Receipts, &c.

SOUPS.

SOUPS are easily made, provided the stock is always ready, and in good condition, that is, in a jelly. In every household, even where there is only one joint of meat in a week, a tureen of soup can always be made. In households where more joints are used, say three, or more, in a week, soup for three or more days ought to be made from the bones, without the addition of other meat.

The stock-pot must be an iron saucepan; must be used for no other purpose, and every day after using must be boiled out with soda and water. For soups use always cold water.

TO MAKE STOCK FROM BONES.

Those which are sent from table on the plates must never be put with other bones; it is a dirty custom, and had better at all times be dispensed with. Take the large bone which has been left, say, from a leg of mutton, but from which the meat had not been quite scraped off (though no particle of fat must be taken), together with the shank and the gristle bone which is at the knuckle; crack the large bone (take out the marrow, as not being useful in soup), and put the whole of the bones into three quarts of cold water into an iron saucepan; let them boil very fast for four hours until the water is reduced to one quart, then throw the liquor and bones into a colander, but over a basin; set the liquor to cool, and let the bones drain. This boiling should always take place in the afternoon or evening, so that the strained liquor can be allowed to remain cooling all night. The next morning on the top of this will be found a cake of cold fat, which must be very carefully removed, as of no use for soup; underneath will be found the stock, which should be a jelly, and if it is not, it is because the boiling was not sufficiently attended to over night, and it must therefore be returned with the bones to the saucepan, and boiled again, and undergo the same process of straining, cooling, and removing all fat; so that it is the least trouble and fuss to attend well to the first boiling, to say nothing of the waste of additional fire for the second boiling. Having thus made stock from bones, the latter may be peppered, floured, and put away for boiling up with bones from a joint of the next, or even two days afterwards. Observe to add to the stock-pot all trimmings of fresh meat, such as bits from the trimming of veal cutlets, the lean pieces from the tops of chops, from a loin of mutton, and any small pieces, not of any other use, which are left on the dish in which the meat has been served. But observe not to use the smallest piece of fat for stock.

There will now be no difficulty in making stock from meat if it be so desired, as the process is exactly the same, precisely alike in the mode of straining, cooling, and taking off the fat; but if a clear soup be desired, the liquor must, while hot, be strained again either through the finest wire strainer, hair sieve, or with old muslin tied, but not too tight, over the top of the colander.

The best meat for soup purposes is shin of beef, the meat with the bones, and boiled for six or eight hours always till the liquor is reduced one-half. A pound of fresh meat should make a pint of good soup, but the meat should always be cut up small. Soup made from any other beef but that of the shin will not jelly, but

will taste very like good beef-tea. After the shin comes knuckle of veal. Soup made from this is excellent. The lean end of a neck of mutton is also good; but in making soup from this latter a half pint of water should be put to the meat, be closely covered, and allowed to boil a quarter of an hour, then be poured off, and put away in a basin to cool; then put the necessary water to the meat, and convert it into stock. When the soup made from this is about to be sent to table, take the fa off the small portion that was put away; mix the liquor, not the fat, in with the soup, and it will give a delicious fresh flavor of mutton. Stock may be made from any 'meat, poultry, or game, but must always be put in cold water, and be without fat.

It must always be strained, perhaps, more than once, suffered to get entirely cool, the fat be then taken off, and put away before the stock can be converted into soup.

TO CLEAR STOCK.

Sometimes when soup is wanted to be very clear, the stock is not so, and, in order to clear it, to every pint of stock required for soup take the white of one egg, beat it up with two tablespoonfuls of cold water; take some stock, which is nearly boiling, mix it with the eggs and water, and beat all together thoroughly; mix this with the stock, which should be boiling on the fire, stirring it well; let the whole nearly boil; then let it stand away from the fire till the eggs separate in a curd from the soup; then strain the latter through fine muslin.

