to despise mere poetic inactivity, and to aspire to social labour for the advance of society. Carmel, in the finest vegetation in the earth, by the side of Lilla, "that beautiful daughter of Araby, whose long fair locks falling over her naked bosom, were At the same time that Lamartine thus met unaccusbraided on her head in a thousand tresses which rested tomed repulsions in the literary world, he grew greater on her bare shoulders amid a confused minglement of at the tribune. The Oriental question furnished him flowers, of golden sequins, and of scattered pearls." with an occasion for developing his ideas on the bases All at once there came mounted on a swift charger, one of a new European system. A warm and eloquent attack of the most celebrated poets of Arabia. He had been on the punishment of death; some generous words in apprized that he should meet there a western brother, favour of foundlings; a beautiful improvisation in and he is come to joust with him. Our poet accepts which he contended for classical studies, against a rough the defiance. The child of Asia, and the child of Eu-jouster, M. Arago, who combatted for science, made rope collected themselves, and rivalled each other as to Lamartine known in the rank of a chief of a column, who should find the most harmonious chaunts to cele-collected around him a little phalanx of choice men, and brate the beauty of Lilla. The mean and shrill tongue this aggregation was decorated with the name of the of our France entered into the lists with the supple and Social Party. harmonious language which Job and Antar spoke, but What then is this social party? What moreover is thanks to M. de Lamartine, France was not vanquished. the political idea of Lamartine? Placed outside the It is amid like enchantments that the poet leads us in times, the interests, and the men of yesterday, the pohis train, across Greece, Syria, Judea, Turkey and Ser-litical system of the poet it is difficult to succinctly and via. The eye is as if dazzled by all these faery passa-precisely analyze. To the eyes of Lamartine, in the ges, by all these scenes of war, of peace, of grief, of various commotions which had agitated France since | joy, of repose, of love, which it sees on all sides flit '89, there was not only a political and local revolution, before it. The Itinerary of Chateaubriand is at the same but also a revolution, social and universal. These partime the book of a poet, of an historian, and of a philo- tial overturnings were nothing but the prelude to a sopher, in which he examines the ruins of centuries, general transformation, and the world appeared to him and enquires of them if they possess the secret of the to be soon called to a complete renovation in its ideas, times which live no more. That which is prominently in its manners, and its laws. Under this point of view, in relief in the book of Lamartine, in spite of Lamar- the doctrine of Lamartine approaches that of St. Simon. tine himself, is the poet. His work is pre-eminently He repudiates not this likeness. He had proclaimed it that of a religious and passionate artist, exploring the some while before. "St. Simonism" said he "has beautiful under all its forms, seeking in life all its splen- something in it of the true, of the grand, and of the fruitdours, in art all its promises. ful, the application of Christianism to political society, and the legislating in favour of human fraternity. In this point of view I am a Saint Simonian. That which was deficient in that eclipsed sect, was not the idea, was not the disciples: it wanted only a chief, a master, a regulator. The organizers of Saint Simonism deceived themselves in declaring at once a deadly war, against family, against property, against religion...They could not conquer the world by the power of a word. They converted, they agitated, they worked, and they changed, but when an idea is not practicable it is not presentable to the social world. Soon the traveller thought of returning. The Dunkirkers, had dispatched him, over the sea, a legislative commission. He prepared himself for departure, sad and broken hearted; for the same ship which had borne his beloved Julia thither, racing, laughing, and joyous on its deck, had to recross the ocean, carrying the poor child, cold and sleeping in a shroud. To save himself and the mother of his daughter the grief of a contrast so heart-rending, Lamartine returned to France in another vessel. On the 4th of January, 1834, he appeared for the first time, at the tribune in the discussion on the ad. dress. Which will he be? said they. Will he be Legitimist or Radical? Right-centre, or left-centre, third party, or juste-milieu? He preferred to be Lamartine. Refusing himself all political classification, he spoke of justice, morality, of tolerance, of humanity, in the special language which God has given to poets. The lawyers of the Chamber judged him a little vague, the matter-of-fact men found him too diffuse, the statesmen declared him impalpable, but however