If you click on the pictures of menus, they will link you to the books where you can find the recipes !!!  

I’m also excerpting from A complete system of cookery, on a plan entirely new, consisting of every thing that is requisite for cooks to know in the kitchen business: containing bills of fare for every day in the year, and directions to dress each dish; being one year’s work at the Marquis of Buckingham’s from the 1st of January to the 31st of December, 1805, by John Simpson. Note to the lazy historical writer/researcher: this book really includes a dinner menu for every day of the year!

Let’s begin with our favorite: The London adviser and guide: containing every instruction and information useful and necessary to persons living in London and coming to reside there … Together with an abstract of all those laws which regard their protection against the frauds, impositions, insults, and accidents to which they are there liable, by John Trusler and published in 1790.

BUTCHERS AND MEAT

1. It  is by no means advisable to deal with one butcher, unless you can agree to have all your meat, viz. beef, mutton, veal, lamb, and pork, weighed in, at one and the same price, all the year round; which some butchers will do at 5d. a pound, and occasionally give you, at the same price, a quarter of house-lamb. If you enter into such an agreement, take care to have a bill of the weight always sent home with the meat, order it to be weighed by your own people, and agree not to pay for odd quarters of a pound.

If you make no such agreement, and deal regularly with one butcher, you will frequently be charged for a joint you never had; and for half a pound, or a quarter of a pound more than the joint weighs: and you will always pay a halfpenny, or a farthing more per pound, than were you to go to market and cheapen it yourself. In buying a joint at market, of seven pounds and a half,  you may often deduct the half pound, but when sent home by the butcher who credits you, never. This conduct in a family will occasion a great saving at the years end. If you pay your butcher but once a quarter, be sure to have a bill of the weight and price sent in with  your meat, and a regular bill of the week’s meat, every Monday morning. In this case you will see what you are about, and not be liable to be imposed upon.

2. Good meat should not be lean, dry, or shriveled the fleshy part should be of a bright red, and the fat of a clear white. When the flesh looks pale, and the fat yellow, the meat is not good. Cow-beef is worth a penny a pound less than ox-beef, except it be the meat of a maiden-heiser. In a buttock you may know it by the udder.

3. The average price of beef is from 4d. a pound to 5d. The prime boiling parts are the rump, buttock, edge-bone, briskit, thick and thin flank , roasting pieces, the sirloin and ribs.

Butchers make a difference in price between pieces of beef to roast and boil; if you take a piece of each, they will sell prime beef for 4d. halfpenny; if a boiling piece 4d. and often 3d. if roasting alone 5d.

If you want rump-steaks in any quantity, it is cheaper to give 7d. a pound without bone than 4d. halfpenny for the whole rump. A buttock is the cheapest joint, as it is free from bone; for if you wish it, the butcher will sell it you without the marrow-bone, which is worth it’s weight for the marrow.

In buying a buttock of beef, be careful you do not buy the mouse-buttock for the prime one. The difference is easily known; the prime buttock is first cut off the leg, and is the thickest; the mouse-buttock is thinner, and cut off the legs, between the buttock and the legbone, is coarse meat, and not so worth so much by one penny a pound.

A bullock’s tongue will sell from 2s. to 4s. 6d. according to its size and goodness. A good tongue should look plump, clear and bright, not of a blackish hue.

4. The flesh of mutton should be of a bright red, and its fat of a clear white; and unless it is very fat, it is worth little. Ewe-mutton is not worth so much as weather, by a penny in the pound; mutton five years old, if it can be got, is the most delicious; its natural gravy is brown. After it is dressed, if the meat flies from the bone, the sheep was not sound. A leg of ewe-mutton may be known by the udder on its skirt. The udder of a maiden-ewe is little more than a kernel. The skirt of a leg of wether mutton has a lump of hard fat on it, on the inside of the thigh. The shoulder of a wether maybe known by the skin or shank-bone being more covered with flesh, fat and stouter than that of a ewe. The average price of prime wether-mutton is 4d. halfpenny a pound, though it will sell often for 5d. halfpenny.

