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mandment implies, that the matter of which the earth is formed was created in the six days; to this I reply, that the word "made" here used, as well as the original for which it stands, does not necessarily imply absolute creation, but rather the formation of things from preexisting materials; thus it is said, that "God made man;" but it was from the dust of the earth, and not a creation from nothing; so that, looking at the declaration in this light, which agrees also with the proper interpretation of the 1st verse of Genesis, the objection vanishes, and the harmony between nature and revelation is clearly manifested. Apologising for the length to which these remarks have extended,

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DEAR SIR,-In forwarding you information respecting the hours of closing in this city, permit me to add a few remarks relative thereto. I regret to say, Oxford is far behind other towns in abridging the hours of business; there seems to be a decided aversion to anything like reform in this respect. The hours for closing the drapery establishments are, during the months of December, January, and February, seven o'clock; March, April, September, October, and November, eight; and May, June, July, and August, nine; this does not include the University houses, which are open until nine o'clock, winter and summer, during term; and, perhaps it is owing to this, that the difficulty arises in introducing the early hour system: nevertheless, I look upon what we have obtained, as an earnest of a still further advancement.

We have many difficulties to encounter, many deep-rooted prejudices to dislodge-our progress will be slow, but I confidently anticipate a final triumph. I shall, if agreeable, take an early opportunity of giving you a short sketch of our past operations, and the effect produced upon the public mind. Meantime, I remain, dear sir, yours truly,

E. F.

WHILST it is admitted that the power of the public to effect an early closing of shops is only negative, that of the tradesman himself being positive, it must at the same time be remembered that such an effort would in no degree injure the public, whereas it must seriously affect the tradesman if it were not the spontaneous and cordial movement of all tradesmen-an end not to be accomplished but by the intervention of an act of parliament. To buy at all or any hours is the pleasure of the buyer, but the seller has no choice; he must sell at all hours, or incur the risk of being distanced by his rival in the trade. The tradesman would have his shop ready for show and business

before the hour of eleven in the morning, if the buyers would be pleased to visit him; but as their idleness or caprice induces them to postpone their visit until the later part of the day, he is compelled not only to sell at a late hour, but also to put his shop in order, take his goods from the window, and examine his accounts, long after merchants, bankers, and professional men, have concluded their business, and entered upon the proper period for rest or recreation. But, if it be manifest that to effect the early closing of shops is in the power of the public, it is no less evident that they are deeply interested in so doing. It is the custom to regard the tradesman as the interested person in this movement, and to urge that the saving which he would effect, by the disuse of gas, and by the reduction of expenses consequent upon the illness of persons in his employ, would amply compensate him for his generosity in relaxing the hours of business. But supposing these expenses to be great (and we believe their amount has never been overrated), upon whom do they fall? Not upon the seller, surely; but upon the buyer! They must be as much considered in the premium which the tradesman puts upon his goods, as the plateglass in his shop-front, or the interior fittings of his warehouse, or the yearly rent of his premises; and if, by the abolition of late hours of business, all tradesmen were exempted from these expenses, then the competing spirit of the age would reduce the price of goods to the buyer, in proportion to the saving effected by the seller. But we have yet another argument respecting this branch of the subject. In large towns, where the evils of the late hour system are most strikingly and fully developed, the majority of the buyers are also sellers in different branches of trade. Now it must be clear that late hours of business greatly preclude the use or want of any but the mere necessaries of life; that they even curtail the use of these; and if the persons so employed do require, and buy, what may be termed luxuries, they buy them principally of the chemist and the apothecary!

Now, if the hours of business be relaxed, not only will increasing health bring increasing appetite to the emancipated shopmen, whilst increasing open-air recreation creates a greater demand for clothing; but also those tradesmen who minister to the enjoyments of life, as the librarian, the bookseller, and stationer, and many others, will find their trade increase; because the money hitherto expended on the doctor, or paid to procure a temporary excitement after the fatigues of the day, will find its way into their coffers. And, as this increased trade on their part will afford them increasing means of buying, in their turn, from other tradesmen, the practical consequence of relaxing the hours of business will be, not a diminution, but a general increase, of all trade, save that of the apothecary. With this increased business will gradually come better wages to those whom the tradesmen employ; and this, in itself, will tend to give a further stimulus to general and reciprocal trade. Now, this end must be brought about by the buyers, whether they be sellers or not; for to produce unanimity in the last class, is next to impossible. Were some generous shopowners, in any branch of trade, to close their shops, it would be so manifestly for the present advantage of their competing brethren to keep their shops open, that there would be little chance of persuading them to adopt a more

