ning over its pebbly bed close behind the streets, the town was acknowledged to be, in the fond language of its inhabitants, a bonny place. An honest old burgher was enabled by some strange chance to visit Paris, and was eagerly questioned, when he came back, as to the character of that capital of capitals; o which, it is said, he answered that Paris, a' thing considered, was a wonderful place-but still, Peebles for pleesure!' and this has often been cited as a ludicrous example of rustic prejudice and narrowness of judgment. But, on a fair interpretation of the old gentleman's words, he was not quite so benighted as at first appears. The pleesures of Peebles were the beauties of the situation and the opportunities of healthful recreation it afforded, and these were certainly consider.bie.

There was an old and a new town in Peebles-each of them a single street, or little more; and as even the new town had an antique look, it may be inferred that the old looked old indeed. It was, indeed, chiefly composed of thatched cottages, occupied by weavers and labouring people-a primitive race of homely aspect, in many instances eking out a scanty subsistence by having a cow on the town common, or cultivating a rig of potatoes in the fields close to the town. Rows of porridge luggies (small wooden vessels) were to be seen cooling on window-soles; a smell of peat smoke pervaded the place; the click of the shuttle was everywhere heard during the day; and in the evening, the gray old men came out in their Kilmarnock night-caps, and talked of Bonaparte, on the stone seats beside their doors. The platters used in these humble dwellings were all of wood, and the spoons of horn; knives and forks rather rare articles. The house was generally divided into two apartments by a couple of box-beds, placed end to end-a bad style of bed, prevalent in cottages all over Scotland; they were so close as almost 10 stifle the inmates. Among these humble people, all costumes, customs, and ways of living smacked of old times. You would see a venerable patriarch making his way to church on Sunday, with a long-backed, swing-tailed, light-blue coat of the style of George II., which was probably his marriage coat, and half a century old. His head-gear was a broad-brimmed blue bonnet. The old woman came out on the same orcasions in red scarfs, called cardinals, and white mutches (caps), bound by a black ribbon, with the gray hair folded back on the forehead. There was a great deal of drugget, and huckaback, and serge in that old world, and very little cotton. One almost might think he saw the humbler Scotch people of the seventeenth century before his eyes.

William Chambers, in that part of the volume devoted to his autobiographic reminiscences, says of Peebles:

Among that considerable part of the population who lived down closes and in old thatched cottages, news circulated at third or fourth hand, or was merged in conversation on religious or other topics. My brother and I derived much enjoyment, not to say instruction. from the singing of old ballads, and the telling of legendary stories, by a kind old female relative, the wife of a decayed tradesman, who dwelt in one of the ancient closes. At her humble fireside, under the canopy of a huge chimney, where her half-blind and superannuated husband sat dozing in a chair, the battle of Corunna and other prevailing news was strangely mingled with disquisitions on the Jewish wars. The source of this interesting conversation was a well-worn copy of L'Estrange's translation of Josephus, a small folio of date 1720. The envied possessor of the work was Tam Fleck, 'a flichty chield,' as he was considered, who, not particularly steady at his legitimate employment, struck out a sort of profession by going about in the evenings with his Josephus, which he read as the current news: the only light he had for doing so being usually that impart d by the flickering blaze of a piece of parrot coal, It was his practice not to read more than from two to three pages at a time, interlarded with sagacious remarks of his own by way of foot-notes, and in this way he sustained an extraordinary interest in the narrative. Retailing the matter with great equability in different households, Tam kept all at the same point of information, and wound them up with a corresponding anxiety as to the issue of some moving event in Hebrew annals. Although in this way he went through a course of Josephus yearly, the novelty somehow never seemed to wear off.

Weel, Tam, what's the news the nicht?' would old Geordie Murray say, as

Tam entered with his Josephus under his arm, and seated himself at the family fires.de.

Bad news, bad news,' replied Tam. Titus has begun to besiege Jerusalemit's gaun to be a terrible business; and then he opened his budget of intelligence, to which all paid the most reverential attention. The protracted and severe famine which was endured by the besieged Jews, was a theme which kept several families in a state of agony for a week; and when Tam in his readings came to the final conflict and destruction of the city by the Roman general, there was a perfect paroxysm of horror. At such séauces my brother and I were delighted listeners. All honour to the memory of Tam Fleck.

Misfortune overtook the old bourgeois family of Chambers, in Peebles. They removed to Edinburgh, and there the two brothers, William and Robert Chambers, fought hard and nobly to gain a pʊsition in life. How they struggled, manfully and cheerfully-never relaxing, never complaining-is told in the Memoir' from which we have quoted, and which is the most interesting and instructive narrative of the kind that has issued from the press since Hugh Miller wrote his Schools and Schoolmasters.' In 1868, the university of St. Andrews conferred on Robert the honorary degree of LL.D. He then resided chiefly in St. Andrews, and there he died on the 17th of March 1871. On William, who survives, the university of Edinburgh conferred the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1872.

