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American patent. [Cheers.] Further than | noble lord said, 'It is education which enables this, don't you remember that the gentry-the the United States of America to proceed in West Enders, including even the ladies-have their wonderful career, upheld by the most been subscribing ten guineas apiece to invite popular institutions, without serious disturb a clever farmer from Ohio to show them how ance of law and order.' [Loud cheers.] I to tame a horse? [Loud laughter and cheers.] will also quote another nobleman-a most Any thing but politics-renewed laughter ;] estimable man, too-a man who has in his you may delight yourselves with their charm- time done great justice to the people and ining poets, if you like-with Bryant, Whittier, stitutions of the United States-the Earl of and Longfellow; you may interest and in- Carlisle. [Cheers.] Eight years ago, when struct yourself by their great historians, Ban- the state of America was fresh in his mind, croft, Prescott, and Motley-but if you ask he delivered a lecture from which I have taken how free, popular institutions are working two extracts. Speaking of the elections in among your own countrymen on the Ameri- that country he says: Elections may seem can continent, you are denounced as unpatri- the universal business, the topic and passion otic, and at any rate treasonable to the House of life, but they are, at least with but few exof Lords. [Cheers and laughter.] But I am ceptions, carried on without any approach to not without great examples in this country. I tumult, rudeness or disorder; those which I will read, if you will allow me, a passage happened to see were the most sedate, unimwhich was particularly galling to those gen- passioned processes I can imagine. In the tlemen. From a report of my speech in Bir- free states, at least, the people at large bear mingham, I said, generally, in all the sover- an active, and, I believe, on the whole, a useeign and independent states of America, there ful part in all the concerns of internal governis a franchise as wide as that which I have ment and practical daily life.' And then, proposed to-night. There is an exact and speaking of the condition of the people, he equal limit of members to the electors, and said-and you will note how far it corrobothere is throughout many of the states the rates, how far it extends, even, what I saidprotection of the ballot; yet in America weThe feature which is the most obvious, and find law, order, and property secure, and a probably the most inevitable, is the nearly population in the enjoyment of physical com- entire absence-certainly of the appearance forts and abundance such as are not known to in a great degree-of the reality. In no part the great body of the people of this country, of the world, I imagine, is there so much genand which have never been known in any eral comfort among the bulk of the people, country in any age of the world before. Now, and a gushing abundance struck me as the Lord John Russell, a short time ago, was at permanent character of the land; and then, Liverpool, at a meeting of the Social Science with his own generous sympathy, he went on Association, and he made a speech, many to say, 'It is not easy to describe how far parts of which, I think, were most admirable this consideration goes to brighten the face and instructive. He referred to America in of nature, and give room for its undisturbed two particulars, and showed how, in the states enjoyment.' I cannot, of course, help the of New York and Louisiana, the laws had fact that Lord Carlisle for a moment has fallen been codified and simplified. He said that into rather a foolish panic since I undertook with a few days' study a man might make to address my constituents at Birmingham. himself perfectly acquainted with the laws I can assure him that I do not wish to introwith regard to land and landed property. duce American institutions here; but I want Lord John Russell, who was not afraid to to argue this point, that the people of Englook abroad on a question of this kind, said land are now in a condition in which it would he did not see why an old country should be be just to them and safe for all classes in the tormented with a system which was unneces-country that they should be widely intrusted sary, and which it was found so advantageous with the possession of the elective franchise. to dispense with in a new country. The [Loud cheers.]

"GOING THE WHOLE HOG."

"As when two bores, with rancling malice melt, Their gory sides fresh bleeding fiercely frett; Til breathlesse both themselves aside retire, Where, foming wrath, their cruell tuskes they wett,

And trample th' earth, the whiles they may respire:

Then backe to fight againe, new breathed and entire."

Faerie Queene, Book 1. Canto VI. stanza 44.

Is this the origin of the phrase, "to go the whole hog?" And, if so, why is "hog the word used instead of "boar"-Notes and Queries.

No. 765.-22 January, 1859.-Third Series, No. 43.

