THE CARICATURIST'S PORTRAIT GALLERY.

PORTRAIT IV.-EDMUND BURKE.

EDMUND BURKE the subject of a caricature!-he whom Mackintosh most justly described as "the greatest philosopher in practice that the world ever saw ;"-he, the politician, who, dealing with the temporary passions and prejudices of his own day, raised such questions by the force of his astonishing genius into land-marks for all time-he to be caricatured! And yet we cannot lament that this wonderful thinker should not have been exempted from the attacks of the "light artillery" which rattles its shots about the ears of every public man, be he great or be he petty. GILLRAY was the caricaturist of Burke, as he was of Pitt and Fox, and a host of all the leading spirits of the days of the French Revolution. He was an extraordinary portrait-painter, and so characteristic a likeness of Burke was never produced as in the sketch now before us.

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Every body in the least familiar with modern history has heard of Burke's famous dagger-scene in the House of Commons. Gillray's caricature tells us this story; and it tells it better than any words, for it shows us the identical actor. There is a general notion that this oratorical exhibition was one of Burke's extravagant flights. But Burke was not, except on rare occasions, an extravagant orator. Rarely was he a passionate one. He was a great teacher, whom a listless and impatient House of

Commons too often thought a bore. He

"Still went on refining,

And thought of convincing, while they thought of dining."

Even this very dagger-scene was in some respects a matter-of-fact affair-elevated into an approach to sublimity by the imagination of the orator, and, like many other sublime actions, treading close upon the ridiculous. It certainly, upon the face of the thing, does appear a proper subject for caricature, when the man upon whom the eyes of all Europe were fixed,-who at that moment exercised more influence over public opinion than any speaker or writer who ever existed, —a grave man wellstricken in years,—should draw out a dagger from his pocket, and cast it upon the floor of the House of Commons. Mr. Prior, the biographer of Burke, thus relates the occurrence, which took place on the 28th of December, 1792, on the second reading of the Alien Bill: "Mr. Burke, in mentioning that an order for making three thousand daggers had arrived some time before at Birmingham, a few of which had been actually delivered, drew one from under his coat, and threw it indignantly on the floor." The author of the 'Pictorial History of England' calls this " a stroke of oratorical acting;" but it appears, from a circumstantial account published by the present Earl of Eldon, in a note to Mr. Twiss's Life of the Lord Chancellor Eldon, that Mr. Burke's possession of the dagger was an accidental occurrence, and that the acting" was at any rate unpremeditated. The dagger itself is in the possession of Sir Charles Montolieu Lamb, the son of Sir James Bland Burgess, who was Under Secretary of State at that period. It is " a foot long in the blade, and about five inches in the handle, of coarse workmanship, and might serve either as a dagger or a pike-head." Sir Charles Lamb's account is as follows: "The history of it is, that it was sent to a manufacturer at Birmingham, as a pattern, with an order to make a large quantity like it. At that time the order seemed so suspicious, that instead of

executing it, he came to London and called on my father at the Secretary of State's office, to inform him of it, and ask his advice; and he left the pattern with him. Just after, Mr. Burke called, on his way to the House of Commons; and upon my father mentioning the thing to him, borrowed the dagger, to show in the House. They walked down to the House together; and when Mr. Burke had made his speech, my father took the dagger again, and kept it as a curiosity." This, no doubt, was the veritable dagger. Lord Eldon, then Sir John Scott, had a similar dagger; and on the 11th of January, 1793, he writes to his brother, "You would hear of the dagger which Burke exhibited in the House of Commons. I have got the pattern specimen of that order, which I shall keep as a great curiosity."

THE FLORAL TASTES OF LONDON AND OTHER LARGE CITIES.

HAVING occasion, after several years' absence from the metropolis, to walk through its closely populated suburbs, my attention was attracted by the almost universal manifestation of a taste for floriculture in the windows and small plots of ground in front of the houses. The labyrinthine streets displayed the outward marks of great varieties of pecuniary endowments, and were inhabited by people of almost all the grades of middle and low life; but, with few exceptions, indications of this taste pervaded them all, and a wreath culled from the bountiful lap of nature told the passer by that Flora and her kingdom were not forgotten. I was prepared for something like this development of a love of gardening, from having spent my early days in London, and thus being personally acquainted with the earnest yearnings of its citizens for green fields and flowers; but I am convinced, from a little attention to the subject, that the taste has more than kept pace with the increase of the population, and must be considered a stronger characteristic of the people than it was then.

