you wish to obtain real knowledge, beyond the gratifi- | fancy, by which he could "raise pleasure to her height,” cation of passing curiosity. In future numbers we shall briefly mention what is most worthy your attention in this National Collection. POESIE. [GEORGE WITHER, BORN 1588, DIED 1677.] Though I miss the flowery fields, With those sweets the spring-tide yields, She doth tell me where to borrow She could more infuse in me, Some things that may sweeten gladness The dull loneness, the black shade, She hath taught me by her might Than I am in love with thee. GEORGE WITHER, the author of the above lines, was several times subjected to long and severe imprisonment for his political opinions. While in the Marshalsea prison in 1613, he wrote his 'Shepherd's Hunting,' a pastoral poem, from which this is an extract. The verses are not only beautiful in themselves, but they point out how a vigorous mind will secure happiness under the most unfavourable circumstances. The imagination of Wither was delighted to repose upon the most common natural objects;—and in the same way, the man who possesses the least of the outward gifts of fortune, if his faculties be awake to the beauties which nature has so plenteously scattered around his path, may possess in himself a source of pleasure of the purest kind. The rapture which Wither expresses for Poesie' may to some appear overstrained; but let it not be thought that the poet attributed this power of imparting delight to his faculty alone of making verses. The exercis of his consisted in presenting to his "mind's eye" the infinite beauties of the creation. The "daisy," whose remembrance gladdened even his prison-walls, brought to him images of the quiet and purity of the "flowery fields.” Such images every body may enjoy, and may gradually learn to associate the commonest appearances of nature with a high moral feeling. We have many instances of this power of association in our finest poets: let us take as an example the following lines by a writer of our own day: Ir seems, on the first view, somewhat odd to talk about choice of dwelling to a labouring man. It may occur to such a person, that as he has seldom more than two or three shillings per week to allow for rent, he must be contented with the humble accommodations that can be afforded for that sum. This is, to a certain extent, true; but it is not therefore to be concluded that the exercise of a little prudence may not put him in possession of some advantages with his two or three shillings, which the want of that quality would exclude him from. There are some dwellings so badly situated, in such ill repair, and altogether so miserable, that a man exposes himself and his family to disease and every other inconvenience by inhabiting them. Such hovels are usually tenanted by people who are behind-hand in paying their rent, and so cannot leave them; or who, being steeped to the very lips in poverty," are indifferent to cleanliness and all other comforts. It is possible that an industrious and careful family may, for some time, be obliged to live in a wretched house; but it is their own fault if they continue in it. In this country the poor are better lodged than in any other in Europe; and within the last twenty years the increase of population and of productive labour has caused a demand for cottages, which has covered every parish, and particularly the neighbourhood of large towns, with an amazing number of snug little houses, in which provision is generally made for the comfort of those who inhabit them. Now, while there is such a choice of dwellings, it is very much a labouring man's fault if he does not have a commodious one; and if he continue to be the tenant of a damp, or ruinous, or badly ventilated hut, while the snug brick and tiled tenement remains vacant, we should say that he is a blind and stupid observer of an old proverb (which, however, has much sense in it) that "three removes are as bad as a fire.' We wish to offer a few plain hints to assist our readers in the choice of a dwelling. And, first, of situation. Whoever rambles through our villages must often see a pretty little cottage, that realizes all that benevolence could wish for a labouring man's dwelling. We have seen many such; and the remembrance often occurs to us, when we observe rich men unhappy, in large mansions, and amongst splendid furniture. We then think of the contrast which the simplicity and content of the "peasant's nest" offers. Who has not looked upon the whitened walls, half covered with roses and jessa- | Savings Bank, he may afford his wife a mahogany teamine, and the neat garden, where ornament is blended with utility, And said, if there's peace to be found in the world, A heart that is humble may hope for it here! But an agreeable dwelling is not always to be commanded; nor is the best situation always to be found. If a cottager have a house with a northern aspect, he must pay a little more attention to his gooseberry and apple trees, to make them bear as plentifully as those which are trained in a southern sun. We are only desirous to caution