as you go through the world. And yet it is worse to have a Christian name that for its oddity shall be in everybody's mouth when you are spoken of, as if it were pinned upon your back or labelled upon your forehead. Quintin Dick, for example, which would have been still more unlucky if Mr Dick had happened to have had a cast in his eye. The Report on Parochial Registration contains a singular example of the inconvenience which may arise from giving a child an uncouth Christian name. A gentleman called Anketil Gray had occasion for a certificate of his baptism; it was known at what church he had been baptised, but on searching the register there no such name could be found; some mistake was presumed, therefore, not in the entry, but in the recollection of the parties, and many other registers were examined without success. At length the first register was again recurred to, and then, upon a closer investigation, they found him entered as Miss Ann Kettle Grey. The Leatherheads and Shufflebottoms, the Higgenses and Huggenses, the Scroggses and Scraggses, Sheepshanks and Ramsbottoms, Taylors and Barbers, and, worse than all, Butchers, would have been to Bayle as abominable as they were to Dr Dove. I ought, the doctor would say, to have a more natural dislike to the names of Kite, Hawk, Falcon, and Eagle; and yet they are to me (the first excepted) less odious than names like these, and even preferable to Bull, Bear, Pig, Hog, Fox, or Wolf. What a name, he would say, is Lamb for a soldier, Joy for an undertaker, Rich for a pauper, or Noble for a tailor; Big for a lean or little person, and Small for one who is broad in the rear and abdominous in the van; Short for a fellow six feet without his shoes, or Long for him whose high heels hardly elevate him to the height of five; Sweet for one who has either a vinegar face or a foxy complexion; Younghusband for an old bachelor; Merryweather for any one in November and February, a black spring, a cold summer, or a wet autumn; Goodenough for a person no better than he should be; Toogood for any human creature; and Best for a subject who is perhaps too bad to be endured. Custom having given to every Christian name its alias, he always used either the baptismal name or its substitute as it happened to suit his fancy, careless of what others might do; thus he never called any woman Mary, though mare, he said, being the sea, was in many respects but too emblematic of the sex, it was better to use a synonyme of better omen, and Molly therefore was to be preferred as being soft-if he accosted a vixen of that name in her worst temper he mollyfied her; on the contrary, he never could be induced to substitute Sally for Sarah-Sally, he said, had a salacious sound, and, moreover, it reminded him of rovers, which women ought not to be; Martha he called Patty, because it came pat to the tongue; Dorothy remained Dorothy, because it was neither fitting that women should be made Dolls nor idols; Susan with him was always Sue, because women were to be sued; and Winifred, Winny, because they were to be won.-Southey's Doctor

The Lectures are five in number, commencing with the commerce of ancient Egypt, Greece, Tyre and Carthage, Rome, and the East Indies, and we shall go through them in the order in which they stand, selecting those portions best suited to our purpose. Egypt was an independent monarchy for a period of 1700 years, and it is of this period alone that the author treats. The chief manufactures of the country were paper, made from the papyrus, and linen, of so fine a texture that the separate threads of which it was woven were imperceptible. These two articles, with corn and horses, formed the whole of native Egyptian exports. The country produced within itself nearly all that was required for the sustenance of the population; the foreign commerce, consequently, was not great. The imports consisted of timber, metals, drugs and spices-commodities which Egypt did not possess. The spices were used in great quantities in the embalming of the dead-a process adopted in consequence of the popular belief in transmigration of souls. As long as the body of a human being was preserved from decay, the soul would not enter into the body of a brute; and to this cause the country owed the chief portion of her commerce. The timber was used in the construction of vessels, and as the water-communications of the country were very extensive, the transmission of commodities gave rise to a large amount of internal trade, notwithstanding the naturally indolent disposition of the people, and their division into hereditary castes. The son of a shoemaker must be a shoemaker; all the sons of tailors must be tailors; and the son of a soldier, however unfit for a soldier, must nevertheless be a soldier.' This system, although perhaps productive of excellence in mechanical arts, must have tended to repress and deaden anything like commercial enterprise.

