unequal terms. As the next day was Saturday, and he must of necessity, he said, then finish, he would try his fortune once more. So we continued nailed to our board till a late hour on Friday night, and began again before breakfast on Saturday morning. Towards the close of the day, our accounts differed in one game. But I was too complaisant to dispute the matter; so the horses were sent for, and I was delivered from such a trial of my patience as I never before experienced.”

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To back-gammon, the Dean objects its stupidity, its be ing noisy and rattling," and still more, its being so generally played for money, a practice which he utterly condemns in any and every case. His reasoning on this point seems equally inge

nious and forcible.

'Gaming, said I, Sir, no doubt, is a very strange perversion of amusement: but is there any objection to a trifling stake, which is never felt, whether we win or lose, and is in fact no object?

"What end then, said the Dean, does it answer?

Merely, I replied, to keep the attention a little awake.

"But you must allow then, answered the Dean, that as far as it does keep the attention awake, so far it is an object. The amusement itself, it seems, cannot keep the attention awake; but wants a stimulative, the love of money, which makes you play with that care, and caution, which the amusement itself could not do. And is this any thing else, my good friend, (twist and analyse it as you please) but the spirit of avarice? One man's attention cannot be kept awake, as you phrase it, without playing for a shilling. Another man must keep his attention awake with a pound. A third must be enlivened by a stake of ten times as much; and so on, till the attention of some people must be kept awake by staking a patrimony. You see then plainly, that if the stake be so trifling, as to be no object, it can be no incentive; and if it be an object, it can only be so by your attachment to a sum of money; and what will you call that attachment, unless vou resolve it, with me, into the spirit of avarice?

"But though in theory, said I, Sir, you may be able to lead it up to this source, it seems, in fact, to be so trifling, as not to come within any moral calculation.

"I know the mathematician, replied the Dean, divides matter with such nicety, as to bring it to an invisible point. But I do not like to see morals so treated. Is the excess wrong? Ifit be, the approach cannot be right. If the mind be at all infected with the spirit of avarice, and the desire of profiting by your neighbour's loss, it is so far an approach. There are different degrees of vice, no doubt; but we are cautioned against breaking one of the least commandments, as well as the greatest. The good Christian endeavours to preserve his mind from the smallest taint; and the Christian minister thinks himself particularly bound to abstain from every appearance of evil. In fine, I will not cavil with you, whether playing for money arises from avarice; but certainly the amusement ceases, when it cannot itself produce its end; and what does produce the end becomes the leading principle. So that the point issues here: if you choose such feeble amusements, as are really no amusements without the aid of vicious stimulatives, it becomes you to lay them aside, and seek for such amusements as are simply such."

The agreeable game and salutary exercise of billiards is allowed" in a private family, and under the usual restriction of play❝ing with only good company, for no stake," and on the condition, rather difficult to be kept, it is believed, that too much time be not devoted to it. But there is another amusement, which, we confess, merits our gratitude too much to be omitted, and D 3

with the Dean's encomium on which we shall close our numerous and we hope acceptable extracts.

"I then asked the Dean, if he had ever heard of the game of shuttlecock? or if he would laugh at me for mentioning it to him as good domestic exercise ?

"Laugh at you! said the Dean; I know no game that I value more. It has all the characters of the amusement we want. It gives us good exercise —it makes us cheerful-and has no connection with our pockets: and if I may whisper another truth in your ear, it does not require much skill to learn. When my legs were in better order, I have spent many a rainy half-hour with Sir Roger, at shuttlecock, in his hall. The worst of it is, few parsonage houses have a room large enough for it; though perhaps the tithe-barn, if it be not better employed, may furnish one. I could say more in favour of shuttlecock. You may play at it alone. It is also an exercise too violent to last long. We need not fear, as at billiards, to mispend a morning at it. Laugh at you! so far from it, that I respect the man who invented shuttlecock."

For the Dean's observations on other amusements we must refer to the book itself. The elements from which he decides as to the eligibility of any are before the reader, who is now able to judge of the correctness with which we spoke of these dialogues in our introductory remarks. Relying on his concurrence, then, we shall repeat our eulogium. They are at once ingenious and sound, playful and yet cogent; they indicate a mind deeply impressed with a regard to the best interests of mankind, whilst it is entirely exempt from that fanaticism, which, ministering to a depraved selfishness, looks with malign contempt on what is as innocent as it is social, pleasant, and salutary; and, without the slightest assumption of consequence, or any other authority than what is bestowed by right reason, warmed by benevolent affection, and matured by experience, they are as likely to win their way to the attention, not only of the teachers of religion, but of all who love its welfare, as they are calculated to prove useful wherever they are courteously received. prove

We conclude in the words of Mr. Wilberforce, from a passage in his admirable Practical View of Religion:-" Rich and multiplied are the springs of innocent relaxation. The Christian relaxes in the temperate use of all the gifts of Providence. Imagination, and taste, and genius, and the beauties of creation, and the works of art, lie open to him; he relaxes in the feast of reason, in the intercourses of society, in the sweets of friendship, in the endearments of love, in the exercise of hope, of confidence, of joy, of gratitude, of universal goodwill, of all the benevolent and generous affections; which, by the gracious appointment of our Creator, while they disinterestedly intend only happiness to others, are most surely productive of peace and joy to ourselves. O! little do they know of the true measure of man's enjoyment, who can compare these delightful complacencies with the frivolous pleasures of dissipation, or the coarse gratifications of sensuality."

ART. III.-Practical Economy, or the Application of Modern Discoveries to the Purposes of Domestic Life. 12mo. Pp. viii. and 369. Colburn & Co. London. 1821.

