handsome prices for their herds. Then cases as that of the Rev. Amos Barton, capable and trustworthy managers are who starved, with his wife and six chil. always difficult to procure; and in such dren, on a pittance of £80 per annum. cases everything must depend on the The curate nowadays can calculate on management. It is easy enough for a £150, and, choosing his rector, may inyoung man to get a place as employé on dulge his particular sectarian preposses. a ranche — or in other words, to be arti- sions, and range from Roman Catholic cled to an apprenticeship as cowboy. We ritualism to the lowest of the Low Church. have conversed with more than one of There is the danger that preferment may those young fellows — favorable speci- be indefinitely postponed; but then as mens too — when home for a short holi- compensation he enjoys extraordinary ad. day, and we cannot think theirs is a suit. vantages in the way of matrimony. A able life for a gentleman. Most of them young, divine of personable appearance seem content to revel in the enjoyment of and mildly dignified manners - and it is magnificent health, in a climate that un. all the better if he be something of an doubtedly is delightfully invigorating. athlete, with a weakness for lawn-tennis – They rise early, and go early to bed; they should have half his fair female parishion. pass long days in the saddle, tiring out ers at his feet. We say nothing of his hav. two or three of their sturdy horses, anding the persuasive gifts of an orator, and varying the monotony of the cattle-driving of his lips dropping honey and launching with a little shooting. Their digestions thunderbolts from the pulpit; because, in are perfect, as they ought to be, for the that case, he should ceriainly make his fare is as rough as the fellowship. But way by other roads than that of marriage. they have no leisure to think, they don't | Then the pleasant-mannered clerk in holy think, and the mind lies fallow. They orders may secure a lucrative appoint. learn to live in the present, in forgetful. ment as travelling tutor, where the pupil, ness of the future ; they become indiffer- or the pupil's grateful friends, may have ent to ambition even in their particular family livings in their gift. The tutor is line, and so are seldom ready to rise to pretty sure to hold good trumps io his such rare opportunities as may offer them- hand, and he must be a fool it he does not

а selves. A man who has influence with play them to some purpose. And still the board or the manager, as well as more magnificent prizes are to be found brains, apritude, and energy, may rise in a career which, in former days, was one from the roks to a situation of greater of the humblest. In Goldsmith's days, as trust, in which his services are more lib. we know from "The Vicar of Wakefield,” erally remunerated. Otherwise the ap- an usher was supposed to be ready " to prenticeship leads on to little, except an lie three io a bed," to have had the smalloccasion for investing any money of your pox, and a capacity for digesting any. own; and then you are a minnow sent thing. There are ushers and ushers afloat among leviathans.

now; and the lot of many of these gentle. In short, it cannot be denied that, in men must be trying enough. Bui high. the present day, the prospect of a parent class schools have been multiplying, and with several boys to send out into the steadily growiog in reputation. An as. world is a gloomy one. Were he to sit sistant master of cultivation, who unites down deliberately to forecast the chances the fortiter to the suaviter - who can of success or failure in each case, he "command the respect and secure the at. would be almost tempted to despair. And tachment of his pupils is very sure to the end of the whole matter seems to be rise to distioction. Head-masterships are that, barring any singular stroke of good enviable berths; and unless a head-masluck, some money is indispensable, sooner ter deliberately run his head against some or later. The recognized professions are stone wall, he should look forward to dyso much overstocked, that the inclination ing on the bench of bishops – unless he of the man with straitened means is natu- dislikes the labor of the episcopacy and rally to avoid them. Indeed law, physic, despises the emoluments. Then if a cler. and divinity, would be almost debarred, gyman and tutor have the special talent, were it not for a certain number of side and desires to become a wealihy man with paths that diverge from the beaten high- little personal trouble, he has only to di. roads. There is one pull in holy orders rect a staff of capable but underpaid nowadays — that curates are far better assistants, and drive a manufacturing es. paid than they used to be; and the sup- tablishment for the competitive examinaply seems generally to fall short of the tions as an advertising crammer. demaod. There are no such lameotable! Feeling the way towards a handsome

