eagles were web-footed! They look just like young ducks! I do believe they are ducks!" Frank and Harry could restrain their mirth no longer, but burst into a violent fit of laughter. "Now, boys," said Christie, "you've been fooling us all this time: that was nothing but a duck's nest." "Oh no," said Frank, "who'd ever think of giving up a fine nest of young eagles for a parcel of ducks! Ha-ha-ha!" The rest of the family soon came out, and they all had a good laugh together at the little boy's expense. They took it very goodnaturedly, and the other boys acknowledged the deception they had practised upon them. Christie and Dugald raised a fine brood of ducks, but it was a long time before they heard the last of their "web-footed eagles." PENNY READING S. BY WARNER STERNE. The working-man has lately been brought, do read speciously. The working-man was to somewhat obtrusively before the public. Wellmeaning gentlemen, with money and nothing to do, are worked up to a pitch of activity, and, looking around them for a favourable means of employing both time and gold, pitch upon the unfortunate working-man, and drag him forward, to be improved, educated, and instructed, whether he will or no. That this state of things is better than the ignorance which existed among the working-classes some half-century ago is granted. That reading, writing, and arithmetic, when introduced into the homes of farm labourers, do not necessarily produce riot and rebellion, we have seen; though it is not very long ago that gentlemen in both Houses of Parliament drew fancy pictures of the want, misery, and discontent, that were to be the fruits of the spread of education. The ideal working-man is clean and civil, never exceeds his pint of beer at dinner, subscribes to the nearest Mechanic's Institute, and puts his surplus money, supposing him lucky enough to have any, in the Post-office Savings Bank: he is regular in all his habits, and expresses himself as perfectly contented with his lot. That there are many who come up to this standard, which after all is not a high one, it is but reasonable to suppose; but still, is it not possible that our ideal workman would have been equally sober and steady without the cumbrous patronage forced upon him? The first grand step made to benefit the working-man was the establishment of Mechanics' Institutes throughout the country. They promised well, and the account of what they would subscribe a small sum yearly, for which he was to have the benefit of a library and readingroom and a periodical lecture, from which he was to gather instruction. The books were to be selected so as to combine amusement with higher objects, and great things were expected. When, with a flourish of trumpets, the doors of these Institutions were thrown wide open for an anticipated rush of working-men, the doors remained open and the trumpets continued to bray, but the working-men hung back. Somehow, the great advantages that were offered to them were more evident to the promoters of the affair than to their less enlightened intellects; or perhaps it was that longwinded lectures on chemistry, pneumatics, and geology, were rather harder morsels than they cared to have to digest after a day's work. For the reading of books they had little time, and public-houses supplied them with newspapers, and at the same time permitted them to smoke and enjoy their pint of beer. The fact there is no denying, that, for the class for which they were originally intended, the Mechanics' Institutes were a complete failure. Look at them now in what part of the country you will, and you will find them either shut-up broken-windowed buildings, or else that the comparatively nauseous pill of instruction has been so coated with sugar, in the shapes of novels as regards the books, and in the form of drawing-room entertainments and conjurors with respect to the lectures, that the original purpose is all but lost sight of. That it is a reat advantage to the lower classes to be made acquainted with something | Reading For a long time the question remained unanswered, but a novel style of entertainment was started, which was a reply. Commencing in a town in the North of Eng land, "Penny Readings" spread themselves all over the country, and met everywhere with great success. Without aiming very high, they yet manage to combine both amusement and instruction, and are really frequented by the class for which they are intended; for, while the low charge for admission brings it within the power of all to attend, the entertainment is such as to please, at the same time that it makes the hearers acquainted with a better style of writing than that found in the pages of "Reynold's Miscellany" and "The Family Herald," and a superior style of singing (for music is generally interspersed with the readings) to that heard at harmonic meetings and music-halls. It may be urged that the number of those who can read well in public is decidedly limited; and that the droning forth of a long dull poem by an obscure author is neither amusing nor instructive; but this is a matter easily regulated by the managers of the "Penny Readings," who should take care not to introduce more than one novice to the audience on the same evening, but trust principally to tried men to make up the programme. The working man is not disposed to be