It has been a question much agitated, whether hard or soft water should have the preference for brewing. "It is remarkable," says Newman, "that the waters of rivers and of stagnant ponds that are not putrid, though quite muddy and unfit for drinking, and even disgustful, produce better beer than those of the finest and most limpid springs. Perhaps it is their softness that adapts them to this use, whilst their impurities are separated in the course of fermentation." By some brewers, we are cautioned never to use hard water, it being, as they affirm, totally incapable of taking a complete extract from malt and hops, as it is well known to be (say they) from tea or from meat. Others affirm, that hard-water worts do not ferment well, and that they afford a weak vapid beer. It is difficult to conceive how the existence of two or three grains of saline and earthy matter in a pint of water could, even in the most trifling degree, influence its solvent power on the materials used in brewing. The matter of malt, which partakes so much of the nature of sugar, cannot be conceived to dissolve less readily in such water than in the softest. And as to the bitter principle of the hop, one would be inclined to suppose that it is not different from all other bitter principles: wormwood, gentian, quassia, and colombia, give out their bitterness freely to water containing salt, dissolved in very large quantity. This is well known. And what in itself is ample demonstration on the subject is, that the grain and hops left after they have been duly infused in hot hard water, repeatedly applied, are found to be perfectly exhausted of their qualities. As to the taste of hard water, provided that it has no accidental impregnation of contiguous impurities, there can be no reasonable objection. Were its peculiar taste retained after boiling, it is so exceedingly feeble that it must necessarily be covered by the bitter of the hop. But by the boiling which it undergoes, it is brought nearly to the state of soft water its carbonic acid and common air are disengaged, and its difficultly soluble earthy salts and substances are

the objections to hard water originated in the distrust natural to mankind in matters which they do not understand. The nature of hard water was not known to brewers of former times: the cause of hardness being not palpable to the senses, it became a fair subject of conjecture, and prejudice became hereditary. In short, reasoning on this subject is of little use when we have proof derived from the most extensive experience. The soft water of the Thames was once supposed to be superior to all, others for brewing malt liquors. Dr. Irvine says, "Sometimes common salt is added to the water used in extracting the sweet matter of malt, with a view, as may be supposed, of exciting thirst; but it produces some other effects; in particular, it moderates the fermentation, makes the liquor fine, and seems to be the cause of the great superiority of the water of certain places in producing fine malt liquor. The water of the Thames is much celebrated on this account, and it contains a little salt; and, in most places remarkable for fine malt liquor, I have found this also to be the case. No advantage will be obtained if the quantity of salt be so great as to be discovered by the taste." So much the reverse of pure is the Thames' water, that we find it stated in the " Philosophical Transactions, 1667," that in eight months time, if kept in a cask it" acquires a spirituous quality so as to burn like spirits of wine. It will also become fetid, and if then agitated will soon after let fall a black lee.' Inflammable gas is therefore formed in it, and it is this which takes fire. Yet this boasted superiority of the Thames' water has not continued to insure a preference for it; and it is now almost entirely superseded either by hard water, or by the New River water, in the great London breweries. It is known that between a stratum of clay and a stratum of chalk, about two hundred feet below the foundation of London, there is a neverfailing supply of excellent hard water. The supply for each brewery is obtained from pumps sunk in wells excavated to the necessary depth. This fact seems decisive; London porter is a sufficient proof of the adequacy of hard water to answer all the purposes of the brewery. However, be the water of what kind it may, it is certain that it should not contain putrescent vegetable or animal substances.

-Newman says, "when water used for brewing have received an impregnation from the carcasses of animals, though so slight as not to be perceived on the water itself, as soon as the liquor has been brought into fermentation, the putrid ferment has exerted its activity, and disposed the fermentation to its own kind." It is so great a convenience to the brewer to have a plentiful

supply of water on his concern, that large sums are often expended in sinking wells for obtaining it. The water thus procured has often the ill smell and taste of sulphurated hydrogen; but it is not the less fit for use, for by boiling, or better by exposure to the air, both of these defects are removed. But caution is required in the use of some waters although rarely. In an early volume of the "Philosophical Transactions" we find the following account!-"Near Danzic there is an inland sea made by the meeting of three rivulets and the water of some springs. The adjoining soil seems to be sand mixed with clay, it is stored with wholesome and delicate fish, and the water is sweet and salutary. But during the three summer months every year it becomes green in the middle. If this water and its green matter be swallowed by cattle, dogs or poultry, it causes certain and sudden death."

