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showing them that the real cause of their quarrel had been the want of mutual trust and confidence. And now, children,' said he, as he concluded, take an old man's advice-quarrel no more, and be ever more ready to believe good of one another than evil.'

Promising to follow this advice, and once more warmly thanking him for his kindness, the lovers now left the scrivener to his own reflections. Scarcely were they gone, when M. Gant, who felt in a very undignified hurry to impart the news to Sergeant Huron, locked up his box before the usual time, and hastened to the abode of his trusty friend, who, listening to his prolix narrative with profound gravity, declared it was an admirable bit of campaigning, and that the scrivener had displayed the tactics of a general.

M. Gant, who knew nothing of these vague rumours, bore his triumph with great moderation. Indeed, with his usual simplicity, he rather missed the applewoman, and certainly thought more of the happiness enjoyed by Louis and Angélique than of her defeat. When the wedding took place, he was the spirit of the whole party: he acted as Louis's witness at the civil contract, gave the bride away in the church, settled every doubtful point of etiquette, and with Sergeant Huron, who had been invited out of compliment to him, sang such witty songs after dinner, that everybody was charmed. The scrivener himself was astonished, and somewhat ashamed; he was even heard by his old friend wondering what had induced a philosopher like him to meddle in a silly love affair; but, to say the truth, he was quite delighted.

Although she was not at her stall when Louis and Angélique had their interview in the scrivener's abode, The married life of Louis and Angélique proved the applewoman had somehow or other obtained a more happy than their courtship. They treasured up knowledge of the fact. The next day she saw, as the words of their old friend, and acted towards each usual, M. Gant enter his box in the morning, but with other with confidence and truth. M. Gant, whose inthe addition of a large parcel, which he carried under firmities increase with age, has been induced, not to his arm; and a strange rumbling noise, as though M. abandon his box-nothing earthly could make him do Gant felt restless, and was walking to and fro in his that-but to take his meals with them, in return for mansion, followed his entrance; it, however, gradually which he most zealously teaches their children how to subsided; and before long, he issued forth completely read and write, so that they will most probably be able transformed, clad in a suit of rusty black, with a new in time to indite their own love-letters. Sergeant Huron hat and a white cravat. The applewoman's heart is still alive, but, as the scrivener observes in a melanfailed her she had forebodings of a defeat. : After choly tone, growing rather weak-minded-a remark carefully locking his door, M. Gant walked at a stately which the worthy sergeant sometimes applies in turn to pace towards the washerwoman's shop. Whether by his old friend. The cobbler has retired from business; chance, or because she was aware of his visit, Angé- the shed has been demolished, and a shop, occupied by lique was out of the way. The scrivener gravely asked Louis's brother, erected where it once stood. Marianne for her mother, and found the good lady up to her eyes is married to the young tailor. The washerwoman is as in soap-water. She looked upon him with some sur- industrious as ever. We forgot mentioning that, as an prise, opened her eyes when he spoke of a private instance of the diminished faculties of his friend, Serinterview, inwardly wondered if he wanted to give her geant Huron has informed Angélique that M. Gant his custom, and wiping her hands and arms in a is convinced the applewoman will soon make her revery wet apron, led the way into the small back par- appearance in the court. This he believes on philosolour. Here M. Gant gravely expounded to her the phical grounds, averring that he has been too long happy nature of his errand, relating all concerning the attach- and undisturbed. Of course Sergeant Huron is above ment of Louis and Angélique, and, in the name of his this learned nonsense; but he has also informed Angéyoung friend, asking for her sanction to their attach-lique, from whom he can conceal nothing, that, after all, ment. The washerwoman heard him, and was asto- he should not wonder if it were to turn out true; for nished. What could make Angélique wish to marry? since his friend mentioned the subject, he has three She had always thought that if a woman washed, and times beheld in a dream the applewoman seated at her ironed, and worked hard, she had little time to think stall. But as six months have already passed away of marriage: so she had found since her husband's since then, it is somewhat doubtful if she will ever make death. Nevertheless, she was not unreasonable, and her appearance. declared that as Louis was a very honest, industrious young man, she should raise no objection to the match, if her daughter was bent upon it.

