stances, which we shall here throw together, will sufficiently prove how much we are behindhand, after all, in the attempt.

In the admirable constitution of Norway, settled in 1814, the franchise of the people was arranged with that regard to the adoption of a broad and simple basis, which is essential to the stability of a popular institution; we are indebted to Mr. Laing's excellent work for the following account of it :

Every native Norwegian of twenty-five years of age, who has been for five years owner or life-renter of land paying scat or tax, or who is a burgess of any town, or possesses there a house or land to the value of one hundred and fifty dollars, (£30,) is entitled to elect. The country is divided into election districts, corresponding to counties, and subdistricts corresponding to parishes. Registers of the qualified voters in each sub-district are kept by the minister, and also by the foged or baillie.

The construction of the Storthing or legislature is singular. The whole body, when elected, divides itself into two houses; the whole Storthing choosing from among its members one-fourth, who constitute the Lagthing or Upper House, their functions resembling those of our House of Lords; the other three-fourths constitute the Odelsthing or House of Commons, in which division all proposed enactments must be originated. The entire number of the Storthing should not consist of under seventyfive, nor above one hundred members. The proportions are founded on the principle, that the towns of Norway should, as nearly as possible, return one-third, and the country two-thirds. The elective franchise is not inseparably connected with the place, but depends on the number of electors in a place; there being a self-acting principle of parliamentary reform, by which the elective franchise is considered as a privilege belonging to the constituency, according to the numbers dwelling in a place, and not a privilege attached to the place. Thus, when Mr. Laing visited Norway, the city of Drontheim had just the number of qualified electors to send four representatives. If the electors had been fewer, it would only have sent three, or two, or one, or even none, if its numbers of qualified voters had been under fifty, and must have joined itself in that case, to the constituency of the nearest town, Christiansund, and elected jointly with them.*

Laing's Norway, chap. iii. pp. 118, 451.

In France, by the last arrangement of its constitution, every Frenchman aged twenty-five years, enjoying his civil and political rights, and paying two hundred francs (£8) of direct contributions, is an elector. Members of the French Institute, and some others, need only pay one half of that amount. The contributions counted as direct are, the land tax,-the personal and furniture tax,-the door and window tax, the taxes on patents, and every tax levied under the title of "centimes additionnels.”

From the 1st to the 10th of June, the mayors of the different communes, in their respective cantons, meet in the chief place of the canton, and there, with the aid of the collectors of taxes, revise the list of the preceding year. This list, with the observations of the subprefect of the arrondissement, is sent to the prefect of the department before the 1st of July, who in his turn revises it,-stating his reasons for the decisions he comes to. The list is then printed and deposited at the mayoralty of each commune, by the 15th of August. Any claims then made are judged by the prefect in council,-from whom there is no appeal but to a cour royale," which, however, is obliged to decide the case definitively and without expense.*

To a certain extent this is rather a confined representation; it does not proceed from a sufficient number of those in whose hands the property of the nation is diffused; that this is the case is a matter generally acknowledged. Men of all parties seem agreed that it shall be extended; the details of its enlargement are yet the subject of deliberation.†

In Belgium, by the electoral law for the formation of the Chamber of Representatives and of the senate, 3rd March, 1831, to be an elector it is necessary,

First,-To be a Belgian by birth, or to have obtained naturalization in full form: Secondly,-To be of the age of twentyfive years complete :

Thirdly,-To be a contributor to the state in a given quota of direct contributions. These are counted for so much as the elector has contributed for the year anterior to that in which the election takes place. In case of successive title, even this is not required. Patents are comprised in the calculation. Contributions of the wife,

* The Monarchy of the Middle Classes, by H. L. Bulwer, B. v. chap. xii. p. 304.

See the Journal des Débats, 1839, 1840.

having community of goods, are counted | tions. Duplicates of the lists are open to to the husband, and those of minor chil- public inspection, with the secretary of the dren to the father having the guardianship of them. The qualification to the given amount is ascertained, either by an extract from the roll of contributions, or by the acquittances of the current year, or by the avertissements of the receiver of contributions.

Tables are given, fixing different amounts which shall qualify in different districts; the highest amount is in the three great towns of Bruxelles, Anvers, and Gand,eighty florins; the lowest in the country parts of the provinces of Luxembourg and Namur, twenty florins,-(£1 13s. 4d.)