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income in medicine is perhaps more heart-knocked up at all the hours of the night. breaking work than in the Church. There Then there are the sea.going steamers are no tolerably paid curacies of the body, and emigrant ships, which must be proto begin with. The hospitals and lecture vided with surgeons. In the one case the rooms are far from being schools of the doctors are well paid by companies; and graces, recommending their élèves to the it must be the aspirant's own fault if, in favor of the fair sex. Flirtations with the his peculiar circumstances, he does not curacy come as matters of course: the avail himself of serviceable connections. curate even in the bloom of his youth is We can hardly conceive a more advanhalf a father confessor, and is necessarily tageous opening than: soothing the fears in double sym thy with the females of of a nervous old woman of either sex, his flock. There is popular prejudice to when sea-sickness has brought her to the be overcome in the case of the young verge of despair, and the rest of the pasdoctor. However unjust the suspicion sengers keep selfishly aloof. The surgeon may be, the taint of dissipation and recol. of an emigrant vessel has no such chances; lections of Bob Sawyer are supposed to but being paid so much per head, the cling to him, and the routine of his daily profits are considerable, seeing that emi. duties is unromantic, or even repulsive. grant ships are almost invariably over. It is one thing to come to a lawn-tennis crowded, while the opportunities of exparty from the oratory or ministrations at tending his experience are unrivalled, as the altar; quite another to come from nobody knows or greatly cares what may some curious anatomical investigation. be the results of empirical treatment. Yet even more in medicine than in the Then agreeable young doctors have other Church, is the young practitioner bound opportunities, now that travelling and to marry. A married doctor may make ocean yachting are so much the fashion. his way, where the bachelor will be brought We are sorry to think that few million. up at each turn by the convenances and aires carry chaplains in their suite; and obstacles of delicacy. And poverty is a knowing the invariable delays of the law, tradition of the primitive church, which there is no need for them to have consult. worthy and well-to-do women in all ages ing lawyers at their elbow. But life is as have felt it a sacred duty to alleviate; precious as health is uncertain; and it is while a poor doctor is popularly though well worth paying a trilling insurance most unfairly presumed to have no skill against the risks of sudden and severe to recommend him. So that practitioners illness. And as we remarked in reference in the metropolis and in the great towns to passenger steamers, the doctor comare bound to set up a brougham as soon panion must be worse than a fool, if he as possible; and if they desire to drive does not get more out of such a connec. on swiftly and smoothly, a jobbed pair of tion than simply his salary and some sighthorses is all the better. We do not pre. seeing. tend to be in the secrets of the profes. The law has always cast its nets for sion; but we suspect that advertising at many sorts and conditions of men. “Mad the start must often be a dangerous spec. Shallow” was a member of an Ion of ulation. Solicitors or bankers, if not the Court, when he listened to the chimes at thorough-paced usurers, must surely often midnight; and in the dissipated days of be in the secret of it. Be that as it may, the Siuarts, the Templars were a distin. the regular mediciner needs money, for in guished community, who drank, diced, and any case he must have a respectable house drabbed with the best, and waged civil and a consulting.room, where he may sit wars with the denizens of Alsalia. The in expectation sickening amid the “pleas. law was a favorite education for elder ures of hope." But even in medicine sons, who, as their parents fondly hoped, there are side tracks that may be trod i might learn to manage their own proper. with salisfaction, though they may stop ties; while younger sons were sent to short at a competency instead of leading study it, as a preliminary to sinecures or to a position. Certain diseases are per profitable appointments. Should any of haps more common than elsewhere in ihem take to study seriously, and turn out thinly settled countries, where serious ac. a Coke or a Bacon, so much the better. cidents besides may be irremediable evils. But again the Temple was the resort of The colonists are said to pay liberally, the plodding and hard working, who were though the work is hard — harder even prepared to make sacrifices, and to go than that of the country doctor at home, ihrough a great deal, so that they suc. whose duties may take him about half-a. ceeded in the end. An educated student, dozen parishes, and who is liable to be resideot in the great metropolis, could

