DR. CUMMING'S NOTES OF A WANDERER.
AFTER years of service in India, and wanderings in various parts of the world, Dr. CUMMING found himself at Paris in the spring of 1836, afflicted with a severe pulmonary complaint. The cele- brated ANDRAL prescribed a summer course of waters at Bonues in the Pyrenees, and a winter in Italy. Dr. CUMMING, however, de- scended the SOIIIIC and the Rhone to Avignon ; thence travelled to Marseilles ;, steamed from Marseilles to Naples ; and made the tour of Italy and Switzerland with a friend. Not finding himself much the better for his own prescription, he took a fancy to Egypt; and, reaching Alexandria in a French vessel, ascended the Nile in a boat of his own, to the second Cataract ; and then came back again, all the butter for the pure dry air of Egypt. The lazaret of Malta next received our wanderer, on his way to Greece; and hav- ing exhausted Corinth and Athens, he made a:trip to Constanti- nople ; whence he returned to England by the Danube, Vienna, and the Rhine,--not much better than he started from Paris ; in consequence, he thinks, of the change of climate, but perhaps the exposure to weather, the scanty accommodations, and the damp beds he encountered in the East of Europe, may have had something to do with it.
The book is a transcript from Dr. CUMMING'S Journal, in which he wrote down the occurrences, observations, or reflections of the day, when any thing took place worth noting. Moving very rapidly, keeping mostly to the beaten track, and having no artistica or an- tiquarian purposes, he imparts little new information ; but his pro- fession gave him an interest in hospitals and medical points, whilst it often introduced him to scenes and persons to which the com- mon traveller would not have had access. Dr. CUMMING also seems a cosmopolitan,—making friends, and gleaning knowledge where many of his countrymen, shut up in themselves, would pro- nounce all barren ; and his style is lively and characteristic. Thus, the Notes of a Wanderer in Search qf Health form altogether a readable, various, and amusing volume; a book that we may take up and lay down at pleasure, and recur to with pleasure again. It may seem odd, but it is true, that Dr. CUMMING'S short tour in France is one of the interesting parts of his book. But then, he knew the language, and had resided some time in the country : hence he could elicit matter ; whereas in other places it had to elicit itself.
HOSPITAL AT LYONS.
Went before breakfast this morning to visit the hospital Hotel Dieu ; an establishment of vast extent, and containing. even more beds than the Hotel Dieu in Paris. The wards are lofty and spacious, and nearly all the beds were occupied. Several of the physicians were making their rounds, dressed in black silk gowns; but there was no crowd of pupils following them as in the hospitals of the capital. The Chirurgiau Major lives in the establishment. His appointment is fur ten years, during which time he is not permitted to marry. The whole duties of the hospital are perferined gratuitously, by 300 "Freres et Stems de In Charit6." The yearly revenue is two millions of francs; according to the porter„ who was my guide throughout the building, a sum ap- pearing, filmost incredible. Some dthe attendants were young girls of twenty. It was strange to see them in the sombre garb of the nether of La Charit4. They receive DO pay, being merely clothed and fed ; make no vows on enter- ing, and are not obliged to remain longer than they choose. The "adminis- tration" can dismiss them at a moment's warning ; but after fifteen years of service, they obtain a black cross, which entitles -them to a perpetual asylum,
from which they cannot be removed with sonic grave misdemeanour.
There is certainly something very striking in some of the effects of the Catholic faith. In what other religion, for instance, do we find so many of its profiee,ors devote their whole lives to unrequited services of chnrity and lime- volenee: Here are three hundred persons, male and female, voluntarily sub- mitting to the strict discipline, the irksome confinement, and disgusting drudgery of a large hospital, without other fee or reward than that -derived from the approval of their own breasts. 'flint many of them betake themselves to the office to secure the means of living, I do not doubt. Others by way of atoning for past bins, and many from a disgust at the world, or from disap- pointed hopes ; but unquestionably- there must be some who act from higher motives than these. A man may go into the splendid churches of the Catholic faith—he may witness the gorgeous processions and the rich ceremonial of its worship, and exclaim that mull is vanity and empty pomp, that there is nothing betokening the billuence of religion in time heart ; butt when be beholds the practical working. if I may so speak, of the creed, especially as it is to he seen to the great hospitals and other charituble institutions, he certainly must ac- knowledge that, if it sentiment of piety prevail less generally in France than elsewhere, there is no nation on earth where, among IL portion at least of its inhabitants, the ri,ihahe fruits of religion are so zealously cultivated and so richly developed. 1 not hardly conceive all office more irksome (unless to a mind overflowing with benevolence) than that of an hospital nurse. In England, it is 0110 that is highly paid, and vet its duties grudgingly performed.. In France, on the contrary, the Sisters of Clarity do every thing without pay, and, so far as my obliervation has extundea, with a cheerfulness and tenderness to the sick, not elsewhere to be found. Indeed this is not to he wondered at, for in every relation of' life, what we do voluntarily is done with a better and readier grace than services rendered for gain. In the one case, it is the heart that prompts—the love of money in the other.
