; and to see
that the things to be talked about undergo a collapse at this season,
it is only necessary to look at the newspapers. A new actor, or an
out-door place of amusement, is treated to a whole column of
criticism, whereas, at other times, they would be dismissed in a brief
paragraph. Penny-a-liners of lively imagination, find their reports
less subjected to curtailment. Emigration comes in for a considerable
share of notice, and the statements put forth of the numbers who sail
weekly for Australia and the 'Diggins,' must be taken as decided
evidence of a desire to better their condition on the part of a large
section of the population. It is easy to foresee that thousands will
be disappointed, if they are not made of that stuff which can brave
hardship, and triumph over the wild work of pioneer colonisation. Now
and then we see accounts of unsuspecting emigrants having been deluded
and robbed by a mock 'company,' whose ships are perhaps in the moon,
for they are never seen in terrestrial seas; but with so many
facilities as now exist for getting a passage in a straightforward,
business-like way, it is not easy to understand how it is that people
should persist in giving their money to swindlers. It would appear
that to some the _verbum sap._ never suffices. Means are not lacking
for putting the unwary on their guard, among which the conferences and
group-meetings held by the indefatigable Mrs Chisholm are especially
to be commended. At these meetings, those who desire to expatriate
themselves are informed of the most economical mode of effecting their
purpose, and counselled as to what they should do during the voyage.
Whatever be the result to those who go, there are indications that the
labour-market is bettered for those who stay; in connection with which
a noteworthy fact may be mentioned, which is, that in the southern,
western, and midland counties, scarcely an Irish labourer is to be
seen; and who is there that does not remember what troops of the
ragged peasantry used to come over for haymaking and the harvest?

The lovers of the picturesque, who are apt to become migratory at this
period of the year, will be glad to hear of Earl de Grey's
announcement to the Society of British Architects, that he has
repaired Fountains' Abbey--one of the beautiful ruins for which
Yorkshire is famous--without modernising its appearance or altering
its character. It is to be hoped that so praiseworthy an attempt to
prese