Simple and effectual means are provided for registration. The electoral lists are considered permanent, save where, upon an annual revision, names are erased or newly inscribed. The communal administrations (local boards elected by the people, see note A) revise annually, from the 1st to the 15th of April, the lists of the citizens of their communes. They affix them publicly for ten days, and they call upon those citizens who pay contributions in other communes, to apprise the local authorities of the fact, by a day, which they name, fifteen days distant. Each list contains the date of the birth of each elector, and the place where he pays the required amount of contribu

commune, and the commissary of the district. If the communal board proceed to erase the name of an elector, they are bound to give him forty-eight hours notice in writing at his residence, informing him of their reasons.

An appeal lies from the communal administrations, to the permanent deputation of the provincial council, (see note A.) Every individual unduly inscribed, omitted, erased, or otherwise injured, whose complaint has not been attended to below, may thus appeal, annexing the proofs in support of his complaint. In the same way, every individual, in the enjoyment of civil and political rights, may complain of each improper inscription, annexing to his case proof that he has notified it to the party interested, who has ten days from the time of the notice to make answer to it. The deputation of the provincial council must determine upon these points within five days after receipt, or after the time for opposing expires. Their decisions must be accompanied by the reasons for them (seront motivées), and are to be communicated to the parties.

The opportunity of cassation is open from the decision of the provincial board, for five days after the notification to the parties interested. The procedure is sum

admirably devised and classified, as to make us feel our Anglo-Irish legislation to be a subject for mere shame and reproach. In each province there is a provincial council, elected for four years; i. e. one half every second year, and a commissary of the government who is governor of the province. This council is elected by the electors qualified by the electoral law, for the formation of the chambers, with some enlargements in supplementary lists, formed in the same manner as the principal lists. They select from among themselves a permanent deputation, consisting of six members. They deliberate, as well in the absence as during the session of the council, upon all that relates to the daily interests of the province; but their decisions are subject to be modified by the council. It is their duty, at the opening of each provincial session, to submit a report called a mémorial administratif. The sittings of the council are public, but they have a power of forming themselves into a secret committee. The general administration of the province is committed to them,-comprising functions of the most important character.

NOTE (A)-The Communal Boards are composed of councillors elected by the assembly of the electors of the communes, and of a burgomaster and two or four sheriffs, (échevins) named by the crown. In communes under 20,000 inhabitants, there are but two sheriffs. The number of councillors varies by a scale,-the lowest being nine in communes containing from 1000 to 5000; the highest thirty-one, in those containing 70,000 inhabitants or more. Each commune has a secretary and receiver. The qualifications for communal electors are, to be a Belgian by birth or naturalization, of full age,-domiciled in the commune, at least, from the 1st of January preceding the election, and contributing, to the public, amounts, varying from fifteen francs, (say 11s. 3d.) in communes under 2,000 inhabitants, to 100 francs, (say £3 15s.) in those containing over 60,000. Mothers and widows may delegate their rights of representation. The same care is taken for the revision of these lists as of those for general elections. The functions of these bodies are of considerable local importance. They, in fact, manage all the local revenues, and provide for all the communal interests,-subject, however, in more important transactions (all carefully defined) to submit them to the advice of the permanent deputation of the provincial council, and the approbation of the crown. In this way they are bodies, having certain permanence, and performing all the fiscal acts of the Irish grand juries, and other local boards amongst us,-but under regulations sociaux, pp. 266.

By these institutions the internal economy of Belgium is rendered, not only the most popular, but also, probably, the best regulated in the world.

Manuel du Citoyen Belge, contenant la Constitution Belge, la loi électorale, la loi communale, la classification des communes, la loi provinciale, et le tableau de la répartition des conseillers provin

VENICE.

FROM THE FRENCH OF MAD. MONTARAN.

Adieu dear Venice; thy departed sway
Comes sad and shadowy o'er my heart to-day.
Alas! thy sculptured pride that yet remains
Cannot conceal thy mourning and thy chains.
The gondolier upon thy silent waves
Weeps o'er the fortunes of a land of slaves.
The wonted sprightly barcarolle is dumb,

When Morn awakes, and Eve goes down in tears;
The shore, where rests the idle boat, but hears

The insulting thunders of the German drum.

