that off the stage I'm the greatest fool there is. You see the thing did not frighten me, but the name did. I'll never be so absurd again. Ah! ah! here it is again' (scream and pinch as before); 'take me away from this place, where monsters from the deep disport themselves,' and she flounced away, looking daggers at the rat. Yet this was a woman who took the stage by storm, and had, as Sir Harry Wildair, conquered the hearts not only of men, but even of other women.

Far away in the interior of Germany, among forests and lofty ranges of hills, is an old town, antique in appearance, and primitive in its ways. The narrow, crooked, unpaved streets, are darkened and overhung by grotesquely carved houses, and more than one stork's nest may be seen perched undisturbed thereon. The young scholars, in their quaintly-cut Geneva cloaks, still chant old Lutheran hymns along the streets at midday, and the horn of the watchman is heard the night long from the belfry tower, to warn the inhabitants of peril by fire, and to re-echo the hours as the bell strikes the men of the Fatherland being too lazy to count for themselves. Flanking the town there towers a craggy mountain, crested by a strong old Festung or fortress. This fortress is used for several purposes, and it contains a Gast-haus, a magazine for arms, and a museum of valuable curiosities and antiquities. There is a large banqueting hall hung round with specimens of ancient armoury; this opens on to a corridor, one side of which is adorned with a large fresco, representing a banquet in the hall, but the guests are depicted as in disorder, and suddenly rising from their seats in affright. Their several countenances are all expressive of alarm and dismay. In the corner stands one of the large cumbersome stoves still used in Germany, on the top of which a gaily-attired little page has just managed to scramble and seat himself, whence he regards in trembling security the scene below. The noble and gentle guests are all in full retreat from the table to the other end of the saloon; but one woman of distinguished presence and remarkable beauty is advancing with a large plate of apples, cherries, and other fruits, which she calmly presents to the unbidden guests whose unexpected appearance has caused this consternation-a brace of huge grizzly bears. The vast paw of one has overturned a goblet of crimson wine, and the other animal in his progress has caused considerable destruction, for they appear regardless of the viands, and rather intent on pursuing the guests; but are depicted as suddenly fascinated by the plate of delicacies held forth to them by this heroic woman, and, pausing in their career, seem disposed to rest and be thankful.' Such is the subject of the picture;

and

and in the corner of the fresco are appended in German characters these lines:

Dem Männlein in der Ecke dort
Woll'n wir das Leben lassen;
Mit Leuten die sich fürchten
Thun wir uns nicht befassen;

Shau lieber doch die schöne Dame hier

Die träget hohern Muth:-

Sein wir galant Herr Bruder, wie schmecket
Der Confect und auch die Kirschen gut?

Which may be roughly translated thus:

The manikin in the corner up there
We will suffer to exist;

With people that are afraid

We will have nothing to do;

Rather let us look at the beautiful lady,

She has a more noble courage (and says):

Let us be on good terms, Sir Brother.-How do you like
These sweetmeats, and these excellent cherries?

The old soldier, who is the guardian of the fortress, threw open the oriel window of the corridor, and directed our attention to a kind of pit beneath, in which two half-grown young bears were wandering to and fro. He then informed us that the picture, containing actual portraits, and dated in the fifteenth century, had been painted to perpetuate the memory of an incident which had really occurred; that through the drunken carelessness of the keeper, in neglecting to provide his charge with food, the enraged animals had broken loose, and, entering the banqueting hall, had caused the scene so faithfully though rudely pourtrayed. And from that time it had been the custom to keep bears in the den beneath the window to immortalize the courage shown on that occasion by a lady of high degree, of whose title and name, however, he appeared uncertain.

We thought it a very pretty story; but it is too probable that the little page would have courageously descended from his perch with appropriate outcries, the gentlemen would have valiantly rushed forward en masse with sticks and staves, and the nobly-born lady herself, would she not gladly have scaled the lofty stove and have there remained if, instead of a couple of bears, a brace of rats had scampered in?

ART.

ART. V.-THE SOCIAL SCIENCE CONGRESS OF 1864.

