DINBURGA

JOURNA

CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF "CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE,"
46 CHAMBERS'S EDUCATIONAL COURSE," &c.

NUMBER 568.

TWO OF A TRADE.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1842.

THE proverb recognises that two of a trade never agree; but there is an equally general assurance, that opposition or competition in trade is useful to the public. So, although this benefit is only to be obtained by what is sure to make some individuals bad friends, all cry out for, and are eager to support, competition-excepting only in their own particular line of business, where they are always very sensible of its mischievous effects. Hence it is, that while the utility of competition is universally acknowledged as an abstract truth, every mercantile person is seen aiming, in his own practice, at some peculiar source of gain in which he may have no rivals. All are, indeed, monopolists in their hearts, from the great patentee of some splendid mechanical invention, down to him who rejoices only in the dealing out of beer in some favoured resort of a thirsty public; or the Hibernian gentleman who stands upon some ancient crossing, which, with his broom, he defends against all deadly.

the question, where formerly it had only one of each,
and that a dozer. Clearly, the slow coach and stupid
newspaper would have gone on as they had done for
ever, taking the money of the public for very so-so
service, if the rivals had not started up, and this just
because everybody naturally wishes to do as little for
as much gain as possible. All laud, then, to compe-
tition, the soul of business-in every case except one's
own.

This is the view of the question most acceptable to
the public, and which experience hitherto seems, upon
the whole, to have justified. Is it to be for a moment
hinted before this free and enlightened nation, that
there are, or can be, any circumstances (excepting in
one's own case) where competition does harm? Why,
the new coach may not pay, or both of them may not
pay; but what is that to the public? it is only a loss
to the parties engaged in the business. Let them run
down each other's prices to zero, and even a breakfast-
upon-the-road below it; still the public is well served,
and that is all that the public needs to care for. And
this line of argument may be taken in every case
(always excepting the sacred one, one's own), until it
shall appear that all monopolies (with that endeared
exception) are thoroughly detestable and improper,
and not entitled to receive the least countenance from
any one who values the public good. Yet it is a
little strange that there are some principles in poli-
tical economy which do not quite square with this
reasoning.

It is held in that science that, when any member of the community, not in independent circumstances, either does not labour at all, or labours at something which does not conduce to any useful purpose, all the food which is required for his support is as so much loss to the community. And of this, certainly, no reasonable man can doubt. It is also held, that the more cheaply, or by the less labour, anything desired by the public can be provided to it, it is the better; that, indeed, when anything which can be produced at a certain rate is, by improper methods or arrangements of any kind, provided at a higher rate, or by a greater expenditure of labour than is necessary, there is a loss to the public to the extent of the difference between the two rates or amounts of labour. And it is easy to see how this should be the case; for, supposing the difference in any instance to be exactly the labour of one man, it is evident that, as this man could be employed in producing something else equally gratifying and needful, his being employed superfluously in the other object is a complete waste of his labour. So, also, it is a law in political economy, that when anything required by the public can be produced by the outlay of a certain amount of capital, it is a waste of capital to employ more upon it, seeing that the excess could be directed to other objects, by which it would supply other needs and gratify other tastes of the public; which is also a truth very obvious to the most simple understanding, although perhaps its applications may not be so readily conceded to. Let us see how these principles, or rather varieties of one principle, bear upon some things which we see every day in the world of business.

