ther sweat of your brow, in case you should ever be reduced to try that same?? bus eqoils tow of Judy and ed We know of more than one instance of young men of similar rank and station in England, who are at this moment wielding a hammer in an en gineer's workshop, working in the garb and in the society of common working men, and thus acquiring that thorough practical skills and knowledge which, when united with previous education of a higher character, will enable them to breast through all opposition in their after course of life, and win their way to an honourable subsistence, or it may be, to fortune and to fame. Werbelievey too, that among these young men there are some Irishmen not behind their fellows, and we have that confidence in the intelligence, in the energy, and in the pluck of Irishmen, that we know when they do enter on a course they will not allow themselves to be easily surpassed.ing our husb

Now, it is to young men of this stamp, men determined, if they can only see an opening, to make their way in the world by their own independent exertions, that we would, in the first instance, gladly see more facilities offered than at present exist, for acquir ing that amount of practical industrial information, instruction, and training, which should enable them at least to start fair" with the rest of the empire. od 20 szew odź of bomoters

We care, however, very little, or not at all, whether the young men ultimately came from the upper, middle, or lower ranks of society; whether they were sons of landed gentry, of professional men, merchants, shopkeep. ers, or tradesmen, or were the picked youths of the labouring and working classes.

to What we wish to see is, an institution which should bear to the practical arts the relation which an university bears, or ought to bear, to the learned professions, and the certificate or diploma of which should at once command a high value in the market for practical ability! What we wish to urge upon our readers is, that they should be ready to insist, and to take care, that in the approaching organisation of such institutions, Ireland should have Her full share! We wish to call their attention to the great practical advantages likely to accrue to Ireland if such yd besid 1094 STRO of Bov aldeas

an institution be well and wisely established within her shores, to rouse them to a full sense of the value of the opportunity that now offers itself for our acquiring somewhat more of the selfcreated wealth which characterises England, and for once in our lives to join in the cry, so often abused, of "justice to Ireland," in the full conviction that she has only to ask for it, in order to obtain it.io Jung berol a mi 70%

We would urge upon our readers to be well aware of what they are doing; to be quite sure of the grounds on which they are acting; to allow no antiquated prejudices to stand in the way of their seeing clearly either the defects of that which is old, or the advantages of what may be new. We live in an age of progress, when much of that which was highly useful and beneficial in a former state of society has become now comparatively inefficient, not, perhaps, that it has itself deteriorated, but because everything around it has improved; an age when old institutions require to be remodelled, and infused with new and more energetic life, and to be extended and supported by newer, and younger, and more active allies.

Let no one of us, then, trust in any fancied superiority, or supposed excellence or sufficiency in the institutions at present existing, but be ready to insist on their enlargement and extension, and that either by their means, or if necessary, by the founding of others, no jot of practical advantage shall be lost to Ireland by our blindness or prejudices, or by our apathy and supine

ness. in Lond

In whatever part of Ireland instituItions may already exist, having any industrial object or tendency, we would wish to see them supported, maintained, and enlarged; but we cannot shut our eyes to the fact, that in no institution, either in Ireland, or in any other part of the empire, is any industrial instruction given, which at all comes near the standard of what ought to sbe.t leonI TORTY S.,olsruft Dres

It is, moreover, most important for Jus, by all possible means, to avoid isodation.oIndependence is an excellent thing, and we would be the last to advise the yielding up of one jot more than is necessary; but we should never forget that union and association is the source of all strength, and of all wealth and power. In so imporIsinzubai to arotere & sono bid sw ti

tant a matter as the industrial education of our youth, whether of the higher or lower ranks, we should be prepared to join with, to assist, and to receive aid from the great body of able and intelligent men of the whole empire.

We would, we say again, urge upon our readers the necessity of our joining in this movement, for the purpose of having Ireland included in any great plan or system of industrial education that may be formed, and deriving her full share of the benefit to be gained by it.

If we look at Irish agriculture alone, it would be worth making a trial to have some sound and complete system of agricultural instruction within our reach. Why should we wait for our plains, or our bogs, or our hill-sides to be properly drained, and dressed, and fertilised, till Scotch or English agriculturalists come over to put us in the right way of doing it? Even if a few of them should be necessary at first, as old-practised hands, to set the thing agoing, why should there not be now in Ireland an institution where any man, young or old, who could muster a few pounds, spare a couple of years' time, and had the necessary rudiments of education, should be able to acquire such an amount of practical information on all matters relating to agricul ture as should fit him at once to take advantage of the example set by others, and go to work upon the system most likely to afford him the largest ultimate and permanent profit?

