, in the Suffolk-street Gallery, at this moment, there hangs a beautiful picture of Mrs. Orby Hunter, by Hoppner, in a dress unquestionably most popular and most fashionable at the period at which it was painted. Let any lady walk into a drawing-room in that costume this winter, and she will cause a greater sensation than any lioness of the season. Yet it is infinitely more simple and more natural than the

reigning fashion, which, when carried to its extreme, gives every blooming belle the appearance of an hour-glass-the difference between the two figures is, as we have just said, the most powerful illustration of the force of habit, and the easy reconcilement of the eye to that which is constantly before it.

66

Although, before our Commentary is published, merry Christmas will have passed, we cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of wishing our readers a happy new year. It is gratifying to know that the observation of this season of mingled piety and gratitude and mirth and gaiety is still maintained in high places with all its ancient splendour.

The magnificent castle of Belvoir contains within its walls upwards of three hundred guests; at Apethorpe, the venerable Earl of Westmoreland is entertaining a crowd of visiters; at Woburn, the Duke and Duchess of Bedford are 66 holding wassail," and have collected round them all the branches of their extensive family now in England, for the enjoyment of "quips, and cranks, and jollity;" Gorhambury boasts a noble assembly, and Hatfield is thronged with the gayest of the gay.

At Arundel, Belton, Croxteth, Burghley, and many other noble residences, the same gratifying reminiscences of the olden times are in full force; and most gratifying is it to know that these splendid banquets and lighted halls are but the open evidences of the season when the more important yet more concealed benevolence of the great and good is at work, securing the comfort and happiness of the poor and humble. The extent to which charity is exercised by our nobility is inconceivable; indeed, the only way in which the public generally are enabled to form even a faint opinion upon the subject, is by observing whenever a fraudulent begging-letter man or woman is brought before the magistrates— then comes out the truth; and in all the cases which have yet met the public eye, the facts detailed in evidence have shown how constantly, how readily, and how liberally the nobility have contributed to the alleviation of the imaginary wants of their artful deceivers.

Long may that state of things exist, which gives to each his proper station and attributes, and which, under the dispensations of an all-wise Providence, has raised up an aristocracy to whom the poorer classes may look up with confidence for support, while able to earn the honest bread of industry, and for aid and consolation when time and age shall have deprived them of the power of working! Long may our country flourish, and long may we, and future chroniclers after us, continue to refer with gratitude to the past merry Christmas, and propitiate our friends and countrymen with the sincere wish that they may enjoy in happiness and comfort the year to come.