'By the law of Egypt,' writes Mr Gilbart, 'the property of a debtor became liable to pay his debts; but his person was free. It was sometimes customary for people to borrow money upon the security of lodging the embalmed body of their fathers. An Egyptian who did not pay this debt and redeem the body, was declared infamous.' If the creditors of a deceased individual were able to prove that he had been guilty of unworthy acts, the rite of interment was denied to the body, which was cast out into the fields. In addition to their idleness, the Egyptians had the character of being proud, sullen, and gloomy; they looked on other nations as their enemies; and to mark the dishonour in which labour was held, one of the pyramids bore this inscription: 'No native Egyptian worked here'. . . . 'Such a disposition,' pursues the author, 'is quite opposed to the spirit of commerce. A merchant knows nothing of national prejudices. He does not consider any class of men his natural enemies, merely because the place where they were born is separated by a chain of mountains, or a river, or an arm of the sea, from the place where he was born. He is a citizen of the world, and he promotes the happiness of the whole world, by imparting to the inhabitants of every part of it comforts and luxuries, which but for him they could not possess.' It is worthy of remark that the whole, or nearly the whole, of the foreign commerce of Egypt was carried on by strangers.

*Lectures on the History and Principles of Ancient Commerce. By J. W. GILBART, F.R.S.

Although the character of the Greeks was far more favourable to commerce than that of the Egyptians, we meet with frequent instances of laws and customs which rendered all commercial enterprise nugatory: the laws of Lycurgus, for example, which, by preventing every tendency to luxury, made a whole nation content itself with the coarsest fare. Where there is no desire for what are called the comforts of life, there can be no commercial activity. By the laws of Athens, no agricultural or manufactured produce required for home consumption could be exported. 'Fishmongers were not allowed to put their fish in water, to render them more saleable. A fish

than he had first asked for them, was to suffer imprisonment. No seller of seals was to retain the impression of one he had sold. No man was to exercise two trades. No foreigner was allowed to sell wares in the market,

the labour of 600 men; but if I am obliged to employ 200 of these men as soldiers to defend the remaining 400, then I have a profit only on the labour of 400 men, and out of that profit I must pay the wages of the 200, whose labour is wholly unproductive. In this way war necessarily retards the accumulation of national capital.'

The author shows that the conquests of the Romans were ultimately beneficial to the nations conquered. 'The victors, though despots, were not tyrants. Their widely extended empire and taste for luxury were favourable for commerce. From the simplicity of agricultural life they passed to the most sumptuous and costly style of living. To gratify this desire they pushed their trade into every country that had anything to sell. Corn they obtained from Sicily and Egypt; amber from northern Germany; fine cloths from Malta; silks, spices, and precious stones from India; in addition to the products of their own dependencies. The utmost profusion and luxury prevailed in their repasts: Lucullus gave suppers to his friends that cost £1250; and, according to Pliny, more money was often expended in the purchase of an article of furniture than the whole amount of the treasures taken at the sack of Carthage.'

Direct trade between distant countries was facilitated by their being brought under the Roman dominion. The Romans were a sagacious and methodical people, and well understood the value and importance of free communications. Their public roads extended to the remotest parts of the empire, and were placed under the charge of men of the highest rank. There were banks in Rome somewhat similar to those of the present day, and others for lending money without interest to the poorer citizens. The professions of banker and merchant were, however, not held in respect; the latter were classed with thieves and orators, under the guardianship of the god Mercury. The practice of effecting insurances on ships was introduced by the Romans, in their honourable character, system, method, and gravity. Mr Gilbart obseves, mercantile communities of the present day might learn a useful lesson. The great defect of their policy was its military spirit. The principal objection,' continues the author, in his lecture on commerce with the East Indies, 'to which the Indian trade has been exposed, both in ancient and in modern times, is, that it takes from Europe a large amount of the precious metals. As the imports from India have always exceeded the exports, the balance has necessarily been paid with gold or silver bullion. But this is no objection at all. Gold and silver are nothing more than commodities. If they are found in our own soil, their exportation is no greater evil than the exportation of tin or copper, or any other metal that may be found in our mines. If they are not raised from our own soil, they must be purchased by the exportation of some other commodity. The exportation of gold and silver, therefore, is no more an evil than the exportation of those commodities with which the gold and silver are purchased. If we sell. hardware and cottons to America for gold, and send that gold to India for silks and spices, it amounts to the same thing as though we sent our hardware and cottons to India, and exchanged them directly for silks and spices.'

