acts hereinafter mentioned, together with all enactments (if any) confirming, continuing, or perpetuating the same, or any of them, are hereby repealed: provided always, that such repeal shall not affect any legal proceeding commenced under any of the said acts before the passing of this act.' This is the whole act, with a list of statutes repealed, one hundred and eighteen in number, ranging from the 13th year of the reign of King Edward I. to the 17th George III., and comprising, as may be expected, a great variety of subjects. Of course, these are not all the acts which were passed during this period. Great numbers have been from time to time repealed; many still remain in | force. What changes have come over English society -its politics, its education, its religion, its language in the interval! Look in the list at the statute of 7th year of Richard II.'s reign, entitled, No man shall ride in harness within the realm, nor with launcegays.' Here is a word now probably known only to one in a thousand of the community. We confess we were more than half inclined to associate the term with some sort of mauvais sujet, male or female, and were eagerly on the look-out for some further light, when we discovered evidence that these launcegays were a most inveterate and deeply rooted subject of complaint; for thirteen years afterwards we find in our list:

20 Ric. II. c. 1.-No man shall ride or go armed: launcegays shall be put out.

Certainly, most peremptory! Still we were no nearer to the meaning of launcegays. What an appalling thought, too, that up to the 21st day of last July, one might have been breaking the unrepealed statutes of one's country every day without knowing it! Suppose a launcegay should turn out to mean a dog-cart, a Scotch terrier, or a pretty cousin!

Distracted at the thought, we hurried down to our library of reference. Several dictionaries were searched in vain. At last Nares's Glossary gave us: launcegaye, a kind of spear.' Camden mentions it in his Remains; and Tyrwhitt, in his note on Canterbury Tales, says: "The said Evan then and there, with a launcegay, smote the said William Tresham throughe the body a foote and more, whereof he died.' Not to be wondered at, under the circumstances, and also accounting for launcegays being forbidden in the troublous time of King Richard II., Bolingbroke, Percy, and old John of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster.

The fifth next in order has rather an amusing title: 4 Hen. IV. c. 25.-An hostler shall not make horsebread. How much he may take for oats.

Do you remember the scene in Henry IV., at Rochester, in which the carrier, who has a gammon of bacon and two razes of ginger to be delivered as far as Charing Cross, complains that the house is turned upside down since Robin ostler died, to which the other replies: "Poor fellow! never joyed since the price of oats rose; it was the death of him.' Reader, mark the coincidence of date; was it not rather this act of parliament killed him?

shelve the difficulty by saying, 'No Irish need apply.' Our fathers boldly looked the difficulty in the face, and, what is more, legislated for it.

Let us look at the act itself, which will shew us something of the Norman-French not yet gone out, and also serve to mark that the Commons were not yet advanced to the dignity of a legislative power; it is, as we shall see expressed, to be enacted by the king, with the assent of the Lords, at the request of the Commons. It was not till the reign of Charles II. that the preamble of acts of parliament assumed the shape now in use.

'Item pur tant ge diverses homicides murdres rapes roberies et autres felonies riotes conventicles et malefaitz jatarde ount estez faitz en diverses countees d'Engletiore par gentz [the intelligent reader will not mistake this for gents] nus en Irlande reparantz à la ville de Oxenford et illocques demurrantz desoutz la jurisdiction del' université d'Oxenford a grande peure de toute manere poeple demeurant la environ come par toute la communalte du roialme assemblez en cest parlement fuist grevousement di ces compleint.' After this recital, the act goes on to say, that the king, with the assent aforesaid (that is, of the Lords), and at the request of the Commons, ordained that all persons born in Ireland eject themselves out of the realm (soient voidez hors de roialme) in a month's time, on pain of losing their property and being imprisoned at the king's pleasure. An exception is allowed in favour of graduates, clergymen, and others; and amongst them, merchants and other inhabitants of the cities and boroughs, of good fame, who can give security for their good behaviour. All scholars of Ireland, dwelling in England, are to find security for their good behaviour, and to bring testimonials from the lieutenant shewing that they are del' obeisance du roy; and from the Feast of St John then next, no person born in Ireland is to enter the realm of England without such testimonial, on pain of being treated as a rebel. The phrase del' obeisance du roy reminds us that, notwithstanding the achievements of Henry II. and Strongbow, Ireland was still only partially subdued, a large portion being under the government of native chieftains, which continued to be the case till the reign of Elizabeth.

