they very properly loathed. Miss Aikin would have said the same things in a real dialogue with many times the lightness and point with which she has said them here. Still these miscellanies show distinctly enough the general power and scope of her mind. She discusses, for instance, with great acuteness in what senses English society is and is not aristocratic. Again she points out with precisely the manner of a Saturday reviewer why we so often attach to our regrets for friends' misfortunes a rider compassionately but firmly blaming them for the result,-why if a friend fails in business we mingle with our pity a hint that he was very imprudent to unite with so speculative a partner,- -or if he dies, lament that he should have put so much confidence in the medical man who attended him :

which is always keenest on points of judgment and observation rather than points of principle, and which is particularly adapted, therefore, to weigh the lighter usages of society in the balance, and sum up the evidence on matters which are not involved with the genius of personal character or the exigencies of a great movement. Miss Aikin's estimates of men of real genius, like Carlyle or Wordsworth, for example, are apt to be wanting in discernment. She took her stand on a platform of literary ideas on which a Carlyle was not possible,-was a monster rather than an eccentricity.

It is a pity that the editor has given us so many of Miss Aikin's letters to Dr. Channing. They were letters interesting no doubt to her to write, and to him to read, but they are not of any great interest to the public; for they go into subjects which were scarcely adapted to the peculiar nature of Miss Aikin's talents, and throw no light on those subjects which has not been thrown a thousand times before. Metaphysics and theology were not in Miss Aikin's way, and when she grows 66 earnest "she is, we regret

"A tacit reference to self enters, more or less, into all our sympathetic emotions. It is matter of the most familiar remark, that no misfortunes affect us so much as those which are likely one day to fall to our own lot; and in our anxiety to remove this apprehension from ourselves, we are ever ready to catch hold of some casual or accessory circumstance to which to impute the calamity. to say, apt also to grow dull, because a little friend,' we say, was indeed ruined; but it superficial. The same may be said of the was by negligence, by imprudent trust. I, letters to Mrs. Taylor. Some of them are who am neither imprudent nor negligent, the earliest dated letters in the book, and have no such catastrophe to fear. He died, were perhaps written before Miss Aikin had but it was through the ignorance of his phy

My

sician; I employ one who is skilful. A lit-grown out of the pedantic age, or possibly it tle distrust, however, is apt still to intrude may have been that her reverence for this upon these consolatory explanations. We particular friend induced her to stand on fear it may be only a flattering unction that mental tiptoe when she wrote. This sort of we are laying to our souls, and we endeavor, thing is very trying :by our very vehemence, to impose silence on our secret doubts how far it may be well

directed."

meditation! The first, the most welcome, "In the fate of Europe, what food for thought that strikes me is, that for sovereigns, as for private persons, for nations as for individuals, it is good to have been afflicted."

So in another little essay Miss Aikin puts in a defence of intellectual doubt, in precisely the same style,—not explaining to what kind of doubt she refers, but grounding Moralizing was never in Miss Aikin's way, her defence on the etymology of doubt from and had any young lady moralized on the "double," so as to make it express suspense advantages of national adversity to her, we between alternatives, and pointing to the tol-feel sure she would have had some poignant erance which such doubt cherishes. In a word repartee to make. Mrs. Taylor appears to Miss Aikin's intellect seemed chiefly formed for the oral discussion of these secondary sort of questions, involving acute comparisons and lively examples, but not probing deeply, and usually defending, like the Saturday, not without ability, a view liable to the charge of being superficial or commonplace. She had a sharp secular intellect of that neutral tint

have been the only correspondent to whom her style ever became inflated. The following reads to us more like a fragment from one of Evelina's letters than from one of Miss Aikin's :

"What delightful satisfaction have I had in recurring to those sacred hours which we were permitted to pass together! Who can

had

express the cheerfulness, the vigor, the sense her letters. Miss Aikin often reflects unconof inward refreshment procured by such ex-sciously the tone of mind of the person to pansions of the heart and mind? To meet a whom she is writing,-in some measure kindred soul, whose intuitive sympathy gives the power of clothing in words thoughts which must otherwise bave bloomed and died in long and joyless succession within the dark recesses of the bosom, is a boon more bright than all the fabled gifts of fairy benefactors, and one in which there seems to be as much of spell and talisman. What is the charm, my friend, by which you thread the whole labyrinth of my bosom, and find access to cells of which I myself must have forgotten the existence?"

Of this sort, however, there is but little. Many of the letters, especially from Edinburgh, from Mr. Roscoe's house at Allerton, and also the earlier ones from Hampstead, are very lively. And many even of the others are full of anecdote. Here are two very good stories :—

66

My father and mother were not particularly delighted with their expedition to G——'s, as far as the beauties of nature were concerned. My father heard there an

"ceases to be herself and becomes a correspondent." Still, her relations with her friends would have been far clearer to us, some of the monotonous letters to Dr. Channing and Mrs. Taylor been omitted, in favor of letters addressed to herself by such men as Mr. Whishaw, Mr. Roscoe, or Professor Smyth.

