d not seek in any other way to connect the scenery with e figures. The poetry of country life and country purits did not exist for him, any more than there existed for im Turner's sense, now of the terrible accord, but oftener the yet more more terrible discord, between the face of ature and the weary work and wearier life of Man. To how the "pollard laborers" of England as they areuman life at its poorest, and the country at its dreariest - the immortal artist of "Liber Studiorum "" devotes a late to Hedging and Ditching. He means you to see learly that these battered peasants are as stunted and as ithered as the willow trunk they hew. To show the unertone of sympathy between the fleeting day and the brief weetness of human joy, the great Venetian places the usic party in the garden, by the fountain, and paints the gures when the viol has stopped : "And the brown faces cease to sing, Sad with the whole of pleasure." But the one thing and the other are alike far from Remrandt. He cannot take into his landscape the passion of Jumanity. -- Sometimes not often Rembrandt etched landscapes because he found them fascinating: one can hardly say, beautiful. More often he etched them because they were before him; and whatever was before him roused his intellectual interest. They are not indeed without their own peculiar beauty, nor was the artist quite insensible to this. Sometimes he even seeks for beauty; not at all in individual form, but in the combinations of a composition, in blendings of shadow and sunshine, and in effects of storm and space. Once it is in the view of Omval - the figures in the landscape take their pleasure. It is a Dutch picnic, for Omval is the Lido or the Richmond of Amsterdam. There is quiet water, pleasant air, and a day's leisure; and it gives a zest to joy to keep in view the city towers, under which at the day's end we shall return. But generally it is the common facts of life that Rembrandt chronicles in landscape. Men and women, when they are there at all, pursue their common tasks. Thus, in the "Village with the Canal" there is a woman trudging with her dog; there is a distant horseman who presently will cross the bridge; and a boat with set sail is gliding down the stream. In a "Large Landscape, with Cottage and Dutch Barn," there is more than the ordinary beauty of composition. It is a fine picture for space, for sunniness, for peace, and is a master's work in its grouping of rustic foreground, and country house half hidden by the trees, and tranquil water, and distant town. In the "Goldweigher's Field" the composition is less admirable. The picture sprawls. There is too much subject for one plate, or too little subject that is prominently first, or too much that is dangerously near to the first, so that the eye is diverted, and at the same time fatigued. Here Rembrandt falls into the fault of some of our earlier water-color painters. His picture is a map: a bird's-eye view. Accuracy is sought after till sentiment is lost: details are insisted on till we forget the ensemble. Too anxious is Rembrandt to include the greatest and the least of Uytenbogaert's possessions: the villa, the farm, the copse, the meadows - we must know the capacities of the estate. But commonly, indeed, this is not the fault. Commonly there is a master's abstraction, a master's eye to unity. It is so in the few lines, of which each one is a guiding line, of "Six's Bridge" - a piece which shows us the plain wooden footbridge placed athwart the small canal, and the stunted trees that break, however so little, the flatness of the earthline and the weary stretch of level land, under an unmoved gray sheet of sky. It is so, still more notably, in the View of Amsterdam," where miles away, behind the meadows of the foreground, there rise above the long monotony of field and field-path, slow canal and dyke and lock, the towers of the busy town. Great in composition, abstraction, unity, Rembrandt is also great in verisimilitude. What restful haunts in shadow under the meeting boughs of the orchard trees!how good is the thatch that covers the high barns and the peaked house-roofs of the village street! And a last excellence perfect tonality is to be found in "Rembrandt's Mill;" a plate upon which a great amount of quite unfounded sentiment has been expended, since it is now proved that this mill was not the painter's birthplace, nor for any cause cherished by him with exceptional affection, a plate, which, nevertheless, has to be singled out as perhaps the most wholly satisfactory of his landscapes : certainly for tonality and unity of expression it is the most faultless. Etching has never done more than it has done in this picture, for it seems painted as well as drawn, this warm gray mill, lifting its stone and wood and tilework, mellow with evening, against the dim, large spaces of the quiet sky. The work of Claude must be left to a future opportunity. DOGS AND THEIR MADNESS. BY AN OLD FELLOW OF THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. THE last serious outbreak of "rabies,” more commonly known as hydrophobia, in England was in 1866. In that year no less than thirty-six people died of the disease. Great alarm