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    THE GJIEAT DOMESTIC MISERY.

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    Untitled Article

    too-ether through , the kingdom , mid elsewhere , these gentlemen reported that they lmd visited one hundred and twenty-three quarries , and examined upwards of one hundred ancient edifices with special reference to the durability of their materials , and the practical conclusion at which they had arrived was that the best stone that could be used in the proposed Palace of Westminster was that of Bolsover , a contract for wluehwas in consequence entered into . Not very long afterwards , however , upon pretexts which have never been thoroughly sifted or explained , this engagement was set aside , and / mother contracted with the late Duke of Leeds for the exclusive use of the produce of a quarry belonging to him in Yorkshire . Of the inferiority-of the material

    thus substituted for the Bolsover stone , tliere is unhappily no room for question ; yet , inferior though it be , it might have been so used as to lessen greatly the effects of the elements upon , the decorative portions of the building . No rule , we believe , is more . generally recognised in such matters , than tliat of placing stones m all the external parts of an edificebed-v : he ? that is , according to the position with regard to the grain in which they are found to have been geologically deposited . The neglect of this rule not only tends to mar the unity of architectural effect by destroying uniformity of colour , but what is far worse , it invites the corrosive action of an impure atmosphere wherever the stones . have been placed contrary to the law of their formation . Tims

    nature mutely but inexorably vindicates her own inscrutable wisdom , and sets her indelible brand of reprobation on the vain and fraudulent attempt to falsify her gifts to man . 'Misplaced-., the stone is more easily workable for ornamental purposes * and hence the temptation to misplace it . 33 ut what is the use of a highly paid department of Public Works , if these things can be dolie openly and impudently / in the-face of day , week after week , inoiith after month , and year after year , in t lie most conspicuous and the most expensive * building the realm contains ? Under successive ministers the "departmentin question has been presided over ' by the usual variety of aristocratic idlers and jobbers . Some of them have been Tories , ' many of t-tiein Whigs : but not one

    of them , it is to be presumed , ever thought of inquiring while the gigantic , edifice was . in progress , whether the . intentions of the Legislature were being . honestly carried out , or whether the splendid liberality of Parliaiuent avus not-in danger of beingthrown away . There cannot be a more danming commentary on the system of what may be called the ' thorough -bred monopoly of high office" -tliaii the scandalous narrative of facts'before-us . The matchless job now brought to light cannot be laid at the door of any one individual , or even at that of any one administration . Chief of delinquents may indeed be counted those by

    whom the Report of the Commission of 1830 was originally set at nought : but , on the other hand , it caii hardly be imagined that the fatal consequences of the . bargain with the Puke of Leeps were foreseen . On the other hand , it were waste of time to try historically to apportion the blame . Bo it amon » - themselves , for by their combined and continuous imbecility , if not complicity , the country has been robbed to an extent hard to estimate in figures ; and . the hope it so long cherished of seeing an imperishable monument of its national spirit and munificence dedicated to the service of its constitutional legislature , ' seems

    doomed to disappointment , . Specifics without end will no doubt bv o / lered , mid experiments of all sorts will probably be tried to harden- tlio face of the ilueu ! tvnd deceptive stones of Westminster , and to arrest the progress of premature decay . But we are slow of faith in these empirical devices . Wo never pass by Buckingham Palace after one of its periodical " paintings-down , " tluit we are not painfully struck with the likeness to " a newly repaired nnd ro-embelliahed range

    of most eligible mansions at very low prices in some second rate watering-place . Moro than once wo hove unconsciously found our oye -wandering in search of ( ho usual bill in the window of the ground floor which Mis one where " further particulars jmay be hod . " It is of no use asking" us to remember that the three coats of boat oil colour f&uiul to bo indispensable ., conceal a pnlhce-front built of really expensive stone , Kxpcnsivc enough if you will ; but as to being run I wo can only believe in the reality of " it a rottenness , or of the roguery with wlncli it nuist hove been

    chosen nnd used . It is provoking to seo the re . sidcno , o of the Qurkn , annually daubed over in this fashion to keep it in decent plight ; but it is onough to try the temper of any pcoplo to be told that a shnilnr process is now the onl y certain , method <>( saving from utter dilapidation a national edifice on which we liavo expended more than Two Millions sterling" .

    Untitled Article

    W ILL thoro be a ainglo dissonliont voico nriso from tho great army of JCnylish matrons when wo ijcoliiro ( hut " Survunts " Are the greatest domestic misery of ( ho prosont day P Tuxen arc something ; niensloa in n full nui-yory nro not to bo snoozed at ;