all the world heard him with that emotion which ever attends a noble and harmonious speech when it emanates from the heart of a good man. There remains to be known, however, what is the practical system which M. Lamartine presents to the social world, that system he thus expresses: You say that all is dead, that there no longer exists either faith or belief. There is a faith,-that faith is the general reason, the word is its organ, the press is its apostle; it wishes to remake in its image, religious civilizations, societies, and laws. It desires in religion, God one and perfect as the dogma: eternal morality as the symbol: adoration and charity as the worship-in politics, humanity above nationalities-in legislation man equal to man, man brother of man, Christianity made law." Such is the political testament of Lamartine. That which the poetic publicist desires, that is to say universal fraternity, and a terrestrial paradise, is truly what all the world wishes as well as himself. The question is, to know by what practical means the world is to be Since his entry to the Chamber, M. Lamartine, has not abandoned the worship of his first, of his most glorious years. He has attempted to march in rank, the inspirations of the poet, and the duties of the deputy. In 1835 he published, the poem of "Jocelyn," a mag-placed in this position. nificent picture of passion sacrificed to duty. For the first time he invoked the aid of modern history and dramatic position, brilliant auxiliaries which served him with kindness. Criticism has reproved him with incorrectness of style, and negligence in the texture of this work, but the public again found its poet, whole as ever, in the beautiful pages which reflected the rugged and savage nature of the mountains of Dauphiny. After Jocelyn, Lamartine gave us, the "Fall of an Angel," the second episode of that vast epopeia, with which he was inspired by the east. This was followed by his poetic recollections. These works were not so well received by the critics, and in the introduction to the latter, M. de Lamartine professed In that which is connected with exterior politics, Lamartine's thought is not more practicable, but it is more neat and precise. It may thus be reduced to its most simple expression. * * Europe is gorged with inactive capacities and powers, which imperiously demand social employment; but at the same time when the excess of life overflows among us, there is working in the East a crisis of an inverted order. A grand vacuum offers itself there for the overplus of European faculty and population. What is to be done then is to turn upon Asia the surplus of Europe. How is this idea to be actualized? Lamartine says, that a European congress should be assembled, to decree that immediately after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, (and he sees for it already on the ground) each power should take pos- Chamber of Deputies the more he has seen cause to withsession of a part of the East, under the title of a protect- draw his confidence from the King and Guizot, to oporate; should found on its coasts model towns destined pose them, and warn the country of the necessity of a to relieve Europe of its exuberant population, should firm stand for liberty. For this his eloquence has ben lead thither the indigent by the attraction of a benevo-zealously and splendidly exerted in the Chamber; lent, equitable, and regular organization, and should this he established the Journal Bien Publique; but appeal thus insensibly to Asia in the way of conversion. above all, for this has he written his great work the "In twenty years,' "adds Lamartine," the measure history of the Girondists, which has unquestionably done which I propose would have created prosperous nations, more than any other cause to urge on the era of the Reand millions of men would be marching under the ægis volution. During the paroxysm of this great and wonof Europe to a new civilization." But remark that this derful change, Lamartine has maintained all expectations theory presented here in the state of a skeleton, is formed of him. Wise, firm, benevolent, and disinteradorned with a magic of style so attractive, that the ested, he resisted the rash claims, while he has advospirit allows itself to be gently led towards the angelic cated the just ones of the people. To him, perhap dream of the candid soul of the poet. We nearly forget more than any other of the present leaders of France, that to realize this system, which unrolls itself in twenty it is owing that so stupendous a crisis has been passed pages, there would be required nothing less than to with so little outrage, and so much noble forbearance. change by a stroke of a wand, minds and men, to over- His power upon the multitude in its most agitated mothrow empires, to make continents approach each other, ments reminds us of that of Cicero. From his true and to join by the bonds of mutual and durable sym- Christian faith, and the high and generous principles pathy, races formed upon