POEMS BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

memory-gems that would glitter still, if type| Along with all the furniture, to fill their new were all melted down.

This ancient silver bowl of mine-it tells of good old times,

Of joyous days and jolly nights, and merry Christmas chimes :

They were a free and jovial race, but honest, brave, and true,

That dipped their ladle in the punch when the old bowl was new.

A Spanish galleon brought the bar-so runs the ancient tale

'Twas hammered by an Antwerp smith, whose arm was like a flail;

And now and then between the strokes, for fear
his strength should fail,

He wiped his brow, and quaffed a cup of good old
Flemish ale.

To judge by what is still on hand, at least a hun

'T was on a dreary winter's eve, the night was closing dim,

When old Miles Standish took the bowl, and filled
it to the brim ;

The little captain stood and stirred the posset with
his sword,
And all his sturdy men at arms were ranged about

'T was purchased by an English squire to please Thy bane is in thy shallow skull, not in my silver

Who saw the cherubs, and conceived a longing for

And oft as on the ancient stock another twig was found,

'T was filled with caudle spiced and hot, and handed smoking round.

But, changing hands, it reached at length a Puritan divine,

Who used to follow Timothy, and take a little wine, But hated punch and prelacy; and so it was, perhaps,

He went to Leyden, where he found conventicles and schnaps.

And then, of course, you know what's next-it left the Dutchman's shore

With those that in the Mayflower came-a hundred souls and more

614

YOUR BUSINESS IS UNDER CONSIDERATION.-WESTERN COAST OF IRELAND.

YOUR BUSINESS IS UNDER CONSIDERATION. FROM THE FRENCH OF PETIT SENN OF GENEVA.

Most valuable phrase! What tiresome circumlocutions, what troublesome explanations, what framing of excuses, are spared by it to authorities in general! Officials may slumber as sweetly on these few words as in an easy-chair. The phrase is the very ottoman of power, the downy pillow of bureaucracy, whence it may meet every proposal of amelioration, every expectation of improvement, every desire for a new order of things by a few words-the true talisman of statu quo-"It is under consideration."

this answer, unable to articulate more at the very utmost than an "Ah!"-a little prolonged it may be-and you can but bow politely and retire, as EVERY administration in the world-whether it fully satisfied as your temperament or knowledge be the executive of the state, or a corporation board, of the intrinsic value of the words permit you to be. or a committee, or an individual, "dressed in a "Under consideration." You may have these little brief authority"-has a greater or less store words repeated to you for twenty years successiveof dilatory phrases to which recourse is had for the ly; but with what show of reason can you complain purpose of answering urgent applications, putting of the cool, cautious, deliberate inquiry into every off the impatient, satisfying the clamorous, and giv- circumstance of your case, or of the length of time ing to all petitioners, the impression of unceasing employed in the investigation of your business? labor in their cause. At the head of these phrases What is it you want? That it should "be confor answering everything and everybody, the sen- sidered." Well, and have you not been told that tence surely deserves to be placed, "Your business this is precisely what is doing? You have absois under consideration." Admirable phrase! ad-lutely nothing left to say. If not completed sooner, mirable for the very vagueness of its definiteness it is because it is impossible to proceed more rapidly and the very definiteness of its vagueness. Laconic in doing the thing well. Surely you would not too! as brief as could possibly be desired. It is have it slurred over? And you cannot, in coneminently an administrative phrase. Unparalleled science, require that your case should be considered in its applicability, it adapts itself to everything-oftener than always. furnishes a full reply in itself, or an admirable backing to an objection or excuse-accounts for the most protracted delay in any kind of business under the sun-is an answer to every question, and the only answer to some questions. All committeerooms echo with it-all council chambers resound with it. It is a sentence, in short, which should be engraved upon the threshold of all government offices and the seats of all government officials, in order that, should the latter be absent, and the former closed, the anxious applicant need not call again for the answer he will most assuredly receive. And now that it has been itself "under considBut the more closely we examine the full bear-eration," who will not thank me for having made ing and import of this combination of words, the this feeble effort to hold up a phrase playing so more admirable it must appear to us. An individ- important a part in parliamentary proceedings to ual inquires," How is my business going on?" and the enthusiastic admiration and gratitude of those I, an official, somewhere or other, reply, "It is who make use of it? I write not, for the ingrates under consideration." "Under consideration!" who are unreasonable enough to feel indignation Observe the satisfactory ambiguousness of the words. at its being addressed to themselves. Had I said "under my consideration," or "under any one's consideration," I should have reduced it at once to the value of the unit; but now not only am I included, but everybody else who works with me; the entire body of which I am a member are clearly designated. There is nothing whatever to prevent your imagining the heads of government engaged in the matter; the applicant, if a novice, of course concludes it at once to be so, and pictures to himself the whole administration engrossed by his memorial, employed upon the means of redressing his grievance or granting his petition. What can satisfy him if he be not content with every wheel of government turning for him, and for him alone?

