exertion made to manufacture every article at the lowest price, cause fewer hands to be engaged than are properly competent to do the work expected from them; and hence the burthen of labour presses very heavily on those few. Ten or fifteen apprentices are made to do the work of thirty. In many houses the accommodation would not admit of more; in many it is entirely inadequate for those employed. The sleeping rooms are improperly crowded, and the work-room is made to contain double the number it ought. But this grievance arises as often from the desire of the proprietress of the house to realise a rapid profit, as it does from the deficiency of accommodation. If the profit is small on each individual article, it is made up for by the number of articles which a few hands by means of exaggerated labour can produce. This is an evil very difficult to remedy, while the importance of wealth, so strikingly characteristic of a commercial age and country, is so universally recognised. We all struggle to be rich, high and low, young and old; those behind press on those before, they in their turn on those in front: if it is the spur to our industry, it at the same time gives the rein to our selfishness; if it developes and calls into full action our perseverance, our activity, our untiring energies, it is at the same time a clog to the secret springs of virtuous action, and an impediment to the finer feelings of the heart. "If we make haste to be rich," said the wisest of men, 66 we shall assuredly not be innocent."

If the number of work-women employed in each house of business is, consistently with a healthy and proper system of treatment, quite inadequate to the drudgery imposed upon them, we shall not expect that they can obtain many intervals of relaxation, when they can be entirely absent from the establishment. Accordingly, we find that the holidays allowed to each girl seldom exceed three weeks or a month, during autumn, a period of the year when their attendance is least requisite. Were it not for this breathing time to recruit their exhausted energies, no degree of physical strength would enable them to bear up against the

fatigues they submit to, sometimes voluntarily, to obtain a knowledge of their business, but more frequently from necessity, and a persuasion that if they abandon this service, they have no other prospect before them but poverty and want. An increased population, and wealth unequally distributed, have depreciated the value of labour, and, while the merchant or manufacturer is amassing a splendid fortune, the poor mechanic or artisan earns a scanty subsistence where he can. The amount of the pittance, called his wages, is fixed by others, who exercise the tyranny of opulence, and he must either take that or starve. The condition of the poorer orders of society at the present day deserves the most careful attention of the statesman. The comforts which refinement, and many years of uninterrupted peace, have diffused among the higher and middling classes, have not yet reached the operative; he alone seems chained to the earth without power to rise; the bread he eats by the sweat of his brow is barely sufficient for his maintenance. His history, were he to tell it, would in many points resemble that of the young milliner described in these pages-chiefly in this, that his labour, inadequately paid as it is, is bestowed upon another for his aggrandisement, and the fruits of his patient industry doth a stranger take.

"Sic vos non vobis vellera fertis, oves: Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra, boves." VIRG.

From this imperfect description of the hardships endured by the milliner and dress-maker's apprentice, in many houses-for we must recollect that there are honourable exceptions to the rule, but that, if proper treatment were universal, this essay would be useless-we may now proceed to enumerate some of those remedies by which her condition appears capable of improvement. And on entering this part of our subject, it must be remembered that the mitigation of evils, such as have been described, depends very materially upon the disposition of the employers themselves. At the same time, although public opinion is so powerful in this country that to lay open an abuse may be said almost to rectify it, yet

in a matter where the motives of self-interest are so contrary to humanity, it is scarcely safe to trust too far to the influence of general feeling and sympathy upon individual conduct. The first and most obvious remedy that suggests itself is, that the legislature should interfere to prevent any young person from being obliged to work more than twelve hours in the day, exclusive of the time devoted to her meals. Extra work should be optional, but it should be entitled to extra remuneration. This single and simple enactment would be productive of incalculable good, and would strike at the root of most of the evil we have been discussing. This boon obtained, the young dress-maker's lot would be comparatively a happy one. It would give her rest, it would give her relaxation, her actual slavery would be no more. Fatigues she would have to undergo, hard words to put up with, close confinement to brook; but then its term would be fixed and definite. She would no longer have to watch through the weary hours of night at another's will and for another's gain. In the gladsome summer evening she might then sometimes, at the close of her work, step forth, not to do her mistress's bidding, but to breathe the refreshing air of heaven, and liberty.

The legislature might also extend its power to regulate the time allowed to each girl for vacation during the year. This should never be shorter than one month. From the first of these regulations, viz. by shortening the hours of labour, a twofold advantage would ensue. Not only would a considerable improvement take place in the condition of each individual employed, but it would oblige the employers to keep more hands at work than they do now. The quantity of business done would be the same, but it would give occupation and a livelihood to a greater number of young women, who, under the present system of late hours and few apprentices, continue out of work, or whose services, if engaged, are considerably underpaid. By an occasional exertion out of work hours, the apprentice might then earn something towards keeping herself in shoes or clothes. Then the knowledge that she was entitled, as of

right, to a certain season in the year for relaxation, and for visiting her friends, would materially contribute to support her health and spirits. With this to hope for and look forward to, she would take greater pride in the dignity of her own character, and be less apt to forget the early lessons of duty and virtuous principle taught her by those under whose immediate control she no longer is.

