LADIES' TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES. In some few instances, Societies for the promotion of Temperance have been formed by the women of our coun try. They doubtless would become universal, were the importance of the subject properly considered. The influence of women seems absolutely necessary to the suppression of the odious vice of intemperance. Their power over the appetites of children must be exerted. Indeed, it seems hardly possible women can be blameless, when so many human beings reared by their care become the slaves of appetite, till they are degraded beneath the brutes. Every mother should make the inquiry, whether she has been sedulous to train her children in the habits of temperance; if not, if she has given them "sweetened brandy," and "rum and sugar," and taught them to love the poison which may destroy them forever, she must not flatter herself she is guiltless of their blood. There are many good people who yet cling to the idea that ardent spirits are medicinal. They would not, for the world, allow their little ones to drink rum-but they give it, mingled with molasses for a cold-and prescribe that worst and most insidious of enemies, bitters, as a remedy in many disorders. Now societies of intelligent women might do much towards correcting this vulgar and pernicious prejudice in favour of rum as a medicine. Women have access to the chambers of the sick, and they are consulted more frequently than the physician, respecting the management of young children. And if ladies were united in some systematic plan of visiting the abodes of misery, often made so by intemperance only, and urging upon the wretched wife of the drunkard, the importance of guarding her children from the contagion, their influence would be speedily felt in preventing the beginnings of the evil. The ladies of Boston are active in labours of benevolence. Their societies for charitable objects are well known and appreciated. Perhaps no charity in which they have engaged promises such important effects, as that for the instruction of the infants of the poor. Cannot our benevo lent ladies devise some means for teaching the mothers of those poor children the necessity and the benefits of temperance? The experiment seems worth trying. Among the many addresses on the subject which have, of late, been delivered before the different societies for the promotion of Temperance throughout our country, we have seen none that shows the extent and danger of the "fiery plague" of alcohol, more forcibly than that of John Neal. It is a manly and eloquent composition, and we hope it has been extensively and attentively read. But the sentiments relating to the influence and the example of women deserve to be embodied in a work expressly designed for the ladies. We give all our limits will permit. "It is not enough that our mechanics, our labourers, our strong men, our gifted, and our youth are engaged in the great work. Our women must be with us, or we cannot hope to prevail-our mothers, our wives, and our daughters-the other half, and in such matters, by far the most influential half of our whole population. It is not enough that we confederate together abroad, as men, to discourage the use of strong drink, in our workshops, in our taverns, or in the highway-to make sobriety one of the qualifications of a ruler-to encourage the culture of the grape, or the use of cheap and safe wines that would be accessible to the poor, and not lead to a desire for any thing dangerous-to labour night and day for the overthrow of the Destroyer-it is not enough that we do all this, if the wives, and mothers, and sisters of our country, continue to make our very homes a snare to us, every sociable coming together, every fire-side interview, every joyous event, an excuse for tampering with the shadow, or playing with the skirts of the enemy. As for what we may do -We but wear "Our strength away in wrestling with the air :" So long as women persist in pouring the fiery drug into the cau dle cup of the babe-mingling it with the food of the infant-substituting fever for health, and sorrow for strength-counterfeiting the stream of pearl, and hiding the treachery with flavour, and colour, and perfume; for all these things are to be done, before the youthful purity of taste can be perverted. What are we to do, when we have, under one pretence or another, brandy mixed with our very food-our sauces-our jellies—our cakes and our pies—with whatever is intended to be better and richer than usual? What are we to do, as men; after we have been made to relish the flavor of ardent spirit in this way-from our cradle to our grave-accustom ed to it in our pap-taught, in our very childhood, to sit up to the table and throw off a glass of wine, like a man-of Portuguese wine too, such as the Portuguese themselves never drink, for we, like the English, have it with what we call a body to it, in other words, overcharged with brandy-in a glass of our own too; for where is the child without a wine-cup of his own? Let every mother beware. No human creature ever yet loved the open, perceptible, undisguised flavour of rum, or brandy, or gin, whiskey, or Portuguese wine-or tobacco. But he is led to a relish for them, while a babe-or a child-worried or shamed into a liking for them, till he has overcome the loathing and horror, the prohibition and the penalty of Him that loveth his creatures; and goes down to the chambers of death-a drunkard and a beast. The women of our country, they who surround us with a living sunshine, with life and virtue like an atmosphere-even they are chargeable, with perhaps a chief part of our present degradation, guilt, and sorrow. But for them, we never could have been what we are a nation labouring with a fiery plague, that afflicts every twelfth of our number-and in the way of becoming a people of drunkards. Not that they themselves are lovers of strong drink; but they it is, that have taught our fathers, and ourselves, and our children to love it. Are they not the first and the chief teachers of men? And yet they sing of the red grape; they plant the vine about every path we tread in life-among our very household-gods; they offer the wine-cup to all that approach them and they make little or no distinction, where they may, between the temperate and the intemperate, the dissolute and the vir tuous. Do they recoil at the charge? It is true, nevertheless. Were they to do as they ought-were they to stand forth in their purity and power-were they to forbid the