every description towards those from whose industry their own fortunes spring. Even they who contribute at all to the education or moral improvement of their workmen do so, in nineteen cases out of twenty, merely by money, and without personal pains and superintendence of their own.'-Mr. Symons, App. I. p. 201.

How the reverse of such a feeling has operated the following account will prove :-Mrs. Stansfield, of Flockton, and her family, large proprietors both of mines and land, erected a room 56 feet long as a Sunday-school, and covered its walls with maps and pictures, and placed a piano in it. At nine on each Sunday morning a bell heard in the neighbouring village summons about sixty-four children, who prepare, by prayer and psalmody, for reading catechisms and hearing Scripture: after these preliminaries they are taken to the church, about half-a-mile off; and a similar exercise is repeated in the evening. Tickets, bearing a value of 1d. or 2d. a-dozen, are given for attendance at school and chapel; and four of these can be obtained each Sunday. From these funds all the girls but the youngest purchase their bible, prayer, and hymn-books.

The first Sunday in August an examination takes place, to which the parents are invited: it is termed the feast of August, and is anticipated by all with delight.

From the elder girls of the school eight are selected; who, on each Wednesday, are joined by twenty young men and lads, and are formed into a singing class. Some have attained great proficiency Mr. Symons says that, at a concert given by Mr. Miles Stansfield, he saw Sarah Wood and seven other girls, who had spent the whole day in toilsome labour in the mine, performing some of the most difficult pieces of Spohr's Last Judgment, and Haydn's Masses, with zest and skill. They had been practised only a few months, once or twice a-week, and they sang that most chromatic oratorio admirably, with some of the first chorussingers in Yorkshire.'

6

'Mr. Briggs, the partner of Mrs. Stansfield, and Mr. Milnes Stansfield, her son, have, in addition to these means of mental culture for the children, opened a gymnasium and cricket-ground for the men. Twice a-week they are admitted by means of tickets; and the scene presented by the commingling of all ages and both sexes for the purposes of recreation strongly corroborated the impression I had formed of the good-heartedness (in spite of the ignorance) of the collier population. Nor is the kindly and grateful feeling which exists on the part of the workpeople of Messrs. Stansfield and Briggs towards their employers by any means confined to the playground:-it exists most warmly throughout the village.—Ibid. p. 203.

A slight trait, incidentally placed in a foot-note, will perhaps bring the whole scene more vividly before the reader than the description

description by Mr. Symons of the contention for prizes-these Titans, in the various games of bell-race, jumping in sacks, throwing weights, running, leaping over poles, &c.— An individual of great strength is appointed to act as constable, whose office is to enforce the laws, to turn out strangers entering without tickets, or any members misconducting themselves, and to close up the ground at night.'

A further experiment was made on these sons of earth-an attempt to entice them, through music, from their ordinary haunt of the public-house, and its potent attractions of strong drink and fierce gambling. At first twenty only appeared, and these 'in their shirt-sleeves.' The concert riveted their attention, and they became quiet and expressed great delight.' At the feast of August,' 1841, the twenty had swelled into a multitude of colliers,' with their families, who attended the concert as well as the games, remaining the whole evening, and declaring, at its close, This beats cock-fighting!'

We think we shall please many by giving one extract more from the historian of Fossil Fuel.' It may be surmised, from something already quoted, that this able writer himself began life in the pit; but, if so, we have it not in our power to add his name to a list which it would by no means discredit.