VERMICELLI, OR ITALIAN SOUP.-(Made from stock from boiled bones.) Take a quart of the stock (see directions), add a little salt, a little thickening made thus: take a teaspoonful of flour, roll it in a lump of butter the size of half a walnut, throw it into the cold stock; this will readily dissolve as it boils; then throw in an ounce of vermicelli, or Italian paste, which is cheaper, better, and prettier looking, being vermicelli cut into stars, cubes, and other similar shapes. When this has been boiled ten minutes, have ready a small tablespoonful of minced onion, throw this in, and let the soup boil five minutes; then pour some soup into a basin; burn a little brown sugar in an iron spoon, mix it with the soup in the basin, then strain it to the soup. The onion may be omitted if desired. This soup will not take more than twenty minutes from the time it is first put on the fire.

MACCARONI SOUP.-Break a quarter of a pound of maccaroni into small pieces; take a quart of boiling stock and an ounce of butter; put in the maccaroni with a very little salt, and boil it till tender, which will be in about twenty minutes; thicken with a teaspoonful of flour rubbed smoothly in some water; beat up the yelks and whites of two eggs with two tablespoonfuls of cold water; take a tablespoonful of the boiling soup, and beat up with the eggs; then add two more spoonfuls, and continue till there is a basin full; then throw the whole through a strainer into the boiling soup, and take it instantly away from the fire. Well mix it together, and the soup will be ready to serve.

SPRING SOUP.—Also from stock not made of meat (see directions). Mince into very small pieces, not too fine, some (one large or two small) ready-dressed carrots, six raw turnips, which must be cut in dice-shape, the heart of a stick of celery minced very fine, a handful of young spring onions, with the young green of six, also, and some chopped lettuce, if it can be had. Make the stock boil; add a little salt and a piece of butter size of a hazel

nut; when it boils fast, throw in the vegetables; let them boil rapidly for a quarter of an hour; then thicken, if necessary, with a little flour rubbed smoothly in a little cold water and strained to the soup.

SOUP, JULIENNE.-Take the same kind of stock as before. Take a quarter of a pound of ready-dressed carrots; a half a pound of raw turnips, peeled and washed; a head of celery; and an old onion. Peel and cut the onion round like a lemon would be cut, only in thin rounds; then cut each piece in four; cut the celery across the heart, then each piece again, so as to form long bits; cut the turnips into rounds, the same way also as a lemon; then cut these also into thin strips, the carrot the same; each piece of vegetable must be about an inch long, and about as wide as one of the prongs of a carving fork; melt in a saucepan two ounces of butter, with a little salt, and a tablespoonful of mushroom ketchup, and a teaspoonful of brown sugar, well melted together; then put in the vegetables, and let them brown in the saucepan at the side of the fire, perhaps for an hour or less. Make one quart of stock boiling; throw in the vegetables, and let all boil together. Omit the thickening.

TURNIP SOUP, WHITE.-Wash, pare, and cut six large turnips, the same way as a lemon would be cut, that is, into round slices a quarter of an inch thick, or rather thicker, or with a turnip-scoop form them into the shape of marbles (in the latter mode more turnips must be used); cut these rounds of turnip into squares or triangular pieces. Make a quart of stock from bones boiling hot; throw into it an ounce of vermicelli, or thicken it with flour and water, rubbed smoothly; add a piece of butter the size of a walnut; throw in the turnips while the soup is rapidly boiling; make it boil up again very quickly. In a quarter of an hour after it boils the second time, the soup will be ready.

TURNIP SOUP, BROWN.-Is made precisely as in the foregoing directions; but the turnips are first bowned with two ounces of butter, by letting them rapidly fry in a saucepan over a brisk fire; and leave out the vermicelli.

ARTICHOKE SOUP.-Is made exactly as the turnip soup, white, only leaving out the vermicelli, but adding two ounces of butter to the stock, and boiling the artichoke pieces twenty minutes or more.

CARROT SOUP.-A quart of stock made from bones; two carrots pared, but not cut. Put them on to cook in plenty of boiling water, with a little salt, and two ounces of dripping; let them boil an hour and a half; then drain them, mash them rapidly through a colander, mix them with the soup when boiling, but which has first been thickened with flour, water, and a little butter added.

