much, if any thing, in admiration of it. "For a man replete with mocks, comment. He, however, got out of the difficul- | be treated at far greater length. Finally, ty by stating that the Prophet could never have we shall be sorry to have said any thing contemplated that any of the faithful should by which it can be gathered that we have live in a wretched country like this, or he never would have prohibited the use of grog, which was actually a necessary of life in England. Another of the crew declared that he would drink grog wherever he should meet with it, and that he would sooner turn Christian than give up the beverage, or lose the inclination for it; besides he never would believe that the Prophet meant to prohibit gin in cold weather; indeed, it appeared to this complainant that as gin was not known in the mortal days of the Prophet, it was wholly excluded from the prohibited articles, and that if it had been known at that distant period, the Prophet would have been too wise to have rejected it." Full of comparisons and wounding flouts, It is true that those who give themselves to much mirth, wit, and humor, thereby do greatly disqualify the understanding for the search after truth. Lord Bacon well says that "Merrily-conceited men seldom penetrate farther than the superficies of things, which is the point where the But it is not possible now to pursue jest lies." And if laughter is one of the these illustrations further. Laughter fur- supporters of the Heraldry of Infinite nishes clearly an insight into the arrange- Wisdom, certainly there is also a time to ments of the universe. The subject may laugh. THE SONG OF DEATH. YE call me a cruel reaper, Your best friend, and not your foe. Too tender and warm for your world of ice, Mine aspect is pale and chilling; The misery my stroke may spare Ah, yes! I'm a pitying angel of light, Too tender and warm for your world of ice, O'er a bud of the Bordighiera,* A sweet little maid I passed, When all round were weeping and wailing, 'Mid the immortal palms, sweet child! Too tender and warm for this world of ice, On a delicate orphan flower With cold prospects, but heart of fire, I breathed in an east wind, and bore him While his mother was sobbing in anguish ; For her poor dear fatherless boy! He hath bidden a stormy world good night, * The Bordighiera is a beautiful spot, celebrated for its palm-trees in the Rivière de Gênes. From the London Review. THE ENGLISH BUT by far the most popular of our street institutions is the drama of Punch and Judy, which M. Esquiros very justly regards as worthy of the attention of the critic and the historian. Puppet-shows have existed from time immemorial in England. Macbeth was once played with wooden figures. In the reign of the "merry Monarch" petitions were presented by the proprietors of the principal theaters, praying that a particular puppet-show might be put down, so seriously did it interfere with their receipts. Even the churches were deserted in the vicinity of these exhibitions. The direct origin of Punch can not be traced. In the ancient Mysteries, there was generally a person called Vice, whose function it was "to shed over the serious parts of a drama humorous or ridiculous features." In all probability the Punch of our street theatricals is his degenerate descendant. In the popularity of Punch, M. Esquiros discerns features of English character. Mr. Punch himself, though withall a domestic tyrant, and sadly given to thrashing his wife a gentleman of violent temper and by no means amenable to authority, personifies, nevertheless, "a side of the English character-strength of soul, presence of mind, and self-control." His brutal conduct to Mrs. Judy, and the very loose and turbulent nature of his matrimonial relations, are fatal to his popularity with the fair sex, few of whom, M. Esquiros remarks, are to be found in the crowds which witness his performances. But the invincible strength with which he seems to struggle against the afflictions of life"the mocking energy with which he braves the horror of dungeons, and hears the death-sentence pronounced"-the nil desperandum spirit which leads him to sing comic songs on the way to the scaffold which his persecutors have prepared for him-these are the features which endear him to the English public, expressive as they are of the national temperament. * Concluded from page 50. A T HOME.