a

turn his talents to a variety of uses. When his own luck, and possibly succeeds. He he scraped the fees together, and went in makes a certain mark as a political critic, for the course.of dinners, he was supposed and is retained as a writer of leading artito be specially eligible for various occu- cles. He is on duty three or four nights pations. The Temple was at no great in the week, till all hours in the morning. distance from Grub Street and Paternos. The pay is good — he may afford to marry ter Row; and many a Templar was in. on it — but then, so far as the bar is con. debted for lodging and board to the inti- ceroed, he goes no further. Very few mate relations be established with the men have either the strength or the versa. booksellers. After the debates in Parlia. tility to shift their seats between a couple ment and the proceedings in the law of boxes and drive so different a pair of courts came to be regularly reported, a teams; so law goes to the wall when journew vocation was opened to him. Not a nalism engrosses the intellect. few lords chancellor, like Lord Campbell, Literature ranks high now among the and many of our most eminent judges, irregular professions; nor need one pay climbed to the woolsack or the bench by entry money at the gloomy gates of the the stairs of the reporters' gallery. With Temple to enter the Elysian Fields on fair a practically unlimited capacity for work, terms. Most clever boys - girls too, for the one pursuit did not interfere with the that matter - are more or less inclined other; though now that reporting is more to scribble; and they are so disposed systematic and infinitely better paid than to think highly of their own performances, formerly, we fancy that a fatal facility that till they are disillusioned, they are in shorthand cuts short some tolerably buoyed up by delusive hope. And litera. promising careers.

ture is become a profession like another, But literature nowadays is the seduc- and a decent and reputable profession for tion that in one shape or another changes those who are adapted to it. It is not now the bent of many a young barrister's am- as in the days of Samuel Johnson, when a bition. And the cleverer he is, if he have steady literary genius might be doomed no legal connections, the more likely he to take his victuals behind a screen be. is to be tempted aside. Should he be a cause his clothes were disreputable even literary genius, there is nothing to be said to indecency. There is no reason now against that; but the danger is that he why a brilliant Savage, starving one week, slips down between the two stools. He and carousing the next, should be hurried may miss the professional success that by ill-regulated talents to the devil, and perseverance and study would have as brought to sleep on the benches in the sured him; and never rise in the army of parks, because he cannot hire a bed in a the pen beyond the rank of a carefully garret. Successful literature depends on drilled subaltern. To be sure the seduc. fair health, like the law and medicine, and tion of literary pursuits is very great in many other callings; but with fair health many cases. Semi-starvation or rigid it offers safe emoluments, on the strength economy are disagreeable things at the of which the family man may insure his best; and it is even more trying perhaps life. Many a leading leader.writer on the to a man of energetic disposition to put metropolitan press has the income of a himself into indefinite training for the dean: many a rector or vicar, with glebe performances that may never come off. lands sioking in value or tithes falling in He sits in his solitary chamber, buried arrear, might gladly change places with among his books, listening to the steps not a few of the minor lights. The proup the staircase that never stop at his vincial press pays liberally likewise; and door. The heart is sickened wiih hopes there are scores of editors of flourishing deferred, as the banker's account is drawn provincial journals who would not be down to a shadowy balance. He seems to easily tempied to London. Make a name have gathered law enough at the least for by a book on some special subject, and all he is likely to make of it in the mean the name will sell very indifferent articles time; it will be time enough to extend his at fancy prices. Literature must be treated reading when the briefs and fees begin to as well as politics, and there is a steady tumble io. Meanwhile his neighbor Smith, demand besides for general articles, so a dull enough fellow jo all conscience, has that writers of versatility have many a profitable engagement on the staff of strings to their bow. Novels have become the Morning Star; while Jones, who is so common, the market has been so overshallow if he can sparkle occasionally, has stocked by the swarms of facile writers been pushing an extensive connection who rush into it, that we cannot speak with the magazines. He decides to try confidently of profits in that department. Nevertheless there are still good prizes to cisms which he strikes off, almost in the be gained by the novelists who attain to saddle, at a moment's notice : they detest notoriety and popularity; and the demand him when fortune is declaring against for serial fiction in the provinces and in them. But for their own sakes they are the colonies opens broad vistas of specu- bound to be civil to him, since they know lation. And in literature, according to the how much he has in his power. It is not branch that is followed, one may either so easy to fight down a condemnatory make a considerable name, or else exert a letter that has been condensed into half secret influence on events which may be the European languages. So the corre. more gratifying to many people. The spondent in the rush of the invading col. popular novelist or poet is fêted and fat. umns that peacefully carries some stagnant tered in his coterie, if not by society in provincial town, has snug quarters asgeneral. The influential editor, or leader. signed him by a grumbling quartermaster. writer, or critic, is followed and toadied He is invited to take camp luck on filets by many folks, who frequently carry obse- of horseflesh, when the fighting men are quiousness the length of servility; while sighing for the rations that are far in the the brilliant essayist, dropping the anony: rear with the commissariat wagons; and mous in an appreciative circle of his own, be smokes cigars of a quiet evening with perhaps savors the sweetness of an io. statesmen who are already revolving mocense more quietly gratifying than any mentous conditions of peace. Though it other. For ine chances are he is an is de rigueur that his letters should be entertaining companion, with gifts that unsigned, if they make their mark they make him the delight of a small round give his name a wide notoriety; and the dinner-table. But we need hardly repeat proprietors of the paper make much of that the aspirant must have natural apti. the man who could so easily provide himtudes, otherwise he need count upon both self with another situation. The life is iog but disappointment and heart-breaking rough and often perilous; but then the failure. We have no faith in the theory pay and allowances are good in propor. paradoxically set forth by some of our iion. The correspondent at the top of successful writers, that a youth may be the tree has carte blanche for horses, trained to the author's blotting.pad as to conveyances, etc., and, of course, for telethe three-legged stool in a merchant's grams, while sometimes he receives almost office; though dogged determination may fabulous pay, which naturally he has few make him a literary drudge - which is opportunities of spending: Happily for among the worst-paid as it is the most him, there are always "little wars by precarious and repulsive of callings. way of interludes to the big ones, though

