undertaker's patterns. And yet, a house which | (frequently suffering from gout), and to preserve consumes forty tons of cast iron per annum for coffin handles, stated to the gentleman to whose letters we are indebted for this information, "Our travellers find it useless to show them selves with their pattern-books at an undertaker's, unless they have something tasteful, new, and uncommon. The orders for Ireland are chiefly for gilt furniture for coffins. The Scotch also are fond of gilt, and so are the people in the west of England. But the taste of the English is decidedly for black. The Welsh like a mixture of black and white. Coffin-lace is formed of very light stamped metal, and is made of almost as many patterns as the ribbons of Coventry. All our designs are registered, as there is a constant piracy going on, which it is necessary to check.-Samuel Sidney's Rides on Railways. A YEAR'S SPINNING. To hear the wheel go on, and on, He sat beside me, with an oath That love ne'er ended once begun ; I smiled-believing for us both, What was the truth for only one. And now my spinning is all done. My mother cursed me that I heard A young man's wooing as I spun. I thought-O God!-my first born's cry It was the silence made me groan! Bury me 'twixt my mother's grave, Who cursed me on her death-bed lone, And my dead baby's-(God it save!—) Who not to bless me would not moan. And now my spinning is all done. A stone upon my heart and head, But no name written on the stone! And let the door ajar remain, In case he should pass by anon; And leave the wheel out very plain, That HE, when passing in the sun, May see the spinning is all done. Elizabeth Barrett Browning. LOUIS XVIII.-He exhibited to observation, in his external appearance, the struggle of two nations and two tendencies in his mind. His costume was that of the old regime, absurdly modified by the alterations which time had introduced in the habits of men. He wore velvet boots, reaching up above the knees, that the rubbing of the leather should not hurt his legs at the same time the military costume of kings on horseback. His sword never left his side, even when sitting in his easy chair; a sign of the nobility and superiority of arms, which he wished always to present to the notice of the gentlemen of his kingdom. His orders of chivalry covered his breast, and were suspended with broad blue ribands over his white waistcoat. His coat of blue cloth participated by its cut in the two epochs, whose costumes were united in him, half court, half city. Two little gold epaulettes shone upon his shoulders, to recal the general by birth in the king. His hair artistically turned up, and curled by the implement of the hair-dresser on his temples, was tied behind with a black silk riband, floating on his collar. It was powdered in the old fashion, and thus concealed the whiteness of age under the artificial snow of the toilet. A three-cornered hat, decorated with a cockade and a white plume, reposed on his knees, or in his hand. He seemed desirous of preserving upon all his person the impression and public notice of his origin and of his time, that in seeing him the present age would look up, with material glance and the eye of thought, to the foot of the throne, and that ceremonial should command respect through astonishment. He generally continued in a sitting posture, and only walked occasionally, supported on the arm of a courtier or a servant. But if his antique costume and the infirmities of the lower part of his body recalled the decay of the past century and the debilitating advance of age, it was not the same with respect to his general aspect. The serenity of his coun tenance was astonishing; the beauty, the nobi lity, and the grace of his features attracted the regard of all. It might be said that time, exile, fatigue, infirmity, and his natural corpulence, had only attached themselves to his feet and his trunk the better to display the perpetual and vigorous youth of his countenance. The observer in studying never got tired of admiring it. His high forehead was a little too much inclined to the rear, like a subsiding wall; but the light of intelligence played upon its broad convexity. His eyes were large, and of azure blue, prominent in the oval orbits, luminous, sparkling, humid, and expressive of frankness. His nose, like that of all the Bourbons, was aquiline; his mouth partly open, smiling, and finely formed. The outline of his cheeks were full, but not so much as to affect the delicacy of form and the suppleness of muscle. The healthy tint and the lively freshness of youth were spread over his countenance. He had the features of Louis XV. in all their beauty, lit up with an intelligence more expanded, and a reflection more concentrated, wherein majesty itself was not wanting. His looks alternately spoke, interrogated, replied, and reigned, pointing inwards as it were, and displaying the thoughts and sentiments of his soul. The impression of these looks was, like a thousand others, engraved in the memory, and there was no occasion for speech to make them easily recognized. At such a party, and hold such or such opinions; but to endow this calm product of reason with the power of the by-gone superstition, conscience must come in and hallow conviction into a duty, and convert theories into principles of action. This is the work of moral education, and that education is in the hands of mothers. Many, and unfortunately women themselves, will be ready to reply that these things are beyond their province; but in saying so they deny their own power. It is, as we have again repeated, the whole tone of the mother's mind and habits of thought, which