On one side of the court would be placed the steam-pistol, managed by a skilful attendant. The parties having tossed for the first stand, the one who loses is to place himself on a carpet, or other similar article, at the distance of twelve paces from the pistol, and directly in front of it; whilst the other places himself directly behind it, and close to it. The tube is to have given it by the machinery a never-ceasing, moderately-quick, eccentric motion; and at any moment when the duellist who stands behind it may deem its mouth pointed at his adversary, it is to be discharged by the attendant. If the bullet take no effect, the person who has stood steam is then to quit his position, which the other duellist is to occupy, to undergo in his turn the steam of his opponent. Two shots each should be the extent of the allowance, and no more should be suffered on any pretence whatsoever.

I am not without fear, I confess, that this eccentrically-moving pistol would be found too harmless; and that,- -men of eminent honour and spirit leading an opposition,-the general public would at last insist upon having it rigidly fixed. If such came to be the case, and the spot where the duellist stood to receive the shot continued still to be marked out by a carpet or other matter, as I have proposed, the first shot would settle the business-for it would invariably be fatal: all then would depend on the tossing-up.

It may be urged, indeed, that the very purpose for which the institution of duelling is upheld would thus be better answered; for if a pistol loaded with ball be now esteemed more socially efficacious than a sturdy fist, a pistol that never misses its aim must certainly be more efficacious than one uncertain in that respect. And, really, if duelling be desirable at all, I do not see how such reasoning can be refuted.

One or more of these duel-courts should exist in every large town, and should be open to use on consideration of a moderate sum, the amount of which must be settled by parliament. There might be three classes of accommodation, such as exist on railroads, which undertakings have already been cited as illustrating my proposition. The pistol might have three varieties of ornament on its exterior-gold, silver, and copper-which should be fitted on according to the payment of the customers. The duellist who exposed himself to the shot might be provided also with a brilliantly-coloured, soft carpet, a common rug, or a rush mat to stand upon, as he chose to disburse a first-class, second-class, or third-class price; and in the event of his being hit, the first of

these would be found so much more comfortable and elegant to fall upon, that I confidently expect it would be in much demand, notwithstanding its being rated the most highly. The court might be fitted up with galleries, in which the friends of the principals could witness the duel; and-if such a course were considered agreeable-the public at large might be admitted for a reasonable amount. To ensure, on this latter understanding, a full attendance, and consequently to increase the national revenue, any duel between well-known persons should be advertised a day or more before the period of its coming off; and the principals in the affair, if lovers of their country, as men of honour should be, would enable the authorities to do this by giving timely notice of

their intention.

Many of the annoying little discomforts of duelling, as pursued at present, would have no being in my proposed system. In consequence of the existing illegality, duels are usually fought very early in the morning by men on an empty stomach; and the ill effects of unusually early rising, and the cold morning air to those fasting, are well established with physicians. In my duelcourts, on the contrary, as the whole matter would be superintended by government, a party might hire the pistol at any time during the day or evening when it was disengaged, and might take refreshments before they arrived, or order them on the premises, as they preferred. The steam for the pistol should be got up at six every morning, and continue at a satisfactory pressure till ten in the evening; and a bill of fare should hang up in an ante-room leading to the court, containing a list of those refreshments in usual demand which can be immediately supplied.

It will be perceived by the judicious reader that my duel-court would also obviate all those difficulties about placing your man, arising from sun and wind, which are now so puzzling to seconds. Skill, too, would be nearly equalised. No crack shot could calculate on success, as he may now calculate; for I earnestly recommend that practice in the court be altogether prohibited: the pistol must be let out only for actual duels.

I anticipate one plausible objection to a chief part of my scheme, which I shall here beg to meet. It will be urged that as every important project in Great Britain-to the subjects of which my proposal is principally addressed-is undertaken by companies, these duel-courts should be undertaken in the same manner; that each town should have its own company, whilst in

large towns and the metropolis, where more than one company would be required, they should still be kept perfectly distinct; that just as gas and water are now supplied to the inhabitants of various districts, their honour should be attended to. But I must strongly protest against such a mercantile and degrading manner of viewing the subject. This delicate and aristocratic sense of honour is a thing per se, and must be confounded with no other thing. If it be wished by the rulers of a nation that the feeling should be fostered, the whole system of duelling must be made national, and must be placed under the direct control of government: otherwise if it were abandoned to commercial enterprise, and allowed to be a matter of speculation, the true intent of the institution would be lost in a base passion for making money; one duel-court would compete with another; quarrels would be fomented with an eye to business; rival touters at the entrances of the courts would invite gentlemen passing to come in and have a cheap shot; and every neighbourhood would be set in an uproar by shareholders who would think only of their dividends. By throwing the affair entirely into the hands of government, these corruptions would be prevented. Any anxiety to promote duelling, on account of the money which the duel would cost the individuals engaged in it, must flow entirely from an abstract care for the public revenue-and we all know enough of British human nature in the nineteenth century to be aware, that considerations of that sort would be very unimportant in strength.

