520 Affairs in General. [Nov. 
fessedly ignorant of the duty, to be associated -and instructed by English- 
men—but, also, that all Englishmen associated with them shall be 
respectable Christians. This latter condition is really a high joke, and 
speaks pretty expressively of the English residents at Bombay. 
We take the following from the French Globe, relative to the state 
of education in France :—Out of thirty-two millions, sixteen cannot 
read at all ; of the remaining sixteen, nine-tenths at least read nothing 
but the breviary, and perhaps an almanack. Among those whose means 
rise a little higher, a great number content themselves with a paper, or 
some miserable novel. The more enlightened amount but to some thou- 
sands, and among them very few are to be found whose ideas rise above 
the level of acquired knowledge. 
Owen of Lanark is come to life again. We find a memorial of his just 
presented to the Mexican government, with the very moderate and modest 
request of the province of Texas, to be given up in full sovereignty to 
him and his friends, for the purpose of instituting, on a sufficient scale, 
quite uninterrupted, a pattern society, on his entirely new principles. 
His convictions are, that the whole existing system rests on lies and affec- 
tations ; and his object, in one word, is to teach men to act according to 
their sensations ; and this, after sundry trials, he finds cannot be done, 
where any thing belonging to the present condition of things comes in 
contact. Placing this society in this province, he tells the Mexicans, 
will prevent them and the Americans from conflicting by-and-by : it will 
form an excellent frontier barrier. 
Is there any thing in this remark of a theatrical critic >— 
*F It is singular how few Englishmen are decent singers. We often see big, 
well-made men, stout, good-looking singers, with weak voices. For the last 
fifty years, it has been the custom to wrap folds of. muslin round the throat, 
which must necessarily weaken that organ ; and to this unnatural custom we, 
in a great degree, attribute the want of a decent voice on the part of our male 
singers. Of female excellence in singing, we have abundance. We have 
heard, but we know not how true it is, that female singers will never sing if 
they have a necklace on ; and we have heard, too, that they conceit that even 
so slight a pressure as that of a necklace impairs the voice, or, at all events, 
does not benefit it. Now only let any one consider, if this be true, what an 
advantage female singers must have in singing, with their throat and neck 
unencumbered, in comparison with our male singers, the most of whom wrap 
round their throats cravats, enclosing well-stuffed small mattrasses.” 