influences the associations and principles of her children; if then men early heard the language of enlightened patriot any expression displayed upon his countenance, at once pensive and serene, abstracted and present, commanding and gentle, severe and attractive, no one could say, "This is a sage, a philosopher, a politician, a pontiff, a legislator, or a conqueror:" for the repose of nature and the majesty of quietude removed all resemblance of these professions, which wrinkle and make pallid the features; but one would say, ""Tis a king!" but 'tis a king who has not yet experienced the cares and lassitude of the throne; 'tis a king who is preparing to reign, and who anticipates nothing but pleasure from the throne, the future, and mankind in general. Such was the king at Hartwell, the eve of the day on which Providence sought him in his exile to re-ism from their mothers, can we believe it would store him to royalty.-Lamartine's History of the Restoration. May not, we would ask, another serious evil, namely, the too frequent want of an earnest public spirit and love of the public good be traced in great measure to the general want among women of a rational interest in politics, and to their keeping apart from the great interests that agitate society? One of the dangers of a period of inquiry and rationalism (and we use this word in its true and noble sense) is, lest men should become cold in becoming philosophical, and lose earnestness of character and endeavour. The prejudices which alone govern them in a ruder condition are generally bound up with the feelings, and act therefore immediately as motives; but in order that a simple conviction should have the same power, it requires that conscience should be habitually guided by reason-that whatever the latter discerns to be true the former should feel to be right, and belonging to duty; otherwise the convictions of the reason remain barren and without effect upon the will. In other words, a higher degree of moral development is required in proportion to the greater mental activity of any period. When, for instance, the trammels of an ignorant superstition are first cast aside, and men learn to inquire into their faith, the force which makes fanaticism almost is broken down; for a time religion seems weak and cold, and greater cultivation is needed, a clearer exercise of the reason, and a more earnest conscientiousness, to make men walk steadily forward in the path on which they were impelled of yore by the blind impulse of fear and superstitious reverence. And so with regard to public spirit, now men know, or they pretend to know, why they adhere to such or * 典 remain without effect? If public motives and public duties had been held up to them from boyhood as things which must earnestly occupy every thinking man, would they not have looked more seriously upon them? The courage of the Spartan and the Roman was kindled by a mother's voice; why then should English mothers be incapable of inspiring their sons with the more refined patriotism which belongs to a more enlightened age? Why should they be unable to instil into their children's hearts that generous spirit which will make them feel that each man's labour, and talents, and influence are due to the service of his country? that, whether rich and inheriting the responsibilities of property, or poor, or labouring in a profession, a career of national usefulness is open to him, which he is bound to pursue with zeal and uprightness? and that he, who in the enjoyment of health and full exercise of his faculties would shrink from such service, and live for his own pleasures, or his small family circle alone, is as truly a craven from duty as he who would fly from the field of battle? The latter yields to a momentary base impulse: the former systematically shrinks from bearing his part in the great battle of life, where God himself has appointed him a post to gain or a standard to defend. If children learned these things round their mother's knee, and grew up under the influence of such sentiments, surely patriotism would be more earnest, and public views more exalted! But how can women so teach, whose whole concern for politics is the personal feeling of a partisan, and whose interest is habitually immersed in carpet work, while questions touching a nation's life or death are hanging in the balance?—Thoughts on SelfCulture, addressed to Women; by Maria G. Grey, and her sister, Emily Shirreff. LITERATURE. sorry work to read and comment on books like these. They may make the unthinking laugh awhile; but they will make the judicious grieve. -W. Wayfaring Sketches," "Use and Abuse," &c. "THE TUTOR'S WARD." By the Author of It would not be easy to find a stronger con MIRIAM SEDLEY. By Lady Bulwer Lytton. (3 vols. 8vo.)-It is not often our lot to read a novel containing "more matter with less art," or more pretension with less claim to admiration than "Miriam Sedley." On seeing it advertised we were curious to see the effect which Time, the great subduer, has had on the turbid talent of this authoress-for talent of a certain, or rather of a most uncertain kind, she un-trast to "Miriam Sedley" among the novels of doubtedly has. the day than "The Tutor's Ward." Noble and Readers of "Cheveley," and "The Budget of the Bubble Family," may be it is animated by an earnest and lofty moral refined taste and feeling pervade every page, and assured that "Miriam Sedley" bears a strong resemblance to them. This information will be purpose, whatever may be said by philosophers either a warning to deter from trying, or an in- the mode of working it out. It would take too against the moral purpose, or by critics against