is only equalled by its universality. At the cry of fire, the rush
to the doors was so great that it was impossible to open them, owing to
the pressure. The only avenues of escape were the windows, in retreating
through which, the greater number of those few who succeeded in escaping
suffered the most serious injuries. How is this absurd practice of doors
opening inwards to be stopped? What think you if Insurance Companies
would combine, and make people forfeit their insurance if they entered
any public building whose doors were so fitted; or perhaps the
Chancellor of the Exchequer might bring in a bill to levy a very heavy
tax on all public buildings the doors of which opened in this dangerous
manner, and containing a stringent clause compelling managers and all
parties concerned to support the widows and orphans, and pay the
doctors' fees, arising from accidents caused therefrom. Alas! I fear
until--as Sydney Smith would say--we reduce a few cabinet ministers and
a leading member or two of the House of Peers to cinders, we shall go on
in our folly, because our ancestors did so before us.

Among other places I went to was the public billiard-room, and on
entering, my sympathies were immediately aroused by seeing a lad about
thirteen or fourteen, with a very extensive flaming choker on, above
which was a frightful large swelling. Not being a medical man, I was
very much puzzled when I saw the said swelling move about like a penny
roll in a monkey's cheek; presently the sympathy fled, and the puzzle
was solved, as a shower of 'bacco juice deluged the floor. Poor boy! it
must have taken him an hour's hard work to have got the abominable mass
in, and it could only have been done by instalments: the size it had
reached would have broken any jaw to remove in the lump; but he seemed
to have no idea of parting with his treasure, which, to do him justice,
he rolled about with as much ease as if he had had a monkey-teacher
before him from his cradle; nor did it prevent his betting away in a
style that quite astonished a steady old gentleman like myself.

The State of Virginia, like all the other States of the Union, is
undergoing the increasing pressure of democracy:[AJ] one of its
features--which is peculiarly obnoxious to the more sober-minded of the
community--is the new arrangement for the division of the electoral
districts, and which goes by the name of "Gerymander." In the early days
of the Republic, all divisions were m