In the first series of our Journal, we noticed three works on the important subject of Domestic Economy, and we gladly embrace the opportunity afforded by the appearance of a more general work on that subject, to discuss it more fully. Whether we consider this department in its usual acceptation, as comprehending every thing connected with the management of a family and family mansion, or confine it to the exercise of a prudential virtue, at all times proper, but now more particularly necessary in almost every rank of life-frugality, it must be admitted that domestic economy is of great importance, and well deserves the attention lately bestowed on it by men of science, both in our own country and on the Continent. Indeed, the successful ap plication of the modern improvements in the arts and sciences "to the purposes of domestic life," forms one of the characteristics not the least distinguishing of the present age.

What is called the new system of Domestic Economy commenced during the latter half of the eighteenth century, and owes its origin, in a great measure, to the suggestions of Franklin, and the practical labours of Rumford. As the modern chemistry, introduced by Lavoisier and his coadjutors, began to gain ground, domestic economy assumed a more scientific form, and the establishment of numerous institutions, among the objects of whose speculations this subject made a conspicuous figure, contributed materially to its progress and improvement. The discoveries elicited by those patriotic societies and individuals have been communicated to the public through the medium of many respectable journals, both British and foreign, especially the Philosophical Journal of Nicholson; the Philosophical Magazine of Tilloch; the Annals of Philosophy of Thomson and Philips; the Quarterly Journal, published under the direction of the Royal Institution; the Transactions of the Society of Arts, and of the Horticultural Societies of London and Edinburgh; the Annales de Chimie; Journal de Physique, and Journal d'Ecole Polytechnique. From these sources chiefly they have been collected under distinct heads in the various Encyclopædias of the day; but they have not yet been methodized and digested into one homogeneous and uniform system. We say not yet, because though several works professing to treat of domestic economy, both in general and in detail, have from time to time appeared, they are either defective in

matter, unscientific in execution, erroneous in principle, or ridiculous in practice.

Many circumstances have contributed to advance the progress of this particular department during the first twenty years of the present century more than at any former time. In particular, the kindred arts and sciences, on which it depends for its principles, and for the perfection of its processes, have, by the united ingenuity and industry of their cultivators, received large additions of facts and observations, and considerable improvements in their theory; and they have each in their progress diffused a friendly light over domestic economy. Botany has pointed out several new and useful articles of food, and furnished an abundant assemblage of ornamental plants before unknown; while husbandry and horticulture have not only improved the quality and increased the average product of the staple crops, but have discovered many varieties of esculent vegetables and fruits, superior to the stocks from which they were derived. Mechanical philosophy has furnished us with many ingenious machines and utensils which add to our comforts, render our property more secure, and prevent or counteract some of those inconveniences and accidents to which we are exposed. Chemistry has taught ús how to discover the nature and composition of our aliments, to appreciate their comparative nutritious qualities, and to extract their essence in the most efficacious and economical manner. It has shewn us, too, how to air, warm, and light our apartments to the best advantage; has improved and explained the processes of scouring, bleaching, dyeing, tanning, churning, baking, brewing, and wine-making; and contributed in many other particulars," to the purposes of domestic life." Medicine has lent her aid to the former sciences, in shewing how far certain substances and processes are beneficial or injurious to health, in explaining the nature and effects of domestic poisons, in removing vulgar prejudices against things formerly deemed deleterious, but now found to be innocent, and in pointing out the best means of remedying domestic accidents.

The circumstances of the times have been favourable to domestic economy in another point of view-by enforcing the necessity of private as well as public frugality. The revolutionary war, that for so many years embroiled the nations of Europe, and interrupted their commercial intercourse, had, at least, one good effect, that of inducing the inhabitants of the rival countries to look into their own resources, and make the most of their indigenous productions. Thus, necessity, the great stimulus to human exertion, by rousing the dormant faculties, and disclosing the latent genius, has led to the discovery of native substitutes

for foreign articles, and the adoption of many ingenious contri. vances for diminishing manual labour and lessening expense, The depreciated state, both of the manufacturing and agricultural interests, by reducing the income of the labouring classes and the rental of the landed proprietor, has imperiously called on both those numerous branches of the community for a corresponding reduction of their expenditure.

In short, the importance of frugality, always acknowledged in theory, was never more sensibly felt or better understood than at present. Accordingly, many of our families have reduced their establishments; others have taken up their temporary residence in countries where style and equipage may be supported at an expense comparatively small; while not a few have bidden a final adieu to their native soil, and emigrated to regions less crowded with population, and stretching out the hand of invitation to the industrious and the enterprising. Now all these methods of lessening expenditure are to be regretted-the first, because it deprives of employment and an asylum many individuals who, being bred to service, find it difficult to earn their livelihood in any other honest way; the second, because it draws from the country large sums which, if expended at home, would have increased the national revenue and given subsistence to thousands of the commonalty, estranged the absentee from his tenants and dependants, and generally occasions the importation of foreign manners and morals, little congenial to the British character; the third, because it dissolves the bands of friendship and affection, destroys that love of country which has always been the boast and pride of Britons, and compels the emigrant, perhaps in the decline of life, to learn new customs, habits, and feelings, to form new connections, and direct his industry and his capital into channels, of the probable direction and termination of which he is ignorant or uncertain. But, not to speculate too widely, let us revert to another of the remedies that have been proposed.

That frugality is not incompatible with comfort, and a sufficiently full enjoyment of the good things of this life, is a lesson which many of us have yet to learn; a maxim much better understood in some other countries than in our own. This is the grand secret of domestic economy, and this secret our author very obligingly undertakes to reveal to us. His work is addressed chiefly to the higher and middle ranks of life, but more particularly to the class of absentees who are at present roaming about France and Italy, forsaking the roast-beef and homebrewed ale of their forefathers, for the ragouts and soups of Paris, and the wines of the Garonne and the Po. His great object is