Receipts, &c.

MISCELLANEOUS COOKING.

VEAL BROTH.-Stew a knuckle of veal of four or five pounds in three quarts of water, with two blades of mace, an onion, a head of celery, and a little parsley, pepper, and salt; let the whole simmer very gently until the liquor is reduced to two quarts; then take out the meat, when the mucilaginous parts are done, and serve it up with parsley and butter. Add to the broth either two ounces of rice separately boiled, or of vermicelli, put in only long enough to be stewed tender.

FRICASSEE OF COLD ROAST BEEF.—Cut very thin slices of underdone beef; chop a handful of parsley very small, put it with an onion into a stewpan, with a piece of butter and a spoonful of flour; let it fry; then add some strong broth; season with salt and pepper, and simmer very gently a quarter of an hour; then mix into it the yelks of two eggs, a glass of port wine, and a spoonful of vinegar; stir it quickly over the fire a minute or two; put in the beef, make it hot, but do not let it boil; rub the dish with shalot, and turn the fricassee into it.

WINTER SOUP.-Take carrots, turnips, and the heart of a head of celery, cut into dice, with a dozen button onions; half boil them in salt and water, with a little sugar in it; then throw them into the broth; and, when tender, serve up the soup: or use rice, dried peas, and lentils, and pulp them into the soup to thicken it.

With many of these soups, small suet dumplings, very lightly made, and not larger than an egg, are boiled either in broth or water and put into the tureen just before serving, and are by most persons thought an improvement, but are more usually put in plain gravysoup than any other, and should be made light enough to swim in it.

SHOULDER OF MUTTON.-May be dressed in various ways, but the most usual is to roast it nicely, and send it up with onion sauce. It is an unsightly joint; but the appearance may be improved by cutting off the knuckle, when it may be called a shield; it has more different sorts of meat in the various cuts than the leg. The bone may also be taken out, and the mutton stuffed ; it is very good baked, and is frequently served upon a pudding.

TURNIPS should always be boiled whole, and put in much after either carrots or parsnips, as they require less boiling. When used in stews, they are cut into small pieces the size of dice, or made into shapes with a little instrument to be found at all cutlery shops.

They may be mashed in the same manner as parsnips; but some persons add the yelk of a raw egg or two. They are also frequently made into a purée to thicken mutton broth.

LEG OF MUTTON BOILED.-To prepare a leg of mutton for boiling, trim it as for roasting; soak it for a couple of hours in cold water; then put only water enough to cover it, and let it boil gently for three hours, or according to its weight. Some cooks boil it in a cloth; but if the water be afterwards wanted for soup, that should not be done; some salt and an onion put into the water are far better. When nearly ready, take it from the fire, and, keeping the pot well covered, let it remain in the water for ten or fifteen minutes.

BREAST OF VEAL.-Cover it with the caul, and, if you retain the sweet-bread, skewer it to the back, but take off the caul when the meat is nearly done; it will take two and a half to three hours' roasting; serve with melted butter and gravy.

SAUCE FOR ROAST BEEF OR MUTTON.-Grate horseradish on a bread-grater into a basin; then add two tablespoonfuls of cream, with a little mustard and salt; mix them well together; then add four tablespoonfuls of the best vinegar, and mix the whole thoroughly. The vinegar and cream are both to be cold; add a little powdered white sugar. This is a very fine sauce; it may be served in a small tureen.

TO STEW ONIONS.-Peel, flour, and fry them gently of a fine brown, but do not blacken them; then put them into a small stewpan, with a little gravy, pepper, and salt; cover and stew gently for two hours.

BEEF COLLOPS.-Cut the inside of a sirloin, or any other convenient piece, into small circular shapes, flour and fry them; sprinkle with pepper, salt, chopped parsley, and shalot; make a little gravy in the pan; send to table with gherkin or tomato sance.

Or: Cut thin slices of beef from the rump, or any other tender part, and divide them into pieces three inches long; beat them with the blade of a knife, and flour them. Fry the collops in butter two minutes; then lay them into a small stewpan, and cover them with a pint of gravy; add a bit of butter rubbed in flour.

