200 



KIDD'S LONDON JOURNAL. 



TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



C. A. Brooks. — Your favor shall be rendered available 



very shortly. 

 Larry.— Accept our best thanks. 



J. A. B.— Your letter about Breeding Cages, &c., &c,, 

 has reached us. Not being pre-paid, and 2d. postage 

 being demanded, it was, like many others, "refused." 

 We happened, however, to recognise the handwriting 

 on the second presentation. No unpaid letters are taken 

 in. 



J. F., Glasgow. — We earnestly desire your address : 

 thanks. 



A. Y.— Our space is so circumscribed, that "Fugitive 

 Poetry" can only be admissible under very peculiar 

 circumstances. We are already overwhelmed with 

 similar "kind offerings." This "reply" will suffice 

 for all the writers. Their favors have merit, and 

 would be readily available in a Monthly Magazine. 



New Subscribers, and Casual Headers, are referred to 

 the Leading Article in our First Number for the 



DETAILED OBJECTS of the LONDON JOURNAL : to tllCSe 



we shall rigidly adhere. 

 Private Letters. — Of these we daily receive such 

 immense quantities, that we must really beg the 

 writers to excuse our not replying to them. Our time 

 is more profitably occupied. All vacancies, as they are 

 called, are filled up. Let this general answer suffice. 



Correspondents sending in any " facts" connected with 

 Science or Natural History, are requested in every 

 case to append their names and places of abode. In no 

 instance, however, will their names be published with- 

 out their express sanction. 



Notice to Subscribers and Others. — It having been 

 deemed expedient, to meet the views of the Trade, that 

 this Journal should always be published by anticipa- 

 tion, Contributors and others will be so kind as to 

 bear in mind that they must give us an extra " week's 

 grace," and wait patiently till their favors appear. 



All persons who may send in MSS., but which may not 

 be " accepted," are requested to preserve copies of 

 them, as the Editor cannot hold himself responsible 

 for their return. 



To obtain this Paper without any difficulty, our readers 

 need only order it to be sent to them by any of their 

 local Booksellers or Newsvendors. It is published 

 simultaneously with all the other weekly periodicals. 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



Saturday, March 27, 1852. 



In our Third Number we observed, — 

 ' ; It is yet early for us to talk about having 

 matured our plans. Each successive week, 

 as Contributions fall in from all quarters, 

 will itself decide the tone that our Paper is 

 likely to take." This remark has been al- 

 ready confirmed, and the character of our 

 Journal is fairly developed. 



It would be as difficult for us, henceforth, 

 to put forward a number of our Paper 

 devoid of interest, as it has hitherto been 

 to get it a " local habitation " in all parts of 

 the world. This perhaps is speaking as 

 strongly as we could speak ; for our death- 

 struggles against avowed hostility and unfair 

 opposition are too well known to need repe- 

 tition. Our good friends have borne with us 

 thus far most patiently, while recording our 

 sea of troubles ; we shall tax their patience 

 no longer. All we can say in extenuation of 

 our apparent egotism is, — had we not spoken 

 out so frankly as we have done, this 



Journal would have ceased to live. It is 

 now " healthy," and participates largely in 

 the influences of the coming Spring ; and as 

 we have produced our first Quarterly 

 Volume, shining brightly in its cloth of gold, 

 we feel we have risen to a new life. A peep 

 at the Index is indeed a curiosity ; and pro- 

 mises right well for future intercommunica- 

 tions of useful knowledge and practical in- 

 struction. 



We have now shaken off the lethargy of 

 Winter— our aches and our pains we will re- 

 member no more. The mornings are bright, 

 the days are long, the gardens are green, the 

 trees donning their new liveries, and all 

 Nature is in a state of happy activity. With 

 what a rich garment will she soon be clad ! 



As for the birds, who animate the lovely 

 scene — no pen can record their doings. 

 Ere it is light, " some well-known voice 

 salutes the ear," and acts as a charm upon 

 the whole choir, who one by one_ melo- 

 diously chant their " morning sacrifice of 

 praise " before entering upon the duties of 

 the day. A hint have we here, that many 

 of us may turn to a profitable account, 

 as we — 



" Our daily stage of duty run." 



It is hardly needful for us to repeat, that 

 these are the things in which Ave so much 

 delight, and in which we shall pleasingly labor 

 from week to week to make our readers 

 delight also. 



" Non est vivere, sed valere vita — " 



We cannot be said to " live," unless we are 

 " well " and enjoy life ; and how those 

 people can be well and enjoy life who live 

 for ever immured in towns and cities, passes 

 our comprehension. Well has the poet said 

 — " God made the country, and Man made 

 the town." 



Even at this comparatively early season, 

 there is much to marvel at in the revival of 

 vegetation ; nor can we turn to the right or 

 to the left without feelings of admiration at 

 Nature's handiwork : — 



Through hedge-row leaves, in drifted heaps, 



Left by the stormy blast, 

 The little hopeful blossom peeps , 



And tells of Winter past ; 

 A few leaves flutter from the woods, 



That hunff the season through ; 

 Leaving their place for swelling buds 



To spread their leaves anew. 



Every day adds to these pretty discove- 

 ries, and we welcome each new visitor with 

 delight. 



The feelings of those who dwell in large 

 cities, — their habits, their manners^ their 

 ideas, their views of society, and their opi- 

 nion of the " grand end of life," — are for the 

 most part totally dissimilar from those of the 

 quiet, retired occupant of a snug country 



