tages, and hence the devotion of Paris to the culi- We doubt, too, whether the English cooks are nary treatment of egg. aware of, what is well known, we believe, to PariIn the first place, what object so elegant, so natu-sian cooks, that a fresh egg well roasted is a far richral a unit of appetite, if the expression may be al-er thing than the same egg well boiled. An egg lowed, and yet so capable of artificial enhance- turned round on the hearth till it is thoroughly done ments, as an egg still in its shell, a pure white is perhaps served in the best form of which it is ellipsoid, which in a shining silver or china cup susceptible, to those at least who like rich food. Of reminds the eye of the natural beauty of the acorn the other solid forms of egg, perhaps the best is the snugly lying in its own cup, though suggesting at hard-boiled that is eaten with salad. There is a the same moment the great advantages both in kind peculiarly happy contrast between salad and egg, and quality which the consumer of the one has over both in color and edible qualities, which recommends the prodigal who was reduced to attempt the assim- this combination to the true artist. Salad is refresh ilation of the other. The mere symmetry of the ing exactly because it is so innutritious, but then for egg (to any one, that is, who adopts the obviously that reason it suggests browsing and purely pastoral natural principle of the Narrow-endians, and puts ideas without the balance of the most nutritious of the acute end of the ellipsoid upwards, allowing it all substances that are not positively meat. Egg to rest upon the Big-end) is in itself a fascination mediates between the salad and the cold meat with to the mind of a true artist. It is the only article which it is eaten, breaks the abruptness of the of real nutrition which resembles fruit in being ap- change to the luncher's imagination, and pleasantly propriated naturally and without division to a single stars the table with a contrast of colors which other consumer. Meat must be carved, the limbs of fowls wise is never attained except from fruit. must be dislocated, bread broken or cut, and cheese scooped or quarried out; only in the egg, amongst things that will support life and health, do we obtain a fair natural whole the symmetry of which need not be broken by division. As for the artificial modes of treating solid eggs, -those, we mean, which substitute some artificial compound for the yolk, leaving the white envelope in its natural form, they appeal only to the morbid desire for surprises which marks the decadence of true art. Take this, for instance, called, we suppose from the Morning, because the jaded appetite of an epicure is least active in the morning, and needs the most stimulus at that time: "EUFS À L'AURORE. No doubt it requires art both to furnish and eat an egg so as not to jar upon this sense of natural harmony. There should be no painful suspense in the last stage of preparation for eating, no danger of any painful éclaircissement on the breaking of the egg, no risk even of discovering the "notes" of a "pudding" or "shop" egg of that half-doubtful "Boil some eggs until they are hard. Remove the sort which recalls the antiquarian scent of a dusty shells; cut each egg into half, and scoop out the yolks; library, and suggests, very erroneously,- indeed in put these into a mortar, with some pepper, salt, savory direct opposition to the truth, Beat all to a paste; place some of it that the egg would herbs, and cream. have been better for a more thorough ventilation. in each halved white of egg, and lay the remainder in a buttered dish; arrange the stuffed eggs on the top with On the contrary, the egg should display first a layer the forcemeat uppermost. Place the dish in a moderateof white resembling rather the solid froth of Devon-ly heated oven, and serve when the eggs are nicely shire cream than the smooth, semi-translucent white browned." of ordinary albumen, and next a cocoon of yolk properly "set" at the circumference and becoming fluid only towards the centre. This is not only nicer, but much easier to eat without those indecorous overflows of yolk on to the plate, that suggest to a spectator of the ruins of a breakfast that a number of artists have been making a prodigal use of "King's yellow," and left their palettes littering the table. What would an intelligent hen say to that? You might just as well put strawberry ice in the interior of a penny roll, or fill a cup with gold pieces, or excavate a history and stuff its framework with sen sation novel. In dealing with the secondary form of in egg, which many individual eggs are made tributary to the omelette form, abstract egg, there is more The beauty of an egg cooked in its shell consists to be said for artificial treatment. The individualin its individual unity; and even in the process of ity of the thing has already escaped, and the mixconsumption every care should be taken not to let ture with other alien substances is at this stage only it sprawl and overflow like sauce or gravy. All the a question of more or less. The danger of omelette sand egg-glasses give at least a minute too little for is richness, and the tendency to mix freely with proper boiling, and it is the use of these delusive in- butter is excessive in omelette-makers, and as objecstruments, or the fatal impression which they tend tionable as excessive. Egg is too nutritious to be to spread that three minutes is full time for the boil-greased. You might just as well butter your meat. ing