Welshmen, by the way, seem to have had rather a bad reputation about this time; in proof of which, we find the following statutes:

4 Hen. IV. c. 27.-There shall be no wasters, vagabonds, &c., in Wales.

4 Hen. IV. c. 29.-Welshmen shall not be armed.

2 Hen. VI. c. 4.-Welshmen indicted of treason or felony, and imprisoned, or else pursued by hue and cry, and a that do repair unto Herefordshire, shall be apprehended forfeiture of those which do not pursue them.

It must be remembered, however, that Wales was only even nominally annexed to England in Edward I.'s reign, and was long afterwards greatly disaffected; and in particular, that the fourth year of Henry IV.'s reign was the exact time of the great outbreak in Wales, headed by Owen Glendwyr, in concert with the insur

1 Hen. VI. c. 3.-What sort of Irishmen only may come to dwell in England.

Here is a problem! Verily our ancestors in Henry VI.'s reign didn't evade difficult subjects of legislation. Let us try our hand at a specification. They should be honest; not repugnant to soap; not combative; have at least one pair of trousers approximately perfect, and a hat with the crown in; not have more than fifteen children; nor be too much given to a 'drop of the craythur. Half of us, however, in these days of degenerate indolence, to save ourselves trouble,

battle of Shrewsbury. With this confluence of powerful and daring spirits against him, we can understand the new king-himself without title derived from might -very readily consenting to an act of parliament enacting (valeat quantum) that 'Welshmen shall not be armed.'

We may form a tolerably fair estimate of the very primitive state of English society about this time, from an act of the fifth year of Henry IV., long since repealed, and therefore not in this list; but which serves, however, to illustrate those that are. It bears this exhilarating title: 'It shall be felony to cut out the tongue or pull out the eyes of the king's liege

people;' and proceeds: 'Item-Because that many offenders do daily beat, wound, imprison, and maim divers of the king's liege people, and often purposely cut out their tongues or put out their eyes, it is ordained and established that in such case the offenders that so cut tongues or put out the eyes of any of the king's liege people,' shall incur the pains of felony.

The 9 Hen. V. stat. 1, c. 10, in our list has an odd title: 'Keels that carry sea-coals to Newcastle shall be measured and marked.' Here the now proverbial improbability seems to be quite a common thing, 'to carry coals to Newcastle.' The act, however, refers to small vessels, called keels, which brought the coals to be shipped on board the colliers at Newcastle.

Some useful acts appear in the list, shewing that our forefathers had, tolerably early in English history, some sense of the value of sanitary reform. As early as the reign of Richard II., we have an act entitled, "The punishment of them which cause corruption near a city or great town, to corrupt the air;' and again, in Henry VII.'s reign, 'An act that no butcher slay any manner of beast within the walls of London.'

Towards the reign of Henry VII., the various trades seem to have begun to attract legislative attention. The first act on the list in his reign is 'an act for finers of gold and silver;' soon after, 'an act concerning upholsterers,' then an act, entitled 'pewterers walking.' Then in Henry VIII.'s reign, an act for avoiding deceits in worsteds' (Ah, ladies, how could you allow this to be repealed?); and so on, till we are at last fairly launched into the consciousness that trade is getting brisk, that we are become a nation of shopkeepers, and are legislated for as such. Coining, apprentices, horses, worsted yarn, coverlets, leather, steel, woollen cloth, raw-hides and calf-skins, hats, are all subjects of legislation before the close of Queen Elizabeth's reign. One word, however, as to the pewterers aforesaid. They appear to have been a dreadful torment, for, in the 4 Henry VIII., there is again an act pur le pewterers,' and in the twentyfifth year of the same reign, an act concerning pewterers.' Let us see what these pewterers have to say of themselves. The act in Henry VII.'s reign is in the form of a petition, but, be it observed, the Commons are included:

'To the King our Sovereign Lord, and to the noble Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, humbly and lamentably shewn and complain unto your most abundant Grace, your humble subjects the pewterers and brasiers of your cities of London and York, and of all other places of this your realm, That whereas many simple and evil-disposed persons, using the said crafts, daily go about from village, from town, and from house to house, as well in woods and forests, to buy pewter and brass, and that knowing thieves and other pickers' bring the vessels they have stolen 'to them in such hid places to sell, and sell it for little or nought; and about they bring it into privy places, or into corners of cities and towns, and there sell much part of it to strangers, which carry it over the sea by stealth; also, the said persons so going about, and divers other using the said crafts, use to make new vessels, and mix good metal and bad together, and make it naught [this word deserves notice], and sell them for good stuff, where, indeed, the stuff and metal thereof is not worth the fourth part that it is sold for, to the great hurt, deceit, and loss of your subjects; also, divers persons using the said crafts have deceivable and untrue beams and scales-that one of them would stand even with twelve pounds' weight at one end against one quarter of a pound at the other end-to the singular advantage of themselves, and to the great deceit and loss of your subjects, buyers and sellers with them.' After this exordium, they pray that it be enacted, that pewter and brass ought to be of a certain goodness;

that makers shall set on their marks, searchers be appointed, and so on. You see it looks like little else than an attempt of the great 'pewterers' to crush the little ones, whose descendants we may still recognise going about with their little furnaces of hot coals as 'pewterers walking.'

The next act renders the former perpetual; while the third complains of the apprentices repairing unto strange regions, and teaching foreigners the 'craft and mystery of the pewterers', to the great impoverishment of the same, which before this time has been one of the best handicrafts within this realm.' The pewterers, by the way, don't seem to have had very enlightened notions about free-trade: but how well this marks the increased facilities for travelling, and readiness to travel: we are not all going to stay where we were born, we can tell you! We have here the foreshadowing of the ready locomotion of these modern days.

The acts concerning Egyptians' refer, as most of our readers know, to the gipsies. The 1st in Henry VIII.'s reign recites that they use 'great subtil and crafty means to deceive the people, bearing them in hand that they by palmistry could tell men's and women's fortunes, and so many times by craft and subtilty have deceived the people of their money, and also have committed many heinous felonies and robberies;' and enacts that all such persons shall leave the realm within sixteen days, upon pain of imprisonment and forfeiture of goods and chattels. By the act of Philip and Mary, the penalty is death. Certainly, it was time that these statutes were repealed; but it is not very encouraging to remember that amongst us now, three centuries after the passing of these acts, there are still persons, as the newspapers within the past month have shewn, who are the dupes of those who persuade them that they by palmistry can tell men's and women's fortunes, and so by craft and subtilty deceive them of their money.'

Our space is now exhausted. Of course, we have been obliged to leave the major part of these acts of parliament untouched. They constitute, if looked into, a quaint and interesting commentary on the history of their age. The legislature have acted wisely in formally repealing them. No act should be allowed to remain on the statute-book that is not enforced. We ought to know under what laws we live, and to what we are amenable; and these one hundred and eighteen acts of parliament must have felt-if an act of parliament can feel-that they had survived their day.

A FORENOON CALL IN ALGIERS. YESTERDAY, we all started on our promised visit to the family of a cadi who lives in the neighbourhood of Algiers. A cadi, as all readers of the Arabian Nights must know full well, is a native justice of the peace, a Worship Shallow after the oriental pattern. Law and religion are here the same ordinance, and the ancient caliphs were at once pontiffs, judges, and doctors of the law, having under them three classes of vicarsthe imamas or ministers of religion, the muftis or doctors of the law, and the cadis or judges. Who does not remember the summary punishments inflicted on evildoers in the golden prime of good Haroun Alraschid!-the fines and bastinadoes, the imprisonments and bowstrings which served as a gentle divertissement to the placid repose and sunny languor of Bagdad; how the wandering prince in disguise, and the scolding wife Fatima, dervishes, Jews, oneeyed calendars and water-carriers, and all the other dramatis persona of the fascinating eastern romances, were invariably summoned once in the course of their adventures before the cadi, who usually ended his inquiry by a decree equivalent to 'your money or your life.' Dear, old, bearded dignitaries of our childish days!