Of the general force of the maxim as to competition, there can, we believe, be little doubt. The fact is, all things tend to become sleepy and indifferent, when not stirred up by the long pole of rivalry. We have known a respectable stage-coach go on for ages between two adjacent seats of population, thinking it was doing a very fair duty by the public if it went thrice a week at the rate of five miles an hour, under a conductor by no means over-civil to people who wished to be picked up by the way. What was the astonishment of this old, steady, though slow coach, when some lighter and smarter vehicle got up, and vowed that it would convey the lieges thrice a-day at the rate of ten miles an hour, with a coachman of unsuborned civility, and at fares one half of those of the elder coach. Of course, the senior thought its young rival extremely rash and foolish, and openly expressed its general assent to the proposition, that things which run fast never run long. Nevertheless, in the long run, the Old Steady was obliged to open its eyes a little, and put on a third horse at the two hilly stages, and go once a-day, and let down its fares a small thing, just to show that it had every wish to oblige its old friend the public-the coachman, with a superadded guard, being at the same time all smiles to every tramper who wished to be an outside for so much as a couple of miles. So, also, we have known an old respectable provincial newspaper, which thought all was very well if, in its four small pages, printed in an ancient type, by no means particular about expressing the loops of e's or even the middles of o's, it gave a few choice paragraphs from the London prints, with a fair show of accidents and offences, and a good market and shipping list, not forgetting the births, deaths, and marriages for the old ladies; when, behold, up would start a rival intelligencer of twice the size, and well printed, which gave original leading articles two columns in length, and let the public know how much reason it had to be dissatisfied with everything, and gibbeted some public functionary at least once a-week, all for the same money! The old paper was indignant, looked to established character for support, and was sure of the speedy extinction of the upstart. But yet, somehow, it found it advisable, ere six weeks had gone about, to enlarge its size, and engage "a gentle-haps one street of a large town-say shoe shops, or man of talent from the metropolis" as editor, and look a great deal more smartly after reports of the meetings of guardians and commissioners of police than it had hitherto done: in short, it became quite a differ-ness of promise in advertisements-and each occupied ent thing. And the upshot in the two cases was, that the town had two rapid frequent-going coaches, and two smart bustling newspapers, one for each side of

There is nothing more common than to see a number of shops of one trade clustering together in per

hat shops, or grocery shops, or jewellery shops all
eager so outvie each other in the smartness of a set-out
in the windows, in splashiness of sign, and attractive-

by a master and several assistants, who are perhaps
not above half employed. In country towns, we see,
in like manner, half a dozen shopkeepers of one class

PRICE 14d

struggling with each other for the business which might be executed by two or three at most; or rather languidly waiting for their share of that business, and spending two-thirds of their time in an idleness and vacuity absolutely benumbing to their faculties. Generally, in such cases, there is one of the set who, from old standing in the line, from superior capital or energy, gets pretty full employment, and realises tolerable returns; a second usually has a share which keeps his head above water, and hopes to be the first in time; the rest languish in a small way between solvency and insolvency, hardly able to support themselves, or only subsisting upon their little capital, or the funds of their creditors. This is no theoretical picture. We venture to say, there is not any line of retail trade in any seat of population whatever, where more than one half of those engaged in it can be said to thrive, or where one-half the number would not serve the public quite as well, and, after all, realise not more than enough to be a fair remuneration for their time, labour, and capital. In a town known to us, which contains from five to six thousand inhabitants, there were, not long since, fourteen bakers, scarcely any of whom could be considered as prosperous. And no wonder. In consequence of the division of the business amongst so many, all, except one or two who had been long in the trade, had each a very small share, the profits being at the same time reduced to something quite visionary, through the excessive competition. Now, though the public in such circumstances gets the best possible article at the lowest possible price, there remains for consideration, on the other hand, the disadvantage of having perhaps seven or eight out of fourteen tradesmen, who are, to all intents and purposes, burdens upon the community, seeing that their labours are utterly superfluous and unnecessary, while yet they must be in some way supported. Suppose that these supernumeraries were employed in elaborating from the storehouse of nature some other articles really useful to their fellow-creatures, would not the difference of the result be exactly this, that they would be useful, instead of useless and burdensome, members of the commonwealth? In two other towns known to us, situated about ten miles from each other, several bakers keep covered carts, in which they send their bread to families and small dealers in the country around, which is all very right; but will it be believed, that so eager are they for business, that they actually send their carts regularly every day to the other town respectively, to lay off a few loaves which, from favour or importunity, they have been allowed to supplyanother baker in a village ten miles from both, also sending a cart daily to each for the same purpose There is something affecting in such an anxiety for business as this-it reminds one of Burns's poor o'erlaboured wight,

"Who begs a brother of the earth

se!

To give him leave to toil." Doubtless, as the people in each town could be supplied by their own bakers, the whole cost of the apparatus required for carrying it is so much lost; and the man, horse, and cart, in each instance, employed in that business, might as well be set to carrying loads of sea-sand from one part of the intervening coast to another. Were the man capable of understanding his position in society, he would reckon himself as much a burden on his fellow-creatures as the idle vagrant whom he passes on the road, and be ashamed for himself and horse accordingly. But this apparatus by no means stands alone in its misapplication and inutility. The capital employed in the stone and lime of all superfluous shops, and in all the furnishings and

