fer the accommodation of the side-path. It was striking to reflect that so many people were subsisting entirely upon gains, which presuppose the daily, indeed hourly deaths of a large portion of their fellow inhabitants.

I have before had occasion to remark the beggars which are met with in this country. Nothing short of actual vision can convey to an American a just conception of the apparent misery of this class of people in Ireland. In Dublin, mendicants swarm the streets in every direction, and assail the passenger with an importunity which cannot or will not be repulsed. In the more frequented quarters of the city, one of these wretched objects is seen lying upon the doorsteps, of almost every respectable dwelling. Families are literally strewn along the principal streets, at intervals of a few yards, clothed with fragments of garments, which gave me the first distinct notion of tatters. I have heard it said in America, and as I once thought, in the spirit of wanton badinage, that an Irish beggar has been known on meeting with a scare-crow image in some field, to have gladly exchanged habiliments with the unlucky effigy, and to have plumed himself upon his rare fortune. It was long ago remarked, too by some traveller, that he never knew what the paupers of London did with their old clothes, until coming to Dublin. I must say that I had an equal degree of doubt, but it exists no longer; for mendicity in my opinion has reached its ne plus ultra' in this city. The aspect of wretchedness moreover is heightened by the strong contrast which is exhibited to the splendid equipages and other pompous displays of wealth, which, as I have mentioned, a stranger continually is witnessing. And yet it is amusing at times to see that wonderful buoyancy of spirits which the Irish possess, even under the pressure of severe want; and I have often smiled on passing a ragged little fellow, with only the covering of a small piece of a shirt, and a part of one of the legs of what might once have been a pair of trowsers, scuffling about the side-walks, and playing marbles, or whipping his top with the same alacrity and spirit as if he had been decked in crimson and gold.

Dr. Da very respectable dissenting clergyman, and the author of two or three ingenious poems, called by appointment at 1 o'clock to-day to attend us to the Dublin Society house, and to introduce us to sir Charles Gieseke, a distinguished professor in the Institution. The building appropriated to the society is Leinster house, formerly the town residence of the duke of that name. It is large and highly commodious, as well as elegant, and has a fine park adjoining it. The library belonging to the institution is not extensive, but is judiciously selected and arranged. The number of volumes does not probably exceed 5000. Dr. L——— the librarian, we found very intelligent and obliging. The museum is rich, containing a very valuable collection of specimens in ornithology, and one still finer in the mineralogical department. It was

pleasing to view a case of minerals which had been selected in various places in the United States, particularly in New England; among which we read the labels of Northampton, Lake George, New Haven, and others. The museum and mineralogical cabinet have been splendidly arranged under the immediate direction of sir Charles Gieseke, and there is a large apartment solely devoted to a collection of rarities presented by him to the institution. It was gratifying to us to form an acquaintance with this extraordinary man. Sir Charles is a German, originally from Vienna, if I mistake not, and has for many years been honoured with the favourable regards of the archduke Charles of Austria. He still enjoys the friendship of that prince; and among other flattering marks of his attention, has received a gold cross, (the badge of an order of Chevaliers,) which he wears upon his breast. Sir Charles is passionately devoted to the study of mineralogy and natural history. In pursuit of his favourite sciences, and particularly with a view to the former, he went to Greenland, and resided there nearly seven years. Surely, it might be thought, a person who could endure a winter in that inhospitable clime, among, more. over, a people so rude and barbarous must have been indued with a more than ordinary portion of internal heat. His uncommon enthusiasm enabled him to submit cheerfully to his privations, and to bear the many hardships which he was obliged to encounter. The fame which sir Charles acquired on his return to Europe excited the attention of the Dublin Society of arts, and they elected him one of the professors of the institution. Shortly after he came to reside in this city, and fills his chair with great ability. He brought with him from Greenland the very tent which he occupied in summer. This is pitched in one of the rooms of the museum where the other curiosities presented by sir Charles are deposited. It is constructed of a rude low frame of wood, about eight feet square, covered chiefly with seal skins. The ground is also spread with skins, and the interior is hung with various utensils of hunting, fishing and household furniture. Models on a smaller scale are preserved of most of the others which are in use among the natives. The tent at its entrance is two feet higher than at the further extremity, where it is not more than five feet. Two Greenland figures, large as life and in the dress of the natives, are seen, one reclining upon the skins within the tent, and the other as about entering it, having just returned from fishing, and bearing the implements of his occupation. Sir Charles spoke freely of his residence among that people, and represented them as faithful, kind and hospitable in an high degree. We passed about an hour at the institution, and on leaving it, he invited us to call again to-morrow, when he proposes to show us some excellent casts lately taken from the Elgin marbles, a collection not open to the public.

In the hall of the museum, we saw some unusually sized pillars, which were brought from the Giant's Causeway. Some Roman

urns and other relics from Herculaneum were also shown; also, several curious pieces of old armour, a number of partially decayed weapons and utensils dug from the earth in various parts of Ireland, and horns of the moose deer, which had been taken from some bogs. A very curious petrefaction of an arm, supposed to be that of a man, was also exhibited. It is cited by naturalists as a proof that the human subject is capable of undergoing that wonderfully transforming process of nature.

