the house-(that gal breaks everything.) You and me, Mrs. Brown, must " 'hob and nob" together, and the men must mix in t'other." The grog was soon made and distributed in accordance mith this amicable arrangement. The conversation now became general, but not interesting, and Mr. Brown, having tossed off his fourth tumbler of toddy, asked his better half if she was not thinking" about going." Mrs. B., in consequence of this hint, walked off Mrs. J. to put on her" things," and was soon in readiness to depart. Why, I declare the man's asleep! P'raps when you've woke you'll find your way to bed. Betty, put out the fires, and be off. There's the smalls' to get up to-morrow, you know, and we shall be in a precious muddle." a Mr. Jenks yawned, and looked sleepy, and said that he only hoped as now they had found their way, that they would drop in a little oftener; and, after declaration on the part of Mrs. B. that " she was sure she had never spent such a pleasant evening," and sundry "good nights" and squeezes of the hand, and needless admonitions of "do wrap yourselves up, And having given these final orders, and uttered this regret, she seized a candle and bounced out of the room, disgusted at the want of sympathy displayed by her fatigued and half-muddled husband. DOMESTIC FAULTS. CLING to those who cling to you," was a piece of counsel given by Dr. Johnson, and which may be counted among the wise things he said. Far from wise, to say nothing worse, is that being who fails to observe this rule, dictated alike by the selfish and the social principle. No retribution is more certain or more merited than that which follows the misuse of this world's best wealth-affectionate attachment. The hand raised against that deserves to fall, like the strong man, a sacrifice to the deed of demolition; and generally does, if not immediately, remotely, by the action of remorse-the bitterness of late regret over sweets wasted and vanished in the unappreciated past. It is the universal practice to make much effort to gain an object, too little to conserve it; but the latter is the more important work, and the truest test of worth and power. Happy accidents may contribute to the first; it is only sustained conduct will secure the other. The gambler's gains flung to him by the caprice of fortune, are carried away again in like manner if he by the voice of universal suffrage meets condemnation, what is his, who, instead of perilling and playing with "so much trash as can be grasped thus," wastes and wantons with that moral wealth, without which the richest levels of fortune are barren regions, and the voice of fame "mere sound." No meaner mintage than the heart will satisfy the heart. The vain, the volatile, the selfish, the assured, enter with ardour on the race of life, flushed with new feeling and eager for the goal, they imagine they are all-sufficient to themselves a little while and they discover their mistake; they start again, perhaps upon a new track, but the ignis fatuus they follow still eludes or misleads them; or if their aims have been fortunate the spoil won, the honour achieved-who ever sat under "laurels alone" and extracted from them anything but bitterness? There are two empires, and let none, however gifted by natural or fortuitous advantages, neglect to lay fast hold of as much power in each as it is possi-ble to compass. The first of these empires is that of his own mind, where, with God for its centre, let him vow himself to self-culture, which will vivify and expand the great principles of his nature; which will make his strength minister to a service that will elevate and sanctify his spirit, while it draws a sacred circle round him into which he can always retreat to renew power, retrieve peace, and burnish the moral and mental armoury. The other empire, next in consequence, and inextricably connected with the first, is the empire we hold in the hearts of othersthe empire of human sympathy. Home is its great depot-the heart's choice-the centre-station of the electric principle, which, running along the various lines of life, connects in their order the links of association. In proportion to his strength and status in these realms, in proportion to the perfection he attains in commanding self and social concentration, is he safe for the great aim of all-happiness. The lights of youth may fade-the tide of fortune ebb-but with mental independence and sympathetic affection," the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for him, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." It has been the fashion, may we not say is, to a nauseating excess, to direct counsel on the domestic virtues to women