implements employed there, is as much lost as that which is sunk in the baker's horse and cart. And such must be the case with all capital and labour whatever, which are in the predicament of being over and above what is needed to supply the public in a satisfactory manner with any of the things which it requires. There are some undertakings of so vast a nature, that they generally become the subject of a combination of means; that is, a joint-stock company. Canals, railways, the supply of water and of gas, are of this nature. The public, ever jealous of monopoly, usually takes measures, through the medium of parliament, for preventing any of these companies from exercising an arbitrary control over charges and regulations, seeing that competition in such affairs is perhaps unattainable. Yet there is always a great eagerness to raise oppositions to such companies, if there be the least appearance of encouragement to do so. A stranger, visiting a large town some day, with nothing in his head but the usual newspaper topics the Affghan war, the tariff, and the state of the manufacturing districts-is astonished to find the people of this particular place engrossed to an infinitely greater degree by some dreadful war of their own, as to the propriety of setting up an opposition to some jointstock company by which they have hitherto been supplied with some necessary of life. He adverts to the subject half in joke, hinting, that perhaps there is no need for the proposed opposition; but the inhabitants receive his remarks with a sullen and teeth-clenched fierceness, for which he was totally unprepared-much like a scene in one of Shakspeare's Roman plays.

First Citizen. We have been too long oppressed by this tyrannical monopoly. Second Citizen. Look what dividends they have been getting for the last ten years. Third Citizen.-A bad article, deficient supply, and no civility.

Omnes.-Huzza for the new company-opposition is

the soul of business!

ful afterwards, and, in its profits, a means of employ-
ing more men. It may be said, "A harbour was not
needed, and the money might have lain idle." But
there is never any need for money lying idle; and
practically, in this country, no money does lie idle.
It is distributed, by means of banks and otherwise,
amongst those who are able and willing to employ it,
and is usually as busy as it can be in all sorts of work.
We only adduce a harbour for the sake of illustration:
if laid out in any other way in which it produced
things useful to the community, it would have been
making good our argument quite as well.
These observations will be new, and somewhat
startling, to a vast number of persons, but only because
there is such an universal ignorance of the very first
principles of the science which perhaps most nearly
concerns the worldly interests of man. Undreaming
of any principle being concerned in the matter, the
poor shopkeeper complains of a want of business, and
a consequent narrowness of means, which, in the cir-
cumstances in which he has placed himself, are as ne-
cessary of occurrence as the rise of the wind by a local
rarefaction of the atmosphere, or the befalling of dark-
ness after the setting of the sun. It is affecting to see
such as he suffer through such causes; but one can
scarce behold, without a different feeling superadded,
the comparatively affluent and so-called educated
classes rushing into large ventures, which a science,
which they might now study by the outlay of a few
halfpence, would teach them to be, from unalterable
decrees of providence itself, not entitled to success.
To recapitulate the whole matter-Competition is
useful in as far as it stirs up and sharpens men, and
keeps down profits at a moderate level; but it may
be carried too far, and it is so when more go into a
trade than there is fair occasion for, and when capital
is spent on objects which do not tend to gratify an
actual and otherwise unsupplied need of the public.
That these abuses of competition should be avoided,
is the interest, not of individuals alone, who suffer
primarily and most severely by them, but of the whole
community; for it is the concern of all that every
brain, every hand, and every pound of money, should
be employed to good purpose. A watchful eye may
every day see providence assigning its various rewards
for the obedience and disobedience paid to these its
institutions; the original-minded, inventive, and active
man, who addresses himself to new necessities of his
kind, being usually rewarded by the best profits,
while only poverty befalls those who flock to help the
idle; and misexpenditures of capital are visited by
shadowy dividends, all the intermediate degrees of
merit and error being generally remunerated in pro-
portion. It is not given to all to be inventive, and
mistakes unavoidable must be allowed for; but cer-
tainly, if mercantile men were acquainted with the
principles of the science of industry, they would (all
other circumstances being equal) be far less likely to
mispend both their labour and capital, and far more
likely to realise their favourite objects in life, than
they are.

