1826. ] Letter on Affairs in general. 189 
The Journal de Perpignan contains an account of a whole family of 
cannibals having been arrested in France: “ Another lamentable result,” 
says the English paper that copies the paragraph, “ of the high price of 
provisions!” ‘To me it seems a little absurd, this violent horror of can- 
nibalism. We kill five thousand men, and that is found to be all as it 
should be: we eat only one, and every body cries out “how mon- 
strous!” Besides, I am not at all sure but that man—being the most 
perfect of all animals—must necessarily be the dest to eat ! 
A letter from Bolton, in The Times of the 22d of this month, contains 
some sound practical observations as to the causes of the existing distress ; 
and especially execrates that system of getting up cheap goods—shewy in 
appearance, but perfect trash—for foreign markets, by which present large 
profits have been realized on the part of the speculators, to the lasting 
injury of our commercial reputation, and consequent diminution in the de- 
mand for our manufactures. A great deal of this mischief, too, has arisen, 
there can be no question, from that very “ confidence,” and “ credit,” 
and facility of obtaining “accommodation,” the absence of which is now 
so heavily regretted. But people not actually engaged in trade haye 
very little idea of the extent to which this ruinous traffic has been car- 
ried. The facts commonly come out in the course of proceedings at 
law ; and chiefly in those mercantile actions which are described in the 
newspapers as “having no public interest.” An account came to be 
adjusted not long since in the Court of King’s Bench, concerning the 
shipment of some colours—house-painters’ colours—to South America ; 
where it was proved that the more costly articles, such as the greens and 
blues, which were invoiced as colours of three and four shillings a pound 
value in England, had been, in reality, such as were not worth more 
than ten-pence or a shilling a pound—and in some instances not worth 
so much! 
Heigh ho ! a laxity of true principle, I am afraid, seems to be growing 
upon us in most of the affairs of life! The other night, in the neigh- 
bourhood of St. James’s, a gentleman was watching two écarté players, 
and saw that one was cheating the other. Feeling the discovery to be 
a delicate one, he crossed the room to a sporting friend, and asked him 
« what he should do ?”—“ Do?” replied the Achates, who was a man of 
experience, “ Go and dack him as high as you can.” 
An evening paper informs us that Colonel Berkeley, and his brother, 
Mr. Augustus Berkeley—of course with another “ sensation”—haye 
appeared at Cheltenham in the new play “The Knights of the Cross’— 
(taken from Sir Walter Scott’s Tales of the Crusaders)—at an expense 
of seven hundred pounds in dress and decorations! Which of the ad- 
mirable amateurs represented the character of “Coeur de Lion” is not 
stated ; but, what are the peculiar claims of Cheltenham over the rest 
of the world, that it should be blessed to enjoy all this happiness! Why 
do not the stage-struck great make the Capital the scene of their noble 
emulation, and delight us at Covent Garden or Drury Lane? It is in 
London always, and especially by the galleries, that amateur acting is the 
most justly appreciated. I dare say the managers of either of the patent 
theatres would let Colonel Berkeley act every night, for a week, for seven 
hundred pounds. 
Talking of theatres, an ingenious writer in the Examiner newspaper 
proposed, last Sunday, that they should be opened in future of a morning 
instead of in the evening! This is, of course, in order that the people 