GREEN PEA SOUP.-Take two quarts of stock made from bones; when it boils, throw in half a teaspoonful of sugar, two ounces of butter, half a teaspoonful of salt, and a quart of ready-shelled peas. Let all boil rapidly for twenty minutes, then shred up the hearts of two lettuces, and add a teaspoonful of dried and powdered mint, or a good spray of green mint. Let the soup boil for ten minutes longer; take a teaspoonful of flour, and a little cold water, mix together, strain, and add to the soup, if not sufficiently thick. The spray of mint must be taken out before sending to table.

Green pea soup sent without vegetables to table must be made in the same way, only the peas be mashed, and the whole be strained before coming to table.

MISCELLANEOUS COOKING.

TO BOIL A LEG OF LAMB.-This is considered a delicate joint in the very first families. It should be put into a pot with cold water just enough to cover it, and very carefully skimmed so long as the least appearance of scum rises.

This joint should not be suffered to boil fast, for on its being gently boiled depends all its goodness, and the delicate white appearance it should have when served up. A leg of four or five pounds weight will take about one hour and a half, reckoning from the time it comes to a boil.

A boiled leg of lamb may be served up with either green peas, or cauliflower, or young French beans, asparagus, or spinach, and potatoes, which for lamb should always be of a small size.

Parsley and butter for the joint, and plain melted butter for the vegetables, are the proper sauces for boiled lamb.

TO ROAST LAMB.-The hind quarter of lamb usually weighs from seven to ten pounds; this size will take about two hours to roast it. Have a brisk fire. It must be very frequently basted while roasting, and sprinkled with a little salt, and dredged all over with flour, about half an hour before it is done.

TO BOIL PERCH.-First wipe or wash off the slime, then scrape off the scales, which adhere rather tenaciously to this fish; empty and clean the insides perfectly, take out the gills, cut off the fins, and lay the perch into equal parts of cold and of boiling water, salted as for mackerel; from eight to ten minutes will boil them unless they are very large. Dish them on a napkin, garnish them with curled parsley, and serve melted butter with them.

TO FRY PERCH OR TENCH.-Scale and clean them perfectly; dry them well, flour and fry them in boiling lard. Serve plenty of fried parsley round them.

SWEETBREAD CUTLETS.-Boil the sweetbreads for half an hour in water, or veal broth, and when they are perfectly cold, cut them into slices of equal thickness, brush them with yolks of egg, and dip them into very fine bread-crumbs, seasoned with salt, Cayenne, grated lemon-rind, and mace; fry them in butter of a fine light brown, arrange them in a dish, placing them high in the centre, and pour under them a gravy made in the pan, thickened with mushroom powder, and flavored with lemon-juice; or, in lieu of this, sauce them with some rich brown gravy, to which a glass of sherry or Madeira has been added.

TO BROIL A SWEETBREAD. —Parboil it, rub it with butter, and broil it over a slow fire, turn it frequently, and baste it now and then by putting it into a plate kept warm by the fire with butter in it.

TO DRESS SALT FISH.-Soak it in cold water, according to its saltness; the only method of ascertaining which is to taste one of the flakes of the fish. That fish which is hard and dry will require twenty-four hours soaking in two or three waters, to the last of which add a wineglassful of vinegar. But less time will suffice for a barrelled cod, and still less for the split fish. Put the fish on in cold water, and let it simmer, but not actually boil, else it will be tough and thready. Garnish with hard-boiled eggs, the yolks cut in quarters, and serve with egg-sauce, parsnips, or beet-root.

Or: Lay the piece you mean to dress all night in water, with a glass of vinegar; boil it enough, then break it into flakes on the dish; warm it up with cream

and a large piece of butter rubbed with a bit of flour, and serve it as above with egg-sauce.

ROLLED VEAL.-The breast is the best for this purpose. Bone a piece of the breast, and lay a forcemeat over it of herbs, bread, an anchovy, a spoonful or two of scraped ham, a very little mace, white pepper, and chopped chives; then roll, bind it up tight, and stew it in water or weak broth with the bones, some carrots, onions, turnips, and a bay-leaf. Let the color be preserved, and serve it in veal gravy, or fricassee sauce.

TO BROIL MACKEREL.-Clean and split them open; wipe dry; lay them on a clean gridiron, rubbed with suet, over a very clear slow fire; turn; season with pepper, salt, and a little butter; fine minced parsley is also used.