centuries of mortal enmities. which he has derived from it, we look for the introducBut M. Lamartine accomplishes all these things in twen- tion not only of greater stability into the new governty years, and with a stroke of the pen. Another ten ment, but for a higher policy both domestic and foreign centuries, and perhaps this audacious Utopia will be- than has yet distinguished state morality. come a manorial right. Thus goes the world! While the crowd is painfully forced to enlarge the wheel-rut deepened by the generations passed, expecting that it will leave to the generations to come the continuation of its work, the poet, intrepid, and indefatigable enlightener raises himself to his height above the times, and cries to the crowd, "Come to me." "I have not thy wings," answers the crowd. The poet, uncomprehended takes his flight, and the crowd which could not comprehend, returns to its work. In a later analysis, there is in the exceptional position of Lamartine, amid the parties and ambitions which divide the country and the chamber, a character of dignity and grandeur, which well becomes the poet. Notwithstanding his speech is vague, indecisive, and ill at ease, in the narrow and ephemeral questions, which each session sees born and die, yet that speech enlarges, fortifies, and unrolls itself harmoniously coloured and imposing, whenever it has to vindicate the rights of intelligence, or to defend the eternal principles of honour, of morality, and of charity, on which rest all human society. We recall that stormy day when a late minister had to resist nearly alone the united efforts of the most powerful orators of the chamber. The minister succumbed. Lamartine believed he saw in the energy of the attack, a spirit of systematic hostility, of covetousness, or of rancour. His poet's heart was indignant; he descended into the arena, re-established the combat, and made an appeal to the country to decide the victory. That influence which Lamartine sometimes exercises in the debates of the chamber, is less due to the eminent oratorical facilities which he possesses, than to the morality of his life, to the elevated instincts of his nature, and above all to the calm, disinterested, independant, and noble attitude, which he has ever preserved since his entry into the political career. The poet of Elvira has in his general appearance a something which recalls Byron. There is the same beauty of face and look, there are the same habits of elegance and of dandyism, the same tournure, a little trimmed, a little English, perhaps, but perfectly noble and distinguished! If you join to this to complete the resemblance, the train of a great lord, a sumptuous hotel, horses of pure race, a magnificent chateau, you can then conclude that since Tasso and Camoens, the times are a little changed, and that one is permitted in our days to be a great poet without dying in an hospital. With the late political position of M. de Lamartine the public is familiar. The longer he has sate in the SONNET, On the Third French Revolution, BY EBENEZER ELLIOTT. COLD sneerers, dead to pity, lost to shame! A WORD IN SEASON, TO WHIGS IN OFFICE. BY E. W. Blush! faithless Whigs-your opposition cry- Of Tories sick, but sickening more of you, See Shelley's Prometheus Unbound. A GREY musketeer met a carbineer- I've got a broad piece of the year Ninety-three- They're all of 'em welcome to you and to me! 66 Bottom up are the cups-Not a word more is spoken- An unfinished job France again will begin! I swore silly ass! It could ne'er come to pass What; he woo the hand of the Austrian lass! ""Twere well if our chiefs, when prosperity shines, He ne'er on the Danube had looked for a brideHe ne'er had sunk down from his zenith of prideHis days had been closed where their glory began, And we had received the last sigh of the Man!" Literary Notice. Medical Reform. The article on Medical Reform which appeared in No. XXI of the British and Foreign or European Quarterly Review for July, 1840; Letters on Medical Subjects, published in the Lancet, etc., and evidence given before the Metropolitan Sanitary Commission. By W. SIMPSON, Esq., Surgeon. 2nd edition; enlarged. London: Renshaw, Strand. What institution is there in this country which does not need the hand of a thorough and searching reform ? It is clear from the able pamphlet of Mr. Simpson that the system of granting Medical Diplomas in Great Britain is a disgrace to the country. We are glad that there is a Committee of enlightened medical men endeavouring to bring this state of things before Parliament and the country. "They will be surprised" says Mr. Simpson, "to learn that there are nineteen graduating bodies, differing widely from each other in their requirements of qualifications for candidates, as well as in their power of conferring titles, not one having the power to give authority to practice in all the branches of medicine, or to protect the public from the danger and loss of life consequent on reckless ignorance and empiricism. Instead