ENGLISH NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 920, 17 July 1869, Page 17

ENGLISH NOTES.

. .„ x^PfflMaU Gazette)

Would it not be well for! the United States, before acquiring more ' States, to try and civilise one or two which they already possess; but have hardly assimilated?' Thus f we read of -the people of Lebanon, Indiana, passing iri file through a church, eaoh in turn touching a corpse laid on the Communion Table,/the object beings to' 'discover at whose "touch' the corpse would bleed. The corpse, gave no sign," and thereby -the 'absence of the murderer was supposed to be proved.

Professor Agassiz has given a new impulse to fish culture in America by announcing his belief that fish as food feeds the brain, is a restorative of weakened cerebral functions, and adds to the intellectual powers generally. He haß also stated 1 that the drinking of water in limestone regions enlarges the skeleton. As Father Noyes has declared 'that his community at Oneida intends to direct attention to the breeding of better specimens of the getvus hpnio, being dissatisfied that cattle should monopolise the advantages of scientific culture, he, at least, is not likely to neglect the hints of the Swiss professor. ' It may interest the admirers of the eccentricities pf "religious" life in the United States to know that the progress of Mormonism in London is regarded as very satisfactory by the, elders. People who have been led to believe that the sect is peculiarly American, and that it forms a part of the great Gothic Revival, will be surprised to hear that the saints have eight branches in the metropolis alone, and that there are 104 elders, 38 priests, 23 teachers, and 30 deacons, always hard at Work. 102 members have been " cut off" — i. c. expelled — during the last year. But 915 of the faithful remain, and there has been " but little emigration"— an alarming statement, for it shows that a Mormon colony is being founded among us. If this goes on much longer we shall have American travellers filling books with the most harrowing accounts of the profligacy of our social life, and the wondrous development of our religious character. Why has the New York Herald or Tribune overlooked this most promising field ? It is dangerous, perhaps, to express sympathy with any class in America, but it is impossible not to feel rather sorry for babies in that country, if the accounts given by the New York Express 6f February 6 are to be believed. It seems that in that land of progress infanticide is not behindhand in the race, tn New York more than sixty females earn an honest living by killing babies brought to them by their mothers, and the diminution of the American population in many States, such as Maine and Massachusetts, is attributed to this fashionable crime. The New York Daily Times of February 7, says that "native Americans" are disappearing altogether between the diminution of the number of marriages and the increase of infanticide. Perhaps their disappearance will be of no great loss if they really are given to this objectionable habit.

Some attention has bean paid of late years to decorative art in this country. Exhibitions have spoiled the public taste for china monsters, and wall paper and carpets have greatly improved in design. With such educational influences surrounding them, how is it that fashionable matrons dress their children in suoh odd and incongruous garbs? Dwarf Highlanders are going out of date ; but of late there has been a run upon naval costumes, and it is not an unusual thing to meet a five year old boatswain in the park, whistle and all oomplete, accompanied by hio nurse, who draws a perambulator into which tho h&rdy sailor ia put when ho wants to sleep. In Kensington Garden* last Bund&y four children appeared having all their clothes exaotly alike, and one of them leading a small dog, whioh, not to put the party out of countenance, wa* covered en mite with a cloth tho oolour of his guide's stooking*. Theoompletenessand symmetry, so to speak, of this prooeuion attracted general admiration. The largo and increasing demand for the fair hair with wbioh many " ladies of tho period" are wont to oko ont tho Bounty supplies granted to thorn by nature, has run up the price of that article to *uoh an extent, that the nnoat sort* are positively sold for more than their weight in the gold whoso oolour they are supposed to postess. According to tho American papers, this eircumatanoe has given riie in Now York to ft now branoh of industry. Piokpookot* have begun to vary the monotonous business of abstracting pocket handkerchiefs and purae* by the easier And equally profitable occupation of cutting on lsAies* hsir. Armed with a p*ir of sharp scissors, they h*unt the entrances of the theatres sad ohurobes, wad in general all crowded pUoes; those, ladies who, according to tho prevailing fashion, wear ouris hanging down their backs, suffering most. Journeymen hairdressers out of work