are natives of the central countries of this continent, but from having been so long under the influence of man, it is difficult to determine from what precise locality they originated, but in all probability it was from some of the more northern regions, subject at times to a pretty severe temperature. The primitive abodes of the elephant (Elephas Indicus) were, doubtless, far from being co-extensive with its present distribution, modified as that has been by human agency; but they must have included most of the tropical parts of the continent, as well as the large islands to the south of it. The Indian rhinoceros is the only species to be noticed as exclusively confined to continental Asia. The latter, also, with several of the adjacent islands, is the sole residence of the graceful but savage and blood-thirsty tiger, which may perhaps be regarded as the animal most characteristic of this division of the globe. Notwithstanding the numbers which are continually falling under the rifles of AngloIndian sportsmen, who regard the hunting of this powerful brute as the most adventurous and exciting of all field-sports, and which has the advantage of utility to recommend it, beyond what can be said of most other similar pursuits, the tiger is still so plentiful, as to be no small scourge to many parts of the country, and even to claim some of them as almost exclusively his own. Hindostan may be said to be his cradle, or centre of dominion; and although his range eastwards and westwards is not very extensive, he is found as far north as the banks of the Obi. Many other feline animals occur throughout this vast continent, but the larger, and otherwise more remarkable, kinds are not confined to it, and are not, therefore, so strictly characteristic of its zoology. Not a few peculiar kinds of canine animals occur here. It is, indeed, far from improbable, that it was from that central region of the world, comprehended within the limits of this continent, that the primitive species of the whole of our domesticated races of dogs originated. At all events, there exists there a wild dog called the Buansu (Canis primavus), which is regarded in this light by some. The Thibet mastiff is likewise a remarkable dog, of large size, and singularly gloomy aspect, owing to the great dimensions of its pendulous lips, and the eyebrows forming a fold obliquely over and partially concealing the eyes. Red dogs (Chryseus), of various species range from the southern side of the Himmalaya ridge to Ceylon, and from China to the Mediterranean. The jackals, of which there are several kinds, the common, Indian, Syrian, &c., are well-known to the Asiatic traveller by their loud and disagreeable howling in the night. Foxes, properly so called, likewise exist in various peculiar species; such as the Nepal fox, the black fox in the northern countries, so prized for its fur, that a perfect skin sells at 400 rubles; the Himmalaya fox (usually called the Hill Fox by Europeans), and the Syrian fox, the supposed shual of the Hebrews, the only animal of this kind occurring in Palestine, where it greatly injures the vineyards. Possessing many ruminating animals in common with Africa, this quarter of the globe is still particularly rich in species proper to itself: of these only a few can be here referred to. The musk

And of course the new company is started, which brings down the dividends of the old one, and perhaps advances the public conveniency in some degree, but does not insure that the new adventurers are to profit largely by their spirited effort. The fact is, that this is just one of the cases where the exception of evil, which attends the general good of competition, is most apt to befall and be felt severely. The capital of such a concern is mostly spent in what may be comprehensively called apparatus. Where one set of apparatus already existing is sufficient to serve the purpose, to make another set is a complete waste of labour, and consequently of money, just as much so as it would be to have a double set of every article of furniture in one's house, or for a farmer to keep two ploughs to do the work of one. The public says, "But if these people choose to spend their money in that way, it is no business of ours to disapprove of their design, or in any way interfere with it. We cannot be the worse from a particular set of persons laying out a few hundred thousand pounds which they have to spare." Here lies the great mistake. When money is laid out in needless labour-in that which is to produce no comfort or satisfaction to any one-it is a loss to all, because it SKETCHES IN NATURAL HISTORY. deer, yielding the substance so well-known in medi

might have been laid out upon something which would have had exactly the opposite results. The holders of the superfluous stock are so much the poorer by the amount of their unrequited capital, and of course have so much less to spend on their clothiers, shoemakers, bakers, butchers, and all who supply them with the necessaries and enjoyments of life. It is thus that the erroneous expenditure comes to tell upon the whole community. Suppose, for the sake of illustration, that a number of persons with some money in their pockets, but no knowledge of political economy in their heads, were to propose getting up a rival to any existing railway, at an expense of half a million sterling, on the ostensible ground, that the first railway charged each passenger sixpence more than was necessary to return five per cent.; and suppose that it was pointed out to the proposers, that there was much need for the employment of their half million in the formation of an improved harbour and pier, where it was likely their money would return a profit not less than that of the existing railway. Assuredly, if they refused to go into the harbour speculation, where there was a need of the public, and a good prospect of remuneration, and went into the railway speculation, where the case was in all respects the reverse, these persons would be acting a very foolish part, and it would only be a just and deserved result, if, while reducing the first railway profits one half, they were to get no more than the other half to themselves. Thus, it is seen that the public interest and that of all individual adventurers are bound up together. The public here remains without the required convenience of its harbour; it only gets a thing which it did not require; or, at the most, it has got rid of a bagatelle overcharge therefore, being itself unbenefited, or only benefited in a degree quite trifling, it, as a matter of course, withholds reward. And, unquestionably, every misexpenditure of capital by speculators is thus punished-as necessarily so as that every excess in eating or drinking carries with it its own punishment for laws of providence operate unbendingly in both cases alike. Many will say, "The money spent on the superfluous railway is not altogether lost, for it has given employment to many persons in the construction." But so would the harbour, with the additional advantage, that it would have been use

ANIMALS CHARACTERISTIC OF THE DIFFERENT
QUARTERS OF THE GLOBE.