From The Saturday Review. LOVELY WOMAN.

It is an interesting question, which most people of both sexes have to discuss when they begin to pass over middle life, how far it is legitimate to "make up." It may be objected that " legitimate" is too strong a word. But there undoubtedly are stern moralists who discern actual sin in the effort to be artificially beautiful. Arguing by merely logical ethics, it is not very difficult for them to make out their case. False hair and dyeing are distinctly meant to deceive; anecdote which will give you an idea of the extreme barbarity of the fen country. A and the same must be said of padding and Cambridge physician being sent for to a rouge. It is true that they may be, and are, patient in that part, and finding the road generally done so badly that no one is deceived scarcely passable, though it was the middle except very short-sighted people. But the of summer, inquired of his conductor, a sim-character of the intention is not affected by ple country lad, what the people could possi- the skill of the execution. For padding and bly do for medical assistance in winter? Oh, sir!' replied the gawky, in winter they die a natural death! My father has got something from uis fen expedition, however; namely, a descriptive letter for the Athenæum, for which Dr. Falkener has also sent a dissertation on the Elysian fields. There is a man at Acle, whose name I forget, who has written to say that if my father will accept of his service for the Athenæum, his mind will be found a perpetual source of poetic and prosaic strength; he confesses, however, that there is a kind of confusion in his head, but hopes my father will be so good as to 'put him in order.' Oh, the Norfolk gen-place of a more prosaic kind by the adventi

iuses!

The volume contains, on the whole, much that is entertaining, though much that might have been omitted with advantage, especially if the space could have been filled up with any of the more interesting letters to, as well as from, Miss Aikin, to give us a conception not only of the influences that were brought to bear upon her mind, but of the impressions she made upon others. Of these, indeed, the traces are often visible enough in

dyeing and rouge no defence whatever can be set up. They are clearly intended to obtain admiration on false pretences, and therefore amount to social swindling. They must place the consciences of those who have recourse to them in a very unpleasant dilem

ma.

hair brown, or her mud-colored hair auburn, If a young lady, by dyeing her red has succeeded in obtaining a place in some male heart, she must feel that she has been guilty of exactly the same offence in kind as that of the footman who has secured a good

tious protuberance of his calves. On the other hand, if she obtains no success, she must be the victim of that specially poignant kind of remorse which visits, those who have done wrong and have got. nothing by it. There is more to be said in behalf of false hair, though the defence is sophistical in kind. The moralist has no plea to offer in behalf of" fronts," or "puffs,” or “tails; though, in regard to these latter, the precedent which is set by the horses of the Life

1

to indudge in conversation. As the operation was always lengthy, and occasionally unsuccessful, his daughter would sit by and restrain the impatience of any thoughtless visitor by the observation, Please, sir, to sit awhile till father has made his teeth tight."

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Guards may seem to afford to the fair sex a | and therefore always kept his teeth upon his kind of government sanction for the immo- table, and only put them in when he wished rality of which they are guilty. But they should feel some compunction on the score of fairness, if not of truthfulness. It is very hard that, while woman can conceal the dishonors of an unproductive scalp, science has furnished to her masculine rival no device for escaping the opprobrium which attaches But the question of taste is perhaps more to a scrubby beard or starved mustaches. difficult to adjust than that of morals. There The only difficulty which the casuist will is an inconsistency in the standard applied meet with, who has to analyze the different for which it is not easy to account. Why is shades of the capillary lie, will arise out of false hair a very pardonable offence, and the wig. Middle-aged gentlemen who are false color a deadly crime? No lady would detected in a wig before they have quite per- mind acknowledging to a friend of her own suaded themselves that they are no longer sex that she was not indebted to the bounty young are very apt to pretend that they are of nature for all her luxuriant burden of afflicted with neuralgia in the ears, or rheu- hair. But lives there the women so bold matism in the nose, or some other complaint that she would confess to the rouge-pot, even which makes it a matter of necessity to keep before her most intimate friend? There are their heads covered. In fact, evasions of a good many very respectable women who this kind may be generally detected by a would prefer to hear that some scandalous ghastly, conscience-stricken effort on the part story was being circulated about them rather of the offender to gasp out the words,- than have it popularly believed that they "directions of my medical man." When painted. It is very likely that this feeling health obviously robust makes this resource will not last. An undercurrent of feeling unavailable, some hardened sinners are shame- seems to be setting in upon this momentous less enough to pretend that the flies settle subject, but it has only got as far as people's upon their scalps. A director who had to actions, and has not yet affected the sentideal with cases of this kind would probably ments they profess in conversation. Any compromise the matter by prescribing some one, judging of the manners and customs of form of wig which could not possibly con- the women of England merely from what he tribute to the beautification of the wearer. hears them say, would imagine that paint Specimens of such an arrangement may often was an utter abomination. But there are be seen upon old gentlemen, who almost painful indications that the forbidden thing advertise the exact nature of their cranial is not quite so strange to them as they would protection by putting a jet-black wig above have people believe. Any one who is curious white or sandy-haired whiskers. No doubt on these subjects should study the price-lists these party-colored worthies have felt the of some of the fashionable perfumers. They ethical difficulty, and have settled the matter contain a mine of information concerning with their consciences in this way. False what a German would call the genesis of teeth are more difficult for the moralist to female beauty. It has become quite an art, deal with; for their utility is beyond contro- in the ingenuity and elaboration of its detail; versy. Occasionally it falls to the lot of and, if we may judge by the results, a very luckless guests to sit next a lady who has successful art. To the poet or the sentimenbeen deprived by bad fate and worse dentists talist it might be pleasanter to believe that the of her real teeth, and is debarred by her beautiful and delicate coloring that may be principles from false ones. After two hours' seen in any large gathering of English ladies effort to look animated and intelligent, and was nature's spontaneous product. But perto say "yes" in the right place, the victim haps it is more congenial to our national may well go away disgusted with principles character, and to the qualities by which we for life. Perhaps the most truly virtuous have won our position, that we should owe plan is that which was adopted by an upright nothing to nature's bounty, and everything to Scotch provost, who felt that it was wrong our own ingenuity and skill. The untaught to sacrifice either his principles or his friends, male studying one of these lists is like a