BEEFSTEAK PIE.-Take rump-steaks that have been well hung, cut in small scallops; beat them gently with & rolling-pin; season with pepper, salt, and a little shalot minced very fine; put in a layer of sliced potatoes, place the slices in layers with a good piece of fat and a sliced mutton kidney; fill the dish; put some crust on the edge, and about an inch below it, and a cup of water or broth in the dish. Cover with rather a thick crust, and set in a moderate oven.

VEAL AND OYSTER PIE.-Make a seasoning of pepper, salt, and a small quantity of grated lemon-peel. Cut some veal cutlets, and beat them until they are tender; spread over them a layer of pounded ham, and roll them round; then cover them with oysters, and put another layer of the veal fillets, and oysters on the top. Make a gravy of the bones and trimmings, or with a lump of butter, onion, a little flour, and water; stew the oyster liquor, and put to it, and fill up the dish, reserving a portion to put into the pie when it comes from the oven.

BUTTERED EGGS.-Take three eggs, beat them up well, then add to them a gill of sweet milk. Place some butter (about the size of a large walnut) at the bottom of a pan, pour the mixture into it, and boil until quite thick. Pour it upon buttered toast, and grate some ham or beef over it.

CAKES, PUDDINGS, ETC.

ALMOND CHEESECAKES.-Blanch and pound four ounces of almonds, and a few bitter, with a spoonful of water; then add four ounces of sugar pounded, a spoonful of cream, and the whites of two eggs well beaten; mix all as quick as possible; put into very small patty-pans, and bake in a rather warm oven under twenty minutes.

Sponge PuddING.-Butter & mould thickly, and fill it three parts full with small sponge-cakes, soaked through with wine; fill up the mould with a rich cold custard.

Butter a paper, and put over the mould; then tie a floured cloth over it quite close, and boil it an hour. Turn out the pudding carefully, and pour some cold custard over it.

Or: Bake it; and serve with wine-sauce instead of custard.

SOUFFLEE PUDDING.-Take two ounces of sugar, four ounces of flour, two ounces of fresh butter melted, the yelks of three eggs well beaten, the whites also, but beaten separately, a tablespoonful of orange juice. Beat the whole together, strain it into a pie-dish, which must be filled only half full, and bake for half an hour in a very quick, sharp oven.

SPANISH BUNNS.-Take one pound of fine flour, rub into it half a pound of butter; add half a pound of sugar, the same of currants, a little nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon; mix it with five eggs well beaten; make this up into small bunns, and bake them on tins twenty minutes; when half done, brush them over with a little hot milk.

LEMON CREAM.-Two ounces of loaf-sugar, in lumps; with these rub off the yellow portion of a large lemon, and dissolve the sugar in two tablespoonfuls of boiling water; stir it till it is cool; then squeeze the juice of the lemon and strain it to the sugar; stir these well together. Beat the whites only of six large eggs till to a froth, then strain these beaten whites to the mixture of lemon-juice, sugar, and water; beat it well together, and simmer over a very slow fire for three minutes; then beat up a glass of sherry with it, simmer again till it is slightly firm, then put it into jelly-glasses.

ORANGE MARMALADE PUDDING.-A quarter of a pound of marmalade, chopped fine; two ounces of butter, melted or creamed; two ounces of white sugar, sifted; two eggs (the yelks and whites), well beaten and strained; one pint of milk. Beat all these ingredients together with the milk, then crumble three spongecakes into it; line a dish at the edge only with puff paste, and bake an hour.

KRINGLES.-Beat well the yelks of eight and the whites of two eggs, and mix with four ounces of butter just warmed, and with this knead one pound of flour and four ounces of sugar to a paste. Roll into thick biscuits; prick them, and bake en tin plates.

BROWN CHARLOTTE PUDDING.-Butter a pudding mould well, and line it with thin slices of bread and butter. These slices must be cut neatly, and the crust at the edges removed. Take some good baking apples, and cut them as for dumplings, fill the mould with them, putting in between the quarters some slices of candied lemon-peel, a little grated nutmeg, and some sugar. Cover it with bread on which there is plenty of butter, put a small plate on the top of the mould, and bake it for three hours.

