I S27. J Notes for the Month. 2 1 9 



" Close to us there was a well, into which the salteadores had thrown all the 

 bodies first the courier and postilion, then the dog, and then the horses. The 

 carcasses" (they had been drawn again out of the well by some passing travellers) 

 " lay before us' They were nearly eaten up by the eagles and discachos. The 

 dog had not been touched ; he was a very large one," &c, &c. 



South America is certainly a dangerous country for a stranger to indulge 

 his gastronomic propensities in. This discovery of Captain Andrews's of 

 the excellent fitness for a dinner service of the biscacho, was even moro 

 unlucky than the breakfast made in the same region by Mr. Miers a par- 

 ticularly " delicious" one Mr. M. describes it upon a quantity of delicate 

 " veal sausages," which turned out to have been made out of part of an old 

 mule. 



Another " Gymnastic" disquisition in the shape of a description of a 



that some of the " gymnasts" leaped most admirably with poles; clearing 

 (now God pardon this reporter) twice their own height!" and that they 

 were ** crowned" by some " young ladies," " whose names the writer is 

 not fortunate enough to be acquainted with," &c. &c. 



Now, the only consolation we feel in this narrative, is that the evil, if it 

 must happen, happens in good time and place. There has been a par- 

 liamentary commission on the state of the Lunatic asylums lately sitting, 

 and the scene of action Sadler's Wells is not far from Hoxton and St. 

 Luke's. But what a wonder it is that while we have people brought from 

 foreign parts to teach us here in England, how to put one leg before the 

 other that so many other material branches of domestic education such 

 as combing our heads and blowing our noses, for instance should go on 

 being neglected ! Surely the science of Shaving ought not to be left, 

 as it is, to be acquired, absolutely and entirely, au nature I! What an 

 opportunity is lost to some (that might be) instructor! and what advan- 

 tage to the public which should learn ! What lectures might not bo 

 delivered at a mechanic's institute, on the subject say of weekly, or of 

 third day shaving! And what heads of chapters might be made of it in 

 a treatise " Of opening the razor!" "of shutting 'it again !" " of strop- 

 ping !" " of soap and water generally !" u of shaving by the straight 

 stroke!" " of the diagonal stroke!" " of passing a pimple!" t{ of catting, 

 with the use of sticking-plaister !" Decidedly there ought to be a pro- 

 fessorship of 4t shaving" in the Gower-street University. 



The first effect of competition, in most trades, is to raise the quality of 

 the articles produced, and to diminish the price. Very soon after, how- 

 ever, we begin to lower the quality and the price both- together. The 

 object of every man who wants to sell, is to keep down the nominal 

 cost of what he offers. The degree to which this kind of delusion no 

 matter how coarse operates with the multitude, might be deemed incre- 

 dible, if we did not see people every day complaining that they have 

 bought articles of gold, at a price under that which they know to be the 

 worth of silver. In fact, there is a very general, though tacit agreement, 

 as it were, running through society, to keep calling our guinea, a 

 " guinea," even while both giver and receiver know perfectly well that 

 it is clipped, and sweated down below twelve shillings. Our wine bottle 

 is called a " quart :" and if it holds a pint and a half, it is a reasonably 



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