of a new-laid egg, (possibly it may be for a shop The most that is permissible in this way is the very egg of ambiguous character, if such a thing is to be slight use of butter which is made in those little boiled at all,) which so often implants a kind of toasted "dice" used for soup. There the butter is despair in the minds of very respectable cooks as to not apparent,-it has imparted a flavor, but left no the art of boiling eggs. We have known an other-physical trail. And the following receipt for omewise very estimable cook maintain that nature and lette will be found at once one of the simplest and education had conspired to render her incompetent best in the little book before us. to the task of boiling eggs, and this with an abject fatalism more suitable to a Mahometan than a Christian. The simple truth is, that she had never learned that the time requisite for boiling an egg varies inversely as its own age and directly as its size, a really new-laid hen's egg of average size requiring at least four minutes in boiling water, more if it be very big, and less if it be very small. "OMELETTE AUX CROUTONS. "Beat the yolks of six and the whites of four eggs; Cut some nice little pieces of bread no larger than dice; fry season with salt and spice according to taste. them in butter till they are well browned, then throw them quickly into boiling gravy or milk, or sauce of any particular flavor; mix them with the beaten egg, and fry as an ordinary omelette.” The vast use of egg in merely enriching other thentic account of the way in which prigs or bores substances, in cakes, puddings, soups, &c., is, we first nerve themselves to take to it, it would be an think, overdone, both in this country and abroad. interesting contribution to the history of missionary There is not a viler decoction known to human art labor. The thing begins in a laudable ambition to than that which is called egg-soup in Germany, set about doing somebody good, and a lady whose where masses of greasy yellow substance, floating time hangs heavy on her hands will soon feel that like very putrid duckweed in a watery fluid, are of giving away blankets is not such a high and worthy fered to you at the beginning of dinner, to destroy employment as giving away good advice. Her first your chance of eating anything afterwards. If yolk essays are made upon the poor. Most poor people, of egg is used separately from the egg at all, it especially in the country, can be got to take anyshould be diffused and made a sort of yeast, as it is thing, provided only it is offered them by their richer in cakes and puddings. Crumbs of yolk are chaotic neighbors; and the poor seem so receptive and and rather revolting spectacles. But we doubt amenable that it is quite an encouragement to go a whether its secondary enriching use is not greatly little higher, and to try and practice on the rich. In overdone in modern cookery. Custard is by far its the outset, the young enthusiast is usually a little best form, because it is its most honest form. Very bashful, and commences operations by dropping the eggy puddings, and very eggy cakes, are overpower- story of the converted poacher furtively out of a ing; like drawing-rooms with too heavy a scent in carriage window, or leaving it, when no one is them, they call the attention too much to a second-looking, on the table of some railway waitingary influence which is properly meant to blend ab- room. The next step is to send it anonymously by solutely with the primary. Eggs used freely as yeast post, and in a disguised handwriting, to those of is used in other food remind one of a very pictu- her acquaintances or neighbors who seem from genresque style used, not in describing facts, but in il-eral appearances to need it most. But this modest lustrating opinions. The style overpowers the sub- wish to escape publicity presently wears off, and it stance as the egg so often overpowers the pudding. becomes comparatively easy to present the gift in Thus Macaulay wrote what we may call a very eggy person to the casual stranger. style when he illustrated political principles. His style was made for description, and when he applied it to discuss abstract politics his discussions tasted like a pudding too rich with egg. On the whole we regard eggs as best in the beautiful individuality of the egg-shell, and degenerating in proportion as they are made subservient to other food. They have too much individuality for the work of yeast. The egg is the only unit of animal food, and has a pronounced taste in proportion to its unique character and shape. Like meat, it is scarcely well adapted for flavoring other things than itself. It has too dominating a nature of its own. Egg in the abstract should be very sparingly used in cookery, or it will suggest itself obtrusively. Egg is admirable in a substantive form, but in an adjective form not so. Eggy compounds soon revolt. GOOD ADVICE. Ir requires a highly cultivated moral nature to be able to accept with perfect graciousness a proffered tract. It is not flattering to your dignity to feel that a perfect stranger has picked you out at first sight as a human being whose soul is in a very bad way indeed, and the immediate impulse of the natural Adam is to snub the aggressor for his impertinent suggestion. A life spent in the exercise of every virtue and restraint would probably teach a man to curb his instinct of self-defence, and to treat the solemn little warning with imperturbable composure. We ought, in theory, to feel thankful to any one who