was caused, amounting to something very like a panic. Most stringent measures were taken, a large number of suspected dogs being killed; and the number of deaths immediately fell to ten in the next year, and to seven in 1868. It now seems as if we were threatened with a return of the epidemic. The disease first appeared in the northern counties some six months ago; but it has spread with terrible rapidity. Mad dogs have been seen and killed in almost every part of the country, and several deaths have been reported. Within the last few weeks rabies has broken out in London; and the danger is so far recognized that Colonel Henderson has ordered the police to destroy all stray dogs. Now hydrophobia is without exception one of the most terrible diseases with which we are afflicted, although fortunately it is comparatively rare. Its terror lies in the fact that it is absolutely mortal, and that the death of the sufferer is peculiarly agonizing. It is consequently to be regretted especially at a time like the present, when the appearance of the malady has caused such a wide-spread feeling of alarm - that so many popular errors and misconceptions should exist upon the subject. Some of these I wish to clear away. The disease, as at present known, is always communicated by the bite of a rabid animal — usually a dog, but sometimes a cat, wolf, fox, jackal, raccoon, or even a badger, for all carnivorous animals are liable to rabies, and it is amongst them that it invariably originates. But to communicate the disease, the animal must be itself rabid when the bite is inflicted. The old superstition that if a man is bitten by a dog, and the dog afterwards goes mad, the man is in danger of hydrophobia, is altogether absurd, and gives rise to much groundless alarm. We might as well suppose that if our friend leaves us for South America, and there dies of the yellow fever, we are ourselves in danger because we shook hands with him when he left Southamp ton. The bite of a dog is always a nasty thing, painful, and apt to fester and heal badly. But the bite of a dog in health cannot possibly give hydrophobia; the animal must itself be rabid; and under ordinary circumstances there is no ground for any grave apprehension on account of a bite, no matter how severe it may be. Even those who are bitten by a rabid dog will do well not to be seriously alarmed, In the first place, the bite, even if not attended to, does not by any means always result in the disease. Statistics, indeed, would seem to show that the chances of escape are almost as five to two, only forty deaths occurring out of a hundred persons bitten. But, besides this original chance of immunity, proper precautions go far to decrease the danger; and if the wound is attended to by a skilled surgeon, the patient may make his mind comparatively easy. But what is most important, especially for those who keep a favorite dog, is that we should be able to recognize the premonitory symptoms of the disease, and so secure the animal before it can do mischief. It is To be forewarned is to be forearmed; and at a time when hydrophobia is prevalent, those who are exposed to any risk of infection cannot be forearmed too completely. The symptoms of hydrophobia are very characteristic, and it is unfortunate not only that they should be so little known, but that so much misapprehension should exist as to their nature. There is, for instance, a common notion that a rabid dog is a furious beast, which rushes wildly about, attacking everything that comes in its way. This is altogether an error. Rabid dogs have before now died quite tranquilly; and in any case it is only in the last few hours of the disease that delirium and frenzy set in. also a very common mistake to suppose that the mad dog dreads water, and that no dog is rabid which can drink. This is, indeed, a peculiarly mischievous delusion, as it leads people to imagine that because a dog will drink, he cannot possibly be dangerous. On the contrary, the dread of water (hydrophobia), which is so characteristic in the human patient, is often entirely absent in the rabid dog, and a mad dog will drink eagerly. Mr. Blaine declares that, after twenty-five years of large experience as a veterinary surgeon, he cannot recollect a single case of rabies in the dog in which the poor creature manifested any marked dread of, or aversion to, water. Rabies in the dog commences with the ordinary signs of ill-health. The poor creature is dull and unhappy, its eye is dim, its nose is hot and hard, and its manner is listless and dejected. Indeed, a sick dog is in many ways like a sick child. It betrays symptoms of malaise, is downcast, and anxious to be caressed and comforted. Here, however, is one of the most fertile sources of danger; for from the moment that a dog begins to sicken from hydrophobia, its saliva is infectious, and there is consequently nothing more dangerous than ever to allow a dog to lick the hands or face. The deadly virus may be absorbed in the very sli htest abrasion of the skin. are over, The first stage is soon over, and to it succeeds the second. in which the distinctive symptoms begin to show themselves. Rabies in the dog, as in