    smoky chimnies arc vexatious , draughty rooms and damp walls , and ; having- the family plate stolen through an open kitchen window , are I all stumbling-blocks ami pitfalls on the road to happiness , but they are flocci , iiauci , iiilnli , piliv—¦ nothing 1 compared with the gigantic domestic misery of the present ( lay—Servants . There is riot a single house you can enter , where the great misery has not spread , or where some old voice does not sum '' the discussion of John or Maby's iniquities , with thetime-li ; r » oured exclamation , ¦ " Servants are not what they used to be . " What tariff of items would sum -up ; all . their crimes ? They break the dinner service , they tear the carpets , they star , the pier-glass , they let the chandelier drop on the best tea . set ; they fracture windows , they dislocate chairs , they grease tlie table cloth , they leave doors unlocked , and they set the house on fire . You would , indeed , think , to hear some ¦ angry . and'desponding , matrons , that servants had no other object , in life than to put out their master ' s temper , and mar Iris domestic happiness . Be it for us to discuss briefly the causes that render the social position of servants now different from what it once was . and to point out some simple remedies by ' which-the great domestic misery might be ( if not removed ) alleviated . It is a sad and-humiliating ; thing-, and hard for the over civilized to believe , that civilization should bring With , it so many drawbacks . We . get the clock , and we forget to know how to use that indestructible timepiece , the sun . We get the railway engine for our demon hack horse , and we lose tlie savage hunter ' s endurance of leg . We get spectacles , and we lose the far-reaching eye of our fathers . In servants , as in other thing ' s , we feel one of the penalties of progress . It is because our-servants , are no longer the ignorant feudal drudges ' and blind dependent serfs they once were , that they ' grow independent and restless . It is not the less sad to think that , the old family nurse , who dandled the children of two generations , is now a bygone crea- ' tnr ' e lilte the Dodo , or the sabre-toothed tiger-that they show you in Surgeons' Hall . You must engage a good many red-breeched Jon > r TnoiiASES before you find the old clansmen , who in war threwthemselves before their wounded .. piaster , and died calling out-, . " Another for Hector ! " The stuck-up gentleman who condesceiids to be your butler arid winetaster , arid refuses to disgrace himself by wearing livery , is a man of a very different stamp from-the old faithful" clansman . Jto ! it is not wages and " parquisites" . that make a seuvant die willingly for a master . In our shifting , swifter , arid more variable modern life these servants of other days are impossible . In this modern , struggle . for place and for higher seats , jt is the servant who , standing between the rich and the poor , and in ' some degree shares both their , weaknesses , that is tlie quickest and keenest id imbibe this restlessness , to learn the new power of his race , " and to desire to exercise it . To marry ,, to leave service , to take a shop , to emigrate , are all now open to the servant ; and ,. knowing it , they assert their independence often capriciously , often ; insolently ; The increased cheapness of dress now enables the female servant , without extravagance , to dress in gowns very little inferior to those of lier mistress ; and this , perhaps , contributes a little to her ignoring tlie diffei-ences of rank between herself and her superiors . Improved education now makes the mule servant much less openly inferior to his master—perhaps sometimes , liis vanity may induce him to think , a little his superior . In days when footmen become , sometimes , schoolmasters and district curates , it is difficult to expect that the old broad distinction can be maintained between master and servant . Turn them away , they have but to come to London and get a better place ; qV if they save money they may go to Australia , awl there , with prudence , become capitalists and enjoy the luxury of having . servants in their turn . ' it is , perhaps , natural-in those days of freedom and emancipation of opinion that the more turbulent ai ) d independent servants should imagine that a certain aliyht tiiinfc of slavery now liangs about the liverv . Wo all know how detruded si being in t-lie -eyes of the republican opliobi of our alloys ijtrtlio red-plushed , plump-calved ¦ footmmi , with , < ho pink and white fat-face , and the white-greased hair . The London poor man ' s son dreams of the delight of being' a costciTnongcr , and having a " shallow" piled with nuts or oranges ; but lie never covets the gilt cane ov the aiguillettes , Can wo wonder that men of tlio deapi . sod condition seek some equivalent for this potty slavery P The bettor ones try to prove their 'independence byjmipiideneo—the worse make up for the loss of freedom by cheating and thieving . lint can the wliole defect bo on the servants" sid' 6 P Ilavo tho roiwtress or mastev nothing to blame in lhomsolvOH p Was there over a quarrel where ono' aide was all black nnd tho other all white ? J ) o we not , us rulers , rather tighten iy chain that wo ought generously to loosen P iDoos tho mist rocs 'upstairs in h « r scented coiiHorvatory , or in hor airy drawing-room , that seoins r-arpotted with roHO-lo ' uves—it is so bo ft and warm , over think how much iosh plonsiUit for tho poor country girl , who hits latel y luft somo green Devonshire vulloy , is that s ' nblomuwnn collar wiMi tl | o . irongrntod window that in London wo cnll h Kitchen ? In it ohoorlul work to run up and down stairs , and toil incessantly from hix > n the morning till twelve at night P Jm it lioiilthy or ploriHiiut to live six days in a collar without Hotting foot ncrosH tho doorH In it not rather aricotio and unti-huninn to allow ¦ " no followers , " iiicsluding , ot courso , among then ) tlio true Invor find tlio future liHHliiuifl . wlion MiHS l $ riNuni 5 up-dUli'H lms her jiurpctnnl m / cAw and oporim , and a vogulav regiment of jidmircrn nightly in attendaurtoP J > ooa tlio hurriud minute of chut with tlio baltor . or tho pot-boy ( loiriponsato for nil Unit uncousiiitf loll nnd luinuful Holitudo P And i » it u wonder it is bitterly coiitratitfld with tlio voiinjf iniHtrcHH ' H oiifllusa ; anniHOmontrt , or that ' innrringo iuhI oiniynition nro laola-d upon njj < l « siniWo terminntiouH to puc | i u toilsomo , clioorlosn , mwl unnitiHi jilo .

    Untitled Article

    Mauch 17 , I 860 ] The Leader and ' Saturday Analyst . 251

    The Gjieat Domestic Misery.

    TUK GJIEAT DOMESTIC ! UISKRY .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 17, 1860, page 251, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2338/page/7/