of being beneficial to the public or the profession, they have a directly opposite effect. They are marts for the sale of diplomas, pieces of machinery subservient to the purposes of selfinterest, usurped by the few to the injury of the many. If such corrupt bodies cannot be abolished, we would insist at least, as a protection for the public, that the examination in each should embrace the whole range of medical practice; that the license should be uniform, and confer an equal right in every part of the British Empire: that the poor as well as the rich should be provided with competent advice in the hour of suffering." Certainly, a diploma granted by a competent authority ought to enable a man to practice anywhere. If he be not fit to practice anywhere, he is fit to practice nowhere. The remedy for the gross abuses and monopolies that at present exist is proposed to be effected by the establishment of one responsible and competent tribunal in each of the three kingdoms, without whose license and enrolment no person shall be legally acknowledged as a medical man; that such license shall be granted in every case upon precisely similar exercises, examinations, and fees, to be specified by law, and that it shall confer equal privileges throughout the British dominions, care being taken, of course, to remunerate the members of the licensing board by salaries, and not by any direct interest in the number of persons licensed." It is proposed, moreover, to admit courses of studies at foreign schools of medicine of high repute as valid in examinations, as these schools do to courses of studies made in ours. These propositions are too rational, lib the public, and with government, spite of the interests of close corporations who now make a trade in medical licenses. Would hear the old grumblers who growl in the lines-eral, just, and necessary, not to make their way with The Court of Adieus-formerly the Court of the White Horse, at Fontainbleau-a scene of painful leave-taking between Napoleon and part of his devoted followers. For a mass of varied information on this and other subjects in immediate connection with it, we refer the reader to the pamphlet itself. We are glad, amongst other things, to see Mr. Simpson testifying to the importance of the public labours of Mr. Walker, as regards our burying-grounds and modes of interment, a subject which the pressure of many matters has hitherto prevented us giving the attention to that we have desired. f THE WEEKLY RECORD. THE PRESENT MOMENT. The French Revolution has produced throughout Europe the effect of a miracle; it has passed through it like the instant thrill of the electric telegraph. The slumbering fires of discontent at once blaze up, and a ferment is commenced which will work more wonders than we yet can fore-see. Italy already on the high march of reform, is elated by the news. The King of Naples-hanging back in the fulfilment of his promised constitution-moves on. The north of Italy looks to France for aid, and to Austria with defiance. The universities raise the song of young-blooded patriotism. Spain is agitated to the centre; Germany arouses itself to seize the crisis it has long waited for, in order to wrest its rights from its tyrants. The King of Prussia at once declares that he will not interfere with France. He is wise-for he knows that this alone can save from France his Rhenish Provinces on which it has long cast a desiring eye. He is wise for he knows that far more at home is demanded than his mock constitution. He is wise for the Poles are in his rear keenly recollecting their wrongs. The gambling old duke of Hesse Cassell is chased away; and it is laughable with what haste the Grand Duke of Baden flings to his people that freedom of the press and the trial by jury which they have for a dozen years endeavoured in vain to obtain from him. Hesse Darmstadt, Nassau raise the ominous flag; even the so-called free city of Hamburgh is agitated, and talks of reform. Behind Austria peep up the keen expectant heads of Hungary and Bohemia, and Poland once more lifts hers, and waits to lend a hand. Millions of men are eagerly discussing the question of the great and decisive moment to snatch the long denied rights from the hands of dastard despotism throughout the continent-what do we here? The question is the most momentous one that can be started; it demands our most serious contemplation. In no country is sound and extensive reform more necessary. Under the delusive show of freedom in speech and press, the most genuine despotism is maintained. We are ground by debts and taxes, and the very political sect that came into office nearly three years ago as the avowed champions of reform and retrenchment, sits comfortably on the national coffers, and entertains no thought but how to fill them for its own benefit. Through thirty years of peace the English nation with a patient stolidity unexampled in any other people, has sate with mouth expecting the hypocrites of reform to drop some grain of it