man, is a disease of the nervous system, due to or coupled with a morbid condition of the salivary glands, the saliva itself, the fauces or throat, and the adjacent parts. Hence it follows that, as soon as the premonitory symptoms of general sickness and discomfort the more definite characteristics of the disease itself are almost unmistakable. The poor animal suffers from an irritation of the gums and teeth that makes himsomething like a teething child bite and gnaw at everything that comes in his way. He will gnaw at his chain, and at the wood work of his kennel, or at the mat on which he lies. He will take up in his mouth and champ stones, straw, and pieces of dirt or filth. His teeth apparently pain him, and he will rub and scratch at them with his forepaws, as if a fish-bone had stuck in the gum and he were trying to get it out. But most significant of all is the change in his voice, due to incipient inflammation of the throat and larynx. The bark of a dog in health is clear and sonorous; the animal barks with ease as it were, each yelp yielding a distinct and clear note. A rabid dog, on the contrary, utters a bark which, once heard, can never be mistaken a sort of strangled, stifled howl, lugubrious in its tone, and uttered with an evident effort. It is not, indeed, too much to say that a skilled veterinary surgeon can detect a mad dog by its bark alone; and that the moment a dog's bark is altered in its timbre, the animal should be carefully watched to see if other symptoms are not present. Nor is this all. Besides the inflammation of the throat, there is also the cerebral disturbance, which leads to a set of symptoms of its own, equally important and significant. The rabid dog is uneasy and anxious. He roams from place to place, seeking rest and finding none. He starts Wan up suddenly and snaps at the air, as if he were vexed phantoms. He watches intently imaginary objects, following them closely with his eyes, as if meditating a sprit: Above all, he conceives a violent dislike to his own specia and the mere sight of another dog will at once drive hin into an uncontrollable fit of passion. Hitherto he w have been sufficiently docile and tractable, obedient to b master's voice, anxious for the customary caress, and, i anything, more than usually demonstrative of his affection But towards the end his restlessness increases, and b seizes the first chance of straying away from home. dering out into the street, he runs recklessly and listlesshy up and down, his tail between his legs, his hair foul and bristling, his whole look haggard and woe-begone. The evil fancies which haunt him grow on him. Soon he be comes furious, attacking other dogs, horses, cattle, meneverything, in short, that comes across his path. In this the last stage, the disease is only too apparent; further doubt as to its nature is impossible. As a rule the poor creature is killed, although often not before he has spread the disease over an entire county. If not killed, he soon dies in the natural course. His rage increases, but he be comes weaker and weaker. His legs fail him, paralysis sets in, and he expires in convulsions. A rabid It relieves (2.) That often even and obedi Such, then, is the course of the disease in the dog. With regard to it we ought especially to notice two things: (1) That dread of water is scarcely if ever present. dog will, on the contrary, lap water eagerly. the suffering caused by his swollen throat. until the very last stage of the malady, and in that, the dog retains all his affection for ence to his master nay, more, seems to be aware of his miserable condition, and to crave for help and sympathy. Indeed, in this respect a sick dog is, as we have already said, strangely like a sick child. The lesson to be drawn from this is very obvious. The moment a dog appears at all ill he should be suspected. more especially if he should have been bitten by a strange dog, or have the scar of a bite upon him. It is as easy to tell when a dog is ill as to tell when a child is ill. A dog in health is bright and animated, runs freely about, and carries its tail erect; its nose is moist, its tongue clean, its coat clear and "satiny," and its eye full of light and life. A dog that is out of health is the very contrary of all this and the dog that is out of health when hydrophobia is prevalent should be at once secluded. In a few days either he will be well again, or else the distinctive features of the disease will have shown themselves, and further doubt will be out of the question. What then is really all-essential is that those who keep a dog should watch him most carefully, to see that he is bitten by no other dog. But they should also watch his health, and note any alteration in his habits, however slight. But how if I am bitten," the reader will naturally ask, "either by my own or a strange dog?" The answer is a very easy one. If you have the least reason for suspecting the dog to be rabid, do not lose a moment. Go at once to the nearest surgeon; do not wait to send for him. On your way keep on sucking the wound, taking care to spit out all that comes into your mouth. If the place is where you cannot get at it to suck it, then