poor can save the amount if they will try. It is, as they need not be told, a less sum than such a club as that above described usually costs them.

the poor-law ought to be and might be to the poor, though an essential change is requisite to make it so. Particular times of pressure on the industrious poor might also be met on a wiser system than the present, by some well-timed help out of the rate.

It is the opinion of persons conversant with the present aspect of provident societies, that the industrial classes will in process of time But to make provident societies what they work out their own social and moral regenera- should be, and what we believe they will one tion without help from the legislature. Excep- day become, there is need, probably, of a central tion, however, must be taken to the classes who board constituted by parliament. The friendly look to the poor-rate for relief. Their social im- society would not then be subjected, as it has provement is, indeed, a work to be done by been of late years, to the caprices of legislation: themselves, and one which cannot be done for which according to the influences of the passing them. Still they may be assisted in it by re- hour has attempted to prevent it from entering moval of those barriers which now stand in the the field with the large assurance societies. path of progress. Let it be remembered that Between oppression on the one hand, and preprovident institutions furnish a maintenance for judice and ignorauce on the other, these provithose who will take the trouble to secure it. dent institutions have had to fight against much That this maintenance can be obtained and se- more than their fair share of difficulties. But if cured without separating man and wife from each their development should be found sensibly to diother, or parents from children; that this main-minish the burden of the poor-rate, would not tenance (unless in certain cases) leaves inviolate the employers of farm labourers have an addithe sacred home. And provident institutions, as tional reason to accord cheerful help to their experience abundantly shows, unite the sym- men as fit occasion offered? pathies of rich and poor for each other. They provide a common ground of meeting-a common interest. Prejudices are removed, and the bonds of sympathy and kindness are strengthened, between all classes, without the least risk of injury to the self-respect of any. And such societies also discourage improvidence and idleness, which are the handmaids of poor-rate relief, and tend to substitute those habits which lead to manliness and independence. However strange a truth it may seem, it is true in very many cases, that independence is within reach of our agricultural labourers. But provident habits are discouraged by the working of the poor-law. We do not, of course, for a moment doubt the necessity of a poor-law administration. Assistance will always be required for casual poor and for the numerous classes which no provident society can help. To these the need by thousands of the special benefit of medical care are to be added, and the distresses which no human foresight can avert.

By the Small Tenements Act, the cottager's rates are paid by the landlord. Rent is rent to the labourer, and he knows and cares nothing about rates and taxes. But if every cottager were liable to payment of a proportionate share of the rate whenever one was levied, he would have the same interest in keeping it within reasonable limits as his landlord has. And the labourer would know better than the landlord which of his neighbours to rouse out of real indolence and thriftlessness. The public feeling of their own class would thus act upon the idle. In the next place, the injustice of compelling the object of relief to make himself a beggar before he can justify his claim on the rate, is monstrous. How numberless are cases of distress in the upper classes, where the sufferer has some small income! If the income be inadequate to relieve the distress, the case is admitted, and the help of friends obtained. Such a friend we think

A RATHER REMARKABLE PERSON. I HAPPENED to be at a well-known coast town in South Wales last April, at the time when the census had to be taken, and knowing the Chief Registrar of the district, I offered to become a volunteer enumerator. I had been so long idling, lounging, and making tours without having any particular object in view, that the chance of any useful occupation presented itself to me as an agreeable change. My friend very kindly gave me a choice of ground to go over, and I selected a small island-called Swamp Island-lying out in the Channel, about twenty miles from the coast, which had figured in the census tables of 1851 as possessing a population of three. As a wilderness it was only then beaten by Little Papa, one of the Shetland Islands, which held only one person-an old woman; and by Inchcolm, one of the Fife Islands, which sheltered only one man-a farm labourer. It was a pity, inhabitants could not have been joined together perhaps, that these two solitudes with their two in holy matrimony, forming one decent family on

one tolerable island.

Very early on the morning appointed for my journey, I started in a large fishing-smack, the owner of which, for a small consideration, undertook to land me at my destination, and call for me again before night. I was full of curiosity as to what people, and how many, I should find on Swamp Island, but my boatmen could give me no information on this head. As there was no good fishing within several miles of the scrubby patch of sea-land to which I was bound, they had never taken the trouble even to inquire whether it was inhabited.

I landed, with some difficulty, in a not very shallow creek, and should have been soaked through above my knees if I had not been protected by a thick waterproof dress. The weather

had been rather rough during our few hours' voy- "Census ?" he said, standing up, and looking age from the mainland-much rougher than I at me; "why am I hunted about in this way? expected-and as I am no better sailor than nine-I come miles beyond the land's-end, for quiettenths of the human race, I felt a little qualmy. solitude-air. I can't breathe in cities-no man My companions immediately put off again to fish, can breathe in cities;-I fly to nature, and want and I was soon left to make friends with a few to be left alone." seagulls.

