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LITERA TURE. - .

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LITERA TURE. The Third Vol. of Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott" h,ts appeared, and contains a very painful pori ion of his existence, namely, that in which he embarked on the stormy ocean of business, as a printer aud publisher, in connection" ith Bal- lantyue and Constable, a connexion that produced those reverses, that ruined his fortune and destroyed, his life. It will be remembered by some of our readers that the authorship of NVavei-ley," was assigned to Thomas Scott, the brother of Walter; the mystery of authorship is, in many cases, a fruitful source of profit. Sir Walter, in his letter to his brother, thus, somewhat disingenuously, invites him to tall in with ihe popular error. "Oil the publication of the third edition of; Waverley^ says Mr Lockhart, 1 find him writing thus to his brother Thomas, who had by this time olle to Canada as pay master of the 70th re:,ri ryelll I)tlar rrom, a novel here, called Waverley, has had eugrraous success. I sent you a copy, and will send you another, ,iih flie I Lor(i of the which will be out at Christmas. The success which it has had, with some other circumstances, has ioduced people lo lay the bantling at a certain door, Whe-c laying store of faults, they'd fain heap more.' You will gruess for yourself how far such a report has credibility; but by no means give the weight of your opinion to the transatlantic public; for you must know there is also a counter-report, that you have wiitten the said Waverley.' Send me a novel iiiteruiixinop your exuberant and natural humour, with any iticidf-nits and descriptions of icetieo-y you ">Hy see—particularly with characters and traits of manners. 1 will give it all the cobbling lhat is necessary, and, if you do but exel t yotirsel f, I li" ve not the least doubt it will be worth 9500. and, to encourage you, you may, when you send the MS., draw on ine for 9100, at fifty day's .ii,-ht-so that your labours will at any rate not be quite thrown away. You have more fun and descriptive talent than most people; and all that you want, i, e. the mere practice of composition, I can supply, or the devil's in it. Keep this matter a dead secret, and look knowing w lieit %Viivericyl is spoken of. If JOu are not Sir John Falstaff, you are as good a mau as lie, and may, therefore, face Colville of the Dab*. You may believe I don't want to make you theauihor of a book you hav never seen; but if people will, upon their own judgment suppose so, and, also, on their own judgment give you £ 500 to try your hand on a novel, I don't see that you are a pin's point the worse. Mind that your MS. attends the draft. I am perfectly serious and confident, that in two or three months you mh:ht clear the eobs. I heg IllY compliments to the hero who is ufraid of Jeffrey's scalping knife.' Scott was offered Ihe laureateship, which he declined, being admirably advised thereto, by a letter from the Duke of Buccleuch, which we cannot resist the pleasure of copying:— "MvdearSir,—treceivedy{-ster<!ay,your letter of the 24th. I shall, with pleasure, comply with your request of gtiarauteeing the £ 4000. You must, however, furnish me with the lorm of a lelli r to this effect, as I am completely ignorant of transactions of this nature. I am never williug to offer advice, but when my opinion is asked by a Irienu, I am ready to give it. As to the oiler of His Royal Hiohuess to appoint you laureate, I shall frankly say, that 1 should be mortified to see you hold a situation which, by the general concurrence of the world, is stamped ridiculous. There is no good .eason why this should be i-o but so it is. WalierScott, Poet Laureate, ceases to be the Waller Scott of the 'Lay,' Marmion,' &c. Any future poem of yours would not coine forward with the same probability of a successful reception. The poet laureate would stick to you and your productions like a piece of court-plaster. Your muse has hitherto been inde- pendent—don't put her iuto harness. \Ve kllOw how lightly she trots along when left to her hat ural paces; but do not try driving. I would write frankly and openly to His lloyal Highness, but with respectful gratitude, for he has paid you a compliment. I would not fear to state, that you had hitherto written when in poetic mood, but feared to trammel yourself with a fixed periodical exertion and I cannot but conceive that His Royal Highness, who has much taste, will at once ee the many ob- jections which you must have to his proposal, but which you cannot write. Ouly think of being chaunled and rccilatived by a parcel of hoarse and squeaking choristers on a birth-day, for the edifica- tion of the bishops, pages, maids of honour, and geiitlempn-petisiotici s! Oh, horrible, thrice hor- rible! Yours sincerely, BUCCLF.UCH, &C." Letter to the Right Honourable Sir flenry Har- dinge, K.C.B., .17.P., oiL the Effects of Solitary Confinement on the Health of Soldiers in ll'arm Climates. By John Grant Malcolmson, Surgeon, E. I. C. Service. London, 1837. ° This pamphlet contains some startling facts from the pen of one who has abundant opportunities of verifying them. It pioves, beyond all contradiction, that no constitution can, in a warm climate at least, stand long coufinement on bread and water. We doubt, indeed, if such a punishment could be sup- ported by any delinquent, in any part of the world. Without exercise in the open air, no food, however nutritious, will long