humane course. But the buyers are in no such predicament; they cannot derive more present benefit from buying at a late, than at an early, hour of the day; they need not even be unanimous in their resolution to buy early; but every or any customer may act independently of his neighbours; and be sure, that in personally setting on foot a gradual alteration of the present system, he is helping to bring about a change which cannot injure himself, but will redound to his advantage, in whatsoever station of life he may chance to be. Nevertheless, having shown that the public have the power to change the present system, we might fairly dispense with all considerations of interest on their part, and speak only of their duty. Now, if it be in their power to alter the system, it must clearly be their will which maintains that system; so that their act, after all, resolves into a positive, and not merely a negative, fault. But it would be their duty to amend even the latter; for what is the difference between causing a man to starve, and not staying him from starvation if we have the power? or, whether is the worst act, to strike or poison a man, so as to cause illness, or to refuse him the opportunity of recovery? That a close and constant confinement to a shop must be hurtful to the persons so employed, is so self-evident a fact, so plain to the comprehension of all classes, who have ever enjoyed fresh air and exercise, as not to require the demonstrations of physiologists to make it clearer; that the moral health of persons whose minds are wholly given up to business, must be equally endangered; that the intellect must be rendered dull to all but the daily routine of business; and that this perversion of the mental and moral faculties to mere purposes of trade, is neither beneficial to trade or tradesmen, nor warranted by our experience of nature and our acquaintance with revelation,-are facts so clear, so self-convincing, as to need no arguments on our part to make them clearer. Let not the public deceive themselves! They do maintain a system which produces these evils! Years ago, they maintained this system in ignorance, because in carelessness of its effects! So far, then, if carelessness for others were any acquittal of those whose carelessness worked infinite injury, they were acquitted; but now they have not even this poor and ill-founded excuse! They stand charged and convicted of maintaining this system still, though aware of the evils which it is constantly causing. Are words necessary to prove that they should not commit a fault? Is it not clear, as a mathematical problem, that having to do that which they leave undone but should do, they are as culpable as if they did that which they should leave undone?

THE SCHOLAR'S GHOST.

AN OXFORD LEGEND.

"TWAS the blithe Christmas tide, when the high stately feast
Of the boar's-head is held in Queen's hall;
Nor yet had the banqueting trumpet blast ceased,
But, aye, you might see how the scholar and priest
Came trooping and blithe at the call.

Not much did it want then, I trow, of delight,

To make it like feast of old time,

But a glimpse here and there, of a high-plumed knight,
And a smile, all between, of a lady so bright,

Or a minstrel, with rebeck and rhyme.

Young Edric the gallant and Edwin the gay
Stood the old stately portal beside,

When they saw, from a high-tower'd cell take his way
A pale graceful youth in a scholar's array,

And begin through the archway to glide.

Fair, fair was the youth, as a form in romance;
But a mother had sighed for her child,
For his eye was as dull as if lost in a trance,
Wan and wasted his cheek, and his sorrowful glance
Was all that was fearful and wild.

Said Edric to Edwin, "What youth is this same,
So wasted, and mournful, and pale ?"

"Oh! he dwells in these towers, Hugh Chorley his name,
And he comes of a race that have fortune and fame,

Far off in a Derbyshire dale.

"And ever, 'tis said, that in Cumnore's sweet vale

His vows to a fair girl are paid;

Perchance he hastes now with the same tender tale,
And if he be wasted, and mournful, and pale,

It is love for the beautiful maid."

With a curious eye did they watch his retreat,
From the boar's feast, and banquet of wine;

They might see him still wind down the stately High-street,
But to none whom he chanced in his passage to meet
Gave he greeting, or token, or sign.

But the trumpet had ceased; to the banquet they go,
Gallant Edric, and Edwin the gay;

I pass how the Queen's ale foamed free in its flow,
And how on each sleek Fellow's cheek a rich glow
Did the power of the wine-cup betray.

It chanced, in a pause of their uproar and glee,
Young Edwin of Chorley 'gan speak:

"It is strange," said the youth, "that such striplings there be, Who to beauty, from mirth and the goblet, can flee,

But love makes the mind strangely weak."

Mach marvelled each Fellow, and shook the learned head,
When spoke out a student, so sad :

"You jest; Chorley lies, a cold corse, in his bed;

On the morrow at noon-tide they carry the dead
To the grave, in a winding-sheet clad.”

Young Edwin's glance blanked with wild marvel and fear;
But he swore by his honour and truth,

By all be deemed holy and all he held dear,

He had seen at the portal, at noontide, appear
The pale ghastly form of the youth.

"Now vain 'twere this secret, poor Chorley to hide,"
Said a youth, and he sighed heavily;

"But ever he said, on this high holy tide.

He was bound by his promise, to fetch home a bride,
And a maiden of Cumnore was she.

"Dead or living, he murmured, I'll be her true knight,
And claim my betrothed one, full soon;"

He struggled to leave his sick bed, day and night,
And in uttering these last words his ghost took its flight:
“To-morrow, my Agnes, at noon!”

You may guess how the revel broke up in dismay,
As each Fellow and Scholar turned pale ;

There was nought that the bravest or wisest could say,
That could banish those terrors, but e'en to this day
The students of Queen's tell the tale.

They add too, at morn, one with bugle and hound,
The corse of a maiden espied;

A mark, that they said was a spectre's, was found
On her lily-white hand, as she lay on the ground,
But none e'er might tell how she died.

But e'en to this day, through the wild winter's gloom,
That pale form through the High-street will glide;
It issued at noon from the same haunted room,
And it strides as it goes, with the haste of a groom,
Who would fetch home a beautiful bride?

Literary and Scientific Institutions.

LIVERPOOL MECHANICS' INSTITUTION.-ANNUAL MEETING. THE annual meeting of the friends and subscribers to the above institution was held on Wednesday evening last, in the Lecture-room. The chair was occupied by Henry Booth, Esq., president, and on the platform we observed the following gentlemen :-William Brown, Esq., Richard Sheil, Esq., William Rathbone, Esq., R. E. Harvey, Esq., Sir A. Knight, S. Hobson, Esq., G. Sumner, Esq., Thomas Bolton, Esq., G. Holt, Esq., Walter M'Gregor, Esq., &c. &c.

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