him against a house that is truly uncomfortable, and that cannot be easily rendered otherwise. table. An American writer has given some judicious remarks upon this subject, which apply to all classes. "If you are about to furnish a house, do not spend all your money, be it much or little. Do not let the beauty o this thing, and the cheapness of that, tempt you to buy unnecessary articles. Doctor Franklin's maxim was a wise one Nothing is cheap that we do not want.' Buy merely enough to get along with at first. It is only by experience that you can tell what will be the wants of your family. If you spend all your money, you will find you have purchased many things you do not want, and have no means left to get many things which you do want. If you have enough, and more than enough, to get every thing suitable to your situaWe would first say, avoid, if it be possible, a low and happen to have it. Begin humbly. As riches increase, it is tion, do not think you must spend it all, merely because you marshy situation. There are many dangerous fevers easy and pleasant to increase in comforts; but it is always which are produced by the vicinity of stagnant waters: painful and inconvénient to decrease. After all, these things and houses which from their site are constantly damp are viewed in their proper light by the truly judicious and expose those who inhabit them to rheumatism, croup, respectable. Neatness, tastefulness, and good sense may ague, and other painful disorders. The same effects be shown in the management of a small household, and the are produced by dwelling-houses which are subject to arrangement of a little furniture, as well as upon a larger occasional inundations of rivers. To be driven in cold scale; and these qualities are always praised, and always weather from the accustomed fire-side to shiver in bed-many purchase by living beyond their income, and of course treated with respect and attention. The consideration which rooms which have probably no grate; to have two or living upon others, is not worth the trouble it costs. The three feet of water running through the lower part of glare there is about this false and wicked parade is decepthe house, destroying many things and injuring more; tive; it does not in fact procure a man valuable friends, or and at last, when the inundations cease, to find the extensive influence. whole dwelling damp and miserable for several weeks: this is a visitation which no one would willingly seek. If a cottager has therefore the choice of being on a hillside, or by the bank of a river, we think, if he were a sensible man, he would prefer the elevated situation. On the construction of a dwelling, we have not much to observe. The great requisite is the free admission of light and air. Dark rooms are an inconvenience to the industrious housewife which we need not describe; and rooms not properly ventilated are more injurious to health than may readily be conceived. Every sleeping-room should have a chimney. In England, no sitting-room is, we apprehend, without one. But in Ireland, the peasantry have neither window nor chimney to their wretched hovels. The smoke of the turf, which burns upon their hearth, forces its way out by the door; and the family sit and sleep in this dark and dirty condition. This would be intolerable amongst the more cleanly and richer peasantry of this country Of the appendages to a house, a good supply of water is one of the most necessary conveniences. If the pitcher is to be carried a dozen times a day to a spring or a well a quarter of a mile off, it is almost the labour of one person to procure this supply; and that labour would contribute as much to the family earnings, as in twelve months would dig a well. No cottager should be without a garden. A rood of land, properly cultivated, will half maintain a careful family. However small may be a man's income, there is one very certain way of increasing it-that is Frugality. A frugal and as there are now established throughout this country expenditure will enable almost every body to save something; Banks, where the industrious may safely deposit their savings, however little they may be, and receive the same sort of advantage which the rich derive from their money, that is, interest, there is every inducement to make an effort to save. Dr. Franklin observes, in his usual forcible way, that "six pounds a-year is but a groat a-day. For this little sum, which may be daily wasted, either in time or expense unperceived, a man of credit may, on his own security, have the constant possession and use of a hundred and twenty pounds." Many humble men in England have risen to wealth by such small beginnings; but many more continue to expend the groat a-day unnecessarily, and never cease to be poor. A certain pope, who had been raised from an obscure situation to the apostolic chair, was immediately waited upon by a deputation sent from a small district, in which he had formerly officiated as cure; it seems that he had promised the inhabitants that he would do something for them, if it should ever be in his power; and some of