appears solicitous about our soul, just as much as if he were solicitous about the state of our tongue; and, though it is unnecessary to let the amateur physician have a sight of either, the true philosopher will be able to meet the inquiry in a kindly spirit, and to inform the inquirer that everything is going on as well as can be expected under the circumstances. It cannot after all be, at the outset, a cheerful occupation (though it becomes natural enough in time to those who enter on it) to go about the world giving away accounts of converted poachers, and poking up every one to see if they know where they are going to. It is clear that the converted poacher can do no one any real harm, and it is always possible that his happy history may do some one good. It is worth while, therefore, to take the chance, and any little rebuff or annoyance which occurs at intervals during the process of distribution is only a sort of humble martyr's crown which it is the young missionary's business to be willing and proud to wear. To be perfectly consistent, she ought not indeed to confine herself to the distribution of tracts. The promiscuous distribution of pills might be justified and recommended upon similar grounds; and, if once authorized by custom, would become very popular with feminine distributors. No sensible person ought to be offended at being offered a really good pill, and there would be this advantage about the distribution of pills, that the production of a pill-box does not necessarily seem to imply a religious superiority on the part of the pill-giver. A man may want one without knowing it, or, if he does not want it now, the time may come when he will want it. At any rate, it can do no harm to offer it, and, though tracts have this additional value, that they are designed to minister to the mind, it is better to minister to the body than not to minister to anything at all. Both sorts of ministration may accordingly be undertaken from a genuine desire to promote the welfare of one's fellow-creatures, and in theory it would appear harsh and unkind to meet any such medicinal overtures with rudeness or discourtesy. Tracts and pills, after all, are only what is meant for good advice, disguised, as the case may be, either in print or in sugar. And it seems doubtful, from a moral point of view, whether we ought to sneer at either in the presence of the donor. The philanthropist who wishes to go through life giving as little pain as possible, will be as careful not to hurt the feelings of an enthusiast as he would be to avoid hurting a caterpillar, and will politely pocket for the moment anything that is presented to him in the way of suggestion or admonition. Some persons might think it was a man's bounden duty in such a case to remonstrate with the intruder. This does not seem so clear. At least it would only be equiv If some Tract Society would only publish an au- |alent to returning pill for pill, with the certainty that_the_remonstrance would be entirely thrown | clamorous than the instincts of passion; they do not away. Controversy with a tract distributor, or any other distributor of good advice, is not likely to do the distributor any sensible good; and if he likes to spend his time in the distribution, it is, after all, no business of ours. loudly proclaim themselves or hurry us away in spite of ourselves. They may easily exist without ever having been noticed. A man may be wicked without having listened to and positively decided against the appeal of virtue; but he cannot be virtuous without having heard and dismissed the claims of vice. Judgment given in favor of good habits is accordingly less easily reversed, for it presupposes a complete hearing and determination of the cause. It is therefore true, as a general proposition, that when habits are once formed, they are usually broken to some good purpose; and the postyranny with success justifies, in theory, the giving of good advice. The missionary may, by good luck or good guidance, disturb from its lethargy of years some admirable motive in the bosom of his hearer that has never yet been energetic, far less been hitherto thoroughly discussed and put down. Good advice is a thing which ought doubtless, on rare occasions, to be fearlessly and frankly given, and yet it is one of those good things which are proverbially almost always valueless. An attempt to reform the character of our neighbors, and to alter the current of their lives, cannot be said to be altogether a forlorn hope, because every now and then it does by a miracle succeed. The phenome-sibility of contending even against this inveterate non of conversion, though exceptional, is not utterly unknown, and for the best of reasons. The law of habit is probably the strongest law of our moral nature. Habit is the lord of life, and the combination of motives which leads to action in any single case, the next time it presents itself, produces a similar effect more easily and quickly. Soon habit becomes a second nature, and the motives which at first had to overcome a sort of vis inertice within us before they resulted in action end by influencing us instinctively and immediately. It is on this account, as ancient philosophers teach us, that education is so important. It presides over the formation of habits themselves, and whatever presides over the formation of habits has in its hands the direction of our future career. The reason why conversion is occasionally possible is, on the other hand, tolerably plain. Habit, though powerful, is not