* "The Punch a British public wants," said an old gentlemen who could never resist the temptation to watch the performance, "must have a tenacious mind, fertile in expedients to triumph over material force in the shape of a huge black dog, over illness in the form of a doctor, over death in the form of a skeleton, and over all the enemies of the human race in the shape of the devil. This results from the British character, which does not like to be beaten, even when in the wrong." The English are essentially a grave people. They do not crowd round the street-show merely to witness the fun. The drama of Punch is popular because it is national. Nor is it only popular. It has a power of influencing the masses on questions of politics and morality. M. Esquiros quotes cases in point: "Some years ago, during a general election, a showman placed on the stage a candidate for Westminster, who kissed Judy and her child, and then asked Mr. Punch for his vote. When the Divorce Bill passed by the Commons, was before the House of Lords, I myself heard a showman who took advantage of Punch and Judy's conjugal disputes to support that Bill. Three years back, a certain movement took place in the public opinion against the punishment of death; and another puppet showman ested party in the question-certain words in at once placed in Mr. Punch's mouth-an interfavor of the abolition of the gallows." "Great Britain," says M. Esquiros, "is the classic ground of puffs." He illustrates his point by the case of the so-called Aztec children, who were shown all over England as having been obtained from the mysterious cities of Central America, where they were worshiped as idols. They were said to be the descendants of the ancient bird-men, preserved in the temples of Iximay. Their silence was quoted in proof of their sacredness, and the interest of the exhibition was enhanced by a romantic account of the dangers incurred in removing them from the temple. The two children were, in fact, deaf and dumb idiots, who were discovered in | Richardson the showman, and his name figured America certainly, but only in the tent of in the list of donors." an itinerant showman, who exhibited them in company with a very tall pig! Another eminent showman was fortunThe English nation is easily cheated, ate enough to win the notice of royalty. there is no doubt. We are ready to Wombwell, who was very clever as a vetswallow any amount of wonders, whether erinary surgeon, was called in one day, by Tom Thumbs, talking fish, singing oysters, the late Prince Consort, to attend a pack sea-serpents, or any thing else Mr. Barnum of hounds, whose disease had baffled the and his compatriots and imitators may entire profession. He at once discovered concoct. An English crowd does not ob- that the secret of their malady lay in the ject to be duped-indeed it expects to be water which they drank. The Prince, de-but the subterfuge must be cleverly dis- lighted at the recovery of his hounds, guised. A showman is readily forgiven asked Wombwell what his fee was. The for cheating, if he can manage to throw showman, however, declined to take a fee, some skill into the deception. Every on the ground that he hadn't a single thing depends on method. The Bosjes- want in the world. As the Prince inmans, who were bonâ fide savages, were exhibited a few years since at Glasgow fair. The thing was done so openly and honestly, that the exhibition failed. The mob declared that they were either Irishmen or sweeps. "Success," said a showman, depends less on the object shown, than on the mode in which it is shown. The great sea-serpent itself would be nothing without an oral chronicle appealing to the imagination of the mob. 66 sisted "Wombwell said, that if his Royal Highness was determined to make him a present, he would be glad to accept a coffin made out of the wood of the Royal George. This demand was acceded to, and this singular article of oaken furniture figured for some time in the showman's house, and in it the wild-beast man now reposes at Kensal Green." From the free and romantic life of Some of the itinerant showmen of Eng- strolling players and showmen, M. Esquiland have achieved not only notoriety, but ros conducts us to a class of vagrant fortune. The celebrated Richardson com- tradesmen in whose existence romance menced life as a potboy. An old man, plays but a feeble part. In selecting with a peep-show on his back, came one the "lower zones of social life," he is night to the inn in which Richardson guided by the principle that "the originserved. He was taken ill and died. Grate-ality of the Anglo-Saxon race is principalful for the attention shown him by the lad during his illness, he left him his peepshow. This was the nucleus of a future fortune. Adding one curiosity after another to his collection, he rose rapidly in popular favor, and died with the sum of fifty thousand pounds in the funds. A very interesting story has been preserved by M. Esquiros: ly found in them." The real life of a people has seldom been described by the historian. The staple of our standard histories is statecraft, with now and then a picture of regal pomp. Mr. Charles Knight has done a little toward furnishing the history of the people of England; but his work, creditable and interesting as it is, does not supply the desideratum. The researches of M. Esquiros, among the lower zones, have secured a great deal of valuable information which, to most Englishmen, will be quite new. "During St. Alban's fair a fire broke out in the town, and Richardson, who was then owner of a portable theater, stopped the performance, and at the head of his actors, struggled bravely with the flames, to try and save the life and The coster-mongers, (originally costardproperty of the inhabitants. The loss, however, mongers, or apple-sellers,) in London was very great; and a subscription was opened alone, are estimated at upward of forty on behalf of the sufferers, the gentlemen of St. thousand persons, men, women, and childAlban's sending their one, two, and as much ren. Some of these are stationary, and as five guineas. One day a man in short, black have stalls, more or less respectable. breeches, woolen stockings, and a large blue Others are nomadic. The itinerant classes coat, walked into the office, and threw on the table one hundred guineas. 