As my printer tells me that a few lines are wanting to complete this page, and being desirous to give my readers all I can afford for their money, a word or two on the legislative mania which seems to have taken hold of some honourable members “of the noblest assembly of freemen in the world,” may not be misplaced. And for the sake of brevity, I shall adduce, as an example, the memorable attempt to modify the Quarantine Laws on the advice, testimony, and _experience_ of the renowned Dr. M’Lean. When arguments being taken as facts, and the absurdities of reasoning as the evidence of experience, the whims and reveries of that gentleman, who was described by one (a member of St. Stephen’s) of the anti-contagionists as “one of those extraordinary persons who will be pointed out by the finger of the future historian,” would have received the stamp and authority of law, and we should have had the blessing of plague being as common in our houses as measles, coughs or colds, had not “the ignorance of those who attempt to mislead the public, and the indiscretion of those who are inclined to believe them,” been exposed and refuted by the late Dr. Gooch, in his invaluable paper “Is the Plague a Contagious Disease?” which appeared at the time (anno 1825), in _The Quarterly Review_, and is now appended to his _Account of Female Diseases_. FOOTNOTES: [I] Among the numerous delusions with which the senses of the “error ridden” nation of Englishmen—aye, and the “bonnie Scots,” and the “Sons of the Emerald Isle,” are benighted, is the false and erroneous opinion that strong stimulating liquors impart strength to the body. As a very sensible writer observes on this subject,—“To depend on spirituous liquors for the power to labour, is as wise as it would be in a man, setting out for York, to get a friend to give him a kick on the b—— to help him forward. His friend must continue the same kind office all the way, or he would continually flag.” No work of the present age has contributed more effectually to remove these mistaken notions than “_The Oracle of Health and Long Life_.” May its well-intentioned and judicious author have the consolation of finding that his important instructions have contributed to the health and welfare of the community; and may the unqualified approval of his little volume, by the respectable part of the periodical press of the country be a stimulus to fresh exertion to render the work faultless. [J] Mr. Brewer Child’s recipe (see Treatise on Brewing, p. 23) for making new beer old, is to throw in a dash of vitriol. “A smack of age,” he likewise adds, at p. 18, “is also given to beer, by the addition of alum.” Well done, brewer Child; thou art an expeditious chap! Thou mightest have been of service in the Court of Chancery, _in tempore_ Lord Chancellor Eldon, of _doubting_ and delaying memory.