into it. Is this to go on for ever? Can it go on for ever? Look at the present condition of things. Taxation increased and increasing instead of diminishing; trade dwindling; manufacture paralyzed; the people starving; Ireland perishing of famine. open Under these circumstances what is the effect of the French Revolution? Has it woke us up as it has the continental nations, to seize the moment, and demand the long promised reforms? No. A burst of parliamentary discontent with the proposed addition to the Income Tax, has, for a moment, scared the minister, and made him lift his harpy talons temporarily from the spoil he was about to snatch,--but where is the general demonstration on behalf of those reforms which all have so long agreed are necessary to our very existence as a nation? We look for it in vain. Where are the leaders of the people united to animate, organize, and guide them on to their just and legitimate object? We look for them in vain. We see an aristocratical parliament which dreads reform as it dreads death, thinly intermingled with a number of avowed reform members who do not intermingle with each other. There is a body without a head, a spirit without concentration or purpose. Without, there is a large and wealthy middle class, dead to the spirit of a genuine reform, as they are blind to the dangers that its neglect will one day bring upon them. This is the frightful condition of things in England. We call it frightful, because such is the huge mass of want, unemployed strength, disappointed hopes darkening into despair, patience rapidly changing into desperation; and such is the want too of that education amongst millions which France, Germany, and even Austria have been receiving at the hands of their governments-that in the contagiou sneighbourhood of the great French Revolution-we have all the moral and immoral elements of a terrific explosion under our very feet, without any safe-guard but an army, which, from its very origin and constitution-the off-scouring and scavenger scrapings of the nation-not the conscript draught from the very heart of the people is no safe-guard but an aggravation of our evils-a preparation of brute butchery and national calamity. Under these circumstances what are the facts which indicate the effect on the working population. Exactly such as we might anticipate. The better and more enlightened portiondence lie still, while the imbruted portion comes forth and gives destitute of leaders in whom they have a well-grounded confiits tail and not its head-the destructive and plundering features, not the patriotic. All that is great, generous, and ensouled with a sublime national purpose is missingonly the revolting and the base. it will stop here? Who shall say that as the reform fermentation But who shall say whether gains strength on the continent, it shall not also grow here, and bring into its sphere all the oppressed masses of the king us an imbruted imitation of the French outbreak. We have dom. -we have against it-we can contemplate nothing more tremendous, In such a moment, however the better portion might strive nothing more terrible and ghastly than a universal outbreak of the masses in this country The contempt with which they been left to suffer; the immense mass of wealth exposed to have hitherto been treated; the miseries they have so long their hands, and the brute resistance to be expected from the ture to the imagination, too horrible to dwell upon. enlistment-raised, and barrack-moulded soldiery, present a pic But it rests with the middle classes, with the property and educated classes to determine whether this tableau of horrors On them lies the and devastation shall present itself or not. responsibility of neglected millions and deferred opportunities be shed, if they do not with timely prudence, come forth and On their heads will be the blood, when blood shall solve to prevent Revolution by Reform. make common cause with the people, if they do not re of redress. That man is not the wise man who says," Hush! be still!" For there will, beyond a certain point, be no hushing, no keeping still. That man is a wise man who says to all "seize the moment of enthusiasm; unite in public meetings; gather together your leaders; your tried and prudent, though deter mined men. success. Invite your wealthy neighbours; your masters, shopkeepers and manufacturers, to join you and lead you to Invite them to make head, backed by the huge body of the people, and force from without on your ministry and parliament, a thorough Reform. Do this, and the thing is accomplished. The Government of England could not withstand such a demonstration for a day. Be content with nothing short of all the great reforms which the Whigs pledged themselves to twenty years ago; and first and foremost, the suffrage to every man of sound mind and twenty years of age, as the foundation and the guarantee of all other reforms. France has granted this already-England cannot refuse it, if demanded in a manner which becomes a