CHICKEN SALAD.-Boil a chicken that weighs not more than a pound and a half. When very tender, take it up, cut it in small strips; then take six or seven fine white heads of celery, scrape, and wash it; cut the white part small, in pieces of about three quarters of an inch long, mix it with the meat of the fowl, and just before the salad is sent in, pour a dressing made in the following way over it:

Boil four eggs hard; rub their yelks to a smooth paste with two tablespoonfuls of olive oil; two teaspoonfuls of made mustard; one teaspoonful of salt, and one teacupful of strong vinegar.

Place the delicate leaves of the celery around the edges of the dish.

White-heart lettuce may be used instead of celery. Any other salad dressing may be used, if preferred..

CAKES, PUDDINGS, ETC.

CUP CAKE.-Three eggs, one cup butter, one cup and a half sugar, half cup molasses, one cup milk, four cups flour, one teaspoonful saleratus; spice to taste.

DELICIOUS APPLE PUDDING.-Very convenient, as it may be made several hours before it is baked, or when a nice addition is wanted unexpectedly. Pare and chop fine half a dozen or more, according to their size, of the best cooking apples; grease a pudding-dish, cover the bottom and sides half an inch thick with grated bread, and very small lumps of butter; then put a layer of apples with sugar and nutmeg, and repeat the layer, which must be of bread and butter; pour over the whole a teacup of cold water. Put into the oven as soon as the dinner is served, and bake it twenty-five or thirty minutes. It may be baked the day before it is wanted; when it must be heated thoroughly, turned into a shallow dish, and sprinkled with powdered sugar. requires no sauce.

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LEMON PIE.-Take four lemons, grate the rind, squeeze the juice, chop the pulp very fine, four teacups of sugar, the yelks of six eggs, two teacups of milk, four tablespoonfuls of corn-starch; beat well together and bake; beat the white of the eggs with six tablespoonfuls, of white sugar to a froth; when the pies are baked, put the froth over them, and set them in the oven for five minutes.

GERMAN RICE PUDDING.-Half a pound of rice boiled in a pint and a half of milk. When well boiled, mix with it three eggs, two ounces of butter, and two ounces sugar. Put it into a well buttered mould, and bake it one hour. When it is turned out of the mould put orange marmalade over it. This pudding is also very good cold.

OPEN GERMAN TART.-Half a pound of flour, quarter of a pound butter, quarter of a pound sugar, and one egg, to be rolled out and baked on a flat surface, having first covered the top with slices of apples or plums. A round shape looks best, with a little rim of the paste round the edge.

PLAIN CAKE.-Four cups flour, two of sugar, two of sour milk, one tablespoonful of butter, one tablespoonful of saleratus, nutmeg, and raisins.

LEMON DUMPLINGS.—Add the juice of one lemon to the rind, which must be chopped fine; mix half a pound of suet, also chopped, with half a pound of bread crumbs, one egg, enough milk (or water) to make a stiff paste; add the lemon, sweeten to taste, divide into five or six equal parts, and boil in separate cloths for three-quarters of an hour, and serve up with wine sauce.

JERSEY PUDDING.-Take four ounces of grated breadcrumb, the same of grated apples, loaf sugar, fresh butter, and currants Beat up well four eggs, add them to the above ingredients with a little salt and lemon-peel. Add a glass of brandy or white wine, butter your mould well, and boil one hour. N. B. Four macaroons can be substituted for the bread, and if preferred, it can be baked.

DILLINGHAM CAKE.—One cup butter, one of milk, three cups of sugar, five of flour, four eggs; spice to your taste. Bake in small or large tins.

Devonshire CAKE.-One popnd of flour, one pound of currants, three-quarters of a pound sugar, half a pound butter, half the peel of a lemon, half a pound citron; whisk all together, with eight eggs; add a little brandy; bake in a slow oven, two hours and a half.

PLAIN CHEESECAKES.-One ounce of butter, one ounce of powdered sugar, one stale sponge-cake, and two drops of essence of lemon, all beaten together; this quantity makes nine cheesecakes; a few currants on the top of each if you like..

SIMPLE LIGHT PUDDINGS FOR INVALIDS.

