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    since the above lmes were written . It is notorious that the best man is now-a-days invariably selected in . preference to one merely recommended by family interest In the same way , no one ever enters the army except with the determination to make that his sole profess 1 On , and to look to merit alone for honour and promotion . As for the excellence ^ of our colonial system , we need mention only the name of Australia , in testimony of the harmony and cordiality that now exist between •• our planters ' and then- governor ; and the natives in that insular continent will equally bear evidence to the mild and enlightened treatment they have received from their Christian oretnren . % The nation then groaned nnder a national debt of only seventy two mi lions , and an expenditure of eight millions , and there were grand lellows m the House of Commons to treat every public question with earnestness and dignity . Pitt and Fox stood at the head of a magnificent phalanx , and this was the result : —

    The certainty of discussion keeps administration in awe , and preserves awake the attention of the representatives of the people . Ministers are and should be suspected as public enemies ; the injustice arising to them , or the prejudice to the country bv such jealousy , can hardly ever be adequate to the mischief they may do in a moment if too much is left to their power , if too much , trust is reposed in their integrity . ' We must not dwell too long on that topic , or we shall be « in to be ashamed of our House of Commons . A suggestion of Pitt ' s is ° recalled however , which deserves to be put into circulation at this moment : — That gTeat orator expressed a hope that tTie standing army would never be less tlian 18 , 000 men , based upon a militia at least 50 , 000 strong . .- . If we arejealous of their orators , we need not envy their administration Our ways were their ways . We quote only one of the illustrations connected with the career of the able and gallant Major Ctranin » hain who upon the disablement of his superior officer , took temporary command at Minorca : — ¦

    Instead of this appointment , however , being confirmed , a decrepit old gentleman ¦ was sent out who was busily engaged throughout the siege in nursing a gouty toe . The miscellaneous contents of the volume mark some interesting- incidents pf a hundred years ago . It was then that Fonthill Abbey was ° destrbyed by-fire , that the first stone of Middlesex Hospital was laid "in Marybon " Fields , " that the statue of Newton was erected in Trinity College Cambridge , that the East India House began to rise on the site of the old African House , that the building of Blackfriars Bridge was projected arid opposed ori the ground that it might destroy the current between London and Westminster Bridges , that the construction of the City-road was authorized , ' to connect two suburban villages , ' and that the Princess Emily shut the gates of Richmond park , so that the people were forced to scale the walls . In France , the king was washing the feet of tlie poor , the Tarmers-¦ General were eating cherries and green peas at Christmas , and the Marquis of Flumartin was terrifying the population of Poitou i in the same year Lisbon yvas shaken down by an earthcLuake . Mr . Huttondescribes a controversial book on the causes of this calamity * The author seems to have fceeri an ancestor of the gentlemen wlo write at home at ease , and in the exuberance of their young-eyed complacency fling the word ' scribbler' at every senior contemporary : —

    He caus their authors " dastardly mongrel insects , scribbling incendiaries , starveling savages , senseless yelping curs , bhuhless caitiff ' s , growling grovelling bipeds , scandal yelping crew , varlets lavish of falsehood , journalistical fire-eaters , superlative coxcombs , crack-braLn'd dealers in absnrdity , jack-a ' -lanterna , pragmatical ghosts of entity , daring , blushless , heartless , freebooting- aliens , crawling vermin , unnatural fry of barbarous insects . " One is a heartless witling , that chokes himself with swallowing a flight ; another a little griping understrapper with a dirt-raking mind and a spurious breast . - " Villains , whatever be the climate in . which they first drew their Ireath , are still ubiquitary abortions from human nature , whose hereditary soil is that of the gallows to which they are born , improbity being everywhere an exotic . " Fine words , from which a few may be selected by those who believe in the power of verbal violence . In hi 3 notice of authors , actors , artists , and books of a hundred years ago , Mr . Hutton glances lightly and pleasantly at Volney , Flaxman , Siddons , Godwin , Mozart , and Crabbe and Cuattertonboth children then ; Madame Dacier , Curran , Goethe * Benthanv Dibdin , Lavoisier , La-vater , De Genlis , and Jenner , were also children . Gibbon was preparing for his history , Oliver Goldsmith was beggaring himself by buying tulips , Watts was in 1756 making instruments for the University of ¦ Glasgow , Abercrombie commencing his career , Eugene Aram teaching Latin and Greek , Cook voyaging , Falconer thinking of poetry at sea , Jtfecker keeping accounts in Theluwaon ' s bank ; Gainsborough and West ¦ were studying : —