In the course of his work Mr Gilbart discusses the influence of domestic slavery upon commerce, the means of internal communication, travelling, transmission of despatches, and institutions for buying and selling. He recommends the adoption of uniform standards in all parts of the kingdom with respect to weights, measures, and coinage. In Ireland, for instance, wheat is sold by weight; in England by measure. Other discrepancies might be pointed out, which call loudly for rectification. Sound practical views and principles are scattered through the work; and we conclude our brief sketch by quoting the author's own words, where he says: Let us never forget that the main cause of the prosperity of any country or of any city lies in the mental and moral character of its inhabitants. Every possible advantage of situation may be

With some exceptions.

rendered nugatory by the misconduct of the people. If, instead of availing themselves of these natural advantages, and persevering in the steady pursuits of trade, the merchants neglect their business, or have recourse to swindling, or gambling, or smuggling, they will assuredly bring upon themselves that ruin and degradation which such prac. tices never fail to produce. It is by honesty, by industry, by prudence, by perseverance, and by public spirit, that nations and cities are made to prosper. Every man should endeavour to increase the prosperity of the place in which he dwells, and to improve the character of the population. There is no virtue more noble or more illustrious than public spirit-that spirit which induces a man to sacrifice his interest, his ease, and his inclination, to promote the public good. But party spirit is not public spirit; party spirit seeks the ascendency of a party-public spirit seeks the good of the whole. One is a gilded counterfeit the other is sterling gold. He who wishes to be a useful man must be an active man. Men who possess only a mediocrity of talents, if they are active men, will often do more good, and acquire greater influence, than other men of far superior attainments, if sunk in indolence. What they are inferior in weight they make up in velocity; and hence they acquire a higher momentum than is obtained by heavier bodies that move more slowly.'

In the details of common life and the practice of everyday people the habit of outside viewing is no less prevalent. Its effects are apparent in private society and public demonstrations, moulding individual conduct, and swaying the opinions of the multitude. Everywhere the useful and the enduring are undervalued, compared with the showy and unsubstantial, and only that which glitters is prized, in spite of the proverbial fact that it is not all gold. Hence, the most requisite employments are generally the least respected. The artisan and the agricultural labourer have been voted low for ages, though their pursuits are absolutely indispensable to society; and an American writer has justly called them the conscripts of the world. Bernardin St Pierre, a somewhat sentimental philosopher of France in the last century, remarks, that the heroes whom mankind delight to honour are the individuals who have rendered themselves most terrible to their species, but everywhere man despises the hand which prepares the garment that covers him, or cultivates for him the fertile bosom of the earth. Doubtless the multitude of those useful workers may be assigned as a cause of this general depreciation-things are esteemed in proportion to their rarity rather than their utility. The diamond, which serves only to cut glass or sparkle in a ring, has the current worth of a thousand tons of the limestone by which our cities are cemented, and the most important of our chemical operations carried on. But this value is conventional and not real; the wisdom of the Great Designer has appointed that what is most necessary to life should be generally most abundant. Yet certain extraordinary circumstances occasionally occur, which not only exhibit the beneficence of that arrangement, but discover to misjudging mortals the balance of intrinsic worth. A pound of gold will in ordinary times purchase a large quantity of corn, but in the city of Milan, when it was besieged by the Emperor Conrad III. of Germany, a pound of gold was at last offered in vain for an equal weight of biscuit. The Arabs have a sad story regarding a famished traveller, who found a bag in the desert, which he opened with joy, supposing it to contain dates; but it was filled with Turkish sequins, and the man expressed his disappointment by exclaiming, Alas! it is only gold!' How often might the gains of a long life's toil and striving be expressed in similar fashion! The Grecian history tells us of an Athenian king who offered his crown to any man in all his army who would refrain from drinking at a fountain to which their Spartan enemies had long barred the passage, but no soldier would accept it on the terms. It were unfortunate for the world if peasants and mechanics were as few in number as poets and philosophers, alarming as the increase of these is said to be in our times. When the Antelope packet was wrecked on the coast of one of the Pelew Islands, in 1783, though the natives received Captain Wilson and the crew, who escaped, with the greatest respect and friendship, the most distinguished men in their opinion were the carpenter and sailmaker, the one having saved a box of tools, and the other some canvass and coarse needles. Thus ordinary abilities and appliances rise in estimation when scarcity makes their value apparent. Fortunately such occurrences are rare, at least among civilised nations; the order of society necessarily assigns different degrees of rank to both persons and things, which are generally recognised, though not unalterable, as circumstances every day illustrate. The peasant, in the cultivation of his natural capabilities and the fulfilment of the duties of his station, is a no less respectable man than the peer. Gold and silver are for coin, plate, and jewels; iron forms the spade, the ploughshare, and the steam-engine; but let us never forget that the one is of intrinsic, and the other of merely conventional utility.