you must squeeze it, or sponge it, or do anything else to incite it to bleed freely. with If it is on a limb, put on what is called a tourniquet a pocket-handkerchief or a piece of string, and a walkingstick or a bit of firewood; and as soon as you are in the surgeon's hands, trust to him implicitly, and remember the good old lines take out his pocket-knife and, if possible, cut the bitten part away without a moment's hesitation. The pain of a eut is no very serious matter after all. We all know what it is; and any surgeon will tell us that to cut out a dog's bite is not much, if at all, more painful than to have a big double tooth pulled out. We may take it for granted, however, that few people will ever do this, and that fewer still will follow "Shirley's" example, and burn the place out with a hot iron. But there is a quick method of cauterizing, used by Americans for the bite of a snake, and which I much recommend. If a Carolina planter is bitten by a poisonous snake, he pours gunpowder on the wound, heaps it into a little pyramid, and then flashes it, repeating the operation some four or five times. The process almost always secures immunity; and the poison of a deadly snake is so much more subtle and rapid in its operation than the saliva of a mad dog, that I confess I cannot but think that what is successful in the one case would probably be successful in the other. But then, gunpowder is not always to be got, and we consequently have to find a ready substitute for it. The best of these, to my mind, is the solid lunar caustic, or nitrate of silver. Chemists sell now, at sixpence each, little sticks or points" of lunar caustic fitted up in a wooden case, not unlike a patent pencil. You can carry one of these in your waistcoat pocket; and, if you are bitten, you have only to pull out your "point" and at once apply it freely to the bitten surface. I myself have kept dogs for years, and I make it a rule to "touch" with lunar caustic every bite that I receive. It is so infinitely the best to be on the safe side. I will conclude with a word of warning, and a word of comfort. The word of warning is Trust to no so-called "cures" for hydrophobia. No cure is known. The broad facts of the case are simply these. Of those who are bitten by nad dogs, comparatively few take or "contract" the disease. Of those who are bitten and escape, it will be found that the majority have treated the wound vigorously, - or, as doctors say, "heroically,"-cutting it out, or cauterizing it severely. But of those who contract the disease, all die. No single case of recovery is upon record. I do not like to use hard names, but I know what I think of those who pretend to have a specific for hydrophobia, and who are willing to sell it. Trust in no quack remedy. The danger is too terrible to be trifled with. Go to the surgeon at once, if you can. If a surgeon is not within immediate reach, then use knife, gunpowder, lunar caustic - anything that will burn out or cut out the wound, and that you have the courage to bear. The word of comfort is Terrible as the disease is, it is yet, fortunately for us, very rare. For the last fifteen years, the rate of mortality from hydrophobia in England has been only one for every 20,000,000 of the population. The risk of being bitten by a mad dog is in itself small, even at such a time as the present, when the disease is more or less epidemic. And even for those who are so unfortunate as to be bitten, the risk of death, serious in itself, is vastly diminished if bold and vigorous precautions are at once adopted. Of police measures intended to stamp out the disease, I have not spoken. I have rather written for those who may be, reasonably enough, alarmed at the recurrence of this terrible epidemic, and who may wish to know how to best protect themselves, and what errors to avoid. CHINESE SHOPS AND SHOP-SIGNS. It must not be imagined that, as far as external appearances go, the shops in the busiest streets of a first-class city in China can be in any way compared to those even of a country town in England, for mahogany counters and huge mirrors do not exist, and plate-glass and elaborate shop-fronts are unknown. In many other respects, however, Chinese shops and various matters connected with them are well worthy of notice, and present features of considerable interest, to some of which we propose to call the reader's attention. There is not much free competition in China as regards the price of goods, for those who manufacture the same class of articles frequently combine to fix the wholesale price; and the same is the case amongst the retail dealers. In some shops price-lists are pasted up, which have been agreed upon at meetings of the trade, and a notice is frequently exhibited in a prominent position, informing the public that the shop belongs to the "union." Purchases can generally only be effected in Chinese shops at anything like a fair and reasonable price by means of bargaining, at which the natives are great adepts. As a hint, doubtless, to hard bargainers, a notice will often be seen posted in shops to the effect that the goods will be found genuine and well worth the price. The Chinese commonly raise