omnipotent, for if it were, men would be at the mercy of their early training, and it would be as difficult to change character as it is to warp the growth of a tree. It rests originally, indeed, on a combination of motives, but the motives that make up the combination do not invariably include among them all the motives that may conceivably move us. Some are left outside, dormant, or even undiscovered. Some that are even included figure amongst the rest, it may be, in a sleepy kind of way, and are not what they might be if they were thoroughly aroused. It is never, therefore, certain that we may not at any epoch in our lives call into activity some new motive which only requires to be awakened in order to become completely predominant. It is by hitting on some such fresh power within us that habits, however indurated, are every now and then broken or dissolved. And there are periods in the history of all of us when, from some undiscovered cause, we are more susceptible than usual to this internal commotion, which is to the moral character what a revolution is to a state. The commotion is not, indeed, universally productive of advantage. Conversions to evil, though infrequent, are not unknown. A man who has lived for years in temperance or sobriety, in his maturer age falls under the sway of some passion which tears him loose from his moorings, and sends him adrift. But the infrequency of this spectacle, as compared with the comparative frequency of the converse, is due to the fact that good habits are more firmly and reasonably set, in general, than bad ones. The former imply an original moral struggle, during the course of which temptations have been conquered and passions brought under control, and it is not often that an enemy once thoroughly defeated is able to regain the upper hand. But habit, on the contrary, seldom involves the previous defeat of virtue. Virtuous impulses are less instinctive and less The first essential to success in so philanthropic a mission is that the authority of the person who gives the good advice should be unimpeachable. Before he gets a hearing, he ought to be able to show that he has a right to be heard. In order to obtain credit for this authority, he must convince us, first, that he knows something about the subject; and, secondly, that he is himself a person who merits that respect which none deserve who do not practice what they preach. The casual tract-distributing young lady only, at best, persuades those whom she assails of the latter fact. Clergymen of an aggressive turn usually fail to do much more. We feel that the gentleman in a white necktie, who is so urgent in talking to us about the next world, means well, and is a well-disposed person; but this only constitutes a part, and a feeble part, of his title to be listened to. The next thing he has to show is that he understands what he is talking about, which he cannot do unless he understands a good deal about this world as well as about the next. And his honest interference in our affairs makes him start at something of a disadvantage. It is, prima facie, doubtful whether a man who takes it so quietly for granted that he has something of importance to communicate is not deficient in judgment or good sense or knowledge of his subject. Before very long, unless he is a clever fellow, the enthusiast puts himself out of court. He has only considered the matter from his own point of view, and has evidently never seen that his own point of view is limited. Supposing, for example, that his hobby is the wickedness of balls and theatres. If he thinks them wrong, he obviously does not frequent them; and if he does not frequent them, he can scarcely know as much about them as those who do. It turns out that his want of familiarity with them has led him from a distance to exaggerate their evils, and to neglect altogether the bright side of the picture. If he offers us, on the other hand, a short and instructive narrative of the death-bed of a pious washerwoman, he places himself in an equally palpable dilemma. Either he thinks it will lo us good, or he does not. If not, it is absurd to offer it to us. If he does, he at once proves that he is ignorant enough to believe that the pious end of a washerwoman has some bearing on the religious problems that present themselves to an educated person. And a man who can believe this is evidently little better than a monomaniac. It is pure waste of time to enter into a discussion with him, and if we do so, it is for the sake of that cour- A cynic might not unnaturally come to the contesy and those very good manners against which his clusion, that no gratuitous advice at all is worth havpresumption is an offence. ing. When a man wants it, he can always ask for If, lastly, he repudiates these narrow and some-it; and if doctors and lawyers were animated with what obsolete methods of forcing his opinions upon us, he still assumes the position of a teacher who has something valuable to recommend to our notice. The position is an invidious one, and challenges attack. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, it turns out that his assumption is purely baseless. He starts from premises which do not embrace all the premises that bear upon the point, or he merely repeats over again what has been said much better by others, with whose arguments we are familiar. I If the account we have above given of the process of conversion be approximately correct, it is certain, even if he is in the right, that the only serious chances he can have, will be with those who are thoughtless or who are ignorant. We feel that he has no business to take it for granted that we are either. Thoughtlessness with the educated is a rare phenomenon; ignorance can only be dispelled by one who is better informed than ourselves. His attack, therefore, amounts to an assertion either that we are living in pure recklessness as to what is right, or to an assertion that he is better instructed on intellectual or religious subjects than we. Either of these assertions is more or less of a crime against good sense and decency, and the man who makes it in an off-hand way to the first stranger he meets merits a rebuff. Yet if the rebuff is administered he thinks it hard. His intentions, he says to himself, were so good. The proper answer to this apology is, that though his intentions are good, his ignorance or his conceit is anything but good. Before proposing to teach the world, it was his business to find out what the world already knew. Religion does not command any one to be ignorant, nor is it an excuse for that Pharisaical self-satisfaction which is akin to ignorance. His religious feelings may be genuine, but they no more warrant him in offering us a tract than in offering us a slap in the face. To decline it with the equanimity with which one declines a pinch of snuff is perfectly allowable from every moral point of view. To accept it with composure is, as we have observed, the high privilege of the true philosopher. a passion for advising gratis, their counsel would be given with less sense of responsibility, with less discrimination, and therefore to less purpose. Doctors and lawyers, however, have this merit, that they have at least studied the questions on which they offer their opinion. Amateurs, whether in theology or in business, cannot always say as much. There are two pieces of good advice which might perhaps be offered in return to all those who are about gratuitously to give good advice to others. The first would be, not to give it. This recommendation, however, will never be followed until the moral character of the would-be advisers is permanently reformed. It would be too distasteful to be popular. The second is, not to give good advice until one is quite sure that one has it to give, and that one is not preaching to a person who knows more already about the matter than we can tell him. Polonius, in virtue of his paternal dignity, had a right to give Laertes as much advice as he could carry. Polonius, however, or indeed Polonia in a railway carriage or in a drawing-room, gratifying his or her ambition to be of some influence in the world, is of less service to society than Polonius or Polonia would bear patiently to be told. FOREIGN NOTES. THE first volume of the "Life of Beethoven," by A. W. Thayer, is in the press in Berlin. Mr. Thayer is a native of Boston, and at present occupies the position of United States Consul at Trieste. He had been engaged on the work now announced for fifteen years. A LARGE number of unpublished letters, in the autograph of Mrs. Siddons, have recently been sold. They were addressed to the Viscountess Perceval and Mrs. Soame, and range over a period of ten years during the time of her greatest professional success. Many curious particulars respecting herself and her theatrical exertions are given in these letters. favors. It is an irritating feature about most of the good emancipation, recently attempted to assassinate Czar SOMEBODY, said to be a Russian noble ruined by advice which it is a man's misfortune to receive, Alexander. He fired a pistol at him as he entered that it is given by way of satisfaction to the donor, his carriage. One Ossip Ivanhof, a peasant or subquite as much as to benefit the recipient. People get into a vague way of thinking that it is their pre-saving the Emperor. He was of course ennobled, agent of police, threw up the assassin's arm, thereby rogative to go through life "doing good." No term an honor which, we believe, exempts him from the is so commonly or so abominably misused. It means, in the mouths of the majority of those who stick, and will, let us trust, obtain more substantial use it, the employment of their imperfect moral judgment upon their neighbor's business. This AT the present moment authorship seems to be yearning to have a finger in every moral or spiritual the fashionable pastime at the courts of Europe. pie is seldom disinterested. It is dictated less, per- It is tolerably well known that Queen Victoria has haps, by a wish to benefit one's species than by a been for some time engaged upon a series of comwish to gratify one's own cravings after influence positions of the essay form, we believe - which and missionary work. A similar phenomenon is are to be published, or at least privately printed, often seen in more worldly matters. A morbid de- when her Majesty shall deem them sufficiently comsire to interfere with or to influence others is more plete. The Crown Prince of Prussia is engaged lightly excused by one's own conscience if one is upon a history of the Electoral Princes of Brandenable to argue that, after all, the interference is meant burg. The ex-King of Greece (Otho of Bavaria) to be exercised for the advantage of those on whom is translating the Iliad of Homer; and his father, we force it. The consequence of this is, that half Louis, ex-King of Bavaria, is at Nice, giving the the good advice pressed upon us in worldly mat- last touches to a new volume of poems. King John, ters is purely bad advice. People begin to advise of Saxony, has