On the same evening the whole matter was settled. In the presence of her mother, of Louis's parents, whom the young man had consulted long ago, and of M. Gant, Angélique was accordée, or granted to Louis, who presented her with a gold ring and a handsome pair of earrings. The marriage was fixed to take place at the end of a month. The young couple were to reside in the court; and, to her mother's satisfaction, it was agreed that Angélique should continue to work with her.

THE SILVER-MINERS OF PERU. THE number of Indian lives sacrificed in the mines of Peru, during the last three centuries, is estimated by some writers at nine millions! At the close of the second century of slavery, an attempt was made by the natives to shake off the brutal yoke of the Spaniards; and in 1780 an Inca was actually elected, in whose person, it was fondly hoped, those glories of the old emperors were to revive which had been quenched in blood by Pizarro. The attempt was unfortunate, and the patriot king and his family were executed with circumstances of terrific The applewoman was now fairly vanquished. Truth barbarity. Another effort cost a hundred thousand and M. Gant had triumphed: Louis and Angélique lives, including the slaughter of the whole inhabitants of were reconciled: and even the young tailor proved a town-twenty-two thousand men, women, and children penitent, and humbled himself to Marianne, who gra--by the insurgents. Then came the rising of the Creoles ciously received him once more into her favour. The scrivener's spiteful little enemy could bear this no longer; her heart was stung every day by some fresh insult; she declared that the court was in a league against her; and in order to be revenged on them all at once, she went off one morning with her stall and her apples, and doubtless settled in some very remote quarter, for she has never since been heard of. Some old cronies of hers, with whom she constantly quarrelled while in the court, soon missed her very much, for she was the great newsmonger of the place; and they threw out dark hints against the scrivener, even averring that he had caused her to be spirited away.

themselves (the descendants of Europeans), and the war of independence; in which the Indians took, generally, the popular side, although, when an opportunity occurred, they massacred indiscriminately all white men-vowing not to leave a white dog or a white fowl alive, and in their fantastic hatred, even scraping the whitewash from their walls! The war of independence overthrew the Spanish dominion, and established a republic; but although the Indians still remained the Pariahs of the country where they were once masters, their condition and prospects were, and are, greatly changed by the results of the contest. They learned the art of war, and the use of gunpowder and its manufacture; and every man who

was armed by the belligerents, preserves his musket, and keeps it religiously in some secret recess, biding his time. The Creoles have not been taught wisdom by the fate of the Spaniards. The republicans are as tyrannical as the monarchists; and the day will assuredly come when the trampled Indians will writhe up in their frantic despair, and deluge the country with blood

anew.

In that day their chances of success will be considerable. With arms, military habits, and, strange as it may seem, treasure, their still overwhelming numbers will tell upon their tyrants; and it would be hazardous to say that Peru will not, at some early period, be once more, for however short a period, under the government of the Incas. Under such circumstances, the character of the people presents a subject of the deepest interest; and our readers will perhaps thank us for directing them to the best recent authority, the travels of Dr Tschudi in Peru.* Three hundred years of oppression, we are informed by this author, have impressed their melancholy stamp upon the feelings and manners of the people. They are unsocial, gloomy, and meditative; they are fond of dark colours in their dress; and though indifferent to most other things, the wild sad wail of the reed - clarionet draws tears from their eyes. They drink great quantities of intoxicating liquors, and chew habitually a substance called chicha-answering in some respects to tobacco, and in others to opium; but notwithstanding, they live to a great age. Instances are not rare of their attaining to one hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty years, and our author himself knew an Indian who had at that time attained the goodly age of one hundred and forty-two. This patriarch had regaled himself on chicha for ninety years, without ever tasting a drop of water, and from his boyhood had masticated coca at least three times a-day. It is likewise remarkable that these aged persons have always fine black hair, which with the Indians never turns white, and very seldom even gray. They likewise retain their teeth to the last. The silver mines are worked, and must always be so, by Indians. The following is Dr Tschudi's account of the labourers:

"The working-class of miners is composed of Indians, who throng to Cerro de Pasco from all the provinces, far and near, especially when boyas are expected. At times, when the mines are not very productive, the number of Indian labourers amounts to between three and four thousand; but when there is a great supply of metal, the ordinary number of mine-workers is more than tripled. The Indians labour with a degree of patient industry, which it would be vain to expect from European workmen similarly circumstanced. This observation applies to the hapires in particular. Content with wretched food, and still more wretched lodging, the hapire goes through his hard day's work, partaking of no refreshment but coca, and at the end of the week (deduction being made for the food, &c. obtained on credit from the minero), he possibly finds himself in possession of only a single dollar.' This, or whatever sum he possesses, he usually spends on intoxicating liquors on Sundays and other holidays, on which occasions he is rude and quarrelsome, and commits fearful acts of mischief-intellectual darkness here, as among the railway excavators of England, producing excesses which are a scandal to the general community.

'When an unusually abundant produce of the mines throws extra payment into the hands of the mine labourers, they squander their money with the most absurd extravagance, and are excellent customers to the European dealers in dress and other articles of luxury. Prompted by a ludicrous spirit of imitation, the Indian, in his fits of drunkenness, will purchase costly things which he can have no possible use for, and

* Travels in Peru during the Years 1838–1842. By Dr J. J. Von

Tschudi. Translated from the German by Thomasina Ross. London: Bogue. 1847.

which he becomes weary of after an hour's possession. I once saw an Indian purchase a cloak of fine cloth, for which he paid ninety-two dollars. He then repaired to a neighbouring tavern, where he drank till he became intoxicated, and then, staggering into the street, he fell down, and rolled in the kennel. On rising, and discovering that his cloak was besmeared with mud, he threw it off, and left it in the street, for any one who might choose to pick it up. Such acts of reckless prodigality are of daily occurrence. A watchmaker in Cerro de Pasco informed me that one day an Indian came to his shop to purchase a gold watch. He showed him one, observing that the price was twelve gold ounces (two hundred and four dollars), and that it would probably be too dear for him. The Cholo paid the money, and took the watch; then, after having examined it for a few minutes, he dashed it on the ground, observing that the thing was of no use to him. When the Indian miner possesses money, he never thinks of laying by a part of it, as neither he nor any of his family feel the least ambition to improve their miserable way of life. With them, drinking is the highest of all gratifications, and in the enjoyment of the present moment they lose sight of all considerations for the future. Even those Cholos who come from distant parts of the country to share in the rich harvest of the mines of Cerro de Pasco, return to their homes as poor as when they left them, and with manners and morals vastly deteriorated.'

The employers of the labourers, whether Europeans or Creoles, it would appear, are neither more amiable nor more rational. They are called mineros. 'The majority of the mineros are descendants of the old Spanish families, who, at an early period, became possessors of the mines, whence they derived enormous wealth, which most of them dissipated in prodigal extravagance. At the present time, only a very few of the mineros are rich enough to defray, from their own resources, the vast expense attending the operations of mining. They consequently raise the required money by loans from the capitalists of Lima, who require interest of 100 or 120 per cent., and, moreover, insist on having bars of silver at a price below standard value. To these hard conditions, together with the custom that has been forced upon the miners of paying their labourers in metal, at times when it is very abundant, may be traced the cause of the miserable system of mine-working practised in Cerro de Pasco. To liquidate his burdensome debts, the minero makes his labourers dig as much ore as possible from the mine, without any precautions being taken to guard against accidents. The money-lenders, on the other hand, have no other security for the recovery of their repayment than the promise of the minero; and a failure of the usual produce of a mine exposes them to the risk of losing the money they have advanced.