SATISFACTION TO AN ENGLISHMAN TRAVELLING. It is an inexpressible satisfaction to an Englishman that he may travel front one end of France to the other, and See no trophy erected by the vanity of the nation at the expense of his country's honour. Almost every other people of Europe•see monuments to remind them that they Were once under the hen grasp of Bonaparte. Every stranger who visits Paris has these ' trkee • souvenirs" before h i is eyes. There s the Pont de Jena, the Pont d'Austerlita, for the Prussian and Austrian; triumphal monuments to commemorate the battles of Borodino, Madrid, the Pyramids, and a hundred besides; but no- where is to be seen one solitary memento of a victory gained over Great Bri- thin. While England can boast of her Trathigar Square and Bridge of Wa- terloo, France must be content with the bitter recollections that these names inspire. Nothing would wound me more, or more effectually take front the eiyoyment of foreign travel, than the sight of objects that wouliIfor ever re• mind me of my country's defeat ; but, happily for every Englishman, he may wander from the rising to the setting sun, without fear of these unwelcome intruders on his peace.
A NOBLE HUNGARIAN'S OPINION OF ENGLAND.
Among the passengers, I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of a Hungarian nobleman, (Loe-ola D'Orassy by name,) with whom I had a great deal -of conversation in French. I found. him a most enli,ghteeed man, and-per- fectly acquainted with the past biatory and present political condition of England. He told me there was no nation of Europe which his countrymen respected so much as England ; and that no stranger was so heartily welcomed in liun- nary as the Englishman. Of the celebrated British statesmen, Earl Grey Wns his especial favourite. 1 never heard a more glowing, and, in my opinion, juster eulogium, than he passed on the higli and consisteet character of that distinguished noblemao, whom he pronounced " homme sans pareil dans l'his- toire d'Angleterre." lie then diecussed Lord Brougham, for whose in and eloquence he expressed a high admiration ; but he regretted deeply, in common with myself and ninny other, I believe, that his elevation to the Peerage had removed Min 11.om the floor of the House of Commons, where alene lie was calculated to shine. Indeed, he remarked, that he considered Brougham's star to be on the wane, limn the day he quitted the leaderehip of the Opposi- tion in the 'House or Commune.
The heads of the Tory party were next brought on the tapis, but now the language of praise was exchanged for that of censure. I was really quite sur- prised at the intimate knowledge he di -played even of the most trivial political transactions of my country. Althoueli he does not speak Enelish, he reads it . with fheility, and says he always lool,s with impatience fur time arrival of the " Edinburgh Review " at the Caeino.
ieseresit ABROAD.
Join) Bull is certainly a strange specimen of humanity, when contrasted with other tuitions, It is impnssible for one moment to mistake him : he has an air and manner peculiar to himself; he enters the saloon of the hotel with a sturdy step and straightforward look, taking no notice of the salutation that foreigners usually make when a stranger euters. John says to himself; I don't know the edlows, then why should they bow to me or if they choose to do so, that is no reason why I diould bow to them." YOU can read his su- preme contempt for tiireigners and every thing foreign, on his brow. Ile has an unconquerable antipathy to taking off his hat, either in saleting in the street, or entering a public room. Hence, from a neglect of tide easily adopted custom of the Continent, he gets the credit of being a maunerless cut, In England, it gentleman never thinks of taking off hie hat, except it he to salute a lady whereas, all over the Continent, the custom prevails from the highest to the lowest rank. I recollect one day walking with the Baron de Wtirsburg in the gardens of Selvenbrun, and being in doubt as to the direction we ought to take, the Baron addressed himself for information to a private soldier who was standing sentry, at same time taking off his hat. An English sentinel would have thought he was insulted by such a mark of respect ' • and yet it is in despotic countries that these observances are attended to, Lual perhaps it is a wise policy. The lower orders are flattered by the tokens of respect from their superiors, and being tints treated to the siootore, arts content, perhair, to forego the substance of power. How an English bar-maid would stare, it' my Lord this or that were to take off his hat, mei make her a profouncl salutation, in walking past her little realm! Yet en it is throughout the Continent ; and the Englishman who, from ignorance, or more likely from thinking it humbug, neglects this formality, is at once set down as entirely detieient in the breeding oh' a gentleman."
In his preface, and in various parts of' his journal, Dr. CUmMING is hatd in his praises of Egypt as a country for cow u captive patients. We think this, like some of his other opinions, has been formed without due consideration. The climate of Upper Egypt may be delightfully dry ; but some pulmonary constitutions are rendered uneasy in a very dry atmosphere. Passing this, how- ever, we think our Doctor has not sufficiently regarded personal differences. To him, who has roughed it in all the Jinr quarters of time world, and who possesses the experience and philosophy of an old traveller, the miserable accommodations, the want of society, the dirt, the filth, and the startling contrast of Alexandria and Cairo, may be all tolerable; as a voyage up and down the Nile in a country barge, without betiding, comforts, a room to stand up- right in, or appliances to shut out the winds of heaven and the sand of the desert, may renlize the dolce far ttiente. But what would a helpless English invalid, with some anxious relative, and a bewildered servant or two, more helpless perhaps than himself, do in such circumstances ? Ignorant of the language, disliking the food and cookery, incapable of controlling their people, or battling with the inhabitants, and dependent for every thing upon some native servant--perhaps a rogue—We suspect the kWh. would be turned into a hi3O fever, till life or Egypt were left behind.
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