A FAMILY CLUB.t

A SUGGESTION, of great interest to all per sons of moderate fortune, has been lately circulated. It comes from a gentleman of considerable literary abilities, and its purport is the establishment of a club; not for men only, but for families. It is proposed in the suggestion to erect a college of the size of a large square, and capable of accommodating four hundred families; each family to pay a rent of 100%. This rental would amount to 40,000%, requiring an outlay of 800,000%. This sum might be raised by shares, which would afford a good investment, even to those who did not wish to become occupants. Now, let us suppose that each family has only 2001. a year; the remaining 100% being spent under such arrangements, the family would derive far greater advantages than could be possessed by a family enjoy ing, on the present isolated principle, 6007. a year; for besides procuring in a superior degree their present objects, including education for their children, they could have libraries, theatre, philosophical apparatus for lectures, music and ball-rooms, baths, &c.; in short, all the advantages now only obtainable (and that with difficulty) by the higher

classes.

It must be observed, that the benefits increase in a greater ratio from the increased expenditure; and accordingly, if 2001. or 3001. a year were subscribed, instead of 1007, the advantages and luxuries obtained would be really beyond a sober calculation.

It is proposed to obviate all the objections

From the New Monthly Magazine,—No. CXVI.

which every one would start as to the probable collision of interests, or incompatibility of tempers, which in ordinary cases prevent two or more families (especially English families) living in one house, by having the establishment so comprehensive as to afford separate houses, or separate apartments (as at an English lodging-house or a French hotel) to each family, together with the power of having meals in these apartments, or in different parties, as well as at a general table-d'hôte; all are also to have the right of quitting the society at a quarter's notice. Such make the principal and primary heads of this suggestion, and it is one which appears to me deserving of the most serious consideration. It is not so crude and untried a theory but that we have a daily and most satisfactory experience of its good effects in the clubs for men. St. James's Street is a living argument in its favour, and Waterloo Place an unexceptionable reference.

The only plausible and good objection— the want of harmony among the families-is, as we have seen, prevented by the accommodating nature of the establishment; and when we consider to what deserving, yet often necessitous classes, it peculiarly applies, what advantages it promises, not only to the present race, but to their children, when one sees, too, that it is the groundwork of a system, capable of the most extensive improvements with every increase of experience, I cannot but think it one of the happiest suggestions of modern ingenuity, and one which cannot be too warmly patronised and too soon brought into

effect.

Mr. Haydon has addressed a letter to the "Times," stating that he is again fast sinking into ruin and into a prison, where he must be moved on the day in which he writes his letter. The causes he states to be want of employment, and law expenses. Now, let us just conceive that to such a club as we have mentioned this artist had happily belonged; he would have had ample leisure for his profession, and little ground for imprudence. Household negligence, the common and obvious fault of men of genius, be could not have incurred, for economy is the business of the club, not the individual; and thus, while the improvidences and the poverty of artists and literary men are remedied, a greater leisure is left for their occupations. They thrive without levying subscriptions, and the public (a very rare blessing) benefits doubly without paying a shilling for it.

ANECDOTES OF BRAZIL.t

MANY of the prevailing manners and domestic habits of the people of Brazil, are of Moorish origin. With the exception of the highest classes of society, the Brazilians take their meals squatted à-la-Turc on mats spread on the ground. A very singular custom is observed at these repasts towards a stranger. The host, or the person whom chance may place beside him, extracts from his plate some portion of the dainty it may contain, and in return, will convey some choice morsel from his own on to that of the stranger guest. As the use of knives and forks is on these occasions most religiously dispensed, there is certainly something in this custom revolting to our European refine ment; but here it is the pledge of hospitality, like salt with the wandering Arab.

Some traces of the language of flowers, so common all over the East, are still to be found in Brazil. A stranger, on entering a house, is invariably presented with a flower by some female member of the family. By nature a Gascon, a Brazilian's description both of persons and things must be received with cautious limitation, for they are always in the richest vein of Oriental bombast. I have repeatedly heard the emperor compared to a god, and his people to a nation of heroes. Their usual style of addressing a person is "most illustrious." A splendid entertainment is merely termed "hum copo d'ago," a glass of water; while the courage of some favourite military officer is represented as something superhuman, varying in a ratio from that of ten to a hundred thousand devils. "Tem o animo de ceno-mil diabos," is the hyperbole used on such occasions. One unacquainted with their national character would imagine he were residing among a nation of fire-eaters; but in few countries is the personal dignity of man sunk to a lower ebb than in Brazil. During a nine years' residence, I never heard of a single duel, nocturnal assassination being the fashionable mode of vindicating outraged honour. The rigid state of seclusion in which the females are kept, deprives society of that fascinating polish of exterior cast over its surface in other countries by the influence of the softer sex. The mind of the Brazilian female is left in all the wild luxuriance of uncultivated nature; her existence is monotony itself, gliding on in its dull course in the society of her slaves, to whom in point of intellect she is little superior; but her manners are soft and gentle, and her sensibilities, when roused, have all the fiery

From the Monthly Magazine.-No. LIV.