TAPIOCA BLANCMANGE.-Half a pound of tapioca soaked for one hour in a pint of new milk, and then boiled until quite tender; sweeten, according to taste, with loaf sugar, and, if preferred, flavor with either lemon, almond, or vanille. Put the mixture into a mould, when cold turn it out, and serve it with custard or cream, and, if approved, some preserves.

SCALDED PUDDING.-Stir three spoonfuls of flour into the smallest quantity of cold milk possible to make it smooth; into this stir a pint of scalding milk, put it upon the fire, but do not let it boil, when cold add nutmeg, ginger, and lemon-peel, and three well beaten eggs; sweeten to taste. Butter a basin, fill it with the above, and let it boil for an hour. When cooked plunge it into a pail of cold water, turn it on a dish, and let it stand a few minutes covered with the same basin before you send it to table.

Baked PuddiNGS.-One pint of milk, quarter of a pound of butter, quarter of a pound of flour, five eggs, leaving out two of the whites, two ounces of lump sugar. Mix all well together, and bake it in cups, which first must be rinsed in cold skim milk. Bake half an hour, and serve with butter or arrowroot sauce.

A QUAKING PUDDING.-Boil a pint of the best new milk with two blades of mace, a little grated nutmeg, and a little ginger; when nearly cold, add to it the yelks and whites of five eggs, well beaten, a few almonds,

and sugar to taste; mix all together with two tablespoonfuls of flour. Boil it half an hour.

MARY'S PUDDING.-Put not quite half a pound of grated bread-crumbs, and two ounces of butter, into a basin, pour upon them (boiling) one pint of good milk, sweetened with about three ounces of sugar. Cover with a plate or saucer, and set to cool. Beat up three eggs well, and stir them into the crumbs when cool enough, adding any flavor that is liked; it is very good without. Pour into a buttered dish and bake half an hour; or pour into a buttered mould and boil one hour. The following sauce is very nice over the boiled pudding: Add one egg and the yelks of three to half a tumbler of sherry, sweetened. Put in a jug in a pan of hot water, taking care not to let it remain too long on the fire, five minutes will be long enough. Whip the whole by rolling the whisk well between the hands till the mixture becomes light and firm.

A DELICATE PUDDING.-The yelks of five eggs beat very well, half a pound of pounded sugar, half a pint of milk, a slice of butter warmed in the milk, and a tablespoonful of flour. The sauce should be made of one glass of sherry, a little loaf sugar, and melted butter. Bake the puddings in large teacups, turn them out, and pour the sauce over them.

MISCELLANEOUS.

TO CLEAN CLOTH GARMENTS.-Rub some soap upon the wristbands and collars, and dip them in boiling hot water or new made suds, and scrub them well with a brush. Then go over the dirty and greasy places in the same way. Get fresh suds and wet and brush the whole garment the right way of the cloth. Stretch the sleeves, pockets, pocket-holes, wristbands, and collars into shape, the same as if ironed and put to dry. They will look as well as new.

TO MAKE BUTTER COME.-After churning, if the particles of butter will not unite, as is often the case in very cold or very hot weather, 'drop into the churn a piece of butter the size of an egg, or larger, giving the whole a few dashes. The particles, true to the laws of attraction, will readily unite with the larger lump, and the work is done.

PEACH LEAF YEAST.-Peach leaves used in the same way as hops, make excellent yeast. They may be used fresh from the tree during the summer-but the winter supply should be picked before frost comes and dried.

SOFT SOAP.-To one cake of the concentrated lye, add three gallons of soft water. Set it on the fire, put in four pounds of soap fat, and let it boil till quite clear. Empty into a barrel, and add twelve gallons of soft water. When cold, it will be as thick as jelly. The concentrated lye can be had at most any drug store.