'Under these circumstances, it can scarcely be expected that the character and habits of the minero should qualify him to take a high rank in the social scale. His insatiable thirst for wealth continually prompts him to embark in new enterprises, whereby he frequently loses in one what he gains in another. After a mine has been worked without gain for a series of years, an unexpected boya probably occurs, and an immense quantity of silver may be extracted. But a minero retiring on the proceeds of a boya is an event of rare occurrence. A vain hope of increasing fortune prompts him to risk the certain for the uncertain; and the result frequently is, that the once prosperous minero has nothing to bequeath to his children but a mine heavily burdened with debt. The persevering ardour of persons engaged in mining is truly remarkable. Unchecked by disappointment, they pursue the career in which they have embarked. Even when ruin appears inevitable, the love of money subdues the warnings of reason, and hope conjures up, from year to year, visionary pictures of riches yet to come.

'Joined to this infatuated pursuit of the career once entered on, an inordinate passion for cards and dice

contributes to ruin many of the mineros of Cerro de Pasco. In few other places are such vast sums staked at the gaming-table, for the superabundance of silver feeds that national vice of the Spaniards and their descendants. From the earliest hours of morning, cards and dice are in requisition. The mine-owner leaves his silver stores, and the shopkeeper forsakes his counter, to pass a few hours every day at the gaming-table; and card-playing is the only amusement in the best houses of the town. The mayordomos, after being engaged in the mines throughout the whole day, assemble with their comrades in the evening round the gaming-table, from which they often do not rise until six in the morning, when the bell summons them to resume their subterraneous occupation. They not unfrequently gamble away their share of a boya before any indication of one is discernible in the mine.'

The enormous prizes, however, which individuals sometimes stumble on in this great lottery, serve as a temptation which can hardly be resisted. For instance, the owner of the mines of San Jose requested the viceroy Castro, whose friend he was, to become godfather to his first child. The viceroy consented, but at the time fixed for the christening, some important affair of state prevented him from quitting the capital, and he sent the vice-queen to officiate as his proxy. To render honour to his illustrious guest, the owner of the San Jose mines laid down a triple row of silver bars along the whole way (and it was no very short distance) from his house to the church. Over this silver pavement the vice-queen accompanied the infant to the church, where it was baptised. On her return, her munificent host presented to her the whole of the silver road, in token of his gratitude for the honour she had conferred on him.' But the mineros were not always allowed to enjoy their wealth. Don Jose Salcedo, a poor Spaniard, who dwelt in Puno, was in love with a young Indian girl, whose mother promised, on condition of his marrying her daughter, that she would show him a rich silver mine. Salcedo fulfilled the condition, obtained possession of the mine, and worked it with the greatest sucThe report of his wealth soon roused the envy of the Count de Lemos, then viceroy of Peru, who sought to possess himself of the mine. By his generosity and benevolence, Salcedo had become a great favourite with the Indian population, and the viceroy took advantage of this circumstance to accuse him of high treason, on the ground that he was exciting the Indians against the Spanish government. Salcedo was arrested, tried, and condemned to death. Whilst he was in prison, he begged to be permitted to send to Madrid the documents relating to his trial, and to appeal to the mercy of the king. He proposed, if the viceroy would grant his request, that he would pay him the daily tribute of a bar of silver, from the time when the ship left the port of Callao with the documents, until the day of her return. When it is recollected that at that period the voyage from Callao to Spain occupied from twelve to sixteen months, some idea may be formed of the enormous wealth of Salcedo and his mine. The viceroy rejected this proposition, ordered Salcedo to be hanged, and set out for Puno to take possession of the mine.*