'What name are subdivided into the legitimate and shall I put down?' the treasurer said. 'Say, a illegitimate the former of whom deal in friend,' the stranger replied, and walked out; fish, vegetables, and English fruits: the but one of the persons present had recognized latter comprehending the vendors of or anges, cocoa-nuts, water-cresses, sprats, and then invites his audience to purchase and periwinkles. Between these two a miraculous save-all, price one penny. castes, though they seem to have so many During Palmer's trial, an enterprising patinterests in common, there is, neverthe- terer read, day by day, to the public, the less, the widest difference. Even coster- record of the progress of the trial in the mongers have their aristocracy. A legiti- Times; and at the close of each reading, mate coster would not condescend to sell commended to his hearers some infallible sprats, if he were dying of hunger! Or- nostrum which he had for sale. The most anges are left, by common consent, to the respectable of the class are generally bookIrish, while the cocoa-nut salesman is al- sellers, who at times are literary men. most invariably a Jew. Having very lit- One of these, with whom M. Esquiros tle personal property, the costermongers chanced to meet, gave him the following have, in many cases, to buy their daily story of Southey, which is worth preserv stock with borrowed money; while some ing: have to borrow the stock itself, and hire their basket, truck, or donkey-cart, and even the weights and measures. They have to pay twenty per cent per week for this accommodation. Nor are they the only sufferers. The tax falls upon the poor, who are compelled to sustain the injury caused by this iniquitous usury. "One day, among my hearers, I noticed Southey, whom I knew from his coming to my I read in his eyes old master's shop. that he wanted one of my books—a rare old edition-and quietly ran down even below the price the book had cost me, eighteen pence. I would have offered it to him for nothing, if I had not feared a refusal; but what was my grief when he placed in my hand a crown, and went away just as I was giving him the change! I called him back, but he said, with a shake of the head, 'Keep it, the book's worth that to me.' As might have been expected, the costermongers are not highly educated and enlightened. By the age of seven, they are in business on their own occount. The children of costers are about the sharpest in the world. In fact, they have no child-mercial life than these. There is the family hood, but are brought up to be old men and women before they reach the age of eight. Their religion is as much neglect ed as their education. But they are not altogether irreligious. They have a great liking for the Gospel history. The feeding of the five thousand by our Saviour is most interesting to them. "That proves," they say, "that he was a thorough gentleBut while appreciating benevolence, they do not indulge in sentiment. "I don't wish any body any harm," said a young girl, who had been describing the glories of the cholera-time, when melons and pine-apples could be bought almost for nothing; "but if the cholera comes back, it would be a great blessing to people of our class." man." Among the most important of the itinerant street-traders, are the hawkers and the patterers. Some of the latter are men of education, who have been dragged down from a higher level of society by profligacy and the love of a vagabond life. They are the street speech-makers. Their aim is to attract popular attention to their wares by a pompous harangue. Some of them soar to the very hights of mob oratory, and would shine on the hustings. One, a very sage and 'cute man, gives a lecture on domestic economy, There are lower levels of vagrant comof the "finders"-not precisely English in its type, for the continental cities abound in this class of industry. But London exhibits one variety of the species indige nous only to the metropolis, the "cigarend finder," who frequents the neighborhood of theaters, casinos, music-halls, and clubs, to glean the cigar-ends which may have been thrown away. Precarious as such an employment may seem, it yields a very fair return for the time and energy spent over it. What is done with the cigar fragments when found, we dare hardly y guess. Perhaps the genius which converts cabbage-leaves into tobacco can conof old ones. The "mud-larks" are of the struct new cigars out of the burnt relics coal, iron, wood, or any thing else that may "finder" family, and search for bits of of the Thames by the retreating_tide. turn up among the mud left on the banks They embrace all ages, but