SECOND ARTICLE.

THE most superficial glance at the physical attributes of Asia, is sufficient to show that it is much better fitted for the support of an extensive and varied series of animals than either of the other two continental divisions of the Old World. Extending from the vicinity of the equator to the polar ocean, it is subject to every gradation of temperature. Deeply intersected, especially along its southern coasts, by portions of the ocean, and traversed in almost every direction by mighty rivers; it is amply supplied with moisture: its tropical regions, therefore, possess the two principal conditions for the growth of plants, and exhibit a magnificent exuberance of vegetation, unequalled elsewhere, except in South America; and the amount of animal life is, as usual, proportionate to the means by which it is chiefly sustained. The mighty ridge of the Himmalaya, and its numerous subordinate chains, repeat-in the interior of the continent, and on a smaller scale, from their bases, where an almost tropical heat prevails, upwards to their summits, which are shrouded in eternal snow-the successive climatic changes which take place as we recede from the equator to the northern pole; the great table-lands of the central countries, and the steppes of those further to the east, present somewhat peculiar localities; while to the north-west the country becomes assimilated to Europe, and on the south-west to Africa. These and various other transitionary or subordinate features in the physical constitution of this continent, which we cannot now particularise, necessarily imply the existence of a mighty host of living creatures of the most varied description, many of which do not occur elsewhere. This is, in fact, the only great division of the globe which can be said to include an arctic and tropical Fauna-inhabited at the one extremity by the white bear, reindeer, and other denizens of the polar circle; and at the opposite extremity by the elephant, lion, and many other animals even more exclusively destined for a tropical life.

Many of the larger and more remarkable quadrupeds, as has been already hinted, occurring in Africa, are likewise found in Asia. The camel and dromedary

cine and perfumery, inhabits the lofty and rugged districts extending between Siberia, China, and Thibet. Extreme cold seems essential to the welfare of this singular animal, as it seldom voluntarily descends even to the region of pines, and the young speedily perish if taken to a mild climate. The spotted axis is a kind of counterpart of the European fallow-deer, occurring in considerable plenty in grass jungles near the banks of rivers; and it is a variety of this animal which sportsmen call the hog-deer, and which they most frequently hunt on horseback, or with greyhounds. The Rusa group of stags is exclusively Asiatic, comprehending several species, most of them of large size; that named hippelaphas, or horse-stag, has a long flowing mane, and the cervus arestoteles, erroneously called the elk by sportsmen, inhabits the warmer parts of India. The Nepaul stag is a stately animal, not unlike our own red-deer, of a yellowish-brown colour, with a large white patch over the rump. The chickara, a wild and agile creature, found in the western provinces of Bengal, Behor, and Orissa, is a small antelope with four horns. The nylghau, or blue ox, a beautiful animal, as large as a stag, is found in the jungles in the northern parts of India, and seems to be pretty frequent on the confines of Persia. The goats and sheep peculiar to Asia are very numerous of the former, the most valuable is the Cashmere or Thibet goat, and one of the rarest and most interesting the Jemlah goat, which inhabits the central mountains. The Caucasian goat (Capra agagrus) is undoubtedly the source from which all the domesticated varieties are derived. The lofty table-lands and snowy mountains of Middle Asia form the mother country of the true sheep; and Mr Blyth, who has investigated the subject with more attention than any other modern naturalist, is of opinion, that, besides the numerous species already ascertained to exist there, others will yet be discovered more nearly allied to the domestic races than any at present known, and from which the latter chiefly sprung. Of the bovine animals, or those of the ox tribe, proper to Asia, we can merely name the arnee, the yak or grunting ox, and the gayall or jungle ox.