SIR JAMES Y. SIMPSON.

Professional biographies-legal, military, medical, &c.-are numerous, but having only a special interest, do not seem to require mention here. We make an exception in the case of SIR JAMES Young SIMPSON (1811-1870), because he proved, by his discovery of the anæsthetic virtues of chloroform, to be a benefactor of mankind. He made other improvements and innovations in medical practice, which are, we believe, considered valuable. His chief distinction, however, was the relief of human suffering by this agent of chloroform'wrapping,' as he said,men, women, and children in a painless sleep during some of the most trying moments and hours of human existence; and especially when our frail brother man is laid upon the operating table, and subjected to the tortures of the surgeon's knives and scalpels, his saws and his cauteries.' Chloroform was first discovered and described at nearly the same time by Soubeiran (1831) and Liebig (1832); its composition was first accurately ascer tained by the distingushed French chemist, Dumas, in 1835.

Indirect Value of Philosophical Investigation.

It is (said Sir James Simpson) not unworthy of remark, that when Soubeiran and Liebig and Dumas engaged in those inquiries and experiments by which the forma tion and composition of chloroform was first discovered. their sole and only object was the investigation of a point in philosophical chemistry. They laboured for the pure love and extension of knowledge. They had no idea that the substance to which they called the attention of their chemical brethren could or would be turned to any practical purpose, or that it possessed any physiological or therapeutic effects upon the animal economy. I mention this to shew that the cui bono argument against philosophical investigations, on the ground that there may be at first no ap parent practical benefit to be derived from them, has been amply refuted in this, as

it has been in many other instances. For I feel assured that the use of chloroform will soon entirely supersede the use of ether; and from the facility and rapidity of its exhibition, it will be emp:oyed as an anesthetic agent in many cases, and under many circumstances, in which ether would never have been had recourse to. Here, then, we have a substance which, in the first instance, was merely interesting as a matter of scientific curiosity and researen, becoming rapidly an object of intense importance, as an agent by which human suffering and agony may be annulled and abolished, under some of the most trying circumstances in which human nature is ever placed.'

One objection made to the use of anesthesia was, that it enabled women to avoid one part of the primeval curse! Simpson said the word translated sorrow (Gen. ii. 16) is truly "labour," " toil," and in the very next verse the very same word means this. Adam was to eat the ground with "sorrow." That does not mean physical pain, and it was cursed to bear thorns and thistles, which we pull up without dreaming that it is a sin.' Dr. Chalmers thought the ‘small theologians' who objected should not be heeded, and so thought every man of sense. The use of chloroform extended rapidly over all Europe and America, and is now an established recognised agent in the mitigation of human suffering.

Professor Simpson was born at Bathgate in Linlithgowshire, one of a numerous but poor and industrious family. Having studied at Edinburgh University, he graduated as doctor in medicine in 1832. In 1810 he succeeded Professor Hamilton as Professor of Midwifery, and in 1847 first introduced the use of chloroform. After a prosperous career, the Queen, in 1866, conferred upon him the honour of a baronetcy, and the university of Oxford gave him the honorary degree of D.C.L. Sir James was a keen antiquary, and published a treatise on Archaic Sculpturings of Cups, Circles, &c. upon stones and Rocks,' 1867.

J. E. BAILEY-H. CRABB ROBINSON-C. WENTWORTH DILKE.

In 1874 MR JOHN EGLINGTON BAILEY, Manchester, published a 'Life of Thomas Fuller, D.D.,' with notices of his books, his kinsmen, and his friends-an elaborate and valuable memoir of the celebrated church historian, undertaken,' as the author states, 'out of admiration of the life and character of the very remarkable man whom it concerns,' and 'the result of the study and research of the leisure hours of many years'

In the Diary, Reminiscences, and Correspondence of HENRY CRABB ROBINSON,' three volumes, 1869, will be found a great amount of literary anecdote and information concerning German and English authors. The inscription on his tombstone may suffice for a biographical notice: HENRY CRABB ROBINSON, born May 15, 1775, died February 5. 1867; friend and associate of Goethe and Wordsworth, Wieland and Coleridge. Flaxman and Blake, Clarkson and Charles Lamb; he honoured and loved the great and noble in their thoughts and characters, his warmth of heart and genial sympathy embraced

all whom he could serve,' &c. The best account we have of Wordsworth's literary life and opinions is in Crabb Robinson's diary.