them now appeared before him, to remind him of his promise, and also to request that he would fulfil it, by granting them two harvesis in every year! He acceded to their modest request, on condition that they should go home immediately, and so adjust the Almanack of their own particular district, as to make every year of their Register consist of twenty-four calendar months. Of the fixtures of a house we cannot be expected to say much. A copper and an oven will enable the female to labour most profitably for the general good. A cotSir George Staunton visited a man in India who had tager that can grow his own potatoes, keep his pig, brew committed a murder, and, in order not only to save his life, his beer, and bake his bread, has not many necessaries but what was of much more consequence, his caste, he submitted to the penalty imposed; this was, that he should sleep to purchase of the shopkeeper, and is therefore, to a cer- for seven years on a bedstead, without any mattress, the tain extent, independent in the best sense of the word. whole surface of which was studded with points of iron, reAs to furniture, we would say, avoid furnished lodg-sembling nails, but not so sharp as to penetrate the flesh. ings. The bed and table, and two or three chairs, of these places seldom cost more than 5l., the interest of which is only 5s. a year. The money annually paid for the use of such things is almost as much as their prime cost. There is a satisfaction, too, in knowing that what is about us is our own. It is better to sit upon an old box or a block of wood than to pay enormously for the hire of a chair; and we may sleep as soundly upon a straw mattress as upon an expensive feather bed. One secret to be happy in every situation of life is this,-not to sacrifice real comfort and solid independence to make a show. When the cottager has got ten pounds in the Sir George saw him in the fifth year of his probation, and his skin was then like the hide of a rhinoceros, but more callous; at that time, however, he could sleep comfortably on his "bed of thorns," and remarked, that at the expiration of the term of his sentence, he should most probably continue that system from choice, which he had been obliged to adopt from necessity. LONDON: CHARLES KNIGHT, PALL-MALL EAST. Published in the City, by R. GROOMBRIDGE, Panyer-Alley, Paternoster-Row; in Birmingham, by Drake; in Leeds, by Baines and Co.; in Liverpool, by Wilmer and Smith; in Manchester, by Robinson; in Dublin, by Wake man; in Edinburgh, by Oliver and Boyd; and, in Glasgow, by Atkinson. Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES, 14, Charing Cross., SOMERSET HOUSE. OLD SOMERSET-HOUSE. apartments belonging to the Royal Society, the Society of Antiquaries, the Geological Society, and the Royal Academy of Arts. EMIGRATION TO THE NORTH AMERICAN THE history of Somerset-house is, in a great degree, a history of the variable characteristics of successive ages. The present building is of modern date. But upon the same site stood the old Somerset-house, erected in the year 1549, by the Protector Somerset. This was the age of arbitrary violence and lawless power. SomersetTHE Commissioners appointed by his Majesty's Gohouse originally rose upon the ruins of ecclesiastical edi-vernment to superintend and facilitate emigration to the fices and of private dwellings. The proud man who Colonies have just published a little tract*, the extensive degraded and abused his authority, by making it the circulation of which, we think, will be productive of minister to his personal gratification, pulled down an much benefit. The reliance which may be safely placed ancient church, an inn of court, and a number of houses, on an official document gives this publication a peculiar to make room for the magnificent palace which he here value. It should be in the hands of every one who is erected. Not the slightest compensation was made to interested (either on his own account, or on that of the owners. But Somerset did not long enjoy the poor others) in possessing accurate information respecting gratification of his splendid abode. He died on the the facilities which are afforded to persons who wish to scaffold in the year 1552. emigrate to the Canadas, or to New Brunswick. The great difficulty which formerly beset the emigrant, was his helpless condition on his arrival in a strange country. For want of knowledge of the country-for want of an acquaintance with persons who possessed that knowledge-and too frequently from acquaintance with persons who possessed that knowledge, but who turned it to their own account and to his disadvantage, the emigrant, to use a common phrase, not knowing which way to turn himself, frequently turned wrong, and the bad consequences of a mistake, at so critical a moment, can seldom be retrieved. The offer of a grant of land rather increased his difficulty; for, when a poor man had got this bit of land, he soon found that he had not the means of living during the interval necessary to raise a At length arrived the age of regulated freedom,-of crop, and that if he had the means of doing