centive to try the new tale immediately. People much space to discuss fully the question which with a taste for ill-disguised and ill-natured per- the authoress lays at the basis of her powerfullysonality, gross exaggeration in the drawing of written tale; but we think there is a great deal character, total disregard of probability or cohesion in the story, satirical and moral reflec- to be said against the view she takes of it—as tions of which the constituents are two parts hend, somewhat different from that she assumes exemplified in the story. It is also, we appretruth and cleverness to eight parts falsehood and impertinence—the whole poured forth in fluent in theory. In theory she says (if we may venbut far from easy or graceful English, plenti-ture to interpret). All human love is not, and fully sprinkled with execrable puns and quota-dinate and subservient to the love of God.” Ia cannot come to good, unless it be male subortions from dead and living languages-people who like things like these will find enough of them and to spare in the work before us. minor points, about which the authoress shows great solicitude and warmth of feeling, we cannot refrain from mentioning-bad breeding and bad graminar. Nothing can exceed her scorn and indignation against them-in theory; but there she stops. We do not always admire people for carrying out their theories too rigidly; but really in the case of this authoress the reader will not be over-exacting who should demand that her theory should be applied to practice somewhat more systematically. We do not think bad breeding and bad grammar "actionable" offences as Lady Lytton seems to do, but we think them perfectly unpardonable in an authoress who flings stones right and left for Some these offences as she does. We do not think the pert and conceited and every way disagreeable French letter of dedication to her friend by any means an improvement to the book. Its only advantage is, that being in French, and in French of certain Parisian coteries, not very intelligible to those who only know the French of the Academy, it will not be read, and its demerits and extreme bad taste will escape notice. Bad taste!-that is the great crying sin of the book. We have spoken of "Miriam Sedley" thus severely because there is, as we said before, talent in the book-an uncertain, shifting, chamelion-like talent, ill-trained, misapplied, vitiated—but still talent-genuine talent. Would that some one would rescue this fine quality, as well as some true and noble womanly feelings which our authoress shows occasionally, from the heap of vulgarity, coarse invective, and caricature run mad, in which she envelops it. It is 66 applying her theory, she shifts the ground of it God made men and women to love each other? must submit to have human hearts and to love humanly.-W. THE PARLOUR LIBRARY. (Simms and M'Intyre.)-Two recent numbers of this excellent publication comprise the "Adventures of an Emigrant in Search of a Colony," by Charles Rowcroft, and a very able translation of "The Countess of Rudolstadt," from the French of George Sand. The former is one of the most graphic and interesting works we have seen for a long time, and withal throughly practical in the advice it affords. If the home scenes are sometimes sketched with the pencil of the caricaturist-that of the Sullivan dinner for instance, when all the tax-gatherers pay their respects within an hour-why they point the moral that is intended to be shown all the more forcibly. "The Countess of Rudolstadt" is a continua tion of that powerful art-novel and metaphysical romance, Consuelo. To enter into an analysis that should at all do justice to the theme, would require more columns than we have lines to spare; but we may remind our readers that its admission into the select series in which it appears, is an earnest that it is free from those blots which have excluded so many of Madame Dudevant's works from the English public. Those who read with a higher aim than mere | pastime will find here abundant food for thought; and even if they sometimes differ from the author, will be ready to acknowledge her eloquence and her genius. MY FIRST GRIEF; OR, RECOLLECTIONS OF A BELOVED SISTER. A Memoir and Autobiography. By a Provincial Surgeon.-(James Nisbet and Co., London.)-This elegant little book is remarkable in more respects than one. It is written with considerable literary ability, and it abounds in evidences of sympathy, tenderness, and true piety, to a degree somewhat rare in members of the rather stern profession to which its author professes to belong. It bears internal proof of genuineness and veracity, and the guileless tone of the work claims our entire faith in the curious series of portents which the author narrates with so much circumstantiality and clearness. The subject of this memoir must indeed have been a noble and charming girl, to have inspired so much love, and deserved such a record of her young life. While she was in perfect health, her brother dreamed so vividly that she was dead, that he was compelled by dread and grief to rush to her chamber to satisfy himself of her existence. Soon after this vision she was taken ill with a fever, and the nurse that was called in to attend upon the invalid also previously dreamed that she would be summoned to attend the death-bed of a young lady. Our author subsequently experienced a nocturnal spiritual revelation of his sister's celestial felicity, accompanied by a strain of music "an anthem dream"-the notes of which are printed from memory. book after our own heart; full of wise and loving teaching, its lessons are conveyed through the medium of a brilliant imagination, which yet never runs wild, or strays away from the topic in hand. The conversation between the "Smoke and the Kite"-the latter entangled in the chimney pots-is witty as well as poetical; "The King's Rose Bud and the Deceitful Worm," is replete with graceful fancies; and the story of the "House Wall,” bound together by the allembracing loving mortar, has a myth and a meaning most charmingly conceived, and admirably carried out. We ought to add that this anonymous little volume-by some English Hans Andersen-is prettily illustrated and nicely hound. TWO FAIRY TALES, ARRANGED IN A DRAMATIC FORM. By a Lady.