We are more overrun with vagrants in England, it is said, than any other country except Spain and Italy, and the cause must be looked for in our wealth rather than our poverty, and in that perennial fountain of benevolence which exists among the people. On this part of the subject, the Howard Report informs us that women are responsible for half the ill-directed charity complained of. One of the correspondents of the Association, an experienced member of a board of guardians, gives examples of the deceptions by which women, he says, are imposed upon by a clever and expert tramp. He counterfeits a cough,' says this authority; he has a blister upon his chest; he knows how to perform a "fit;" he has a thousand-and-one crafty shifts by which to impose upon the unwary; besides his budget of piteous tales, which would do credit to the invention of a practised novelist.' It would appear, then, that the chief difficulty attending the work of suppression is that mendicancy is fostered and supported by the million.' The money given at cottage doors,' we read in the Report, to habitual mendicants in a single year probably exceeds twentyfold what the workingclasses contribute to real charitable and beneficent objects.' It is the poor who are most plundered; and it is a curious fact, which shows what a secure position the class in question holds in the present state of public feeling, that tender-hearted, simpleminded women whose own children are not too well fed, are least able to resist the hypocritical appeals of tramps and impostors. Magistrates and boards of guardians may put the vagrants in the stocks, cut off their tobacco, confine them in cells, and inflict a religious service upon them night and morning, which they very much detest; but they cannot institute stocks or solitary sleeping-cells for the million.' And, therefore, the mind of the million being uninstructed, all efforts to diminish the evils complained of must for the present prove sadly ineffective. The Howard Association, in common with all who have closely studied the subject of vagrancy and mendicancy, anticipate the ultimate discouragement of these evils, if they cannot be altogether suppressed, in the spread of enlightenment among the public. Meanwhile, the manage ment on the part of the executive should undoubtedly be more strict in many of the unions, so that the minimum amount of evil may be endured, even if, for the present, it cannot be completely cured. Several attempts have been made to regulate charity and render it more reasonable, especially by satisfying the public in regard to the danger of starvation. Captain Amyatt, chief constable of Dorset, is the author of a plan by which bread tickets are distributed among vagrants, and these each being exchangeable at certain shops in the district for a pound of bread, private relief is said to be discouraged. There is a Berkshire system' as well as a 'Dorset plan,' which also aims at feeding genuine travellers seeking for work, and relies on the police to prosecute professional vagrants. It is doubtful if either plan has been entirely successful. And even if the stringent resolutions adopted this year at the quartersessions, Newcastle, were carried into effect throughout the country, it may be feared that the stream of misdirected charity would continue ་ to flow. It is for that reason that the facts presented in the Report of the Howard Association might be very advantageously circulated by the Press. REMINISCENCES OF A VISIT TO SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. VERY shortly after the return of Sir John Franklin from the Lieutenant-governorship of Van Diemen's Land, or Tasmania as it is now more generally called, he sailed on his last illfated voyage to the Arctic seas. Only a few months previous to his retirement from his high official position, I visited Hobart-Town, on board the Pestonjee, an old East India Company's cruiser, which had been chartered by the government of India to convey military and naval convicts to Van Diemen's Land. It was the custom in such cases to appoint a naval surgeon to accompany the transport-ship, who had the sole command over the convicts; and also another naval officer-generally a passed-midshipman-as an assistant to the surgeon, in his governing rather than in his medical capacity. I was appointed to accompany Dr Clarke; and for the sake of the change, I accepted the appointment joyously, for it gave me liberty to do pretty much as I pleased, and released me for six months from the restraints of naval discipline. The military convicts on board were in many respects to be pitied. They were all Englishmen ; and most of them had been transported for offences which, had they been civilians, would have been punished simply by a sentence of a month or two of imprisonment. With the naval convicts it was different; they were chiefly what are termed in India Portuguese,' that is to say, they were descendants of the original Portuguese settlers at Goa and other parts of the Bombay coast. These Portuguese convicts, though mostly mere youths, were convicted of such crimes as mutiny, piracy, stabbing, theft, and even murder. It was necessary to keep a strict guard over them; and it needed not that one should be a disciple of Lavater, to read their characters in the gloomy, malignant expression of their otherwise handsome features. Besides these, there were several female passengers, one or two of them wives of military convicts, who, as a great favour, had been permitted, with their children, to accompany their husbands; and others who, in consequence of the good conduct of their husbands, previously transported, had been permitted to rejoin them. All went well until two or three days previous to our arrival at Hobart-Town. The day before, there had been a heavy gale of wind; but it had subsided, though there was still a high sea running, and the ship rolled uneasily. The female passengers, with