so, he did national wealth produced by unfettered industry, of not know how to apply his labour and his money to the science applied to the manufacturing arts,-of diffused best advantage. So that he was, after all, forced to comforts and enjoyments. In the reign of George III. work for wages, until he could get together a few a building of sufficient magnitude for the business of savings, and could learn a little of the way of living and several of the most important departments of public farming in Canada. Now, in Canada, there is plenty affairs was required, and old Somerset-house presented of work and very high wages; so that an industrious an eligible site. The present extensive pile was commenced in 1774, from the design of Sir William 99 In succeeding times Somerset-house became the residence of various queens. The great Elizabeth sometimes resided here. Anne of Denmark, Queen to James I., here kept her court, which was remarkable for its grotesque amusements, being, as an old author says, "a continued masquerade.' The unfortunate Queen of Charles I. resided here after her husband's execution; and here the Roman Catholic Queen of Charles II. kept a separate court. Those were the ages in which royalty displayed itself in cumbrous pomp; and in which religious contentions of the most intolerant character interrupted the quiet of the people, and degraded the faith which, as it was professed, they were meant to uphold. Chambers. man has not long to wait for good employment under any circumstances. But it is very vexatious to have The principal departments of Government which are *Information published by His Majesty's Commissioners for Emihere carried on, are the Stamp-Office, the Victualling-gration, respecting the British Colonies in North America.-London Office, the Audit-Office, and the Navy-Office. The Booksellers and Newsvenders. Price Two Pence, or 1s. 9d. per dozen published by Charles Knight, Pall-Mall East; and to be had of all front of Somerset-house to the Strand contains the for distribution. VOL. I. D spent time and money, and perhaps health, and to find oneself obliged to begin all over again. The Commissioners, therefore, recommend the emigrant, who has little to depend upon but his own manual labour, to begin by working for wages. Land is no longer given for nothing, but it is to be had so cheap, and labour is so well paid, that if a man is thrifty as well as industrious, he ought to be able to become a purchaser by the time he has learned enough of the way of the country to be a successful cultivator. It is clear, therefore, that the best thing that Government can do is to secure immediate employment for the emigrant labourer. And, for this purpose, Agents are maintained at the principal colonial ports, whose duty it is to protect emigrants against imposition on their first landing, to acquaint them with the demand for labour in different districts, to point out the best roads and conveyances, and to give them such advice as may set them in a fair way of doing well. For this valuable assistance no fee or reward will be accepted by the agents. When a private engagement cannot be had without loss of time, employment will be afforded on some of the public works which are going on. No emigrant should lose a minute after his arrival in going straightway to the Government Agent for Emigrants, where he will find what he most wants-advice and employment The best months for leaving England are March and April. The price of passage from the different ports is stated to be as under: From London & the Eastern Ports From Liverpool, For a grow 61. For a Child under Fourteen. 31. under Seven. 21. use in the colony, may have the means of making the money payable there, instead of giving it into the hands of the emigrant before he leaves this country. The number of emigrants is considerable already, and the Commissioners have done wisely in directing their attention, in the first instance, to providing for the emigrant on his arrival in Canada; but in the work of facilitating his departure from this country, much remains for them to do. They have begun at the right end, and begun well; but the Commissioners will not fulfil the expectation which the public have formed from their appointment, unless, in due time, they apply themselves to remove the difficulties which attend the first steps of the emigrant. We say, in due time, because we do not wish to see encouragement to emigrate held out to the labouring poor, until preparation is fully made for their well-doing elsewhere, and until the legislature give their sanction to such improvements in our system of poor laws, as shall render the departure of the emigrant a real and permanent benefit to his country as well as to himself. In a future number we shall return to this interesting and important subject. THE SEASONS OF THE ANTIPODES. THE inhabitants of a place occupying a position on the surface of the globe directly opposite to our own country are called our Antipodes, a name derived from two Greek words meaning opposite and foot. If Hobart Town, the capital of Van Diemen's Land, were about fourteen hun dred miles farther east, and about five hundred miles farther south, the inhabitants of that place and the inhabitants of London would stand with their feet planted exactly against each other. As it is, the difference in longitude occasions a difference between the time of the day with them and with us of nearly ten hours-or, when it is 41. to 51. 