IMPROVEMENT IN CONDUCT OF THE LOWER ORDERS OF THE METROPOLIS. 149 Mr. Charles H. Smith, who has had great expe- | tection, and for affording the best opportunities to rience among artisans for the last ten or fifteen the public for their inspection, in order to their years, divides them into two classes (particularly moral and intellectual improvement:" to this more those who cannot go home to their meals) viz.: direct object we intend devoting another paper. into the frequenters of public-houses, and those who visit coffee-shops. The latter are always the best-conducted, and have of late much increased in numbers. Now this brings us to the cause which has mainly led to the improvement, that all the witnesses we have quoted so unhesitatingly affirm, has taken place amongst the lower classes of London. The coffee-shops are copiously supplied with cheap publications, which the poor have there the opportunity of perusing while at their meals; and to these cheap channels of knowledge their improve ment is attributed. In reference to the growing taste for art amongst the labouring classes, Mr. Smith remarks, "I think that feeling has been materially improved since the commencement of the publication of cheap weekly periodicals, the Penny Magazine and Saturday Magazine in particular*." Mr. Britton gives a similar opinion in answer to No. 2146+. Without going further into the cause of this improvement, attention must be directed to the further diffusion of knowledge; than which nothing can so much tend, as the throwing open to the whole public every building or other depository containing works of art. That such a measure would not be abused, the growing and humanising taste for art which exists where it is least expected to be found, and of which there is abundant evidence, is a sufficient guarantee. "You see," remarks Mr. Allan Cunningham, the poet and sculptor," a great number of poor mechanics there, (at the National Gallery,) sitting wondering and marvelling over those fine works, and having no other feeling but that of pleasure or astonishment; they have no notion of destroying them,-I was very much delighted to see them."-These are the " men who are usually called the 'mob,' but they cease to become mob when they get taste:""I saw a great deal of wonder and pleasure; there were what appeared to me to be shoemakers, masons, and joiners ‡." This pleasing evidence of the moral and intellectual improvement of the masses is merely accidentally brought out during examinations upon the main object of the committee, which was "to inquire into the present state of the national monuments and works of art in Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral, and in other public edifices; to consider the best means for their proMuseum, Cathedrals &c., all testify to the exemplary conduct of the crowd" on all occasions. *Nos. 1571 and 1558. + Many of the questions and answers in the page where No. 2146 occurs (p. 109) have been carelessly misplaced and cause the utmost confusion. As these reports are published at a cheap rate for the further spread of useful information, the strictest correctness cannot be too often enforced. Nos. 1845, 1849 and 1850. Mr. J. E. Gray, keeper of the zoological collections in the British Museum, expresses himself warmly on this subject :-"On the days on which a very large number come, it is quite delightful to see the interest that people take; on the holidays I go round often to notice what they are about, and I am delighted to see the manner in which they are examining the collection. The mechanics themselves appear much interested in the specimens ; and you frequently see one who knows more than the others demonstrating the collection to the rest of the party*" Mr. Gray formerly practised as a medical man, and had many opportunities of noticing a very great love of works of natural history. "In leisure hours the Spitalfields weavers," he says, 'may be seen by hundreds working in their little gardens for their own amusement, and evidently taking great delight in that occupation; and you will find that a large number of them go into the country to collect objects of natural history; if you are in search of a rare British insect or bird, you will probably find it amongst these men." There is one charge that has been hitherto laid to the door of the English populace which this report completely acquits them of. They are usually considered as so many organs of destruction; they are famous for writing their names upon buildings and costly ornaments, or cutting their names upon wainscots or public garden seats; they have a sort of celebrity for purloining toes from statues, and for clipping off bits of drapery. It is quite time they should be relieved of a stigma which it appears they no longer deserve. The improvement the working classes have undergone has swept away this vice; if it is still to be associated with the British poor, it must be spoken of in the past tense. Every one of the witnesses belonging to the public exhibitions that have been thrown entirely open are unanimous in recording one most interesting fact; namely, that no single instance of damage great or small has ever occurred to any of the valuables within reach of the public, whether objects of art or of curiosity+: the entire report contains no one example of injury—yes, one; an exception evidently mentioned by Col. Rowan to make the rule of the perfect integrity of the populace the stronger. "I have seen," he states, "10,000 people in the inclosure of St. James's Park.""—"Did you," asks the chairman, "find any inconvenience or any complaints upon that occasion in the Park ?"