Sheeps’ tongues for salting or pickling, may be bought in any quantity, in Field-lane, near Fleet-market, from 1sw. 3d. to 2s. a dozen, according to their size.

5. The average price of veal is 6d. though it will often sell for 8d. particularly the fillet. A leg of veal may, in summer, be bought for 4d. the lb. by which means the fillet: will cost 5d. the knuckle 3d. Large veal is seldom good. Veal should be fat and very white, like rabbit or chicken, not red or look as if it was much blown up. Cow calves generally yield the best veal, and the leg and fillet of cow calves may be known by the udder.

6. The average price of grass-lamb is 6d. a pound, that of pig-pork the same, though pork chops will often sell for 7d. or 8d. Butchers seldom sell pork. There are pork-shops in all parts of the town; Sausages are 8d. a pound.

House lamb at Christmas is dear, and if fine and fat well sell for 7s. 6d. a quarter, the leg 5s. At other times it may be bought so low as 3s. 6d. a quarter.

7. If your butcher sends you any tainted meat, he may be fined, bv complaining to a magistrate; but the readiest and least troublesome method of redress, is to put up with a trifling loss, and deal with such a butcher no more.

8. The best markets in town are St. James’s, Newport, Clare-market, Honey-lane, and  Leadenhall, for meat; for vegetables, Covent-garden, and Leadenhall; for fresh butter, Leadenhall, particularly for Epping butter and cream cheese.

POULTRY

1. POULTRY of all sorts may be purchased cheaper  of the higlers at the several markets, than at the Poulterers shops; but of the higler you must take care what you buy: fowls and chickens should be fat, plump and look white, and be particularly white-legged. Chicken may be known by their size, and fowls are young, if they have no spurs, and the side-bones, near the rump, will give way to the fingers; tho’ artful sellers will sometimes break these by way of deception.

By the same marks you may judge of turkies. A large cock-turkey at Christmas cannot be bought for less than 6s. or 7s. at other times 5s.; a hen-turkey from 4s. to 5s. 6d. Fat, crammed chickens, about ten weeks old, om or about Lady-day, are worth about 3s. 6d. each, and a fine fowl at Midsummer is worth 3s. 6d. at other times chickens may be bought of higlers for 3s. 6d. or 4s. a.couple, and fowls at the same price.

Ducks and geese should look white, very plump, and broad over the breast. If the bill will bend back, the duck or goose is young. A fat goose, weight about 10lb. on Michaelmas-day, is worth 5s. at other times about 3s. 6d. giblets included. A green goose in May is worth 4s. The price of ducks is from 3s. a couple, to 5s. Wild-ducks, in frosty weather, may be bought in Fleetmarket for 2s. 6d. a couple; at other times they are worth 2s. each. If they smell fishy, they are of little value; to know this, take one of the pen-feathers from the wing, and put it down the throat; if it smells fishy in drawing it out, the bird will taste so. Dove-house pidgeons, in May or June, may be bought for 3s. 6d. or 4s. a dozen. In winter-time, poulterers will ask 1s. 6d. a piece. Larks, in hard weather, may be had for is. 6d. a dozen. They are best, soon after harvest. Guinea-fowls are best in Spring, when they get fat without feeding. At this time they are worth from 7s. to 10s. each; at other times they are worth little : these last can be bought only of the Poulterers, of whom quails also may be had after harvest, at 2s. 6d. each. Woodcocks are from 2s. to 4s. each, according to the plenty or scarcity.

2. Game may sometimes be procured of the bookkeepers at inns, by those who are known to them. A hare for 4s. 6d. or 5s.; a pheasant for 5s. or 6s. and a brace of partridges, for 3s. 6d. or 4s.