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daughter, perhaps, of a mine-labourer, could bring such a dowry to her husband; but the following revelation will account for the circumstance, and if viewed with reference to the probable destinies of the natives which we have hinted at, will be considered of importance. Notwithstanding the enormous amount of wealth which the mines of Peru have already yielded, and still continue to yield, only a very small portion of the silver veins have been worked. It is a well-known fact, that the Indians are aware of the existence of many rich mines, the situation of which they will never disclose to the whites, nor to the detested mestizos. Heretofore, mining has been to them all toil and little profit, and it has bound them in chains from which they will not easily emancipate themselves. For centuries past the knowledge of some of the richest silver mines has been, with inviolable secrecy, transmitted from father to son. All endeavours to prevail on them to divulge these secrets have hitherto been fruitless. In the village of Huancayo, there lived, a few years ago, two brothers, Don Jose and Don Pedro Yriarte, two of the most eminent mineros of Peru. Having obtained certain intelligence that in the neighbouring mountains there existed some veins of pure silver, they sent a young man, their agent, to endeavour to gain further information on the subject. The agent took up his abode in the cottage of a shepherd, to whom, however, he gave not the slightest intimation of the object of his mission. After a little time, an attachment arose between the young man and the shepherd's daughter, and the girl promised to disclose to her lover the position of a very rich mine. On a certain day, when she was going out to tend her sheep, she told him to follow her at a distance, and to notice the spot where she would let fall her manta; by turning up the earth on that spot, she assured him he would find the mouth of a mine. The young man did as he was directed, and after digging for a little time, he discovered a mine of considerable depth, containing rich ore. Whilst busily engaged in breaking out the metal, he was joined by the girl's father, who expressed himself delighted at the discovery, and offered to assist him. After they had been at work for some hours, the old Indian handed to his companion a cup of chicha, which the young man thankfully accepted. But he had no sooner tasted the liquor than he felt ill, and he soon became convinced that poison had been mixed with the beverage. He snatched up the bag containing the metal he had collected, mounted his horse, and with the utmost speed gallopped off to Huancayo. There he related to Yriarte all that had occurred, described as accurately as he could the situation of the mine, and died on the following night. Active measures were immediately set on foot to trace out the mine, but without effect. The Indian and all his family had disappeared, and the mine was never discovered.'

Before closing this interesting book, we must present a view of the great mining city referred to in the above extracts. Having traversed the long and difficult route from the capital of Peru, by way of the wild Cordillera to the level heights of Bombon, and from thence having ascended the steep, winding acclivities of the mountain chain of Olachin, the traveller suddenly beholds in the distance a large and populous city. This is the cele

'But this cruel and unjust proceeding failed in the attainment of its object. As soon as Salcedo's death-brated Cerro de Pasco, famed throughout the world for doom was pronounced, his mother-in-law, accompanied by a number of relations and friends, repaired to the mine, flooded it with water, destroyed the works, and closed up the entrance so effectually, that it was impossible to trace it out. They then dispersed; but some of them, who were afterwards captured, could not be induced, either by promises or tortures, to reveal the position of the mouth of the mine, which to this day remains undiscovered. All that is known about it is, that it was situated in the neighbourhood of Cerro de Laycacota and Cananchari.'

It may appear strange that a poor Indian girl, the

*The date of Salcedo's death was May 1669.

its rich silver mines. It is situated in 10 degrees 48 minutes south latitude, and 76 degrees 23 minutes west longitude, and at the height of 13,673 feet above the sea level. It is built in a basin-shaped hollow, encircled by barren and precipitous rocks. Between these rocks, difficult winding roads or paths lead down to the city, which spreads out in irregular divisions, surrounded on all sides by little lagunes, or swamps. The pleasing impression created by the first view of Cerro de Pasco from the heights is very greatly modified on entering the town. Crooked, narrow, and dirty streets are bordered by rows of irregularly-built houses; and miserable Indian huts abut close against well-built dwellings, whose size and structure give a certain European cha

racter to the city when viewed from a distance. Without bestowing a glance on the busy throng which circulates through the streets and squares, the varied styles of the buildings sufficiently indicate to the observer how many different classes of people have united together to found, in the tropics, and on the very confines of the perpetual snow, a city of such magnitude, and of so motley an aspect. The wild barrenness of the surrounding scenery, and the extreme cold of the rigorous climate, the remote and solitary position of the city, all denote that one common bond of union must have drawn together the diversified elements which compose the population of Cerro de Pasco. And so it really is. In this inhospitable region, where the surface of the soil produces nothing, nature has buried boundless stores of wealth in the bowels of the earth, and the silver mines of Cerro de Pasco have drawn people from all parts of the world to one point, and for one object.'