The more we examine the subject, the more inclined shall we be to the opinion that the only material remedy for the evils under discussion, to be obtained at the hands of the legislature, is that already suggested, and which would probably suggest itself immediately to every one, namely, an act for shortening the hours of labour. The legislature might also fix the age, under which girls should not be allowed to become apprentices. Much, however, would still remain to be done for them, which it would not be in the power of any act of parliament to accomplish. A society of benevolent individuals has, we believe, been already formed, with a view of discussing and adopting the best means for improving their condition. One of the most acceptable gifts which the society could offer would be the institution of a hospital, appropriated entirely to the use of young workwomen when out of health, and affording them at those times a comfortable home. When the nature of their indisposition would admit of it, they might here receive religious instruction, and be employed in light work, and of this they should be allowed to receive the profits. The certificate of a physician or surgeon should be necessary to procure them admission to the institution. Many girls would most gladly and gratefully avail themselves of such a charity who now have an insuperable objection to a public hospital. On their return to their employment, religious books should be lent to them, and they should be encouraged to come to the chaplain or matron of the hospital, if at any future time in want of comfort or advice. By these means the good impressions made upon them in sickness would be fostered and kept alive. They might possibly be extended to others also. It is a question

whether lending libraries, not confined to the girls who have been ill, such as are common in the factories of the United States, would not be very popular among this class and produce much good. Attached to the hospital above proposed should be a dispensary, where medical advice should be given, and medicines furnished to such as are not sufficiently ill to leave their work. The machinery of such an institution would be very simple, and the sympathy of the British public would not be in vain appealed to for its support. At the house of business itself a considerable change in the present system is absolutely necessary. Sunday should be a day of rest to the girls. It would be desirable, if possible, that one of the show-rooms should be cleared on the Saturday night, and given up entirely to them for their use and recreation on the Sabbath. The mistress should see, as far as her power extends, that her apprentices and improvers go to divine service; or, at all events, she ought to provide for them a pew in some neighbouring church, where those who were desirous of attending might do so. As before mentioned, the mistress's table should be as open to such as have no friends to visit on that as on any other day. There might even be on that day a little improvement in the dinner. An indulgence of this sort would make them feel less anxious to get out, and what now often occurs would be less common, namely, that they are quite as much, if not more fatigued and exhausted on the Sunday night, than on any other night in the week. It would be very desirable that morning and evening prayers should be offered daily in each house of business, the whole establishment being present. Independently of its good moral effect, this practice would tend greatly to regularity and order. Each girl, on her first arrival, should be expected to bring with her a Bible and Prayer-book. For meals a certain period should always be allowed. At present the girls are often obliged to rise from dinner almost before they have finished it, and to return immediately to the work-room. This is not one of the least causes of the indigestion and nausea from which they often suffer. An interval of twenty minutes or half an hour after

the principal meal ought, compatibly with health, to occur, before they sit down again to their work. During their absence in the dining-room, the apartment where they have been working should be well ventilated. There is an objection often made to the windows being opened, that the dresses or bonnets will spoil by the admission of air or damp; but this might easily be avoided by their being covered up. When the ventilation has been complete, the apprentice will feel greatly refreshed after her meal, even without exercise, and apply herself to her work with a feeling of lightness, which she would be quite a stranger to if the atmosphere were unchanged. Gas should never be admitted to the work room; it is scarcely ever so now, except where there is a shop attached to the business. Cleanliness of the person is so conducive to bodily health, that it seems scarcely necessary to urge it as indispensable to the young workwoman. This is a point on which every mistress, it appears, is very particular.

Cold ablutions, and the use of the flesh brush, particularly on rising in the morning, will greatly assist the circulation, and prove the best substitute for exercise. The importance of the skin secretions has been as yet scarcely attended to sufficiently by the physician, and yet the skin is an organ, on the state of which, especially in our variable climate, the health materially depends. An occasional use of the warm-bath would be one of the best restoratives and safest stimulants that the young milliner could resort to. When at work, she should, if possible, not continue very long in the same position, standing on every opportunity, and avoid all tight ligatures round the body, particularly tightly laced stays, which often of themselves occasion great derangement to the health. How much more so when the person who wears them is obliged to maintain so long a stooping position? The French women when at work wear their stays much looser than the English, and, consequently suffer less inconvenience. The food supplied should be simple, but of the most nourishing quality; above all, it should not be always of the same description. The capricious appetite sometimes fancies coffee or сосоа

when it rejects tea; sometimes has a relish for soup or broth when it is disinclined to solid food. In the absence of much exercise it will be found absolutely necessary, to the maintenance of any thing like health, to vary the dishes. We should not be understood to mean that the inmates of a house of business should have luxuries, but merely that the nature and ingredients of their food should be occasionally changed. Great attention should be paid to the apartments where the girls sleep; these should be thoroughly ventilated and kept clean; the number of females sleeping in one room should not exceed four. A reform in many of these apparently insignificant matters would enhance greatly the comfort and alleviate the physical sufferings endured by the apprentice. Let those who are disposed to laugh at some of the above recommendations as frivolous, reflect that there is no circumstance so trifling as not to derive value from the consideration that it detracts from the misery of a fellow creature.

