EGYPTIAN DANCING GIRLS. THERE is a combination of material in Mr. Warren's elegant picture of "Egyptian Dancing Girls," which naturally suggests to the mind the past and the present condition of the country it represents. Whether the composition be a real or an imaginary one we will not undertake to affirm; but the scene is evidently borrowed from the banks of the Nile, and not improbably from that particular locality on which once stood the great city Memphis, the rival of mighty Thebes. Although the exact spot on which the ancient metropolis of Lower Egypt was situated has been the subject of much dispute, and has afforded materials for long and laborious investigation, it is now almost universally decided that it occupied a place very near the village of Metrahenny, on the western bank of the river; and the vicinity of this village presents features similar in character to those in the artist's picture. Travellers who have visited this part of the country describe manifest indications of an ancient city, in the form of mounds, channels, and blocks of granite, many of which are covered with sculptures and hieroglyphics, that are locally considered to be the remains of the royal seat of the Pharaohs, the "Noph" of the prophet Ezekiel, of which Jeremiah prophesied that it should be "waste and desolate without an inhabitant." And so completely has this prophecy, like all others found in Sacred History, been fulfilled, that nothing remains like a building of any kind, and not a single human being is to be found dwelling within its precincts. It is the fragments of architectural grandeur introduced into the picture which throw back the thoughts into far distant ages, of whose history the records are few and unsatisfactory. There is nothing more calculated to manifest the instability of human greatness, and how utterly futile are man's hopes of establishing for himself and his heirs a power that shall live for ever, than to witness the entire, or even partial, desolation of a land which at some period exalted itself among the nations of the world. Every remnant of its former glory is a mute instructor, while even the dust on which one treads is not unfrequently all that remains of some object of beauty that attracted the admiration of thousands of intelligent beings. And thus it will be with regard to those things in which the living generation pride themselves, for, to borrow an elegant thought from the poet Moore, "Time looks on, Waiting till all, now bright and blest, Shall fall beneath him like the rest." Was it by way of reading a homily upon the changes to which every created object is destined, that the artist has placed his dancing girls amid the ruins of Egyptian grandeur? There was no necessity for his so doing in order to a characteristic introduction of the figures, which would have been advantageously disposed, for pictorial display, under other circumstances' than those he has thought fit to associate with them. But if such were his intention he has effectually succeeded in producing a picture in which the gaiety of the present seems only to mock the solemnity of the past, and the low enjoyments of actual existence are placed in striking contrast with the mouldering relics of antiquity, which speak of a period so distant that even imagination itself can scarcely penetrate into its buried mysteries. The scene reminds one of some unhallowed revel among the tombs of the dead, though as a composition of ideal art it is very beautiful. The dancing girls of Egypt are of the most remote origin; indeed, this pastime is generally supposed to have first been practised in that country, frʊin which the Jews brought it in their Exodus, and caused it to form a part of the idolatrous worship they offered to the golden calf. In the choral dances and festal processions illustrated in the paintings on ancient Egyptian monuments, the dance is almost invariably represented as performed by women, and even to this day it is generally left to the females, the men considering it beneath their dignity to take any part in such proceedings, except as spectators; but in this character the dance forms no inconsiderable portion of their amusement. The public female dancers of Egypt have acquired by the reports of almost every Eastern traveller, a very unenviable notoriety. They chiefly exhibit in the courts of houses and in the streets: the movements of their dance are not unlike those of the Spanish fandango, and it is generally accompanied by a viol and tambourine, played by musicians of the company, while the dancers themselves are provided with castanets, which they sound, as represented in the engraving. In Mr. Bartlett's interesting volume, entitled, "The Nile Boat," he gives an account of an exhibition of this sort, at which he was present. The two performers who were amusing the assembled party, "had once been handsome, but were now, though young, decidedly usé, worn out with early profligacy, and bedaubed ad nauseam with thick layer of vermilion. Their dress consisted of very large loose trowsers of silk, and a tight-bodied vest open at the bosom, and having long sleeves, with a large shawl wreathed round and supporting their languid figures; they were also profusely decorated with gold coins and bracelets." The writer speaks of the dance itself as having little to recommend it in the way of grace and elegance-qualities which render the movements and attitudes of the skilful European danseuse so attractive and picturesque-but much of that equivocal expression more calculated to create disgust in the wellregulated mind than enjoyment. Whatever of a kindred nature Mr. Warren may have seen in those who formed the models of his picture, he has properly and carefully avoided to introduce, lest truth should, perchance, become offensive: as an illustration of modern Eastern customs the subject is highly interesting. IMPRESSIONS OF ENGLAND IN THE FROM LETTERS AND MEMORANDA OF V. and women of England. It was incontestibly proved by the facts here adduced, that thousands of women are to be found in London, as well as in other large towns of England, who are not able to live by their own labour, and would not be able to live at all excepting by-degradation. It was incontrovertibly proved, Associated Workmen in England and Scotland.