"We shall not trouble you again for ten years," I returned, amiably; perhaps not then."

"Eh ?" I answered, pricking up my ears at this, "lived for centuries ?"

"Yes," he said, "I have just completed my one-hundred-and-seventy-sixth year."

"This sounds very remarkable," I replied, "and it is almost as strange to find you living in such a desert as this."

Having comforted myself with a little brandy and biscuit that I carried with me, I struggled up through the reeds, stones, and long grass, and "Ten years!" he said, contemptuously,prepared to begin my work. I got upon a hil-"what's ten years-what's twenty years-to one lock, and took a survey of the island through a who has lived for centuries ?" telescope. The prospect was not encouraging. As far as I could see, there was nothing but a dead level of swampy earth and grass, broken here and there with small hillocks, like the one on which I stood. The island was stated by geographical authorities to be about ten miles long, and twelve broad, but the inequalities of the ground would not allow my telescope to range over a third of this space. As there was no house or hut in sight, nor any sign of a human being, I was compelled to walk on in the discharge of my duty. I strode along in the direction of the rising ground in front, now plunging into a hole, now stumbling over grasscovered blocks of stone, and blessing the practical genius who invented roads. One mile of walking on Swamp Island was equal to four miles on the mainland.

In about two hours I reached the distant ridge, and still found no traces of inhabitants. I was rather disappointed at this, though not surprised, for I could see nothing to tempt any one to settle on such a spot. The earth was chalky, and the vegetation scanty, to say nothing of the want of society. If the three inhabitants who had figured in a former census had deserted the place, I felt that I could scarcely blame them.

"You may think so," he said, shortly, "I don't."

"What name will you put down in this paper ?" I asked, producing the official form, "and what profession ?"

"Profession?" he inquired, vacantly. "Occupation," I replied, "Calling-in fact. What are you?"

"Ha, ha!"

"That's no answer," I said, in a dignified

manner.

"What am I?" he continued; "what am I not? Do you think my history can be crammed into a line, or into a thousand lines? You've asked for it, and you shall have it. Sit down and hear it."

I squatted on the turf floor in obedience to this request, which sounded like a command, and my wild-man-of-the-woods-looking host soon squatted opposite me.

I altered my course at this point, and followed "I am prepared," he began, "for any amount the line of a shallow valley. I had not proceeded of doubt when I say that I never knew who my far, when I came to traces of mud, and a little parents were; but I despise doubt, and those farther on to a narrow channel of water. Keep-who feel it. I was found in a wood in a neighing along the side of this inland stream, which I bourhood that it is idle to name, because it was soon found to be a long tidal creek running down | destroyed by an earthquake more than a hundred to the sea, I came suddenly on a large flat-years ago. I was discovered walking on my bottomed boat-something between a fishing- hands and feet, climbing trees like a squirrel, punt and a barge-moored close to a bank on and feeding on grass and moss. The early which stood a low hut, built chiefly with turf habits thus implanted in me have never altogether and stones. I lost no time in pushing open the left me, and this is why you find me now living half-closed door of this hut, and was met by a contented on what you contemptuously term 'a dense cloud of smoke which nearly choked and desert.' Many ignorant people were frightened blinded me. It came from a fire of damp wood. at my singular appearance, for my colour, at that When the fumes had partly blown off, I peeped time, was nearly blackthrough the door again, and saw an old man kneeling on the turf-floor, blowing the embers with his mouth. His dress was ragged; almost theatrical in its tatters, and his long dirty beard dragged through the ashes.

66

Stand out of the draught," he said angrily, without turning round, "and don't thwart me, pampered menial!"

I thought the style and tone of this address somewhat peculiar, and I soon explained who 1 was, and on what errand I came.

"I beg your pardon," I said, "but what do you call your colour now ?"

No matter," he replied, "I hate to be interrupted."

A huge dog," he continued, "was set at me, but I awaited his attack without stirring from the place, and gave him such a blow over the head with a club which I held in my hand, that the animal fell dead, and his master became respectful. After this feat I climbed a tree and took a little repose on a branch, but was allured

Charles Dickens.]

down by some raw meat (I am still partial to
raw meat), a bucket of water, and a rabbit. I
stripped off the skin of the rabbit, and devoured
the flesh ravenously. I was taken in charge by
a shepherd, who washed me, and found that the
black colour of my skin was not natural. I was
considered fair, and, on the whole, tolerably well
formed, although very short; and my fingers and
thumbs were uncommonly strong, which was
ascribed to my practice of climbing trees. On
account of my wildness I was known as the
'shepherd's beast,' and it cost a deal of trouble
to render me a little tame. I was very dexterous
in making holes in the walls or roofs-too dex-
terous, no doubt, for the comfort of my shepherd
-and one day I crept through a space not larger
than a rat-hole, fled once more to the woods, and
became a gipsy.