The general propensity to outside viewing is observable in every department of life. Shakspeare says that all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players,' and to carry out the simile it may be remarked, that the comfort and advantages of the theatre are frequently sacrificed to the desire of stage effect; hence shopkeepers aspire to tigers, and tradesmen sigh after livery

hence boarding-school time is expended on superficial ac complishments, and literary education in the proportion of two to one-hence social evenings turn to affairs of expense and ennui, and an 'at home' becomes a scene of exhibition rather than amusement. On this account Mrs Draper disturbs the peace of her husband's evenings and the comfort of her children's lives for a drawing-room like Lady Dashley's, while Mr Tinsley's relations, and peradventure the good man himself, draw invidious comparisons between his gentle, homely partner, who never frowned on him, and Mrs Shiner, over the way, who leads the ton of the street, on a similar income, gets the cheapest governesses, and is whispered to be a bit of a shrew.

When Columbus and his Spanish crew first landed on the coast of La Plata, they found the natives willing to barter ingots of gold and silver for small looking-glasses and strings of beads, and when any of them made good the exchange-which we suspect was not a difficult matter-be generally ran off with his purchase, in fear that the Spaniard might repent his bargain. The savages of La Plata have their representatives yet in our social system; the beads and looking-glasses of life are prized above its precious metals. Enter a household, and see which is the child brought forward after dinner, and talked of in all companies! Is it the most generous spirit or amiable character of the nursery? No; it is Louisa, who is a born beauty, or Harry, who says such amusing things at four. Wit and beauty are handsome things in their way, but compared with sound sense and moral worth are they not the small dust of the balance? Yet in the grown-up world the same ideas are at work, and how much of its admiration, its friendship, and even its love, is inspired by distinctions as small and casual as those of the nursery!

The Parsees have a tradition concerning Janschmid, an ancient king of Persia, celebrated over the East for his wisdom and warlike exploits. They say that his sight grew dim in the midst of his reign, and he prayed three days, with his face to the rising sun, that Mythra would please to restore it; but at the dawn of the fourth day, a genie stood behind him where he knelt alone, and bade him turn to receive a wand, which had power to show the real value of anything it touched by spontaneously lengthening, in the manner of the old Persian balance, adding, that if he chose to fling it away at the end of seven years, his power of vision would be perfectly restored. Janschmid took the wand and the genie departed, but the king carried his marvellous present through city, and court, and harem, and the tradition adds, with Oriental acuteness, all the sages of his kingdom, the greater part of the officers, and some of his wives changed places in consequence. It also informs us that certain of the judges were banished, and many criminals escaped the bow-string; the soldiers were appointed to till the fields in which they had expected to fight, all quarrels were speedily arranged, and justice was done in Persia for the space of seven years; at the end of which time Janschmid's only son and heir, Sapor, returned from his studies among the magi of Armenia, and his father thought proper to apply the test to him, but finding that the wand indicated very little worth, and remembering that Sapor was the only hope of his family, the king was seized with a sudden desire to see like the rest of his subjects, and flung the genie's gift into the river Tigris, whereupon his sight returned, as it was in the days of his youth. The Parsees say they cannot tell if ever any other monarch of the east or west regained that wondrous wand, but one cannot help regretting that it had only a traditional existence, since the exercise of it would have spared the world the thousand errors and mistakes that have arisen from looking only on the outside of things.

TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE. TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE was a negro and a slave, a philanthropist, a man of genius, and the republican chief of a powerful people. To be a negro is, in the savage idealism of some men, to be an inferior animal; slavery is a legiti mate punishment for the possession of a dark skin; and man