just issued the third and last volume without qualifying themselves for the post of ad- of Dante's "Divina Commedia," translated by himself into German. The literary labors of the Em viser. mier peror and Empress of the French have been sub- that it is only too likely to be the case, knowing that jects for conversation and criticism for a long time. in crime the French saying, 'Ce n'est que le preCONCERNING Chinese journalism we have met pas qui coût,' is only too applicable. "And it should be remembered that every year this with some curious particulars. It is believed that there was a Peking Gazette long before the London estimate of the population of murderesses growing Gazette. Both are edited officially, and contain only up, among us is an increasing one, increasing not official announcements. Of the Peking paper, five only according to the ratio of increase in the popudifferent editions are printed, by five different pub-lation, but in accordance to the pressure upon the lishers, who send copies round to the houses of their means of existence, which every year bears more subscribers by messengers of their own. These pub-heavily upon the lowest class, from which our unlishers also supply copies on hire, precisely as in natural mothers are recruited. But in working out London, which are fetched away by their messenthis sum we have only dealt with murdered children gers, and are to be had next day at a lower price. There is, moreover, a manuscript edition, which circulated every evening at six o'clock, and contains the same or nearly the same news as will appear in print the next morning. There has just been commenced in London a broad-sheet in Chinese, entitled "The Flying Dragon Reporter, for China, Japan, and the East," with a distribution guaranteed to the extent of 60,000 copies yearly in Peking, Nanking, Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Yokohama, Nangasaki, Saigon, Melbourne, San Francisco, &c. It is edited by Professor Summer, and appears monthly. who have been known to have lived some little time, babes, many of whom have sucked the maternal breast, when, as is well known, their chances of life are greatly augmented by the lighting up of materof infanticide committed upon children just enternal love. If we dared to speculate upon the amount ing the world, and who are noiselessly interred as still-born, we should fear to name the annual total to which child murder would instantly spring up." MAY SONNETS. Harde is his heart that loveth nought THE queen of all the months is with us now, II. array, A LATE number of the Fortnightly Review contains a paper of startling import, entitled "The Massacre of the Innocents," written by Dr. Andrew Wynter. We quote a page of his grim statistics:"When a murder is committed, and the murderer for a time escapes the pursuit of justice, but is supposed to be still hidden among us, the agitation of the public mind is very remarkable, and the desire to cast him out gives rise to all kinds of unfounded reports and accusations, and a great waste of police activity. Possibly if we could lift the veil and really see the amount of murder that is going on day by day undiscovered, our feeling of horror would become somewhat blunted. If the metropolis was profoundly agitated by the fact that Mr. Briggs's assassin was at large roaming its intricate wilderness, what shall we say to the mine Dr. Lankester has sprung in our midst by his statement, gathered from his professional experience as coroner for the Cen-Old Chaucer's daisy opes its golden eye tral Middlesex District, that there are now living Where happy kine 'mid tufts of amber pass, To see more meadow-gold among the grass, among us in the metropolis twelve thousand women who have murdered their infants? This remarkable And crush out fragrance wheresoe'er they lie; statement in his second annual report, and the dic- For everywhere, 'mid lush luxuriant green, tum on which it is founded, is the fact that there are Crowds the effulgence of the lavish May; annually one hundred and fifty children murdered Cowslips, and dandelions bright as day, and abandoned in the highways and byways, in the And radiant as the halo of their queen. pools, canals, and rivers within the metropolitan dis- May's yellow buttercup, eagerly seen, trict. Dr. Lankester assumes that where one murLike treasure found not under every sky, dered little one is brought to light another is successThe merry milkmaid's sweetheart doth espy, fully hidden forever; and this estimate we should And to her raised chin holds its tell-tale sheen. think rather under than over the mark. This brings A merry month this month hath ever been, the grim total up to three hundred children whose And ever brimful of glad melody. mothers have put them foully to death each year. The experience of his office leads him to average the age of the mothers who commit these infanticides at twenty years; and as the expectancy of life at that period is forty years, we have only to multiply three hundred by forty to give the total of this ghastly sum, twelve thousand murderesses living in our midst, performing our domestic offices, ministering to our private wants, and doing women's work about in the town, with their dreadful secrets locked up in their breasts! To balance this possible over-estimate, we have the probability that the woman who has murdered one child may have murdered another. We know that Dr. Lankester mercifully shuts his eyes to this suspicion, but we fear III. The odorous air, made up of meadow-smells, |