are made up mainly of little boys and decrepit old women. The lowest in this scale of "finders" are the "sewer-hunters," who are found in no other city of the world. "With old shoes on their feet, a bag on their back, a canvas apron fastened round their waist, and a long staff in their hand, they enter, no one knowing how, those horrible and forbidden places. This pole, armed with an iron hook, serves to secure their footing and sound the ground, while they have a dark-lantern fastened on their chests, which throws a light some distance before them." The reward for this disgusting toil is seldom more than "bones, nails, pieces of iron and copper, and dead animals," whose skins they sell. Sometimes coins, jewels, and articles of plate are found; and it is probably the chance of finding such treasures that acts as an inducement to undergo the horrors of the sewer-hunter's life. There is, too, a dash of the Englishman's love of independency in it. "I like this kind of life," said one: "I work when it is my pleasure, I rest when I like, and no one has a right to order me about." Nor is this life unhealthy. The sewer-hunters are generally robust and jolly men, with rosy cheeks. | Northwich is doomed to perish by the very salt to which it owes its existence and trade. The salt-springs, which furnish an average of twenty two per cent of salt, are not of course so productive, and certainly not so romantic, as the salt-mines. Unlike the gloomy home of the coal, the salt-mine, with its crystallized columns, and its dry and pleasant temperature, presents a picture of positive beauty. It is difficult, says M. Esquiros, "not to admire this simple but grand architecture; these empty spaces, extending in the darkness like the nave of an immense subterranean color, and transparency of sugar-candy, these church; these works, which have the shape, massive pillars, which shine in the reflection of the light you carry in your hand; and more than all this, the religious character which silence and night shed over these labors of human industry." The mine which he visited was worked by fifty men, who extracted a weekly avwithout the assistance of horses and poerage of fifteen hundred tons of raw salt, nies, which in some of the mines are em We are indebted to M. Esquiros for a very interesting sketch of the salt-springs and salt-mines of Cheshire, which, though a very fertile source of wealth, have seldom been honored with the notice of the literary traveler. M. Esquiros chose the little town of Northwich as his headquar-ployed to drag the blocks of salt on a tramters of observation. Beautiful as is the loway. The salt is conveyed from the cality, we should not like to live in North- mouth of the mine to the boiling-house; wich. At the " Angel," where our author and when it has boiled for six or seven lodged, "the staircase staggered like a hours, it is carried to a hot room, where it drunken man," and the walls of the room is left to dry. It is then ready for the seemed to be on the worst of terms with market. The annual produce is estimated the floor. This inn, however, was a sub- at five hundred thousand tons; and the stantial edifice in comparison with the ma- mines give employment to some ten or jority of buildings in Northwich. On twelve thousand men. The work of the walking through some of the streets, the miner is salubrious and agreeable, but the traveler saw "roofs no longer resting on thirst resulting from it is almost intolerthe houses, brick walls rent, windows that able. The temptation to drink is very powhad assumed the quaintest forms, and chim- erful. The miners say they have a devil neys that allowed the smoke to emerge in their throats. From their dissipated half-way up, through yawning crevices." habits it is to be feared that many galThe landlady of a public-house said calm-lons of drink are required to exorcise the ly: "Our house will fall; I only hope my evil spirit. son will not be in it at the moment, for I Foreigners will be more interested by feel assured I shall finish with it." The the views of M. Esquiros on the military bed of the river has sunk so much, that a status and resources of England than by man-of-war may now tack, where but a any other portions of his work. The old few years back a boat could hardly make and not yet exploded notion that the Engits way. The reason of this terrible dilap- lish are a nation of shopkeepers finds an idation lies in the fact that elaborate refutation in his pages. His descriptions of our actual force, and our immense capabilities for meeting any possible emergency, are such as not only to astonish his countrymen, but deeply to interest many of our own, who have very limited and undefined notions of our military resources. M. Esquiros, though a "the town and neighborhood rest on a soil internally traversed by abundant springs; and these subterranean water-courses, formed by the rains, become saline at the expense of the solid masses of salt over which they run. The result is, that they disintegrate the rock, and the crust of supercial earth settles with the houses, the fields, and the streams." |
