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as Cromek did*, with the help of his friend Allan Cunningham, having nothing but a few ancient chorusses or couplets, familiar among the peasantry, to bear them through; yet I certainly would like to see a saving hand stretched out to rescue these relics of broad and simple humour; and rather than they should perish, or give offence to modesty and good breeding, venture to use the pruning-knife a little. Are we to lose such productions as "The Wyfe of Auchtermuchtie," because, forsooth, there may be two words in it that one would not choose to read aloud in a mixed company?

Ritson has done a good deal for the preservation of our lyrical lore; Johnson has done more; and as both their works are wearing scarce, it would surely be a good speculation to republish them together, with such omissions or additions as man of judgment might see meet. I look upon Johnson's Museum as the most valuable collection of that nature that ever was made in our country-not so much on account of the songs, (for many of them are now to be found in other collections) as for the great mine of original music which it contains. Many of these tunes, it is true, have been since modernised, and certainly are improved by the symphonies, graces, and accompaniments, that have been added; still the preservation of them in their simple and original state is a laudable and desirable object; and there is no doubt but an enlarged edition of that work, wherein elegance and utility might be conjoined, is a desideratum in the vocal and musical miscellanies of the day.

Observing that you had set out on your miscellaneous career, with the resuscitation of some valuable old poetic lore, I have thrown these few cursory remarks together, in hopes they may be instrumental in bringing to light some more relics of the pastoral, romantic, and rustic poetry of former ages, which you will do well to preserve, and of which the collectors of songs and music may afterwards avail themselves to their own advantage, and

We have inserted our correspondent's remarks as they came to hand, though we profess ourselves ignorant with regard to the ground of the charge that he makes against Cromek. We trust he can make good his assertion. It would be a curious instance of literary fraud. EDITOR.

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"A friend of mine possesses an estate in this county, a great part of which, lying along the Moray Frith, was, at some period not very well ascertained, but certainly not less than sixty years ago, covered with sand, which had been blown from the westward, and overwhelmed the cultivated fields, so that the agriculturist was forced to abandon them altogether. My friend, soon after his purchase of the estate, began the arduous but judicious operation of trenching down the sand, and bringing to the surface the original black mould. These operations of improvement were so productive, as to induce the very intelligent and enterprising proprietor to undertake, lately, a still more laborious task; viz. to trench down the superincumbent sand, on a part of the property where it was no less than eight feet deep.

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Conceiving this to be a favourable opportunity for trying some experiments relative to the length of time which seeds preserve their power or vegetation, even when immersed in

240

Narrow Escape of J. Mitchell, the Deaf and Blind Boy.

the soil, I procured from my friend a quantity of the mould, taken fresh from under the sand, and carefully avoiding any mixture of the latter. This was instantly put into a jar, which was stopped up close, by means of a piece of bladder tied tightly over its mouth. Having prepared a couple of flower-pot flats, by drilling small holes in the bottom of them, so as to admit of the ascent of water, I filled the flats with some of the mould, and placing them in a very wide and shallow tub made on purpose, I covered each of them with a large glass receiver. Each receiver, however, was provided with a brass rim, having little brass knobs on it, so as to raise its edge from the bottom of the tub, and leave a small opening for the admission of air. The whole apparatus was placed in my library, of which the door and windows were kept constantly shut.

This was done on the 17th of Feb ruary last. It is now the 6th of May; and, on examining the flats, I find about forty-six plants in them, apparently of four different kinds; but, as they are yet very young, I cannot determine their species with any degree of accuracy. The final result of the experiment I shall not fail to communicate to you."

NARROW ESCAPE OF THE BLIND AND
DEAF BOY, JAMES MITCHELL, FROM
DROWNING.

DR GORDON has lately read to the
Royal Society of Edinburgh, a letter
from Miss Mitchell, giving an ac-
count of the conduct of her brother,
the blind and deaf boy, some time ago,
when in imminent danger of being
drowned.