A CHEAP SEED-CAKE.-Mix a quarter-peck of flour with half a pound of sugar, a quarter of an ounce of allspice, and a little ginger; melt three-quarters of a pound of butter with half a pint of milk; when just warm, put to it a quarter of a pint of yeast, and work up to a good dough. Let it stand before the fire a few minutes before it goes to the oven; add seeds or currants; bake an hour and a half.

ARROWROOT PUDDING.-Take two tablespoonfuls of arrowroot, and two quarts of fresh milk, mix the arrowroot with a small portion of the milk, and when the remaining part of the milk has boiled, add it to the former; when nearly cold, add the yolks of three eggs well beaten, three ounces of sugar, two ounces of butter, and

a little grated nutmeg; stir the ingredients well together, turn them into a buttered dish, and bake for a quarter of an hour.

A WELSH PUDDING.-Let half a pound of fine butter melt gently; beat with it the yelks of eight and whites of four eggs; mix in six ounces of loaf-sugar, and the rind of a lemon grated. Put a paste into a dish for turning out, and pour the above in, and nicely bake it.

THE TOILET.

HUNGARY WATER.-To one pint of highly rectified spirits of wine put one ounce of oil of rosemary and two drachms of essence of ambergris; shake the bottle well several times, then let the cork remain out twenty-four hours. After a month, during which time shake it daily, put the water into small bottles.

BANDOLINE FOR THE HAIR.-Crush the pips of the ripe quince between two pieces of paper; then put them into a tumbler of cold water to stand all night, when the water will have become glutinous and fit for use; drop into it a small quantity of spirits of wine, and a few drops of essence of rose, jasmine, or any other perfume.

Or: Take half an ounce dried quince pips, pour on them one pint of boiling water, and strain when cold. Should it not be sufficiently glutinous, boil it again, and pour over the pips a second time. Scent with rose, bergamot, or any other scent.

OIL of Roses for the HaiE.—Olive oil, one quart; ottar of roses, one drachm; oil of rosemary, one drachm. Mix. It may be colored by steeping a little alkanet root in the oil (with heat) before scenting it. It strengthens and beautifies the hair.

POT POURRI.—To make "a perfume of sweet-scented leaves, etc., for fancy jars." Mix half a pound of common salt with a quarter of a pound of saltpetre, a quarter of an ounce of storax, half a dozen cloves, a handful of dried bay leaves, and another handful of dried lavender flowers. This basis of the Pot Pourri will last for years, and you may add to it annually petals of roses and of other fragrant flowers gathered on dry days, as fancy may dictate. By the same rule you may add, if approved of, powdered benzoin, chips of sandal wood, cinnamon, orris root, and musk. A very excellent Pot Pourri may be made in winter with a pound of dried rose petals, bought at a chemist's, mixed with four ounces of salt and two of saltpetre, on which were put eight drops of essence of ambergris, six drops of essence of lemon, four drops of oil of cloves, four drops of oil of lavender, and two drops of essence of bergamot.

MISCELLANEOUS.

GOOD WRITING INK.-Gall-nuts, pulverized, twelve ounces; logwood, four ounces; sulphate of iron, four ounces; gum arabic, four ounces; vinegar, two quarts; water, three quarts. Mix well for a week, and then strain. Five drops of creasote added to a pint of ordinary ink will effectually prevent its becoming mouldy.

MAKING LARD.-Cut the fat up into pieces about two inches square; fill a vessel holding about three gallons with the pieces; put in a pint of boiled lye, made from oak and hickory ashes, and strained before using; boil gently over a slow fire, until the cracklings have turned brown; strain and set aside to cool. By the above process you will get more lard, a better article, and whiter than by any other process,

CANDLES.-Take of alum five pounds, dissolve entirely in ten gallons of water, bring the solution to the boiling point, and add twenty pounds tallow, boiling the whole for an hour, skimming constantly. Upon cooling a little, strain through thick muslin or flannel; set aside for a day or two for the tallow to harden; take it from the vessel, lay aside for an hour or so for the water to drip from it, then heat in a clean vessel sufficiently to mould; when moulded, if you desire to bleach them lay upon a plank by the window, turning every two or three days. Candles made strictly by the above receipt will burn with a brilliancy equal to the best adamantine, and fully as long.