The cadis are still retained under the French military government of Algiers, but with a greatly modified jurisdiction. Under the decree of the 26th of September 1842, the whole colony, including native or imported populations, of whom there are in Algeria no lack, are placed under the French law and tribunals. But there still remain some special Mussulman offences, which are brought before the native cadis as of old. The commonest cases of a penal nature referred to their judgment are those of drunkenness-by far the most numerous-breaking of the fasts. blasphemy, and improper behaviour in religious edifices. The questions relative to native divorce and heritage are also still under their jurisdiction.

The cadi to whose wife we were about to pay our respects, must have been a man of some substance, as he dwelt in a large house about a mile out of town, and under the same roof with various other members of his family. In fact, the establishment was somewhat patriarchal in size. The Moors have rarely more than one wife apiece, and the six ladies who received us were each married to a brother, a nephew, or a cousin of the cadi. The introduction was effected for us by some French ladies; and an English lady married in Algiers, who spoke the Moorish language perfectly, kindly accompanied to serve as an interpreter. We made altogether a party of ten, including three children, two of whom were little boys, under the age that excludes males from admittance into the sacred precincts of a harem. Leaving the main road, we plunged down a steep path, whose condition, nearly impassable from mud-this being the rainy season-plainly shewed that the female inhabitants of the domain were wholly unaccustomed to walk abroad. An English lady in a provincial town would have thoroughly scolded gardener and errand-boy, or laid down a cart-load of gravel with her own fair hands, rather than have been obliged to wade through such slush every time she went to the church, or the school, or the shop, or to see Mrs John Smith in the High Street. With some difficulty, and by dint of our goloshes, we got over the road, carrying the children with us, and passed through two ill-kept fields to the massive white house. The Moorish dwellings have much the look of a feudal border fort: the rooms open into interior courts, and present nothing to view from the outside save tiny slits like Gothic loopholes. The total absence of chimneys makes them still more devoid of life; but they are wonderfully picturesque amidst their cypresses and vine trellises, especially when, from their walls, as white as driven snow, they reflect back every colour of sunset!

We were received on the threshold by a fine-looking Moor, who was saluted as 'Monsieur Omar,' and who most courteously invited us in. He was in full costume, with a shaven head and a red fez. He ushered us into a small hall at the foot of the stair, down which, to meet us, came one of the ladies, a lively-looking woman about forty years old, with dark hair and eyes, and dressed in a variety of light silk and cotton garments, including of course the full trousers, of a pale-pink and white check. She shook hands with us all round very energetically, ejaculating Slama, Slama,' with every shake, which, we suppose, was 'How do ye do?' and then took us up a low flight of steps into a court surrounded by pillars and arches-a sort of domestic cloister, open to the blue heaven; then up a second flight of stairs to the second story of the same, round which clothes were hung out to dry, and into a large airy room, matted and carpeted, rejoicing in two exterior windows looking over the country and beautiful blue bay, in a four-post bed of light construction, a sort of cushioned divan in the recess of the centre window, a large old chest richly ornamented in colours and gilding, and a couple of recesses with

shelves, on one of which was the invariable set of coffee-cups. Hither flocked, one by one, the feminine members of the household, all attired in gay partycoloured garments and woollen stockings, with dark hair cut short, and hanging down by the side of their rouged cheeks quite straight; smart handkerchiefs twisted round their heads, and earrings. One or two had their eyebrows painted to meet between the eyes, and their nails tipped with henna. They had rather handsome faces, good eyes and hair; but there was only one of them that could be called beautiful, and even her face was devoid of all ennobling expression. They looked good-natured and lively, and extremely glad to see us, though we feared we had taken them by surprise, as they were not arrayed in regular Moorish grande parure, though their dresses were very fine and gay. One of them brought a beautiful baby with curling hair of a deep gold colour; and another presented to us a merry little girl about five years old, bagged up like her seniors in full trousers, and with her hair dyed of a peculiar auburn. They pressed us to be seated, some on the divan, some on the carpeted floor; and then tucking their trousered and stockinged legs under them, in a most adroit and convenient manner, they formed, with us, a large social circle, across which they chattered like so many magpies, the English interpretress rendering the questions and answers as fast as she could.

