States, we were exposed to a series of gales of wind, and squalls of rain, hail, and sleet, for eighteen successive days, in which, from the short number of hands and the state of the vessel, constant and severe exertion was required, without a dry thread or four hours uninterrupted sleep for the whole period; while we were short of provisions, and those we had so bad in quality as only to be tasted to avoid starving, the strength and spirits of the whole crew were preserved by strong hot coffee, served three times a day, and not limited as to quantity, and sometimes an additional quantity during the night.

"As to the effect of coffee in severe cold, I can only state, that having passed the greater part of fourteen winters in the district of Maine, where the cold is very severe, and where a person who is much engaged in any active pursuit must frequently in the course of every winter be exposed to very piercing frost, all prudent people abstain from the use of any ardent spirits, and make great use of coffee. It is a general custom in travelling (which is almost always in open sledges) to have coffee as a beverage at dinner, in lieu of any other; and the effect I have always heard attributed to it, and which it certainly has on myself, is to produce a general glow over the whole surface of the body, which lasts for a considerable time; while the effect of spirituous liquors under the same temperature only produces heat in the mouth, throat, and stomach, and renders the effect of the cold much more sensible on the extremities. That this is the effect of spirituous liquors, too many fatal instances can be adduced; and though perhaps needless, I will mention one in which I was concerned, and a witness. Twenty-five persons volunteered their services in the province of Maine, to cut a vessel out of the ice in an exceedingly severe winter night. At day-light, nine only were able to persevere in the attempt, and on inquiry it appeared that none of those had tasted spirits, all the rest had in a greater or less degree made use of them; and had there not been inhabited buildings near where they were employed, several must have perished: those who had abstained from spirits took a breakfast of hot strong coffee, and with that meal only completed a severe exertion of twenty-four hours, wet the whole time, and exposed to an extreme degree of cold."

The advantages to be derived by the poor from the adoption of the plans here proposed, as well as the saving that might be effected in bread-corn, are, we trust, sufficiently obvious; but it unfortunately happens, that they who from cir

cumstances stand most in need of management and œconomy are too often the greatest strangers to it: this is particularly the case in manufacturing towns; where the females being em ployed from their childhood in some branch of trade, are left deplorably ignorant of domestic concerns: the poor have also prejudices which it is difficult to remove, but which, however, experience has shown not to be insurmountable; and if respectable persons, who have the leisure for it, would visit them in their houses or apartments, and give them a little instruction, the good that might be done would be incalculable: if young females, for example, in the middling and higher ranks, would take the trouble to have some of the cheap dishes made, present them to the poor in the first instance, and, when they had excited a relish for such things, give the necessary instructions in the method of preparing them, they might be the happy means of gradually producing a great change for the better in the habits and circumstances of this valuable class it is also very desirable to enable the poor to procure simple cooking utensils; some excellent hints for which are given in the 3d volume of Rumford's Essays; but to this subject, as well as to the economy of fuel, we purpose to solicit the attention of our readers in a future number.

On the Vice of Detraction.

Non ego mordaci distrinxi carmine quenquam.

OVID. TRIST. ii. 563.

To the cowardly assassin who would stab in the dark-to him whose object and end is pure mischief, we have nothing to say; expostulation with such would be like preaching to the deaf adder:" but we wish to put those upon their guard against the evil in question, who would be disgusted with their own conduct if they saw it in its true point of view. Detraction is the natural infirmity of little minds, whose envy is excited by the contemplation of talents superior to their own, or of virtues which they will not take the pains to imitate :but those who feel mortified by a consciousness of inferiority of talent, should reflect that none can aspire to a greater

honour than the approbation of Him who dispenses his gifts in such proportion as to him seems meet, and requires nothing more than a due application of what he has bestowed, whether it be more or less. The joyful sound of "Well done, good and faithful servant," will as surely salute him who has faithfully occupied one talent, as him who has been enabled to discharge his duty with ten. Minds devoid of true courage are also prone to detraction, and even persons not destitute of benevolent feelings are apt to fall into this vice through inadvertence: we indeed sometimes see too much of a censorious! spirit, even in those who pass for being very religious.

They who, having heard any thing to the disadvantage of another, do not feel sufficient firmness to investigate the subject, are bound, in honour and honesty, at least to abstain from giving currency to what they have heard. We are all liable to slide into the evil through inadvertence; but it should ever be present to our minds, that the character of an individual is of more consequence to him than his property in money or goods:

"Who steals my purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing;
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands:

But he that filches from me my good name

Robs me of that which nought enriches him,

But makes me poor indeed!"

SHAKSPEARE.