Hath all been lost in hopeless thraldom ? no:
Times will revolve, and fates still ebb and flow.
Glory, Love, Power shall yet return to thee,
And o'er thy cupolas St. Mark shall see

Thy doge's famous banners flout the skies.
Filled with the soul of better days, thy sons
Shall crown thee yet with more triumphal crowns.
Still let St. Mark and soft Madonna's eyes
Protect thy glories, and the Book of Gold
Receive thy noble names illustrious as of old.

FIRE-SIDE RAMBLINGS.

A CHAPTER ON INK.

I

council,) am I about to write, but of that little monosyllabic prejunctive or adjunctive, things and persons are epitheted withal. This word "nice" is indeed a nice word, but devilish hard to be understood. Would you derive it-let us see—from “vzn,”from the "victory" or influence a "nice" person or thing hath, or is supposed to have, over the opinions of people? But there is no analogy in pronunciation; as well may you derive it from Nick, (I mean Old Nick) from the fact of "devilish" being frequently appended thereto. Thus :"devilish nice" girl-"devilish nice" mare

A kind of amphibious thinker am I. think in ink, and I think out of ink. Ink, however, is my favourite element. I go on swimmingly in it. Sometimes I feel no efforts in the moving. I glide, I float, I bask-in short, as I said before, ink is my element. Now, out of it, how is it with me? I am helpless: don't expect any easy, uniform movement from me; I am all spasmodic impulses-ranunculous saltations. No school-boy's squib hoppeth and fizzeth so uneasily; no skittish peg-top pranceth so awkwardly; no eel on the line plungeth"devilish nice" day" devilish nice" cigar, with so many gyrations. Catch me out of ink and keep me out of ink, you keep me out of blood; ink is my blood-ink is my life. Deprive me not of it-give me back my element; would you have me live give me my Black Sea, my tanno-gallate chalybeate, my spring of bright ebony pearlings.

፡፡

&c. &c. &c. I cannot decompose it into its elementals; to understand it rightly you must invariably qualify it with some diagnostic expletive; and, moreover, you must recollect there is a class of persons and things to which it always applieth. Who is there that ever heard Goliah called a "nice" giant ?-Mont Blanc a "nice" And thou, good Thames, that rollest by mountain ?-a seventy-four a "nice" ship? St. Stephen's "tongue-batteries," and bear--an elephant, a rhinoceros, a lion, a tiger, est Channelward our due rounds of political ammunition-the wadding (of rags) and the powder (of lamp-black) with which thy pressgang are so skilful in priming and loading the national war-engines, do thou also flow on, thou shining river," into the reservoirs of Aldersgate-street and the Strand, that thy branches, becoming confluent, may swell even more than ever my favourite my Black Sea. Suffer, as is thy wont, those chemical magicians, Arnold and Warren, to exert their metamorphosing influence upon thee; suffer their "iron to enter into" thy waters, and their "gall" to be disenvenomed in them; become, at the touch of their wand, indeed a "shining river,"-a "black-flowing splendour," and cease to flow into the hellish cauldrons, where the "gall" superaboundeth, and the mud, and the slime, and the filth "do congregate."

"NICE" SPECULATIONS.

Reader, not of the Council of Nice, (I know absolutely nothing of this or the like

a whale, a shark,—"nice" animals? Who ever heard of a "nice" tempest-"nice" thunder, or the like? No one-unless from the lips of a lunatic. Every day of your life you will hear "Oh! what a nice little dwarf!" Does a mushroom excrescence, called a hillock, rise up from the plain-"Oh! what a sweet nice little hill !" Does a frigate ride at anchor in the bay, looking like a "daddy-long-legs" on a pane of glass-"Oh! what a dear nice little vessel!" Does a tortoise, about the size of a tolerable walnut, crawl on your carpet-"what a nice little creature!" Or a lady's puppy, (rather puppet) that would fit in the said walnut, frisk about chirping, (call it not the legitimate barking of doghood)" did you ever see such a nice, sweet, little dog? oh, good Miss Dogbuy, could you get me one of the same breed," &c. "Tis plain, littleness appertaineth to some indefinable degree to that word "nice." It escheweth the grand, the sublime, the terrific. It hath nothing to do with mountainous or Patagonian conceptions. Its "name is never heard" in the