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In the last number of the Edinburgh Review'-one of the best which has appeared for some time-an article occurs on the subject of Prison Visiting,' interesting from the reference it makes to a case of singular and unostentatious benevolence. The history of this case, which is quite refreshing, from the quantity of good done in comparison with the little said of it by the principal party concerned, may be given as follows.

was that of gentie persuasion; her manual, the New Testament. Virtue is ever respected by the most dissolute; and Sarah had the satisfaction of seeing that she was not only listened to, but obeyed. With no other power than kindness, she ruled the wild democracy with greater effect than if armed with all the terrors of the law.

Warming as she went on in her self-imposed duties, she gave up one entire working-day in the week, besides Sunday, to the prison, thus devotedly sacrificing no inconsiderable portion of her means. Having brought the prisoners into a kind of subjection, she divided them into classes, and taught them reading and writing; and afterwards, in order to keep them in useful employment, introduced work of different kinds. The capital with which she commenced these handicraft labours was no more than thirty shillings, which she had received in charitable subscriptions; but with this she procured some useful materials, such as straw for hats, and cloth for caps, and the sale of the manufactured articles kept up the stock. Through these means many female prisoners were taught to sew in the prison, and general industrious habits were created among all.

But Sarah's labours did not end here. She caused

the adoption of Sunday services in the prison, and she had now the inestimable privilege, as she considered it, of being allowed to minister to the spiritual wants of the inmates on a comprehensive scale. For some time she read printed sermons, but afterwards delivered discourses of her own composition, as more directly About thirty years ago, the prison of Yarmouth in applicable to her purpose. We are not told to what Norfolk was in the most wretched condition. The sect Sarah belonged, and are therefore unable to gratify prisoners spent their time in gaming, swearing, fight- curiosity on that important particular. As far as we ing, and everything else that was abominable. There have the means of judging, she was a Christian after the manner of the evangelists; nor does she appear to was no work, no schoolmaster, no clergyman. No divine have harassed either herself or her hearers with docservice was performed on Sunday, nor was any pecu- trinal difficulties or ecclesiastical disputes. She spoke liar attention paid to that day. The whole place was expressly to the understanding and feelings; and, like filthy, confined, and unhealthy, and the inmates were the good vicar of Wakefield in similar circumstances, infested with vermin and skin diseases. All this, it described, in simple and affecting language, the superior would appear, was disregarded by the town authorities, advantages of virtue over vice, of good over bad conand things continued to be as bad as possible till 1819. duct, along with the hopes of a blessed immortality enIn that year a woman was confined in the prison for hav-joyed by those who follow the injunctions of the gospel. ing cruelly maltreated her child; and with the view of viewer observes: The cold, laboured eloquence which Speaking of the efficacy of these prelections, the reexercising a beneficial influence over the culprit, a pious boy-bachelors are authorised by custom and constituted female in the neighbourhood bethought herself of visit- authority to inflict upon us-the dry husks and chips ing her. The name of this excellent though obscure of divinity which they bring forth from the dark female was Sarah Martin. She was an orphan, resided recesses of theology (as it is called) of the Fathers, or with her widowed grandmother at Caister, and now, at of the middle ages-sink into utter worthlessness by twenty-eight years of age, gained a livelihood by sewthe side of the jail addresses of this poor uneducated ing. She had received only a plain education, and seamstress.' Of whom was her congregation usually was no further prepared for undertaking the office of steamboat brought to reap a harvest at some country composed? Pert London pickpockets, whom a cheap instructor than by the experience she had acquired festival; boors, whom ignorance and distress led into from teaching a class in a Sunday school. thefts; depraved boys, who picked up a precarious livelihood amongst the chances of a seaport town; sailors, who had committed assaults in the boisterous hilarity consequent upon a discharge with a paid-up arrear of wages; servants, of both sexes, seduced by bad company into the commission of crimes against their masters; profligate women, who had added assault or theft to the ordinary vices of a licentious life; smugglers; a few game-law criminals; and paupers, transferred from a workhouse, where they had been initiated into crime, to a jail, where their knowledge was perfected. Such were some of the usual classes who assembled around this singular teacher of righteousness.'