tneir skill to a lucrative 1 accouni' . .ThcS Bishop of New Jersey has announced thai at the next confirmation he will refuse to lay hiia 1 episcopal \ , hands . on any ' head >domed with borrow|ed . tresses!. ' v(V ßut. how, 'unless he empannels .' aTjury of coiffeurs in the vestry, does he propose, to arrive, at a fair judgment between art and nature? , , - A correspondent of a contemporary suggests' that emigration schemes' might be made self- supporting by requiring the emigrant to pay back .his passage money, and other expenses incurred on his ac- ; count,, after he has found regular employment. This plan, although the writer does not seem $o remember it, has lon.> been successf uly carried out by the ( Mormons. When a fresh batch of young women or men are cau.'ht in Wales they are sent out to Mormondom at the coat of ; the agents, but they are required to repay all advances, and in such a community as that which exists at Utah, there is not much chance of evading the obligation. It would be difficult, however, for an English society to keep watch, and ward over all the persons it sent to distant countries. Even if agents were kept in every country it would bo equally impossible to hunt up defaulters— and of course there would be defaulters. A man in New York cannot very well find a man in Minnesota who does not ohoose to give his address. These are praotical diffl culties which* might perhapß be removed by patience and study, and in principle the Mormon plan is decidedly worth attention in sooieties which do not as yet practise polygamy. The letter of "A Shareholder in Colonial Banks" in the Times in regard to the wool speculations of those institutions, shows how little the bitter experience of 1866 has been taken to heart. Everybody knows that it was a divergence from proper banking business which ruined bo many banks about that time, and yet here we find joint-stock companies once more pursuing the same fatal course. It may be asked why has not a bank a right to do a merchant's business when a bank has greater facili ies and more capital to do it with '/ The answer ! is easily found — a merchant has aright to run what risk he likes, because he is supposed to jeopardise only what belongs to him. On the other hand, the bank jeopardises what belongs to other people, and for that sole reason may be equitably held guilty of a fraud in undertaking a risk never contemplated either by shareholders or depositors. The example thus Bet by the colonial banks in dealing in wool is certainly a bad one, and sooner or later its come-, quences will be disastrous. The business of a, bank, conduoteu according to strict principles, cannot realize very large profits for years, and it is much better that it should bo so. The shares of a bank whioh rise to a high premium through the results of exceptional profits will of necessity decline in value when speculation in wool, iron, or whatever jit is, takes an adverse turn, or when there are no more concessions for railways to be had, no more loans to be financed, and no more new companies to be floated. Then comes the reaction with its usual results. Velocipedes are becoming rather common in this country, but the young mt*n of America are, as usual, doing their best to " get ahead" of us. The street* of London do not present a favourable opening for the bicycle, and thoso who like to take their exercise on these vehicles confine themselves at present to Trafalgar square and Waterloo-place. They are trying to get aocew to the parks, bat there are Already quite enough accidents in the oourse of the season to render it undesirable that velocipedes should be allowed to wander among the horses' legs. In Now York the skating rinks have been fitted up as velocipede schools, and the inventors of a now form of the bioyolo have decided to call their praotiiing rooms tha " Gymnacyclidium." Ladies loam to use the velooipode in thU establishment, and men danoo while going at full speed. A band of muiio enlivens tho performance, and the other day Barnum tho showman was hired to arouio tho studenta with » ipeooh. AU this lends variety to life. The velocipede* hare, of oourse, taken up a good ■oare of tho streets, and Now York, always an ill-regulaiod city, muit now present unusual dougor* to the unwary podettrian. Tho aldermen have " inter* forod," but no one mind* thorn. Young America if not to bo checked in the p*th of dutiaotion by an odiot from tho City H*U. In this oountry « * cabby," who delight* in running agunst private vehioloa of way kind, and is never *o happy a* when ho i* taking tho paint off tho tide of a brouflham, will bo qutto au effectual as the polio* in putting down velocipede*. Old Xoodon playgoer* will romombor the d*j* when i^ia sttraotion of Sadler'* Wolb Theatre chiefly depended on dram** in wbioh th» grand feature wm tho employment of ml water, not only in

cascades suoh as we often nee on tHe stage of the present, but,. for the.purpose of i representing a spacious river, or even the sea. .In this flood, created by pipes, communicating, with the New Riv.er, huge ships, could float, and it is recorded that a. mimic Battle of the Nile was in the time of Nelson fought upon its surfaoe. Sometimes, when, a domestic interest was intended, an artist, biped or quadruped, would jump into the water, and at once display a talent for natation, and further the ends of dramatic justice. The pro- ' fimim vnlgus applauded, but in the eyes of the judicious few this primitive form of ultra- realism completely defeated its own object ; for, though the means employed were Beverely natural, the effect was far less so than would • have been produced by the worst possible picture by the worst possible wielder of the brush, the boundless sea as represented at Clerkenwell looking like nothing on earth but a huge dismal cistern. If we are correctly informed, they will do things better at Munich, where in the course of a grand spectacle called "Rheingold" (now in rehearsal) the waters, ef the Rhine will be seen undulating round a rock, and will be crossed by a swimming nymph. About I the swimming nymph we have no doubt, and we accept the fact that one Mdlle. Mallinger is taking lessons in nata'ory art to qualify herself for her important part. The question is whether the waters .will really flow and look like a river, or whether Bavaria is to >>c treated with the old cistern of Clerkenwell.

The banquet given by the Liverpool people to Mr Dickens shows that they highly appreciate the literary character, but probably they never appreciated its irritable side so well as after the gueßts had made their speeches. The belief has not yet died out in England that if you t ring a number of literary gentlemen together, the entertainment will not stand in need of a sharp flavour of asperity, and the Liverpool banquet will, we fear, encourage that impression. Lord Houghton, who last year bade us all strive earnestly to "merit the esteem of his Royal Highness," mildly rallied Mr Dickens on not paying sufficient respect to the House of Lords, whereupon Mr Dickens appears to have asked him what " amazing devil" possessed him to make such a charge, and proceed to furnish an ingeniousbutcomplicated parallel between " Richard Monckton Milnes" and Lord Verißopht. This was a lively begiuning, and other speakers carried on the gentle pastime,, , One complained that while the press was toasted the drama was not. There are no jealousies in the literary profession. Another had the presence of mind to turn the banquet to account for the purpose of making a political speech to prove his advanced Radicalism, and sometimes an investment of that kind pays better than literature in the end. But the audience grew impatient of a s*ump speech, and there were interruptions. After this it needed Mr Dickona'a graceful speech on Woman to restore a convivial feeling. We must all rejoice ♦ha! a great compliment has been paid to Mr Dickens, but we cannot admire the spectacle of brotherly love presented on Saturday to the Liverpool public.