Profiting by the experience of the past, the Social Science Association has lately attempted to impart a more practical tone to its proceedings; first, by exercising a larger amount of discrimination in the selection of the papers read at its annual meetings; second, by proposing certain special subjects for papers and discussion. The results of the York Congress have proved that these changes are undoubtedly steps in the right direction. The meetings may be less numerously attended, and less brilliant in appearance than those which took place in London or Edinburgh, but the real aims of the association are more largely advanced thereby, and its sphere of usefulness proportionately extended. At previous gatherings the proceedings did not possess any definitive objects. Papers on every conceivable subject were sent in, and subsequently grouped together in the best manner possible. So chaotic was the confusion that anything like order seemed utterly unattainable. Instead of bestowing a proper share of attention upon the principal social questions of the day, the association found itself rapidly subsiding into what has been aptly termed a ventilator of social crotchets.' Still, its generous and well-intentioned labours have not been wholly without fruit. They have greatly accelerated the progress of scientific investigation respecting the cause and nature of the various ills and adverse influences which have so long retarded the development of our social welfare. They have also tended to direct public attention and thought into less showy and pretentious, but more useful and productive, channels. The principal shortcoming of the association appears to consist in its failure, comparatively speaking, in defining the principles on which all real social progress is based. It battles with effects rather than with causes, frittering its efforts in palliating the social ills of the day, rather than in providing a remedy. Much of this, however, is due to the diverse character and habit of thought possessed by the various members of the association; at the same time, this circumstance might be rendered of great utility, for it is only by the careful comparison of opposite opinions that anything like an approximation to the truth can be properly arrived at. By concentrating its efforts on the consideration of certain select questions, the association-providing those questions be properly chosen-may greatly utilize its labours, and prepare the way for the enunciation of principles on which the true social welfare of mankind greatly depends. Something of this was observable in the general tenor of the addresses delivered by the presidents of the various departments. These manifestoes, as compared with those of preceding years, indicate an improved comprehension of the real objects and labours of the association. At first, the formation of the association was regarded by some ministers of religion as an attempt at supplanting the laws of God by the rules of man. Possessed of something like the Eastern idea of destiny, they could not immediately perceive how the efforts of those who laboured in the field of social science could be made to harmonize in any way with the doctrines of Scripture. To such mistaken individuals the Archbishop of York administered a welldeserved rebuke. In the sermon preached before the members of the association, he pointed out how the exertions of those who attempted to ameliorate the social condition of the people were not antagonistic to the success of efforts made to promote the cause of religion, the interests of both being identical. Time was when a prelate who ventured to speak thus would have found his utterances regarded with suspicion and dislike by his fellow-labourers in the Establishment. That it should now be otherwise, affords a gratifying proof of the continued advancement which this country is making in a truer perception of the real value of 'social science.' The seeming diversity of the principles of that science was well illustrated Vol. 7.-No. 28.

Y

in

in

in the speech of the venerable president of the association, which might fairly be taken as a synopsis of the labours of the Congress, although the introduction of political topics considerably marred the effect which the address would otherwise have produced. It was less, however, of a speech than an essay, the various portions of which were loosely strung together, producing a somewhat bewildering effect on the hearer, who found himself travelling, company with the speaker, over every possible political and social topic. Lord Brougham was most successful when treating of the questions of lawreform and co-operation, respecting the latter of which, he well and truly observed that The incalculable benefits of co-operation to the comfort and independence of the working classes are even surpassed by the advantage which the community derives from the reconcilement to each other of the different bodies that compose it. There no longer prevail the feuds which most of us remember to have set against each other-the master and the workmen, the middle and the humbler classes. We shall soon outlive all strikes of men and combinations of their employers in self-defence; and the time will never more return which brought a special assize to this great county for the trial of outrages not only upon property but life; and though doubtless the progress of the people in education and moral improvement has been evinced in this happy change, that improvement has mainly served to bring them into mutual amity by the great progress of co-operative industry. To this is the whole happiness as well as improvement of the people due.

"Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense,

Lie in these words-health, peace, and competence,
But health consists in temperance alone,

And peace, oh virtue, peace is all thine own."-POPE.

