they do return. I beg leave further to observe, that mere education in reading or writing, preaching or precepts, are of very little avail against the temptations to drink held out to working men; and I am confident that if employers could be made to see and attend to their mutual interests, by a little care in the removal of temptations, they might generally prevent the most fruitful cause of disorder, destitution, and pauperism, at least as extensively as I have prevented those consequences to my workmen and their families, by the adoption of the means I have described.'.

"Dr. De Vitrie, in the course of a report on the sanitary condition of the labouring classes in the town of Lancaster, thus notices the good effects of an amended practice in the paying of wages :

"An excellent example is shown in this neighbourhood by the wealthy manufacturers and tradesmen almost universally paying their men's weekly wages on a Friday evening (or, what is still better, early on Saturday morning) instead of Saturday, thus putting it into the power of all to spend their money to the best advantage at Saturday's market, and obviating the great temptation which formerly existed of spending their earnings, or a large proportion of them, in the publichouses and beer-shops after the termination of the week's labour. It may be said that such parties are as likely to dissipate on a Friday as on a Saturday evening. The propensity I grant may be the same, but there is no intervening day of rest to shake off the effects of intemperance and indulgence, and as workmen must resume their labours on the Saturday, hence it is that such a regulation exercises not only a salutary but a provident influence.'

"One employer of numerous labourers in a well-conducted establishment, stated that, after a very long experience, he found it necessary, for the due protection of his work people, as well as for the proper working of the establishment, to invariably discharge every workman who was guilty of drunkenness; and that the first visible sign which excited suspicion that the habit of intoxication was getting possession of the men, was want of cleanliness, then a pallid countenance and other succeeding marks, upon which inquiry was immediately made."-Sanitary Report.

Printers (with types).-Apprentice footing 2s. 6d., end of first year 1s., half time being out 2s., loosing 2s., marriage, 2s. 6d., child 6d. to 1s.: obtaining a situation, from 2s. 6d. to 10s., according to the rule of the particular office. Introducing

a friend, 1s.; upon any good luck, 1s.; on going a journey, 1s. When wife first comes to office, 6d. And to all these there is a backing of 2d. in the shilling. The term "Chapel" is applied to the printing office chiefly when it is resolved into a hall of justice. All wagers laid in the office are considered to belong to the chapel, and to be at its disposal. If a member of chapel is seen to speak to a female in the street, 1s. When he comes of age, 1s. The first time of a youth being shaved, ls.; with the ordinary fines with regard to personal cleanli

ness.

The following was handed to me in the shape of a printed statement, with the poem annexed: as it may help to give a view of the proceedings of a workshop in its judicial capacity, I insert it.

"In extensive houses where many workmen are employed, the calling a chapel is a business of great importance, and generally takes place when a member of the office has a complaint to make against any of his fellow-workmen; the first intimation of which he makes to the father of the chapel, usually the oldest printer in the house, who, should he conceive the charge can be substantiated, and the injury supposed to have been received is of such magnitude as to call for the interference of the law, summons the members of the chapel before him at the imposing stone, and there receives the allegations and the defence in solemn assembly, and dispenses justice with typographical rigour and impartiality. These trials, though they are sources of neglect of business, and other irregularities, often afford scenes of genuine humour. The punishment generally consists in the criminal providing a libation, by which the offended workmen may wash away the stain that his conduct has left upon the body at large. Should the plaintiff not be able to substantiate his charge, the fine then falls upon himself, for having maliciously arraigned his companion;-a mode of practice which is marked with the features of sound policy, as it never loses sight of the good of the chapel.

"The following description of a chapel is taken from a poem, entitled 'The Composing Room,' written by a printer of London, in 1833, and is said to depict a real scene.

"THE PRINTERS' CHAPEL.

"But now the father damps the angry flame,
And the full chapel empties every frame.
Sam Brown, the plaintiff, duly has paid down,
With solemn phiz, the customary brown;

For here, as in Victoria's courts of law,
There must be current coin, as well as jaw.
The clerk cries 'Silence,' and the father spreads
His hands in view of the assembled heads,
And thus commences:- Gentlemen, in your
Collective wisdom we must find a cure
For ills, which I'm informed by Mr. Brown,
Stick in his throat, and can't be bolted down ;'
At this ensues a loud and general laugh,
With nods, and winks, and lots of under chaff.
Order restored, complainant states his case,
With quantum suff. of tremor and grimace;
'I'm sorry, gents." (his hand upon his braces),
'My case has caused you all to leave your cases,—
But Mr. Green supposes I am green,

Whereas the difference shall be shortly seen;
For you're too deep, too long upon the town,
To think that brown is green, or green is brown.'
Loud cries of Nonsense, Folly, Trash, and Stuff,
Mixt up with Question, Hear him, That's enough!

"Now Mr. Brown, to order called, proceeds
To tell the chapel of Green's evil deeds.
'My father, Mr. Father,-gentlemen,-
With your permission, I'll begin again.
Last Tuesday afternoon, at half-past four,
It might be somewhat less, or somewhat more,
Defendant Green, as I suppose, espied
An empty letter-board at my frame side,
And speedily solicited me to

Permit his using it a day or two.