their children, however, having been necessarily confined between decks during the gale, were glad to come on deck again to breathe the fresh air; and despite the rolling of the ship, they had nearly all come up, and were clinging to the bulwarks, anxiously looking out for the mountains of Tasmania, which it was expected would soon become visible. Among the children was a remarkably beautiful little boy of three years old, the son of a soldier in Tasmania. This little fellow was a great favourite and pet of all on board, and was fond of running about the decks and playing with the sailors. Presently the startling cry was raised 'A child overboard!' It was the little fellow I have just alluded to, who had escaped from his mother's arms and slipped overboard. The mother fainted; the women screamed; the sailors came rushing up from below; while, in obedience to the command of the officer, the watch on deck proceeded to heave the ship to the wind. The captain, who had been on deck throughout the continuance of the gale, had gone to his cabin, worn out with fatigue. He was awakened, however, from his sound slumber by the unusual noise, and naturally anticipating that some serious accident had occurred, he rushed on deck in his shirt sleeves, as he had lain down. 'What is the matter?' he inquired, in great alarm. The accident was explained to him; and the distant form of the child, now appearing like a mere speck, seen from time to time on the crest of a wave, was pointed out. 'Be smart with the boat, my men!' he cried; and casting off his shoes, he sprang, without another word, over the taffrail into the water, a depth of twelve or fourteen feet, and struck out boldly in the direction in which he had seen the child. He was an admirable swimmer, and had saved the lives of sailors on three different occasions under similar circumstances. His progress was watched with breathless interest. He was frequently lost to sight in the trough of the sea; and sometimes it was thought that the child had sunk, and then it was seen again, a mere black speck on the water. Sometimes the captain himself was so long out of sight, that fears were expressed for his safety; but he reappeared, still swimming boldly on. At length he was seen to reach the child; but he was so far away, that many doubted whether he had saved it. He could be seen now remaining stationary; but none could be certain, even with the aid of a Spyglass, whether he had the child with him. The general belief was that he had seen the infant sink, and feeling his strength exhausted, and perceiving the uselessness of swimming farther, was waiting for the boat to come up to him. Meanwhile, the men in the boat were pulling with all their might, though their progress was difficult in such a heavy sea, and to us on board, it seemed painfully slow. We feared that the captain's strength would be utterly exhausted, and that he would sink ere it reached him. At length, he was seen to be dragged on board; but even now, it was impossible to discover if the child also was saved. All was now silent enough on board. The women had ceased their cries, and their lips only moved with murmured prayers, as they watched with almost breathless anxiety the return of the boat. At length it came alongside. The captain was lying across the stern-sheets; but the child was safe, and strange to say, alive. It was soon lifted on board, and the next moment was clasped in its mother's arms. and several of the women wept for joy. The mother The captain had been taken on board completely exhausted. He had seized the child's clothes with his teeth, and thus kept its head out of the water; but, as he said, he felt that he was unable to swim a single stroke to meet the boat, and was compelled to await its arrival. I need not speak of the reception he met with. It is enough to say that the mother threw herself at his feet, and clasping his knees, while tears ran down her cheeks, called upon heaven to bless and reward him. The other females were scarcely less affected and grateful. The captain was assisted to his cabin and went to bed; while the child, when its wet garments were replaced by dry ones, speedily recovered its composure. Two days afterwards we entered the harbour of Hobart-Town, and had hardly let go our anchors ere a boat was seen approaching from the shore, in which were the Lieutenant-governor and Lady Franklin, attended by their body-guard, in the light-blue colonial uniform. The customary salute was fired, and Sir John and Lady Franklin came on board. Sir John inquired respecting the convicts; while Lady Franklin-as we subsequently learned was her constant custom when female convict or emigrant ships entered the harbour-collected the women and children around her, questioned them as to their expectations and future prospects, and in the present instance promised to have the wives conveyed to their husbands with all possible despatch. She also inquired as to their conduct on board, and their means of living when they went on shore; presented those who could read with tracts, and promised to assist them to the utmost of her ability so long as they behaved themselves well -a promise which she afterwards carried into effect. After Sir John had examined the convicts, he asked to be introduced to the government officers, and then descended with his lady to the cabin to partake of refreshments. I was greatly struck with the contrast between Sir John Franklin and his wife. Sir John had already acquired fame as an Arctic explorer, and on this account, I, a youth of eighteen, regarded him with much greater interest than I should have done had he been merely the Lieutenantgovernor of Tasmania. He was a tall, portly, florid-complexioned man, with a head slightly bald, of very commanding presence, and with a cheerful, benevolent expression of countenance. Lady Franklin looked like a fairy by his side. She was a slight, delicate-looking woman, with