There can be little doubt that High Asia is the aboriginal region of the horse, as it unquestionably is of all the solid-hoofed animals of the true Asinine

form. Of these there appear to be at least four fallow-deer, the roebuck, and the ibex. The red-deer, more peaceful times. Alas! alas! this necessary despecies. It thus appears that, for the great majority and the chamois of the Alps, although having their lay was fatal. Notwithstanding the horrors which of our most useful domestic animals, we are indebted principal seat in Europe, pass beyond the Asiatic surrounded her, and the chequered future to which to this division of the globe. The brown bear, which boundary. A single antelope only ranges within the she looked, some gleams of joy sparkled in the face of likewise occurs in Europe, inhabits a great part of boundaries of Europe; that is the sarga (Antilope the young mother, as she looked with pride and love Asia; but the latter has several species not found colus), indigenous to Poland and Russia. The brown upon her beautiful child, trying to trace its father's elsewhere; in particular the Malayan bear, the Thibet bear (of which the European black bear is only a lineaments in its baby face, and confidently believing bear, and a singular creature called the jungle or variety), the wild boar, the wolf, the hedgehog, and that one other week would place them in a safe haven labiated bear, a favourite with Indian jugglers, owing many other animals, which occupy a prominent place of protection. She sat thus musing, when a hum of to its uncouth appearance. The monkeys, bats, gnaw-in European zoology, are almost equally plentiful in distant voices fell upon her ear-nearer it comesing animals, &c., peculiar to Asia, are very numerous; the corresponding regions of Asia. Even the wild cat yet nearer. Presently, a youth, whom she recognises but even a simple catalogue of the names of these and the lynxes, which are the only representatives of as a faithful servant of her husband, is seen running would lead us beyond our present purpose, which must the feline group in this continent, are not peculiar to towards the house-he rejects the more circuitous be limited to the indication of a few of the more pro-it. Various kinds of foxes, however, do not seem to paths, and springs across some palings, and even minent zoological features. range beyond its limits, although, among these canines, tramples down the flowers which grow nearer to the The only African reptile we have mentioned is the it is no easy matter to determine, in many cases, what house. He sees his mistress at a window which opens crocodile; here an analogous species occurs, named constitutes a species, and what a variety. The mus- to the lawn, and neglecting all form or ceremony, the Gavial or Gangetic crocodile, which attains a large mon sheep of Corsica and Sardinia has been thought springs through it. From excessive agitation-from size, and is remarkable for the cartilaginous promi- by some to be the parent of some of our domestic the anguish expressed on his countenance, and the nences surrounding its nostrils, and the length of its breeds. The great majority of the known species of tears which still flowed, he was unable for a few muzzle, armed with numerous, nearly equal, teeth. mice and rats, the hamsters, two species of martens, minutes to speak; while his mistress implored him to numerous weasels, one species of badger, an otter, tell what had happened. He looked round as if to three kinds of dormouse, a species of flying squirrel, ask if they were alone, and perceiving that Madame several marmots, and the blind and common mole, are Dubarre must have dismissed the child's attendant exclusively European. The last-mentioned animal is before he arrived, he begged her to give the unconcommon in every part of the continent, with the sin-scious smiling infant into his arms, while she prepared gular exceptions of Ireland and Greece. Five different to hear most dreadful news. How he broke to her kinds of hares and rabbits-one of them (the Irish the awful truth, that her husband was at that moment hare) apparently confined to Ireland, and a species of a mutilated corpse, neither he knew nor could she ever beaver, thought to be distinct from the American remember; and when she recovered from the swoon quadruped of that name, may also be mentioned as into which she had fallen on comprehending the dreadEuropean; and these may be said to form the most ful reality, the sound which met her ears was a wild characteristic mammalia of this continent. The entire hooting, in which the hum of distant voices had inamount of European quadrupeds does not exceed creased. François was bending over her, and his first ninety species. intreaty was, that she would summon all her strength and courage, and follow him, if not for her own, for her child's sake. The last appeal touched the right chord-she had yet something to live for; and contented at that awful moment with hurried and imperfect explanations, she yielded to the humble advice of François. The infuriated mob were at hand; they were coming to ransack the house, perhaps to burn or tear it down and giving his mistress but time to secrete a few jewels about her person, and forbidding her even to take a single attendant-for François suspected that there were traitors in the house, and knew not whom to trust he led her by a by-path from the house, on, on, for miles, to the homely dwelling of his sister. Then, and not till then, did he draw a paper from his vest, a few hurried and incoherent lines, the last agonising words of his unfortunate master. François had rightly judged, that to have delivered that precious letter at first would have unnerved Madame Dubarre, and rendered her still more incapable of instant exertion, than did the rude shock of her affliction. Well might they be hurried and incoherent lines, written even by stealth at the last awful moment, and only by a fortunate accident intrusted to François. Breathing to his wife and child the most passionate love, and proportionate agony at his doom, he yet, in that brief epistle, tried to offer some solace or comfort-a vain mockery, which the next line perhaps proclaimed it. Then did he try to explain a very complicated matter-how he had disposed of his property. And he endeavoured to relate, in a few words, his meeting with a young Englishman, in whose hands he had placed it, and who was then returning home. He told how he had been induced to trust him, at a time when few could distinguish friend from foe, half from his ingenuous countenance, and half because he knew that he, too, had a dear wife to receive the exiles as dear friends. But, alas! alas! and only child, who, in free and happy England, were the very words that were most important were totally obliterated by the tears which must have fallen as the letter was closed, and by the wafer which secured it; both causes had combined to render the stranger's name perfectly undistinguishable.