3. Eggs are from 3 a-groat to 8, according to the time of the year; they are dearest in winter: but such as wish for new-laid eggs may frequently get them at the livery stables, for one penny or three half-pence each.

The following is excerpted from, A complete system of cookery, on a plan entirely new, consisting of everything that is requisite for cooks to know in the kitchen business: containing bills of fare for every day in the year, and directions to dress each dish; being one year’s work at the Marquis of Buckingham’s from the 1st of January to the 31st of December, 1805, by John Simpson, published in 1806. The author describes how to preserve meat once it is brought into the household.

In the summer time, cooks should be very exact with the butchers; and make them bring their meat in not later than six o’clock in the morning, for when the sun gets warm, the flies do much mischief; and it is next to an impossibility to prevent them blowing the meat. The pieces of beef that are kept for roasting should be closely examined (the sirloins particularly) to see if the flies have been about them; if they have, cut the piece out, and sprinkle them with salt. The flies are very apt to get under the fat of the right side of the sirloin. There is a pipe that runs along the chine bone, which the flies are sure to get in: this pipe should be taken out without fail, at all times.

It should be made a general rule, to sprinkle salt on all the meat that is hung up either for roasting or boiling—beef, mutton, veal or lamb. The first part that spoils of a leg of veal is where the udder is skewered back; that skewer should be taken out, the under part of the udder wiped very dry, and then rub a little salt on it, and on the udder; by so doing, a leg of veal will keep very good four days, let the weather be ever so sultry. Do by a loin of veal as is directed for a sirloin of beef. The skirt should be taken off the breast of veal, and the inside of the breast wiped and scraped, and sprinkled well with salt. There is a pipe that runs along the chine bone of a neck of veal, which should be taken off, and the chine bone and ribs rubbed with salt. As for a shoulder, that is a joint that is seldom or ever kept above a day or two; nevertheless, sprinkle it with salt When a sheep is brought in and cut up, take the kidney fat from the saddle, and the pipe that runs up the back bone, and then sprinkle the inside of the saddle with salt. A chine of mutton frequently spoils first at the tail, where there is a kernel: to prevent its spoiling, rub that part well with salt, and it will keep five or six days in the heat of summer. A leg of mutton frequently will spoil in two days, and where it spoils first is at the fat that is on the upper part of the leg: there is a kernel in that part which ought to be taken out by the butcher in dressing the sheep. The chine bone of the neck should be rubbed dry with a cloth, the ribs the same, and the inside of the scrag trimmed. Sprinkle the inside of the neck of mutton with salt.

A breast of mutton spoils first in the brisket part: if you wish to keep them, sprinkle both sides with salt Observe the same rules with lamb as have been directed for mutton. The rumps of beef are generally kept for steaks, or daubing, &c. &c. in hot weather, the fat that the butcher usually leaves in should be taken out, and the beef sprinkled well with salt; and the brisket that is hung up for stewing must be salted, if wanted to be kept for a few days. In the summer-time, the boiling pieces require equal attention,. Salt alone will not preserve them from turning. When the beef is cut up in the number of pieces that is wanted, then see that the butcher takes out the kernels from neck pieces, where the shoulder clod is taken off; two from the rounds, one in the middle, which is commonly called the Pope’s eye, the other from the fat lap; and there is another in the thick flank, in the middle of the fat. If these are not taken out, in the summer particularly, salt them ever so much, they will not keep. There is one between the rump and edge bone, which ought to be taken out; when all this is done (which the cook should actually see to himself, and trust to no butcher) then stand by, and see that the butcher salts the meat properly, on a table or board for that purpose. The salt should be rubbed in well with the heel of the hand. When all this is done, then it should be packed up tight in the salt bin; the prime pieces all at the bottom, as they will keep better, and require more time to take the salt.

The roasting pieces of pork at all times should be sprinkled with salt, before used, for the salt makes the meat eat pleasanter to the palate.