a tremendous din over their bargainings, vociferating loudly, and, if they get very excited, gesticulating too, and yet, perhaps, the sum in dispute is not more than a halfpenny or two; finally the shopke per or pedlar, as the case may be, names an amount, and says, with a determined air, less than that won't buy it." Many shopkeepers profess to sell their wares at the proper price, from which they say that they will make no abatement; in these establishments a special sign-board is conspicuously exhibited, on which is inscribed in large characters "chen pu urh chia," which is equivalent to the French "prix fixe." At one time these shops were of a better class and more to be depended on than the generality, but nowadays we fancy that the notice mentioned is rapidly getting to be a mere idle profession to attract and delude customers. 66 It is not our purpose in the present paper to attempt a description of the contents of Chinese shops generally, though much might be written on the subject, but we cannot refrain from saying a word about the kite shops of Pekin and other large cities; for we fancy that no other country can boast of shops specially devoted to the manu. facture and sale of these articles, which, in the Celestial Empire, are a source of endless amusement, not merely to boys of all ages, but also, strange as it may seem, to middle-aged and gray-headed old men. A foreigner, on first entering one of these establishments, which are often on a large scale, must be sorely puzzled to know where he has got to, for he finds himself surrounded by a heterogeneous collection of articles of almost every imaginable shape and size, all of which on closer investigation he will find to be kites. Some of them are of large serpentine shape; while some represent huge goggle-eyed spectacles, and others various kinds of fish, birds, and butterflies, and animals of all sorts. For the benefit of our juvenile readers, we may mention that Chinese kites never have tails attached to them. Sir John Davis's remarks about kites will be read with interest: "In kite-flying," he says, "the Chinese certainly excel all others, both in the various construction of their kites, and the heights to which they make them rise. They have a very thin, as well as tough, sort of paper, made of refuse silk, which, in combination with the split bamboo, is excellently adapted to the purpose. The kites are made to assume every possible shape; and at some distance it is impossible occasionally to distinguish them from real birds. By means of round holes, supplied with vibrating cords, or other substances, they contrive to produce a loud humming noise, something like that of a top, occasioned by the rapid passage of the air as it is opposed to the kite. At a particular season of the year, not only boys, but grown men, take a part in this amusement, and the sport sometimes consists in trying to bring each other's kites down by dividing the strings." The season here referred to is that of a festival which occurs on the ninth day of the ninth Chinese moon (corresponding with the latter part of October), and which is called Chung yang chieh or Têng kao (literally" Ascending high"). On this occasion, another writer tells us, some people "make variegated fancy kites, which, after amusing themselves with them, they let fly wherever the wind may carry them, and give their kites and cares at once to the wind." The sign-boards (chao-pai) of the shops form a very picturesque feature in the streets of a Chinese town; the more so from the fact that these streets are very narrow, being only a few feet across. These signs, as well as notices of the wares sold, are inscribed in large characters on both sides of handsomely lacquered perpendicular boards, which are sometimes fastened up, but very commonly hung up outside the shop-fronts, so as to catch the attention of passers-by; with this view long strips of cloth are often hung across the street, on which the names and designations of the shops are stamped or painted. Occasionally, but we think this is of comparatively rare occurrence, we have known an enterprising opium dealer erect a flag-staff outside his place of business, on which he hoisted a triangular flag, proclaiming to the world the style and business of his firm. On a bright day a busy street in a flourishing Chinese town presents a very animated and striking appearance. Owing to its narrowness, locomotion is not easy, and the street is always full, then again the open shopfronts on each side are brought very close together, and all around are to be seen the richly varnished sign-boards gleaming in the sunshine, while overhead the strips of cloth are fluttering in the breeze. In China, shops, warehouses, banks, etc., are never known by the family names of the individual proprietors, but are distinguished by a sign (hao), consisting generally of two characters, and expressing what the Chinese consider some felicitous idea (often not easy to translate into English), such as celestial affluence, overflowing abundance, everlasting prosperity, great peace, perpetual fountain, etc. Two favorite characters for use in composing the styles of firms are wan, ten