only. Dean Swift complains that young ladies make nets instead of cages; and the whole phalanx of writers on such subjects have ever treated woman as if she alone of the whole creation was not to live for her own happiness, but for the happiness of others-as if she was a sort of moral moon, to shine only by reflected light, and have only a reversionary interest in the grand estate of univer sal good. But the time is coming when it will be demanded of all to be workers, so will it be conceded to all to be enjoyers. Domestic defaulters are, unfortunately, not uncommon. We will not inquire on I which side the amount of insolvency is heaviest; let us rather essay the readiest mode of retrieving the past and giving security for the future. Homes are more often darkened by the continual recurrence of small faults, than by the actual presence of any decided vice. These evils are apparently of very dissimilar magnitude; yet it is easier to grapple with the one than the other. The Eastern traveller can combine his forces, and hunt down the tiger that prowls upon his path; but he finds it scarcely possible to escape the musquitoes that infest the air he breathes, or the fleas that swarm in the sand he treads. The drunkard has been known to renounce his darling vice; the slave to dress and extravagance her besetting sin; but the waspish temper, the irritating tone, the rude dogmatic manner, and the hundred nameless negligences, that spoil the beauty of association, have rarely done other than proceed, till the action of disgust and gradual alienation has turned all the currents of affection from their course, leaving nothing but a barren track, over which the mere skeleton of companionship stalks alone. Oh, to keep the springs of affection flowing-its fountains playing, not on mere holiday occasions, When, at their height o'errun, They shake their loosen'd silver in the sun, out to interest? What would brother commercialists think of him guilty of such an economic error? yet how many are thus guilty with their moral wealth? Satisfied to possess, they neither seek by cultivation to increase its value, or fear to risk by neglect its deterioration; and thus, as far as home enjoyment is concerned, the bridegroom so often becomes a disappointed husband, and the bride a discontented wife. Her intellect unworked, and his perhaps overworn, the tempers of both tried at least unguarded, they mutually unweave the web of charms that drew them together; and is it to be wondered that, though legally bound, they morally fall asunder. It were well did we imitate in one point the trader's practice, and set apart a time for taking stock and making up our moral accounts: of the article gratitude we should generally find a large amount on hand, and should lose no time in paying it over to where it was most due. Sons and daughters of the people, how many of you are alive to a true estimate of the good that exists for you in the parental home-that good which you Im-have imbibed like the air, since the hour of your birth, with unconscious advantage? Lose not a moment to retrieve neglect, if such has been. The shadow is growing upon the dial, and the final shadow may not be far. Strew the living path with flowers, not the grave. Let not the grey head grieve over the failures of the young heart. Amid the spurs to action, the aspirations of endeavour, forget not the breast that cherished your infancy, the spirit that strove for her for you. Onward and upward, you cannot propose to yourself a course too exalted. Unremitting perseverance will effect more than the partial efforts of unconcentrated talent, and the sum total of happiness is made up of small items. Neglect none of these. To ties original or adopted keep an ever-present sense of your responsibility; and while the great virtues form your essential capital, let their unfailing garniture be sweet, at least controlled, temper, gentleness, and af but hour by hour, day by day, and year by year. EARTH'S ANGELS. WHY come not spirits from the realms of glory, The times of sacred writ and ancient story? Is Heaven more distant? or has Earth grown cold? Oft have I gazed when sunset clouds receding, And oft, when midnight stars in distant chillness To Bethlehem's air was their last anthem given, There gleams no wing along the empyrean now; I have seen angels by the sick one's pillow; I doubted not-for spirits know their kindred- I have seen one whose eloquence commanding, SMOKE! "I WONDER if it's about smoky chimneys; if so, It is a generator of poetic ideas: Lord Byron was a I'll read," exclaims some amiable domestic individual, smoker; so, I believe, is Mr. Campbell. It is a dewith lungs suffering under