Interesting,

energy of her native, clime. rather than beautiful, her sedentary life tinges her cheek with a sickly hue; while early marriage gives to her figure an exuberant embonpoint, which, however, in the Oriental taste of the country, is considered the beau-ideal of beauty in both sexes. this precocious climate ladies are grandmothers at seven-and-twenty.

In

The most favourable specimens of the Brazil population are to be found in the two mountain provinces, Minas and Sato Paulo, though their jealousy and revenge are proverbial even in Brazil. The following anecdote, which I had from an officer, an eyewitness of the event, is highly illustrative of the former passion. A young officer, on a tour of inspection, arrived on the eve of St.

John at a small villa in Minas. On the

following morning, he accompanied the coptao mor of the district to the celebration of high mass. During the ceremony he was forcibly struck with the beauty of a young female kneeling near the altar. Young, ardent, and impetuous, he expressed his admiration with all the indiscreet warmth of licentious passion. The innocent object of his aspirations was the wife of the coptao mor, who, however, vouchsafed no answer to his anxious inquiries; but his brow grew dark, and even as he bowed down before the elevated host, he meditated a deed at which the blood runs cold. On leaving the church he framed an excuse for leaving the officer during the remainder of the day; but in the evening he rushed into his apartment, and holding up a knife reeking with blood, exclaimed with a hysterical laugh, "Your intended victim is now beyond the reach of dishonour !" Among a people entertaining such extravagant notions of honour, it would be but natural to expect to find the purity of the female character fixed at an elevated point. This, however, is unfortunately not the case; few places, perhaps, present a more lamentable picture of vice and licentiousness than Villa-Rica, the capital of the province of Minas. To such a pitch is it carried,that a proposal to form a "liaison" the most 66 equivoque " with a young female would not be received by her family as an insult, but acceded to, or declined, according as they might deem it advantageous. But, on the other hand, a clandestine correspondence, although carried on with the most honourable intentions, would, if prematurely discovered, bring down the vengeance of the, family on the offender. The Mineheiro never forgives an affront; he will track his victim with the ruthless spirit of a tiger, till he has an opportunity of wreaking his revenge. The knife in the hands of these people is a most formidable weapon. With his left arm enveloped in the thick folds of his

poncho, the Minehiero, under cover of this shield, advances fearlessly against an experienced swordsman; if foiled in his onset, he will spring back ten or fifteen paces with the agility of a mountain cat, and throw his knife at his advancing foe with unerring and fatal precision. From these two provinces the emperor draws his best cavalry. Most of the higher offices of state are also filled by Mineheiros and Pauliotos, whose activity and energy of character fit them better for the duties of office than the more indolent inhabitants of the maritime provinces. On a levee-day, the court of the emperor presents a most brilliant spectacle. He has created a corps of noblesse, which in numbers, at least, will vie with that of the oldest European courts. Military talent, the never-failing stepping-stone to nobility, is not, however, one of the attributes of the newly privileged orders of Brazil. The late revolution was sterile in talent, not having produced a single successful soldier. At a levee held by the emperor towards the close of the late war with the Buenos Ayrean republic, when a series of disasters, crowned by the signal defeat of Ituzaingo, tarnished the lustre of the imperial arms, Don Pedro turned to a distinguished foreign officer near him, and pointing to the brilliant circle by which he was surrounded, exclaimed in a tone of great bitterness," In all this glittering crowd I cannot find an officer fit to command a brigade." The character of this prince is the very antithesis of that of his people. Simple in his tastes, active in mind, of a manly and energetic temper, his unremitting exertions and loftiest aspirations are for the welfare of his newly founded empire.