There is a point of land leading from Nairn (the town where he lives), along the side and to the mouth of the river, and which, with high tides, is overflowed by the sea, where there are boats frequently left fastened to some thing for the purpose. He had been in the habit, it seems, of going down to these boats; and had that day gone down and stepped into one of them as usual. Before he was aware, how ever, he was afloat, and completely surrounded with water. Had he remained quietly there until the tide ebbed, he probably would not have been in any danger; but instead of

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that, upon perceiving his situation, he undressed himself, and plunged into the sea; seemingly with the intention of attempting to drag the boat with his clothes to land. Finding that, however, impracticable, he next at tempted returning to the boat, but failed in getting into it, and with his struggling upset it; and there is not a doubt but he must have perished, had not some salmon-fishers been most providentially employed within sight of him, and rowed to his assistance. By the time they reached him, he was nearly exhausted by his exertions; and having been repeatedly completely under water, was so benumbed with cold, that they were obliged to strip themselves of what clothes they could spare, and put on him--his own being quite wet from the upsetting of the boat. They then very humanely brought him home, carrying him great part of the way, until he recovered strength and warmth sufficient to enable him to walk. "It is curious enough," says his intelligent sister," to observe the sagacity displayed in some of his actions. His shoes were found with a stocking and garter stuffed into each of them, and his tobacco-pipe in his coat-pocket, rolled up in his neckcloth, The shoes (having got them on new that morning) were the only articles he discovered any anxiety to recover, and these he seemed much delighted with when restored to him, they hav ing been found when the tide ebbed. His first action, when I met him upon being brought home, was to pull off a worsted night-cap, and give it to me, with rather an odd expression of coun tenance. The men had been obliged to put it on him, his hat having shared the fate of his clothes in the boat; and he certainly made a most grotesque appearance altogether, which he seemed to be in some degree aware of, as, after getting on a dry suit of his own clothes, he frequently burst out a laughing during the evening; al though, upon the whole, he appeared graver, and more thoughtful than usual. He has not suffered any injury from this accident, which had so nearly proved fatal to him." His family are in hopes that he has got a fright that will prevent his returning to the same amusement again, although they have not yet recovered their former confidence in his safety when absent from them.

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EXTRACTS: FROM A COMMUNICATION by the use of animal power, of machin

TO J. C. CURWEN, ESQ. CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE POOR

LAWS.

Two errors, it seems to me, less different in their result than in their na ture, may be committed in legislating for our Poor; the one, the seeking to patch up and amend a system which is defective in its very principle; and the other, the too rashly embracing of visionary schemes. By the first, we may give permanency to evils which a firmer policy could remove; by the second, we may be so entangled in costly and unavailing projects, as to be forced, after a time, to retrace our steps.

Of those plans of provision for the poor which have been made known, that of Mr Owen seems to be treated by the public with the greatest favour. The favour, however, is perhaps more due to the benevolence of the author, than to the merits of his design. To me, at least, it appears, that though Mr Owen may have succeeded in a partial experiment, his system, as the permanent one of a great and populous nation, would be impracticable in the ultimate execution, and would lead, in the attempt, to innumerable evils.

In the opinion of this gentleman, so great has been the lessening of the need of human labour by the use of machinery, and so diminished will be the demand for the products of our industry by the cessation of war, that we shall never be able to employ our whole people as in the times that are past: we must now afford them employment for no other purpose than to keep them from vice and idleness. To this end it is proposed, that we shall form societies of 1200 or 1500 persons, and purchase an equal num ber of acres of land, to be cultivated entirely by human labour. The time that can be spared from this occupa tion by the men, and a part of the time of the women and children, are to be employed in certain manufactures, from the profits of which the whole expenses of the establishment are to be defrayed, and the inhabitants supported in a little Utopian common wealth.

Now, it is known, that all the energy and frugality of a farmer, aided

ery, and of capital, are often insufficient to make the earth repay the expenses of cultivating, sowing, and manuring it. How vain, then, must appear the hope, that that object will be effected, if the expense be increased more than fivefold! Gardens are indeed cultivated profitably by the spade; but the system of gardening has narrow limits, being bounded by the demand for the produce, and still more by the means and cost of procur ing manures. If we will calculate too, how little of the time of Mr Owen's poor could be spared from the labours of tillage, we must suppose the profits of manufactures to be great indeed, to support, even on the scantiest fare, such a numerous society.