that infliction, on read-light to the man of erudition: Dr. Parr was a smoker. ing the name wherewith this lucumbration has been baptized. It is invaluable to a castle-builder: Alnaschar should have been represented smoking at the time he kicked down the basket of crockery-the picture would have been complete. It is the joy of the philanthropist and warm-hearted man: my uncle Toby was a smoker. But the mysterious influence of the fumous "No; my theme is the smoke of tobacco." Faugh! do you smoke?" was the inquiry of my father's sister-unmarried ladies don't like to be called aunts on discovering I had acquired that habit; and many other elderly ladies, glorying in the stern ortho-operation can hardly be described-it is a kind of freedoxy of their anti-tobacconistical sentiments, vented interjectional interrogations of equal acumen on the same occasion. Doubtless, therefore, much pious dismay will be generated amongst the crusaders against Nicotiana, when they perceive some unknown individual has the superhuman audacity to pen a public eulogium. "Yes; I do smoke," was the laconic reply I vouchsafed to the inquiry of my respected relative; but, on the present occasion, I intend to be a little more diffuse. I not only smoke, but am a smoker. I see you are ready to say it is one and the same thing; but pardon me, you are mistaken: every man who smokes is by no means a smoker. There are few of the latter compared with the overwhelming majority of the former. And this is the distinction: The legitimate smoker is a man who truly enjoys his recreation, and thoroughly understands it; whilst the man who merely smokes is a creature either of habit or imitation, and who, in contradistinction to the real smoker, I will designate " a puffer." The puffer of habit longs for his pipe or segar, and enjoys them with an acquired liking; but which is merely animal, and bears no analogy to the mental zest experienced by the genuine smoker. He (id est, the puffer) is contented if he can procure his quantum suff. of the herb, and listless and ill-tempered if deprived of it; but all this is mere habit and instinct-he has only a physical sense of pleasure. Such a man is certainly not a smoker; but still less is he one who fumigates because others do-because he imagines it an emblem of the good fellow, the boon companion, or the roué. This last is the puffer of imitation; he cares nothing about the private enjoyment of that he professes to love, but is solicitous that a segar or a handsome meerschaum be between his lips when his toilet is completed, and he purposes to benefit certain of his countrymen with a display of the various elegancies to which he considers either of those articles as a highly becoming and fashionable finish. However, whatever may be their distinguishing characteristics, it is certain that neither of these animals is the true smoker. Legitimate and veritable fumigation consisteth not in the vehement puffing of shag; nor in the study of graceful attitudes over Havana; nor in the constitutional or acquired capability of digesting an immoderate proportion of the odoriferous herb: but solely depends upon the man who uses it. With him who is master of its secrets, and understands its resources, tobacco operates as a soother of spleen, a tranquillizer of grief and pain, a coaxer of the brain into a delightful train of thought, and an assistant of imagination. It is the most magnificent adjunct in the world to philosophical speculation: Sir Isaac Newton was a smoker; so was old Thomas Hobbes. masonry. My brethern will understand me by intuition, while in all probability, I might talk and write for a month without imparting one gleam of comprehension into the skulls of others; though, I dare say, very many would wink, and look sapient, and hug the fond delusion that they are masters of the mystery, and, consequently, members of the genuine fraternity. I confess there is apparently room for conjecture that the smokers of the metropolis alone are exceedingly numerous; for thousands of gentlemen glorify themselves with the fire and fume in the streets, and tobacconists' shops and segar-divans flourish in all directions; but when we consider the aforesaid distinction between smokers and puffers, the groundwork of the conjecture will vanish. Were it not for the vast number of mere puffers, the hundreds of venders of execrable trash under the name and colour of tobacco and segars could not exist; but the fact is, out of a dozen young men who puff, ten do not know a genuine segar from a roll of prepared cabbage leaf; and, as to the poetry of smoke !