named; so that a thirsty traveller could on an emergency kill a tortoise for the water it contained. The Mexicans highly prize them for the excellent soup they afford." M. Tissandier lately pointed out, in the pages of La Nature, the utility of the microscope in forming a rough analysis of articles of food in common use. Thus, a little starch moistened with water and placed on the stage of the microscope, will soon show its characteristic form; while any adulteration by gypsum or other mineral body can be immediately detected. In like manner, coffee, chocolate, pepper, milk, &c., can be submitted to critical examination. The only drawback of the system is that no durable record of the observation is made. But this difficulty can be easily obviated by the use of the photographic camera. In the municipal Laboratory of Chemistry in Paris, photographs of microscopic observations form a notable help to the work carried on there. M. Tissandier suggests that these photographs should be published, for the guidance of amateurs. To any one who remembers the early years of the present century, when a large number of persons, men and women, whom you met were marked by smallpox, when poor beggar-men blinded by smallpox were pitiably led about by dogs, and when on all hands you heard of the multitudes that were swept away by smallpox -we say, to any one who remembers all this, nothing seems more surprising in the annals of human perversity than the bitter antagonism that still prevails among certain persons concerning the utility of vaccination. Notwithstanding the most convincing statistics which prove that the dreaded smallpox has been arrested, there are many people who will persist that vaccination has proved a curse rather than a blessing. It is some satisfaction to notice that the Society for the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination, lately invited an opponent, in the person of Dr W. B. Carpenter, to speak at one of their meetings. Dr Carpenter showed that the mortality in England from smallpox had gradually declined from about four thousand per million, to two hundred and seventy-six per million. We trust that anti-vaccinators will bear his facts in mind, and profit by them. closed, it would seem that a vast number of people have taken an interest in this important question-a question not only affecting the Metropolis, but one which will in time force its attention upon every large town in the kingdom. Many foreign countries have sent over reporters to this Exhibition; and corporations and public institutions in various parts of the kingdom have been represented among the visitors. More than one hundred and sixteen thousand persons have entered its doors; and although there is a deficit of eight hundred pounds, the object of the display in bringing forward recent inventions bearing upon smokeprevention has been fully attained. We may hope that the movement thus begun, which will be supplemented by similar Exhibitions in Manchester and other large cities, will lead to some permanent results. The reluctance of many manufacturers to consume their own smoke, and thus effect a saving in their coalbills-irrespective of the sanitary point of the question-is to us unaccountable. The Builder calls attention to the different method of treating lime for making mortar which prevails in Italy, from that commonly adopted in this country. In Italy, the first operation is to dig a pit for lime, in which it remains covered with water for two years before it is used. In England, on the contrary, lime is slaked and used the same day, any remaining over and above the quantity actually required being regarded as so much rubbish. Most building specifications mention newlyslaked lime as a sine qua non. The friable and powdery character of the mortar in a newlybuilt house, which can often easily be picked from between the bricks by the finger-nail, would lead to the conclusion that there is something radically wrong in its composition. It forms a great contrast to the hard and stony condition of the mortar used in many buildings which have stood for centuries. Long attention to the subject of buildings in Italy, leads the writer in the Builder to assert that the Italian method is the right one. The Exhibition of Electrical Apparatus and Appliances, at the Crystal Palace, was opened on the 25th of February, and is likely to prove According to the recent returns of the of great utility in the advancement of electrical Registrar-general, a week of London fog has a science in this country. The Exhibition is in most fatal effect on the health of the Metropolis. every respect most complete, and illustrates almost The death-rate of London, which during the every department of electrical science at present winter months is generally less than twenty-two known. In some respects it is even more importper thousand, rose in one week of fog to the ant than the Paris Exhibition, as the experience abnormal proportion of 353 per thousand. This which inventors there gained led many of them occurred, it must be remembered, in the absence to make important improvements on their appaof any severe frost, and when there was no pre-ratus and appliances previous to sending them vailing epidemic to account for the increase. to the London Exhibition. From being one of the most healthy cities