This, I, at all times willing to obleege,'

Here plaintiff's head sustained a vig'rous sneeze, Which drove the heels of chapelonians near,

Upon the toes collected in their rear,

And caused some growlings, such as 'Cut the line;
Dismiss his case, that I may go to mine;

I wish that Brown and Green were black and blue,
For hindering business with this much ado,'
With more which it is needless here to note;
While the loud 'Silence' of the father's throat
Recalls our bang-up speaker to his theme,
Kindles his fire, and generates his steam.

666

"Well, to conclude, to Mr. Green I lent
This board, the subject of my discontent,
But if chopt up, or cast into that bourne
From which, alas! no letter-boards return,
Or seized by quoin-drawer overseer, to bear
Its load of standing matter for a year,
(Fast-bound in his queer closet's potent spell,)
For me 'twere quite as un-come-at-able.
Therefore, I pray you, make my cause your own,
And let this worthy chapel's will be done.'

"He ceas'd-and with a self-approving smile,
Look'd round upon the partners of his toil,
Then prick'd his ears up, and composed his mien,
To learn what might proceed from Mr. Green.

"He with firm front, and a decided tone,
Admits at once the damage he has done.

'I make not, gentlemen, a vain defence,
Against our chapel's laws and common sense,
I am the worm that level'd Jonah's gourd!
I saw, I borrow'd and I kept his board.
This is the head and front of my offence;
For this the chapel fine is twenty-pence,
Which I, in duty bound, will freely pay-
But yet I have a word or two to say;
I hate the curst aristocratic crow

Of an imperium in imperio.

Had Mr. Brown, when claiming of his right,
Behaved towards me in a way polite,

And not performed the part of Bounce and Swell,
Which, though he acts them tolerably well,

To me are hateful as the fiends of hell,

I should have kept my temper and my word,
And long ere this return'd his letter-board.'

"So saying, on his cash his hands he laid,

As one who thought-Why comrades-who's afraid?
Which when the father and the chapel saw,
The cry was 'Messrs: Brown and Green withdraw ;'
This while they did, the chapel laugh'd outright:-
Green stalk'd like Ajax from the field of fight;
While little Brown-like dog who fears the gale
May separate his body from his tail,*

And therefore draws it close his legs between,-
Slow creeping o'er the office floor was seen.
At length the door shuts after them;-and now,
O muse! assist me to describe the row.

"To aid your view, I should have said before-
Imagine, reader, thirty men or more
Assembled near a long imposing stone,-
Some more than sixty, some but twenty-one,
Of each complexion, disposition, taste,
Imbued with virtue, or by vice debased;

Some strictly steady, fram'd to persevere,

Pursue this course throughout the varying year;

From bed to Baldwin's, and from Baldwin's back

To bed, in one continued beaten track;

Deducting Sunday's walking, eating, sleeping,

Through their whole lives at work they're closely keeping.
Others, erratic from their mother's breast,

Are by some untam'd devil still possest;

These are your harum-scarum jolly boys,

Who love Scotch ale, and glory in their noise;

This latter class, well knowing how to screen,

Intuitively take the part with Green.

The former, not without abundant cause,
Support Saint Brown, the chapel and its laws."

The result is, I believe, that Green undergoes a moderate fine, and a vote is passed concerning the drinking of the amount of fine or footing money in the hands of the treasurer.

* Perhaps this may refer to the "docking of the tail," above referred to as a cant phrase for imposing a drink fine.

If

If

Plating Trade.-The following communication was received in writing. "In this trade a footing of 5s. is demanded. a man leave his place, even for a few days, 3s. is demanded when he returns. If a man has a son born he must pay 1s. 6d., and if a daughter, 1s. This is paid only for the two first children. If a man buys a pig, he pays 1s.; if a cow, 2s. 6d.; if a pair of top boots, 6d. If a man reaches twenty-four years without being married, he must pay 1s. On every birth-day a man pays 1s. If a man has a new suit of clothes, he pays 1s. If he has a large pig killed, 1s. If a man goes into the country more than twenty-four miles upon a visit, 2s. 6d. If a youth past sixteen years is seen with a young woman, he must pay 6d. If a man gets married, 2s. 6d. a man gets a good bargain in any thing he may buy, he must pay something for drink, from 6d. to 1s. To the above is added backing, from 1d. to 2d. each man. This is laid out in drink, and fetched into the shop, or else the men go to the public-house, where they get drunk, quarrel, and fight, and the man that strikes the first blow must pay 2s. 6d. They then go to the public-house again to make friends, but get drunk, and perhaps fight again; and although they may be good-hearted, charitable men, these practices cause them to differ and fight. Sometimes one considers himself as unfairly fined, and refuses to pay. On this the shop must be called together to try him; then if he refuses to pay he must be sent to Coventry: none of the men will speak to him, nor lend him any tool, and they plague him in every possible way. And when he returns from Coventry,' and they become friends again, he must pay 2s. Here it is not an uncommon thing for the apprentices to get drunk, and be trained up as drunkards, one set after the other."

Fishermen.-The following account was transmitted to me in writing, as the drinking usages of this class in a particular place on the coast.

"In the early part of the year, the fishermen are engaged in preparing their boats for the fisheries. And whenever they are engaged about them, it has been a custom from time immemorial either to begin or finish certain jobs with a dram of spirits, that things may go on well, as they term it, or that they may have good luck. When the boat is prepared for putting the ballast into her, it will not do to put it in withoutwetting' it. When a net is putting to the back rope, it must be wetted,' for fear the first time it is used to fish, a vessel going over it, it may be seriously injured, or lost alto

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