We had brought for them some little presents, consisting of artificial flowers, bonbons, and a pair of English scissors. Those who received the flowers stuck them into their head-dresses, and seemed to be greatly satisfied with them. The scissors were given to an old woman, the mother of one of the husbands, for all relationships seemed represented in this family group. The wife of the cadi was a tall woman, dressed in mourning on account of the death of her mother. She was not so handsome in colouring as the others, but had a more intelligent expression than any one of them. She ordered coffee to be brought, which was served up on a tray, each cup being set in a sort of filigree frame, that served as a saucer. The beverage was most excellent. Our party of thirteen, seated in a circle on the floor drinking it, would have been a sufficiently ludicrous spectacle to a looker-on.

They were highly delighted with our ornaments, and felt the silk of my dress between their fingers. One lady shewed them a Roman brooch with a head of Dante cut in lava; they asked if it was the portrait of her husband!-probably taking the fillet and bayleaves for some ornamental variety of an Englishman's costume. A little magnifying-glass hanging at a girdle also delighted them extremely. We asked about their education, and were told they could none of them read or write; so that when members of a family are separated by marriage, and live in different towns, they are wholly dependent on chance opportunities of communication through word of mouth of friends. Neither do they know their own ages, usually referring to some public date in order to indicate the limits of their recollection, as 'we remember the coming of the French,' &c.

The life led by these unfortunate creatures is forlorn in its utter absence of moral and intellectual action. They have not only no education, in which they are not wholly singular, but no religion on which to fall back; they have no concern with the ordinances of Mohammedanism; they never enter a mosque except about three times a year; to the graves of the dead they pay occasional visits of reverence; but from all the duties enjoined on Christian women of all ranks, in all persuasions, they are cut off. They can neither teach their children religious truths, for in these they are themselves but half instructed; nor can they take part in charities, for that true religion which visits the widow and

large box. When first introduced, it was not apparent whether the snake recognised his enemy. It did not dart away, but kept creeping gently round the box while the hedgehog lay rolled up, and did not appear to see the intruder. The professor then laid the hedgehog on the snake, with that part of the ball where the head and tail meet, downwards, and touching it. The snake proceeded to crawl; the hedgehog started, opened slightly, and seeing what was under, gave the snake a hard bite, and instantly rolled itself up again. After lying a minute, it opened a second, and again a third time, repeating the bite; and by the third bite, the back of the snake was broken. This done, the hedgehog stood by the snake's side, and passed its whole body successively through its jaws, cracking and breaking it at intervals of half an inch or more, by which operation the snake was quite finished. The hedgehog then placed itself at the tip of his fallen enemy's tail, and began to eat upwards-as one would eat a radish-slowly, but without intermission, till half of him was devoured, and next morning he ate the remainder. A correspondent of Notes and Queries gives another instance of their voracity. He tells us that he once enclosed, in three separate hampers, a hedgehog, two starlings, and a wood-pigeon; the lids of each were securely fastened, and they were left in a garden-house all night. Next morning, the strings of all the hampers were severed, and only a few feathers were left of the birds, the hedgehog being found in the wood-pigeon's hamper. With all his hankering after flesh, however, it is pretty clear, from the make of his mouth and teeth, that nature intended him for a vegetarian. The manner in which they eat the plantainroots in my garden,' says White of Selborne, 'is very curious. With their upper mandible, which is much longer than the lower, they bore under the plant, and so eat the root off upwards, leaving the tuft of leaves untouched.' The popular idea, that they suck the cows as they sleep, has been commonly denied by all scientific men; but it still remains an article of the farmers' creed, and they have certainly been found early in the morning in very suspicious vicinity to their udders. In all probability, the notion originated in the fact, that they are attracted to the animal by the smell, and sometimes come in for a share of the milk which may have been squeezed out during sleep. There is another peculiarity about the hedgehog which is very little known, but, if properly investigated, seems likely to lead to valuable discoveries. No poison of any kind will act upon its system. Pallas gave one a hundred cantharides, which the animal appeared to relish amazingly; while half of one of these acrid insects given to a dog or cat, would cause the most horrible torment. M. Leny caused one to be bitten several times in the throat and tongue by a viper, but without having the slightest effect; and Mr Cuthbert Johnson, the well-known agricultural writer, states that prussic acid, arsenic, opium, and corrosive sublimate, have each been tried upon it without producing the slightest indisposition.