"Under consideration." You are not left a word to say; objection you can make none. Had you been told, "It has been considered," you might naturally have asked, "What was the decision?" Or had it been said, "It will be considered," you might request, with all due humility, to be informed at what period it was thought possible it might come to your turn to engage the attention of the body to whom your business has been submitted. But it is quite another matter now. The words are, "It is under consideration;" that is to say, at this very moment every effort is being made to do you full justice, every energy is put forth, every nerve strung in your behalf; the attention of every one is riveted upon you, and you alone. What more would you have? You stand, with open mouth, completely arrested, fixed to the spot by

WESTERN COAST OF IRELAND.-A gentleman, as my informer told me, commiserating the condition of the people, who patiently endured the pangs of hunger, when the sea before them teemed with wholesome and delicious food, purchased a boat for the purpose of making an experiment. He invited some of the most destitute among them to accompany him to the fishing, promising, in return for their share of the labor, to give them a due share of what they caught. They refused to labor without wages; and after in vain endeavoring to make them comprehend that his offer was much better than the ordinary rate of payment, he added to the chance of the fishing, a day's wages. On this they consented. The fishing was completely successful; and, in addition to supplying their families with abundance of excellent food, they made some money by selling what remained. This was all their benefactor wanted. His experiment had succeeded; for it had convinced the people that they were able, by their own industry, to make a comfortable and independent subsistence. "I lend you my boat," said he, "till you are able to purchase one for yourselves. Go, and make a good use of it. Be industrious, and be happy." "But the day's wages?" cried they. The day's wages! Argument was vain. They demanded a day's wages, as before, and would not stir without. Their benefactor gave up his attempt in shame and sorrow, and the unhappy savages returned to their hunger and their despair.—Chambers' Journal.

CORRESPONDENCE.

Paris, 16th November, 1848.

La Revue des Deux Mondes for the 15th inst. was issued yesterday. In the evening, I found leisure to look through it and marked various passages for use next week. The first article, on the Revolution in Eastern Europe, is richly instructive on the concerns and topics of the day, in which the Illyrians, Jellachich and Austria are so promi

nent.

afternoon, the minister charged with the distribution, reported to the house that he had lent fourteen hundred thousand francs, to thirty-four associations, all that he could deem of good promise, out of four hundred and forty several applications. The Assembly remitted all legal charges on the loan transactions, but voted that five per cent. should be required on all sums lent above twentyfive thousand francs-upon the ground that indiSee the account which I send you of the Co-vidual enterprises should not be subjected to disad rypheus of the Hungarian struggle. An article is vantages, this being the market rate for them. devoted to the Memoirs of Mde. de Maintenon, by Socialism aims at the suppression of all private the Duke de Noailles, heretofore mentioned in the and individual competition by means of large and Living Age. The work is warmly commended, endless associations. At the sitting of the day as it deserves, for matter, style, tone, and general before, one occurrence produced a lively sensatexture and coloring. Coquerel's History of the tion. The provisional government, as I informed Protestant Churches in the Desert is cursorily and you, abolished at once five chairs in the College favorably noticed. The reviewer dwells on the of France, and the chief of them, that of political new exposition of the Revocation of the Edict of economy filled by Professor Chevalier, who was Nantes, which nearly fills the second volume of particularly obnoxious to the socialists and the the Duke de Noailles', and possesses original his- republicans of the old school. The reëstablishtorical value. The third article is a sensible sur-ment of the chairs was manfully proposed and advey of the book of M. Thiers on Property, of which, happily, the greater portion would be deemed quite rudimental and unnecessary in the United States. The masses in Europe are at your alphabet only. Several pages of the Political Chronicle of this number of the Revue are worth translation; they exhibit French affairs under impressive points of survey; regret is expressed that some of the chiefs and journals of the moderate party have raised the standard of Louis Napoleon; it condemns the too common calculation that he will extinguish the republic, and thus be the instrument, destroying himself at the same time, of the final restoration of monarchy. The chronicler supposes that Cavaignac might yet arrange with Thiers and the moderate associations terms such as would engage them on his side; but they have, within the few days past, gone too far for any compromise.