The Cornish miners have often been referred to as being a remarkably observant and intelligent race of men: combining, as they commonly do, each in his own person, the labourer, the adventurer, and the merchant, they have acquired a degree of shrewdness and industry that could not fail to be noted, especially by strangers with whom they came into contact. The colliers, on the other hand, whether less knowing or not, have been, in this respect at least, less known: they have almost uniformly been the servants of capitalists between whom and the actual labourers there have existed several gradations of rank-so to speak— the duties of the uppermost of which, however, bear very lightly, if at all, on the real independence of the lowest-the latter, indeed, frequently rising meritoriously from the bottom to the top of the scale. Many honourable instances of this might be mentioned. It is no proof of the general intelligence of any body of operatives that men of talent have occasionally risen from among them to distinguished stations in society; but it is natural to associate the ultimate fame or notoriety of an individual with his original calling, and this without the least disparagement or disrespect. It is on this principle that one feels a certain description of interest in knowing that the late celebrated Doctor Hutton was originally a hewer employed in Old Long Benton Colliery; that Mr. Stephenson, the intelligent engineer of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, was originally a coal-miner; that the late Rev. W. Huntingdon, an eccentric but talented preacher in the metropolis, was a coalheaver; and even that the late "king of the conjurors," as the ingenious Ingleby was called, was a pitman, who first practised sleight of hand among his companions on the banks of the Tyne. Thomas Bewick too,

VOL. LXX. NO. CXXXIX.

"the

"the celebrated xylographer and illustrator of nature," may be mentioned as another instance. His father was a collier in the neighbourhood of Hexham; and Thomas with his brothers, one of whom died after giving promise of high excellency in the beautiful art of woodengraving, was early immured in that subterranean, laborious, and loathsome employment." I have heard him say," remarks his friend Mr. Dovaston, "that the remotest recollection of his powerful and tenacious memory was that of lying for hours on his side between dismal strata of coal, by a glimmering and dirty candle, plying the pick with his little hands-those hands afterwards destined to elevate the arts, illustrate nature, and promulgate her truths, to the delight, and instruction of the moral and intellectual world."-History of Fossil Fuel, pp. 289, 290.

Since this article was put into type Lord Ashley has obtained the unanimous assent of the House of Commons for the introduction of a bill to make Regulations respecting the Age and Sex of Children and Young Persons employed in the Mines and Collieries of the United Kingdom.' After perusing this Reportwith its detailed Appendices, and the terrible woodcuts that accompany them-it was impossible for us to doubt that Lord Ashley would receive the cordial support of Her Majesty's Government in such a measure. But we were not prepared for, and therefore we were indeed most highly gratified by, the unanimity of the House of Commons on the 7th of June. We would fain hail it as an evidence that not by any one class of politicians alone, but by all, the danger of neglecting the moral and social and also the physical condition of the poor in this rich and powerful empire has at length been understood and appreciated; and as an omen and pledge that henceforth, as now, English gentlemen of all parties will be found ready to act together as men and as Christians when the afflictions of their humble fellowcountrymen are brought under their consideration as legislators. Lord Ashley's speech was indeed a happy specimen of clear. statement, intermixed with numberless touches of simply and deeply pathetic eloquence :-no man could listen to it without being reminded of Wilberforce. Such a speech might well, as a display of high talents, excite admiration and applause; but these are not days when rhetoric, or even oratory, can produce, in regard to subjects of this kind, any decisive practical effect. The House must have been operated on by circumstances of a very different character: they felt, we hope and believe, that this was the first step in a path which must be sued, if our working classes-unequalled in the history of the world for courage, energy, and native goodness of feeling-are to be reconciled to the great existing institutions of their country-not

pur

excepting

excepting the institution of property, which, like all the rest, can only deserve to be supported as being for the general advantage.

'I hope, Sir,' said Lord Ashley, 'that the House will not consider that I am speaking dogmatically on these subjects: my intercourse with the working classes, both by correspondence and personal interview, has for many years been so extensive, that I think I may venture to say that I am conversant with their feelings and habits, and can state their probable movements. I do not fear any violent or general outbreaks on the part of the population: there may be a few, but not more than will be easily repressed by the ordinary force of the country. But I do fear the progress of a cancer, a perilous, and, if we much longer delay, an incurable cancer, which has seized upon the body social, moral, and political; and then in some day, when there shall be required on the part of our people an unusual energy, an unprecedented effort of virtue and patriotism, the strength of the empire will be found prostrate, for the fatal disorder will have reached its vitals.