-(Arthur Hall, Virtue, and Co.)—This would probably be considered a more ambitious work than the one just noticed; but we think it greatly inferior. It is too diffuse and obscure to be a favourite with juvenile readers, who like thoroughly to understand what they are about, and would never have patience to read the very long speeches of these dramatic scenes. Nevertheless, these fairy tales in their present form display some fancy and powers of composition. THE SUNDAY SCHOOL. A Poem in three Cantos. By a Clergyman of the Church of England.-(Hope and Co.) THE REIGN OF AVARICE. An Allegorical Satire. In Four Cantos.-(Pickering.) An evident good intention, combined with talents that, discreetly directed, might do real substantial "work" in the world, so disarms criticism, that we are loath to tell the truth about these books, and say what we think, that they have very small claim to be called Poetry. Modern criticism rejects mere rhyming descriptions, and metrical prose, when asked to call them by a higher name; and verses which would have won a respectable reputation thirty years ago, line trunks now-a-days. If the author of the "Sunday School" had thrown his knowledge, thoughts, and feelings into an earnest essay, or a tale" truer perhaps than facts, he might have given us something of permanent value: while he who satirises "Avarice" has evidently the stuff in him, out of which leading articles are spun, and other sorts of journal power elaborated. 66 GUILD OF LITERATURE AND ART. The provincial performances of the amateur actors playing for the benefit of the Guild of Literature and Art are announced to commence at Bath on the 10th of November; and on the 12th their performance is fixed to take place at Bristol, AMUSEMENTS HAYMARKET. A clever little piece, entitled "Grandmother Grizzle," has been produced at this theatre, being an adaptation by Mr. Buckstone from the French vaudeville "Ma Grand'mère," which itself was founded on a certain celebrated song of Beranger's. Mr. Buckstone has anglicised and improved the idea; has laid the scene in Devonshire, and represents Grandmother Grizzle as a cross old woman, who, on this occasion, is melted to kindliness of heart and free confession of her own former frolics by the potency of some old wine. We cannot tell what the Temperance folks will say to the amusing use which is thus supposed to be made of alcohol; but, thanks to the excellent acting of Mrs. Fitzwilliam -on whom indeed the whole weight of the little comedy rests-it has been perfectly successful. Mr. Webster, who acts too seldom for his admirers, has, however, been delighting them lately, in some favourite characters-or rather winning new admirers among the country visitors to the metropolis, for Londoners themselves have fled in all directions to inhale sea-breezes or enjoy the country. SADLER'S WELLS. Latterly this theatre seems to have partly abandoned its devotion to the tragic muse, and to have tried the experiment of comedy. Thanks to its very efficient company, the attempt has been particularly successful. Holcroft's "Road to Ruin" has been one of the most noticeable revivals, Mrs. Marston having greatly distinguished herself as the Widow Warren; and Mr. Barrett, as Old Dornton, is said to remind ancient playgoers of both Dowton and Munden. Recently, however, Shakspere's tragedy of "Timon of Athens" has been revived-for the first time we believe since the death of Edmund Kean; the Misanthrope being powerfully and admirably personated by Mr. Phelps. Students of Shakspere will remember in a moment many marked peculiarities which distinguish this play-the abruptness, so to speak, of its construction; the absence of female interest, and the dark view of human nature which the Poet sought to illustrate. But it contains some noble poetry, and as produced at Sadler's Wells is something to be studied and remembered. ST. JAMES'S. OF THE MONTH. from time to time have witnessed the acting of THE HOLY LAND. It is by no means a favourite occupation with PANORAMAS OF THE NILE AND OF us to go out of our way to censure and find fault; but we hold it a duty of the press to point the finger of scorn and indignation at certain performances which have taken place at the St. James's theatre. We allude to the case of the poor infants, Kate and Ellen Bateman, whose no doubt-natural and precocious talents have been wickedly and cruelly made a market of, by their natural protectors. Incalculable mischief arises in this world from pure thoughtlessness; and thus we can understand how a large proportion of the audience who We have only space this month to draw attention very briefly to the above interesting and instructive Exhibitions, which we have classed together, because we believe recent additions have been made to their attractions. A party of Syrians have been engaged at the Egyptian Hall-where the scenery of the Holy Land is depicted-to illustrate the manners and customs of the country. While the Panorama of the Nile, to which several new tableaux have been added, is now removed to 53, Pall Mall, |