body, so are there mountebanks for the politic body, men that undertake great cures, and perhaps have been lucky in two or three experiments, but want the ground of science, and therefore cannot hold out."

And for an example of the manner with which boldness in conduct may be carried, we may with advantage cite Mr. Pitt, who at the very time he was undertaking far more than ever had been undertaken in the conduct of public affairs in England, by so young a man, answered the violence of General Conway in the words which Scipio applied to Fabius"Si nullâ aliâ re, modestiâ certe, et temperando linguæ, adolescens, senem vicero." If in nothing else, in modesty certainly, and in temperateness of language, I, a youth, will show myself the superior of the old man.

CIVILITY.

NOTWITHSTANDING the strong appetite for teaching and lecturing which has grown up in these days, threatening to deluge the land with bad chemistry, worse mathematics, and a grotesquely erroneous smattering of omne quod exit in ology, I do not find that any progress is made in the inculcation of that most useful and agreeable thing, civility. Perhaps this branch of education may be omitted upon the principle that it

comes of itself, along with what is called "science," and that to have learned ever so little about oxygen, electricity, and “the crust of the earth," emollit mores nec sinit esse feros

From lib'ral arts there comes this pleasing fruit,
That he who learns them cannot be a brute.

But we should remember that this saying about the ameliorating effect of knowledge upon manners and behaviour, arose at a time when the mode of acquiring knowledge was very different from what it is at present. The general mode was that of repairing to some school, where submission to discipline, and deference to teachers and superiors were indispensable conditions. The only opportunity of acquiring science was one which could not be taken advantage of, without at the same time acquiring habits of civility, and therefore it was very true that to have acquired the ingenuous arts-the accomplishments of learning-was a sort of guarantee that he who had made the acquisition, must at least know how to behave himself, and have practised that knowledge.

In those remoter periods it was not held honourable for professors of science to go about delivering pennyworths of erudition to unwashed artificers, who do not pay their teacher the compliment of putting on a decent garment when going to his lecture-room, but arc content

to become "enlightened" even in their dirty shirt-sleeves. Knowledge was not crammed down people's throats immediately after they had done swigging ale at the beer shop. There were in those days poor scholars indeed, and teachers, whose only wealth was in their minds; but knowledge had at least dignity and decency for its companions, and rudeness was the attribute of confessed ignorance. But we have changed all that. We have become " enlightened," as the phrase is, and yet discourteous. Knowledge is said to have made enormous strides amongst us; but, instead of bringing civility along with it, it seems to have emboldened simplicity into rudeness. It is natural that this should happen, when instruction is not accompanied by rules of discipline and habits of deference, which, as regards the multitude, are perhaps the best parts of education.

Some will perhaps dispute the fact as to the apparent want of civility in the behaviour of the people. I have no doubt of it. It is an evil that has increased, and is increasing, and more visibly in the metropolis than elsewhere. Among people who keep shop, it displays itself in a smirking officiousness-a thrusting before you, whether you will or no, what you have not asked for. The very very vulgar, and very very silly, among womankind, the dearest desire of whose souls is to see new things in a shop, are perhaps pleased with this impertinence; but

impertinence it is, growing out of a greedy desire to force a trade-a thing of which the and deferential tradesman of former times, would have been utterly ashamed.

grave

If you go among the more substantial and respectable part of the lower orders, such as coal-heavers and canal-diggers, stout porters, and the like, who, in common with the stronger kind of horses, do the ponderous work of society, you find them much the same as they used to be. These fellows have substance in them, and are not easily changed. They are rugged enough, but there is no impertinence about them, and they are even deferential where deference is manifestly due.

But your working tradesfolk, especially tailors, and burnishers of brass-your greengrocers and small vermin of ten-pound householders, who harbour the servants of great folks when out of place your coach-drivers and cab-drivers, and hangers on upon livery stables, and, above all, the fellows who preside in front or in rear of the carriages called "omnibuses"-the grossness, not to say ruffianism, of these people is manifestly upon the increase. Knowing enough they are, and too much so, and many of them can behave well enough when sufficiently sober to bear in mind the probability that they will lose sixpences or shillings by behaving ill; but every one who takes the trouble of observing, must see that they have no notion of the duty of

civility, save in return for coin received or expected; and few can be so fortunate as not to have experienced that when thrown off their guard by drink, or disappointment of any hoped-for advantage, they are more brutal than the brutes themselves. Indeed, to such an extent have habits of extortion, and savageness upon disappointment, grown among this class of people in London, that a quiet man, who likes exactness, and hates brawls, will generally prefer doing all he possibly can for himself, and that to his no small personal fatigue, rather than subject himself to the probable annoyance of employing them.

The ruffians are intelligent enough to be aware of this, but they don't care, for they are also aware that the quietly-disposed are a very small fragment of the people, and daily diminishing; while the hurrying bustling crowd, who seem almost to like noise and wrangling, so as it does not delay them, and to enjoy slang and brutality, as they rush from point to point, in panting pursuit of their over-strained business, are daily increasing, and growing more and more indifferent to sober, discreet, and deferential behaviour.

Certainly these rude people of the lower class may plead the excuse of the example set them by their superiors in fortune, for what they see of these superiors is only their out-of-door behaviour-on public conveyances and the like