    Foremost among those whose intellect was in the fall prido of strength rises the mighty form of Samobl Johksoit . JLong since distinguished for his learning , impotuat colophonem ^ he put the finishingatroke to bia fame , by the publication , of his Dictionary of the English language . On toe 25 th of March , 1755 , the following advertisement appeared iu the Gazette t" TJiis Month will be published , "In Two Large Volumes in Folio , ( Price , bound , Pour Pound Ten Shillings ) A Dictionary of the English Language : In which the words arc deduced from their Originals , and illuBtrated in their different Significations by Examples from the Jbest Writers . " To which are- prefixed " A Hiotoktt of the Language , and a Grammar , "By SAMUEL JOHNSON , JUUL . " Printed for J . and P . Knapton , 1 . and T . Longman , C . Hitch and L . Hawea , A . Millar , and R . and J . Dodalcy . " Where may be had , Gratis , " Tho Plan of this Dictionauy . " Addressed to tho Right Hon . tho Earl of Chestorfiold . " And in tho same paper : — This dag ia published , ^ Beautifully printed on a Royal Paper , in two Volumea Quarto , and illustrated with Twenty-eight now Coppcr-platea , deaigncd by Ilaymau , and engraved by tho boat Artints , " A New Translation of The HiBxonY and Advkntuhus of the Renowned Don Quixote , from tho Spanish of Miguel de Cervantes Saavcdra ;

    To winch is prefixed some Account of the Author ' s Life '"" ' — t ( T > . ¦ ,- * ¦ „ " % T . SMOLLETT , M . D . " Prmtedfor A . Millar , m the Strand ; T . Osborne and J . Shipton , in Gray ' s Inn T . and T . Longman , C . Hitch , and L . Hawea , in Pater-Noster Row- J IlX ~ , ; London Bridge ; and J . and J . Rivington , in St . Paul ' s Church y 7 rd g ' ° !^ - Such Noblemen and Gentlemen as have subscribed to the Author will h « " ^^^^^^ ^ -ond Payments to A . Millar , in the St ^ o .. * j ? * efccli ; Of ' Kterature in that prolific year is admirable . The chanter that follows , on crimes , is a startling fragment of social history : — Among other crimes prevalent at that period child-stealing was of frequent occur rence . The motives to this cruel offence were various . Sometimes , it waTcommiS forthe sake of the clothes ; at other times in the . hope of extorting k reward fro " S agonized parents for the recovery of their Io 3 t darling—though I have met . with no advertisement offering more than twenty guineas , and that was for a eMld thirtymonths old . Occasionally also children were kidnapped to be brought ut > - m chminey-sweepers . But the most iniquitous case waa that of an old w « man who used to inveigle her innocent victims into a cellar , where she destro Ved their eve sightby applying ^ heated brass plates , and when blinded , sent them out into tie streets to beg . When this monster was discovered , four children were found in her uen stone blind , and several morei in different stages of cecity . The frivolities