A SIMPLE, SAFE, AND CLEANLY WAY TO DESTROY BLACK BEETLES, ETC.-Place two or three shallow vessels-the larger kind of flower-pot saucers will do-half filled with water, on the floors where they assemble, with strips of card-board running from the edge of the vessel to the floor, a gentle inclination; these the unwelcome guests will eagerly ascend, and so find a watery grave. TO DYE SILK, ETC., CRIMSON.-Take about a spoonful of cudbear,put it into a small pan, pour boiling water upon it; stir and let it stand a few minutes, then put in the silk, and turn it over in a short time, and when the color is full enough, take it out: but if it should require more violet or crimson, add a spoonful or two of purple

TO CLEAN KID GLOVES.-Make a strong lather with curd soap and warm water, in which steep a small piece of new flannel. Place the glove on a flat, clean, and unyielding surface-such as the bottom of a dish, and having thoroughly soaped the flannel (when squeezed from the lather) rub the kid till all dirt be removed, cleaning and resoaping the flannel from time to time. Care must be taken to omit no part of the glove, by turning the fingers, etc. The gloves must be dried in the sun, or before a moderate fire, and will present the appearance of old parchment. When quite dry, they must be gradually "pulled out," and will look new.

TO REMOVE INK FROM PAPER.-Solution of muriate of tin, two drachms; water four drachms. To be applied with a camel's-hair brush. After the writing has disappeared, the paper should be passed through water, and dried.

AN excellent cement for mending china articles, when broken, can be made by mixing flour with white of egg to the consistence of a paste. Hot water does not injure but rather hardens this simple cement.

METALLIC TREES.-The lead tree is produced as follows: Put into a glass bottle about half an ounce of sugar of lead, and fill up to the neck with distilled or rain water; then fasten to the cork or stopper a piece of zinc wire, so that it may hang in the centre: then place the bottle where it may remain undisturbed. The wire will soon be covered with crystals of lead, precipitated from the solution, and assuming a tree-like form very pleasing to the eye. For the tin-tree proceed as before, and put in three drachms of muriate of tin, and about ten drops of nitric acid. The tin-tree has a more lustrous appearance than the lead-tree. The silver-tree is prepared by a solution of four drachms of nitrate of silver in distilled or rain water as before, to which add out an ounce of quicksilver.

TO MAKE GOOD COFFEE.-Have a coffee-pot with a lip, pour into it as many cups of boiling water as you wish to make cups of coffee: let the water boil, then put in as many teaspoonfuls of coffee as there are cups of water, stir it in, let it simmer until the head falls. When the coffee is done, take it off the fire, pour in a cup of cold water, set the coffee on the hearth, and let it stand ten minutes, when it will be fine. For breakfast, put one cupful of this coffee to three or four cups of boiled milk, sweeten to your taste, and you will find it a luxury at a small expense as great as wealth can procure. Coffee should never be made in what are called coffee-pots; if poured from near the bottom it is never clear.-Coffee should always be poured from the top of the vessel.

VARNISH FOR Coarse WoOODWORK.-Grind any quantity of tar with as much Spanish brown as it will bear without becoming too thick to be used as a paint or varnish; then spread it on the wood with a large brush. It soon hardens by keeping. The work should be kept as free from dust and insects as possible, till the varnish is thoroughly dry. The color may be made a grayish instead of a glossy brown, by mixing a small proportion of white lead, or of whiting and ivory black, with the Spanish brown.

TO KEEP THE HANDS SOFT.-Mix honey, almond meal, and olive oil into a paste, use after washing with soap. Castile soap is best for use: it will cure a scratch, or a cut, and prevents any spot.

NOVELS-FRENCH AND ENGLISH.

Books should to one of these four ends conduce,
For wisdom, piety, delight, or use.-DENHAM.

Ir has been our constant aim to guide our youthful readers aright in their choice of literary amusement. That we do not condemn novel-reading as utterly useless, if not utterly bad, is true; but we as truly hold that this "delight" or amusement should be guided by wise principles of selection, and regulated by the sense of duty which, as accountable beings, should govern all our doings.

Young girls at school or under the care of teachers at home are restricted, more or less, in their desire for fictitious narratives. After this period, we regret to say, that many young ladies, considering their education finished (as if education ever were finished!), are allowed to go adrift on an ocean of tales, romances, novels, etc., without knowing what is the best course to pursue. What to avoid or what to anchor upon has never been marked on their home chart of literature.