As I passed from the Great Western Railway one bright summer's morning, before the natural blue of the heavens was travestied by London smoke, what a gorgeous sight presented itself in the decorated balconies of the noble and wealthy inhabitants of that aristocratic quarter! The owners were probably yet slumbering, but what beauties were silently pouring their fragrance on the morning air! Pots of the choicest greenhouse plants, wet with the dews of night, gave sure intimation of the floral tastes of those who dwelt within. Roses and pelargoniums (geraniums in our old vernacular) were especially abundant, as they will always be in such collections, from the facility with which they are grown. Myrtles and other evergreen shrubs mingled their dark green with the foliage of gayer tints, and mignionette and heliotrope poured forth their delicious perfumes. These balconies, opening probably from drawing-rooms, were evidently little consecrated spots, where taste and refinement kept watch from day to day, and where the purest pleasures might be enjoyed. Some, indeed, of these accessories of fashion might be the appurtenances of mere wealth, evincing the love of display of their owners; but I cannot believe this was the case with many of them. The flowers looked like loved things, and uttered silent tales in the ear of a contemplative observer. I could imagine that youth and beauty had tended them; that the sight of them had relaxed the brow of care, so often a tenant of the palace as well as of the poor man's cottage; and that sickness

had been rendered less painful by their innocent beauties. Frail mementos of our evanescent joys! Full many a lesson is conveyed by your chaste calices and petals. ·But although general, this exhibition was far from universal, and many mansions were quite guiltless of green leaves and flowers. Was it possible to avoid the conclusion that between the flower-loving and the flower-neglecting there must be some important differences both of intellect and of heart?

This decided taste in the higher classes, so publicly acknowledged, made me look more curiously for its development in the grades of social life below them, and I was pleased to find that wherever I went through the great city the same floral tendencies displayed themselves. Of that sight-worth travelling over all England to seeCovent-Garden Market in the early morning, I can only utter a passing word of recognition. It is the mighty storehouse whence all the luxuries of vegetable life are dispensed to the largest city in the world. But of this in transitu. Girls with baskets and men with carts were found in all the great thoroughfares, bearing productions redolent of odours and sparkling with beauty. Bouquets of cut-flowers, and plants ready to be transferred to the garden of the amateur, presented themselves in such plenty as to prove that there must be thousands of buyers who think that money may be worthily spent on flowers, as well as on other equally ephemeral luxuries. Even into the places of common business flowers had insinuated themselves. What a cheerful appearance many shops presented, when, arranged among their wares, pots of healthy-looking plants invited attention. And, although cultivation becomes more difficult as the population is denser and gardens are wanting, yet even in such localities (Fleet Street and Ludgate Hill for instance) the upper windows are not defi-cient in evidences that the inhabitants love flowers. The influence of such a taste must be more marked in these crowded depôts of commerce than among the wealthy residents of the suburbs. The latter can easily find egress to the parks and other rural spots; but a tradesman in Cornhill who cultivates a few floral favourites must watch them and linger over them with a joy which the more favoured possessors of gardens can scarcely imagine. It is like possessing one object of tenderness, while others bask in the smiles of large families and many friends. The more opulent in the treasures of the heart are doubtless the happiest, but the owner of one idol worships it with an intensity the others know nothing of.

But I must come to that which most attracted me, and the bearings of which are most important. Within the last quarter of a century what immense additions have been made to the great city! Scenes of my youth! Pretty cheerful streets which twenty years ago bordered on green fields, listened to the flail, and could catch a glimpse of a distant windmill, how altered and base have you become! Improvements in the centre of the great metropolis, and the influx and increase of population, have made those remembered places crowded thoroughfares, and their inhabitants have been driven in widening eddies still farther from the centre. What were the suburbs then are now! the town, and the inquirer must proceed farther for those pleasant spots, the semi-rural dwellings of the artisan and the villas of the middle classes. But if a natural repugnance was felt at seeing the arenas of former games of cricket and kite-flying turned into the very thickest marts of trade, ample restitution was afforded by the present condition of the existing outskirts of London. With retrogression there has certainly been improvement in almost everything, but in nothing more than in the floricultural tendencies of the population. Long streets, extending in some cases for miles in one direction, display before almost every house a plot of ground, generally laid out with neatness, and adorned with shrubs and

flowers. I observed this peculiarly in winter, when, of course, none but amateurs look much after their gardens; yet, while some of the plots would have been better for a little trimming, on the whole the appearance was excellent. Hyacinths in pots and glasses adorned many of the windows, and evergreen shrubs gave a cheerful appearance to the fronts of the dwellings. Laurel of various kinds, arbor-vitæ, phillyrea, aucuba japonica, and rhododendron, I particularly noticed as being very abundant. How obvious was the reflection that a vast amount of innocent recreation and unembittered happiness must redound to the teeming multitudes of cultivators of these graceful appendages of social life.

