Qualities which can be exhibited as a show are discovered and appreciated accordingly. But wisdom and virtue, which are to the mind what breath is to the body, have no part assigned or assignable to them on such a stage. A man may pass a life in London without an occasion arising by which his neighbours can learn whether he is an honest fellow or a rogue. The consequence is, that a good deal of such a man's moral nature gets imperfectly developed, and dies away. The appropriate object is not brought sufficiently close and home to him to stimulate and call forth his latent powers. Charity is perhaps better off than most. By a satisfactory compromise, it falls into the hands of a mendicity society. But there are other virtues which do not admit of being compounded for, and their burden transferred to a committee, for two guineas a-year. In these cases the moral tax is too often evaded altogether. We are well aware that men of pleasure are far from being the only persons who have turned into a maxim of life the sentence which the Duke of Buckingham passed upon the dog which barked after him,—"Would to God you were married and settled in the country!" It is evident that the word provincial is often felt, by characters of a higher strain and object, to imply an imputation or admission of mediocrity. Now, greatly as nations differ, it is generally admitted that all capitals are pretty much alike. It follows therefore, that the characteristic spirit and principle of a nation do not appear there to most advantage. Enow worthy representatives of that spirit and principle are doubtless there; but they are there too much as though they were not. It is an atmosphere which no individual powers can penetrate, and where it needs more than an ordinary sun to make itself felt or seen. We are satisfied that, on a just estimate of the whole case, the provinces, as distinguished from the metropolis, would be found in many instances, perhaps in most, to be the home which a wise lover of himself, and a sincere lover of his kind, would do well to fix in;—not indeed as the scene of a brilliant or sybarite existence, but as the post of that salutary influence which sinks deepest; and of that usefulness and happiness which last the longest; as most visibly incorporated with, and represented by, our fellow-beings.—Edinburgh Review.

INFANCY

(From the Feuilles d'Automne of Victor Hugo, translated in the Foreign Quarterly Review.)

In the dusky court, Near the altar laid, Sleeps the child in shadow, Of his mother's bed: Softly he reposes, And his lids of roses. Closed to earth, uncloses On the heaven o'erhead. Many a dream is with him, Fresh from the fairy land, Spangled o'er with diamonds Seems the ocean sand; Suns are gleaming there. Troops of ladies fair Souls of infants bear In their charming hand. O, enchanting vision, Lo, a rill up-springs, And, from out its bosom Comes a voice that sings. Lovelier there appear Sire and sisters dear, While his mother near, Plumes her new-born wings. But a brighter vision Yet his eyes behold; Roses all, and lilies, Every path enfold; Lakes in shadow sleeping, Silver fishes leaping, And the waters creeping, Through the reeds of gold. Slumber on, sweet infant. Slumber peacefully; Thy young soul yet knows not What thy lot may be. Like dead leaves that sweep Down the stormy deep, Thou art borne in sleep, What is all to thee? Thou canst slumber by the way; Thou hast learnt to borrow Naught from study, naught from care; The cold hand of sorrow, On thy brow unwrinkled yet, Where young truth and candour sit, Ne'er with rugged nail hath writ That sad word, "To-morrow." Innocent, thou sleepest— See the heavenly band. Who foreknow the trials That for man are planned; Seeing him unarmed, Unfearing, un-alarmed, With their tears have warmed His unconscious hand. Angels, hovering o'er him, Kiss him where he lies. Hark, he sees them weeping, "Gabriel," he cries; "Hush," the angel says, On his lip be lays One finger, one displays His native skies.

STATE OF SOCIETY IN NEW SOUTH WALES

The following exhibits but a lamentable picture of the "milk and honey" of this favoured land:

"The morals of the colony of New South Wales are of an exceedingly depraved description. It is so far from being a country where men begin a new life and enter upon a fresh course with resolutions of amendment, that the testimony of all respectable men examined on the subject unites in asserting that the habits of the freed men, even of those who have acquired property and have families, are of the most dissipated character. Of the emancipists, to whom grants of land have been made and who are often wealthy, very few, not more it is said than half a dozen, can be selected whose lives are not of a vicious description, who do not indulge in dishonest practices of one sort or another, and who have not risen to wealth by fostering and practising some species of villany. These men procure convicts to be assigned to them, who become members of the families, and assist them in carrying on their various frauds. In Sydney the grog shops are very numerous, and grog shops are receiving houses. A constant trade in stolen goods is going on between Sydney and the remotest parts of the colony, and even between Sydney and this country. The convicts in remote settlements have no means generally of indulging in licentiousness, but they see constantly before them the freed labourer who has, and they burn to enjoy similar privileges: and should their place of occupation be too remote from a theatre of indulgence, they get a week of holiday at Sydney, where they arrive in numbers, and, for the time they stay, wallow in every species of debauchery. In such a state of society the public standard of morality must necessarily fall to a very low degree. The leaven spreads from the corrupted part into the whole mass. Just as the slang of London thieves is become the classical language of Sydney, so do necessarily a familiarity with crime, hatred to law, and contempt for virtue, make their way into the minds and hearts of those who are untainted with actual crime. So far from a reformation being even begun in New South Wales, it would seem that roguery had been carried a degree beyond even the perfection it has reached here. Property is very insecure in Sydney, and the most extraordinary robberies take place. Mr. James Walker, in his evidence before a committee of the House of Commons, says 'the colony has a curious effect upon the most practised thieves in this country; one of the most experienced thieves in London has something to learn when he comes out there; probably he would be robbed the first night he came into his hut.' This was the answer given by an experienced settler to the question, whether he thought any considerable degree of reformation took place among the convicts residing at a distance from Sydney. It is nearly impossible that it should be otherwise. The master can only punish his servant by travelling with him some twenty or thirty miles to a police magistrate, by which he loses his own time, the labour of his servant, perhaps for months, if he is condemned to a road gang, and after his return has little advantage from his services. Unwillingness to work for a master who has been the cause of his punishment is a difficult feeling to counteract. The convict has the game in his own hands: he either does no work, wounds himself, falls sick, or perhaps, and it is not uncommon, spoils either the materials entrusted to him, or the tools which have been put into his hands.

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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 19, No. 547, May 19, 1832

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INFANCY

(From the Feuilles d'Automne of Victor Hugo, translated in the Foreign Quarterly Review.)

STATE OF SOCIETY IN NEW SOUTH WALES

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