existence solely to my own humour and taste. The majority of the papers it contains have appeared in various periodicals: they have all been the result of hours of relaxation from graver and more severe studies. I have been led to imagine that in a collected form they may possibly afford some amusement-and, on some points, even instruction-to the general reader; and if they can in any measure effect either of these objects, I shall not think my time has been altogether thrown away in their editorship. LONDON, 1859. OLD FACES IN NEW MASKS. FISHWIVES. "La langue d'une poissarde Parisienne coupe au vif comme un glaive à d'eux tranchant."-Vade. "All mad to speak and none to hearken, They set the very dogs a barking; No chattering makes so loud a din As fishwives o'er a cup of gin."-SWIFT. Ir is both interesting and instructive to trace the professional and moral lineaments on the great family of mankind, and to see how habits, and modes of thinking and acting, are transmitted from nation to nation, and from generation to generation, without scarcely any discrepancy or variation. The soldier, the sailor, the lawyer, the merchant, the physician, the author, the comedian, the poet, the critic, and the painter, have all some peculiarities connected with their respective avocations, which neither time nor place materially changes. We recognize the same mental and social physiognomy in every age, and under every clime. And the same thing may be traced, though with somewhat less distinctness, in all the professional walks of life, however humble or unobtrusive. This moral fixity in manners is the basis of the laws of our inward nature. It is the principle on which we B frame declarations, and rules, and judgments, and conclusions respecting human life and character. Were there nothing indelibly imprinted on society, nothing could be useful or interesting respecting its past history. All would be like the surface of the ocean, where every movement is isolated and transitory, and nothing is left as a permanent record of past agitation and change. The fishwomen of all ages have faithfully preserved their general habits, and phases of character. They have been noted for their eloquent vulgarity, their sturdy independence, their unscrupulous extortion, their superstitious feelings, and their clannish attachments. The causes of these fixed features in their intellectual and moral character are various, but may be chiefly referable to the uncertainty connected with the supply of their vendible commodities; the perishable nature of these commodities; the luxurious and dainty light in which they are in several countries and seasons viewed as articles of food; and the risk and dangers to which a fisherman's life is perpetually exposed. These, collectively and individually, may be considered as the efficient, if not the proximate, causes of that distinct unity of character of this race of grondeuse from the earliest times till the present hour, in every nation and clime. The constant habit of intermarrying among each other, so invariably adhered to in fishing communities, both in this and other countries, has excited the attention of some modern writers and philanthropists; and they have been led to suggest that, if this custom were broken in upon, a more decided improvement and change would be effected in the general deportment of fishwomen. They |