If, on the other hand, we turn to mining, as another source of raw material, why should we be dependant on the reports of Cornish or other captains as to the value of our mines, or the best method of working them? Why should we not have an institution within our own shores, where any man could, setting other branches of learning on one side, acquire such an amount of preliminary information as to the way in which minerals were formed in the earth, the places where they are each most likely to be found, and the best methods of extricating them, as should enable him to become a practical miner, and understand and superintend mining working and machinery in the shortest possible time?

In every species of manufacture still practised in Ireland, why should we not endeavour to give a stimulus to

production, by enabling some at least of those engaged in it to acquire a thorough, scientific, and practical knowledge both of the materials used and the machinery employed, and thus carry, to a still higher pitch, the excellence of the manufacture, and perhaps, at the same time, cheapen the cost of production?

We may wait, perhaps, for some distant and unknown period, idly longing for the wealth and comfort that characterise other parts of the empire, with our people half clothed, half fed, and half employed; our gentry embarrassed, and our manufactures almost dying out, laying the blame of our condition on the laws, or the circumstances, or the Government, or anything but our own shoulders; while all the time there may be a clear and open path, narrow and difficult perhaps at first, but widening as we proceed, which may lead to increased ease and comfort for all of us, and to wealth and fortune for many.

Let us endeavour to make a short cut to active and useful employment, if it will not come to us. Let us resolve, first of all, to try what the complete and thorough utilising of our own raw materials will do for us, before we bemoan the want of others; and, as we said before, let us reckon among the most valuable of those raw materials the intelligence and genius of our people. This intelligence has only to receive a practical training; this genius only to have a remunerating field open to it, to raise a demand for it in the market of the world, and make the name of Irish artisan and Irish designer famous in all the marts of productive industry in the empire; and, when that is the case, we may rest assured there will be no lack of capital flowing in to use up this most valuable of raw materials on the spot where it is produced.

We have, during the last few years, passed through a most severe and try. ing ordeal. Famine, and death, and despair have been busy in the land, and seemed, at one time, to have settled down on us for ever; even now, however, have these fell demons raised their wings for flight, and are departing before the bright advance of Hope, of Plenty, and of Peace. Let us then no longer look back upon the gloomy past, but forward with cheerful expec

tation and resolved energy to the dawning future; and let us be ready to welcome, with one heart and mind, every kind of aid that may be afforded us, and, most especially, that kind which will enable us to work out for ourselves our own prosperity, and ac

quire the blessings of wealth and plenty from the toil of our own brains and the strength of our own arms. There cannot be a more direct aid, or a more practical help, than the establishment of a system of industrial instruction for our people.

I DISEMBARKED at Rotterdam, and had no sooner pronounced the name of M. Van Ostal, than twenty people pointed out his house. It was placed at the angle of two canals, and in the middle of one of those gardens which the Hollanders alone know how to plant. Unfortunately the season was autumn, which is almost winter in Holland, and I had not the pleasure of seeing the place looking its best. M. Van

Ostal, the moment I entered the saloon, indicated to his servants the degree of heat which he wished to keep up in the delightful green-house, of which this saloon was the central pavilion. To the right and left, two galleries of great extent, lighted up by windows embedded in beautiful creepers, with white and rose-coloured blossoms, contained palms and bananas, cocoa-nut trees from the Maldives, mangoustan and cassia trees, and the most splendid Polynesian shrubs. A marvellous collection it was, where flowers expanded to the size of umbrellas; where roots that looked like living things meandered about; and leaves grew of such an immense size, that they had evidently been transported from countries where the sun is like a mighty burning glass, to the most humid atmosphere in Europe.

M.Van Ostal, with the frankness and cordiality characteristic of his nation, came hastily towards me, and gave me a kindly welcome. Having accepted an invitation to breakfast with him, we sat down together, at a table composed of twisted and varnished bulrushes, bamboos, and cocoa filamentsa kind of vegetable mosaic transported from New Holland; and he poured into a long-ribbed glass the precious

drops of a colonial liqueur, very generally sipped by his hearty compatriots before breakfast. As I make it a point not to be peculiar in my tastes when travelling, I allowed him to fill my glass to the brim; and did not even inquire the name of the island, peninsula, or continent, from whence came the immense black cigar with which he presented me.