— pshaw! they think not of it, nor indeed could comprehend what was meant, were it mentioned to them. They have a bit of red fire between their lips-and the bipeds are satisfied. Of my acquaintance, about a dozen consume tobacco in various forms; but I reckon only two as smokers. "Smokers alone the joy of smoke can know ;" which, no doubt, appears a very self-evident truism, and would certainly be nothing more, did the first word of the line signify every Yahoo who puffs; but, as it does not, the quotation conveys a sufficiently clear idea that certain gentlemen may benefit the revenue to the utmost extent of their liberality, by burning the exotic; but, if they be not of the right stamp, they are little more to be considered smokers than the urchin who sucks a piece of ignited cane to the indignation of his diaphragm. Susceptible as I am of the ecstatic mental recreation of smoke, to say nothing of conviction by experience of its physical benefits, I regard with stoical indifference the various and manifold tirades against it, by the intolerant anti-tobacconists, which I have heard and read; and endure abuse with the exemplary heroism of a martyr. In fact, use and repetition have rendered me callous to such fulminations. I am a smoker, and, in all probability, shall continue one to the end of existence, though I have read the Counterblast" by King James-that glorious monument of regal pedantry and dogmatism. But, in spite of philosophy and resignation, I cannot help quietly wondering why people should be so furious. We smokers are a placid race of men, and do not 66 so unreasonably differed with King Henry VIII. and Queen Mary on points of religious faith. Heigh ho! only think of the pamphlets which have been published against us, poetical and prosaic! Hei mihi! to what terrible censures and suspicions has the simple act of inhalation rendered our unhappy race obnoxious! We have been, accused as accessories to the gunpowder-plot, of meditating the " disparking of certain inclosures," and of dealing with the devil! For an example, take the title of the following pamphlet, imprinted at London in the year 1616, which I will cite at length for the admiration of my readers. Here it is: "Tobacco Tortvred, or the filthie fume of Tobacco refined. Shewing all sorts of subjects that the inward taking of Tobacco many of their purses, and most pestiferous to the publike state. fumes is very pernicious to their bodies; too, too profluuious for Exemplified apparantly by the most fearful effects: more especially from their treacherous projects about the gunpowder treason; from their rebellious attempts, of late, about their preposterous disparking of certain Inclosures: as also from sundry other, their abuse anybody for not having a congenial liking with | with a vehemence little inferior to that which charourselves; and why we should be so mercilessly be- acterised the persecution of those stupid people who set for our peculiar partiality I am at a loss to conceive. Common good breeding will, of course, keep a gentleman from annoying with smoke those to whom it is offensive. I, for one, have no ungovernable propensity to fumigate those who have an antipathy to the operation. If I am allowed to fumigate by myself in peace, I desire no more. But, ye gods, what strenuous endeavours have been made by my relations and friends to tear a pleasure from me! How I have been assailed on all sides with abuse, bribery, persuasion, flattery, logic, terror, and every engine that human ingenuity could invent! Abuse was tolerably freely lavished upon me by all parties; bribery and persuasion were resorted to alternately by my maiden aunt aforesaid; flattery by a certain young lady with the most fascinating smile in the worldshe wondered "that a gentleman of my taste, &c., should," &c. &c. Heaven save the mark! it is well I write anonymously; but I am sure she did not speak sincerely-my aunt must have cajoled her. Logic! Heaven knows how I was edified by syllo-prodigious practises." gistical argumentation against the inutility and viciousness of smoking, by an elderly gentleman, whose pneumatological and dialectic abilities were fully proved, by the fact of his having frightened all the publishers in London out of their wits by the offer of three M.S. folios, containing analytical reviews of the systems of Aristotle, Peter Ramus, and Locke. As to terror; had I been a nervous man, I should long ago have been in Bedlam, or, at least, the hapless victim of hypochondria, through the benevolent exertions of my friends to scare me from smoke, by calling up phantoms of almost every "ill that flesh is heir to," and which they gravely assured me must be the infallible consequences of my pernicious