-" No," replies the colonel, "none, except very trifling mis * No. 3129. † Mr. Hollicombe (Westminster Abbey), No. 1174; Mr. Grundy (Hampton Court), No. 2338; Mr. Seguier, No. 2537 (National Gallery); Mr. Hawkins, No. 3059; and Mr. Gray, No. 3140, (British Museum), &c. &c. chief, not worth mentioning; a very few persons have been taken into custody for breaking a shrub, but not to any very great extent *!" Again, the conduct of foreigners has been contrasted with ours in this respect, very much to the disadvantage of the English multitude; but what says Mr. Gray? "I have been astonished to hear people say that it is an English habit to deface and destroy. As far as I have observed, foreigners are much more destructive; and if much more mischief is not done on the Continent, I believe it arises from the feeling that people have, that they are under supervision either from a policeman who is keeping them in control, or that possibly the next man to them may be a policeman in disguise. I have observed a great love of mischief in people on the Continent where such protection is not placed; for instance, in William Tell's Chapel on the Lake of the Four Cantons, which is about twice the size of this room, you will find upon the wall many names written with black paint, and names also written upon the ceiling with links. Now this chapel is so placed, that people could not have written their names in that way without carrying a ladder for a mile, and a paint-pot in a boat for a long distance. The names are mostly Germant." REWARDS FOR VIRTUE AND TALENT IN PARIS. THE old Chiffonnier portrayed, in a recent number of our journal, the crimes of a deep dye which frequently come to light in the Journal des Tribunaux, and which, too often translated into the English newspapers, exhibit the morals and social condition of France, especially of Paris, in a state much to be deplored. The inefficiency of the laws to reach certain offences of a character which ought to be considered too horrible to be recorded contribute, in a great degree, to the social evils which abound in that country-evils that have unhappily become national, and can only be remedied by legislative interference. From so dark a picture, how delightful is it to turn to the bright side, and to witness the efforts of private or sectional benevolence which are now strenuously exerted in France ! The following report, which we copy from the Morning Chronicle of June 24, gives a bright touch to the picture of French morals, which while it brings out the more sombre hues in higher relief, adds very considerably to the pleasure the philanthropic spectator must feel in contemplating it. "One of the most interesting exhibitions of Paris has just taken place, viz., the distribution of prizes accorded by the Académie Française for the most *No. 1395. This answer does not manifestly apply to one particular occasion, as the question suggests. It is clear Col. Rowan, by saying "have been taken into custody," referred to the whole time the inclosure has been thrown open. † No. 3148. useful literary works, and the best instances of moral actions during the past year. The Assembly was held at the Institute, in the beautiful circular hall of the Académie, which is arranged like an amphitheatre, with benches of green velvet; the galleries are divided by four exquisite statues of Bossuet, Fenelon, Descartes, and Sully, and the ceiling terminates in a highlywrought dome; the seats were early filled by all the élite remaining in Paris. There were about sixty members of the Academy present, most of whom wore their costume which is like our civilian court dress; the coat is black, profusely embroidered with green leaves. An interesing detail was first read by the secretary, relative to the nature of the literary productions which were to be rewarded, and he ended by announcing that the prize for poetry (fifteen hundred francs) on the given theme, "The influence of Christian Civilization in the East," had been gained by M. Alfred des Essarts, who would read his poem to the audience. The young author was then led up to the president, from whom he received a rich gold medal; and, amidst warm plaudits from the members, he read aloud his manuscript. Nothing could be in better taste than his execution of this trying task, in which he happily avoided the tameness of an amateur and the exaggeration of an artiste. His demeanour was unaffected, his personal appearance advantageous and gentlemanly, his age not exceeding four-and-twenty. With so many recommendations to the notice of his audience, it may be supposed what attention his really fine poem received, and what enthusiastic plaudits followed the most spirited passages. A prize of 5000 francs was given to M. Roybaud, for a work refuting the Socialist systems of Saint Simon, Fourier, and Robert Owen. Of the eight prizes for works most useful to morality, six were to female writers, who, as the secretary gallantly said, had united elegance with power, and purity with industry. Among the translations Baroness Carlowitz received 2000f. for a translation of Klopstock's Messiah. When the literary rewards were bestowed, the prizes for virtuous actions were detailed by the directeur, M. de Jouy, who is so well known in England, by his " Hermit of the Chaussée d'Antin,” published many years ago, and the origin of the school of those short, characteristic sketches, which have abound of late years in both countries. He is a fine-looking old man, of nearly eighty, fair, with a good colour, and a profusion of long white hair. His reading, however, (being "sans teeth") was not of the clearest order, and caused many a smile among the younger academicians, of which the venerable reader was unconscious. A sum of 10,000 francs (£400) was given among four persons for praiseworthy acts; the first prize, 151 VIRTUE AND TALENT IN PARIS.