    of the women of the period are set in contrast with tie frivolities of the men . Among the latter , an example is worth quoting : — '' Some Woods being in company with a celebrated filh dejoie , one of them pulled off her shoe , and in excess of gallantry filled it with champagne and drank it off to her health . In this delicious draught he was immediately pledged by the rest and then to carry the compliment still further , he ordered it to be drest and served up for supper . The cook set himself seriously to work upon it . He pulled the upper part ( which was of damast ) into fine shreads , and tossed it up in a ragout ; minced the sole ; cut the wooden heel into very thin slices , fried them in butter , and placed them round the dish for garnish . " Here is a new anecdote of fashionable gambling : — ^ My lords of Rockingham and Orford made a match against each other for five hundred guineas , as to whether five turkeys or five geese would in the shortest time perform the journey from Norwich to London . The result vindicated Lord Orlbrd ' s sagacity , for , though at first the turkeys had it all their own way , the geese waddled past them at night , while they were lazily roosting in the trees beside the hedgerow . With a matrimonial advertisement of a hundred years ago we conclude our extracts from Mr . Hutton ' s volume . It is very characteristic : — " Whbreas a tall young Gentleman above the common size , dress'd in a yellow grounded flowered velvet Csipposed to be a Foreigner ) , with a SoliUir round his neck and a glass in his hand , was narrowly observed and much approved of by a certain young lady at the last Ridotto . This is to acquaint the said young Gentlema £ > tf ni 3 heart is entirely disengaged , that if he will apply to A . B . at Gangway ' s Coffee House in Exchange Alley , he may be directed to have an interview with the said young lady , which may prove greatly to his advantage . Strict secrecy on the Gentleman ' s side will be depended on . " . We seldom meet with a volume so entertaining as A Hundred Years Ago .

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    A TREATISE ON ANGLING . The Angler ' s Instructor . A Treatise on the best Mode of Angling in English Rivers , Lakes , and Ponds , and on the Habits of the Fish . By William Bailey . ¦ ¦ . London : Longman and Go . ; Nottingham : Forman . Anglhsjg , which is essentially a summer pastime , has , with the advent of November dreariness and cold ., been pretty generally abandoned until the ensuing year . Pike and grayling , however , are still in good season , and will continue-so during the coming winter ; but the trout , recently so gorgeously arrayed in vestures of scarlet and gold , now ceases to be an object of the fisherman ' s pursuit . Thin , lean , and discoloured after spawning , he hides beneath the hollow banks of the streams which lie frequents , and neither feeds nor permits himself to be seen , until the genial gales of another spring restore his pristine strength and beauty .

    The grayling , or umber , called by the French Pombre c 7 iccalicr —' Sir Shadow *—possibly from tho swiftness of his movements , and the silvery grey tints of his scales , which render it difficult to trace his passage through the water , is in good season through the present and ensuing months . Inhabiting English streams less generally than the trout , there are none , we believe , nearer to the metropolis than the rivers of Hants and Wilts . In Herefordshire , the Wye , Lugg , Teme , and Arrow , hold plenty of grayling ; they frequent also the upper Severn towards Shropshire . Wiilton , and his friend Charles Cotton , two hundred years ago , dwelt with rapture on the general abundance of this choice and delicious fish in the clour rup ' uls of Derbyshire—in none , however , more large and numerous than in the classic Dove . Unlike the trout , whose jaws may be described as all bone and musqle , admitting of any moderate degree of force in striking him , the grayling ' s mouth is soft and tender . This distinction cannot be too carefully kept in mind by those angling for them , because an attempt to strike or fix the hook after the fashion common to the trout fisher will invariably tear all away , and of course cause the loss of many n good fish .

    For angling during the warm season , when the rivers arc bordered by hazel and aider-trees , there are two natural baits bred upon their foliage , the beat that can be used for grayling , and also for trout . These are the hazel fly , a small species of caterpillar , brown above and dark green below , and , secondly , tho alder ily , a dusky-hued insect seen in great numbers running upon posts and rails by the wator-side . There is yet a third insect of note not so generally known to anglers , of a rich brown , tint , large and full bodied , called the cannon fly , found in orchards , on the shady side of apple -trees , darting on and oft incessantly , nnd always alighting with its head downwardB . These three , and especially the last , axe very deadly baita . With a long taper rod , which enables the angler to keep fur back irom the water ' s brink , a short line of the roundest , finest , and most trustworthy silkworm gut , and a small , well burbod hook , baited with a single ( ly , there is an almoHt certninty of sport , even in tho hottest and brightest days that ever shone in July . No other device in such unfavourable fishing weather would be successful . Protected by the sheltering alders , kneeling , stooping occasionally , even lying prone upon the grass- —in short , using every expc

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    X ( m THE tEAB BR . f ^ o . 399 . Notm ^ -. a now ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 14, 1857, page 1098, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2217/page/18/