Many of the birds of Asia are very conspicuous and interesting; and although, upon the whole, inferior in splendour to those of South America (which is unrivalled in this respect), yet not a few can be mentioned of surpassing magnificence. There is no country so rich in gallinaceous birds; the peacock, confessedly the most beautiful of all the feathered race (facilè pulcherrima acium, is Linnæus's expression regarding it), consisting of two distinct species; the whole tribe of pheasants, containing many different kinds, scarcely inferior in beauty to the familiarly-known gold and silver pheasants; one of them, the argus pheasant, among the most remarkable of birds; many different species of cock and hen ;* the tragopaus, beautifully spotted with white on a ground colour of the most The total number of birds found in Europe may be gorgeous red, and remarkable for having an erectile estimated at nearly four hundred, but not much exhorn behind each eye; and, to name no others, the ceeding the half of that amount can be considered as Impeyan pheasant, about the size of a small turkey, exclusively European. A large proportion of these whose dorsal plumage reflects the most brilliant tints are referable to the Linnæan genera-Jurdus, Musciof gold, copper, sapphire, and emerald-are all natives capa, Parus, and Sylvia. There are four species of of Asia. Of the parrot tribe, always among the most European vultures, including the bearded griffin, or notable denizens of the torrid zone, the whole race of lammergeyer, which is now considered distinct from paroquets belonging to the genus Palæornis, which that of the Himmalaya. The golden eagle, the includes the well-known Alexandrine and Rose-ring Grecian eagle (Falco imperialis of Temminck), the species; the scarlet-coloured lories, and not a few spotted eagle, the social eagle, and the little eagle, others, appertain exclusively to Asia. The mina-bird, are commonly accounted the European species. The which is very common in India, is celebrated for its smaller falcons we cannot here enumerate; the Icepower of imitating the human voice. The paradise land or gyrfalcon, the goshawk, and the kite, are grackle, allied to the European rose-ouzel, is very among the most remarkable. Among the most chauseful in many Asiatic countries, by destroying the racteristic of the owl tribe, are the snowy owl, the locusts by which they are occasionally devastated. bubow or great horned owl, the barn owl, and the An immense number of woodpeckers, kingfishers, tawny howlet. The kingfishers, a numerous and im&c., have their exclusive residence in Asia; an adju- portant tribe in warmer regions are here represented tant (Ciconia argala), the counterpart of the maribou by the common kingfisher, one of the most brilliantly of Africa, stalks about the banks of the great rivers; tinted of European birds. Of the true grouse, the and the anastomes, storks of similar habits, are its fre- largest is the capercailzie; and the most remarkable, quent companions. Vultures, eagles, bustards, horn-on account of its restricted geographical distribution, bills, and multitudes of other tribes, are represented is the red grouse, which does not exist anywhere in this continent by many peculiar species, which we but in the British Islands; it is, moreover, the only cannot here enumerate. bird peculiar to Great Britain. Several species of The animals of Europe are of smaller size, and less rock-grouse (Pterocles) occur in Southern Europe, and numerous in species, than those of any other great two or three bustards, one of them (an occasional division of the globe. This is partly owing to its in-visitor to Briton) the largest of European birds. ferior dimensions; but chiefly to its being situated These examples, however, must suffice for our present entirely within the temperate and frigid zones, and purpose. therefore cut off from those influences which produce such a redundancy of life within the tropics. It is the only division of the globe so circumstanced; for that either of the other two northern continents might WE are happy to observe that this, one of the oldest at all resemble it in this respect, we must suppose and most respectably conducted of "the annuals," them to terminate to the south about the 36th degree of latitude. But even this would leave a wide dissi- continues to make its appearance at the proper time, milarity between them; for land lying in continuity while nearly all its imitative competitors, after flutterwith a tropical region experiences various effects from ing their short hour, have faded, sunk, and died away. the latter, which are completely interrupted by the In the handsome and highly embellished volume for intervention of a sea or other wide extent of water. To compensate for their comparative poverty of native the approaching festive season, now lying before us, animals, Europeans have borrowed largely from other we think we recognise considerably more talent than continents; and a moment's reflection, aided by the public opinion ascribes to annuals in general, our esinformation we have already given, will show how few teemed young friend and contributor Miss Camilla even of our most familiar animals are indigenous to Toulmin being amongst the most earnest and efficient the countries where they now dwell. This view of of the corps of writers. New books can only be nothe matter, however, is merely comparative. Europe ticed here when a specimen of them can be given; is not, of course, destitute of an extensive and proper and in the case of an annual, composed as it is chiefly Fauna, beautifully adapted to the physical circumcumstances under which it is destined to live. Any of novelettes, or tales, this cannot be easily done. We peculiar feature in that Fauna can scarcely be expected make an effort, however, to justify the praise bestowed to occur in the most northern regions; for all the three upon the "Friendship's Offering," by presenting one continents that approximate to the north pole, are of these little narratives in an abridged form. there exposed to such a similarity of meteorological influences, that little scope is afforded for a diversity of living creatures. The polar bear, whale, walrus, reindeer, &c., are accordingly common to them all; such, likewise, was thought to be the case with the elk; but recent investigations seem to have established the fact, that the moose of America, and probably the elk of Tartary and Central Asia, are distinct from the European elk; the latter, in that case, will rank among the most conspicuous animals peculiar to this division of the globe. The bison, or auroch (Bos urus), is the most bulky of European animals, and was formerly pretty generally distributed over this continent, but now has its principal resort in the great marshy forests of Lithuania: it seems to be distinct from the Caucasian bison. Of the other ruminants, almost the only species which this continent can claim, are the