-THE RAJAH OF TRAVANCORE. of 3000 francs, to a poor washerwoman, who, A further sum of 10,000f. was given in smaller portions, for instances of virtue and domestic good conduct in humble life, the parties residing in the provinces. The meeting terminated with the announcement of the prize themes for the ensuing year, and likewise the grand prize to be awarded in 1844, viz., 10,000f. for the best five-act tragedy or comedy, in verse, by a Frenchman, printed and performed in France, which shall be moral and applauded.' The members of the French Academy are alone excluded from trying to gain the prize. 6000f. will be given among the translators of the most useful ancient or modern works during the half-year; and finally the sum of 1500f. 'to assist a young writer, or poor artist whose talent deserves encouragement, to pursue the career of letters or the fine arts."" The details of this admirable institution have been given at some length, as being well worthy of imitation in our own public-spirited nation, the majority of the prizes being bequeathed by liberal individuals, who long after their own demise cause the hearts of genius and virtue to rejoice greatly; and many a sinking spirit finds an incentive to conquer untoward circumstances, by the gratifying notice and honour bestowed at so light an expense. As England possesses so much more literary talent than France, why should not her literature be at least equally honoured and rewarded? THE RAJAH OF TRAVANCORE. Ar the last meeting of the British Association, Mr. Caldecott presented a series of hourly meteorological observations at Trevandrum, in the south of India, for which he stated that he was indebted to his highness the Rajah of Travancore, who had established an observatory at that place, and on learning that the Association considered that a set of hourly meteorological observations within the tropics would be highly conducive to the cause of science, immediately provided Mr. Caldecott with the means of procuring them. At the dinner given by the Lord Provost and Magistrates of Glasgow, at the termination of the meeting, Sir David Brewster proposed as a He stated that this prince was only twenty-eight years of age, and had not reigned more than ten years, but during that short period he had caused himself to be distinguished by his accomplishments as well as by his liberality. He was educated by his prime minister-a rare tutor for a sovereign. The prime minister was a Brahmin from Tanjore, and, what was also remarkable, he had been educated by a man of science and a missionary, Swartz*, the well-known author of the " Flora Botanica." This excellent man had sent home many exotic plants that grew in the favoured clime of India; but he had left behind him, what was far more valuable, the seeds of knowledge and civilization,-seeds that were beginning to germinate in India, and which would soon exhibit their natural growth of stems and leaves. Might they not hope, too, that he had left them some of the seeds of morality and religion, and that these might yet overshadow by their extensive foliage the land in which they had been planted? The Association had at one of their meetings voted a sum of money for determining how long physical seed might lie in the ground, and yet retain life; but they required no money to know that the seeds of morality and religion never died, and that in the arrangements of Providence, one day or other, they would bear a certain harvest. The Rajah had established schools within his dominions-he had established a mathematical school, under English superintendence; but he had done more he had done what, he was sorry to say, had neither been done in England, Scotland, nor Ireland-he had established a school in every village of his dominions-and he gave education to every child male and female: he begged them to mark the word female-a change in Indian customs that might lead to the happiest results. He was informed on good authority that there was not a child, who had reached eight years of age, not capable of reading and writing. But this distinguished prince, not satisfied with advancing the interests of elementary education, had established an observatory, where observations were carried on with the same success as under British interests. The Rajah had also established a magnetical and meteorological observatory, having been led to do so by becoming acquainted with a report on meteorology, published by the British Association; and the observations taken there were found to be as accurate as those taken in Edinburgh, Philadelphia, and other places. * See pages 86, 117. MADAGASCAR. NO. I.-THE COUNTRY. THERE are few parts of the globe which are entitled, either by their geographical position, their natural advantages, or the moral and social features of their inhabitants, to more attentive examination than Madagascar. This island occupies in regard to Africa a position analogous to that of Great Britain in respect to the European Continent, though the Mozambique channel which separates it from the main-land is of vastly greater dimensions than the British Channel,-it extends through the finest parts of the torrid into the temperate zone,-it lies directly across one of the most frequented of commercial routes, that between Europe and India, being not many days' sail from the Cape of Good Hope on the one hand, and the islands of Bourbon and Mauritius on the other, and has, therefore, long afforded a harbour to vessels belonging to various nations engaged in the Indian trade*; yet such is the obscurity which has until recently hung over all parts of it, except a few trading stations on the coast, that we find a French traveller of intelligence in the latter half of the last century gravely stating the existence in its interior of a nation of dwarfs, and a passage bearing the same purport still holds its place in one of the most popular of our School-books on Geography. This ignorance of its interior parts is doubtless to be in part attributed to the generally unbroken mass which the island presents to the sea, rendering