But even if we can believe that such an establishment could repay its expenses and support its members; and if all the objections could be obviated which arise from the vast numbers of those institutions which would need to be formed, to maintain our excres cent population, and from the turning of so many thousand acres from profitable cultivation into the most wasteful system of management that can be devised; still I maintain, that the system is founded on principles very different from those which will ever enable us to better the condition, and eradicate the vices, of the labouring poor.

The argument for resorting to this system is founded upon an assumption unsupported by experience, and without evidence or probability to support it-namely, that the simplification of labour by mechanism, and the ceasing of the demand for warlike stores, will render it impossible for us to employ, as hitherto, our manufacturing popu lation. That many thousand labourers, artisans, and traders, derived their chief or entire subsistence from the preparation and sale of those commodities which the demands of war called forth, is true; but shall we believe that the opening of so many markets formerly closed against us, and that the prosperity which we may reasonably hope from a commerce interrupted only by the rivalship of less skilful and less wealthy nations, will not indemnify us for the loss of our warlike manufactures?-The cheapness with which the objects of luxury and use can be supplied, have never yet failed

to increase the demand in a corresponding ratio. At this time, depressed and impoverished as the nations a round us are, there is no such decay of our exports, as to justify an opinion, that we shall not be able to export as much of the products of our industry as ever. The most important of all our markets, that of the home consumer, will still be open to us; and, as before, we shall have the markets of colonies, which are themselves an empire. Surely, from the mere apprehension of an improbable event, it were a rash policy to establish amongst us a new and permanent system of dependence on public support, and instead of cherishing sentiments of independence amongst the poor, to invite them to live on alms and a common; to relinquish, on some hundred thousand acres, all the benefits we derive from the improvements in the arts of tillage; and to make it better for a man to live on a public provision, than to offer his services where they could be most useful. No political evil will more certainly work its own cure than that over-cheapness of labour, which we are advised to prevent by artificial regulations. The cheapness of labour, as of most things besides, increases the demand for it, by rendering the employment of it more profitable.-In our country, from 20 to 30 millions sterling have been annually lent by individuals to the state, and thence, by the purchase of warlike stores and the various expenditure of government, sent again, by innumerable ramifications, into the general circulation. A great part of this vast sum, by being now employed directly in objects of private or public utility, in new manufactures, canals, harbours, railways, buildings, the embellishment or improvement of landed property, &c. &c.-will give employment to our population, and raise the rate of labour, in like manner, as the former expenditure of the state. Emigration, too, will relieve us of part of our unemployed poor, and that assuredly to no trivial extent, if the rate of labour shall be very low.

You, sir, have had an opportunity of marking the effects of a public provision for the poor, in the fulness of the abuse of the system. I have had the means of marking its effects, at a time when it affords a hardly less in

structive lesson-that is, in its origin, and before it has degenerated into abuse; for in this state it may still be said to be in most parts of Scotland: and I have observed, that nothing is more hurtful to the morals and usefulness of the poor, than removing from them, in the least, the shame of dependence. Even the slight provision which we make in Scotland, is universally admitted to produce, on the manners of the lower classes, a result that is to be deplored. This is manifested in many ways; but in nothing more than in the change of treatment to which it exposes the old and infirm, from those who are bound by the ties of nature to support them. Formerly, the poorest person who was blessed with health would have held it scandalous to have suffered a parent or a near friend to depend on the public for support. But every parish meeting, now, furnishes evidence that this honourable feeling decays with the increase of the public bounty.