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POETRY.-Behind the Scenes, 194. The Soother, 194. Take Heart, 194. As I walked

forth, 239. Little Bell, 248. Heart Spectres, 250.

The Voiceless, 250.

SHORT ARTICLES.-Mahogany's First Use, 239. Women receiving the Lord's Supper in Gloves, 241. Hugh Miller's Monument, 241. Private Correspondence; Whose Property is it? 247. A Woman's Growth in Beauty, 254. Public Library at Melbourne, 256.

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194

BEHIND THE SCENES. THE SOOTHER.-TAKE HEART.

BEHIND THE SCENES.

I LIKE to think of the domestic pleasures, The homely fancies and the human cares, The joys and griefs of heart the mummer

treasures

Beneath the tinsel of the garb he wears. The piebald clown upon the sawdust tumbling, With mouth elastic and lash-tickled calves; The Master of the Ring, with aiguillette fumbling,

While with jokes of Motley going halves; The flitting fairy in her gossamer jacket,

With silver sash, and loosely flowing hair, And dandy whip-she well knows when to crack it,

While leaping garters from her flying mare; The sole-cracked acrobat on padded saddle,

Who turns the sommersault at wildest speed, Or spans four chargers with portentous straddle, While deftly guiding onward steed on steed: These, I delight to know, are men and brothers, Are sprightly sisters with a touch of grace, With filial tenderness, some nurturing mothers, Some, with paternal love, a toddling race. Thus, yonder, winking through vermilion sockets,

His tongue grotesquely thrust in whiten'd cheek,

With sausages purloined crammed into pockets That were a paradise to area sneak

May be but one who midst the peals of laughter Has secret cause in truth for saddest tears, Perhaps beneath whose squalid garret rafter There droops the partner of his hopes and fears.

Yet again, that more preposterous fellow

In lacquered boots with monstrous jingling

spurs,

His coat all frogs, his swell-gloves dainty yellow,

Who always struts whene'er a step he stirs― He perchance may have a chubby rabble, Among whose gambols he unbends with

ease,

His dearest joy to hear their infant babble, Their chief delight but then to climb his knees.

Thus, yonder flippant elf in spangled raiment,
With sauciest air, who holds the sinewy reins,
Perhaps but hardly earns the niggard payment
That some crippled elder's life sustains.
Even yon rider, bounding like a cricket

Above the crupper of his snorting horse, Who skims a five-barr'd hurdle like a wicket, Wheeling clattering hoofs around the whirling course

Nay, ev'n this agile Indian-rubber antic-
Quite independent, seemingly, of feet-
He but ties himself in knots, and twirls half-
frantic,

With the homeliest view to make the two ends meet!

It lends a dignity to humblest labor,

That reverent tending of the household hearth It draws sweet music from the pipe and tabor, To which th' itinerant player tunes his mirth. And hence the sympathy I love to squander Among all mimes 1 note, no matter where, Feeling sure these golden threads oft wander Thro' the tawdry warp and woof they wear. -Household Words.

THE SOOTHER.

THOU little silvan brooklet,
That ripplest past my feet,
Come speak to me and sooth me
With whispers strange and sweet.
And charm away my sadness,
And bid my heart rejoice;
So gentle are thy fancies,

So musical thy voice.

Come tell me how the light winds
Do loiter as they pass,

With snow-drop and with blue-bell
Among the tender grass.

Some legend of the green-wood,
Or loves of water-fay;
Of fairies that come tripping
To dance the night away.
Daintily sipping the dew-drops,
Until the sun's return,

Then lulled by thee to slumber
Under the wavy fern.

Thou mossy margèd brooklet,
That glidest calm and free,
Wilt thou speak to the rushes,
And wilt thou not to me?
So gentle are thy fancies,
So musical thy voice,
Oh, speak to me and soothe me,
And make my heart rejoice.
-Chambers's Journal.

TAKE HEART.

BY EDNAH DEAN PROCTOR.