access to its central districts much more difficult than if divided by straits, or deeply indented by gulfs and inlets, like New Zealand and many other islands. Madagascar extends from north to south through a length of nearly 1000 miles, with an average breadth of about 250,-its widest part, between Cape St. Andrew, and the Eastern Coast, being nearly 350 miles; the whole surface of the island is about 225,000 square miles,-nearly 3 times the size of Great Britain, and considerably greater than the extent of France. The Mozambique Channel, at its narrowest part-between the middle of the island and the main land-is 250 miles across, and increases in breadth towards each extremity of Madagascar, where it is more than double that extent. The physical conformation of Madagascar is singular: although hilly, and in many parts even mountainous, in its interior no continuous range extends through the island. A broad belt of level country, scarcely raised above the sea, and in many places consisting of marshes, stretches entirely round the island, excepting on the south * St. Augustine's Bay on the S. W. side of Madagascar, the usual place of resort for vessels passing through the Mozambique Channel, is between 6 and 700 leagues distant from the Cape of Good Hope, and the distance in a straight line between the island of Mauritius and Tamatave, the most frequented port on the eastern coast, is 520 miles. eastern coast in the neighbourhood of Fort Dauphin, where the shores are often bold and steep: the extent of this level region, from the coast towards the interior, varies on the eastern side of the island from between 10 to 50 miles, on the western coast its width is from 50 to 100 miles, and of the island which lies within this border of low in some places even more than this. All that part country, appears to consist of an elevated plateau, the surface of which, with the exception of a few which run in various directions. districts, is covered with hills forming short chains The general elevation of this table-land is probably not less than from 3 to 4,000 feet, and some of the mountains upon it rise to perhaps an equal height, so that the loftiest summits in the country may attain an elethe highest mountains in the island are those of vation of about 8000 feet above the sea. Among Ankaratra, to the south of the province of Ankova, and nearly in the centre of the island. The highlands of the interior approach, as we have seen, nearer to the eastern than to the western coast; in proceeding from Majanga (on the N. W. shores) towards the capital, Tananarivo (in the central province of Ankova), the country for the first 60 land becomes more elevated, thence high and in miles consists of morasses,-40 miles further the many parts desert plains stretch into the interior*. But on the eastern side the road from Tamatave to the capital rises at a much less distance from the sea, and traverses almost throughout a difficult and hilly country. In consequence of this formation, the rivers of Madagascar, which are exceedingly numerous, able fall and flow with great rapidity, often forming have in the earlier part of their courses a considercataracts, while in the level plains round their coast waters reaching the sea during the dry season of the current is so slight as scarcely to allow their the year. Most of the rivers thus form bars of able obstacle to navigation, as likewise does the sand at their mouths, which constitute a considerextreme rapidity of their earlier courses in this mountainous country. Some of them are, however, navigable for a considerable distance ;—thus the Portsibooka, one of the largest in the island, which falls into the bay of Rembatooka (on the N. W. coast), can be ascended by boats to a distance of 160 miles from its mouth. Both in the mountainous regions of the interior, and in the level country along the coast, lakes are numerous+: *"An account of the Ovahs, in the interior of Madagascar, by Capt. Lewis; "-Journal of Roy. Geog. Soc. vol. v. p. 230, et seq. † None of these interior lakes are indicated in our map, although several are known to exist, among which are Lake Itasy in Ankova, Anosy in Antsianaka, and numerous others. But in regard to the interior of the country, the map, although prepared from the best sources of information, can only be looked on as an approximation to the truth. The coast is taken from the accurate survey of it, together with that of the shores of Africa, made by Capt. W. F. W. Owen, R.N., in the year? 1821-6. tance of 200 miles, several of them diversified by small islets, and their shores covered with verdure. most of those in the latter situation seem to be | lagoons, extends along the eastern coast for a disformed by the rivers spreading over the flat plains near their mouths, and, as they have outlets to the sea, their waters are brackish and in some cases decidedly salt. A chain of these lakes, or rather A great portion of the island consists of granite, sienite, and similar formations; various kinds of slate and limestone are also abundant. In many places there are distinctly-marked indications of former volcanic action, the rocks for several miles being composed of lava; scoria and pumice-stone are also occasionally found; but no volcanoes are at present believed to be in active operation by those who have resided for some time in the island. Silver is said to exist in the central parts, and copper is occasionally found; but the most valuable mineral product is iron, which is obtained in abundance in the interior provinces of Ankova and Antaianaka, in the former of which great quantities of ore are found on the surface of the ground, or are procured by the natives on penetrating to the depth of a few feet. The only fuel used in the smelting of this is charcoal, since no coal has yet been discovered, although there are grounds for |