1830.] 



Domestic and Foreign. 



91 



persons, probably, of taste, talent, and 

 learning, but no dancers, and, of course, in- 

 capable of communicating practical instruc- 

 tion. Now, M. Blasis can pirouette as well 

 as speculate. Noverre, indeed, treated the 

 subject in a masterly manner for his day, 

 and, with his apparent views, which cer- 

 tainly were not to improve the pupil ; but the 

 march of improvement in our restless days 

 has so far outstripped poor .M. Noverre's 

 farthest flights, as to render his letters no 

 longer of any use to either professor or pu- 

 pil. In this absence, then, of all useful 

 written authorities, M. Blasis, relying on 

 the toils of learned research, and years of 

 laborious exertion emboldened by the sug- 

 gestions of valued friends and encouraged 

 by the success of some publications of his 

 on the subject on the continent, resolved to 

 set about tilling up this vacuum in the lite- 

 rature of Europe, and has actually accom- 

 plished an elaborate work, embracing, at 

 once, the origin and progress, the theory 

 and practice of dancing, in all its varieties, 

 with the composition and performance of 

 the pantomime and ballet to boot. In these 

 marvellous lucubrations of his, he lays dis- 

 tinct, and, we doubt not, very just claims 

 to divers ameliorations to new methods of 

 instruction, short and infallible to the en- 

 larging of the realms of pantomime to an 

 application of the rules and various styles of 

 the regular drama to the composition of the 

 pantomine to the elevating of the ballet to 

 something above mere divertissiments or 

 dancing spectacles, &c. In short, the reader 

 will find, if he has any curiosity, a practical 

 work calculated to assist the professor to 

 enlighten and amuse the amateur, and to 

 instruct and perfect the pupil. What can 

 book do more? In addition to all these 

 valuable materials, the well-filled volume 

 contains more than twenty programmes 

 original compositions of pantomimes, some 

 .in one act, and others in two and three, and 

 even five acts. A number of plates are 

 appended to illustrate the positions into 

 which Monsieur and his pupils throw the 

 human figure, in which he can see nothing 

 but grace, while our unpractised optics can 

 detect nothing but strain and pain, and 

 preposterous attitudes legs at right angles, 

 &c. 



The Harleian Dairy System, by William 

 Harley, Esq. ; 1829 The dairy system 

 thus designated is better known by the not 

 very delicate term of the Soiling System 

 the peculiarity of which consists in keeping 

 cows constantly stabled in buildings, of 

 course, clean and well ventilated in feed- 

 ing them, in summer, with grass cut fresh 

 and fresh, and in winter, as much as possi- 

 ble, with succulent vegetables and carefully 

 gathering every particle of manure, wet and 

 dry, to return upon the land on the prin- 



ciple that the animal and vegetable mutually 

 maintain each other. The success of rhis 

 system that is, the profitableness of it 

 under close and unremitting supervision, 

 exceeds the common process five to one. 

 But the cruelty, to any feelings not hardened 

 by the practice, is surely abominable ; and, 

 indeed, it appears, by the writer's confession, 

 the unfortunate animals are of necessity 

 changed every year none can stand the 

 discipline longer the legs swell, and the 

 feet get sore ; and the consequence is, ge- 

 neral derangement, and falling off in milk 

 and flesh. 



The inventor of this precious system, and 

 author of the book before us now a very 

 old man, as his care-worn and miserable 

 features, which he has thought it worth 

 while to exhibit, attest commenced his 

 cow-establishment at a farm called Willow- 

 bank, in the suburbs of Glasgow, for the 

 purpose of supplying the " gude town of 

 Glasgow" with milk, " which soon became," 

 he says, " an extensive and regular trade. 

 Harley's milk also became, as it were, the 

 fashion ; its unrivalled excellence was the 

 subject of every lady's praise. All the world 

 talked of the Willowbank dairy ; thou- 

 sands, impelled by a curiosity which its 

 fame nad raised, went to see it; and so 

 charmed, in short, .was every one with the 

 order and cleanliness displayed, that many, 

 who had never thought of it before, now be- 

 came consumers of milk as a part of their 

 daily food." The old man prosecuted his 

 system, as he calls it with the addition of 

 his own name, too with indefatigable 

 zeal, and now presents the results of an ex- 

 perience of many years. These are ob- 

 viously worth the attention of all concerned 

 with the management of dairies ; for though 

 we cannot think of the perpetual confine- 

 ment of the animals with patience, the dili- 

 gence and tact with which every thing is 

 turned to account is exemplary, and may be 

 advantageously imitated in many of the de- 

 tails. Mr. Harley looked himself to every 

 thing kept a minute account of every cir- 

 cumstance estimated the cost and profit 

 of each animal the returns the effects of 

 different food, and could at any moment 

 tell to a farthing the loss or gain upon every 

 animal, and every particular experiment. 

 This same system was adopted by the dairy 

 companies in town, when companies were 

 raging, all of which failed ; and partly, we 

 hope, from the atrocious tying-up of the ani- 

 mals for a twelvemonth together the seed 

 of destruction in the system the ruinous 

 effects of which can only be counteracted 

 by a degree of care and contrivance which 

 not one dairy-keeper in a hundred will give. 

 It is a law of nature, never disproved, and 

 happily seldom apparently failing that 

 cruelty, first or last, defeats its own ends. 



N 2 



