OUR FAMILY COUNCIL.

WE are pleased to find, from the letters we receive, that the FAMILY FRIEND is held in esteem by many a kindly housewife. We must not, however, claim the merit of this distinction to ourselves. The valuable receipts which have been forwarded to us from various parts of the country, have enabled us to sustain this reputation, and thus to prove how much good may be realised by united endeavours. With this acknowledgment to our friends, we will give the reply of J. M, C., to whom we addressed an inquiry of CAROLINE G.: "What is the secret of French pastry-making?" It consists, our informant states, in bringing the butter and dough to exactly the same consistency.

This is effected by temperature for the butter, by

water for the dough; cooling down the one, and softening the other. When so done, the butter in one mass is rolled into the dough; it then spreads under the rolling-pin equally as the dough spreads, each in its own plane. Folded over and over again, the two keep distinct; and thus the flakes are obtained.

"In addressing a lady or gentleman, with whom I may be slightly acquainted, in the street, should I take off my hat?"

Certainly, Mr. DAVIS, you should take your hat entirely off, and cause it to describe a circle of at least ninety degrees from its original restingplace! For a solution of your other questions, we must refer you to your own observations in society. Select good examples, and be guided by them. Young says

"Few to good breeding make a just pretence; Good breeding is the blossom of good sense." Therefore especially cultivate the mind and heart; the proper government of behaviour and conduct will necessarily follow.

"What is the difference between singing and piping birds?" inquires a young "AMATEUR." We reply that birds sing when, without respect to any particular tact, they carol their twittering or chirping notes, intermixed with louder ones, as is the case with the Liskin and the Redbreast. And they pipe when their song consists of distinct round flute-like tones; thus the Linnet pipes, and also the instructed Bullfinch.

A "SUBSCRIBER" wishes to know the proper food for Parrots. These birds may be fed upon rolls steeped in milk. Biscuit also is not hurtful; but meat, as well as all kinds of pastry and sweetmeats, render them unhealthy; and even if they survive upon this for several years, they become sickly, their plumage gets disordered, they frequently bite out their feathers, especially upon the wings. Little drink is required, as they should be always supplied with succulent food. "I have a young friend," writes J. E. C., "who has a habit of exaggerating her language to such

a degree as to become painful. May I request a few lines from you on the subject ?"

We have already, on several occasions, alluded to this vice, for such, indeed, it must be termed ; and the amiable qualities inherent in the fair sex lose all their charms in the individual to whom the use of "forcible" expressions is habitual. Besides the moral evil attendant on a practice of exaggerated speech, it is a great mistake to suppose that it makes a person more agreeable, or that it adds to the importance of her statements. The value of a person's words is determined by her manner of using them. "I like it much," "it is well done," will mean more, in some mouths, than "I am infinitely delighted with it,' ""Tis the most exquisite thing you ever saw,' will in others. Such large abatements are neces

sarily made for the statements of these roman

cers, that they really gain nothing in the end, but find it difficult, sometimes, to obtain credence for so much as is really true; whereas a person who is habitually sober and discriminating in her use of language, will not only inspire confidence, but be able to produce a great effect by the occasional use of a superlative.

"Which is the best method of mounting and varnishing drawings and prints?"

It is difficult to say which is the best receipt, where "diversity confounds election;" but J. P. will, we think, find the following useful :-Stretch a piece of linen on a frame, to which give a coat of isinglass, or common size. Paste the back of the drawing, leave it to soak, and then lay it on the linen. When dry, give it at least four coats of well-made isinglass size, allowing it to dry between each coat. Take Canada balsam diluted with the best oil of turpentine, and, with a clean brush, give it a full flowing coat.

JAMES HARDING is desirous of becoming a painter, and we honour the wish, especially if our correspondent is endowed with patience. "Can you," he asks, "give me any instructions for commencing? I am anxious to attain success."

Undoubtedly you are, and so are all enthusiasts. We do not blame the inspiration, but recommend that it should be tempered with prudence"Nature, in her productions slow, aspires

By just degrees to reach perfection's height." The following general rules by Mr. George Field, a competent authority, will probably aid your studies:-1. Let the ground of your work be properly cleaned, prepared, and dry. 2. See that your colours are equally well ground and duly mixed. 3. Do not mix much more, nor any less paint than is necessary for the work you are engaged upon. 4. Keep the paint well mixed while the work is going on. 5. Have your paint of due thickness, and lay it on evenly and equally. 6. Do not apply a succeeding coat of paint before the previous one is sufficiently dry. 7. Do not employ a lighter colour over a darker. 8. Do not

add dryers to colours long before they are used. 9. Avoid using any excess of dryer, or a mixture of different sorts. 10. Do not overcharge your brush with paint, nor replenish it before it is sufficiently exhausted. 11. Begin with the highest parts, and proceed downwards with your work. 12. Do your work, to the best of your ability, honestly, for such you will find the best policy.