But we caonot dismiss the career with a march to Ashanti or through the Moun. out allusion to the department which is tains of the Moon may be more trying the romance of the profession. We refer, than the sharpest campaign on the Dan. of course, to the war correspondence of ube. But even the piping times of peace the journals. It is melancholy to think are by no means an unmixed misfortune how much our histories might have gained to him. They give him leisure to "recuhad the war correspondent been among perate,” as the Americans say, from a the camp-followers of a Marlborough, a strain that would become ipsupportable Peterborough, or a Wellington. Though, were it never to be relaxed. The man on second thoughts, it is absurd to talk who can scribble brightly in the saddle or of the war correspondent as content to over the camp.fire, is sure to have contake his place among the camp-followers. siderable versatility of talents; and in any On the contrary, it is his business to be case it is worth while to give him a haod. always in the front, and to face the shells some retaining fee to keep him available and ihe bullets without the hope of medals for the next emergency. He makes a or promotion. Should he fall, the utmost small fortune besides, by signing his name his modesty need expect is an obituary to magazine articles, in which he works notice by his colleagues, and a tribute in up his waste material till his webs become the journal he scribbles for. Yet, in a flimsy and threadbare. way, the ingenious and dashing corre. We might discourse on the subject of spondent does gain reputation at the cao. those side professions indefinitely; but non's mouth and social distinction besides, the sum and conclusion of the whole mat. to say nothing of more solid advantages. ter seems to be, that where one caonot be Commanders-in-chief and generals of di. sure of a promising start, the secret of vision may dislike him: they may dread life is seiziog on opportunities. those trenchant and unprofessional criti.

Fifth Series, Volamo XLIX.

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No. 2121. – February 14, 1885.

{

From Beginning,

Vol. OLXIV.

387

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.

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CONTENTS. 1. CÆSARISM, By Lord Cowper,

Nineteenth Century,
II. WITHIN HIS DANGER: A TALE FROM THE
CHINESE,

Blackwood's Magazine,
III. PRINCE BISMARCK,

London Quarterly Review,
IV. A House DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF. By
Mrs. Oliphant. Part III.,

Chambers' Journal,
V. DR. JOHNSON,

Contemporary Review, .
VI. THE SUMMER PALACE, PEKING,

Belgravia,
VII. DELLA CRUSCA AND ANNA MATILDA : AN
EPISODE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE,

National Review, .
VIIL. WHITBY, .

Good Words,

.

421 425 434

440 447

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