"Milk of Pestachio Nuts, for imparting voluté to the complexion.

"Lait de Concombre, for Freckles.
"Oriental Rusma, to remove Hair.
"Cosmetic Vinegar, for cooling and soften-
the Skin.

savage who has been carried over the ocean, tions before it is fit for the paint, in order to to see a civilized land. He cannot advance confer qualities upon it whose value is no a step without being moved to wonder by doubt known to the initiated :the minute refinement which is implied by everything that meets his eye. Let us take up one of them, and by its aid follow the manufacture of loveliness in all its stages, as practised in the second half of the nineteenth century. The first point, of course, to ob-ing tain is cleanliness; in regard to this matter, we regret to say, the information afforded is not wholly satisfactory. On such a point, a perfumer's notions may be expected to differ from those of a sanitary reformer. The first preparation the English beauty employs is "Cold Cream Soap.-This Soap being prepared without Alkali, renders it exceedingly

mild.'

So we should imagine. To judge by other
senses than our eyes, we should infer that
cold cream soap
was extensively employed
by many classes of Her Majesty's subjects.
But, at all events, it calls itself a soap, and
to that extent may claim superiority over

"Florimel of Ivy.-No young Spanish girl
considers her toilet-case complete unless it
contains a jar of Ivy Paste, which she has
good reason to know is a sure conserve of
beauty. The excessive growth of Ivy (wild)
on the Spanish Pyrenees is scarcely sufficient
to supply the markets of Madrid, Barcelona,
and St. Sebastian. Large quantities are ob-
tained from Bayonne, the young and tender
leaf alone being employed. The Florimel is
a perfect substitute for soap; ladies who use
it will not require that detergent
No doubt a Spanish girl would not suffer
very much in her mind if it were not a per-
fect substitute, as she has probably in most

cases

never heard of "that detergent." But the vigor of the imagination which could conceive the idea of washing with ivy paste instead of soap approaches to the verge of genius. No doubt the ingenuity of the efforts made to rescue ladies from the unpleasant necessity of washing will be rewarded by an abundant popularity. Any lady, however, who is of opinion that these preparations approach too nearly in their character to the detested" detergent," has another resource, free from the most distant suspicion of detergent qualities:

"Pestachio Nut Meal, 38. lb.-An excellent substitute for Soap for Tender Skin. '

Arsenical Lotion (imported from Styria, Lower Austria).-This Lotion gives beauty and freshness to the Complexion, plumpness to the Figure, clearness and softness to the Skin."

In case this somewhat formidable preparation should fail to give sufficient "plumpness to the figure," there is a resource, more venerable in its associations, of whose full powers the readers of the book of Exodus are probably not aware. We commend the matter to the attention of Dr. Colenso, as a fit subject for the exertions of his powerful mind :

"Sinai Manna.-When eaten this has the

ures.

effect of imparting embonpoint. 12s. 6d. lb. It is a pity that Mr. Herbert was ignorant of this remarkable fact, as it might have aided him in the delineation of his female figWe hope Mr. Banting will be careful to warn some of his pupils, who may be travelling to the East, of the dangers they run. After all this careful preparation, the skin may be looked upon as ready for the paintbrush, or, rather, the hare's foot :

"Sympathetic Blush, for Pallid Cheeks. "Powder Bloom, fair and dark. "Finest Rouge.-This is the coloring precipitated from the Damask Rose Leaf.