There are strict laws for the punishment of any one who shall attempt to rob a man of the smallest particle of this "trash:" How great then must be the guilt of those who would deliberately deprive him of what next to an approving conscience is his most valuable possession!

In none is this vice so detestable and monstrous as in persons who pretend to superior attainments in religion, and for this plain reason, that it forms so strong a contrast with that charity and love, which is the very essence of their profession.

The affections and sympathies of our nature, and the consciousness of the need of mutual support, are the bonds which connect mankind in society. The individuals of which it is composed are necessarily dependent on each other, and that not merely in a pecuniary point of view, but as regards those comforts and refined pleasures which alone render society desirable. It becomes our interest then, as it assuredly is our duty, to study and promote the happiness of those with whom we are connected, and that not only upon great occasions, which seldom occur, but particularly in those daily and minute incidents which form the great bulk of our lives. A gloomy look and sullen silence, where there are no obvious reasons for it,

strike a damp through the cheerful circle, and the individual has only the melancholy satisfaction of having made others uncomfortable as well as himself. Much indeed depends upon the manner in which we conduct ourselves even in actions otherwise indifferent. The same words pronounced in different tones shall produce opposite effects; and although a fawning behaviour, inasmuch as it leads to a suspicion of insincerity, is disgusting, a rigid and austere carriage is a great drawback from those whose virtue commands our esteem. Esteem and love, however, are different things; and the latter is only secured by unaffected gentleness of manners, and a constant attempt to direct all our words and actions to promote the comfort and happiness of others. This is true politeness, and nothing more than what christianity requires. We are commanded to love our neighbours as ourselves; and if we do this sincerely, we shall be very careful of throwing out any insinuations which may tend to their prejudice. Perhaps nothing is more destructive to the peace and even the comfortable existence of society than detraction. Hence, in the sacred writings, "whisperers and backbiters" are classed among the "workers of iniquity;" and as their mischief is so insidious, they should be as carefully avoided as persons more openly wicked. "Thou shalt not curse the deaf" was a law promulgated from the highest authority; and this law, so far from being abrogated, is strengthened and extended by the christian dispensation. The spirit of this injunction prohibits any attack upon a person not in a situation to defend himself, as is the case with those who are absent. Every attempt of this kind should put us upon our guard against the person who makes it. He who whispers in my ear things injurious to the character of one who has hitherto enjoyed a fair reputation, proclaims himself by that act a dangerous man, and should immediately be asked whether he had spoken to the party accused upon the subject, or had any objection to state from whom his information had been derived. If he had not done the one, and refused the other, a man of integrity would feel it his duty to inform the person against whom the insinuation had been levelled, of all the circumstances, and obtain a full investigation of the business. Such conduct would wonderfully diminish this species of vermin, and is strictly required by that precept of our holy religion, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so unto them."

P.

859

IN remarking upon the character and labours of this great reformer, we have in several late Numbers endeavoured, from the materials which Howard has afforded us, and from other things which have come to light, to convey an idea of the great need of a change in the state of our prisons; of the exquisite misery which is unnecessarily endured in them; of the disgrace which they shed upon the policy of a civilized country. It is unhappily but a faint idea which it is possible to convey in words. It is unhappily, too, not easy to rouse mankind (and our self-loving countrymen among the rest) to a very lively sense of the sufferings of others. Whatever pretensions may be set up to disinterested feelings, it is only the sufferings that come home to ourselves, such sufferings as those to which we ourselves appear in some degree liable; sufferings which, some how or other, make us think of our own chances of misery; it is only these sufferings that are sure to excite a very lively sympathy in our breasts. The greater part of those who are at ease in their dwellings; for whom sufficient screens seem erected against the cold blasts of adversity; that is, the greater part of those who are in circumstances to exert themselves for the removal of the misery created and propagated in British prisons, do not readily conceive themselves liable to any such miserics; their imaginations do not easily convey them, as a chance from which they are by no means exempt, into the dreary dungeons of the prisoner, there to converse with filth, with poisonous air, with hunger, with nakedness, with freezing cold, with sickness, and with the king of terrors, without the hand of a fellow-creature to support the dying head, or the consoling accents of one sympathizing friend to cheer the sinking heart. Massy walls cover these lamentable scenes from the eyes of the body; and our own apparent distance from them makes them show diminutive to the eyes of the mind. If our neighbour is racked with the stone, or has lost a son, the hope and comfort of his age, we form a lively conception of his misery, because his case, or one analogous to it, may very possibly be our own. But the complicated wretchedness of the penny less prisoner, as it is remote from our sphere, is faint to our imagination. It requires reflection to make us sensible of its magnitude and importance,