Crimes are rare in Brazil, at least such as spring from the pressure of want. In these fruitful regions the earnings of two days" labour will subsist the labourer the other five. Few countries, indeed, are more blessed by the bountiful hand of nature than Brazil. A prodigious extent of territory, diversified by every variety of soil and climate, her resources, mineral, as well as agricultural, are immense; while the character of her prince and the theoretical spirit of her government are favourable to their full and rapid development. At a period of universal depression and stagnation like the present, it is gratifying to be able to direct our attention to a country which presents so wide and extended a field for the operation of British capital and enterprize as Brazil. That there are still some dark clouds hovering round her political horizon I am not free to deny. But it has been justly remarked by a celebrated writer of the present age-"When a man forms schemes in politics, trade, economy, or any business in life, he ought not to draw his arguments too fine, or connect too long a chain of conse

THE period has arrived for us to record the closing of the two great theatres, and to review the winter campaign. That its issue has been widely different from that calculated upon at the commencement of the season, even by the most knowing ones," " we believe they will admit; and the argument to be drawn from it is, in our opinion, all in favour of theatrical property. It proves that there is always vitality in a theatre; and that, provided a manager knows how to play a bad hand, the chances themselves are strongly in favour of the table. In Sep tember, 1829, the proprietors of Covent Garden Theatre would have been but too happy if any one would have insured them against the loss of nearly as many thousands as they now stand the gainers of. Mr. Price, the then lessee of Drury, on the contrary, confided too much in the chances he thought he perceived against his rivals, and suffered himself to be out-generaled by them in more than one important instance. But even this mistake, and the extraordinary lethargy which, during the commencement of the season, overhung that establishment, did not prevent it eventually from making strong head against the current which had set in for its neighbour, and fully sharing in the Pactolean stream. For, be it understood, as in justice to Drury Lane Theatre it should be, that the embarrassments of Mr. Price have arisen out of circumstances unconnected with theatricals, the receipts of the theatre having averaged 53,000l. per season during his lesseeship: so that granting the expenses to be 2507. per night for the two hundred nights, which they could scarcely exceed, it would leave a profit of 3000%. on each season-not a sufficient recompense, perhaps, for the toil and anxiety attending theatrical management, but still any thing but a losing game. But to proceed to our review. Drury Lane opened on the 1st of October; and, most injudiciously, the lessee reduced the price to the boxes, instead of providing entertainments which should have rendered the admission money a matter of indifference. At Christmas the old prices were resumed; and the triumph of the pantomime over that of Covent Garden, the success of the "Brigand," and the accession of Kean and Madame Vestris, gave a prosperous turn to the affairs, which was furthered by the production of the "National Guard," " Perfection,' ""Popping the Question," the Easter piece, and the opera of "Hofer;" the latter particularly, if produced earlier in the season, might alone have redeemed the fortunes of the lessee. On looking at the course of Covent Garden,

career of Miss Kemble. Her nights, it is reported, have averaged 300%. The offnights, as they are technically termed, were, however, deplorable, till "Black-eyed Susan" came on board," and brought them up with ́ a wet sail" to Christmas. The comparative failure of the pantomime was a sad drawback; and Miss Paton in "Ninetta" only added to the expenses of the establishment. At this critical moment, "Teddy the Tiler" came Pat, and with more than forty-horse Power pulling after it. A very bad melodrama, with a very good name, bettered the business till Easter. On Easter Tuesday the opera of "Cinderella" was produced; and originally from its intrinsic merits, and latterly through the unequivocal interest thrown around its heroine (O tempora! O mores!) has formed a triumphant close to the season. The following are the lists of the pieces produced at each theatre, which, curiously enough, exactly correspond in number (fifteen), counting Black-eyed Susan," as its success entitles us to do, amongst the productions at Covent Garden. Drury Lane.

:

Oct. 14-" Epicharis," a Tragedy, five acts: Lister, five nights.

:

Nov.

Dec.

Feb.

Mar.

Apr.

May

22-"Greek Family," a Melo-drama, two acts: Barrymore and Raymond, withdrawn.

3-" Snakes in the Grass," a Farce, two acts: Buxton, nine nights. 18-" Brigand," a Drama, two acts: Planché, forty-seven nights. 28-"Follies of Fashion," a Comedy, five acts: Lord Glengall, eleven nights.

19" Witch-Finder," a Drama, two acts: Jerrold, withdrawn.

26-" Jack in the Box," Christmas Pantomime: Barrymore, fifty nights. 4-"National Guard," an Opera, two acts: Planché, fourteen nights 23-"Past and Present," a Drama, three acts: Poole, ten nights. 23-" Popping the Question," Interlude: Buxton, twelve nights. 25-"Perfection," a Farce, two acts: Bayly, seventeen nights.

12-" Dragon's Gift," Easter piece : Planché, twenty nights. 1-"Hofer," an Opera, three acts;

Planché, twelve nights.

4-" A Joke's a Joke," a Farce, two acts: T. Hook, withdrawn.

25" Spanish Husband," a Drama, three acts: H. Payne, six nights.

Covent Garden.

Oct. 10" First of May," a Drama, two acts: Miss Hill, eleven nights.