"I was soon initiated into the arts and mysteries
of the wandering tribe I had joined, and was
foremost in all exploits for which gipsies are
famous. Being wonderfully short for my age,
which was considered then to be about twenty
or twenty-five years, I was exhibited as a famous
dwarf. My height was not more than two feet
and a half, and my weight fifty-six pounds. I
was remarkably agile, and could spring with ease
from the ground, to a table or a mantelshelf.
I remember being told by a friend, who died
about a century and a half ago, that I was rather
of a morose temper, and extremely vain of myself,
but this I can hardly believe. I was once brought
into a room, to amuse the company, enclosed in
an ordinary pie. I was often teased by many of
the visitors, and once, I admit, I so far lost my
temper as to challenge my enemy. He came to
the place of meeting armed only with a squirt,
and this so increased my anger that a real duel
ensued, and, as I was mounted on a chair to put
me on a level with my antagonist, I fired, and
shot him dead.

number of southern cities, doing little work, because living was cheap, and the climate made it easy to sustain nature on a very small quantity of food. Whether the warmth of this part of the world acted on my system like the atmosphere of a hothouse upon plants, I never clearly understood, but I grew so rapidly in height and strength, during the five or six years of my travelling, that I soon began to excite attention as a giant.

"I was not one of those common giants, who rely upon creating wonder by their unwieldy size. I possessed many accomplishments, both intellectual and physical. As a posturer I was without a rival, and could exhibit in the most natural manner, almost every species of deformity and dislocation. I amused myself with the tailors, by sending for them to take my measure, and contriving so as to have an immoderate rising in one of my shoulders. When the clothes were brought home to be tried on, I had shifted this hump to the other shoulder, and the tailors took back the garments, apologising for their mistake. I played such tricks with the vertebræ of my back, that a celebrated surgeon, before whom I appeared as a patient, was so shocked at the sight he would not even attempt my cure.

"I was now nearly nine feet high, and I made a triumphal tour from town to town. I had gone through the whole circle of the sciences, could speak and write in ten different languages, was an accomplished rider, dancer, and singer, and a skilful performer on several musical instruments."

"Did you ever hear of a person called the 'Admirable Crichton?"" I asked, breaking into my host's narrative at this point.

'Crichton, Crichton," he answered, as if reflecting. "Was he a celebrated miser ?" "Not at all," I said; "he was a half-fabulous wonder of cleverness."

"Never heard of him in all my life," returned my host, pettishly, "and I don't see what the question has to do with my story.

"After this unfortunate adventure I fled from the town and my gipsy friends, and sought my fortunes in another direction. I disguised my "I will not weary you," he continued, "with self as a female, and went on board a large merchant vessel as a cook's attendant. I was looked a detailed account of my success in disputing upon as a mere child, a girl of all work, and so with learned doctors, fighting with rampant escaped much attention. I discharged my duties gladiators, and performing many characters in to the satisfaction of my employers, and passed an Italian play of my own writing. The narra a very pleasant though hard-working time until tive might possibly annoy you, by exciting envy. we came to an anchor at a port in the Mediter-It is sufficient for me to tell you that I did all ranean. Here one of the sailors, a second mate, became too idle to mend his own shirts, and he handed them over to me, along with a lot of stockings requiring footing, because I was the only female on board. Of course I knew nothing of needlework, and yet was afraid to confess my ignorance, for fear the deception I had practised upon the captain and owners of the ship should be discovered. I saw no way out of the difficulty except flight: so, throwing the unmended rags down the hold, I watched my opportunity, rowed on shore in a boat, and mixed with the natives of Genoa in my own proper character.

these things before I had reached the age of thirty. I distinguished myself in a much lower sphere by several displays of extraordinary strength, in which I pulled against two horses, lifted three hogsheads of water weighing nearly two thousand pounds, rolled up a very large pewter dish with my fingers, and raised a table six feet long, with half a hundred-weight fastened to it, in my teeth. I tied a kitchen poker round my neck like a cravat, and broke a rope about two inches thick.