TREATMENT OF HICCUP.-This may often be removed by holding the breath, by swallowing a piece of bread, by a sudden fright, or a draught of weak liquid. When it arises from heat and acidity in the stomachs of children, a little rhubarb and chalk will remove it. Should it proceed from irritability of the nerves, take a few drops of sal volatile, with a teaspoonful of paregoric elixir. If it still continue, rub on soap liniment, mixed with tincture of opium, or a blister may be placed on the pit of the stomach, or sipping a glass of cold water with a little carbonate of soda dissolved in it.

CREAM PASTE.-Break two eggs in a stewpan, with a little salt, and as much flour as they will take. Mix in a pint of milk, and put it on the fire, stir it so as not to let it stick, till you no longer smell the flour; then put in a piece of butter the size of a walnut.

GOLD FISH.-These beautiful creatures, being originally from a warm climate, require to be kept in apartments of a genial temperature. The water in which they live should be changed daily, and should not be given in a cold state, but allowed to stand in a warm room for an hour before being put into the globe; this precaution may not be necessary in summer. The food given may consist of small crums of bread and small flies.

TO CLEAN KNIVES.-One of the best substances for cleaning knives and forks is charcoal, reduced to a fine powder, and applied in the same manner as brick-dust is used. This is a recent and valuable discovery.

PAPERING ROOиs.-Light-colored papers are best for bedrooms; they look clean and cheerful. Nothing that is dark and dingy should be chosen where light and eleanliness are so essential; and dark papers sometimes give the idea of dirt, when it is far from being the case. Closets, especially where dresses hang, should be papered; the lighter the color of the paper, the more easily are dust and cobwebs detected. In unpapered closets, chinks harbor spiders, and bits of mortar break away; but when papered, they are neat and clean.

Making Soap without GrɛASE.—One bar of common resin soap, one pound sal soda, one ounce borax. Dissolve the soda and borax in eight pints of rain or soft water; then add the soap, and boil until dissolved, when you will have, upon cooling, ten pounds of good soap, worth from eight to ten cents a pound, and costing only one cent per pound.

CEMENT FOR THE MOUTHS OF CORKED BOTTLES.-Melt together a quarter of a pound of sealing-wax, the same quantity of resin, a couple of ounces of beeswax. When it froths, stir it with a tallow candle. As soon as it melts, dip the mouths of the corked bottles into it. This is an excellent thing to exclude the air from such things as are injured by being exposed to it.

TO PRESERVE CELERY THROugh the WintER.—Get up the celery on a fine dry day before it is injured by frost, cut off the leaves and roots, and lay it in a dry airy place for a few days; then remove it to a cool cellar, where it will be quite secure from frost, and pack it up with sand, putting layers of celery and of sand alternately.

ACCIDENTS TO THE EAR.-In case of very little insects getting into the ear, they will be immediately killed by a few drops of olive oil poured into the ear. If a child put a seed, a little pebble, or any small body of that nature into the ear, it may often be extracted by syringing the passage strongly with warm water for some time.

TO PICKLE GREEN TOMATOES.-To one peck of tomatoes add a handful of salt and enough water to cover them. Let them remain in this twenty-four hours. Put them in a kettle (porcelain lined is the best), fill up with vinegar, and set upon the stove until the vinegar begins to boil, and then set away to cool. When cold, set the kettle again upon the stove, and bring it to the boiling point. Then skim the tomatoes, and put them into a jar, fill up with some new, cold vinegar, and flavor with mustard seed, allspice, cloves, etc.

The same vinegar first used will do to scald more tomatoes in.

VELVET.-To restore the pile of velvet, stretch the velvet out tightly, and remove all dust from the surface with a clean brush; afterwards well clean it with a piece of black flannel, slightly moistened with Florence oil. Then lay a wet cloth over a hot iron, and place it under the velvet, allowing the steam to pass through it; at the same time brushing the pile of the velvet till restored as required. Should any fluff remain on the surface of the velvet, remove it by brushing with a handful of crape.

