sleep-the ignorance which pervades "low life" in London, have all to be examined. We cannot of course do that in a few sentences which Mr. Mayhew failed to do in one bulky volume of 1200 pages, and to which he now finds it necessary to add a supplement which promises to be of a much larger size. Of all kinds of deprivation, that which concerns the mind is, in a Christian country, the most cruel and the most unwise. The man who is taught to read and think will keep himself out of his misery; but he who is ignorant must be assisted, and not only that, but he will constantly need that assistance. We have quoted Mr. Vanderkiste's assertion that "Heathenism is the religion of the metropolis;" we will add to it the opinion and experience of Mr. Godwin and ourselves. In" Short's Gardens," Drury Lane, children may be met with of ten and twelve years of age, who have never heard of God, and who when asked about Jesus Christ,

obliged to issue notices against the overcrowding of the lodging-houses, and in many and many a court and alley, two or three families inhabit the same room. Men and their wives, and other grown-up women, occupy the same beds, brothers and sisters of mature ages share the same sleeping apartment, and yet the rent paid for these rooms is enormous, eighteen pence, two shillings, and half-a-crown per week being frequently given for a third, fourth, or fifth share of a miserable room. Many of these on the ground floor have cesspools beneath them! "It is a dreadful task," writes a correspondent of Mr. Godwin, a task to make the heart ache, and the head fail to revolve in powerless silence the manifold misery of the London poor. Imagination dares not dwell upon the probable ravages of death, among wretches huddled upon a few rotten planks over reeking cesspools, inhaling the breath that streams from the huge nostrils of drafty sewers, or chained to the gates of men who" didn't know the gentleman's name,” and poison their fellow-creatures in scoffing security." "Who must account," again asks the same writer, "for the lives of those innocent multitudes that you fling from the very cradle to the grave?" Ay! who indeed? We can pursue this portion of our theme no longer; the monster evil must be cured by a monster reform, but the time has not yet arrived for it, and the populace, diverted by war and political events, seem, at the time we write, more anxious about the trial of one poisoner, than about the cause which poisons thousands upon thousands. But we must remark this, that in London alone, killed by overwork, bad pay, adulterated food, impure lodgings, starvations, and other causes which act upon "low life," 20,000 human beings every year are prematurely carried to miserable graves provided by the parish or their scarcely less wretched friends.

If our limits are exhausted our subject is not; the food, the Sunday and Saturday night market, the pittance paid for a week of close hard work, the method of spending Sabbath-generally in low debauchery or in uneasy and exhausting

had not heard it except in a drunken oath. Poor children! they had need learn it, for they are soon summoned before the bar of God. The average length of life about that district with the tradesmen and the gentlemen is forty-five years-with the representative of "low life" it is but sixteen! This fact speaks for itself. But besides preparing him for another world, education would prolong the poor creature's life in this. From a very extensive observation, one writer declares" that in all those whom he has observed battling nobly with the tremendous difficulties of extreme poverty, and maintaining a degree of order, cleanliness, and endeavor after spiritual life, only to be secured by great and incessant exertion, it has been found that in nearly all cases the parties had in youth, attended some National, or British, or other charity school." If education will and does do this-the scanty education, remember, hastily cropped by the poor-what would not a more wide, wise, and extended plan effect towards eradicating the follies, vices, and miseries ever attendant upon "Low Life in London"?

From Fraser's Magazine.

CURIOSITIES OF CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE FROM THE TWO SICILIES.*

BY VICESIMUS SMATTERLING, B.L.

We will deal, however, in the first instance, with the Italian literature of the metropolis. The little work we refer to is a handy duodecimo, bearing the date of 1855. Of its useful character no doubt can be entertained, from the official license to print appended to it, and of which we give a translation:

"GENERAL COUNCIL OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. "No. 28. "Naples, 4th July, 1855. "Having seen the request of the printer, Giuseppe Cuorno, whereby he has asked to reprint" [here follows the title] "Having seen the opinion of the Rev. Revisor, Signor Don Pietro Calandrelli,

I PROPOSE in this paper to give some | Sicilian shepherd of the present day is ensamples of the popular literature by which, couraged to indulge. amongst other means, the subjects of that excellent and pious prince (so little appreciated in England, except by Mr. Bowyer,) King Ferdinand of Naples, are trained, both morally and intellectually, in habits of reverence towards the Church, and affection towards the king. These samples happily come from both sides of the Straits of Messina, and thus illustrate the teaching of a paternal government over the whole extent of its dominions. The one, printed at the capital, and in the polite Italian, may show how the Neapolitan youth of the educated classes acquire that freedom of intellect, that turn of thought at once practical and scientific, which distinguishes them so highly. The other, the growth of the Sicilian soil, a bright pattern of its native dialect, may be supposed rather to address itself to the so-called "masses ;" and avowing everywhere the highest moral aims, is moreover remarkable for the familiarity which it displays with facts of history hitherto unknown. The reader will judge from it of the elegant poetical relaxations in which, under his sunny skies and sunnier rule, the

(Those who can recollect magazine articles more than a year old, may connect the latter half of this paper with two which appeared in Fraser for September and November, 1854, entitled "A Handful closed the gentle and playful hand which should have concluded that series by treating of Lu Vivu Mortu. Speaking of Italian dialects, it may be as well to refer here to a most valuable work on the subject of those of Northern Italy which has been placed in my hands since the date of the above articles-the Saggio sui Dialetti Gallo-Italici di B. Bion delli. Milano: Gius. Bernardoni di Gio, 1853,)

of Italian Patois Books." Death since then has

"Permission is given to reprint the work above named; nevertheless, it is not to be published without a second permission, which is not to be given until the same Rev. Revisor shall have certified that he has ascertained by approved original.. collation, that the edition is conformable to the

(Signed) "The Councillor of State, President Provv. Capomazza; the General Secretary, Giuseppe Pietrocola."