thousand, and yung, everlasting. All documents connected with the business of the establishment are invariably made out with this "style" either written or stamped on them, and the family name of the owner never appears.1 When a shop has been newly established or enlarged, and in some parts at New Year time too, the sign-boards are ornamented with scarlet streamers; and when the proprietors are in mourning for some relative, white or ash-colored streamers are fixed up in the same way. On the occasion of the death of an emperor, the sign-boards of all shops, banks, etc., which usually exhibit the designations of the firms in red or gilt characters on a black ground, are put into mourning in conformity with proclamations issued by the local authorities. This is done as follows; the sides of the sign-boards are covered over with green paper, on which the "style" of the establishment is written in black ink; sometimes two characters are written on one or more pieces of paper attached to the sign, namely, kuo hsiao, i. e., the kingdom mourns. Red paper is not then used, for, red being a symbol of joy, that color is never seen on these occasions. " The notices on the boards outside Chinese shops generally describe very fully the business that is carried on inside, and some sound rather oddly to a foreigner even in this advertising age. At a druggist's may be seen, "Decoctions accurately prepared from the most fragrant materials," or, "Boluses, powders, ointments, and pills carefully mixed." At a draper's, "Robe stuffs, purple and white, of double length, twilled and plain, and cloths for summer or winter wear.' The silk-mercers are even more minute in their details: "We have our own agencies in the interior, where the finest silks are selected, and, sparing neither pains nor labor, we manufacture every kind of bright, beautiful, and pure silk thread, and floss silk for embroidery, bowstrings, tassels and cords; we make it our special business to weave and plait variegated girdles, and make court-caps of the latest Pekin fashions; also cap fringes, pearly and straight, handkerchiefs, damask and crape, head-bands, gauze and satin collars." The cookshop informs the public that there" Tartar and Chinese feasts are prepared;" that "eatables according to the season- - vermicelli, smothered with sliced meat, ham, and sea-slug; meat puffs of boiled flour and rice meals, plain and with meats are always ready." The tea-dealer's 1 It may be well to explain that the Chinese do not attach the same importance to signatures that European nations do. notice reads strangely: "Sunglo and Bohea teas; a flag and lance, sparrow's tongue, prince's eyebrow, man's eyebrow, souchong, silver needle, early spring, bitter clove teas!" The tobacconists are slightly gran oquent : "We deal in Hangchow tobacco; its reputat has reached Kachow in the north, and its odor perve Kiangnan in the south. Our workmanship is of the be and the manipulation excellent. Famous Shih-ma bacco." The candle manufacturer ventures to introd the poetical element amongst his dips, and after annor ing that he has in stock double-cased, fine wicked candles," he continues, "At eventide the mandate ca from courts of Han, that mighty name; they hastened the tower white, and studied there by midnight ligh The dyers, too, are not backward in puffing themselve they say, "We deal in kingfisher and dark blues; 1 double blacks we rival in our workmanship celestial m ufactures." "Persons favoring us with their patronage requested to notice our sign, that of the double-heade phoenix (shuang fêng), which is the right one." 39 The following notices need no special comment: "W sell black coal from the upper rivers;" "South, Nort fruits, tea cakes, spiced and plain; "Celestial gens silver gallery;" "a galloping reputation for Hange scissors; "Tartar and Chinese artificial court flowers, rice-paper or velvet; " Crystal spectacles (litera eyes') for old and young; "Mosquito antidote ( ally tobacco '), suited to the market, specially manufa tured and sold to our customers." 6 "Drapers, haberdashers, etc., usually have the designe tion (of their firms) printed upon the paper in which c tomers' purchases are wrapped, with conditions of sa attached; such as Customs' barrier and transit duties payable by purchaser;' No goods exchanged or receise back that have been folded, rumpled, or cut."" After amusing account of a Chinese doctor's establishme Consul Medhurst, in the little work from which we hate just quoted,3 tells us of "a curious custom which preval everywhere in China, as regards the disposal of the mate rials of which a prescription is composed, after havia been made use of. Infusions and decoctions are the favor ite remedies, and when these have been prepared, the refuse is carefully deposited in the centre of the street highway, a superstitious notion being prevalent that if the mess is sniffed at by the horse on which the spirit of the T'ien-i star rides, the result will be certain to be favorab for the patient. The T'ien-i star, or Celestial cure, is supposed to have a beneficial influence upon invalids, and the spirit which inhabits it is believed to patrol the streets nightly, to keep