Lastly, the accomplished authoress of _Characteristics of Women_ adds her testimony, and illustrates the fondness with which the relics of Juliet are cherished, by noting that she met in Italy a gentleman, who being then "_dans le genre romantique_," wore a fragment of Juliet's tomb set in a ring.[7] [7] See p. 118 of the present volume. * * * * * MONASTERIES. It is a strange error to conceive that English monasteries, before the dissolution, fed the indigent part of the nation, and gave that general relief which the poor laws are intended to afford. _Hallam._ * * * * * PIRACY. Mr. Hallam makes the following excellent observations upon the frequency of piracy in the middle ages:--"A pirate, in a well-armed, quick-sailing vessel, must feel, I suppose, the enjoyments of his exemption from control more exquisitely than any other free-booter; and, darting along the bosom of the ocean, under the impartial radiance of the heavens, may deride the dark concealments and hurried nights of the forest robber. His occupation is indeed extinguished by the civilization of later ages, or confined to distant climates. But in the 13th or 14th centuries, a rich vessel was never secure from attack; and neither restitution nor punishment of the criminals was to be obtained from governments, who sometimes feared the plunderer, and sometimes connived at the offence." * * * * * GOOD EFFECTS OF SALT.