The journals of this morning furnish an important circular signed by a bishop, a member of the National Assembly, in the name of his clerical colleagues advising all the Catholic hierarchy and priesthood to adopt Cavaignac as the best choice for the cause of religion and order. It is probable that the circular was sanctioned by the Archbishop of Paris.

vocated; highly animated and exciting speeches followed on the utility and substantiality, pro and con, of political economy as a science. A vote in the affirmative confessed and rectified the injustice done to the chair and to Professor Chevalier, who has employed the interval in assailing socialism and expounding true republicanism, in the Journal des Débats. His enemies are doubly vexed that he should now have the opportunity, which he will indefatigably improve, of prosecuting the warfare from so eligible a position as the College of France. The disciples of Jean Baptiste Say, and the contributors to the able Journal des Economistes, rejoice exceedingly. The country is reminded that, in 1839, M. Chasséreau, historiographer of the department of the navy, vindicated, for a French political economist, Graslin, born at Tours in 1727, the priority of the theory of the wealth of nations, which Adam Smith developed with the éclat of profound genius.

The new constitution provides a high court of national justice for impeachments of the president of the republic and the ministers, and the trial of all cases of plots and other crimes against the internal or external safety of the state. The number of judges is five, with two substitutes, and thirty-six jurymen, taken from the councils general of the departments. Yesterday, the Court of Cassation, upon whom the choice of the judges is devolved, appointed the five-all sound and eminent jurists and men of independent spirit.

The editors opposed to the general sharply reprimand the prelates for interfering thus in the "presidential question," and exhort the curates throughout the interior to think and act for themselves. It is difficult to say which party, the extreme democrats or the ex-monarchists, draw the Monsieur Cabet, the oracle of communism and gloomiest picture of French affairs; you could exporter of Icarians to Texas, has just been seninfer that not one of the public ills under the de- tenced by a criminal court to a fine and a month's molished government has been in the least miti- imprisonment, for having at his domicile, on the gated, and that many new wrongs and grievances, 15th May last, when the National Assembly was incalculably worse, afflict and exasperate the coun- invaded by the mob, a quantity of arms and amtry. In July last, the National Assembly appro- munition, which the patrols detected and seized in priated three millions of francs to the purpose of the night. He argued his own case, and took assisting with capital, associations of workmen occasion to expound his doctrines in lengthy demeriting a certain degree of reliance. Yesterday tails. The court was exceedingly crowded; many

Icarians condoled with the father at the end of the trial.

Looking to foreign affairs, we are intent on the struggle between the King of Prussia and the Assembly at Berlin, where martial law has been decreed in the most rigorous and comprehensive text. That city is the focus of German anarchical philosophy and action; the most intense jacobinism in the world is believed to reign there; it is the rendezvous of the extreme democrats of the whole empire; the congress was composed of delegates from all the clubs, and the minorities of all the national assemblies. Rhenish Prussia, and most of the manufacturing towns and centres, are deeply imbued with communism, and ripe for every kind of disorder and excess. Serious, if not protracted, conflicts must ensue, and resentments long fester, whatever the proximate issue. Let it be understood, by the way, that European democracy is not akin to the American; that the latter is in no manner or measure responsible for either its theory or practice.

der, and the prescriptive maxims and habits of religion, morality, and decorum. More suicides are recorded than since the revolution of 1790,