ultra-critical, and if the pieces selected for his amusement be not above his comprehension, he will listen attentively to them, and if he leaves the building without having added largely to his stock of knowledge, he will, at all events, have passed his time more profitably than if lounging in a public-house. To expect a man who labours hard for ten or twelve hours a day to devote the remainder of his time to mental culture is unreasonable. There are, occasionally, master-minds enclosed in humble skulls surmounted by paper caps; but the hope of turning the whole race of mechanics into Palissys and Stephensons by lectures, grandiloquent talk, and patronage, is absurd: let us be satisfied if we can introduce to the "hard-handed sons of toil" some of the genius of our best writers, whose works they would probably never have the opportunity to study for themselves, and then hope that the seed thus sown may encourage in them a taste for a better class of literary food than that which satisfied them before. Subjoined is the programme of one of these entertainments, to which the price of admission is one penny : "Barney Maguire's' Reading ... account of the coro Barham. Speed on, my Bark" Anon. "The Irishman" "I'm a Roamer" ..... Maginn. ..... Song Tennyson. "The White Squall".. Thackeray. "The Baron's Dream" Anon. "The Sleeping Beauty” Anon. ...... Dickens. "Nil Desperandum".. Anon. about 800, and every piece was received with This programme was given to an audience of great applause. Look at the list of authors' names, and you will see several of our best teachers who would ram the Greek alphabet writers represented, and though those stern heads with sorrow at the absence of "solid down everybody's throat may shake their matter," they may safely be defied to prove that listening to such an entertainment could be productive of anything but good. It cannot be expected of a working man that from a state of of a well-meaning but somewhat mistaken semi-savage ignorance he shall at the word "Teach me cube-root, enlighten me on conic sections forthwith." philanthropist exclaim, For a measure to be successful it is necessary for it to make a gradual if not slow advance, and what better stepping-stone than "Penny Readings"? learns, perhaps, the advantage of books, and so From attendance at them, our W. M. first the first seeds are sown of what may eventually bring forth abundance of fruit. ments at the expense of other endeavours daily It is not my wish to cry up these entertainmade to improve a class which is, unfortunately, but too desirous of remaining unimproved, a class which if left to themselves would willingly toil, and sleep, and drink, and die totally and entirely careless of the existence of ignorant of the laws which regulate the universe, philosophers and poets. The class of literature which is now widely circulated amongst the lower orders is of a debased unhealthy sort. Stories of intrigue, love, and revenge fill seveneighths of the cheap periodicals of the day, and convey to the half-educated minds of their that the desire for stimulating literature were readers loose morals in looser grammar. Would confined to this class alone, and that the proportion of the sale of a three-volume guineaand-a-half novel by a popular writer and fashionable publisher was not on an increasing ratio with the number of commandments broken by the hero and the heartless or sanguinary nature of the crimes committed by the heroine! For readers of this more expensive-expanded-policereport style but little can be said; but for those in a more humble station, who have been brought up with no knowledge of a superior style of writing to that of the author of 'Adelgitha the Orphan, or the Dark Mystery of the Old Manor House," the Penny Readings offer the advantage of instruction. Possibly there are many who would think "Esmond" or "David Copperfield" lacked the fire of Adelgitha the Orphan," and that Tennyson and Longfellow were poor when compared with the writer who in the corner of a country newspaper contributes some affecting "Lines to a Primrose ;" but still there must be many minds amongst the working classes sufficiently intelligent to appreciate the beauties of our good authors, when they have been once introduced to their notice; and though I would not say that a course of novel reading would benefit our oftmentioned friend the working man, I do say that it would be better for him to peruse the works of Dickens and Thackery, than those of the nameless scribblers who supply sensation tales warranted to contain a murder and a few minor crimes in each number, to the penny illustrated perodicals which block up the shop windows of small stationers, and are hawked about in every direction. This granted, what more likely means can be used to effect this change in his literary diet than introducing him to the better class of authors from whose works the programmes of the Penny Readings are selected? Of course, in these entertainments very much depends upon the manager. In quiet country villages, where eighty or a hundred people assemble to hear the readings of gentlemen with whom the majority of them are personally acquainted, the matter is simple enough; but when an audience, of from a thousand to fifteen hundred is gathered together in the neighbourhood of a large town, the management is no