We do not see any necessary and natural connexion between death and the
end of the third volume of a novel, or the conclusion of the fifth act
of a play,--though that connexion in some modern novels, and in most
English tragedies, seems to be assumed. Nor does it seem to follow,
that, because death is the object of universal dread and aversion, and
because terror is one of the objects of tragedy, death must, therefore,
necessarily be represented; and not only so, but the more deaths the
better. If it be true that familiarity has a tendency to create
indifference, if not contempt, it must be considered prudent to have
recourse to this strong exhibition as to drastic remedies in medicine,
with caution and discrimination, and with a view to the continuance of
its effect. We cannot help wishing that our own Shakspeare, who lays
down such excellent rules for the guidance of actors, and cautions them
so earnestly against "overstepping the modesty of nature," and the
danger of "tearing passion to rags," had remembered, that the poet
himself has certain limits imposed upon him, which he cannot transgress
with impunity. We should not then have observed, in the perusal of some
of his plays, the marginal notice of ["_dies_"] with about as much
emotion as a note of exclamation; nor, when at the actual
representation, we behold the few remaining persons of the drama
scarcely able to cross the stage without stumbling over the bodies of
their fallen companions, should we have felt our thoughts unavoidably
wandering from the higher business and moral effect of the scene, to the
mere physical and repelling images of fleshly mortality.--_Edinburgh
Rev._
* * * * *
The inquiries of the committee appointed to devise means for the
suppression of mendicity, leave us no reason to doubt that in an average
of cases a London beggar made by "his trade" eighteen-pence per day, or
twenty-seven pounds per annum!
* * * * *
_One-ninth_ of the whole population of Paris are wholly maintained by
funds which the different bureaux of charity distribute for their
relief; and still a countless horde of mendicants infest her streets,
her quays, and all her public places.
* * * * *
Science and literature are "the nourishment of youth, the delight of
age, the ornaments of prosperous life, the refuge and consolation of
adversity, the companions of our weary travels, of our rural solitudes,
of our sleepless nights."
* * * * *
The following quotation from _Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary_ points out
the frugal and temperate Scot; and, in illustration, may be contrasted
with the proverbial invitation of the better feeding English, "Will you
come and take your mutton with me?"
"KAIL, used metonimically for the whole dinner; as constituting among
our temperate ancestors the principal part, _s_.
"Hence, in giving a friendly invitation to dinner, it is common to say,
'Will you come and tak your _kail_ wi' me?' This, as a learned friend
observes, resembles the French invitation, _Voulez vous venir manger la
soupe chez moi!_"
* * * * *