ALL day the stormy wind has blown
From off the dark and rainy sea;
No bird has past the window flown,
The only song has been the moan
The wind made in the willow tree.
This is the summer's burial time;
She died when dropped the earliest leaves,
And cold upon her rosy prime

Fell down the autumn's frosty rime-
Yet I am not as one that grieves ;

For well I know o'er sunny seas
The blue-bird waits for April skies;
And at the roots of forest trees
The May-flowers sleep in fragrant ease,
And violets hide their azure eyes.

O thou, by winds of grief o'erblown
Beside some golden summer's bier,-
Take heart-thy birds are only flown,
Thy blossoms sleeping, tearful sown,
To greet thee in the immortal year!

-From the Independent.

COUSIN JOHN'S PROPERTY.

From Black wood's Magazine. enjoy it!" and the good-natured Mr. Simpson gave an honest sigh to the memory of his de"ON the 11th ult, at Point de Galle, Cey-parted cousin, and for a moment forgot his lon, on the voyage home, John Simpson, Esq., own accession of fortune. Her Majesty's Consul at Tranquebar."

"Bless my life, Sally," said Mr. Simpson, almost choking himself with his muffin, "here's cousin John dead!"

Mr. Simpson had the Times for an hour every morning (at sixpence per week), and that hour being his breakfast allowance also, he read and ate against time, taking a bite of muffin, a sip of tea, and a glance at the paper alternately; and as he was very short-sighted, and always in a hurry, there seemed imminent risk sometimes of his putting the paper into his mouth instead of the muffin.

"You don't mean to say so, Simpson," said the lady on the other side of the little fireplace. "Cousin John dead! Why, he was to be in town next month-it's impossible! Where do it say so ?"

And she made an attempt to reach across for the paper; but it was a long stretch, and Mrs. Simpson was stout, and hardly made due allowance for that fact in her instructions to her staymaker; so Mr. Simpson found himself master of the position, and proceeded to read the announcement again, with a proper sense of importance. Miss Augusta Simpson, and her brother, Master Samuel, who occupied the seats at the other side of the family breakfast-table, had risen from their places, and with their mouths and eyes open, and Master Samuel's knife arrested in a threatening position, formed rather a striking tableau.

"Then that Surrey property comes to us, Mr. S.," exclaimed the lady, as she left her arm-chair, and made good her hold on one side of the Times, of which her husband still pertinaciously retained possession.

"It comes to me, my dear, as next heir, by uncle Sam's will-no doubt of it." If Mr. Simpson intended a little gentle self-assertion in this speech, it was so unusual with him, that Mrs. Simpson was good enough not to notice it.

"It's worth two or three thousand a-year. Simpson, isn't it?"

"About one thousand, or fourteen hundred at most, my dear, as I have told you before," replied the husband. "It's a very nice property. Dear me! poor John! only to think! that he should never have come home to

"Well, well, life's uncertain with all of us. I never thought as you'd have outlived him, Simpson; he was ten years younger than you, if he were a day. I did think it might have been our Samuel's in days to come, supposing he died without children, as was always likely from what I heard of him. I often did say to myself I hoped Sammy might be a gentleman."

Samuel wiped his lips in preparation for that crisis. He had been eating a second egg surreptitiously and hastily. Only a mother's eyes could have detected the future gentleman under the pinafore at that moment. "There's the 'bus, father," he shouted jumping up with the view of effecting a diversion from his own seat of operations; "there's the 'bus coming round!"

Mr. Simpson rose mechanically,and dropped the Times. The habits of twenty years were not to be shaken even by the sudden prospect of a thousand a-year. But his daughter, with the spirit of a true British maiden in the hours of fortune, showed herself equal to the occasion.

"Who wants the 'bus ?" said she, with an indignant shove to Samuel. "'Pa aint going by 'busses now."

Like all truly great speeches, it was short, and to the purpose. As such, it was long remembered in the family. It awoke them at once to the duties and the pleasures of their new position. That useful public vehicle did not take Mr. Simpson to Aldermanbury that morning. The conductor looked at the wellknown door in vain; the civil driver even let his horses linger a little ere he turned the corner; and both turned a long and last inquiring gaze in the direction of Portland Terrace, No. 4. "What's come o' the governor this morning, Bill? Are we arter or afore our time?"