gentle, interesting features, and a soft low voice. Rather below the ordinary female stature, she seemed still less standing by the side of her stalwart husband. They remained about an hour, and then left the ship, a salute being fired on their departure. I had, however, an opportunity of becoming better acquainted with them than I could possibly have become during their brief visit to the ship; for before he left the vessel, Sir John invited the naval surgeon, the captain, and myself to dine at his residence, the Penns,' the next day. Sir John Franklin had heard from the surgeon all relating to Captain Pirie's gallant conduct in saving the life of the child at the imminent risk plaints, and would have his own way in everyof his own; and the woman, with many praises thing; and they really liked him the better for and blessings, had acquainted Lady Franklin it. Lady Franklin,' he added with a smile, with the particulars, the glad mother proudly 'would have me resign the Lieutenant-governorshowing the beautiful boy whom she had so ship, and return to England to settle down for nearly lost. The captain was considerably raised life. But that would hardly content me. I in the Lieutenant-governor's estimation in con- long again to be on the quarter-deck-again to sequence; and as the women, when they got push forward the explorations in the Arctic seas, on shore, quickly spread the story, he became which I believe it to be England's duty to carry the lion of the day. The newspapers published out, unless she is prepared to see the laurels of an account of the affair; and he was an object of success plucked from her, and worn by some curiosity and admiration so long as he remained other country.' in port. It is not always that temporary celebrity is so well merited. To return, however, to Sir John and Lady Franklin. The Penns was a pretty, park-like place, a few miles out of the town, to which the governor was fond of retiring from the bustle and ceremony of Government House. It was not very large; but the house was snug and comfortable, and the gardens and grounds well planted, and kept in excellent order. At the appointed time, we made our appearance at the Penns as the governor's guests. A few of the members of the government, and one or two merchants from the town, were also present, and the dinner passed off as such dinners of ceremony generally do. Some of the guests, members of the government, were at daggersdrawn with each other, and in disfavour with the merchants and citizens; but Sir John and Lady Franklin did their best to set everybody at ease and make things agreeable. There was therefore no apparent dissatisfaction; though a certain restraint and coolness between some of the guests was plainly discernible. Captain Pirie was obliged to return to his ship that night; but Dr Clarke and I were pressed to remain, and we did so, the captain receiving and accepting a second invitation, before he took his departure. I well remember, when his colonial guests were gone, Sir John Franklin complaining of his position. I am out of my element here, and I know that I am not popular with the free population,' he observed to the surgeon; though ever since I first landed, I have exerted myself to the utmost for the benefit of the colony, and have striven to settle the differences between the people. I care not how soon I return to England; and Lady Franklin fully agrees with me in this respect. The fact is,' he went on, they want a stricter, sterner hand over them. Such a man as my predecessor. [Sir Arthur Head, if I mistake not.] They quarrelled with him too, as they do, and will, with everybody. It is one of the evils of a system in which there are two distinct and indeed antagonistic classes to deal with and to rule over-the free settlers, and the descendants of former convicts, many of whom are among the wealthiest and most influential of the people. Socially, the two classes will not unite or mingle together, though they are necessitated to do so in public. This is not to be wondered at. But it places the governor in a very unpleasant position, and will continue to do so until convicts are no longer brought here from the mother-country, and time shall have obliterated all distinctions. As I was saying, they quarrelled continuously with the late governor, but he cared nothing for their com If these were not the exact words of Sir John Franklin, they are nearly so, and they express the tone of his conversation. He complained bitterly of the apathy that existed with regard to Arctic exploration, and more than once repeated his fears that if England did not move more energetically in the matter, the grand triumph would be achieved by America, France, or Russia. Still, he seemed to feel an assurance that he would yet have an opportunity to continue the prosecution of the object he had most at heart, through private enterprise. That both he and Lady Franklin were heartily sick of Tasmania, was apparent in all their conversation. The naval surgeon was obliged to return to the ship the next day to send away his reports and settle other matters in connection with his duties. I, however, had literally nothing to do. My duties throughout the voyage from India had been little more than a sinecure; and Sir John Franklin, who was always remarkable for his great kindness to the young officers of his profession, invited me to remain until the ship was ready to return to India; and I on my part was nothing loath to exchange the confinement of a transport-ship for the comforts of a pleasant dwelling on shore, and the opportunity of roaming at pleasure over the country. Sir John seemed never to be happier than when speaking of his former voyages; and he encouraged me to converse freely with him as we strolled over the grounds together or rode out into the country. He had a complete and most perfect and elaborate set of charts of the Arctic regions, so far as they had then been