great people. For our part we shall listen to neither the counsels of the timid nor the rash. We shall excite our readers as vehemently as posWe shall continue to say to the people--demand your rights-be sible for thorough Reform as the safeguard against Revolution. careful not to commit wrongs. To the middle classes-lead the people to their just claims, or blame yourselves if they act without your counsel and sympathy, and commit in their exasperation, wounds on the body politic and in the cause of liWe have in this kingberty, which may require ages to heal. dom vast wealth, vast intelligence, a strong spirit of independence, we want only one thing, and that is, a spirit of prompt We should march to immeresolve and of generous cohesion. diate and most safe victory if we could only lift our feet high enough to cross over the innumerable gutters of sects and parties, and fixed onr eyes steadily on the great goal of Public Good. W. H, may as well spend a part of it in setting your readers right on a point on which the American lady, Asenath Nicholson, has misinformed them in a late number of your Journal. I allude to her statement, that whilst the people around Belmullet (in the barony of Erris, in this county) are starving, the Friends' Relief Association have a quantity of food rotting in the Commissariat Stores of that town. This is not correct. The Friends have not had any food in stores of their own in that town since the 12th of last June. Since that time, and for some time before it, the cargoes consigned to their care from America have been given up by them to the Commissariat Stores nearest the place of landing, the Department making itself indebted to the Friends' Relief Committee for an equal value of provisions in any part of Ireland. By this arrangement, all expense and responsibility of storage and conveyance was saved, and the operations of the Association greatly facilitated. They were enabled to substitute rice, of which little or none was directly consigned to their disposal, for other kinds of provisions that did not answer so well for distribution to the sick or convalescent. In short, they had all the Commissariat Stores in Ireland at their command, so that they were enabled to select the kind of provision for distribution which best suited the necessities of the locality requiring relief. The Committee of the Friends' Relief Association have been indefatigable in their labours since the famine commenced. To my own knowledge, some of the largest donors have been the hardest workers, and have given an amount of time and attention to its affairs, that ten times all the money they contributed could not have purchased from them. Knowing this Committee as I do (I am not one of their number,) I feel somewhat indignant that their zeal and fidelity should be impeached from mere hearsay, and on very insufficient enquiry. To no part of Ireland has the attention of Friends been directed more unceasingly; nor has any part reaped so largely of the bounty placed at their disposal as this. And yet it is quite true that the people are starving. Scattered in their miserable villages (not to be exceeded in aboriginal wretchedness in any part of the globe, climate and latitude being considered,) over a vast wilderness of barren and boggy mountain and moorland, they are too numerous and too far apart for any machinery of charitable associations or Poor Law Acts to reach them. The villagers, in a circuit of thirty miles of the wettest and most wretched country you can imagine, are convened once a week for their allowance of a pound of meal per day for each adult. Many cannot come many are not present when the roll is called overmany cannot succeed in establishing their claims-many are shut out, as they say, "by favour and faction"-that is to say, by the partiality of the relieving officers' subordinates or vicegerents, who are often of necessity natives of the locality, and therefore the very worst that could be selected. The upshot of the whole matter is, that there is, an amount of ragged, squalid, haggard poverty, starvation, and death, in this part of Ireland, that I solemnly believe could not be parallelled in any part of the globe, such as could not be conceived by one who had not seen it. I Poor Law and the British Association, are confining their own efforts chiefly, though not wholly, to the encouragement of fisheries, domestic manufactures, and other means of permanent industrial support. This is a very important object. Until the people are taught to help themselves, they cannot be assisted or fed to any purpose. They knew almost nothing heretofore, except how to plant, dig, and eat potatoes and oats. A more unskilled race was not to be found than they were and are. I speak of the west coast chiefly. What a dreadful blow to such a country and such a people was the loss of crops in one year to the value of at least 24,000,000 sterling. Much has been done for our relief by the munificence of England and other countries-but certainly not to