It is time to draw this article to a close, protracted already to a considerable length. Imperfect as it is in the catalogue of the evils it attempts to describe, and incomplete in the remedies it suggests, enough at least has been said to shew that the case is not altogether a hopeless one and incapable of amelioration. We would not conclude our remarks, however, without a few observations to the young milliner herself, as well as to the mistress who employs her. To the former we would say: "Remember you have duties to perform, as well as rights to assert; shew by

your conduct that you are not unworthy of the sympathies which have been enlisted in your behalf. Endeavour to win the confidence and approbation of your employer by doing the work allotted you in the best and neatest manner you can. Be as diligent in her absence as in her presence. Be meek and gentle

in your temper; pay a ready obedience to her orders; if any indulgence is shewn you, do not abuse it and above all, forget not your religious. duties; they will not only brighten and cheer the gloom of your daily daily toil, but they will strengthen you against those temptations which will frequently be thrown in your way."

To the employer our advice is: "Reflect that it is no small responsibility you have undertaken. The future conduct and happiness of the young women under your charge depend in a great measure upon you. Do not consider that they are under your roof for the single purpose of assisting to make you rich. While you enforce a rigorous discipline in the work-room, neglect not entirely the moral discipline of their minds. In your treatment of them, let that golden rule of Christianity, 'Do ye unto others as ye would they should do unto you,' guide and direct you. And while you expect from them steadiness of conduct and rectitude of principle, remember, that what we see makes a far more vivid impression upon us than what we hear, and that example is more powerful than precept. Let your pupils, for so they may be called, learn to look up to you as a model for their virtuous imitation, and respect you as a friend."

Is a debate some few years ago in the House of Commons, Sir Robert Peel excited considerable merriment by calling Lord Palmerston "a pure old Whig." The expression was felt to be an equivocal one. It might be taken as an ironical allusion to the ostentation with which the noble lord then paraded what he termed "Whig principles " before the House,-principles which he, at that time, adhered to with the tenacity, and propounded with the zeal, proverbial in recent converts; or, still in the same spirit of quizzing, the right honourable baronet might have meant to allude to the weight of authority which the noble lord added to any intrinsic truth there might be in the political views referred to; because, from the opportunities he has had of testing the opinions of other political parties of which he has, during his long life, been a member, his preference for "Whig principles" might be held to be the result of settled conviction. There was still another sense in which the sly humour which dictated the phrase might have designed it to apply to the noble lord.

The sexagenarian juvenility of Lord Palmerston has been the subject of much good-humoured raillery. The public are already sufficiently familiar with the somewhat stale jokes which the newspapers have for some time applied to the noble lord, because they have chosen to assume that he, more than most men, sacrifices to the Graces. Lord Palmerston is too respectable, both in talents and character, to be affected by such harmless nonsense; more especially as it is, in point of fact, founded on error. Nor should we here so particularly refer to the subject, but that not only in his outward man, but also in his mind, the noble lord certainly does reverse some of the usual laws of Nature. Although from early youth he has been, in some capacity or other, before the public, and, during the greater part

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of the time, in the service of the state, it is only of late years that he has "

come out" either as a statesman or as an orator. Perhaps this may have arisen from constitutional indolence, yet the restless activity of his subsequent ministerial career almost forbids the assumption. It may have been because he did not desire to thrust himself prominently before the public while he still occupied a position in the senate, or filled situations in the government comparatively subordinate; but a reference to Hansard will shew that at no time was the noble lord deficient in a characteristic propensity for self-display, although his efforts in parliament for many years scarcely distinguished him from the ordinary herd of level speakers. Like the blossoming of the aloe, the parliamentary fruition of his genius, though long delayed, is marvellous. Few, indeed, are the men who, after passing through a youth and manhood of indifference, apathy, or, at the utmost, of persevering mediocrity, could, long after the middle age has passed, after the fire of life might be supposed to be almost exhausted, blaze out, like the sacred flame on the altar of the fire-worshipper, at the very moment of decay. In this respect, as in many others, Lord Palmerston is a puzzle. He has begun where most men end. Long passed over and forgotten by Fame, he suddenly recalls her, and arrests her in her flight, compelling her to trumpet forth his name. Not even recognised as a statesman, but classed among the Red Tapists; as a speaker ranked with the steady-paced humdrums; he was almost the very last man in the House of Commons on whom one would have fixed as being likely ever to rival Lord John Russell in the leadership of the Whig party. Suddenly, without apparent cause, without its being discovered that he had become possessed of the elixir of life, he astonished his contemporaries by

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