-Visit to the Co-likewise, that there were also thousands of men there operative Tailors in London.-Visit to the Co-operative Needlewomen.-Organization of Association.-An Idea.-The Ancient who could not support themselves and their families by the honest wages of labour; it was proved that certain trades and corporate bodies, formerly rich and prosperous, were sinking lower with each succeeding year; as well as that the circumstance which in England was bringing the well-to-do in the labouring classes to poverty, and the poor to crime, and, finally, to the extremest wretchedness, was an increasing cause in England, and had its root in the present organization of society. in London. Guilds regenerated in a deeper sense and more liberal form.— The sympathy caused towards them by Poets, Noblemen, Clergy, Lawyers, who take part in this movement of the workers. -The Fourth Estate comes forward upon the scene.-Christian Socialism. The True Socialism.-The False.-The Wheat and Chaff-The Discrimination of the Earth.-Kossuth's Reception THEY had already begun in England; they were already in operation, these new institutions for an improved future in the social state; ragged schools, model dwelling and eating-houses, public baths and wash-houses, emigrants' home, dormitory, and such The first effect of this extraordinary exposition, like, when the Morning Chronicle brought out a series of articles under the name of "London of this influx of light amid darkness, was a general Labour and the London Poor." These articles made consternation. Had not Government long ago been established as a great protecting institution for known the results of long-continued inquiries, pursued through intercourse and conversation with society? Had not the laws, the church, houses of the various classes of the poorer population of correction, workhouses, prisons, poor-laws, schools, London; and gave an accurate representation of their public and private benevolence for hundreds of years, social state; their occupations, customs, habits, enjoy-been actively employed in keeping in order and in improving society? and never more than at the ments, temptations, moral condition, sufferings and vices. In this class were included cab-men, porters, and in the face of all this, and in spite of all this, present time!-and yet-in the very heart of all this, postillions, street traders, sellers of fruit, policemen, there was an increasing condition of ruin, of degradastreet-musicians, crossing-sweepers, beggars, servants in hospitals; pickpockets, burglars, and such like. tion, increasing silently, secretly, but at the same time The narrations in which the parties themselves were perceptibly, undermining the whole visible fabric of introduced as speaking and acting, were rich both in society, if no obstacle were presented to its progress, humour and pathos, in comedy and tragedy, in novelty the old order of things, the old curative measures! if there were no other counterbalancing influence than and wisdom. They bore an internal stamp of truth; outward circumstances still further strengthening this, and the spirit of the author being steady, earnest, and acute. Every one, even the meanest human being whom one might meet and overlook in the streets, was here brought forward in his own individual world, his own home, education, feelings, crimes and virtues. The author, without sentimentality, without palliation, accompanied these pariahs of society from their earliest days of innocence and through their degradation, down to the extremest point of human wretchedness, which prisons and hospitals conceal. Here were no mysteries of Paris delineated by an author only half a Christian, in a melodramatic style, half true, attractive and delusive at the same time. Here it was the truth, the ac tuality itself, brought together by a trustworthy person, and speaking the convincing language of truth itself. Here also were stern statistical facts, deducible from moral data. These and the conclusions which they led to, astonished the thinking men (1) Continued from p. 309. (2) The opinions put forth in this article are to be accepted as those only of the accomplished writer. The Editor, while, in many cases, dissenting from them, has considered it right to print them as they have been written: it may be necessary, however, to remind the reader that Miss Bremer's opportunities of judging were limited and few; and that her views upon subjects so delicate and intricate as those upon which she here treats are to be received with some degree of caution.. People inquired on all hands, Whence is it to come? The answer was, It will come of itself from the blind, unopposed, and selfish competition, which places the interests of one man in opposition to those of others, and leaves the weaker to be trodden down by the stronger. People inquired yet further; How be left open; competition must be free to all alike. can this be helped? The field of competition must Some said, That will do nothing. It must go as it will! Others replied; No! because then it would go to destruction at once; and that is the will of the Evil One, and not of God. God has said, that all men are brethren, and should live together as brethren, as the children of God, and not as mortal enemies in perpetually bitter strife one with another. The It was in the last week of December in the year 1849, when ten persons, amongst whom, besides men of the working class, were two clergymen of the met together in the house of a working man. Church of England and one Member of Parliament, Morning Chronicle had just published a horrifying description of the condition of the working tailors and needlewomen in London, who, through the system of, so-called, middlemen, and the consequent reduction of the prices paid for work, with other abuses of the powers of labour, were reduced, day by day, into a state of