The home of a hedgehog is a curious little structure of moss and dried leaves, and is generally constructed with greater skill than that of any other of the nestmaking mammalia. Sometimes he builds it under the shade of a thick furze-bush, or oftener still in the little caves hollowed out by the rain

Under an oak whose antique root peeps out; and this perhaps is his favourite den, as it affords him the most protection from the foxes and dogs. The care he takes in rendering his dwelling wind-and-rain proof, has given rise to a popular notion that he is able to foresee changes in the weather, and alters the situation of his house accordingly; hence, in many parts of England, a hedgehog's nest is looked upon as a kind of Murphy's Almanac, altogether infallible.

Bodenham, in his Garden of the Muses, published in 1600, alludes to this idea in the simile:

As hedgehogs doe foresee ensuing stormes, So wise men are for fortune still prepared. Into this hibernaculum, when the nights become chilly, and his food scarce, he betakes himself for his long winter's sleep; first, however, taking care to roll himself up in such a prodigious quantity of moss and dried leaves, that the severest snows will leave him warm and dry. Unlike the rest of the sleepers, he accumulates no provisions. The only store he takes with him is a goodly layer of fat about the viscera and under the skin, which is slowly absorbed, as the waste of his inactive life requires. With the first warm beams of spring he wakes up lean and hungry; and it is said that in this voracious condition he will attack almost anything, and has even been known to break his fast upon a hen.

The disposition of the hedgehog may be very considerably modified by taming. James Dousa, the celebrated Dutch scholar, had a pet one which followed him about, and evinced the greatest attachment for his person. When it died, Lipsius immortalised its memory in some Latin verses, almost as rough and unpoetical as the subject. In London, they are much used to destroy the black beetles which abound in the underground kitchens; and many instances are recorded of their becoming familiar with those who treat them kindly. The writer formerly had one who used to know his name 'Spot' very well, and would directly uncoil himself at the sound of his master's voice. He had so far overcome his natural timidity, as to lie before the fire in company with a cat and dog. With the latter, he was on very friendly terms; but the cat and he always regarded each other with mutual aversion. Every now and then, without the slightest provocation, he would suddenly open and bite her leg or tail, and then instantaneously contract himself again with a Touch-me-if-you-dare kind of air, which was vastly amusing. This may have been the mere exuberance of hedgehog spirits, but it was a great deal too much like earnest to make it pleasant for pussy, who, however, never ventured to retaliate, for she had probably found that his prickles were more than a match for her claws. She contrived to kitten upon a table, in order that her young should be out of his reach; but one day, during her absence, he climbed up by the leg, and pushed one of them off, and then rolling himself down after it, was proceeding to drag it away by the neck to his hole under the fireplace, when the mother happened to return. Then ensued a battle-royal. Utterly unmindful of her usual caution, the infuriated parent dashed herself three separate times against the enemy, and was each time received with fixed bayonets. Never, probably, was there such an expenditure of spitting and fuming; but all to no purpose, for the hedgehog clung to his prey like a ferret. Had not the writer interfered, and caused the hedgehog to drop the kitten, it would probably have been rent in two between the combatants. The cat was much pricked all over her face and shoulders, and the hedgehog had some ugly scratches under his throat. After this affair, they never lay together on the hearth.

The uses to which the hedgehog has been put are numerous. Among the peasantry on the continent, and in many parts of England, it is used as food to a considerable extent. Hedgehog-dumpling is by no means an uncommon cottage-dinner in Buckinghamshire. The flesh of the young animal is very white, and not unlike rabbit. Among the Romans, the spines were extensively used in carding wool, and several decrees of the senate are extant against the rich woolstaplers, who were in the habit of buying them all up, and thus forestalling the market. In medicine, he was