'There are, I well know, many other things to be done; but this, I must maintain, is an indispensable preliminary for it is a mockery to talk of education to people who are engaged, as it were, in unceasing toil from their cradle to their grave. I have endeavoured for many years to attain this end by limiting the hours of labour, and so bringing the children and young persons within the reach of a moral and religious education, I have hitherto been disappointed, and I deeply regret it, because we are daily throwing away a noble material!-for, depend upon it, the British people are the noblest and the most easily governed of any on the face of the earth. Their fortitude and obedience under the severest privations sufficiently prove it. (Loud cheers.) Sure I am, that the minister of this country, whoever he be, if he will but win their confidence by appealing to their hearts, may bear upon his little finger the whole weight of the reins of the British empire. And, Sir, the sufferings of these people, so destructive to themselves, are altogether needless to the prosperity of the empire.... Could it even be proved that they were necessary, this House, I know, would pause before it undertook to affirm the continuance of them..... What could induce you to tolerate further the existence of such cruelties? Is it not enough to announce these things to an assembly of Christian men and British gentlemen? For twenty millions of money you purchased the liberation of the negro; and it was a blessed deed. You may, this night, by a cheap and harmless vote, invigorate the hearts of thousands of your countrypeople, enable them to walk erect in newness of life, to enter on the enjoyment of their inherited freedom, and avail themselves (if they will accept them) of the opportunities of virtue, of morality, and religion. These, Sir, are the ends that I venture to propose: this is the barbarism that I seek to restore. The House will, I am sure, forgive me for having detained them so long; and still more will they forgive me for venturing to conclude, by imploring them, in the words of Holy Writ, "To break off our sins by righteousness, and our iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, if it may be a lengthening of our tranquillity,'"-Speech, &c. p. 57.

ART. VII. 1. Gardening for Ladies. By Mrs. Loudon.

London. 1841.

2. The Ladies' Companion to the Flower Garden: being an Alphabetical Arrangement of all the Ornamental Plants usually grown in Gardens and Shrubberies; with full Directions for their Culture. By Mrs. Loudon. London. 1841.

3. The Flower Garden: containing Directions for the Cultivation of all Garden Flowers. pp. 515. London. 1841. 4. An Encyclopædia of Gardening: comprising the Theory and Practice of Horticulture, Floriculture, Arboriculture, and Landscape-Gardening, &c. &c. By J. C. Loudon, F.L.S., H.S., &c. 8vo. pp. 1270. London.

5. An Encyclopædia of Plants; with Figures of nearly Ten Thousand Species. Edited by J. C. Loudon. 8vo. pp.

1159. London. 1829.

6. Elements of Botany, Structural, Physiological, Systematical, and Medical. By John Lindley, Ph. D., Professor of Botany in University College. London. 1841.

7. A Pocket Botanical Dictionary: comprising the Names, History, and Culture of all Plants known in Britain. By Joseph Paxton, F.L.S., H.S., &c. London, 1840.

8. Botany for Ladies; or, a Popular Introduction to the Natural System of Plants. By Mrs. Loudon. pp. 493. London. 1842.

9. The Orchidacea of Mexico and Guatemala.

By James Bateman, Esq. In Parts. 10. Illustrations of the Genera and Species of Orchidaceous Plants. By Francis Bauer, Esq. With Notes and Prefatory Remarks by Dr. Lindley. London. 1840.

11. Sertum Orchideum; or, a Wreath of the most beautiful Orchidaceous Plants. By Dr. Lindley. 1840-1.

12. A History of British Ferns. By Edward Newman, F.L.S. 8vo. 1840.

13. Poetry of Gardening, from The Carthusian,' a Miscellany in Prose and Verse. pp. 528. London. 1839.

IF

F Dr. Johnson would not stop to inquire 'whether landscapegardening demands any great powers of the mind,' we may surely be excused from the like investigation on the humbler subject of gardening-proper. But whether or not these pursuits demand, certain it is that they have exercised, the talents of as numerous and brilliant an assemblage of great names as any one subject can boast of. Without travelling into distant times or

countries,