Much interesting and curious literary history, with a dash of politics intermixed, is contained in two volumes, Papers of a Critic,' 1875, selected from the writings of the late CHARLES WENTWORTH DILKE by his grandson, the baronet of the same name, author of a book of travels, Greater Britain.' Mr. Dilke was born in 1787, served for many years in the Navy Pay Office, and on his retiring with a pension, devoted himself to literary inquiry and criticism. He was a man of solid, clear judgment, of unwearying industry, and of thorough independence of character. He became proprietor of the Athenæum' literary journal, the price of which he reduced from eightpence to fourpence, and vastly increased its circulation and influence. Charles Lamb, Hood, Leigh Hunt, the Howitts, Allan Cunningham, Lady Morgan, &c. were among its writers. To insure impartiality as a critic and editor, Mr. Dilke made it a rule not to go into society of any kind-a self-denying ordinance that it must have been hard to keep.* He had, however, a band of intimate friends among his regular contributors. In the Athenæum' Mr. Dilke produced his critical papers on Pope, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Swift, Junius, Wilkes, Grenville, and Burke. The most important of these are the papers on Pope, Junius, and Burke. It may safely be said that, notwithstanding all the labours of Walton, Bowles, and Roscoe, the personal history of Pope was never properly understood until it was taken up by Mr. Dilke. On the authorship of Junius, he differed from great authorities-Brougham, Macaulay, Lord Stanhope, and others. He investigated the subject with his usual acuteness and research, but though he corrected numerous errors in previous statements on the subject, he brought forward no name to supersede that of Sir Philip Francis. With respect to Burke, Mr. Dilke also pointed out many errors in the works of biographers, and convicted the great statesman of a fault not uncommon-buying an estate before he had money to pay for it, and entering on a scheme of life far too expensive for his means. Mr. Dilke died, universally respected and regretted, August 16, 1864.

JOIN MORLEY-PROFESSOR MORLEY-WILLIAM MINTO-C. C. F.

GREVILLE.

JOHN MORLEY. born at Blackburn, Lancashire, in 1838, has published Edmund Burke, a Historical Study,' 1867; and Lives of Vol

The late Mr. Riztoul of the Spectator adopted the same rule. I don't quite understand Rintoul's point' wrote Mr. Quilinan, the son-in-law of Wordsworth. 'Making it a rule to avoid anthors, he makes it a rule to exclude himself from the best intellectual society-that is, if he applies his rule rigorously. If he means that he avoids the small cliques of authorlings and crit clings who puff one another and abuse every one else, I quite understand him, and "small blame to him," as the Irishman says.'

taire,' 1872, and' Rousseau,' 1873. Mr. Morley has been editor of the 'Fortnightly Review' since 1867.

HENRY MORLEY, Professor of English Literature at University College, has written various works, biographical and critical, and contributed extensively to literary journals. Lives of Palissy the Potter,' 1852; Jerome Cardan,' 1854; Cornelius Agrippa,' 1856; 'Clement Marot,' 1870; 'First Sketch of English Literature,' 1873, are among the most important of his productions, and he is now engaged on an elaborate Library of English Literature,' in course of publication by Messrs. Cassell & Co.

MR. WILLIAM MINTO, M A., is author of two excellent compendiums of English biography and criticism: A Manual of English Prose Literature,' designed mainly to shew characteristics of style, 1872; and Characteristics of English Poets from Chaucer to Shirley,' 1874. Shortly after the publication of the latter work, Mr. Minto became editor of The Examiner' weekly paper, so long distinguished by its former editors, Leigh Hunt, Aibany Fonblanque, and John Forster.

Great interest was excited by the appearance, in 1874, of 'The Greville Memoirs,' a journal of the reigns of King George IV. and King William IV., by CHARLES C. F. GREVILLE, clerk of the council to those sovereigns. Mr. Greville was a grandson of the third Duke of Portland. At the age of twenty he was appointed private secretary to Lord Bathurst, and seven years afterwards he succeeded to the clerkship of the council, which he held for about forty years Though too free in his comments and disclosures, and not always just or correct, Mr. Greville's journal will be valuable to future historians. His sketches of character are drawn with discrimination and talent, and in his gallery of portraits are the two Sovereigns whom he served (George IV. being painted as destitute of truth and honour, and a mere selfish sensualist), and nearly all the public men, statesmen, and authors, who figured during that period. The contrast between the Queen and her uncle is vividly set forth in the following passage:

Queen Victoria's First Days of Sovereignty.

June 21, 1837.-The king died at twenty minutes after two yesterday morning; and the young Queen met the council at Kensington Palace at eleven. Never was anything like the first impression she produced, or the chorus of praise and admira tion which is raised about her manner and behaviour, and certainly not without justice. It was very extraordinary, and something far beyond what was looked for. Her extreme youth and inexperience, and the ignorance of the world concerning her, naturally excited intense curiosity to see how she would act on this trying occa sion, and there was a considerable assemblage at the palace, notwithstanding the short notice that was given. The first thing to be done was to teach her her lesson, which for this purpose Melbourne had himself to learn. I gave him the council papers, and explained all that was to be done, and he went and explained all this to her. He asked her if she would enter the room accompanied by the great officers of state. but she said she would come in alone. When the lords were assembled the Lord President informed them of the king's death, and suggested, as they were 80