of the empire, London is thus by one week of fog suddenly relegated to the lowest position on the list. Dr Fothergill, during a lecture in connection with the Smoke Abatement Exhibition at South Kensington, said that if the fog of the last few days, which had got down our throats and impeded the action of our lungs, did not make people take an interest in the abatement of smoke, he did not know what would.' From the returns of the Exhibition, which is now BOOK GOSSIP. ANGLING, whether viewed as an art or a recreation, has ever been agreeably associated with much that is beautiful in nature and pleasurable in society. One of its earliest and the best known of its advocates, Izaak Walton, gave to the pursuit a distinctive and pre-eminent place among kindred sports when he christened it, on the title-page of his book, the 'Contemplative Man's Journal Recreation.' And he further added to its attrac- tion for ethical and philosophical culture.' But tiveness by blending with his angling instructions in recent years the opinion has been gradually and adventures, pleasant dissertations or rather emerging more and more into prominence that digressions—on men, and animals, and birds, and the dead languages have not the value as an flowers; lifting the whole subject out of the to them that they are not the be-all and endelement of culture which many would assign sordid ruck of merely worldly amusements, in all of our educational wants. which the money spent is expected to yield the money's worth, and placing it almost in the higher rank of literary and artistic pastimes, wherein the mental pleasure of the effort itself is to the person who puts it forth, a sufficient and satisfactory reward. Walton has had many followers, especially in the present century, with its Christopher North, its Ettrick Shepherd, Thomas Tod Stoddart, William Stewart, Francis Francis, and a host of others, whose writings have in a greater or less degree attracted public attention to the angler and his art, throwing around the subject a halo of literary brilliance, and dressing it out in all the rich and fantastic trappings of poetic sentiment and artistic fancy. Another contribution to the same department of life and literature comes to hand, in the shape of a second series of collected papers by the Members of the Manchester Anglers' Association. The volume is entitled Anglers Evenings (Manchester: A. Heywood & Son), and its illustrations, as well as its letterpress," are principally the work of Members of the Association from which it emanates. In all respects it is a creditable volume a few of the papers being something more than creditable. We have fishing adventures in England, Scotland, Wales, and Norway; each narrative containing not only a certain fund of amusement, but for those who ply the rod, bits of genuine experience and instruction as well Some of the papers show considerable narrative power; and the descriptions of scenery, from the wild surroundings of the White Coomb in the Southern Highlands of Scotland, to the marshy levels and osier-bordered meres of Staffordshire, have about them that touch of genuine appreciation, without which all scenic description is as lifeless as the back-scene of a theatre. The book is sure to be a favourite with those who are anglers; and it is almost equally sure that it will likewise be a favourite with many who are not. Foremost among the advocates of this new doctrine-this heterodoxy of the schools-is Professor Huxley, and in his latest publication, Science and Culture (London: Macmillan & Co.), he has discussed the subject at some length, and with his accustomed vivacity of thought and breadth of illustration. But this does not admirable biographical and critical lecture on form the sole topic of the volume. There is an the life and opinions of Joseph Priestley, the Birmingham divine and scientist; another on the 'Method of Zadig'-Zadig being a more or less apocryphal character who lived long ago at the court of Babylon, and who is credited with having had a singular faculty of observation-the same kind of faculty indeed which makes a man of science at the present the animal and the vegetable kingdoms, is replete day. The essay on the border territory between with startling information bearing upon the question of what is plant and what is animal. These in the main are readily distinguishable; but as we approach the frontier, so to speak, of either kingdom, the power of defining between what belongs to the animal and what to the vegetable becomes more and more difficult, the one apparently leading into the other through such an insensible series of gradations that it is impossible, as Professor Huxley holds, to say at any stage of the progress-here the line between the animal and the plant must be drawn. OCCASIONAL NOTES. HOUSE OF REST FOR WOMEN IN BUSINESS. THERE is an Institution in the south of England about which we believe many of our readers may have never heard, and about which not a few of them may be the better for knowing something. We refer to what is called the House of Rest for Women in Business, at Babbacombe, in Devonshire. Pleasantly situated close to Babbacombe Downs, and surrounded by beautiful scenery, this unique establishment is under a Committee of land and other ladies, along with the Rev. John management, consisting of