explored, upon which his own explorations, and those of Captains Parry and Ross, and other Árctic explorers were distinctly marked out; and it was his greatest pleasure of an evening to display these charts and point out the spots he had visited; also tracing the courses he would endeavour to pursue, if it should ever be his 'good fortune,’ as he expressed himself, again to be employed in what was the great hobby of his life. There was not a point he had discovered, nor a spot that he had visited, respecting which he had not some anecdote to tell or some narrow escape to relate. And to me it was delightful to listen to these anecdotes from the lips of a man who had bravely dared and overcome the perils of which he spoke, and who had already rendered his name famous as one of the boldest and most energetic and persevering of Arctic discoverers. Besides, I confess that it was flattering to my pride to hear a post-captain and a Lieutenantgovernor conversing thus freely with a young midshipman, and encouraging me to express my own opinions, and listening to them kindly and attentively. I spent a pleasant visit at the Penns, and was sorry to return to the ship. While we lay in port, an emigrant-ship and a female convict-ship arrived-the latter, one of the last, if not the last female convict-ship that left the shores of England; and Sir John and Lady Franklin visited them both immediately on their arrival. It was her ladyship's chief pleasure, and she seemed to regard it as a duty, to exert herself to the utmost for the benefit of the younger female emigrants, and also for such female convicts as had conducted themselves well during the voyage, and whose offences against the laws of their country were such as afforded hope that, removed from the temptations of vice and poverty, they might yet redeem their characters and prove useful members of society. It must be recollected that in those days, when there was a scarcity of females in the Australian colonies, young women were often transported for offences which would nowadays be punished by a few months', or even a few weeks' imprisonment. in saving the child's life to the Royal Humane Society in England, asking that he should be rewarded with their gold medal; which testimonial he subsequently received. This was the last I saw of the kind and brave Sir John Franklin. PATENT MEDICINES. A CURIOUS but interesting light was thrown upon the subject of Patent Medicines in a recent discussion in the House of Commons, demanding, we think, more than the mere newspaper paragraph given to it. The early history of patent medicines shortly stated appears to be somewhat as follows: Letters-patent-that is, open letters— were granted to certain persons with the monopoly of vending given articles. Abuses, however having arisen, Parliament intervened, restricting the monopolies to a given number of years, and demanding at the same time a definition or On landing, the female convicts were taken to Whether the specification of these articles ultispecification of the character of the articles. a government penitentiary, where_suitable_employment was found for them. Persons, how-mately came to be too vague and indefinite, or ever, in need of female servants were permitted the inventors themselves dispensed with the immediately to engage such as they thought patents; or whether, during the French wars, might suit them; and many young women government, from fiscal necessities, changed the were at once employed as housemaids, nurses, system of patents, does not clearly appear; but and dressmakers, those who engaged them being the system of letters-patent was changed, and answerable for their good conduct, and bound at certain periods to send in a report of their articles specified by name in the schedule to instead. The various stamp duties imposed behaviour to the government. Such servants of course received no wages beyond such douceurs the Act 52 George III., includes 'Foreign as their employers thought proper to give them medicines of all kinds except drugs, and also as a reward for good behaviour. Moreover, after all other pills, powders, lozenges, tinctures, a certain period-four months, I believe-female potions, cordials, electuaries, plasters, unguents, convicts whose conduct had been satisfactory salves, ointments, drops, lotions, oils, spirits, were permitted to marry any respectable and well- medicated herbs and waters, chemical and conducted free emigrant who was willing to take officinal preparations whatsoever, to be used or them, and had first obtained permission from applied externally or internally as medicines or governor. The husband, moreover was held medicaments... made, prepared, uttered, vended, answerable for them, and compelled to report or exposed to sale by any person or persons them at stated periods to the officials of the whatsoever, wherein the person making, preparing, government. Such marriages were very frequent; uttering, vending, or exposing to sale the same and it was said that many good-looking young hath, or claims to have, any occult art or secret girls were picked out immediately upon their for making or preparing the same.' This, in arrival by men who were in search of wives, other words, simply means that if any person and who kept an eye upon them until the puts up a preparation for the cure of any comperiod of their probation had elapsed and they plaint whatever, and puts upon the label attached Were at liberty to marry. It was even asserted to the preparation the words 'Prepared only by,' that such females often made the best of wives. the preparation becomes liable to stamp duty. What, however, appeared strange to me was that The scale of stamp duty generally determines either the employers nor the husbands of convict the price of such nostrums; for example, one females were permitted to know the crime of shilling and three-halfpence, the price of the which they had been guilty, unless