saucy, and object to go any faster than before. the close of life, for which, unfortunately, it so badly prepares us. He is contrasting two peaceful graves, one beside the Mediterranean, one at the foot of the Himalayas, with the din and fret of the lives which ended there : doing what few or none can do so well for the benefit of the present world, and acquiring for himself some small acces- However, we suspect that what makes sion of speculative knowledge which is many men look forward so eagerly to an not very likely to benefit any one but early retirement from their regular lahimself, we suspect the former is the bours, is not so much the craving for nobler choice. If, on the contrary, his time to devote to other pursuits than that calling be of a kind which many another of their main calling, as the vague hope can discharge as well, while that for that in greater quietness of life they may which he deserts it is one for which he gain a tranquillity and clearness of spirit has great qualifications not easily sup- to which English practical life is a stranplied by others, and this, no doubt, ger,- nay, which in the hurry of petty would be, and must be, the case in multi-engagements and a constant necessity tudes of instances, were not money- for a close packing of small endeavours, making regarded as so eminently obliga- there is no room left. In the crowding tory and meritorious a pursuit by Eng- of our duties, we lose the distinction belishmen, the latter is the nobler choice. tween the means and the ends of life, and But it is never to be forgotten that men hardly discriminate between the success are apt to be very bad judges of their gained at the cost of qualities which we own power of giving themselves to really once valued, and those which we have new modes of life. It seems pretty cer- gained by the steady use and discipline tain, in spite of his humorous essay, of those qualities. Matthew Arnold has that if Charles Lamb could have taken expressed finely enough in one of his half-work, instead of being completely most delicate poems the sense of hurry superannuated at the age of fifty, he would and confusion which marks our boasted have been a much happier and a more practical life, a sense of confusion which productive man in his latter years than unquestionably engenders a great deal of he actually was. For in hi. case it need- that vain craving for a breathing-time at ed the contrast between crudgery and literature, and the gentle tonic to his energies which fixed habits of work gave him, to bring out the full play of his humour and literary talent. Retired men, even with the amplest claims on their time, are seldom able to work at their new occupations without a considerable quantity of the old kind of work to make them feel busy. Merchants or lawyers who retire early should accept "directorships" or "arbitrations," if only to give that necessity for promptness and for compression to their arrangements, which is of the very essence of real efficiency. A task which may be done at any time is done at none. paradox that only the busy have any leisure is perfectly true. A man who, after being accustomed to the screw of heavy business exigencies, suddenly finds that the pressure is completely taken off, becomes demoralized, and has no time at all for that which is now his sole duty. Even Mr. Gladstone himself will probably do twice as much with a seat in Parliament, and a consciousness that the heaviest part of his private enterprises must be squeezed into the long vacation, than he would do with the whole year at his disposal. Take but a portion of the weight from behind your horse, and he will make up the difference in speed; but take nearly all away, and he will soon get The In cities should we English lie Our business with unslackening stride, And see all sights from pole to pole, And almost every man, however practi- wards, some of our vacations should be retreats from life to enable us to see how it would appear to us, were it really the during the activity of its eager aims, may be secured when those eager aims have been put aside towards its close. But as a rule, it is then too late, if not too pain-end, and how, if a new term of it begins, ful, to comprehend all its blunders and its burning heats, even when they have not been forgotten. Besides, the mind is then too much accustomed to be engaged in trivial undertakings of short period, and to give itself up to the interest of promoting the desired event; and some equivalent for these small efforts must be found, or the worst of all results, vacuity of mind, succeeds to the paltry interests which have been foregone. Thus, instead of new clearness of vision, retirement from active work means, nine times out of ten, a sleepier study of the newspaper, more naps, more indolent reading, less real reflection, and a great deal more sheer gossip. we should try to mould it anew. That would be infinitely more fruitful than the somewhat hopeless retirement at the real close of active exertion, when all our blunders have been made, and few or none can be, in this life at least, practically repaired; for this last consideration alone is one sufficient to make us shrink from what seem the vain regrets which must follow from sincerely reviewing what there is no longer an opening to mend. There might, indeed, be some real lucidity of vision in the retrospect of the final retirement of an aged man from active pursuits, if there had been frequent intervals in which this finale had, as it were, been rehearsed, so as to form We suspect that what is needed for the data for new acts in the drama of most men is not an early retirement from life, with a revised scheme running practical life, under the illusion that lei- through them. Hardly any one can hope sure will give a new clearness to the to possess his soul" perfectly once mind's vision, but not unfrequent inter- before he dies who has not aimed at it, vals of real retirement throughout its not merely more than once, but time busiest part; that instead of aiming at after time, as the years pass. Not even mere "holiday," and what is called change the business of life itself needs more and recreation, we should aim at secur- reiterated preparation for it to make it ing intervals which will enable us more sound and good, than does the retirement or less to understand ourselves, and to from active duties at the close. Indeed, weigh our aims, as well as the means we to a considerable extent, preparation for are pursuing to gain those aims; in