" the tay is wet, Sir." "Tis my study,
therefore, to bounce up at once, to thrust
my face into the basin of water to purify it
from the cobwebs of sleepiness, and to hurry
into my pantaloons and morning-gown as
fast as I can, so as to be in time for the se-
cond "wetting" of the tea-pot. Shaving,
then, I could not wait to think of. This
operation must be deferred to somewhere
about 12 o'clock, that I may shave safely
and smoothly, and take a most elegant and
masterly circumrasion, when the irritable
pimple cometh in my way. Hurry me to
breakfast in a strange place, (of course
shave I must there before my accustomed
time,) verily, my upper lip and chin are
sure to exhibit some half dozen of unsought
and unstudied beauty-spots-and worse,
of mine host's court plaster.
To say no-
thing of the wholesale mowing down of
your pimples, your napkin hath a most
revolting appearance to the nervous host or
chambermaid, who visits your apartment
after you have gone. Had a suicide or
other tragedy been performed there, the
ensanguined towel could not create such a
shuddering and a shattering of their nerves.
Doubtless, after breakfast is the proper,
the sensible time for the razor.

menagerie or the cattle-show. It boometh the matutinal intelligence, which hath no not through the cloud or the cannon. It compromise-no putting in abeyancedelighteth in the micography of its own microcosm. Ye youths, "hide your diminished heads," when the fair apply this epithet to you, for it Lilliputianizes whatever of manhood there is in you; it is, as it were, a kind of Dalilah's scissors, which lops off your strength; and, by the bye, talking of scissors, I do now stumble upon some classic reminiscence about a certain Nisus, (not Euryalus's chum,) whose fate was oracled to depend upon a golden lock that flourished through his dark hair. So long as it flourished, did the Megarian king flourish; but "Love laughs at lock-smiths," and laughed at poor Nisus, when he bade Scylla snip off the lock from her father's pate, while sleeping, and allow her father's enemy, the Cretan Minos, "a walk over," -a quiet possession of the town of Megara. But, lo! unlike Scylla's, the heart of Minos was impenetrable; Cupid declared it adamantine against his shafts. Scylla was disappointed. She flung herself into the sea, and the gods, no doubt taking pity on her, changed her into a lark. Nisus fell by his own hand; and at his own especial request, was changed into a hawk, the better, by this metamorphosis, to pursue his vengeance upon the treasonous lady-bird. To this day do we see the direful enmity between the hawk and the lark; and ever since that sad event hath hawking become a royal game; and his Hawkship Nisus encouraged in his flights against her Larkship Scylla. Now here I can very well understand why this royal pastime was called "a nice sport," for, by all accounts, "Nisus' sport" was the earliest and most original phrase, which was next corrupted into "Nise sport," and next, and finally, into the above "nice sport." Scylla's are there still, who, with that scissors that weapon-ridicule, do essay to shear many an unsuspecting Nisus of his propriety, making him devilish shrewd and hawk-eyed after their twitting larkings; while these airy little misses, in their turn, are but too often made to feel the difference between "a hawk and a handsaw."

*

Now, Johanna is aware that, in winter, she may as well fly out of my house as think of her "daily tea is ready," without having a comfortable fire made ready also. What a horrible feeling one has (I had it some time ago, I believe about Norfolkstreet, Strand, London,) when he has to get up, to suit the convenience of a railway office, earlier than is his wont. You get up reluctantly; you enter upon a kind of drowsy reasoning with yourself about deferring your journey; but necessity stareth you in the face, and lowering a lazy leg towards the floor, while the other lingereth in the linens, you essay your first yawn. Yawn the second is cut short by a general frigorific spasm. Aware you can't be made much colder, your palsied limbs bear you to the stand, and, souse-you ice your face in the basin. Would you shave? You ring the bell-you want hot water; but the

RISE TO BREAKFAST, AND SHAVE AFTER little gal runneth up and telleth you,

BREAKFAST.

I awake every morning generally at the same hour, and when I do, I have no bnsiness whatever to sodden slothfully in my bed; in fact I have not time to do so, for Johanna raps at the door, and giveth me

"there aint none in the house-the fires is'nt made yet." Horrible! You can't shave above, nor, when you come down stairs, can you warm yourself, or have "the tea wet" below! Horrible again, you must put up for the whole day with an unscythed chin, and comport yourself patiently in the