the Duchess of SutherHewett, Vicar of Babbacombe. The distinctive object of the Institution is to afford temporary The meaning of culture, says Matthew Arnold, business; and it is further intended rather for rest and change of air to women engaged in is 'to know the best that has been thought and the prevention than the cure of sickness. It is said in the world.' How best to attain this well known that a short cessation from the cares Knowledge is one of the questions of the day. and worries of business will often prevent a long The Universities give the great weight of their illness; but the difficulty with many is not only sanction to the dead languages-to the classical to obtain the requisite opportunity for rest, but productions of Greece and Rome; and in this to know where to spend their short holiday. they have been followed by individual thinkers. It is to meet this want that the Babbacombe Jan Stuart Mill has said that 'the noblest Institution was organised; and it is espeenthusiasm, both for the search after truth and cially intended for milliners, dressmakers, shopfor applying it to its highest uses, pervades the women, post-office clerks, and the like, many of classical writers. In cultivating, therefore, the whom in London and elsewhere break down for ancient languages as our best literary education, want of a rest in time. It is also available for we are all the while laying an admirable founda- such as desire to spend their annual holiday at the seaside, but are deterred from doing so by the discomfort of solitary and expensive lodgings. Domestic servants, however, are not included in the list of those eligible for admission to the Institution, which is thus strictly reserved for 'women in business.' The place is managed more on the principle of a large country house, than as an Institution, and those residing in it are treated rather as visitors than as lodgers. Pleasant intercourse and music indoors, and outdoor rambles, constitute some of the attractions. As such an Institution might be found useful elsewhere throughout the country, we may state that it is upheld partly by subscriptions, and partly by the revenue from visitors. The sum charged to visitors is twelve shillings per week. Donors, however, for each guinea which they give as a yearly subscription, are entitled to a ticket of admission for a period of three weeks. This ticket may be presented to any woman in business' whom the donor chooses in this way to assist, and the holder of the ticket is thereby entitled to reside in the Institution for three weeks, at the reduced rate of five shillings a week. The intending visitor, moreover, by sending a post-office order to the Rev. John Hewett, for the amount of a single railway fare to Babbacombe from the place where she resides, and a stamped and directed envelope, will receive from him a voucher for a return railway ticket; thus halving the expense of the journey. The Rules of the Institution, which may be obtained from the lady superintendent, Miss Skinner, Bayfield, Babbacombe, provide that each visitor must bring a reference either from her employer or from her clergyman; and that no one can be admitted as a visitor who is suffering from serious illness, or who is recovering from any infectious complaint. Both the above Institution in particular, and the principle of its organisation in general, are, we think, worthy of the attention of those who have at heart the health and welfare of our 'women in business.' 'HOW FISHER-FOLK MIGHT PROVIDE FOR A With reference to our article on this subject, which appeared in No. 947 of Chambers's Journal, we have received from a correspondent certain printed documents relating to a Mutual Benefit Society in Liverpool, which documents contain information that may be of interest in connection with the proposal advanced in the above article, for the institution of a Friendly Society among our fisher-folk. The Mutual Benefit Society alluded to is that of the Montreal Ocean Steamship Company, whose offices are at Wellington Dock, Liverpool. The members of the Society are the officers, seamen, shore hands, and others, employed in the service of the Company. The objects of the Society are (1) to afford assistance to the members in case of accident, and (2) to provide a stated sum in case of death. It is managed by office-bearers selected from its own membership. The officers and higher class of officials pay to the funds two shillings entrymoney, and the sum of eightpence weekly; while seamen, firemen, and the like, pay one shilling entry-money, and fourpence weekly. Among those members who pay fourpence weekly, any one of them who shall meet with an accident while in the Company's service shall be entitled to receive the sum of twelve shillings per week for the first twelve weeks, nine shillings per week for the next four weeks, and five shillings per week for other four weeks; then all claims for weekly allowance shall cease. In the case of death, the widow or relative shall be entitled to the sum of ten pounds. Those members who pay eightpence weekly are entitled to double the before-mentioned sums. The members number fifteen hundred and seventy-eight; and the Society, which was established in 1863, has already nearly twelve thousand pounds of invested funds. The above shows what might be done in