A "MOTHER" addresses us on the subject of her son, whom she describes as "wild and reckless, yet possessing good qualities. What can she do with him?" Try again, we answer, the power of a mother's endurance. Keep a hold upon his affections, and encourage him to confide to you, without reserve, all his errors and his enjoyments. There is frequently, in the most apparently incorrigible youth, indications of a warmth of heart that should not be overlooked. A powerful writer has also said, that "the finest, richest, and most generous species of character, is perhaps that which early presents the most repulsive surface. Within the rough rind, the feelings are preserved unsophisticated, vigorous, and healthy. The noli me tangere outside, keeps out that insidious swarm of artificial sentimentalities, which taint and adulterate, and may finally expel all natural and vigorous emotions from within us. The idea of a perfect man, has always been figured forth in our minds by the emblem of the lion coming out of the lamb, or the lamb coming out of the lion." A German poet has well depicted the early-unfolded lineaments of the ruling sex :

"Boys are driven

To wild pursuits by mighty impulses:
Out of a mother's anxious hand they tear
The leading-strings, and give the reins to nature,
Even as the sportive hoof of the young horse
Raises the dust in clouds."

In answer to " MARION," who, in page 223, inquires "how roses may be preserved through the winter," C. K. says:-" Cut a just opening bud in a slanting direction from the parent stem, then quickly mould hot sealing-wax close around the end for about an inch up, then carefully place it in a close box, which you must put somewhere, so as to be entirely secluded from all air. About Christmas, for the first time open the box; with a sharp knife cut off the wax, again slanting, put the roses instantly into tepid water, allow them to rest there for the space of about half a minute, then place them into cold water. Be careful not to let them be exposed too much to the sunlight, or either too cold or too hot a room. I have ever found this to succeed, so that I have had (to the wonder of all visitors) roses in full beauty in the midst of winter. Should it so happen, from any inattention or draught of air, that the flowers have lost their colour, I have heard that to hold them over the fumes of charcoal, is certain to restore to them their pristine beauty of colour."

"EMMA," who inquired for a receipt to remove

iron moulds in a delicate print (page 223), is instructed by a "Country Subscriber" to hold the iron mould on the cover of a tankard of boiling water, and rub on the spot a little juice of sorrel and salt, and when the print has thoroughly imbibed the juice, to wash it slightly in ley.

X. Y. Z. replies to E. DAVIS (page 223), and sends what he terms a "safe" receipt for cleaning oil paintings. In cases of simple dirt, washing with a sponge, or soft leather, with soap and water, judiciously applied, is sufficient. Varnishes are removed by friction or solution. Ox. gall is even more efficacious than soap.

We have received several receipts in answer to the request of F. O. LEMPRIER (page 223), for the most efficient mode of producing hair; but as they seem to have proceeded from interested sources, we decline inserting them. We prefer recommending our correspondent to be careful of his general health, and to avoid the use of all nostrums, no matter their pretensions, whether they are pomatums, in using which the directions advise that the hands should be covered with

gloves, or they might give rise to an inconvenient growth of hair on the hands, or whether they

are mixtures that can change white kid into fur gloves, caution is in all cases necessary, for"Void of all honour, avaricious, rash,

The daring tribe confound their boasted trash-Tincture or syrup, lotion, drop, or pill, All tempt the sick to trust the lying bill; There are among them those who cannot read, And yet they'll buy a patent and succeed; Will dare to promise dying sufferers aid, For who, when dead, can threaten or upbraid?" We are now reminded that some questions are submitted to our Family Council for solution.

M. S. B. wishes for a receipt for making Flemish oak stain, used for leather work.

KATE M, desires to know where the materials required in wax-figure modelling may be pur

chased.

E. B. requests a receipt for a thoroughly good raised pie-"not the crust, but the ingredients," adds our comfortable friend, "not forgetting the preparation of the inside." Will some one cognisant with the mysteries of the table lend her experience?

"Which is the best method of cutting and polishing pebbles?" inquires H. G. W.

James S. requests some instructions in making twisted, or as some call them, Elizabethan chairrails,

A receipt for cleaning light and dark-coloured kid gloves, for "KATHLEEN."

"One of the Unlearned" is desirous of knowing which is the correct definition and the etymology of the term "surname," or, as he adds, "sirname." Will some of our readers enlighten our correspondent on this subject?

SCENES IN THE LIFE OF HAYDN.

CHAPTER II.

WHEN young von Swieten came half an hour later to ask for the young composer, Signor Metastasio could not inform him where "Giuseppo" might have gone. How many hours of despondency did this forgetfulness of the wise man and renowned poet prepare for the poor, unknown, yet incomparably greater genius,-Haydn!

When Joseph after a long walk stood at length before Puderlein's house, he experienced some novel sensations, which may have been naturally consequent upon the thought that he was to introduce himself to a young lady, and converse with her; an idea which, from his constitutional bashfulness, and his ignorance of the world, was

VOL. XI. NO. CXXXIV.

rather formidable to him.