Happy country, in which the diffusion of literary poison is so carefully guarded against, in which "Reverend Revisors" are at hand not only to read all books before they are printed or reprinted, but also carefully to collate the copy submitted for approval, with the actual edition! The authority with which this little work comes forth, can only be measured by supposing a similar publication in England to be certified by Lord Granville and the Secretary to the Privy Council, after strict revision by the editor of the Record newspaper. And when it is observed that the number of the license is only twenty-eight, so that (presumably) by the fourth of July of the year only twenty-seven other works had been allowed to issue from the Nea

return in the Lord's great day, with all | another list), to be a collection of sample such as cherish and distribute them; and ventures. of small avail will it be in that day to have gabbled a little Scripture Latin over them.

We have now reached page 156 of the book. Some deeply interesting pages now begin, headed by original letter-press:

"INTERPRETATION OR EXPLANATION OF DREAMS.

er nations, held and observed with so much ven-
eration the experience of dreams, that whenever
anything had been dreamed by them, as soon as
they awoke from their dream they went to seek
the diviners, to be told its meaning. Various
authors have treated of this matter, but with so
much obscurity and confusion, that they have
been scarcely intelligible. We have now reduced
into alphabetical order the rules and expound-
Those which
ings of the quality of dreams.
one has at the beginning of sleep, whilst the
mind rests from the thoughts and occupations
of the day, because of the vapors of the food
which ascend to the brain, are accounted but so
many various and diverse fancies of the mind,
and are called insogni, unworthy of all notice.
True dreams (sogni) are those which take place
after the digestion of the food, when the natural
pered the memory, the mind remains, and the
heat having consumed that matter which ham-
quiet spirit taking strength, becomes relieved
from the burthen of that mischief. But, in
truth, one should not trust in dreams, because
"De futuris contingentibus nulla est deter-
minata veritas." Nevertheless it has seemed
good to bring to light the alphabet of the matters
self select what he has dreamed, to try his
indicated, in order that every one may for him-
fortune."

Well, twelve pages are devoted to the aforesaid most useful tables. Then follows a list, one hundred pages long, of "all-The ancient Egyptians and Chaldeans, and othnames of persons, trades, animals, and other things, placed in alphabetical order," including a special selection "of some names of the best known kingdoms, with their respective numbers;" one of "the circles and communes of the kingdom of Naples, with their respective numbers;" and again, "of some most usual names of men, with their respective numbers;" and lastly, of "the best known animals." The meaning of the above lists may puzzle many persons, and did me till explained by the friend who brought back the work itself from a late visit to Naples. How the correspondence between the words and the numbers is established, I do not profess to know; but the purpose of the list is to make use of the numbers representing the words appropriate to any circumstance whatever, in order to "try the luck" of it. Thus, suppose I saw a corporal tweaking the nose of his serjeant, this would afford a combination of three numbers, namely, caporale, 16, naso, 83, and sergente, 13; and thus by playing 16-83-13, I should have, as the title-page says, a moral probability of winning-the greater if I played them "straight and reversed." Even the souls in purgatory, we are told, are sometimes pressed into

this service!

66

From the abundance of novel matter which "the art of becoming rich" affords, I am compelled to leave much unnoticed. My readers will, however, no doubt be much grieved to hear that amongst the names of the best known kingdoms"which in the list are followed by those of their peoples-occur neither Great Britain, England, Scotland, nor Ireland; whilst we discover those of "Corfu and Corfiote," of "Morea" (curiously connected with "Moors"-Mori), and even of "Europe, European." The list of the "best known animals" is equally remarkable. Not only does it include "fish-roe" and "feather," but also, strange as it may seem, “rum!" Next comes a "list for playing at the lottery." This I imagine, from the woodcuts, to which it corresponds (more or less, for some of the cuts seem to belong to

One is almost afraid that the Reverend Revisor is occasionally seized with misgivings, and takes refuge in the insertion of a Latin quotation. Why throw doubt upon useful information by reminders of the alleged uncertainty of the future? Is not the very object of this "true art of becoming rich," specially licensed to be reprinted, with its new astrological enrichments, by the "General Council of Public Instruction," that of chaining down the future to the will of the scientific speculator instructed by its pages?

Let us give, however, some samples of the valuable information thus conveyed:

"To ascend the pulpit, means to be honored. "A small beard, means a great law-suit (the litigant having probably pulled it out by handfuls).

"To wash one's beard, means anxiety.
"To eat embers, means damage.

* I translate somewhat freely, as the text is both grammatically and typographically most incorrect

"A lighted candle means imprisonment. "To talk with a philosopher, means deception. "To see a man killed, means safety. "To see oneself with a harlot, means safety. "To sing hymns or thanksgivings, means ill-or, again, a table of golden numbers and ness (!).

The reader having now seen the abstruse scientific instruction diffused in the official "To see a siren (!) means betrayal. language by the educational authorities of "To commit adultery, means giving scan- Naples, we will now refresh him by a taste dal (!)."