12 MARCH 1864, Page 2

The proprietors of the English Girls' Journal have a funny

notion of a defence. They have been stealing articles from the Family Herald upon etiquette, complexion, pimples, and kindred subjects, whereupon the Family Herald, aggrieved at the robbery, obtained an injunction. The defendants consented to cancel all stolen passages, give up the numbers, and pay costs ; but their moral defence was that they had " taken" the articles from an American work. Peter robbed Paul, and John robs Peter, and thinks himself quite innocent. The truth is, people have as little idea that an article can be stolen as that an umbrella can. We can point to at least three highly respectable provincials which week by week give these paragraphs and snippets from the Saturday Review as their own leaders. Our contemporary is not hurt much, nor we either; but the act is theft, nevertheless.