the convict, article being one shilling, and the stamp threewhether servant or wife, confessed it to them of halfpence; or two shillings and ninepence, the her own accord. A similar secrecy was main- stamp in this case being threepence, and the price tained as to the crimes of male convicts, unless of the medicine two shillings and sixpence. they had been unusually atrocious, when some- Two evils arising out of this system of how or other they leaked out, the convict pro- stamp duties, are at present being used hably being an object of extraordinary curiosity. arguments for their repeal. The first of these Years, however, have elapsed since convicts have-namely, the sanction or countenance which been sent abroad, Tasmania being freed from government is apparently made to give to such the evil before some of the other Australian nostrums-is not a new one. Clever but uncolonies. the The Lieutenant-governor came on board the Tessel once more before we sailed, to bid us farewell, and to inform the captain that he had sent a statement of his generous and gallant conduct as scrupulous quacks have taken advantage of the importance of the government stamp to puff their preparations under its wing in many ways and from the earliest times. It is questionable, however, if there is much in this argument. The changes have been too frequently rung by advertisers on the importance of the stamp, as a proof of the value of their nostrums, and patent medicines are too common in the present day, for any to be deceived but the most hopelessly ignorant. The other evil is much more serious, and to place it plainly before our readers is the purport of the present article. At the time the Pharmacy Act (1868) was being framed, the makers and dealers in such medicines were, for certain reasons, exempted from the provisions of the Act. are. Probably the result of this concession was not fully realised at the time; but it now requires no prescience to see how serious its consequences By this Pharmacy Act, very stringent restrictions are placed on the sale of poisons. No one, unless he be a medical man, can obtain any of the more potent poisons without very considerable difficulty, such as giving name and address, stating purposes for which they are required, signing his name before witnesses, &c. The less virulent poisons are also put under restrictions, such as labelling distinctly the name of the substance, with the name of the seller, and also with the word 'Poison;' the seller in both cases requiring to be on the register of chemists and druggists. All patent-medicine vendors, however, by reason of the concession above alluded to, are exempt from these restrictions. It is open to any one, even to the most ignorant, to put up and sell these powerful medicines (poisons they may be) in any quantity and of any strength, without control by government, or guarantee of any kind as to the ingredients, if they only observe the stamp duties. It will, we think, strike inost minds that the proverbial coach-and-six may be driven under such circumstances with some facility through this Act of parliament. This is the second evil, as generally stated, and we are not aware that the argument against patent medicines has ever advanced much beyond this. To those, however, who are intimately acquainted with the subject, the evil is much more serious than appears on the surface. A few accidental deaths from inadvertence or carelessness, or from want of having the nostrum properly labelled poison, is the least of the evil. If for the word 'poison,' used in the foregoing statements, narcotics' be substituted, and if with the use of narcotics we can associate habits formed which lead in many cases to confirmed disease, and worse still, exercise the most hurtful influence on the mental and moral constitution, we even then realise only part of the evil. To us, the worst part of all seems to lie in this, that the poor deluded takers of these nostrums may have formed the habit of using narcotics before they are aware. Under the synonym of some simple household remedy, they unconsciously have been taking solutions of the most powerful narcotics. Dr Farquharson, speaking on the subject in the discussion referred to in the House of Commons, mentions that one of the most dangerous compounds (of this class) was an Essence of Linseed, containing a large quantity of morphia, from the use of which painful cases of poisoning had occurred.' Each case of poisoning resulting from the use of this nostrum, however much to be deplored, is probably as nothing compared with the many cases of vicious habits which its use may have formed. The habit of taking narcotics, as every one knows, is not difficult to acquire; and with many, the only hope of safety, as in the case of others with strong drinks, is never to taste them. The warning thus given as to a certain class of patent medicines does not come too soon. They have been increasing to a very great extent in recent years, in fact supplanting very much the old well-known family medicines; and owing to the success of one or two comparatively innocent and even efficacious preparations, others of a baleful tendency have unfortunately become popular. CUCKOO! Sumer is ieumen in, Lhude sing Cuccu. Old English Song. THERE's a dreamy voice in the summer air, Its mellow music is ever rare Cuckoo ! Leading our thoughts like gentle seer It breathes a tale of the flowers of May, Of violet bank and primrose brae, Cuckoo ! Woods with the hyacinth misty blue, Fields with the daisy white, and the dew Bright as the day the world was new: Blithely calls cuckoo. Snow-white showers of anemones The sombre pines to life have sprung, Far hath fled the winter's ruth; Woodlands gladden every scene, O'er the still and distant down, Where the birch with drooping head, Floating o'er the brairding corn, J. H. P. Printed and Published by W. & R. 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