short, the one is, we suppose, preparation for that instead of the constant strain for-the other also. 66 are of intermediate appearance between the A REPORT recently sent to the Colonial | sembling isinglass or gelatine. The red nests Office from Labuan gives a curious account of the edible birds' nests, which are included among the "articles imported for the export trade to Singapore." These nests, we are told, are found on the walls of caverns in limestone and sandstone hills all along the coast, but by far the greater part of the supplies received at Labuan are brought from Sandakan Bay and the Kina Batangan River, on the east coast of Borneo. The devourers of these dainties, it seems, distinguish three qualities of them, known as white, red and black. They are produced by two kinds of small swallow; the black nests are by far the most common, and are of much inferior value, one especial drawback being that they are "much mixed with dirt and feathers." Of the finest quality are the white nests, which are without admixture of refuse matter, and of a semi-transparent white substance, re Another article of food esteemed by the Chinese as economical and nourishing is the trepang or dried sea-slug, which is collected in abundance amongst the reefs, islands, and bays of the east coast of the Sooloo Seas, and of Palawau. Pearls are also largely dealt in at Labuan; the smaller kinds are exported to India and China for the purpose, it is said, of being used in medicine and burnt into lime for the rajahs to chew with their betel and sirih leaf. Academy. PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY BY TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. For EIGHT DOLLARS, remitted directly to the Publishers, the LIVING AGE will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of postage. An extra copy of THE LIVING AGE is sent gratis to any one getting up a club of Five New Subscribers. Remittances should be made by bank draft or check, or by post-office money-order, if possible. If neither of these can be procured, the money should be sent in a registered letter. All postmasters are obliged to register letters when requested to do so. Drafts, checks and money-orders should be made payable to the order of LITTELL & GAY. From The Quarterly Review. childhood was spent at his grandfather's house at Bulstrode. He was educated at Eton and at Christchurch, Oxford; but he left the university early, having been appointed private secretary to Earl Bathurst before he was twenty. The influence of the Duke of Portland ob WE approach the critical examination of the late Mr. Charles Greville's journal with a sense of more than ordinary responsibility. It has attracted an unusual amount of attention: it has been widely tained for him early in life the sinecure apcirculated, at home and abroad: our estimate of it differs essentially from that of duties of that office being performed by pointment of the secretaryship of Jamaica, the the great majority of our contemporaries deputy, and likewise the reversion of the in the press; and as they have been, clerkship of the council. He entered in 1821 we think, unduly prodigal of commenda- upon the duties of clerk of the council in tion, the invidious duty is forced upon us ordinary, which he discharged for nearly forty of redressing the balance by dwelling years. During the last twenty years of his more on the demerits than the merits of life Mr. Greville occupied a suite of rooms in the book. It has raised, moreover, a the house of Earl Granville in Bruton Street, question of no slight importance to so- and there, on the 18th of January, 1865, he expired. ciety a question which cannot be summarily set aside by assuming that, provided people are interested or amused, it matters little or nothing what feelings are wounded, what confidence is broken, or what reputations are assailed. The very first consideration forced upon us by the perusal was, whether many of the most popular passages ought to have been published for the next fifty years: whether many ought not to have been wholly obliterated or permanently suppressed. But before laying down and applying what we take to be the sound and received doctrine on these points, we must come to a precise understanding as to the position and character of the writer, the conditions or circumstances under which he wrote, and the moral or honourable obligations imposed upon him. Only two meagre paragraphs are de-ing out to a lady the rooms he had occuvoted to his biography by Mr. Reeve : pied in his undergraduate days, he paused Of the author of these journals it may before a window from which he and two suffice to say that Charles Cavendish Fulke others had dropped after the college-gates Greville was the eldest of the three sons of were closed, to reach a spot where a Charles Greville (who was grandson of the chaise and four was waiting for them. fifth Lord Warwick), by Lady Charlotte Cav-They dashed off to London to witness endish Bentinck, eldest daughter of William the execution of Bellingham, the assasHenry, third Duke of Portland, K.G., who sin of Mr. Perceval. Having satisfied filled many great offices of State. He was their curiosity, or love of excitement, born on the 2nd of April, 1794. Much of his they dashed back again, and were lucky enough to escape discovery. • The Greville Memoirs: a Journal of the Reigns of King George IV. and King William IV. By the late Charles C. F. Greville. Esq., Clerk of the Council of those Sovereigns. Edited by Henry Reeve, Registrar of the Privy Council. In three volumes. London, 1874. Second Edition. as He was born in a wing or side-building of Burlington House, Piccadilly, which had been lent to his father for a residence. He was admitted a student of Christchurch on the 24th December, 1810, on the nomination of Canon Dowdeswell, having entered as a commoner a few days before. He retained his studentship till December 24th, 1814, long as he could retain it without taking a B.A. degree; but he resided or kept only seven terms, from January 1811 to June 1812; when, being then in his nineteenth year, he became private secretary to Lord Bathurst. He also obtained a clerkship in one of the public offices; we believe, the Board of Trade. He always regretted that his father's circumstances did not allow of his remaining longer at the university. Once upon a time, point His net income from his two offices exceeded 4000l.; and as, with little or no private fortune, he died worth 30,000l. he was probably a gainer on the turf. He |