one-half the extent of the loss. There has been no potato-rot this year, but in the poorer districts there has been a famine almost as fatal, in consequence of most of the soil having remained unsown for want of seed in 1847. If seed be not supplied from some quarter in 1848, 1849 will be no better. And if the land be not planted by some external assistance the people must perish, for they cannot do it themselves, and the landlords, who receive no rent, and are in many cases as poor as their tenants cannot help them. Such is the poverty of all classes that the Poor Law with its enormous requisitions is rapidly bringing all classes down to the same level of irretrievable poverty and degradation. Your's truly, RICHARD D. WEBB, DESTITUTION IN THE METROPOLIS. The great events which have taken place in a neighbouring country seem to absorb the attention of all parties, and none have felt the effects of the excitement more deeply than the charitable institutions of the metropolis. The last week has almost made bankrupt many of them, and we hear that the Leicester-square Soup Kitchen, which affords relief in good nourishing soup and bread to about a thousand destitute creatures daily, will be compelled, unless more actively supported immediately by the benevolent public, to suspend operations. Where will these poor creatures seek their solitary meal if such an event should take place? They cannot live on public excitement; and there is no room for them in the workhouses. Starrvation, begging, or theft, are their only resources; but a glance at the characters of the general recipients of the above charity will show that their education and moral integrity make them prefer silent suffering, even to starvation, rather than commit a crime. The following may be relied on as correct:D. E., a clergyman, a native of Wales, educated at Christ Church, has officiated as a curate for several years, was engaged at a Welch church in London, also at Cooling, in Kent, for twelve months, at a mere nominal salary---the rector's living became sequestrated--gratefully acknowledges the timely relief of bread and soup on se veral occasions. A. A., a widow, mother of four children, is very ill; the relief afforded her by the Soup Kitchen prevents her selling off the few household things she has, and going to the union. S. M., another widow, with four children; her husband was a Such is a specimen of the recipients of the "solitary meal" at the Leicester-square Soup Kitchen, which, it is to be hoped, will meet with the generous support of the benevolent public. It softens down the misery of thousands, and is fully entitled to the credit of preventing fever, mortality, and crime. A guinea subscription will enable the benevolent donor to prevent one hundred persons from dying from starvation. His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge has just sent £10 to the charity. CONTENTS. Yesterday I walked twenty miles in The Mullet, on the west-printer, died of consumption, and left her and her family quite destitute; gets Gs. per week by her needle; her children are taken ern coast of this county, and the sights I saw would make your care of at a ragged school---the Soup Kitchen keeps her from beblood curdle. I saw a woman who had been found starved on coming chargeable to the parish. the road-side carried to her grave by four men. The body lay in an abominable black filthy sheet, the bare legs hanging down before and the head behind. The face was hideous, as you might imagine a corpse would look after a month's burial. followed the procession, which consisted of the four bearers and a woman, over the sandy hill of Tarmon to the burial-ground near the village of Fallmore, at the extremity of The Mullet and opposite to the mountainous Island of Achill. There the poor corpse was laid, wrapped up in the black sheet for a shroud, in a grave not more than two feet deep in the sandy soil. Some men who gathered round asked me more than once, "Ah then, sir, is'nt it a poor case to see a christian buried in this way without a coffin?" There is no people among whom the rites of sepulture were more highly thought of than the Irish peasantry. In the villages of Lurgevierd and Fallmore I saw an infinity of the sorest distress-such as no pen could paint. If all the funds remaining in the hands of the Friends' Relief Committee were employed in fully feeding the population of the barony of Erris alone, to the exclusion of the claims of the rest of Ireland, I don't believe they would last a month. It is a matter of excessive difficulty to support an enormous, helpless, unproductive, semi-civilized, population like that which, in the midst of the greatest physical and moral destitution, swarms on the western coast of Ireland. The Friends' Association leaving this to be effected, as best it may, by the superior means of the Facts from the Fields. LIAM HOWITT. Extension of the English Manufacturing System, PRINTED for the proprietor by WILLIAM LOVETT, of 16, South PRICE 1d. STAMPED, 2d |