It will seem very strange that a female with so little social influence, and entirely from the promptings of her own heart, should have thought of reforming the jail of Yarmouth; yet such was the fact. Having frequent occasion to pass the prison, she was shocked with what she heard of its condition; and animated with the hope of reclaiming the unfortunate woman above alluded to, she ventured, with the approval of her grandmother, on making her first visit. Considering the character of the place, and of the individuals confined in it, the enterprise was daring; but our heroine and was she not a true heroine ?-entertained no fears for her personal safety.

Sarah accordingly visited the cell of the unnatural mother, and spoke to her in the language of pious admonition and hope. The woman thanked her, and burst into tears; and the messenger of mercy felt confirmed in her resolutions. With this good beginning, she visited the jail at such intervals of leisure as she could spare from her daily occupations. From addressing the first object of her solicitude, she proceeded to speak and read to the other prisoners. Her language

Thus did the self-devoted Sarah go on from year to year, heedless of worldly fame or worldly reward. In 1826 she came into the possession of a small annuity of ten or twelve pounds, by the death of her grandmother; but this did not substantially improve her circumstances, for about the same period her employment as a dressmaker declined, in consequence of her mind being so much absorbed in her prison labours. It might with some have now been a question whether to relinquish the prison teachings, or to go on with them in the

midst of poverty. Sarah never hesitated. In the notes she wrote respecting her labours, the noble passage occurs- My mind, in the contemplation of such trials, seemed exalted by more than human energy; for I had counted the cost, and my mind was made up. If, whilst imparting truth to others, I became exposed to temporal want, the privation so momentary to an individual would not admit of comparison with following the Lord in thus administering to others.'

It was impossible that such genuine philanthropy should escape attention; many individuals felt interested in Sarah's struggles, and wished to relieve her poverty. She accordingly received occasional presents of clothes, and other articles likely to render her life more comfortable; but 'whatever was sent to her, was given away to persons more destitute than herself.' Some members of the corporation now proposed to make some provision for her from the borough funds; but the design was laid aside. A similar proposal was renewed in 1841. Sarah, however, entertained serious scruples about receiving what appeared to be a money compensation for her services. Such scruples,' observes the reviewer, should have been held sacred. Corporation gratitude should have been exhibited in some way which would not have excited a feeling of selfdegradation; but alas! a jail committee does not enter into questions of feeling. It was coarsely intimated to this high-souled woman, "If we permit you to visit the prison, you must submit to our terms;" and these worshipful gentlemen, who were then making use of Sarah Martin as a substitute for the schoolmaster and the chaplain, whom it was by law their bounden duty to have appointed, converted her into their salaried servant by the munificent grant of L.12 per annum!'

This remarkable woman did not long survive to enjoy corporation patronage or bounty. Her health began to fail in the winter of 1842; and after enduring the agonies of a protracted disease, she joyfully sunk to her rest on the 15th of October 1843. She was buried at Caister, by the side of her grandmother; and a tombstone in the churchyard bears a simple inscription, written by herself, which commemorates her death and age, but says not a word of her many virtues !'

The notice of Sarah Martin's life has been drawn up by the reviewer from a work purporting to be memoirs written by herself; also a volume of poems, of which she was the authoress; and the Report of Inspector of Prisons for the northern district: it may therefore be presumed to be a faithful, though brief record of her meritorious works of mercy. In bringing prominently into view a biography of such practical value, the writer of the article in question has done good service to the cause of human amelioration; and we can sympathise with him when he remarks, that it is the business of literature to make such a life stand out from the masses of ordinary existences, with something of the distinctness with which a lofty building uprears itself in the confusion of a distant view. It should be made to attract all eyes, to excite the hearts of all persons who think the welfare of their fellow-mortals an object of interest or duty; it should be included in collections of biography, and chronicled in the high places of history; men should be taught to estimate it as that of one whose philanthropy has entitled her to renown, and children to associate the name of Sarah Martin with those of Howard, Buxton, Fry-the most benevolent of mankind!'