preserve life; where the food is bread and water alone, the stomach is soon weakened, the body is subject to pains, and chronic disease is sure to seize on the victim; in fact if he be a soldier in a warm climate, he is in many cases, pronounced incurable; and if he survive he is soon unfit for service. Reud the t*oilowing Many men, particularly those of indolent habits, endure a confinement of four or six weeksj on bread and water, without injury to their health- but, in some instances, a shorter period is sufficient to cause a total loss of appetite,—the bread is hardly touched, and on other food being allowed, the patient is unable to eat or to digest it. The stomach becomes weak there is uneasiness across the region of the stomach spleen, and liver the latter is torpid the bowels ar confined, or they are relaxed with slimy dichargelil unaccompanied with pain, yet the swollen red tongue indicates the existence of irritation of the mucous membrane of the digestive canal. The pulse is quick and feeble; and the clammy skin, vertigo, debility, headach, and sleeplessness, show how much the constitution suffers from diminished nervous power. The convalescence is slow, and the treatment requires to be adapted to the enfeebled state of the system. The effect is, however, more clearly seen in men sentenced to six or twelve months solitary confinement. Two of these were in hospital at the same time, with decided symptoms of scurvy:— one was admitted after five months confinement, during part of which he had heen allowed extra diet at my recommendation. It was observed, that for some time previous to his removal to hospital, his daily allowance of bread was removed almost un- touched. He complained of pains oflhe limbs, along the spine, and across the loins; tenderness of the shin hones; hardness, pain and feeling of stiffness of the calves of the legs, and the skin over the painful muscles was of a dark livid colour from effused blood. The gums were spongy, livid, and retracted, and he suffered from sleeplessness, some pain of the region of the liver, and slight griping. The tongue was yellow and its edges red. The other had been a shorter time in confinement, and complained of debilitv, disorder of the bowels, pains of the shin bones,'&c. &c. A blister was applied, which caused a foul sore, from which dark coloured blood flowed on the slightest touch. My fiiend Mr James Shaw, having furnished me with a report on the health of these men, two years after 1 lett the regiment, I am ellabled to tllte that the one had hardly been out of hospital during that time, and had not then completed his full period of confinement; and that the other was very flequently on the sick list witil a variety of complaints. Indeed, very few men are able to un- dergo a long period o solitary confinement on bread and water, without being much in hospital during the period of sentence; and many continue to mutferfroin the variousdiseases to which men of exhausted consti- tutioiis are so liable ill warrn climateti. Jt lIIay not be improper to add, that I have observed the minds also, of prisoners confined for long periods, more especially when oil a diet they believejo be destruc- tive to their health, to become gloomy, or even furious, and disposed to commit every crime; a fact which was forcibly stated many years ago, in the House of Commons, by Sir Robert Peel, in reference to the substitution of solitary confinement for other punishments in this country. When the solitary confinement is long continued, the severity of the punishment is increased in a much greater propor- tion than the length of time, and any addition in the shape of restricted diet, which may be necessary in short confinements, is quite uncalled for: the long seclusioll without employment is itselfsufficient. "The following facts, selected fi-otu distinguished medical writers, will shew that the effects ascribed to confinement on bread and water, are what might be expected to arise. Magendie fed a dogon "white bread and water," and he died in fifty days. When a similar experiment was conlinned for forty days, and emaciation had gone a certain length, although the animal afterwards ate of other food, the diges- tire organs were irreparably injured, aQd the duo stimulus could not restore them, or save the animal. The experimet was also made with sti,ar, &c.; and this great physiologist ascribes the effect to those all the chemical elenients bodies not containing all ihe chemical elements required by animals for their nourishment. Dr. Bostock,in reference to these experiments, observes, that the stomach can be excited to the due perform- ance of its functions only by supplying it with all appropriate stimulus, and that by the long and unin- terrupted continuallceol one and the same alimentary substance, that substance loses ils sit inula!ing power, and thus the stomach becomes ill capable of digest. illg it." This system of confinement on bread and water must be abolished, t logging, the pillory, the stocks, the 1)illoo-v, ttie stocks, hafd labour-any thing is preferable lu il.-Atlas,

POETRY.

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CHIT CHAT.I

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING THE…

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TO THE EDITOR OF THE GAZETTE…

ROLLS' COURT, WESMINSTER,…

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imperial$)avitamnu.

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1—■ I , AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE.…