21. to 21. 10s. 17. 6s. 8d.to ll. 13s. 4d. noon, for example, with us, it is about ten o'clock at For children under twelve months no charge is made. At the above charges the emigrant is supplied with provisions during the voyage, and this is, perhaps, the best mode of making the bargain, as the emigrant is protected by law against the supply of provisions being insufficient, and dangerous mistakes are frequently made by persons who are not in the habit of laying in stores, and who are not able to foresee what they shall want on board a ship. Besides the probability of their being much better provided for by the shipowner than by themselves, it is pretty certain that they will save money by it. The price of a passage, exclusive of provisions, that is, where nothing is found by the shipowner but water, fuel, and bed-places, is one-half of the above rates. To avoid being detained at the port by the vessel not sailing on the appointed day, a particular day ought always to be named in the bargain; after which, whether the ship sails or not, the passenger is to be received on board and victualled by the owners. If that is done, the emigrant has a right to be received on board on that day so named, and to consider the ship as his home until she does sail. This prevents his being brought to the place of embarkation too soon, and kept waiting at a tavern, where he may spend the little money he has, or contract debts which will prevent his leaving the country. Emigrants should bear in mind that the sea-voyage will not bring them at once to the place of their destination, but that at least £2 should be reserved for each grown person for the inland journey. Including the journey from his home to the port where he gets on board, the expeuse to a grown person of removing to Canada appears, from this document, to be from £7 to £9. Arrangements have been made by which persons, who may wish to furnish emigrants with money for their night with them. The more remarkable difference, how- In May there, to the remainder of September, October, and covered that the cause was a slight mal-adjustment of some the first third of November with us; and June, July, of the work. In a short period it was obviated. The boat and August there, to the remainder of November, De- was again put in motion. She continued to move on. All cember, January, and February here. There are other were still incredulous. None seemed willing to trust the circumstances, however, besides the mere length of the evidence of their own senses. We left the fair city of New York; we passed through the romantic and ever varying days which affect the progress of the seasons; and there-scenery of the highlands; we descried the clustering houses fore the succession of the natural appearances of the of Albany; we reached its shores; and then, even then, year in the two countries will not be found to follow when all seemed achieved, I was the victim of disappointexactly the commencement and close of these correspond- ment. Imagination superseded the influence of fact. It ing periods. was then doubted if it could be done again; or, if done, it was doubted if it could be made of any great value." DISAPPOINTMENTS OF THE AUTHORS OF IMPORTANT INVENTIONS. ALMOST every one who has rendered a great service to mankind, by striking out inventions, whose objects are misconceived or imperfectly understood by the world, has had to complain of the neglect or coldness of his own generation. Even his best friends are apt to suspect his motives and undervalue his labours. The real recompense, in such circumstances, as in all others, is the consciousness of doing one's duty. Fulton, the inventor of the steam-boat in North America, which, in a few years, has produced such an astonishing change in that vast country, by connecting together its most distant states, sustained the mortification of not being comprehended by his countrymen, He was, therefore, treated as an idle projector, whose schemes would be useless to the world and ruinous to himself. At a discourse, delivered at the Mechanics' Institute, Boston, in 1829, by Judge Story, the feelings of Fulton, upon his first public experiment, are thus related :- "I myself have heard the illustrious inventor of the steam-boat relate, in an animated and affecting manner, the history of his labours and discouragements. When, said he, I was building my first steam-boat at New York, the project was viewed by the public, either with indifference or with contempt, as a visionary scheme. My friends, indeed, were civil, but they were shy. They listened with patience to my explanations, but with a settled cast of incredulity on their countenances. I felt the full force of the lamentation of the poet, Truths