indulgence. Fevers, vertigo, paralysis, consumption, asthma, blindness, were displayed in all their horrors before me ; and a lady-a near relation-affectionately hoped I might suffer severely for my obstinacy. Now, I am a remarkably quiet man, and tolerably even-tempered withal; but, at first, this systematic persecution . greatly incommoded me, and I used to abscond from the clatter of tongues to the seclusion of my private apartment, and draw consolation from the bowl of my meerschaum, filled with genuine Varina's roll. I could not divine why the people plagued me. I did all in my power to prevent personal annoyance accruing to anybody from my pleasures; and I succeeded, for I never heard a word of complaint on that article. However, I have passed the ordeal scathless, and am still a smoker. There! Is not that enough to cause the Grand Turk himself to throw down his chibouque in horror and affright? But that is not all; for this formidable author favours us with a specimen of logic on his title-page, by way of motto; but whether it be a quotation or an emanation from his own sagacious brain, I am not learned enough to resolve. Thus, however, the pithy apothegm runs: heart of a man, then surely all noysome sauours, and poysonsome "If sweete oyntments and perfumes do vndoubtly rejoyce the smels (such as is the filthie fume of Tobacco,) inwardly taken must necessarily disquiet and drive the same into a dangerous condition! !" Indeed! Had the author ever heard the old proverb-" What is one man's meat is another man's poison" Had he ever heard of an acquired taste? Had he ever heard of garlic eaters; and that, long before tobacco was known-at least in the Old World-certain herbs of rank and (to many) noxious savor, were used as stimuli? Witness the allusion by Virgil in his second Eclogue:- "Thestylis et rapido fessis messoribus æstu Allia, Serpyllumque, herbas contundit olentes." There is another pamphlet, bearing date 1602, with the following_quaint title :-"Work for Chimney Sweepers, or a Warning for Tobacconists." This elaborate quarto contains eight reasons against the But I am not the only sufferer. I have many fel- use of tobacco, one of which is expressed in these lows in affliction; and thousands of worthy individ- words:-" The first author and finder thereof was the uals have groaned beneath the cat-o'-nine-tails of Diuell, and the first practisers of the same were the persecution before my time. There was once a sect Diuell's priests, and therefore not to be used of us of religious people (Methodists, I think) who resolved Christians." This is an argument so overwhelmingly to exclude from their communion all who used to convincing, that it would of course be the superlative bacco. One of the Popes (I forget which) excom- of arrogance in me to endeavor to confute it. I shall, municated those who brought tobacco, in any form, therefore, only observe, that the idea of the Devil beinto the churches: not that I blame the old gentle-ing the author of this unfortunate herb, and its paman for that, for we have no title to make our plea-trons the devil's priests, originated in the description, sures an annoyance to others. At the present day, by Monardus, then recently translated into English, some of the public journals delight in any opportunity of the natural productions of the New World, whereto have a "fling" at smoke-The Times, for exam- in is an account of tobacco, and the uses to which it ple. In short, we smokers, ever since the introduc- was applied by the aboriginal inhabitants, a portion tion of tobacco into England, have been hunted down of which I will here transcribe for the benefit of my curious readers, the book itself being scarce.. It is Yet he remorselessly condemns all smokers to eternal intituled as follows: perdition, telling us that "Joyfull Newes ont of the New-found VVorld. Wherein are declared the rare and singular vertues of diuers Herbes Trees Plantes Oyles and Stones with their applications," &c. It is translated by John Frampton, the date is 1596, and the portion I have selected to quote, runs thus: " -Hell hath smoke, Impenitent Tobacconists to choak." In pure charity, having terrified my brethren by the awful intelligence contained in the last quoted lines of Mr. Sylvester, I must, as an antidote to their fears, cite a few verses from a poem of an opposite character, being the composition of some zealous smoker who has been long gathered to his fathers. Heaven rest his soul! I dare say he was a good fellow. The happy title of his production is Nicotianæ Encomium, or the Golden Leaf of Tobacco displayed in all its Soveraignty and singular Vertues." Hark to his eloquent exordium: "One of the meruelles of this