396 
to all this the deep curses so heartily 
bestowed on the authorities employed, 
arising from that universal hatred which 
accompanies the execution, and will 
ever frustrate the object, of bad and 
oppressive laws; together with the 
enormous expense necessary to enforce 
them: which is far beyond the benefit 
produced—if that can be called a bene- 
fit which drags a man into a service he 
detests, to associate with the abandoned 
refuse of the jails—which too often 
forms his companionship. 
Let us consider these things, and we 
shall hardly be disposed to give our 
unqualified assent to the custom of im- 
pressment: while we legislate against 
crimps, who at least succeed by their 
wit, we should not dignify brute force 
with the solemn sanction of the law! 
Amongst all those feelings that worry 
the human mind, perhaps there is none 
more irritating, and less easy to be 
borne, than that of confinement ; it is 
particularly so to that of the sailor, 
with whom a restless love of change, 
and a childish impatience of the mono- 
tony of life, are peculiarly characteris- 
tic, as must forcibly strike any one 
who takes the trouble to study his dis- 
position—active, bold and daring to a 
fault; careless, improvident, and un- 
suspicious ; perfectly aware of what is 
right, and open to reason where it is 
fairly urged; yet easily led astray. 
Hating sameness and inactivity, any 
change is a recreation; and conse- 
quences pass across his mind like a 
summer cloud: always well inclined to 
go the full length of his tether, and 
beyond it too, he quickly sees through 
the character of his captain, and go- 
verns himself accordingly. Peculiarly 
susceptible of impartial justice, he is 
easily ruled by the man from whom he 
is certain of receiving it; buoyant with 
life and spirit, as long as he is kept in 
constant, but not overstrained, employ- 
ment; though spoiled by idleness and 
indulgence; naturally capricious, he 
has his sullen moods and sulky fits— 
in which he must sometimes be in- 
dulged, Always watching him as a 
child, he must still be governed as a 
man. With such a disposition, and 
when we also see, even in time of 
peace, when there is no impressment, 
men, who have invariably conducted 
themselves well; who have had two 
or three years’ wages due; who were 
well aware that, in the course of a few 
months, they would be paid up and dis- 
charged; who were allowed to go and 
Earth-Stars. 
(Dec. 1, 
amuse themselves on shore, whenever 
and as long as the public service would 
permit ; whose sole restriction was that 
of returning to their time, in order to 
give others their time on shore; who 
were never subject to much punishment 
themselves, and had no complaints to 
make of their officers ;—when we see 
people, under these circemstances, de- 
ceived and deluded by some idle absurd 
tale of making their fortunes (a thing 
of frequent occurrence on the North 
American station), without a second 
thought, forfeit all the advantage of a 
long service, we cannot be surprised at 
the impatience with which the confine- 
ment of a king’s ship is borne in time 
of war—when no prospect of emanci- 
pation is before them—or one so very 
distant as to be scarcely perceptible. 
( To be continued. ) 
——_= 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
PERCEIVE, Sir, that your Re- 
viewer of the Reviewers, in his Phi- 
losophy of Contemporary Criticism for 
the preceding month (p. 234), in speak- 
ing of the “earth-stars of cottage in- 
dustry” that “twinkle” over “those 
beautiful hills of Gloucestershire,” which 
“ were once covered with vintage,” had 
an eye to the following description of 
the night scenery of that county—in 
some lines I have met with “ On Leav- 
ing the Bottoms of Gloucestershire.” I re- 
fer to them for the sake of subjoining 
another traditionary fact relative to 
that lovely region, which both the poet 
and your criticizer of critics seem to 
have overlooked. The lines referred 
to run thus :— 
“* Here holier industry, 
Even from the dawning to the western ray, 
And oft by midnight taper, patient, plies 
Her task assiduous ; and the day with song, 
The night with many an earth-star, far de- 
scried 
By the lone traveller, cheers amidst her 
toils.’” 
Dr. Southey may, perhaps, not be dis- 
pleased to hear that this region of the 
vine is said, in olden time, to have been 
assigned as an honourable and inspiring 
remuneration to the royal bard or mins- 
trel—the poet-laureat of those antique 
days :—whence, perhaps, the origin of 
his butt of sack. 
As the pen is in my ‘hand, and 
earth-stars are the theme, it may not, 
perhaps, be unacceptable, if I present 
your readers with some beautiful origi- 
nal lines on the genuine earth-star. I 
have 