We have a new comic opera, in three acts ; words by St. George, music by Halévy, the author of La Juive. It begot raptures at the first representation, and has filled the theatre every night. The critics pronounce it a chef d'œuvre in every respect. Berlioz observes-"This brilliant work is enough for the glory of any composer, and the fortune of any theatre." Twenty thousand copies have been sold of the three volumes of Jerome Paturot in search of the Best of Republics—a burlesque of the whole French republican enterprise. A translation, or paraphrase, of Macbeth, assisted by excellent scenic devices, draws crowds to the Odeon-the theatre of the Faubourg Saint Germain and the schools. It is decided in the feuilletons that the French drama approaches near to the original in all merits, and no one needs now to visit London in order to see Shakspeare's masterpiece. There are five acts in verse, eleven tableaux, and witches and ghosts are put in high relief. Macduff expires along with Macbeth. The versifier, Deschamps, remarks that he has merely echenillé Shakspeare, that is, cleared away the caterpillars. Legouvé, who lectures at the College of France, has published a goodly octavo, of which the purport is the present condition of French women, according to laws and manners, and compared with what it was of yore, and what it might be rendered. He represents the weaker sex as the greatest sufferers in the poorer classes, and, on the whole, the most unhappy in the rich and fashionable. He regards the theory of "a perfectly free woman as the worst possible," adding, "I would rather see her in the subjection which she now endures, than licensed without limits." The Théatre Français has its magnetic and lucrative novelty in a comedy of five acts, entitled, La Viellesse de Richelieu, the old age of the duke so famous for his military prowess and amatory exploits in French memoirs. A critic in the Moniteur Universel justly describes it in these terms: "The piece is so indecent that, examined in its plot and text simply, it would seem utterly inadmissible for the stage. No one now pretends that our theatre is a school of morality; but if our comedy will not help morals, it might at least remain neutral and not tend to destroy them." Voltaire's celebrated castle, Ferney, has been sold

It was with difficulty that the Assembly, after a call of the house, rallied a quorum yesterday. Towards the evening, votes on important questions, sufficiently discussed, could not be taken, owing to the retreat of a number of members. Those who have gone to the provinces to electioneer for Cavaignac, report that the canvass for him promises more than was presumed; he certainly regains ground in Paris; the idea of the success of Louis Napoleon inspires a common alarm among the amateurs of quiet; not a few have already engaged lodgings in the country, to which they will immediately repair, in that event. The peasantry wonder that the National Assembly have not yet elected a king, and, when spoken to about their votes, remark, that they ought to prefer the nephew of their emperor. The sentiment which prompts them and the army will suffice to invest him with the title and power of his uncle. Your American game of politics and elections portends no real danger to institutions and national welfare; in this country, all over the continent, it threatens everything and the principal agents on what side soever. Our court of assizes continues to fine and imprison conductors and writers of the radical sheets, for articles violating the laws of the press; the courts martial pass, still, the severest sentences on the heroes of the barricades. It is rather fortunate that the revolutionary combinations and the zealots of socialism betray themselves as they do in their to a rich jeweller of Paris. He has restored the speeches and toasts at their numerous banquets and poet's furniture to the rooms, and authorizes the in the columns of their audacious journals. They sale of tickets of admission, of which the proceeds celebrate the old reign of terror; worship the names are destined for the poor of the neighborhood. The and deeds of Robespierre and Marat; couple the God- French savants occupy themselves much with aphead and the Redeemer with those monsters, and the plications of science to practical benefits. M. de worst to be culled from antiquity; anticipate a uni- Quatrefages has conceived and explained means versal, so called; equality by universal spoliation, of doubling or tripling the quantity of fishes in the and final communism, to be achieved by desperate ponds and rivers, and in the seas near the coasts. violence. Dread and horror seize the population, The processes are not difficult nor uncertain. He in town and country, who happen to be proprietors, dilates on the abundance of azote (nutrition) in fish and to lay stress on secure possession and tranquil diet. The Academy of Sciences has approved in enjoyment, on family ties, old law and social or- form the ebullioscope, an instrument to determine

the quantity of alcohol in wines and all the spirituous beverages. It detects all falsifications of the liquors, and is of easy use in any hands with common intelligence.

demand for its fabrics of luxury, upon which it mainly depends; it impoverishes and doubly endangers itself. We may be struck with the fol lowing London paragraph:

The library of the Arsenal has lost its oldest The resources of continental consumers, though and most famous functionary-M. Rigollet, aged positively diminished in amount, will probably be exninety-two. He served in it fifty-two years suc-pended more largely than before in the purchase of cessively, and was called the Living Catalogue. He could put his hand immediately on any one of the two hundred thousand volumes. He endeared himself to his colleagues and all the frequenters of the institution, by constant good-humor, and the utmost alacrity in furnishing any book and any literary information requested.