herbe, and that which bringeth most admiration, is, the manner howe the Priestes of the Indias did vse it, whiche was in this manner: when there was amongst the Indians any manner of businesse of grate importaunce, in which the chiefe Gentlemen called Casiques, or any of the principall people of the countrey had necessitie to consult with their Priestes in any businesse of importance: then they went and propounded their matter to their chiefe Prieste, foorthwith in their presence he tooke certeyne leanes of the Tabaco, and cast them into ye fire, and did receive the smoke of them at his mouth, and at his nose with a cane, and in taking of it, hee fell down uppon the ground as a Dead man, and remayning so according to the quantity of smoke that hee had taken, when the hearbe had done his worke he did reuiue and awake, and gave them their answeares according to the visions and illusions which he sawe, whiles hee was rapte in the same manner, and he did interprete A little further on : to them, as to him seemed best, or as the Diuell had counselled him, giving them continually doubtfull answers, in such sorte, that howsoever it fell out, that they might say that it was the same, which was declared, and the answere that hee made." What an analogy to the oracles of old! But it would be out of my present province to discuss that point. "Ye hot! ye cold! ye rheumatick! draw nigh, "Brave leafe! thou acts' the able Doctor's part, Well, if Mr. Sylvester threatens us with perdition, here is a gentleman who hints at mundane immortality this is consolatory, seeing that we may believe which as the reward of a zealous devotion to smoke: so far, we please. But I can neither afford time nor patience to quote any more from the various anti and pro-tobacconist pamphlets which have been published since the first importation of Nicotiana to the present era; though, the table before me. at "this present writing," I have most of them on Yet, hold a while, I remember I cannot resist here transcribing the title of an anti-tobacconist poem, by Mr. Joseph Sylvester, on account of its singularity and quietness. Behold! "Tobacco battered and The Pipes shattered, (about their ears that idely idolize so base and barbarous a a weed, or at least wise ouerloue so loathesome vanitie,) by a volley of holy shot Thundered from Mount Helicon." By Jupiter, this is enough to scare a dandy into forswearing his segar, and an Irish coal-that Locke has somewhere in his works these words, whipper into parting company with his dhudheen for Bread or tobacco may be neglected; but reason at ever. Listen to one quotation from this immortal poem, dear reader, for the sake of the pun in the last first recommends their trial, and custom makes them pleasant." There, ye fanatic and senseless babblers couplet. against smoke, hear the words of one of the greatest men that ever ornamented the world, and hold your clamour in reverence before such an authority, coupled with the example of Sir Isaac Newton! Hear, I say, and observe that Mr. Locke not only commends tobacco, but actually couples it with bread-with bread, the staff of life." ""Tis vented most in Taverns, Tipling-cotts, Which of their weapons hath the conquest got Yet 'tis apparent, and by proof express, Both stab and wound the brain with drunkenness For even the derivation of the name Seems to allude and to include the same: Tobacco, as To Baxxwi one would say To Bacchus (Cup God,) dedicated aye.' It is scarcely necessary to remark that the quoted lines contain no lible on legitimate smokers, sith they relate only to those puffers who rejoice in the fumes of shag and strong beer, the nature of whose enjoyment differs just as much from that of true fumigation, as a squalid and senseless gin-drinker from a man of wit and talents imbibing champagne, or as the animals in the Zoological Gardens feeding, differ from a gentleman dining. By the way, Mr. Sylvester, in another part of his undying production, as the Honourable Mrs. Norton would call it, feels obliged to confess that 66 Hear Byron, too, ye infidels! "Sublime tobacco, which, from east to west, When tipped with amber, mellow, rich, and ripe: Thy naked beauties-Give me a segar." Locke, Newton, and Byron! These names alone are weighty enough to crush the whole herd of the small people who gratify themselves by howling at what they do not understand. If the anti-tobacconists would be satisfied with abusing those puffers who strut about with segars, annoying everybody they come in contact with, I would not only forgive them, but join heart and hand in the same cause. But, whilst they include, in their wholesale fulminations, the real smokers-by which I mean |