To remedy this evil, in such measure as on our part is possible, we have made it a rule to discuss the subject of home reading in our Editors' Table whenever we had opportunity, speaking to our young friends as frankly as if they were present, requesting to be guided. Letters of grateful thanks have cheered us, ay, more than repaid our care and thought for our readers, making us feel their debtor for one of the sweetest rewards of a writer's life-the love of those we would serve. And now one of our young friends has begged us for a few words of counsel on novel-reading.

There can scarcely be a more pernicious occupation for the leisure hours of either sex than reading bad novels. The higher the abilities of the author, the more dangerous his books, where lax morality is decked out in meretricious ornaments resembling the pearls of virtue-as coarse paste resembles the pure diamond-which often deceive youthful readers, blinding his or her judgment, and corrupting the taste, till they come to love this demoralizing mental excitement.

We are now alluding to the sensation school of modern French novels. Many of these works are written by the pen of genius. Full of fancy, and rich with imagination, perfect in all the charms of graceful style, of exquisite language, they impose on the inexperienced, by describing states of feeling and causes of action as natural to the good under certain circumstances, which, if allowed in actual life, would destroy all goodness.

In these novels vice, instead of being "a monster of hateful mien,” is led forward as an amiable unfortunate, more to be loved and more tenderly embraced than painstaking, simple virtue. The reader pities, thrills, wonders, loses sight of the boundary between right and wrong-is bewildered in the mist of a sort of praiseworthy atrocity and a sort of disagreeable honesty-till he no longer knows the landmarks of his own mind he can hardly tell whether sin is sin; whether the homely, regular citizen, or the branded bandit felon is a respectable character. Everything in ethics becomes vague and shadowy; the generous enthusiasm for honor, virtue, and self-denial is diluted by a monstrous mix

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ture of all we have ever been taught, in our Christian morality and religious reading, to avoid and detest. The step from this state of mind and feeling to wrong doing is not long nor difficult.

"Vice always leads,

However fair at first, to wilds of woe.'

Never believe that the characters and incidents set forth by Sue, Hugo, and the writers of their schools are true portraits of the French people, generally. In France there is family purity, as elsewhere, or society could not be conserved. In France there are Christian souls who deplore these unwholesome volumes as truly as we do. Such sensation novels are but the assembling together of exceptional instances of vice aud misery, setting these in a capricious light, and gilding them with the blaze of vivid fancy and morbidly excited feeling.

Nor have these books the merit of truly describing nature in any form. All is exaggerated and distorted; even virtue is warped into something we never beheld, or set upon a pinnacle which we can never hope to reach. In short, the false is persistently set before us as the true, and the mirage is made so dazzling by these clever writers that even sober thoughtfulness is in danger of being deluded by their sophistries. For these reasons we deeply regret that French novels are now sown broadcast through our land, to corrupt the imaginations of our young men and maidens, and worse than waste the time of more mature readers, who should remember that life has duties to be done, ay, duties, which will require the strength of truth and the light of wisdom.

Why should American readers, who have such large scope for innocent pleasure in the masterpieces of our own language, leave these pure sources of improving amusement, and defile their minds in the sloughs of French fiction, dealing chiefly with the most debasing vices and disgusting miseries? French morality rarely rises above the earth. With their writers Science is the Saviour of mankind, and human charity the great Purifier from sin. After wading through one of these evil works of passion, pollution, and false sentiment, it seems almost like walking into Paradise to take up a healthy English or American novel.

Without going back to Walter Scott, Miss Edgeworth, Miss Austen, and others of their time, who do not need to be commended, there are now many living novel writers in Great Britain, whose productions are worthy of admiration. We may particularize the later novels of Bulwer, who, in style and language, is unrivalled as a living writer; Dickens' works, that never fail in cheerful characters and kindly feelings; the impassioned and powerful tales of "the author of Adam Bede;" the life pictures of Miss Muloch, whose last work, "Mistress and Maid," deserves a place in every family library; the strangely fascinating stories of Wilkie Collins; the truthful and amusing sketches of English character in the books of Anthony Trollope; the novels of the two Kingsleys-with some exceptions to the philosophic notions of the elder brother-all these are the productions of real genius and high culture.

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Such works of imagination, when governed by the