the way of self-help by our fisher-folk, were a similar organisation formed for this purpose. The small sum payable per week by each member would scarcely be missed; while the fund thus secured would form a valuable protection and support to families in the event of accident, illness, or death overtaking their bread-winners. We may add that two other companies now exist in this connection, namely, The Scottish Boat Insurance Company (Limited),' and 'The Scottish Fishermen's Accident Insurance Company (Limited),' the head office of both being at 20 Seaforth Street, Fraserburgh, whence, or from the branch offices elsewhere, information may be obtained as to the conditions of insurance either for life or boats. BACK again to wood and dell, With graceful cheer shall bless each spot; J. H. The Conductors of CHAMBERS's JOURNAL beg to direct the attention of CONTRIBUTORS to the following notice: 1st. All communications should be addressed to the 'Editor, 339 High Street, Edinburgh.' 2d. To insure return in case of ineligibility, postage. stamps should accompany every manuscript. 3d. MANUSCRIPTS should bear the author's full Christian name, surname, and address, legibly written; and should be written on white (not blue) paper, and on one side of the leaf only. 4th. Poetical offerings should invariably be accompanied by a stamped and directed envelope. Unless Contributors comply with the above rules, the Editor cannot undertake to return ineligible papers. Printed and Published by W. & R. CHAMBERS, 47 Paternoster Row, LONDON, and 339 High Street, EDINBURGH. All Rights Reserved. POPULAR LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART. CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS. No. 953.-VOL. XIX. SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 1882. PRICE 11d. lessee competed to give full value for the admisREMINISCENCES OF THE MINOR STAGE. sion fee, the time of closing was rendered pro BY AN OLD STAGER. PART I. SINCE the days of the early mysteries and moralities down to our own time, the attractiveness of all matters appertaining to the stage and its votaries has become proverbial. My reminiscences in matters theatrical carry me back fifty years, yet I can recall with vividness my early emotions, my close identification with the dramatis persona, their joys and sorrows. But although keenly alive to all tender feeling, I never remember to have been afflicted by terror, or even fear; yet was there a certain complex passion arising out of these which would occasionally result in a sensation of profound awe, in such scenes as the Ghost in Hamlet, the murder in Macbeth, or the death of Virginia. In the days of which I speak, tragedy with a 'star' in the chief part, was a luxury not to be indulged in every day; hence we were fain to content ourselves with ordinary fare-melodrama | and farce. This was by no means a hardship. The food was melodrama pure and simple, laughter and tears closely allied, a combination dear to the adolescent heart. I do not hesitate to affirm that the ecstasy experienced by a Columbus or a Vasco da Gama in the discovery of a new continent, is nly to be equalled by the felicitous delight of a first night at the play! Doubtless, many of my elder readers can revert to this very memorable erent in their lives, and corroborate me. In my own case, a half-holiday from school was held to be necessary, in order that a preparatory dmonition as to behaviour might be administered while being inducted into my theatre-going year; my usual ready appetite became absorbed in the novelty of the whole thing, and utterly forsook me at the early tea. But for this deprivation I was compensated later on. In these early days, the doors of the theatre were opened at half-past five or six o'clock, the curtain rising at half-past six; and as every blematical. To lose any part of the entertainment, was of course out of the question; the forecasting housewife therefore provided herself with a plentiful supply of eatables, to satisfy the cravings of nature; and as 'apples, oranges, and ginger-beer' were an institution, there was no lack of provender for either body or mind. I suppose that every boy has had his hero, and duly given him his boyish worship. Mine were numberless. Some of them, it is true, had shuffled off this mortal coil hundreds of years ago, and become immortal; but the larger proportion were of my own creating; genuine to the core, without flaw or speck. In like manner, my heroines were all angels; and if our heroes were immaculate, our villains were of the most disreputable type, most emphatically-pronounced rascals. Our low comedian was a comic man, albeit gifted by Dame Nature with the saddest countenance ever beheld. I never saw upon his face the remotest approach to a smile, and yet withal, his quips and cranks were provocative of incessant merriment. His fate and his fortunes were cast in unpleasant places: his perplexities were simply delightful, and in his direst misfortunes we vouchsafed him no sympathy. Always in difficulties, his life seemed a burden to him; and but for the tender feeling existing between himself and the pert soubrette, I think he would have succumbed. Of course he married her in the end; but as a boy, I used to have my doubts as to whether they were happy ever afterwards. In the year 1834, I was bound