yet greater need. And these persons had met together, to take into consideration what might I adoption of a common code of regulations, by the be done to meet this increasing evil. It was determined that they should immediately endeavour to form associations of workers in those trades which were at the present time most depressed; and that the members of these associations should work at the same time for their own and for the general advantage, as well as in such places and under such conditions as befitted men and women in the nineteenth century of Christianity. The next meeting of these men took place in January 1850, at the house of one of the clergymen. Several gentlemen of respectability and wealth had in the meantime joined the original small company. Upright and trustworthy men of the tailors' trade had been selected to make known this first tailors' association, and they had even found among those willing to become its friends and supporters two master tailors—to their honour be it told! The masters and workers, in concert with the gentlemen, drew up rules and calculated expenditure. A sum of money, three hundred pounds, was advanced on loan, to bring the undertaking into operation; the direction was organized; conditions drawn up, laws written out and subscribed; the association took a house and began to work. development of a yet more and more perfected system, through which the individual members were united into one body, with one heart and one head; or, to speak less figuratively, with a central body of directors, to which the separate associations might send deputies or representatives. I visited the first-mentioned association in London, about two years after its first establishment. It had already paid off one-half of its original debt, and had a certain prospect of paying off the remainder within the course of the present year. It was in a state of prosperity, although work at that moment was not abundant; which was by no means unusual at that period of the year, when the greater portion of the wealthy residents of London were in the country. The house belonging to the association was of somewhat insignificant appearance; and the stairs by which one ascended to the workroom were rickety, but they were going to have this properly repaired: the room, however, where the tailors-somewhat above twenty in number-sat to work, was clean, airy and agreeably warm. There was also a book-case in the room, where, among other well-bound volumes, I observed "Plato's Dialogues," of which an English translation, somewhat abridged from the original, has At the same time, as if propelled by some general power lately been published and is much read by the working of nature, similar associations were established in various classes. There was also in the house a small bathtowns of England and Scotland, as well as also in the room, convenient and well supplied with fresh water; country, in the manufacturing districts; and in fact, and which, in summer especially, is industriously made this peculiar form of social development increased so use of by the workmen. One portion of the house, rapidly and so generally, that within a short time it formerly an outbuilding, had been taken down; and was to be met with in nearly all the industrial trades. was now in progress of re-erection for a large hall, Just lately in Scotland, and if I remember correctly, in where lectures might be delivered, and in which the the neighbourhood of Glasgow, not less than four thou-association should have its reading-room and place of sand operatives of the so-called block-printing business social meeting. entered into a general partnership. At the same time were opened, throughout the length and breadth of England and Scotland, the so-called co-operative shops, -shops for the sale of all kinds of provisions and goods, established by companies or associations of operatives, who supplied them with their various articles, and from which they made their own purchases, whether of goods generally, or provisions for their family consumption, convinced that from them they would obtain a good article at a reasonable price. The superintendent of this association, Mr. W. C, himself an operative, and who had been elected to his office by the members themselves, is a little man of rare endowments, whose whole countenance seemed to me an animated beaming eye. Of my conversations with him, I will draw from my memory the following. Quest. How came you first to think of this association? Ans. It came as if of itself;-as if from necessity. The men had become weary of Strikes when work I had frequently, during my rambles in other towns, became scarce and wages low. They gained nothing seen these shops, bearing the inscription, "Co-operative by them; and were, after all, obliged in the end to shops, or stores." But it was not until I came to submit themselves to necessity, or to starve with wife London, that I fully understood the design and uni- and children. They had become weary also of going versality of these undertakings among the working out "on tramp," by which they seldom got anything classes of England, or of their advancing concen- but worn-out shoes. In this way the thought arose tration into a system. These establishments had in some of our minds, Could we not unite ourselves grown up out of the pressure of the times, from an for conjoined labour, for conjoined profits, under laws internal and external necessity, from a moral and of association, and thus become independent of the physical necessity; in the first instance isolated, dis-pleasure of individuals? We attempted the thing; connected, without knowledge of each other; by and many others in other trades attempted also to bedegrees however-also from natural necessity-be- come associated; and many gentlemen, nay even coming acquainted one with another-coming into a some manufacturers themselves, participating in our fraternal relationship one with another by the attention views, joined us, and assisted us with money and with which was requisite for the common interests, by the advice. |