British goods, because, these being produced where capital and labor work in security, they will be produced more abundantly and cheaply than the same tinent. If German and French manufacturers do or similar articles can now be produced on the connot buy our yarns, their customers must, before long, come to us for the manufactured goods. Thus we shall probably find our exports more profitable than before, in proportion to their gross value, as including more labor and less raw mate

rial.

Leverrier opened his course of astronomy at the Sorbonne, on the 13th inst. His class was very large. He stated it to be his purpose to exhibit, not the present situation of astronomical science, Cavaignac remarked, in one of his speeches, to but the difficulties of the study, daily increasing the old dynastic opposition, "I respect your infrom the very progress; and to teach how they tentions, but I distrust your instincts." They might be overcome. He added some fine remarks now retort this phrase, in allusion to his demoon the singular constellations—the nebulæ, the mil-cratic predilections. But in his recent circular, or lions and billions of clustered stars, of which the manifesto, as candidate for the presidentship, he naked eye can give scarcely an idea. Sir John pledges himself to the cause of order and law, in Herschel, in a paper read before the Royal Soci- terms which might fully satisfy the friends of that ety of London, assigns the places of two thousand primary national interest. five hundred nebula and clusters of stars; of which five hundred were discovered from the time of Sir William. Much is expected from the Méchanique Céleste of Leverrier. He lectures con amore and with a superior elocution.

The toll at the Paris gates, on sugar, has been abolished, as too injurious to the venders and manufacturers within; they were undersold at establishments outside. A hundred millions of pounds are introduced annually, of which the domestic consumption is supposed to be twenty-four. The rest is sent back to the provinces or abroad, by the refiners, confectioners, and so forth.

The nine hundred members of the National Assembly cost the treasury seven hundred and twelve thousand five hundred francs per month. On Saturday last, when the question of granting leave of absence to scores of members was on the tapis, it was suggested that the per diem of those who absented themselves should be suspended. The President of the Assembly exclaimed-" That proposition would be contrary to the constitution." This might be questioned. The president-a votary of General Cavaignac-was anxious to gratify all applications, because they were made chiefly by members whose errand it is to serve the general in their districts. Although a motion for a prorogation was rejected by a very large majority, the defection in this way is such that a quorum scarcely remains. It will be necessary to reduce the stated quorum in order to continue the transaction of business.

A block of red porphyry has been received from Russia, at Havre, for the slab or cover of the tomb of Napoleon. It weighs ninety thousand pounds. When the French capital, by its example and doctrines, breaks up social and political order elsewhere in Europe, it stops or greatly lessens the

Mademoiselle George still keeps the stage in deep tragic characters, such as Lucretia Borgia. She must be between sixty and seventy years of age. I witnessed her admirable performances in 1808, when she was at the head of tragedy, and the handsomest of the Paris actresses. Her person has grown unwieldy, and her ranting could be borne only by a French audience.

66

Some time ago, a congress of the provincial press was held at Tours. Thirty-nine editors, Orleanists, legitimists, moderate republicans, composed it. The professed object was to procure for the provinces their proper share of political action and influence," and "to maintain the independence of the government chosen by the nation, against the pretensions and factions of the capital." To these ends, they pledged themselves unanimously; on separating, they agreed to cry, not Vive la Republique, but Vive la France. They established a permanent committee, who met in Paris, last week, and have just issued an address, in relation to the presidentship of the republic, wherein they utterly repudiate General Cavaignac, and formally adopt Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. That able journal, le Constitutionnel, the organ of M. Thiers and of an influential party, has done the same, while the Journal des Débats protests, prefers Cavaignac, and reasons plausibly than its monarchical contemporary. The montagnards have proclaimed Ledru-Rollin; the exclusive socialists, Raspail, the druggist, a prisoner for treason, at Vincennes. Lamartine announces, again, that he cannot hesitate to serve if elected. Marshal Bugeaud and the other Algerean generals decline.

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Some dealers in leeches were heavily fined last week, for selling them gorged. They admitted the fact, but added that all the other venders did