would you teach, to save a sinking land, As I had occasion to pass daily to and from the buildingyard, while my boat was in progress, I have often loitered unknown near the idle groups of strangers, gathering in little circles, and heard various inquiries as to the object of this new vehicle. The language was uniformly that of scorn, or sneer, or ridicule. The loud laugh often rose at my expense; the dry jest; the wise calculation of losses and expenditures; the dull but endless repetition of the Fulton Folly. Never did a single encouraging remark, a bright hope, or a warm wish, cross my path. Silence itself was but politeness, veiling its doubts, or hiding its reproaches. At length the day arrived when the experiment was to be put into operation. To me it was a most trying and interest ing occasion. I invited many friends to go on board to witness the first successful trip. Many of them did me the favour to attend, as a matter of personal respect; but it was manifest that they did it with reluctance, fearing to be the partners of my mortification, and not of my triumph. I was well aware, that, in my case, there were many reasons to doubt of my own success. The machinery was new and ill-made; many parts of it were constructed by mechanics unaccustomed to such work; and unexpected difficulties might reasonably be presumed to present themselves from other causes. The moment arrived in which the word was to be given for the vessel to move. My friends were in groups on the deck. There was anxiety mixed with fear among them. They were silent, and sad, and weary. I read in their looks nothing but disaster, and almost repented of my efforts. The signal was given, and the boat moved on a short distance, and then stopped, and became immoveable. To the silence of the preceding moment now succeeded murmurs of discontent, and agitations, and whispers, and shrugs. I could hear distinctly repeated, 'I told you it would be so, it is a foolish scheme; I wish we were well out of it. I elevated myself upon a platform, and addressed the assembly. I stated that I knew not what was the matter; but if they would be quiet, and indulge me for half an hour, I would either go on, or abandon the voyage for that time. This short respite was conceded without objection. I went below, examined the machinery, and dis I will therefore make it my business to seek satisfaction and delight, and avoid uneasiness and disquiet; to have as much of the one and as little of the other as may be. But here I must have a care I mistake not; for if I prefer a short pleasure to a lasting one, it is plain I cross my own happiness. Let me then see wherein consists the most lasting pleasure of this life, and that, as far as I can observe, is in these things: 1st. Health, without which no sensual pleasure can have any relish. 2nd. Reputation,-for that I find every body is pleased with, and the want of it is a constant torment. 3rd. Knowledge,-for the little knowledge I have, I find I would not sell at any rate, nor part with for any other pleasure. 4th. Doing good.-for I find the well-cooked meat I eat to-day does now no more delight me, nay, I am diseased after a full me--the perfumes I smelt yesterday now no more affect me with any pleasure: but the good turn I did yesterday, a year, seven years since, continues still to please and delight me as often as I reflect on it. 5th. The expectation of eternal and incomprehensible happiness in another world is that also which carries a constant pleasure with it. If, then, I will faithfully pursue that happiness I propose to myself, whatever pleasure offers itself to me, I must carefully look that it cross not any of those five great and constant pleasures above mentioned. For example, the fruit I see tempts me with the taste of it that I love; but if it endanger my health, I part with pleasure, and so foolishly make myself unhappy, and am a constant and lasting for a very short and transient not true to my own interest. Innocent diversions delight me: if I make use of them to refresh myself after study and business, they preserve my health, restore the vigour of my mind, and increase my pleasure; but if I spend all, or the greater part of my time in them, they hinder my improvement in knowledge and useful arts, they blast my credit, and give me up to the uneasy state of shame, ignorance, and contempt, in which I cannot but be very unhappy. Drinking, gaming, and vicious delights will do ine this mischief, not only by wasting my time, but by a positive injury endanger my health, impair my parts, imprint ill habits, lessen my esteem, and leave a constant lasting torment on my conscience; therefore all vicious and unlawful pleasures I will always avoid, because such a mastery of my passions will afford me a constant pleasure greater than any such enjoyments, and also deliver ine from the certain evil of several kinds, that by indulging myself in a present temptation I shall certainly afterwards suffer. All innocent diversions and delights, as far as they will contribute to my health, and consist with my improve* As opposed to intellectual, |