CONTRIBUTED RECEIPTS.

A NICE apple-pudding, and one very convenient to serve, is made by making small round puffs of pastry, and baking them on a flat tin; then fill with stewed apples, nicely strained through a sieve, sweetened and flavored. For about a dozen of these, take the whites of two eggs, beat them to a froth, sweeten with four ounces of sugar; flavor it with white wine. Have a dish filled with boiling water on the top of the stove, and pour on this, froth, and let remain a minute or two until it hardens a little; then take it off the water carefully, and spread it over the apple puffs to answer as sauce.

TO WASH WHits Thread Gloves aAND STOCKINGS.These articles are so delicate as to require great care in washing, and they must not on any account be rubbed. Make a lather of white soap and cold water, and put it into a saucepan. Soap the gloves or stockings well, put them in, and set the saucepan over the fire. When they have come to a hard boil, take them off, and when cool enough for your hand, squeeze them in the water. Having prepared a fresh cold lather, boil them again in that. Then take the pan off the fire, and squeeze them well again, after which they can be stretched, dried, and then ironed on the wrong side.

MRS. ALICE B. HAVEN.

DEATH! What is it to the loving, trusting Christian woman but a glorious life of bliss begun in Heaven, never to be shadowed, never interrupted, never ended!

"Of all the thoughts of God that are
Borne inward unto souls afar,

Along the Psalmist's music deep,
Now tell me if that any is,

For gift or grace, surpassing this-
'He giveth His beloved sleep!'"'

Thus came to our thought the beautiful poem of the late Mrs. Browning, when the intelligence reached us that a sister spirit had departed from our sphere; and we felt that Alice B. Haven's pure soul had joined the innumerable company of the redeemed.

We have known and loved "Cousin Alice" since she came a child-bride to Philadelphia, known her in private life, and intimately in her writings; she has been an invaluable contributor to the Lady's Book, and her loss will be mourned in thousands of homes in our land where her name was a household word of joy; therefore, it is fitting that we give her memory an honored place in our Table this month: in the next number her biography will appear.

Mrs. Haven was a pattern of such perfect excellence in all her duties that goodness seemed her natural element of life on earth; to follow her Saviour's precepts and "do His will" was so evidently her delight, that even her genius seemed piety at play with childhood, rejoicing always in the happiness it conferred, not in the fame it gained. Among the many American ladies who have made literature a profession, or, at least, a recreation, there is no one whose usefulness and excellence can be more thoroughly admitted. Whether she wrote for the young or for the mature, Mrs. Haven always proposed to herself some principle to illustrate, or some lesson to teach; and this lesson or this principle was set forth with such clearness and kindness that no reader could mistake the meaning or resist the impression she intended to convey. At the same time her bright fancy gave an irresistible charm to the wisdom of her lessons, making goodness appear, as it always should be portrayed, beautiful and attractive in its influences on human life and happiness.

Mrs. Haven had that rare qualification-or rather special gift-of seeing and appreciating the beauty of simplicity. Her style was always free from imitations, exaggerations, and tinsel epithets. It was easy to understand her meaning, and yet her penetration of motives was wonderfully acute, and her delineations of character true to nature. She also knew how "to point a moral,” without poisoning the arrow of truth; and her playful wit was never spoiled by any caustic bitterness of sarcasm in the humor. It was evident that she aimed to correct errors of opinion or faults of conduct, and yet not wound, personally, those who might feel the reproof. In all her writings the tenderness and hopefulness of the loving woman seem to have governed her feelings, while her steadfast faith in Christ exalted her genius, and the study of God's Word so enlightened her under

standing that her productions have been eminently successful in their good influence on the popular mind. Does it not seem an inexplicable Providence that Mrs. Haven should have been called away from this field of her great usefulness at the early age of thirty-five-a period when many distinguished writers have only entered on their career? But she began her work so early in youth that her laborious years seem like a long life.

