subjects for consideration is, whether the soeurs are likely to interfere.  Of late, however, their power has been somewhat checked.  Under good regulations they might, no doubt, be rendered serviceable; but every alteration of their condition, with regard to the hospitals, to be an improvement, must bring them nearer to the superior condition of responsible nurses, chosen for their aptitude, and remunerated according to their merits.”

“We have been compelled to state thus much of these orders.  The associations connected with persons of their sex and supposed rank, who have taken the veil; their apparent devotedness to such amiable and pre-eminently serviceable duties; their solemnity of exterior, and other incidents—­are so calculated to strike the eye and possess the imagination of the beholder, that we are not surprised to perceive that they have misled the judgment of the Doctor, since they constantly impose on others, who have better opportunities for observation.  The soeur de charite is too fine an object for the effusion of sentiment and romance, not to be made the most of in these worldly and unpoetic times; and were it not that the illusions thrown around this object might lead to practical errors, we should have refrained from disturbing them.”

Feelings similar to those professed by the reviewer, have induced us to present the reader with his new light, which we hope is a just one.  Of the little system of plunder carried on in some institutions at home, we can speak of one instance with certainty:—­A relative near and dear to us as life’s blood, had by money and comforts, (which but for this incident would have been kept secret), for many months relieved an inmate of a London hospital.  The patient was a poor, old female, in the last stage of decrepitude, and fast sinking beneath the sorrows of life.  She had seen happier days, and the only relic which she possessed of better fortune, was a pair of silver framed spectacles; which, on her death-bed, she bequeathed to her benefactress.  The poor old woman’s relations were dead, and this guardian-spirit who soothed her path to the grave, was her only friend.  Such an act of gratitude was, therefore, extremely affecting, and her benefactress was anxious to possess the legacy—­heaven knows, not for its intrinsic value—­but as a testimony of rare and unaffected gratitude; yet, will it be believed, that the tempting bit of silver had not escaped the clutches of the nurses of the ward, and the spectacles were not to be found!  Our informant related the circumstance with tears of indignation; we threatened to investigate the matter, yet her meek and mild spirit implored us to withhold:  she too passed from us a short time after, and is, we hope, gone where her good deeds will not be forgotten.

PHILO.