In short, sir, it seems to me, that we cannot commit a greater error, in legislating on this subject, than to make it better for the poor to depend on the public than on themselves for the means of life, or in any way to train them to dependence by remov ing the shame of it. Mr Owen, however, by the tempting allurement of comforts, invites his poor to depend upon a public provision. He does indeed propose to make them work, and he hopes to make them virtuous; but their labour will be useless to the commonwealth; the manner of employing it will have all the effects of a charity; and their virtues will not be those of men trained to an honest reliance on their own industry.

Of the two classes of people who, by usage or the law, are the subjects of parish support, the one consists of those who are disabled by age or nat ural infirmity from earning to themselves a subsistence; the other of those who possess the physical power, but who are supposed to be destitute of the means to obtain that return for their labour which will afford them a livelihood. The first deserves all the sympathy which is due to age and misfortune; and though it would be well that the task of relieving their wants were exercised by those on whom nature imposes it as a duty, yet, in the present corrupt state of this part of

society we cannot always entrust those unhappy persons to kinsmen who may be unjust and cruel, and whom custom has long released from a natural obligation.

But of those whose claim for public support is founded on their inability to procure a return for that industry which they are able to exert, every reasonable claim will be satisfied, if they are presented with an object for their industry, and a return for its exercise. It were well that they themselves were forced to seek for the one, and, like the inhabitants of every other country, to take the market value of the other. But the greatness of our manufacturing population, the sudden variations of commerce, the increase of our numbers, long use, and the dismissal from the service of the state of thousands who were formerly maintained by it-render a return to this natural state impracticable for the present, and will probably render it so for as long a time as any of this gene ration has to live. Necessity, therefore, will impose on the community the burden of affording support to those who are destitute of the means of obtaining employment; but neither necessity nor humanity call upon the public to minister, as hitherto, to ha -bits of vice and excess, and to cherish idleness by an indiscreet profusion. It were idle to descant on the evils of such a course. Our present system "has, for more than a century, been a source of vexation and abuse. The laws of settlement, to which it has given birth, are, perhaps, beyond all laws that ever were devised, perplexed and confused-are the source of innumerable frauds and never ending litigation, and subject the poor of England to a tyranny and control unsuitable to the spirit of a free people. Our fatal desire to promote the comfort of the poor has rendered every eighth person a beggar, in a country where the demand and reward for industry have been greater than in any other in Europe; has removed from many hundred thousand souls the shame of dependence on a public charity; and, in rendering the old degraded and depraved, has contaminated the young to future times.

I presume to think, that if a method could be devised, cheap, simple, and of easy execution, to afford to every -person, of either sex and of every age,

who was capable of labour, the means of finding employment, we should go far to lay the axe to the root of all this monstrous system of abuse and error. 'Tis then the two classes of poor would be entirely separated; no one whom nature had not unfitted for toil could be held to have a claim for public support; and the whole object of the laws would be confined to a part of the poor which does not perhaps exceed one-fifth of those to whom assistance is now afforded.

These things are necessary, if we would accomplish this great work: the labouring poor must be contented to receive the market value of their labour, as they would be forced to do in every country but their own; and if the community shall supply them with objects of industry, they must look for no better return for it than will afford them food and raiment, which we may consider as the minimum rate of labour in a prosperous country. The community, again, in affording the materials of industry, and in placing them within the reach of every person, must be careful to hold out no boon for the people to labour for the public rather than for themselves, or for those who can employ them.

By adopting a plan founded on these principles, we should enable every person to procure to himself a maintenance, without being beholden to any species of degrading charity; we should not interfere injuriously with the price of labour, but should suffer it to rise or fall, as it ever ought, with the demand for it, and the profits of it; we should teach the labouring classes to resort to the frugal habits becoming their condition in life, and most suited to their own happiness and virtue; and we should wonderfully simplify the business of legislating for the poor, by rendering none but the really helpless the objects of parish support. All but these unfortunate persons might have employment, if they chose to accept of such an equivalent as the profits of it could afford: if they would not-if they would renounce none of their luxuries when the rate of labour was low-not even the dear delights of the gin shop the folly and the punishment would be all their own. If the poor of England shall be able to indulge in habits unknown to the poor of any nation in Europe, it will be

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