90 Foreign Notices : — Russia. 



<^ive expression to lofty sentiments, or paint the beautiful features of natural 

 scenery, and you will see him rejoicing in his own emotions, mastered and 

 melted bv the omnipotence of the arts. Music, the most seductive and 

 purest of' them all, is calculated more than all to exercise a sway over the 

 popular heart, raising therein sensations alternately glowing and refined. The 

 historical monuments of antiquity universally attest the influence of this art as 

 a means of civiHsation. Why, then, should we reject a means so powerful, at 

 a moment when the springs of morals are so weakened amongst us ? Govern- 

 ments which seek to secure the affections of the masses will do well to attract 

 their confidence by procuring for them, as far as the power is in their hands, 

 work, education, and amusement. Let the industrious poor, when assailed 

 by the solicitations of the factious, be able to reply : — " We, too, have our 

 share in the distribution of the social enjoyments ; that share is adapted to 

 our simple tastes, and proportioned to our scanty leisure. With it we are 

 content ; and, far from striking at a social condition of things in which we 

 hold an honourable place, we are ready to defend it against every species of 

 attack." For myself, I feel satisfied that the administration has rightly ap- 

 prehended the wants of the people ; it has justly felt that the labourer must 

 have some diversion from his labour. His leisure hours it has sought to fill 

 up in a manner which should be agreeable while it was useful; and, in that 

 design, it has created this great and admirable system of scholastic institutions, 

 appropriated to different sexes and various ages, and of which the musical 

 one is, in my opinion, neither the least brilliant nor the least moral. I am 

 firmly persuaded that the singing schools are worthy of all favour, and fit 

 objects of the munificence of municipal councils. (^Athenceum, April 11. 1840.) 



Art. II. Foreign Notices. 

 RUSSIA. 



CoURLAND, May 10. 1840. — I agree with you, that ere many years pass over 

 our heads, we shall have railroads over this country, and that they will be 

 joined to those of neighbouring countries, so that by and by we may sing, 

 bating the intervention of the herring-pond, 



" To gang to London 's but a walk." 



The improvements since I first knew the world are incredible. The salted 

 cucumbers I sent you grew in my own garden, and are produced by millions 

 in every garden, or rather in all the gardens in Russia. They are sown in beds 

 of good rich earth, the seeds about 5 in. apart. The runners they make are 

 very short, and the cucumbers grow very thick upon them, requiring no care 

 in the cultivation, and only occasional waterings to keep the seeds from drying, 

 as we generally sow them in June, when our warm and dry weather com- 

 mences; it will not do to sow them earlier, on account of the frost, i. e. cold. 

 But as I prefer practice to theory, I send you a pound of cucumber seed [sent 

 to Mr, Charlwood for distribution] : you may try a few this season in a warm 

 sunny situation, making the seeds sprout before you put them in the ground, 

 to save time. Ours is a dreadful climate, for, though I am writing to you on 

 the 21st day of May n. s., not a single tree of any kind is in leaf, the goose- 

 berry bushes alone showing a few. To-day, the 22d, we have only 4° of 

 warmth by Reaumur, whence you may conclude what a horrid climate we have, 

 and one so truly uncertain. Last year I arrived the II th (23d), and almost 

 all my tulips had done blowing, and this year they have not opened. I must 

 add that, in sowing the cucumbers, you must sow them in rows of 9 in. to 

 10 in. apart, which will leave ample room for runners. — J. B. C. ]\Iaif 10. 

 1840. 



Courland. — This day, June 7. N. s., our apple trees are not in blossom, or 

 limes in leaf; in short 1 have never known so liackward a season. I thought 

 tlxit summer would never commence ; in fact we have only had warm weather 



