his own, the printed original was discovered,
with one only variation, that apples had been
introduced instead of pears.

WILL YOU TAKE MADEIRA?

STRETCHING out my hand in a desultory
manner the other morning towards a mass of
periodicals which lay on the table beside me,
I was attracted by the title of a paper in
one of the Reviews, on The Dangers of
Madeira. Having passed five mouths during
the winter and spring '63-64: in that island, my
curiosity and interest were awakened, and I
turned eagerly to the page indicated. I must
confess, the title in no way prepared me for the
contents. My experience led me to believe that
the chief dangers of Madeira consisted in the
risks incurred by break-neck expeditions on
steep and stony mountains, or difficult landings
and embarkings from pitching and tossing
steamers, in the unsheltered little bay we accept
as an apology for a harbour. I had yet to learn
that the island of Madeira was dangerous
because the medical profession in England
"heedlessly" and " recklessly" send their
patients, and the resident practitioners "attract"
them thither, through " a professional system of
puffing," founded on self-interest.

That there are physicians who are both
superficial and mercenary, I doubt not; but my own
experience, and the evidence of competent
witnesses, have inclined me to believe that the
leading characteristics of the class (so far as the
characteristics of any one class may be admitted)
are skill, devotion, and charity. Most assuredly
a residence in Madeira has confirmed me in this
belief, as, in so confined a space, it is difficult to
hide good works, however willingly the right
hand that effected them would do so. That
there are some cases of pulmonary disease to
which the climate of Madeira is unfavourable,
I have heard asserted over and over again by
medical men; but that physicians are not to be
found in England who have made climate their
especial study, and that there are none
sufficiently disinterested in Madeira to let the
patient stay, or go, without reference to their
own pockets, I stoutly deny. Also, from
personal experience and observation, that the
healthy subject becomcs enfeebled and depressed,
although, like all other climates, that of Madeira
is suitable to some constitutions and unsuitable
to others. That Madeira is six hundred miles
distant from Europe at the nearest point, I
take for granted, as my globe and quadrant are
not at hand; that the invalid—- above all, the
hypochondriacal invalid—- who contemplates
passing a winter there, should bear this in mind,
and several other stubborn facts contingent on
this one fact—- such as the scarcity of posts, the
intervals that must elapse between the arrival
of the Times, the Morning Post, and other
periodicals—- I am willing to admit, although,
having carefully studied my Postal Guide before
my departure, I was not unprepared for the
conditions. But that there is "no society,"
"no public questions to discuss," that all is
"stagnation," once more I enter my protest
against such assertions.

So far, indeed, from nothing being heard of
the "public questions of the day," the American
war, for instance, the gentlemen in our quinta*
heard the latest news from North and South
on board a Federal and a Confederate ship the
same day; and their pugnacious propensities
were greatly excited by the prospect of a bonâ
fide fight between the Florida and the St. Louis
men-of-war, through the best telescopes in their
possession.

* Villa.

Lengthened questions of a pecuniary nature
would be misplaced here. Every kind of habitation
is let by the season. The traveller, on alighting at
hotel or boarding-house, is allowed a week
to make up his mind whether he will remain
there, or go away. Ten pounds a head per
month with bedroom and general sitting-room,
an extra charge for private ditto of from three
to five pounds—- these are the hotel terms.
Private houses vary from fifty to one hundred and
fifty pounds for the season; Payne or Wilkinson,
the principal tradesmen, will provide everything,
servants, food, &c. (linen and plate excepted),
at the rate of twenty-five pounds per month for
two persons; one child not counting. Hire
of horse, hammock, or bullock-car (an English
invention), fifteen-pence per hour. Custom-
house duties are enormously high. The traveller
should, as far as possible, take all requisite
clothing with him. The writer of the article I
complain of gives us his experience of a tedious,
wearisome day in Madeira; we will make a few
annotations thereon. The physician visits you
early, makes observations on your health, and
probably reports on that of your friends and
acquaintance. One might imagine this a subject
not devoid of interest to those who have
travelled so far in search of health; although in
what we might term a sick colony, it is not likely
to form a cheerful topic. Whether it might prove
profitable in any degree, to consider the changes
and chances that surround you, and the noble
instances of skill and sympathy and warm human
love which " sorrow, sickness, and death" daily
and hourly elicit, is a grave question; perhaps
it may be considered an impertinent one.

To proceed. You come down to, or after
breakfast, and if you reside in a quinta (although
the name of the month may be December) you
find the windows open to the ground, the air
fragrant within and without; the girls have brought
down baskets full of violets and wood strawberries
from the mountains, and the invalid steps by
the side of his healthy companion into the garden,
or, if he be unable to do so, his chair or
hammock is settled for him in a sheltered nook,
to breathe the air, to inhale the perfume, to
read or converse with his fellows. Even if
suffering, or at best languid, he finds himself
doing more or less as others do; neither cruelly
cut off, nor excommunicated (as is necessarily the