watch over the welfare of the inhabitants." of not Native newspapers are unknown in China, so a pushing tradesman has not quite as good a chance of advertising his wares as he would have in more civilized countries. and he is generally obliged to concentrate his energies of the elaborate sign-boards of which we have spoken. The Chinese, however, are fully alive to the advantages advertising, and an observant stranger, in walking about a town, will notice that available spaces on blank walls, ett are often covered with placards, but it is evidently considered respectable for many classes of tradesmen to advertise thus; for if he takes the trouble to examine the bills, he will find that they emanate chiefly from the estab lishments of druggists and quack-doctors, from restaurants, lecturers, etc. "An exception seems to be made," says Mr. Medhurst, "in favor of jewellers, silk and satin mer cers, dyers, biscuit bakers, piece-goods vendors, and one or two others, who are permitted by the rules of conven tionality to advertise their establishments upon the occa sion of opening shop for the first time, or after enlarge ment or repair." These placards are usually printed, though sometimes written, on sheets of red or white paper, but the efforts of the Chinese bill-poster will not bear comparison for a moment with those of his more advanced rival in this country. 2 In speaking of the points of the compass, the Chinese say, east, south, 3 The Foreigner in Far Cathay, by W. H. Medhurst, H M.'s Consul at west, north! Shanghai. A LETTER OF LAURENCE STERNE. In the short autobiography which Sterne left behind him, e says that at the time of his marriage his uncle Jaques nd himself were upon very good terms, "for he soon got he the prebendary of York, but he quarrelled with me fterwards, because I would not write paragraphs in the ewspapers; though he was a party man, I was not, and etested such dirty work, thinking it beneath me. From hat period he became my bitterest enemy." The events f Sterne's life previous to his emerging to fame in 1759 ith his first two volumes of "Tristram Shandy," are little nown, and the researches of Mr. Percy Fitzgerald for the iography of Sterne which he published about ten years go, threw but little light upon the circumstances which elped to form the character of such an eccentric writer. t is therefore important to record that among the autoraph letters recently purchased by the Trustees of the British Museum are two, written by Laurence Sterne and is uncle respectively in 1750, which have considerable terary and biographical value. We believe that this etter is the only Sterne autograph in the possession of the Iuseum, with the exception of the original manuscript of The Sentimental Journey," and it has been therefore 1ost appropriately placed in one of the public rooms for inpection. Thanks to the courtesy of the keepers of the MS. Department, we have been allowed to make a complete ranscript of it, which we print here at length. The Rev. rancis Blackburne, to whom it is addressed, will perhaps e remembered as the author of the "Confessional," which aised a considerable ferment in its day. DEAR SIR, "SUTTON: Nov. 3, 1750. "Being last Thursday at York to preach the Dean's turn, Hilyard the Bookseller who had spoke to me last week about reaching yrs, in case you should not come yrself told me, He had just got a Letter from you directing him to get it supplied - But with an intimation, that if I undertook it, that it might not disoblige your Friend the Precentor. If my Doing it for you in any way could possibly have endangered that, my Regard o you on all accounts is such, that you may depend upon it, no consideration whatever would have made me offer my service, aor would I upon any Invitation have accepted it, Had you incautiously press'd it upon me; And therefore that my undertaking it at all, upon Hilyards telling me he should want a Preacher, was from a knowledge, that as it could not in Reason, so it would not in Fact, give the least Handle to what you ap prehended. I would not say this from bare conjecture, but known Instances, having preached for so many of Dr. Sternes most Intimate Friends since our Quarrel without their feeling the least marks or most Distant Intimation, that he took it unkindly. In which you will the readier believe me, from the following convincing Proof, that I have preached the 29th of May, the Precentor's own turn, for these two last years together (not at his Request, for we are not upon such terms) But at the Request of Mr. Berdmore whom he desired to get them taken care of, which he did, By applying Directly to me without the least Apprehension or scruple And If my preaching it the first year had been taken amiss, I am morally certain that Mr. Berdmore who is of a gentle and pacific Temper would not have ventured to have ask'd me to preach it for him the 2d time, which I did without any Reserve this last summer. The Contest between us, no Doubt, has been sharp, But has not been made more so, by bringing our mutual Friends into it, who, in all things, (except Inviting us to the same Dinner) have generally bore themselves towards us, as if this Misfortune had never