But it will further be objected to my whole design that the idea of legalising duelling, and discussing, in open parliament, national arrangements proper to it, is in its very nature preposterous; and that though the custom is, indeed, winked at, it is hopeless to expect that it would ever be plainly recommended to the people at large for adoption. Moreover, that such a publicly-recognised, common-place system-supposing it practicable-would take away the greater part of the excitement which, as matters stand, invests the subject with a charm; and that, besides, by throwing open the duelling-courts to all who could afford to pay for their use, duelling would be completely vulgarised, and, ceasing to be a distinctive mark of social superiority, would rapidly fall into disfavour with those elevated classes who now chiefly practise it.

To the latter, and least important, part of these objections I must reply, that whatever is good for one class must be good for all classes; and that, in the present day, it is vain to expect that

any custom can much longer be preserved as a privilege: if duelling be proper for noblemen, it is proper for coalheavers. With respect to those formidable objections which directly oppose my whole project by asserting that duelling never can be legalised, I can only say that they may be right for anything I know. My proposal is based entirely on the position assumed by the advocates of duelling, that the practice is beneficial; but if they shrink from an open investigation of the question, their position, I maintain, as well as my proposal, falls to the ground. Whatever is beneficial ought, in a rational society, to be legal; and if the representatives of the British people, in Parliament assembled, dare not legalise duelling, or are unwilling to do so, let duelling be considered unbeneficial and no longer be tolerated, or the British people cease to call themselves rational.

A. W.

TEMPTATIONS OF THE POOR.

THE temptations of the poor compared with the temptations of the rich, what are they? Only feathers in the scale, while the opposite side is heaped with gold.

Wealth, power, and fame, these, in the bright sunshine of life, tempt man to their abuse. The poor have no temptations!

Such is the opinion of thousands of their fellow-creatures. Such is the mockery that falls daily from the lips of men who revel in the luxuries of life, while others exist only in their sufferings.

The poor have no temptations: let us analyse this seeming truth, this charitable consideration for the temptation of the rich, this scornful rejection of palliation for the crimes of the poor. Crime undeniably stands forth the same in its glaring form in every order of society; and man cannot safely presume to judge how far circumstances may plead in its extenuation: but the existence of these is often unheeded, the cry of want unheard, the actual presence of destitution unseen and unknown. Men wonder

at the crimes of the poor, and forget their temptations.

First and foremost amongst the trials of which we write stands sickness. With the comforts of life scattered in plenty around,

with all that medical aid can suggest, and friends and attendants hasten to effect, disease, in the character it too often assumes, is an appalling affliction. But when it attacks the poor and destitute, when the sufferer is stretched on his wretched mattress, his uncovered limbs shrinking from the chilling atmosphere, when the selfishness of his own sorrow is struggling in his heart with the fear of contagion for those around him, when he knows that if the spirit of life flies from its forlorn tenement, he leaves behind him desolation and misery, spread among the few he loves; and if he bears up against the disease, it may be months before he recovers his strength and is enabled to return again to his labour. Is not this temptation? or rather, is not the heart of the man who, from his bed of sickness, can contemplate this, possessed of greater strength, in faith, in hope, than belongs to much of human nature? The facts we purpose giving to the reader are, for the most part, gleaned from our own experience.

The father of a young and numerous family, who (with the exception of the eldest son) were dependent on him for support, was seized with an infectious fever. The family, occupying two small and ill-ventilated rooms, could scarcely hope to escape contagion, and were thrown for support upon the exertions of the eldest son, who had hitherto been employed as a labourer. Information of the contagious nature of his father's disease had, it appeared, been given to his employers, who, apprehensive that its poisonous breath might already have tainted the son, dismissed him from their service, and sent him forth a beggar. The boy-for he was scarcely sixteen years of age-in the recklessness of despair committed a theft, for which he was afterwards tried and transported.

We will give another instance which occured in a manufacturing district, where the sufferings of those who could obtain no labour were beyond all parallel. A weaver, whose wife had recently died, had striven hard to procure the necessary comforts for his child, a girl of twelve years of age, who was sinking fast under the ravages of consumption. Her situation had proved to the utmost the truth of the observation, "that but for the poor, the might perish" their neighbours, in equal want to themselves, did the little that lay in their power to assist them; but, at last, even such aid was exhausted, and the father, who had watched over his child for hours, felt that if nourishment were not quickly procured, not a vestige of hope remained. He hurried

poor