apprentice to a London house-decorator in the Westminster Road, nearly opposite to Astley's Amphitheatre, then under the management of the famous Ducrow; and in the practice of my vocation, it not unfrequently happened that I was employed in a theatre, hence my predilection for the amuse ments thereof. My first visit to the above establishment was made some years earlier than this. My parents had taken me to witness the Battle of Waterloo. The noise and smoke deafened and choked me; wife of Mr Shepherd, late lessee of the Surrey Theatre, was our leading lady, and played Olinska. A more unsuitable part for this excellent actress the lithe youthful figure of the Polish maiden, could not well have been found. Instead of we had the statuesque and matronly graces of a Hermione. Well grounded in her art, tall and majestic in person, slow and measured in speech, she belonged to the stately school of the Kembles, and at this date was altogether unfitted for the performance of juveniles. But if my reader will in imagination follow me to the Far East, to the old Garrick Theatrelong since burnt down-I will attempt a portrait of her at her best, at the same time affording a glimpse of some of her coadjutors. The drama is Rob Roy, with Charles Freer in the title role. As this gentleman has been dead nearly five-andtwenty years, the present generation of playgoers can know nothing of him excepting by report. He was a celebrity in this part of the town for a long period. Industrious, and endowed with fine talents, he soon became an acknowledged favoubuilt, and about the middle height, gifted with rite; nor was his popularity undeserved. Strongly The battle over, and complete suffocation not having supervened, we had the scenes in the circle-Ducrow as the Courier of St Petersburg, with his eight horses; Miss Woolford; Stickney as Shaw the Life Guardsman; and the enjoyable humour of Bullock the clown, a fellow of infinite jest. This part of the entertainment suited my taste far better than gunpowder. But Widdecombe the ring-master, the Widdecombe, must not be forgotten. Picture to yourself a short, stout, swarthy man, clad in the most resplendent uniform, profusely decorated with various orders. His long black hair, well anointed and perfumed, was parted over a low forehead, and hung in ringlets across the broadest and whitest of shirtcollars, open at the throat, and worn à la Byron. His eyebrows and moustaches were trimmed to perfection; and his boots, so small and so highly polished, were at once objects of envy and admiration. Mild and unassuming in private life, his natty person was as well known in the streets of Lambeth as is that of John Bright in the House of Commons. He served the various managements at this house for a period of four-coffee-house situated in a narrow turning at the and-thirty years, and died in 1854, at the age of sixty-seven. John G. Cartlitch, the original Mazeppa,' was born in Manchester in 1793. Allured by the attractions of the sock and buskin, he took to the stage in early life, and afterwards became known as the principal tragedian in Richardson's show at the various fairs throughout the country. From there he was engaged for Astley's. He was, as stated, the original Mazeppa, and played the part more than fifteen hundred times. He then went to America; and after many vicissitudes both as manager and actor, he settled down in Philadelphia as the keeper of a café in Fourth Street; there he died as lately as December 1875, aged eighty-two. Cartlitch was not by any means a bad actor, neither was he a very good one. Touching the 'business' of his part he was perfect; but his acting was deficient in light and shade; the glare and noise of the strolling booth seemed to be always clinging to him; yet with his stentorian voice and emphatic gestures he held us in thrall. Now Palmer, though equally loud-toned-it was a fashion in those days-had greater variety, an easier movement, and could on occasion be pathetic without being maudlin; a fair average actor, of whom we shall see more anon. Mrs Pope, an estimable woman, who afterwards became the a resonant voice-which became somewhat coarse foot thereof. Having partaken of a scanty meal, Mrs Pope appeared as the wife of the Macgregor, her personality, as described above, eminently qualifying her for the part. Helen does not appear until the third act, when she confronts Thornton and his men in the Pass of Lochard. Her sudden entrance on a point of projecting rock, claymore in hand, to interrogate the Captain, sent a thrill through every vein, and her first words, 'Hold there; stand! Tell me, what seek you in the country of the Macgregor?' roused us to enthusiasm. There was no bravado in her defiance; the brave and injured woman stood there upon her native heath,' prepared to do or die. Her deliberate manner and slow utterance served only faintly to conceal the surging passion in her wounded heart. You saw the fierce light of the coming struggle settling on her face, and felt that come what might, she would be equal to either fortune. Anything more august than her bearing after the conflict, I cannot conceive; her eyes sparkled with triumph, and victory seemed to radiate from every limb. Much too elated to be vindictive, I thought I even detected a covert sense of humour in her interview with the Bailie; |