We had yet some time to wait for breakfast, but I did not find the moments pass heavily, for my host had seen much, and travelled much, and possessed, besides, the rare gift of a raconteur. We were soon deep in conversation, and happening to mention Batavia, he forthwith launched into the following relation :

In the year 18- I was on my way to Batavia. It is impossible to describe the charm of sailing on the Indian seas. Since leaving Madagascar, our evenings had been full of enchantment; for I was young then, and had young men for my companions. We agreed on almost every point; in tastes, sentiments, and opinions. To this amicable state of affairs there was only one exception, an English lieutenant, who was returning to his post in a city of the Indies, after having been to Europe to be cured of a liver-complaint.

Buxton was the sworn enemy of the imaginative; reveries and poetical emotions excited alternately his mockery and his indignation. Strange to say, he played the flute admirably, drawing from it tones of such grace, power, and pathos, as to make the hearts of the listeners beat fast, and their eyes fill with tears. He seemed to carry his

soul in his flute.

We were crossing the line. It was

evening, and the sea reflected in its glowing waters the beautiful tints of the magnificent heavens above it.

"Well, Buxton," inquired we, "does this make no impression upon you? Do you feel nothing?"

"I feel," replied he, "the odour of tar and salt water, and there is nothing very agreeable in these."

"But this splendid sunset!"

"I wish I were in the place of that luminary; I should then be certain of sleeping until morning."

"But these glorious stars!" "What of them? Night after night they are always in the same place."

"Then those beautiful clouds!" "Those beautiful clouds promise very bad weather to-night, that is all. This pretty yellowish-white cloud is hail; the graceful blue-tinted one is a waterspout; that magnificent green cloud, a tempest that will make us dance upon the waves like a nutshell."

"Thou art a wretch! Play us an air on the flute."

Buxton caused his flute to be brought to him by a lascar who was in his service, and improvised in the midst of the silence of the night. He knew that there were amongst us Irish officers, German naturalists, Dutch painters, Frenchmen, Italians, and Spaniards. Mingling, by a singular address, all our national airs in one, he composed a melody that threw us into transports of enthusiasm. We looked at each other, our hearts throbbed wildly; then each grasped the hand of his fellow, and burst into tears. At two thousand leagues from our native country, we were all at once placed in the middle of our homes, our families, our friends, and those dearer to us than home, family, or friends. The flute sang, laughed, spoke Spanish and Italian, sighed, wept, danced; was by turns a Venetian gondolier, a Catalan sailor, an Irish peasant, a German soldier. It was truly marvellous.

The strain ceased, there was silence for a few moments, then a simultaneous shout of applause. Surrounding our enchanter, as by one impulse, we asked him

"And do you really, Buxton, disbelieve in love, in patriotism, in all the great emotions of the soul?"

"Let me alone," grumbled he, " or give me a cigar.'

"Buxton, Buxton, your punishment

will arrive some day. You will be changed into an accordian."

"Gentlemen," interrupted the lieutenant of the Galatea, the captain requests your presence to assist at the baptism of his little son.'

The child was fifteen days old, and the happy father wished to consecrate our passage across the line. The mother was already strong enough to carry her infant; she held him naked in her rounded arms, as if she had wished to offer him to the double majesty of the sky and the ocean. Behind her followed the chaplain of the vessel, book in hand. The boatswain let down a silver bucket from the poop, to draw up the sea-water, which the priest was about to bless for his holy purpose. A flag was hoisted, the cannon thundered a salutation, and every one took off his hat. Just then the boatswain drew from the bucket of sea-water a plain glass bottle.

There was nothing surprising in such an incident. It is an usual thing with the sailors to commit these bottles to the waves, conveying information of some unknown danger which they have discovered on their route, or a prayer to the charitable, that they will make known to their friends the disaster which has overtaken the unfortunate writers. Still, at sea the slightest occurrence creates an interest, and it was certainly singular that the bottle should have got into the bucket.

I am afraid our curiosity made us somewhat inattentive to the ceremony that followed, during which the bottle was laid aside. Scarcely was the service concluded, before we presented the object of our conjectures to the captain, who begged me to unseal it.