"Blanc de Perle.
"Bleu pour Veines.

"Dark Coral Lip Salve.

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Rouge de Piesse, does not wash off."
We should have thought the last precaution
was superfluous. The cheeks and lips bav-
ing been thus elaborated secundum artem, the
laborious beauty addresses herself to the dec-
oration of her eyes. The next list has rather
an alarming look, and shows that the fair
artist must possess courage as well as taste..

with Ivory Probe, 38. 6d.
"Persian Antimony, for the Eyelashes,

"Egyptian Kohhl, for the Brows and Lash

es, 108.

"Henna, from Persia (for the inside of the Eyelid).

"Belladonna, imparts brilliancy and fas

But the skin must undergo other manipula-cination to the Eyes, 2s. 6d."

Such aids to the toilet must form an admira- | cal generation to think with some clearness and ble safeguard for feminine modesty. It would independence. Most of his other works were be a perilous matter to make too free with a of considerable though temporary interest. lady so poisonously beautified; an ill-placed kiss might be fatal to the enterprising adorer. One or two supplementary charms may be added at discretion:

"Nail Powder, Poudre pour Polir les Ongles, et leur donner le brallant de la nacre rosée. Unguenti Odoratissima, for Princesses, 78. jars."

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From the language in which this last item is described we may gather the interesting fact, unknown to political writers, that princesses require a superlative quantity of scent.

There is one other item in the list which does not at first sight seem germane to a per

fumer's business :

and in his notes on Paley and Bacon he incorporated many of the passages which, in his later years, he thought most deserving of prolonged life. In 1855-6 there appeared a volume or two of selections from his writings, made by a friendly hand with His Grace's permission (to say the truth, Whately was rather fond of being "selected," and epitomized); and in now giving to the world these Remains, which, there seems some reason to think may be supplemented by a second volume from parts of the Commonplace-book which were supposed at one time to be lost, other day-have been lately recovered, Miss but-if we may trust a passing notice the Whately is erecting the best monument to her "Secret or Sympathetic Ink, adapted for father's memory. Moreover, the volumes in private correspondence. question enable those who are curious in litWhat can the lovely creatures who owe a erary history to compare the rough-hewn portion of their charms to this beauty-giving thoughts of the archbishop, as they appear art want with "private correspondence"? in the earlier pages of the CommonplaceAnd, if they should want it, do they make the book which was his constant companion, with perfumer from whom they purchase it, and their fuller development in his published who must guess at the reason for which they works; and they who, with ourselves, think purchase it, the confidant-and something the broad outlines of thought and theory more-of their joys and longings? If the tenderness which his heart evidently feels towards female weaknesses should prompt him to accept such confidences, it is only just that he should be repaid by such a tariff of prices as some of those that are charged at these shops.

From The Saturday Review. ARCHBISHOP WHATELY'S COMMONPLACE

BOOK.*

more valuable in the rough than in their elaborated, and sometimes emasculated, fulness of statement, have here a storehouse of lively notions, and very lively illustrations, which will take their place beside" Guesses at Truth" by the brothers Hare. To this latter work, indeed, they have a close affinity, -as close as is consistent with the difference between the thoroughly Oxford tone of Whately and the Cambridge element which, notwithstanding Augustus Hare's being of MISS WHATELY is well performing her office Oxford, pervades the "Guesses." The of literary executor to her father. A repub- Guesses," again, have a cheery, healthy, lication of his whole works would be out of place. The Logic" and "Rhetoric" had their value in their day. They expanded the range of Oxford intellect in the direction in which Oxford was then willing to receive expansion; and Fallacies" appended to the former, if not strictly part of a logical treatise (for they were almost exclusively material, not formal), were full of suggestive passages, and went a long way in teaching an inert academi

66

*"Miscellaneous Remains from the Commonplace-Book of Richard Whately, D.D., late Archbishop of Dublin." Edited by Miss E. J. Whately. London: Longman & Co. 1864.

66

undergraduate smack about them, which is exchanged in Whately-very unconsciously for the savor of the Oxford tutor. Sometimes he is more staid, as if restrained by his feeling of τòπρéπоv and sometimes (by the very reaction against donnishness in his earlier, and against party spirit in his later, days) more flagrantly évávTios Tαis dóğαis than either the Hares or any one else could have been. But the difference either way is real. And perhaps it is best expressed by saying that while the Hares were investigatOrs, guessers, starters of intellectual game, it probably never occurred to Whately that he