But has the poor man no flowers, and is his arduous lot deprived of the alleviation which the culture of plants on the smallest scale can confer? I fear these questions must generally be answered in the affirmative, in reference to the working and poorer classes of large towns. Even if a few square yards of ground are doled out to the dwelling of the poor man, there are too many low characters and "untented" and mischievous bairns to allow much of green to grow. In this respect the agricultural have a decided advantage over the manufacturing population, for in the country a cottage may have as much land attached to it as will allow twenty tenements to be built upon it in a city. But the ruling passion for natural objects will force itself into notice even in the most untoward circumstances. Fine auriculas and polyanthuses are grown by the silk-weavers of Spitalfields, sometimes in little yards, sometimes in pots in the windows or on the tops of the houses. In what alley will not the observer discover a struggling attempt after floricultural honours? A wall-flower in a blacking-bottle, or a carnation in a gallypot, are sure, though imperfect and humble indications of the elementary feelings which in better and more favoured circumstances delight in conservatories and greenhouses.

Thus, through the whole extent of London I found an increasing love of those pursuits which have always raised men's characters and improved their feelings. It is true this taste for flowers and gardening is often exhibited in the midst of appliances very inadequate to its development, but it is beneficial, notwithstanding. The sweet scenes of pastoral life, as depicted by our poets, must be in a great measure imaginary. Only once, if ever, could Milton's description have been realised :

"To-morrow, ere fresh morning streak the east
With first approach of light, we must be risen,
And at our pleasant labour to reform

Yon flowery arbours, yonder alleys green,
Our walk at noon, with branches overgrown
That mock our scant manuring, and require

More hands than ours to lop their wanton growth:
Those blossoms also, and those dropping gums
That lie bestrown, unsightly and unsmooth,
Ask riddance, if we mean to tread with ease."

Rarely can Thomson's invitation be complied with :—

"Together let us tread

The morning fields, and gather in their prime

Fresh blooming flowers to grace thy braided hair."

Life is made up of sober and careful realities, and all that fine tastes can do is to make our burdens lighter.

EDUCATION FOR THE ARMY.

UNDER the modest title of 'Military Miscellany,' Mr. Henry Marshall, DeputyInspector-General of Army Hospitals, has recently published a very valuable and suggestive work. He treats in an earnest manner, and with the most humane and praiseworthy intention, subjects with which he has been conversant for well nigh fifty years for so long has he served his country, abroad and at home, in the various capacities of assistant-surgeon, regimental-surgeon, staff-surgeon, inspector of hospitals, &c., &c. He was the first to suggest and to organize that excellent bureau of army statistics which is now attached to the War-Office, and is under the able management of Lieutenant-Colonel Tulloch, whose printed reports have already done infinite good to the service, and have suggested the means of doing much more.

The main object, the one absorbing study, of Mr. Marshall's life, has been to im prove the condition of our common soldiers-a very numerous, and, for a long time, a much neglected class of men,-and to raise the moral standard of the British army, by diminishing the amount and frequency of cruel and debasing punishments, and by increasing, or rather by creating, in the army the means of education and moral training. To this end he has spent time and money. For many years his efforts were disregarded by Government, or sneered at in the War-Office, and by all those old men of routine, who took ignorance to be the best assurance for the soldier's implicit obedience, and hard flogging the only correction of the soldier's vices. But still Mr. Marshall persevered in his mission; and, by slow degrees, his writings produced some impression even upon the men of routine, the rigid disciplinarians, those who would continue to flog because they had flogged for forty years, and their fathers and grandfathers had flogged before them. His essays made them think; and, when they thought, many of them were led to doubt whether more good might not be done in the army by the schoolmaster than by the provost-marshal-by humanizing books, than by brutalizing cats-o'-nine-tails. The general tendency of the agewhich is more gentle and merciful only because the great body of society is somewhat better educated and more enlightened-has been all in favour of Mr. Marshall's endeavours; and other officers, as well of the navy as of the army, have ably advocated the same great cause. The general impression now is, that the brave soldiers (and when was the British soldier other than brave?) of the most free country in the world are no longer to be treated as slaves or dogs; that when the means of education and moral improvement are open or in process of being opened to all classes of the nation, they ought not to be closed against those on whom the nation depends for its honour and safety, or at least, for the keeping together of the most extensive or most varied empire that ever was obtained and maintained by arms and policy; that when most of the powerful and warlike states of Europe have adopted excellent systems of education for non-commissioned officers and common soldiers, we should, in case of a war, contend at a disadvantage, unless our own serjeants and common soldiers be equally educated and enlightened.

Important changes have been made within the last few years; the frightful severities of our military code have been greatly mitigated in practice; more care has been taken of the bodily comfort of the soldier, and some attention has even been paid to his mind. The annual sum of about 40007. has been voted by Parliament for the purchase of books for regimental or barrack libraries, and encouragement has been given to the establishing of adult schools in the army. But much yet remains to be done, in order to render the British army that which it ought to be the best educated,