Much has been said concerning the bogs for which Ireland is famous. Their manner of formation has excited no little speculation; and divers opinions are entertained respecting their proximate causes, and times of growth and accretion. In a country possessing so little wood, and dependent as it must have been otherwise upon the opposite coasts of England and Scotland for much of its supply of coal, the possession of these bogs has proved an incalculable benefit in the way of fuel. They are not too, as their name might lead one to think, low and humid wastes covered with weeds and sedge-grass, and pregnant with noxious miasmata. They are often found upon elevated grounds; and can be traversed with facility and comfort. The districts where they are most numerous are as healthy as any other portions of Ireland. Owing to the increased population of the country, and the greater consequent demand for peat, this fuel has risen very sensibly in value, and in some of the older counties a scarcity is complained of. In Ulster, turbaries are frequently let for seven and eight guineas per acre. After the turf is cut, and has remained out a sufficient time to dry, it is carried to the peasant's farm-stead in bags not unlike in size and appearance, large cotton bales. On our journey to Dublin, we were several times amused with seeing women and even boys bearing with ease these burdens on their heads, which had we have estimated their weight by their magnitude, we should have thought, would have required Atlantean shoulders. Of the curious properties of the Irish bogs, their antiseptic quality, as is well known, is not the least remarkable. The horns of the moose deer which have been found in them illustrate this very forcibly: for the earlier Irish histories, if I mistake not, are entirely silent upon the existence of this animal. It is not long since a shoe, composed of a single piece of leather neatly sewed, was dug up in some bog: the form and make of which showed very clearly that it had laid centuries undisturbed. On opening various turbaries, extensive layers of trees have been discovered, having their smaller branches and tendrils, as well as trunk and larger boughs preserved uninjured. Bog soil seems indeed to exert an embalming quality of singular efficacy upon the substances which it encloses. Wood becomes very much indurated, and is found to resist longer the action of the air, when it is subsequently exposed. The discovery of trees, in the manner mentioned, demonstrates, it may be added, in despite of present appearances, that Ireland formerly abounded

with excellent forest timber. In fact, several of the old monastic buildings in England were indebted to this country for the wood employed in their interiour construction; and I remember in the cathedral at Gloucester, on admiring the rich carvings and finish of the wood work around the altar and within the choir, to have been informed that the material itself was the native Irish oak. (To be continued.)

Translation from La Revue Encyclopædique.

ART. II.-The Spirit, Origin and Progress of the Judicial Institutions of the principal countries of Europe; by J. D. Myer, vol. 1 (ancient part.)

TAST

ASTES and customs have undergone a material alteration, since Labruyere ridiculed the fanaticism of learning in the person of that Hermagoras, who had never seen Versailles, yet could tell the number of steps in the tower of Babel; who had neglected to acquaint himself with the houses of France, Austria and Bavaria, yet knew that Nimrod was left handed, and Sesostris double-handed. It would be difficult at this time to know for whom the original of this portrait was intended. The learned man of this age disdains not to live among his cotemporaries, and it is amid the bustle of the world he devotes his lucubrations to the exploration of antiquity. In these laborious researches, he does not propose to himself merely the gratification of a vain curiosity, he does not study these subtle and minute discussions merely to solve questions which have no other interest to them than the difficulty of conquering. His design is to enlighten his age by the experience and example of the past. He redeems from the dust of manuscripts, and from the obscurity of ancient chronicles; manners, customs, establishments, laws; he discovers their origin, he traces their progress and decay, he endeavours, by studying the order and series of facts, to assign the causes of their errors and misfortunes, of their good government and prosperity; yet he never suffers himself to be abstracted from the present, while he meditates on the past: Such is the philosophy of learning, to admire the ancient for our sakes, not for themselves, that the dead may serve for the instruction of the living.

Let us be careful however to appreciate the merit of those learned men, whose modest ambition confines them to collect materials from all kinds of history, without pretending to originality. When such men have nothing to recommend them but their indefatigable patience, they merit our admiration. But, it would require more than the patience of a Mabillon, a Freret, a Sauvage, a Saint Palaye, and all their worthy competitors, to penetrate into the depths of antiquity, among the rubbish of the middle ages and to bring them to light. Whereas they themselves would have been lost, and we equally misled with them, if they had not possessed

so strong and sure a judgment, so rare a sagacity, so profound a genius! In clearing away confusion from the chronology, the geography, the institutions, the usage, the doubtful facts, they have laid the foundations of history. These are the persons who discover the true works from the counterfeit, and who warn us against the frauds of the inventors, and against the authority of dangerous examples-maintained by error and passion.

The polity of states instituted for the security of commerce, persons appointed to prove and to mark, upon the faith of their word, all gold and silver bullion, before it passed into the hands of the workmen; the learned fill the same office as to history. History receives from them the authenticity to which it is entitled; the philosopher, the certainty of his remarks; all of us owe to them the truth.

The historian, of every description, could neither satisfy his duty nor his conscience, and engage the attention of those whom he binds himself to instruct, if he did not borrow the assistance of the learned, if he was not himself learned. This second consideration is absolutely necessary.

I have made these reflections on perusing the work of M. Meyer; they have induced my criticism, they shall be the rule of my approbation and censure.

If any one is desirous of previously ascertaining the spirit which animates the author, the principles which guide him, he should read his introduction, and should he not experience that weariness which are usually attached to those ordinary and insignificant prefaces, it is a learned and useful dissertation.

"Of all the works,' says he,' which describe to us past ages, there are none more interesting for the genuine historian, than the laws and judicial institutions of the people. In immediate relation with the manners and customs, the laws are the purest source from which to draw the philosophy of history; those who would describe the progress of the human race, ought first to acquire a knowledge of that kind of legislation which has best succeeded with every description of people. He must elucidate history by the laws.'

After a discussion on the opposite opinions of the partizans of common law, and of those who prefer a system of legislation, he concludes with a moderation truly wise. Let us respect the manners, customs, experience, even the prejudices themselves, which, notwithstanding a corrupt foundation, have acquired a venerable character by long sufferance; but, let us agree, when required by the improvement of manners, the alteration of the laws is not less the province of the legislator, than to give efficacy to those which custom has already introduced, to render them clear, and legally to abolish those which are bad. The regulation of the laws, the good conduct of officers, is always the duty of the sovereign.