If Sarah Martin, however, is to be judged by the means at her disposal, and by the unostentatious manner in which her services were performed, we should pronounce her to be deserving of a higher meed of applause than Howard, Fry, Buxton, or any other modern philanthropist. It must not be forgotten that she was never anything else than a poor needlewoman, struggling to earn her bread; and that, finally, she sacrificed even this means of subsistence to carry out her considerate schemes of charity. It is of not less importance to remember that she went to work with

out any preliminary parade, and continued her labours without the slightest desire for their public recognition. In this latter circumstance is disclosed the truly magnanimous mind of the heroine there is revealed the true soul of the Christian. While the great ones of the earth were dreaming or squabbling over their respective pet doctrines, and hesitating as to the exact methods by which a crew of desperadoes were to be humanised and reclaimed, up rises an obscure and friendless female, who, without parade, or talk, or any other species of trumpeting, performs all that everybody could desire. It is, therefore, not alone as a poor woman, but as a being who worked, and set about her work at once, that she must be accorded the highest meed of posthumous fame. And how immeasurably great are her deserts compared with those of the many recipients of heaven's richest bounties, who consume life in mere speculative cravings, and who, while practising Christianity, as they imagine, are doing little more than shamming it!

FOLLIES OF THE WISE.

IN poring over the works of the natural philosophers who flourished during the seventeenth, and part of the eighteenth century, it has afforded us considerable amusement to hunt up the follies and eccentricities with which these learned men alternately amused and astonished their friends and themselves. The seventeenth century was particularly prolific in such men, among whom Kircher, Scholtus, and Porta were pre-eminent. They esteemed it perfectly congruous to unite mathematics with magic; natural philosophy with feats of juggling and trickings of the senses; and it may be doubted whether, in several instances, science was not pursued more for its marvels, than for the substantial benefits it was calculated to confer. The substance was prized only for its shadow! The learned of that day thus became the wonder-working magicians, who, with an enthusiasm worthy of a nobler end, delighted a select circle of friends and fellow-philosophers with the illusions which the present age happily consigns to the itinerant conjuror, for the delectation of juvenile parties. The truth is, philosophy was in its childhood: it had not yet learned to put away childish things. Few subjects present us with a more striking illustration of the immaturity of science, than the manifest tendency to the marvellous which formed the distinguishing feature of the philosophic character of that epoch. The curious bits of clock-work, the phantasmagoric apparatus, the ceaseless attempts at 'perpetual motion,' and the sundry other contrivances, the history of which has come down to us, are melancholy trophies of its misdirected energies. They were toys which advancing years were to cast aside; and the sketches about to be given, are offered simply to remind us of what were the immediate precedents of the brighter light we are now privileged to enjoy.

The learned Jesuit Kircher has been mentioned as among the most eminent of these philosophers. From his voluminous writings, and from a huge folio volume descriptive of his museum, may be collected some of the devices with which he succeeded in surprising and terrifying his acquaintance. His museum was, in fact, a kind of polytechnic in miniature, only it contained things and mechanisms of which our polytechnist is entirely ignorant. Among his automatic instruments was one which he appears to have greatly delighted in: it was a kind of turreted castle. Down the towers a couple of brass balls were wont to be rolled, and, surprising to say, in some mysterious manner they reappeared at the summit again. The same apparatus then exhibited a scene representing a large number of female heads in succession, each displaying a different mode of coiffure. While the spectators were wondering when this marvellous development of female ingenuity would have an end, suddenly a gate would burst open, and reveal a dismal cave, in which a horrid monster,

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