hope of the intemperate-were they to do no more than they may do, without reproach; they would reform posterity without the help of man. Next to God therefore, let us put our trust in woman— "The hope of the nations-the bravest and best, LITERARY NOTICES. "MISCELLANEOUS PROSE WORKS OF SIR WALTER SCOTT." Boston, Wells & Lilly. The six volumes now offered to the public, contain much that will be valuable to the reading community. The first four comprise the Life of Dryden and Swift, and Biographical Memoirs of no less than twenty-four eminent writers, or illustrious persons. A mass of facts relating to individuals has been collected and connected, which would seem quite a labour for an ordinary mortal, but which, to the genius of the Great Known, was probably only a relaxation, or a sport. We should like to know whether Sir Walter ever feels weary of reading and writing-one thing is certain, he never indulges in repose. Nor do his novels, much as they are imbued with the spirit of history and tradition, display so unequivocally the industry of the author, as his other works. We cannot in the novels easily discriminate whether he is most indebted to imagination or research for his facts-but in his Life of Napoleon and these Biographies, the apparently thorough knowledge of events recorded and persons described, leave an impression of his unwearied application on the mind of the reader which seems sufficiently to awaken the energy of the most supine. We see the effect of his industry. His genius is the fire, but if he did not labour continually to keep it replenished with the fuel of knowledge, the blaze would soon decline, become feeble, and finally expire. The fifth and sixth volumes contain Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk, a spirited and lively sketch of events in France during the agitating period of the first restoration of the Bourbons, the return of Buonaparte from Elba, Battle of Waterloo, &c. till the final extinction of the Imperial power-and Essays on Chivalry, Romance, and the Drama. These essays are replete with information on the subjects discussed. Chivdry, in particular, will be read with avidity by those who have a taste for the tudy of antique manners and customs. The age of chivalry was an important era to the female sex. The men of those times whom we call barbarous, paid homage to woman, little short of idolatry; and though such fantastic worship vas not so productive of rational happiness as the esteem now rendered to her irtues, yet we may trace the deference and delicacy of attention to which fenales are, universally, in civilized society, considered entitled, to the sentiments of chivalry. We give a few extracts illustrative of the manners of ladies and lovers of those days of castles, and champions, and giants, and drag ons, when nothing beneath the sun was esteemed of so much consequence as the smile of a woman. "Amid the various duties of knight-hood, that of protecting the female sex, respecting their persons, and redressing their wrongs, becoming the champion of their cause, and the chastiser of those by whom they were injured, was represented as ne of the principal objects of the institution. Their oath bound the new-made nights to defend the cause of all women without exception; and the most pressing way of conjuring them to grant a boon was to implore it in the name of God and he ladies. The cause of a distressed lady was, in many instances, preferable to hat even of the country to which the knight belonged. Thus, the Captal de Buche, though an English subject, did not hesitate to unite his troops with those of the Compte de Foix, to relieve the ladies in a French town, where they were besieged and threatened with violence by the insurgent peasantry. The looks, the words, the siga of a lady, were accounted to make knights at time of need perform double heir usual deeds of strength and valour. At tournaments and in combats, the voices of the ladies were heard like those of the German females in former battles, calling on the knights to remember their fame, and exert themselves to the uttermost. "Think, gentle knights," was their cry, upon the wool of your breasts, the nerve of your arm, the love you cherish in your hearts, and do valiantly, for ladies behold you.' The corresponding shouts of the combatants were, "Love of ladies! Death of warriors! On, valiant knights, for you fight under fair eyes." Where the honour or love of a lady was at stake, the fairest prize was held out to the victorious knight, and champions from every quarter were sure to hasten to combat in a cause so popular. Chaucer, when he describes the assembly of the knights who came with Arcite and Palemon to fight for the love of the fair Emilie, describes the manners of his age in the following lines. 66 "For every knight that loved chivalry, And would his thankes have a passant name, It were a lusty sight for to see." The It is needless to multiply quotations on a subject so trite and well known. defence of the female sex in general, the regard due to their honour, the subservience paid to their commands, the reverent awe and courtesy, which, in their presence, forbear all unseemly words and actions, were so blended with the institution of Chivalry, as to form its very essence. But it was not enough that the "very perfect, gentle knight," should reverence the fair sex in general. It was essential to his character that he should select, as his proper choice, "a lady and a love," to be the polar star of his thoughts, the mistress of his affections, and the directress of his actions. In her service, he was to observe the duties of loyalty, faith, seccrey, and reverence. Without such an empress of his heart, a knight, in the phrase of the times, was a ship without a rudder, a horse without a bridle, a sword without a hilt; a being, in short, devoid of that ruling guidance and intelligence, which ought to inspire his bravery, and direct his actions." "It was the especial pride of each distinguished champion, to maintain, against all others, the superior worth, beauty, and accomplishments of his lady; to bear her picture from court to court, and support, with lance and sword, her superiority to all other dames, abroad or at home. To break a spear for the love of their ladies, was a challenge courteously given, and gently accepted, among all true followers of Chivalry; and history and romance are alike filled with the tilts and tournaments which took place upon this argument, which was ever ready and ever acceptable. |