The addresses of the presidents of the various departments were simply so many amplifications of the several portions of Lord Brougham's lengthy essay. Sir James P. Wilde's speech was eminently characteristic. It was a kind of résumé of all that had heretofore been done in the cause of law reform, and a statement of what yet remained to be effected. The general tone of his observations was clear and sensible, but the bold and fearless utterances of the older law reformers were missing. The speaker seemed to feel this, and more than once exhibited signs of breaking through the conventionalities which restrained him. As one of Her Majesty's judges, he found himself compelled to be extremely cautious and guarded in all that might issue from his lips. He was trammelled with the heavy and cumbrous harness of official responsibility, and opposed by the precedents and traditions of that bench of which he has become one of the brightest ornaments. Yet these very circumstances, which conspired to give additional force to his remarks, clothed them with an air of authority which they would not otherwise have possessed. Had Bentham been living, that philosopher would have felt flattered by the recognition of so many of his views by such a distinguished lawyer as Sir James P. Wilde. Well did the latter observe that the great evil which has ever beset our judicature, is that which legal education engenders-the prizing above their worth of refinement and precision. This it was that in legal procedure sacrificed the substantial rights of thousands at the altar of mere words. The fear of going too far being ever present; the fear of not reaching justice faintly felt. Positive injustice worked in the present to avoid possible injustice in the future.' Another of Sir James P. Wilde's remarks is likely to become a popular watchword. 'The law,' said he, was made for man, not man for the law.' The whole history of law reform could not have been more comprehensively stated than in that one short sentence. The Archbishop of York occupied in the Church a position analogous to that held by Sir James P. Wilde in the legal profession.

6

The Health Department.

359

fession. Possessing much enlightenment of mind, his address was remarkable for the liberality of its sentiments and the catholicity of its views. Forty years since few would have dreamed of hearing an archbishop extolling the blessings of extended education amongst the people. There were men sitting at his side who could well remember the time when the bishops and clergy were averse from the education of the poor, lest encouragement should be afforded to the propagation of revolutionary and anarchical doctrines. The objections urged by the archbishop against university examinations for women naturally awakened much opposition and controversy, yet it cannot be denied that he seized upon the weak points of the argument put forth by those who are desirous of opening the universities to the gentler sex. He said that of two things both created of God as man and woman it was wrong, perhaps, to say either was the higher; but distinct they certainly were. They needed, they completed each other; and as in rude times womanish men were despised, so now the highest civilization would err if it aimed at producing mannish women. A woman's mind could not be trained too high, but it must be cultivation proper to her constitution, mental gifts, and work in the world. Woman was equal to man, but equal by being herself, and not a pale copy of him. Our great living poet had given us a beautiful picture :

"Everywhere

Two heads in counsel, two beside the hearth,
Two in the tangled business of the world,
Two in the liberal offices of life,

Two plummets dropt, for one to sound the abyss
Of science and the secrets of the mind,

Musician, painter, critic, sculptor, muse,

And everywhere the broad and beauteous earth
Should bear a double growth of those rare souls-

Poets whose thoughts enrich the blood of the world."'

He did not deny that the present system of female education was defective. It required sifting and reform. 'It was less known,' said he, and examined than any kind of male education, and secresy harboured quackery.' If the speech of Sir James P. Wilde betokened the advance of more sensible and enlightened views amongst the members of the legal profession, the character and tendency of the archbishop's observations seemed to mark something similar in the case of the clergy. The delivery of each address may be regarded as a favourable omen.

The speech of Sir Charles Hastings, as president of the Health Department, possessed a peculiar interest, from the manner in which it attempted to illustrate the assertion that physical laws of nature, affecting our physical condition, as well as regulating the whole material system of the universe, are universally acknowledged to exist and constitute the elements of natural philosophy and chemical science. Accordingly the laws of nature have formed an interesting subject of inquiry to philosophers of all ages, however few may be those who have attempted to point out in a systematic form the relations between those laws and the constitution of man, which, nevertheless, must be done before our knowledge of them can be beneficially applied.' Sir Charles mentioned, at considerable length, the important questions of town sewage, infant mortality, epidemic diseases, and overcrowding of dwellings, but he scarcely alluded to the vice of intemperance, and the terrible nature of the ravages committed by it. This detracted much from the value and efficiency of an otherwise excellent paper; however, Sir Charles, in ignoring the evils of intemperance, merely followed the example of others equally eminent with himself in the ranks of the medical profession. Our medical men are, generally speaking, more fettered

by