But the step must nevertheless be taken. He summoned all his courage and went and knocked at the door. It was opened, and a handsome damsel of eighteen or nineteen presented herself before the trembling Joseph.

The youth, in great embarrassment, faltered forth his compliments and the message from Master Wenzel. The pretty Nanny listened to him with an expression both of pleasure and sympathy-the last for the forlorn condition of her visitor. When he had ended, she took him, to his no small terror, by the hand, without the least embarrassment, and leading him into the parlour, said in insinuating tones, "Come in, then, Master Haydn, it is all right; I am sure my father means well with you, for he concerns himself with every dunce he meets, and would take a poor wretch in, for having only good hair on his head! He has often

U

spoken to me of you, and you may rely upon it, he will assist you; for he has very distinguished acquaintances. But you must yield to his humours a little, for he is sometimes a little peculiar."

Joseph promised he would do his best, and Nanny went on, "You must also accommodate yourself to my whims, for, look you, I lead the regiment alone here in the house, and even my father must do as I will. Now, tell me, what will you have? Do not be bashful; it is a good while since noon, and you must be hungry from your long walk." Joseph could not deny that such was the case, and modestly asked for a piece of bread and a glass of water.

"Pshaw!" cried Nanny, laughing; and tripped out of the room. Ere long she returned, followed by an apprentice boy, whom she had loaded with cold meats, a flask of wine, and a pair of tumblers, till his arms were ready to sink under the burden, although he dared not complain, for he had been in the family long enough to be sufficiently convinced of Mademoiselle Nanny's absolute dominion. Nanny busily arranged the table, filled Joseph's glass, and invited him to help himself to the cold pastry or whatever else stood awaiting his choice. The youth did not await a second invitation, but commenced, at first timidly, then with more courage; till, after he had at Nanny's persuasion emptied a couple of glasses, he took heart to attack the cold meats more vigorously than he had done for a long time before; making at the same time the observation mentally, that if Mademoiselle Nanny Puderlein was not quite so noble and accomplished as his former patroness, the honoured Mdlle. de Martinez, still, so far as youth, beauty, and polite manners were concerned, she would not suffer by a comparison with the most distinguished dames in Vienna.-In short, when Master Wenzel Puderlein came home an hour or so after, he found Joseph in high spirits, with sparkling eyes and cheeks like the rosesalready more than half in love with the pretty Nanny.

Joseph Haydn lived thus many months in the house of Wenzel Puderlein, burgher, house proprietor, and renowned friseur in the Leopoldstadt of Vienna, and not a man in the Imperial city knew where the poor, but talented and well-educated artist and

composer was gone. In vain he was sought for by his few friends; in vain by young von Swieten; in vain, at last, by Metastasio himself; Joseph had disappeared from Vienna without leaving a trace. Wenzel Puderlein kept his abode carefully concealed, and wondered and lamented like the rest over his loss, when his aristocratic customers asked him, whom they believed to know everything, if he could give them no information as to what had become of Joseph. He thought he had good reasons, and undoubted right, to exercise now the hitherto unpractised virtue of silence, because, as he said to himself, he only aimed at making Joseph the happiest man in the world! But in this he would labour alone; he wanted none to help him; and even his protegé was not fully to know his designs till he was actually in possession of his good fortune.

Joseph cheerfully resigned himself to the purposes of his friend, and was only too happy to be able, undisturbed, to study Sebastian Bach's works, to try his skill in quartettos to eat as much as he wished, and day after day to see and chat with the fair Nanny. It never occurred to him, under such circumstances, to notice that he lived in a manner as a prisoner in Puderlein's house; that all day he was banished to the garden behind the house, or to his snug chamber, and only permitted to go out in the evening with Wenzel and his daughter. It never occurred to him to wish for other acquaintance than the domestics and their nearest neighbours, among whom he was only known as "Master Joseph;" and he cheerfully delivered every Saturday to Master Wenzel the stipulated number of minuets, waltzes, &c., which he was ordered to compose. Puderlein carried the pieces regularly to a dealer in such things in the Leopoldstadt, who paid him two convention guilders for every full-toned minuet-and for the others in proportion. This money the hairdresser conscientiously locked up in a chest, to use it, when the time should come, for Joseph's advantage.

With this view, he inquired earnestly about Joseph's greater works, and whether he would not soon be prepared to produce something which would do him credit in the eyes of the more distinguished part of the public.

"Ah-yes-indeed!" replied Joseph;

ལག་པཡ ་་ ཕv༥ [

"Nein!” cried Ignatz, after a long pause of speechless astonishment; "Nein, Master

PRICE SIXPENCE.

ON THE FIRST OF OCTOBER WILL BE PUBLISHED,

No. 1, price Sixpence, of a New Illustrated Work (to be completed in Twenty Monthly Numbers) entitled

PAUL PEABODY:

THE APPRENTICE OF THE WORLD.

BY PERCY B. ST. JOHN.