252 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



the table, chairs, and the whole economy of 

 the room. Our brain reeled, and we felt 

 dizzy. All was darkness visible. 



At this moment, we awoke to conscious- 

 ness. We found ourselves in a complete 

 glow of perspiration. The kerchief, with 

 which we had covered our face, had been 

 blown away by a gentle breeze ; and we were 

 in the act of falling from the top of the gate 

 on which we had courted repose. A lovely 

 little robin was just above us, on a projecting 

 branch, singing merrily ; and some half-dozen 

 sheep were quietly browsing by our side. 

 Everything, on waking, we found to har- 

 monise, quietly, with our late sleeping 

 thoughts. 



The effect produced on our mind by this 

 singular dream was truly extraordinary. 

 No doubt it formed a link in the chain of 

 many of our passing ^thoughts from day to 

 day ; but we never imagined we should have 

 lived to see them so vividly realised in 

 sleep. 



Infinitely more strange is it, that we have 

 since dreamt that same dream over again — 

 true in every particular. It has left a savor 

 behind it, that delights us exceedingly. It 

 has added wings to our Hope ; energy to our 

 Perseverance ; and it induces to the belief — 

 may our Faith be rewarded according to its 

 intensity ! — that we shall, after all, be ena- 

 bled by our friends 1 help, to defeat the deep- 

 laid schemes of our enemies, the Booksellers, 

 to ruin us. 



Their " vow" is a rash one — not founded 

 in justice, nor in reason. Our cause is a 

 Righteous one — it being no other than the 

 welfare of the community at large. 



" May Heaven defend the Right !" 



OKIGINAL CO&HESPONBENCE. 



Rules for Health. — Mr. Editor, — I have you on 

 ''the hip." ["Hip, hip, hurrah!"— go on, Sir.] 

 In your Code of Health — nicely prepared I 

 grant — you denounce " beer" among other things. 

 Now, have you not said thrice, whilst recording 

 your interesting " Rambles" in the country, that 

 you revelled in the enjoyment of a glass of 

 ale? Did you not also say, on one occasion, 

 that " the ale at Willesden was so good that you 

 should write against your remembrance of the 

 visit, 'to be continued occasionally?' " I ask you, 

 Sir, how you can reconcile these facts? — An 

 Advocate for Consistency, and a True 

 Friend to our Journal. 



[As you are " an advocate," Sir, listen to us 

 quietly, whilst we " plead." We have ever said 

 (see the Journal — passim) that we were no ad- 

 vocates for " total abstinence." We ridicule the 

 idea. Whatever we " fancy," in moderation, 

 that we take. If we wander abroad, in the 

 open air, and a glass of sparkling ale — we see it 

 even now in the distance — comes before us, our 

 appetite inclining thereto, why of course we take 

 it. Why not? Exceptions to a general rule, 



always letting moderation be the guide, are 

 sometimes needful. But how seldom do we 

 "offend" this way! We imagine one gallon of 

 malt-liquor would far exceed our consumption for 

 one year! Then again, a glass of wine occa- 

 sionally — do we refuse it? Oh, no! Try us, Sir, 

 if you have any " very curious old port'' in any 

 particular bin. We will sit in judgment on it 

 any afternoon in any week — saving always, Sun- 

 days, Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays. Two 

 glasses, at each sitting, are our ne plus ultra; and 

 we bargain for a hard biscuit also. We have 

 the pleasure of knowing one of the very first 

 wine merchants in London, Mr. John Amor, of 

 New Bond-street. In his counting-house, you 

 may get a glass of wine that would make a tee- 

 totaller forget and abjure his principles at the first 

 sitting. Free from spirit of any kind, yet 

 boasting the true flavor of the grape, here we 

 confess we do now and then, with a glass of 

 splendid old port and sherry, recruit exhausted 

 strength. A hearty welcome awaits us, call 

 when we may ; and our friend being also a Phi- 

 losopher, we seldom leave him without benefit 

 both to mind and body.* Now, Sir, we think 

 we have proved satisfactorily, that although our 

 llules for Health are nicely defined, yet we are 

 no bigots. What may not be adopted as a ge- 

 neral practice, may yet occasionally (with us it 

 is very seldom) be profitably resorted to when 

 " Health" demands it. It is " excess" that does 

 all the moral mischief that both you and ourself 

 must so greatly deplore. Are we not right? 

 Respecting the ale at Willesden (see Vol. I. p. 

 276), did we not assign some second cause for 

 the relish with which we " mended our draught?" 

 Indeed did we ! If you imagine us to be of the 

 " namby-pamby" order, you wrong us exceed- 

 ingly.] 



Health and Ventilation Inseparable. — Now that 

 gas stoves are getting into use, by which, as by 

 the Arnott's stove, very little is carried up the 

 chimney, ventilation, Mr. Editor, becomes quite 

 essential to keep the air of the room in a whole- 

 some respirable state. This may often, not 

 always, be done by good management of the 

 window; but the most effectual and constant 

 means is Arnott's chimney-valve, which requires 

 an opening in the chimney, near the ceiling. 

 Let me propose a very simple method of making 

 the opening, without defacing the front of the 

 chimney. It is simply to build a round drain 



* Mr. John Amor's character as a Avine-raer- 

 chant, was stamped years ago by William Jer- 

 dan, Editor of the Literary Gazette — then in its 

 palmy days. Speaking of Mr. Amor and his 

 wines, the Editor, in a foot-note, supplied him 

 with a motto, which has figured on his Office- 

 seal ever since : — 



" Omnia vincit Amor!" 



This, Jerdan freely translated for him thus: 

 " Mr. John Amor is the best wine-merchant in 

 London." Let us add, — he was — is — and ever 

 will be so; " et nos cedamus Amori." This last 

 we must translate, and as freely as the former: 

 " As we cannot get such choice wines elsewhere, 

 let us give all our orders to Amor!" — Ed. K. J. 