I rapidly cut away the packthread, canvas and tar which secured the cork; then drawing the latter, and reversing the bottle, a small roll of paper fell into my hand. The captain and his lady, and all the officers, surrounded me closely. The crew, eager to know the result, had climbed into the rattlings of the mizen-mast. Even the helmsman's attention was distracted, and he listened like the rest. The contents of the paper, written in a fine, though tremulous hand, were as follows:

"I, Margaret Floreff, perish on the open sea. I supplicate the person, who by Divine permission picks up this bottle, and reads the note therein

enclosed, to cause prayers to be said for the repose of my soul. I was born, and I die, in the true faith. Farewell! my mother-farewell farewell !"

"Poor creature!" said the captain's wife, wiping away a tear.

The crew testified little interest in the event. Sailors are too often exposed to peril to think much of a death more or less. My young companions were somewhat moved; but nearly all had left their hearts in India except myself.

"You," said Buxton, striking me on the shoulder, as soon as he and I were left alone together, "you who are a fool of the worst species-a melancholy one, must go into mourning for this Margaret Floreff, and see after those prayers being said for her."

"Into mourning!-no. But on my arrival at Batavia

"You never will !"

"Well, wait and see.'

"

"Listen," said Buxton, in his coolest voice; "just hearken to reason. Here is a woman who has been food for fishes these eighty or a hundred years; what folly to trouble yourself about her! Fling the bottle into the water, and give me the paper to light my pipe."

F

I rescued the bottle and its contents from his sacrilegious hands. He shook his head, and went away muttering a scornful epithet.

I was now alone upon the deck, and the calmness of the night still continuing, nothing prevented me from giving way to my imagination. I pic tured to myself the features, age, and character of the hapless Margaret Floreff; who, I felt certain, had been young and beautiful. Then I re-opened" the paper, and examined the writing. "This," said I, is not of the last century; it is indited by a young and delicate hand, and in the modern style of female writing. The paper also, fabricated in Europe, feels too smooth under my fingers to prove the contrary." Leaning over the gunwale, I gave the rein to my hobby, and wass soon lost in a fantastic reverie.

From this I was suddenly roused by a huge swell of the sea, as if a submarine volcano had exploded with mighty effort. The aspect of the heavens, likewise, betokened a strange commotion. The moon was veiled, as if by an eclipse; and the stars, after gleaming with a sanguine lustre, paled and disappeared. The water became

VOL. XLII.NO. CCXLIX.

black, the sky of a dull yellow; the slackening sails flapped against the masts a sign that the wind was sinking, which it did so rapidly that we soon felt as if air were altogether wanting. A frightened sailor, who rushed past me on his way to the poop to rouse the captain, muttered to himself, "Terrible! It is the monsoon!" The monsoon, you know, is the name given to certain winds that prevail at regular periods upon the Indian and Chinese seas. During these times tempests are frequent and devastating.

Scarcely a second had elapsed when the Galatea was assailed by a dozen blasts at once. Every one crowded upon deck. The first breath of the storm deprived us of half our sails; the resistance of the other half, which no human effort could furl, caused the vessel to rear like a vicious horse. Ten of the crew disappeared, to reWe could not even

appear no more. hear their cries. The other sailors, clinging by their horny hands to the ropes, which snapped one after the other like the strings of a violin, awaited the captain's orders.

"Cut down the foremast," shouted he; "cut away! Quick with your saw and axes!"

If you are anything of a sailor, I need not tell you that this desperate remedy is only resorted to in cases of imminent peril-as when a vessel is half ingulfed in the waves. But in our case there was no result; the ship did not right herself.

"We have sprung a leak!" cried a sailor who had discovered that the hold was filling.

"To the pumps !" cried the captain, "and some of you cut down the mainmast."

The pumps were manned, and the mast fell; but this last operation, instead of contributing to the safety of the vessel, only rendered our position more critical. Retained by the thousand ropes to which it served as a pivot, and hurled against us like an arrow by the waves, the immense pole was transformed into a battering-ram, and split the side of the ship by its incessant attacks. As to the pumps, they were of no service whatever; for one bucket of water that they got rid of, twenty entered by the hold. to 13

All at once half of the moon's disc re-appeared, and at the same instant hailstones, white as alabaster, fell di