In the varied changes in her lot, married, widowed, remarried, and the mother of five children, with all the joys, sorrows, struggles, disappointments, and successes which marked the brief period of her sojourn on earth, three qualities of character were developed that are only found united in the purest heroic natures: a well-balanced mind that can discern the right way; a conscientious soul that resolutely seeks to perform its duties; and a self-sacrificing heart that can find its own happiness in making the happiness of others. These qualities, or virtues, and their results are the sum of all that Mrs. Haven has done and won. She was discreet, faithful, humble; she had won a good eminence in this life, and, as we hope and believe, she has "received a crown of glory," laid up for those who love the Lord Jesus Christ and do His will.

Here, then, the worth and beauty of the life and writings of this excellent and lovely woman are made clear. All our young aspirants for literary fame would do well to study the example of a literary lady so gifted, yet so childlike in her unpretending simplicity, and so angel like in her ministry to those who needed her services of love.

The power of Genius is undeniable. The glory it confers on its possessor is a mighty incentive to the highest human efforts for good or for evil in this world. How important, then, that the conditions of this wonderful gift should be rightly understood! Is the highest glory of Genius won by its greater mental power, or by its better moral influence on character and humanity? "Bring me the Book," said Sir Walter Scott, as he lay on his sick-bed, adding, “there is but one Book!" He had ransacked the literature of the world. "Be good!" was his dying summary of the duties of life, and the worth of all human endeavor. Walter Scott began his literary career at the age of thirty-five; he made it the aim of his great genius to exalt hereditary power while seeking to ingraft his own name and lineage on the favored class. All his hopes and efforts have proved as vain and deceptive as are mirages of refreshing beauty to the traveller of the desert. That he felt the vanity of his aims when he called for the BIBLE as the only Book, and exhorted his son-in-law to "be good," as the true way of life, can scarcely be doubted.

May we not, therefore, claim that right moral influence on character and humanity is of more worth to this world, even, and deserving of greater praise, than the highest glory of mental power when not exerted for moral good? And among American writers of genius may we not give a deservedly high place to the name of ALICE B. HAVEN?

ANGLO-SAXON WEDDINGS OF THE OLDEN TIMES.

IN Thrubb's "Anglo-Saxon House" we find some curious information respecting the customs and manners of the people in those old times very significantly styled "the Dark Ages." Not till the ninth or tenth century did women have the privilege of choosing or refusing their husbands. Girls were often betrothed in childhood, the bridegroom's pledge of marriage being accompanied by a "security," or "wed," whence comes the word from which is derived wedding. Part of the wed always consisted of a ring, placed upon the maiden's right hand, and there sacredly kept until transferred to the other hand at the later nuptials. From this custom came, no doubt, the fashion of wearing the engagement ring on the right hand, which even now prevails. At the final ceremony, the bridegroom put the ring upon each of the bride's left-hand finger's in turn, saying, at the first: "In the name of the Father"-at the second"in the name of the Son"—at the third-"in the name of the Holy Ghost"-and at the fourth "Amen."

Then, also, the father gave to his new son one of his daughter's shoes, in token of the transfer of authority which be effected, and the bride was at once made to feel the change by a tap or a blow on her head given with the shoe. The husband, on his part, took an oath to use his wife well. If he failed to do so, she might leave him; but by the law he was allowed considerable license. He was bound in honor “to bestow on his wife and apprentices moderate castigation." We have nothing to show the exact amount of castigation held moderate by the Anglo-Saxons; but one old Welsh law decides that three blows with a broomstick on any "part of the person except the head" is a fair allowance, and another provides that the stick be no longer than the husband's arm, nor thicker than his middle finger. Such was the rule of the Christian husband over his wife; the laws of men setting aside or ignoring the law of God as promulgated by the apostle: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave himself for it.-So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself."-Eph. v. 25 and 28.

THE SIN OF EXTRAVAGANCE.

We have before us a letter, from a sensible and patriotic young lady, beseeching us to advocate "an elegant simplicity" of attire, instead of the prevailing expensive fashions of dress. Our course has always been in favor of the former, as the young lady would find if she had read the "Lady's Book;" the patterns and descriptions given, and the modes of industry and economy suggested are intended ahnids to household economy, enjoyment, and improvement. Still we know that the love of dress and display is too much indulged; that "it makes our women vain, artificial, and ambitious" (as the writer of the letter asserts), “and has made many honest fathers and brothers turn rogues and heartless speculators," we have no doubt. Therefore we give the paper selected by the young lady as

EXAMPLES WORTH IMITATING.

