we have called them at the
head of this paper--should still disgrace our social system; and that,
however justice maybe administered in our courts of law, in the
private judicature of our own dwellings we observe an especial system
of jurisprudence, marked by injustice and by wrong. To endeavour to
depict some instances of this, I have set about my present
undertaking. To disabuse the public mind as to the error, that what is
punishable in one can be praiseworthy in another; and what is
excellent in the court can be execrable in the city. Such is my
object, such my hope. Under this title I shall endeavour to touch upon
the undue estimation in which we hold certain people and places--the
unfair depreciation of certain sects and callings. Not confining
myself to home, I shall take the habits of my countrymen on the
Continent, whether in their search for climate, economy, education, or
enjoyment; and, as far as my ability lies, hold the mirror up to
nature, while I extend the war-cry of my distinguished countrymen,
not asking "justice for Ireland" alone, but "justice for the whole
human race." For the gaoler as for the guardsman, for the steward of
the Holyhead as for him of the household; from the Munster
king-at-arms to the monarch of the Cannibal Island--"_nihil a me
alienum puto_;" from the priest to the plenipotentiary; from Mr.
Arkins to Abd-el-Kader: my sympathy extends to all.

A NUT FOR CORONERS.

[Illustration]

I had nearly attained to man's estate before I understood the nature
of a coroner. I remember, when a child, to have seen a coloured print
from a well-known picture of the day, representing the night-mare. It
was a horrible representation of a goblin shape of hideous aspect,
that sat cowering upon the bosom of a sleeping figure, on whose white
features a look of painful suffering was depicted, while the clenched
hands and drawn-up feet seemed to struggle with convulsive agony.
Heaven knows how or when the thought occurred to me, but I clearly
recollect my impression that this goblin was a coroner. Some confused
notion about sitting on a corpse as one of his attributes had,
doubtless, suggested the idea; and certainly nothing contributed to
increase the horror of suicide in my eyes so much as the reflection,
that the grim demon already mentioned had some function to discharge
on the occasion.

When, after the lapse of years, I heard that the eloquent and gifted
member for Finsbury was a being