such easy task. Many things have to be borne in mind-the selection of the pieces, the capability of the readers for making themselves heard, the length of time of each reading, the proper distribution of the serious and comic element, and a score of minor considerations have all to be remembered by the manager when he makes up the programme, which is to please a large and but too often a turbulent audience. Speaking from experience, I may offer a few suggestions to the managers of Penny Readings. It is desirable, in the first place, if possible, to alternate readings and music. The programme should contain a certain amount of comic matter, but it should not preponderate, as it tends to make the juvenile portion of the audience intolerant of graver pieces. No reading should be allowed to last longer than ten minutes, for it is impossible to make two regulations, one for good readers and another for bad, and as a general rule it may be laid down that the worst readers wish to give the longest pieces. By limiting the time to ten minutes a great variety is given, and, though the audience may at times be sorry to part with a good reader so soon, they bear the better with one whose selection or delivery is bad; for, of course, until after great experience it is impossible for a manager to be sure of all his men. There is generally but little difficulty in finding readers, for the number of people who delight in hearing their own voice is large, and to them the advantage of addressing a crowded assembly is great; for it gives them confidence, and teaches them how to suit their voices to a large hall. To those who have really the interest of our working-man at heart I would throw out a hint that the industrial classes should be asked to assist as performers at these entertainments; for, though occasionally a few misplaced h's and mal-pronunciations may be the result, I have myself heard an admirable recitation from Crabbe by a policeman, a pathetic reading from Tennyson by a journeyman carpenter, and a good solo on the cornet by a blacksmith. The object in persuading this class of persons to perform is obvious. It appeals more directly to Tom and Harry to be told that their fellow workman Jack will take part in the performance, than if the name of the Rev. J. Č. M. Bellew and Mr. Levy were to appear in the programme. To urge the formation of Penny Readings is almost unnecessary, for already there is scarcely a town which does not give some entertainment of the kind, but there are (as there ever must be to good movements) scoffers who ridicule the pretensions of those who come forward for the amusement, and, let it be hoped, the instruction of the working-classes. Let them attend a well-conducted Penny Reading, let them con sider the price charged for admission, let them note the interest on the faces of the class for which these entertainments were instituted, let them remark the applause which rewards every performer, and then let them go home and lay their hands on the place where they suppose their hearts to be, and say, if they can, that no good is to be derived from the "Penny Readings.' in A WOMAN BRANDED.-In the biography of Victor Hugo, appears the following:-At Paris, 1818 or 1819, on a summer's day, towards twelve o'clock at noon, I was passing by the square of the Palaise de Justice. A crowd was assembled there around a post. I drew near. To this post was tied a young female, with a collar round her neck and a writing over her head. A chafing-dish, full of burning coals, was on the ground in front of her; an iron instrument, with a wooden handle, was there. The crowd looked perfectly satisfied. This placed in the live embers, and was being heated woman was guilty of what the law calls domestic theft. As the clock struck noon, behind that woman, and without being seen by her, a man stepped up to the post. I had noticed that the jacket worn by this woman had an opening behind, kept together by strings; the man quickly untied these, drew aside the jacket, exposed the woman's back as far as the waist, seized the iron which was in the chafing-dish, and applied it, leaning heavily on the bare shoulder. Both the iron and the wrist of the executioner disappeared in a thick whito there still rings in my ears the horrible shriek of smoke. This is now more than forty years ago, but this wretched creature. To me, she had been a thief, but was now a martyr. I was then sixteen years of age, and I left the place determined to combat to the last days of my life these cruel deeds of the law. OUR LIBRARY TABLE. DEBRETT'S PEERAGE ILLUSTRATED. DEBRETT'S BARONETAGE AND KNIGHTHOOD ILLUSTRATED. (London: Bosworth, Regentstreet; Westerton, Knightsbridge; Dean and Son, Ludgate Hill.) -Debrett takes precedence of all competitors, by virtue of priority. This Red Book is the oldest peerage extant, and this last edition, in consequence of various alterations and additions, and the mode of their arrangement, the very best that has been issued. In a book of reference it is a special advantage if all the information on a given subject be brought together: hence the placing of the various titles borne by a nobleman under the one by which he is commonly designated, and their alphabetical arrangement, is an improvement; so also is the adding of the distinct titles in virtue of which many noblemen