el. Has been separated from his wife
and children in the work-house, and occasionally placed in solitary
confinement for complaining of hunger. Employment, breaking stones.' 'JANE
WELLS. Aged seventy. Weight five stone; lost two stone since her
admission, one month ago. Gruel diet; tea without sugar; potatoes and
salt. Has been set to picking opium.' 'JOHN TOMPKINS. Aged eighty-five.
Has seen better days. On admission, weighed eleven stone, which has been
reduced to eight and three-quarters. Diet, weak soup, with turnips and
carrots; dry bread and cheese-parings; a few ounces of meat occasionally,
when faint. Came to the work-house with his wife, who is five years
younger than himself. Has not been allowed to see her for a month; during
which period has lost in weight two ounces on an average per day. Employed
in carrying coals.' Faithful portraits, no doubt, of thousands who crowd
the thick-clustering pauper-houses of England, who have

'No blessed leisure for love nor hope,
But only time for grief!'

* * * * *

Our umqwhile New-Haven friend, who commented upon our 'light gossip' a few
months since, will pardon us for quoting, in corroboration of the
exculpatory 'position' which we assumed in alluding to his animadversions,
the following remarks by the author of the 'Charcoal Sketches,' JOSEPH C.
NEAL, Esq.: 'Gossip, goodly gossip, though sometimes sneered at, is after
all the best of our entertainments. We must fall back upon the light web
of conversation, upon chit-chat, as our main-stay, our chief reliance; as
that _corps de reserve_ on which our scattered and wearied forces are to
rally. What is there which will bear comparison as a recreating means,
with the free and unstudied interchange of thought, of knowledge, of
impression about men and things, and all that varied medley of fact,
criticism and conclusion so continually fermenting in the active brain? Be
fearful of those who love it not, and banish such as would imbibe its
delights yet bring no contribution to the common stock. There are men who
seek the reputation of wisdom by dint of never affording a glimpse of
their capabilities, and impose upon the world by silent gravity; negative
philosophers, who never commit themselves beyond the utterance of a
self-evident proposition, or hazard their position by a feat of greater
boldness than is to be found in the avowal of the safe truth which has
been granted for a thousand ye