"About this period I began to decrease in height, and to increase very much in breadth. "I lived for several years very comfortably in a Some of the doctors attributed the change to the

fact that I had compressed myself in carrying an
enormous weight upon my head during one of
my exhibitions. Whatever was the immediate
cause, I gradually grew stouter for ten years,
until I weighed nearly fifty stone. My size was
nearly three yards round the body; my legs mea-
sured a yard round the thigh; and a common suit
of clothes cost me twenty pounds."
66 Ilave
you ever heard of Daniel Lambert?"
I asked, again interrupting my host.

"Of course I have," he answered; "he was a running footman."

The coolness of this reply effectually silenced me, and I allowed the story to proceed without any further interruption.

the morning, as my breakfast, and the same quantity at noon, as my dinner. What is the result? At the age of a hundred and ninety

thought, on that account, a more severe and abstemious course was necessary. I was greatly influenced by Dr. Cheyne's opinion that Cornaro would probably have lived longer, had his regimen been more strict. Dr. Cheyne was right, as I have tested by experiment, and I have been right in following the advice of Dr. Cheyne. For more than a hundred years I have been fed upon a pudding, the composition of which you may be curious to learn, especially as you show a tendency to become stout, and are evidently not in very sound health. Take three pints of skimmed milk, boil them and pour them on one pound of the best sea-biscuit, broken into pieces; do this overnight, and then leave the ingredients to stand "My excessive and increasing corpulence," together until the following morning, when you he continued, "filled me with alarm, and I at may add two eggs. This compound, being boiled last placed myself under strict rules of diet. in a cloth about the space of an hour, will beThis required a vast deal of sustained resolution, come a pudding of sufficient consistency to be for almost from the beginning of my change in cut with a knife. No matter what may have size, I had been afflicted with a voracious appe-been the season-what festivities were going on tite. I thought little of devouring at one meal-what temptations there were to a little selfas much as sixteen pounds of meat and bread, indulgence-I allowed myself only a pound and and there were times when my appetite was even a half of this pudding at four or five o'clock in more ravenous. My drinking was also in proportion to my eating, although I was never intoxicated. All this had to be changed, and I therefore copied the plan of Louis Cornaro, of whom you may have heard. It was a hard struggle, but I persevered. As I thought it prudent not to make a total alteration in my diet suddenly, I confined myself to a pint of ale a day, and used animal food sparingly. This method I soon found to answer to my satisfaction, for I felt easier and lighter, and my spirits became less oppressed. During the next two months, I struck off half my drink, and more than half my animal food. I next gave up malt liquor, and confined myself entirely to water for about a year, at the end of which period I was able to do without any fluid except what I took in the way of medicine. I next avoided cheese, then butter, and at last was able to turn my back upon animal food, and to sustain myself entirely upon pudding made of sea-biscuit. I allowed myself very little sleep, generally going to bed at eight o'clock in the evening, sometimes even earlier, and rising about one o'clock in the morning. My voice, which I had entirely lost for several years, came back to me clear and strong; my flesh became firm, my complexion a good colour; and 1 reduced my weight at least forty stone."

"I beg your pardon," I said, "you told me you were only one hundred and seventy-six."

"Did I ?" he answered; "well, say one hundred and seventy-six, then-we'll not quarrel about fourteen years-at this age I am able to live cheerfully without company in what, as I before remarked, you contemptuously style a desert.' I am active and vigorous, and in full possession of more than my proper faculties. I am able, at times, to pick out colours with my eyes closed, and to read a book with my fingers' ends. Sometimes I can walk in my sleep with even more security and speed than when I am awake: which I look upon as a proof that my system of diet is correct."

My host's story might probably have continued for several hours longer, as I really had not sufficient determination to stop it, if we had not been interrupted at this point by the appearance of a third person at the door of the hut. The new comer was a man about forty, and, if dress were any sign of quality, I might have thought that I had been entertained by the servant in the absence of the master. I was not, however, left long in suspense as to the relation in which the two islanders stood to each other, for my ragged host immediately addressed the new comer in a loud authoritative tone:

66

Pampered menial! Take off that dandy coat, and blow the fire."

The new comer obeyed this rude command rather slowly and sullenly, muttering something about not being so fond of rags as some people were.

66

Silence!" again shouted my ragged host. If Crusoe and Friday quarrel in private, let them preserve a certain decency before strangers."

The Recorder admits the possibility that the winter months may show a larger calendar of crime than other parts of the year. He also admits that these offences are infectious, and that criminals imitate each other. Thus, he would extract a hope that this first third of the criminal and that the total of sixty murders in a year may year may be no criterion of the other two-thirds, might well feel uneasiness, the average of connot be attained. And, indeed, if it were, we in-victions during the last twelve years being only seventeen, while the highest number-namely that in 1856-only amounted to thirty-one.