"English character and habits have an inherent dignity and solidity, which might be copied to an advantage in this country. They seem to have an aversion to anything like display on ordinary occasions, and find in simplicity a peculiar charm. American ladies are sadly deficient in good taste in dress. Many of them are never satisfied unless burdened with costly silks and jewelry for an outdoor costume, and foreigners are uniformly amazed at the promenade dress of our great cities. A recent visitor in England alludes to the habits in respect to dress and furniture which obtain to the first families there, and we know many husbands and parents who would rejoice if such habits provoked imitation.

"In the families of many of the nobility and gentry of England, possessing an annual income, which of itself would be an ample fortune, there is greater economy of dress and more simplicity in the furnishing of the dwelling than there is in the house of most our citizens, who are barely able to supply the daily wants of their families by the closest attention to business. A friend of ours, who sojourned not long since several months in the vicinity of some of the landed aristocracy of England, whose ample rent rolls would have warranted a high style of fashion, was surprised at the simplicity of manner practised. Servants were much more numerous than with us; but the ladies made more account of one silk dress than would be thought of a dozen here. They were generally clothed in good substantial stuffs, and a display of fine jewelry was reserved for great occasions.

"The furniture of the mansions, instead of being turned out of doors every few years for new and more fashionable styles, was the same which the ancestors of the family for several generations had possessed-substantial, and in excellent preservation, but plain, without any pretence to elegance. Even the carpets in many suits of parlors, had been on the floors for fifty years, and were expected to do service for another century. With us how different is the state of things! We are wasting an amount of wealth in this country on show and fashion, which, rigidly applied, would renovate the condition of the world, and humanize, civilize, and educate all mankind."

ENGLISH NOVEL-WRITERS.-This is the way British critics are commenting on their living novelists:

"The same art which once glorified Fanny Burney into a celebrity all but historical, is now contemptuously treated by witty critics as a branch of female industry not much more important than Berlin wool; and it would almost be safe to say that, for every untiring pair of hands able to produce a Rachel at the Well, with pink lips and black eyes, worked in floss silk, you could find another equal to the achievement of a story in three volumes. This is what fiction has come to. Yet though we laugh at it, sneer at it, patronize it, we continue to read, or somebody continues to read, elso even the omniscient Mudie would fail to crop the perpetual efflorescence. Out of the mild feminine undergrowth, variety demands the frequent production of a sensational monster to stimulate the languid life; and half a dozen inoffensive stories go down in the same gulp with which we swallow the more startling effort. But even in its novels the English character vindicates itself. What is piquant on the other side of the channel is out of the question within the four seas.' We turn, with a national instinct, rather to the brutalities than to the subtleties of crime. The horrors of our novels are crimes against life and property. The policeman is the fate who stalks relentless, or flies with lightning steps after our favorite villain. The villain himself is a bauker who defrauds his customers; he is a lawyer, and cheats his clients-if he is not a ruffian who kills his man. Or even, when a bolder hand than usual essays to lift the veil from the dark world of female crime, we give the sin itself a certain haze of decorum, and make that only bigamy which might bear a plainer title. Ours are not the dainty wickednesses which are nameless before tribunals of common law. Even in his fiction the Englishman loves to deal with something which he can satisfy himself is an indictable offence. This peculiarity reappears in many a phase in the novels of the day.'

GERMAN DRAMATISTS.-A German writer of celebrity (the author of "Debit and Credit") has written a treatise bewailing the want of a national drama, and showing the causes of this failure, which he seeks to remedy. He says:

of

"There are not less than a hundred plays, probably, of a serious cast, produced every year in Germany, which at least ninety perish in manuscript, without having ever been tried on the stage or printed at all. Of the remaining ten which do achieve a representation, there are not perhaps three that are capable of affording the spectator any real enjoyment. And yet among the numerous works that perish without having seen the light, if some are undoubtedly the feeble efforts of incompetent authors, many of them are the productions of able and highly-gifted men. This is a grave question. Has