happened, and this, as on my side, so I am willing to suppose on his, without any alteration of our opinions of them, unless to their Honor and Advantage. I thought it my Duty to let you know, How this matter stood, to free you of any unnecessary Pain, which my preaching for you might occasion upon this score, since upon all others, I flatter myself you would be pleased, as in gent, it is not only more for the credit of the church, But of the Prebendy himself who is absent, to have his Place supplied by a Preby of the church when he can be had, rather than by Another, tho' of equal merit. "I told you above, that I had had a conference with Hilyard upon this subject, and indeed should have said to him, most of what I have said to you. But that the Insufferableness of his Behavor (sic) put it out of my Power. The Dialogue between us had something singular in it, and I think I cannot better make you amends for this irksome Letter, than by giving you a particular Acct of it and the manner I found myself obliged to treat him whch By the by, I should have done with still more Roughness But that he sheltered himself under the character of yr Plenipo: How far His Excellency exceeded his Instructions you will percieve (sic) I know, from the acct I have given of the Hint in your Letter, wch was all the Foundation for what passd. I step'd into his shop, just after sermon on All Saints, when with an Air of much Gravity and Importance, he beckond me to follow him into an inner Room; No sooner had he shut the Dore (sic), But with the aweful solemnity of a Premier who held a Letter de Chachêt upon whose contents my Life or Liberty depended after a minuits Pause, He thus opens his Commission. Sir My Friend the A. Deacon of Cleveland not caring to preach his turn, as I conjectured, has left me to provide a Preacher, - But before I can take any steps in it with Regard to you I want first to know, Sir, upon what Footing you and Dr. Sterne are?-Upon what Footing! Yes, Sir, how your Quarrel stands? Whats that to you? How our Quarrel stands! Whats that to you, you Puppy? But, Sir, Mr. Blackburn would know- What's that to him?- But, Sir, dont be angry, I only want to know of you, whether Dr. Sterne will not be displeased in case you should preach - Go look; I've just now been preaching and you could not have fitter opportunity to be satisfyed. — I hope, Mr. Sterne, you are not angry. Yes, am; But much more astonished at your Impudence. I know not whether the Chancellors stepping in at this Instant and flapping to the Dore, Did not save his tender soul the Pain of the last word; However that be, he retreats upon this unexpected Rebuff, takes the Chancellr aside, asks his Advice, comes back submissive, begs Quarter, tells me Dr. Hering had quite satisfyed him as to the Grounds of his scruple (tho' not of bis Folly) and therefore beseeches me to let the matter pass, and to preach the turn. When I as Percy complains in Harry I ye 4 All smarting with my wounds To see him shine so bright & smell so sweet & talk so like a waiting Gentlewoman - Bid him be gone & seek Another fitter for his turn. But as I was too angry to have the Perfect Faculty of recollecting Poetry, however pat to my case, so I was forced to tell him in plain Prose tho' somewhat elevated-That I would not preach, & that he might get a Parson where he could find one. But upon Reflection, that Don John had certainly exceeded his Instructions, and finding it to be just so, as I suspected - there being nothing in yr letter but a cautious hint-And being moreover satisfyed in my mind, from this and twenty other Instances of the same kind, that this Impertinence of his like many others, had issued not so much from his Heart, as from his Head, the Defects of which no one in reason is accountable for, I thought I shd wrong myself to remember it, and therefore I parted friends, and told him I would take care of the turn, whch I shall do with Pleasure. "It is time to beg pardon of you for troubling you with so long a letter upon so little a subject which as it has proceeded from the motive I have told you, of ridding you of uneasiness, together with a mixture of Ambition not to lose either the Good Opinion, or the outward marks of it, from any man of worth and character, till I have done something to forfeit them, I know your Justice will excuse. "I am, Revd Sir, with true Esteem and Regard, of wch I beg you'l consider this letter as a Testimony, "Yr faithful & most affte "Humble Servt "P. S. "LAU STERne. "Our Dean arrives here on Saturday. My wife sends her Respts to you & yr Lady. "I have broke open this letter, to tell you, that as I was going with it to the Post, I encountered Hilyard, who desired me in the most pressing manner, not to let this affair transpire & that you might by no means be made acquainted with it-I therefore beg, you will never let him feel the effects of it, or even let him know ought about it for I half promised him, tho' as the letter was wrote, I could but send it for your own use - so beg it may not hurt him by any ill Impression, as he has convinced it proceeded only from lack of Judgmt "To "The Reverend Mr. Blackburn "Arch-Deacon of Cleveland "at Richmond." |