"Not above two minutes arter; he've never been and gone by the Royal Blue?"

"Don't think he'd be so mean as that; summat's amiss, however." And with this compliment to Mr. Simpson's business habits, the omnibus lumbered on without him. Great was the surprise, and as the morning wore on, even the anxiety, in the little dark offices in Aldermanbury. Such a thing as

Mr. Simpson's absence, without due cause heard any thing lately of my cousin, Mr. assigned, was unknown hitherto in that most John?" asked Mr. Simpson, with a voice punctual and respectable establishment; and which he felt was nervous and unsteady— Mr. Styles, the old clerk, who had a sincere, that, however, was becoming under the supif not a very demonstrative affection for his posed circumstances. principal, was scarcely prevented, by a sense of what was due to the dignity of both parties, from taking his passage down to Notting Hill to inquire.

But indeed, even had Mr. Simpson made his usual appearance at his place of business that morning, it would have been too much to expect from human nature that he should have dovoted himself with his old attention to ledgers and invoices. When he did arrive there towards the afternoon, the youngest clerk saw that there was something" on the governor's mind." He scarcely staid half an hour; and if his unblemished commercial repute were any longer valuable to him, it would have been undoubtedly better if he had not looked in at all; for he left the impression on the minds of his subordinates, that even the small and cautious house of Simpson & Son had not escaped in the last great commercial whirlpool; and the errandboy, who was well up in that department of newspaper literature, gave it as his private opinion to his mother at home, that it was a "Paul & Bates" case.

But Mr. Simpson was thinking little of his business, and still less what people thought

of him.

"I'll go to town at once, my dear," he had said to his wife, after their first shock of surprise was over. "I'll go and see Grindles, poor John's agents, and hear what they can tell me about it; they'll be able to give me every information of course, and advise me as to what to do. I'll go to Grindles' at once; and I'll just look into the countinghouse and set Styles' mind at rest before I come back. I can bring my letters down here to answer." (How far Styles' mind was set at rest has been already recorded.)

To Messrs. Grindles' accordingly, at an unusual expense of cab-hire, Mr. Simpson proceeded. If he had any floating doubts in his mind before as to the correctness of the announcement in the Times, the remarkably grave and polite manner in which the junior Mr. Grindle (whom he remembered hitherto as a rapid and somewhat supercilious young man) received him on his entrance, would have gone far to remove them. "Have you

"Sit down, I beg, my dear sir,-pray sit down; sorry to say we have, very sorry indeed. Have you seen this, my dear sir?" producing a copy of the Homeward Mail, and pointing to a paragraph containing the same brief but important words as those which had caught the eyes of the Simpsons. I saw it in the Times this morning, and came to you to hear more about it. He was coming home, I fancy, this month ?"

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"He was," said Mr. Grindle; "he wrote us by last mail to say we might expect him by the Formosa, which brought the mails, as I understand, yesterday: he had taken his passage in her, he says in this letter. We were just going to telegraph down to Ply. mouth, to know if she has landed her passengers, and whether your poor cousin is among them. I should fear there can be doubt of the correctness of this sad news—most sad, indeed, and sudden; but we shall have an answer to-night, and will at once let you know. You are aware, of course," continued Mr. Grindle, delicately, " that you are your cousin's representative?

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"I am aware of it, sir," said Mr. Simpson, bowing awkwardly, "I assure you—"

"Of course, my dear sir, of course these considerations are premature. I trust, I do most sincerely trust, that we may have some intelligence of our valued friend by the Formosa. You may depend upon our making the most particular inquiries, and giving you the earliest information. Expecting him in town we were this very day, and now! Well, Mr. Simpson, life is—

But Mr. Grindle felt himself hardly equal to the definition, and filled up his unfinished sentence, by lifting up his eyes and hands. "But allow me to offer you-"

"Nothing in the world, thank you”—and so they parted.

It was not natural that Mr. Simpson should either feel or affect much sorrow for the death of a cousin whom he had not seen for nearly fifteen years. Yet sometimes, on his way home, when he remembered the days when they had played together as boys, the worthy tradesman's heart reproached him for the feelings of positive elation which he was con

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