* It is not a little singular, that our common domestic races, derived from some of the Asiatic galli, should be absolutely without a special English name!

"FRIENDSHIP'S OFFERING FOR 1843.”*

THE EMIGRANTS IN ENGLAND.

The tale is of the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, and refers to the family of M. Dubarre, a gentleman who, like many other equally guiltless victims, was, at three hours' notice, dragged to the scaffold, leaving a wife and infant daughter in the midst of a scene of horror and confusion, and exposed to the pangs of poverty.

"Madame Dubarre had been for one month the mother of an only daughter, and indeed this circumstance had been the sole cause of their recent delay. Little Victorine drew her first breath in the stately mansion of her forefathers, about a dozen miles from Paris, while her anxious father was busily engaged in that city, making stealthy preparations for converting a large portion of his fortune into portable property, and for leaving his native country until

* Smith, Elder, and Co. London: 1843 (?).

It is not worth while to relate minutely how vain were all Madame Dubarre's endeavours to discover the young Englishman. By degrees hope faded away, and her trusting confidence gave place to the surmise, that her husband must have been the dupe of some sharper; or would not an honest man have sought restitution to the wretched widow? Alas! she did not know that her husband's had been only half confidence, and that he was known to the stranger but by an assumed

name.

In those dread days, neither sex nor age was respected; and if the strong animal instinct of self-preservation might not alone have been sufficient to rouse the energies of the bereaved Comtesse de P, the strong but silent appeal of her helpless infant had power to do so. With the aid of the humble, faithful François, now her truest friend, she escaped to England, and the fugitives reached its hospitable shores almost penniless. In this respect the Comtesse resembled hundreds of her unfortunate compatriots; and it will be remembered, that though pensions were granted to many, subscriptions raised for some, and the houses of the wealthy and munificent thrown open to others, by far the greater number honourably supported themselves by imparting that knowledge or those accomplishments which, under far different circumstances, had been acquired for self-gratification, or the adornment of cultivated society. Madame Dubarre was of this number, and adopting that name in preference to retaining a title which seemed a mockery, she entered a second-rate boarding-school, as teacher of French and music, in consideration of which ser