sit and vote in the House of Lords, and which are totally different from those by which they are popularly known. Thus the Duke of Buccleugh takes his seat as Earl of Doncaster; and the Marquis of Clanricarde as Baron Somerhill: "the latter titles being given in the same line, and with equal prominence with the former, the identity of the noble personages referred to are at once recognizable." There are other amendments, as the insertion of the courtesy-titles of the ellest sons of Peers in the general alphabetical arrangement in the body of the work. Thus: the eldest son of the Marquis of Westminster is, by courtesy, Earl Grosvenor; and Earl GrosVenor's eldest son is Viscount Belgrave." The names of the two latter are not only mentioned in their order, under the head of "Westminster," but are likewise inserted in the " Alphabetical List," and lastly (and this we think a very marked improvement, and one that adds importantly to the general interest of the work), "the descriptive blazoning of the arms, and the copious additions made to heraldic information generally." A list and particulars of the archbishops and bishops, English, Scotch, Irish, and colonial, is also given with the heraldic blazoning of the several sees, as well as those of the lords justices of appeal, of the master of the rolls, vice-chancellors, judges of the higher courts, &c., &c. Here also we perceive, at a glance, not only the country-seat and town-residence of each noblean, but the particular club to which he belongs, and the specification by name of the church livings of which he happens to be the patron: in brief, "Debrett's Peerage for 1865" 1s a work the interest of which extends as far as the influence of the titled classes of Great Britain, which is giving it a wide range. Nor is the matter of its contents restricted to the bare catalogue of great names; and the births, deaths, and marriages of those to whom they appertain. Here and there we glean a little On the other posy of pleasant thought, in association with an historic name or antique usage, and under teaching of the herald, transform the insignia of royalty into an eastern allegory writ in gems. Thus at the crowning, the ring signifies faithfulness, the bracelet good works, a sword for vengeance, purple robes to attract reverence, and a diadem to blazon glory. "Some of these forms," says the editor, "would seem to be of Judaiacal origin." Certainly the anointing with oil is as ancient as the priest-kings of Egypt, and travelled with other eastern forms and customs to the western nations. The ceremonial of coronation is more elaborate and splendid in this country than in any other; nevertheless it does not affect the legality of kingship, since according to law the king or queen never dies-it is merely a soleon recognition, and confirmation of the royal descent, and consequent right of accession, and is not necessary for the security of the title to the crown. hand, it is a vulgar error to suppose that the heir-apparent is born Prince of Wales. There is no succession of Prince of Wales: the heirapparent is created Prince of Wales, the title being in the gift of the sovereign, and an eccentric one might, at his pleasure, resolve that there should be no Prince of Wales, thus-"the placarded announcement of Birth of a Prince of Wales,' which gladdened the hearts of Englishmen on the 9th of November, 1841, was founded on a popular fallacy." James I., who united the crowns of England and Scotland, created his son Prince Henry, "Prince of Great Britain and Ireland;" but while this nominallyhigher title still exists in the person of the Prince of Wales, the older honour has occasioned its disuse. It is somewhat hard upon the wives of archbishops and bishops-the first of whom take precedence of all secular peers, with the exception of the Lord High Chancellor, who comes between the archbishops of Canterbury and York, the former taking precedence of all but the royal family-that they should derive no title, or dignity from their husbands, but are simply Mrs., an oversight, that savours of times when churchmen practised celibacy, and were not supposed to have feminine partners desirous of sharing their honours. Peers of the realm still conserve their privilege of freedom from arrest for debt; and in case of a riot have no occasion to join the posse comititis. But should a poll-tax be levied it is well to know that the peers bear the greater share of the burden, they being taxed every one according to his degree. In canvassing the news of the day, it is necessary now and again to remember the law called scandalum magnatum, "to secure the honour of and to prevent the spreading of any scandal upon peers, or any R great officers of the realm," by which any man convicted of making a scandalous report though true against a peer is condemned to an arbitrary fine, and to remain in custody till the same be paid. After having referred to the privilege of freedom from arrest for debt, we are not at all surprised to learn that, upon any great trial in a court of justice, a peer may come into the court and sit there covered-a carrying out of his prerogative, or peerogative as Mrs. Malaprop might phrase it, that cannot put any further affront upon the ancient lady with bandaged eyes who presides there. Peers have also the power to qualify a certain number of chaplains: archbishops, eight; a duke, six; a marquis, five; an earl, five; a viscount, four; a bishop, six; a baron, three. A knight of the garter, may qualify three; a duchess, marchioness, countess, or baroness, being a widow, two." Knights bannerets, and baronet's, titles so often confounded by superficial writers, have distinct origins, different positions in order of precedence; and the first is more ancient than the other. Bannerets were so called from the privilege of using a square banner, similar to that borne by barons, and granted them for distinguished services: it was essentially a military distinction, as when Edward the Black Prince was engaged in the wars of Spain and Portugal, he delivered a banner to John Chandos (not previously knighted) with these words: "Sir John, in the name of God, who bless this day's service of yours, that it may speed well, and turn to your glorie, beare yourself manfully, and give proof what a knight you are.' Having thus received the banner, Sir John rejoined his company with a cheerful heart, saying, "My fellow-soldiers, there is my banner and yours; in case you defend it courageously as your owne. According to Camden, the banneret was formed by cutting off the tip or point of the pennon, which converted it into a square banner; others say, that the banneret was conferred by the king under the royal standard: this dignity was disused in England from the time of Charles II., to the reign of George III., who revived it in the person of Sir William Erskine in 1764. It was created as early as 1360. The title of baronet was originally created by James I. of England for the purpose of promoting the "plantation" of the province of Ulster with loyal settlers; the baronetcy of Ireland followed that of England, and was founded for the same purpose. That of Scotland was founded with a view to the colonization of Nova Scotia in North America. The only knighthood that is hereditary is that instituted by James, 1611, and is the first rank among the gentry. Each of James's baronets was obliged to pay into the exchequer on his creation "as much as would maintain thirty soldiers three years at eightpence a day, in the province of Ulster in Ireland." It was also necessary that he should be a gentleman born, and have a clear estate of £1000 per annum. "Low as knights now rank upon the list of precedency," observes the editor of Debrett, رو "this rank is not only the most ancient, but, looking back into history, the most illustrious." All that is chivalrous and noble in the poetry and romance of the middle ages, from the knights of the Round Table, to Sir Philip Sydney, of much later times, is associated with the order. "It was," says Debrett, "an institution of the days of chivalry." The latter word has itself an affinity with horsemanship; and our knights-bachelors are all equites aurati (golden-spurred horsemen). Having satisfied oneself as to who is who, in these pages, not the least amusing study is the "descriptive blazonry of arms." We love the mystic fields, gold, blue, black, white, or vert, crimson, or azure, that appertain to the domains of heraldry; and reverence for their antiquity's sake the unknown animals that disport themselves no where out of them, but there make as prominent and a more apocryphal figure than the Waterhouse Hawkin's Collection in the grounds of the Crystal Palace. Has any geologist come across the relics of the green wyvern? Do any portions of his head and wings moulder in our museums? In which of the periods did the basilisk and cockatrice flourish, and the griffin foregather with its kind? In what deep sea fished they their mer men and maidens, their sea-horses, unicorns, lions, and dogs? There be no Cornish choughs now of the same breed as that which supports sinister the shield of the Powlets; and the ounce-had it ever an existence out of weights and measures, save in the creation of Garter, Clarenceaux, and Norroy? Where dwelt the hybrid musimons, the salamanders, and the dragon? and where caught they their satyrs, wild men, cat-a-mountains, and angels? Is their Pegasus one with him who ranged Helicon and Pierus, and cropped the asphodels by Hippocrene's brink? And Fame and Pho nix, Allerion, and Opinicus (a bird that having the wings and head of an eagle, the body of a lion, and the tail of a camel, may well be supposed to have had no very attenuated opinion of himself)-where were they found? While I write, the editor answers me from the land of Chimæra, which, as all our readers will remember, was a burning mountain in Asia Minor, celebrated for its marvellous zoological productions. The use of these, and various other forms and figures as heraldic distinctions, has been irreverently traced back to the individual water-colour painting of the ancient Britons; but "the earliest Roll of arms of which we have any notice is in the reign of Henry III; and the reign of Edward I. presents us with the earliest heraldic document extant." In our next number we may probably return to these volumes; and in the meantime assure our readers, that for general correctness, and essential information, "Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage" is the most valuable work of its kind. C. A. W. HISTOIRE DE JULES CESAR. PAR NAPOLEON III.* (London: Cassell, Petter, and *Afforded by a contemporary. |