Another rule that cooks should strictly attend to, is this, all beasts that are to be slaughtered should fast twenty-four hours in winter, and forty-eight in summer. There is a. great quantity of meat spoiled by killing it with a full stomach. Haunches of venison, when brought into the kitchen, should be wiped very dry, and examined very closely, to see if the flies have been about them. The keepers in general use ground ginger to preserve their venison from the fly, but I am well convinced, from experience; that pepper and salt is far superior, and that nothing else will preserve meat of any kind in the summer; for which reason I rub the inside of the haunch with it, and salt the ribs and chine of the side: they should be looked at every day. There is a kernel in the same part of a haunch of venison, as in a leg of mutton, which ought to be taken out. I strongly recommend these rules to all cooks, whether men or women; and, if they strictly adhere to them, they will seldom, or ever, have any bad meat in the hottest part of summer. A thunder storm, or lightning, will change meat sometimes; against which there is no precaution.

One more rule I wish to enforce, which is, not to have the larders overstocked with fresh meat, in the summer; one days meat beforehand is quite sufficient. It is my firm opinion that a cook ought to pay as much attention to the management of his larder, as any one branch of his business, which will gain him credit with his employer, and give satisfaction to all other parts of the family.

Here is a last minute addition to the post that I didn’t have time to clean up. So, I’m just posting the page images. It’s from A modern system of domestic cookery, or, The housekeeper’s guide: arranged on the most economical plan for private families … a complete family physician, and instructions to female servants in every situation, showing the best methods of performing their various duties … to which are added, as an appendix, some valuable instructions on the management of the kitchen and fruit gardens, by M. Radcliffe and published in 1823.

That’s all I have for now. The next blog post from London’s Adviser and Guide will be on fish.  I just need to find some interesting images of Billingsgate and fishsellers. 

I must here repeat my very earnest recommendation for you always to make yourself acquainted with the situation in life, and place of residence, of your servants’ nearest connexions; there are several advantages to be derived from the custom, whereas, ignorance on that point has sometimes occasioned very considerable inconvenience. I have been in the habit of paying my servants on the regular quarter days, when one trouble served for all, instead of having four or five to pay at different times.

In the above Bill of fare I do not mention Fish, because the price varies so much; and you should always know, as nearly as possible, what an article is likely to cost, previous to ordering it. The Fishmongers at the west end of London generally send round to their regular customers a list of what they have, with the prices; and if you enforce this custom, it will enable you occasionally to add Fish to your bill of fare, when you find it most reasonable in price.

I advise this mode of communicating to your Cook any fault you may occasionally observe, in preference to sending a message by the Footman; who may not only not deliver it in your words, but in a manner which may be very mortifying to a person of an irritable disposition, and, perhaps, be the occasion of your losing a good Servant.

Those articles extracted from the Cook’s and Footman’s books, or paid for in ready money, are to be entered in the first column, and transferred to the Cash-book as weekly sundries. Those bills which are paid monthly or quarterly, to be in the second column, as a register to the consumption, that the weeks may be compared with each other : and the mention of the number of persons in family, and what guests dine, either accidentally, or by regular invitation, will be found useful, as a standing explanation of any excess in the weekly bills.

If you pay your bills every week, the whole sum must then be entered as weekly housekeeping. There are some articles, however, such as Coals, which cannot be included in the weekly account, but must come in as a total at the end of the year. Amongst the observations, for which sufficient space will be left in the weekly pages, notice should be taken when any certain quantity of Coals was received, and what number of fires is generally kept; which will inform you how long the stock lasted, and give some idea if they have been wasted, or fairly used. As this article is of essential consequence in every family, care should be taken to lay in a sufficient quantity long before the commencement of Winter, as the price advances greatly as Christmas approaches; and in «ase of a severe frost they become exorbitantly dear. In every five Chaldrons of Coals, there is an allowance of three additional sacks, called the ingrain.

Candles, Soap, and Grocery, also, are all stores necessary to be kept in the house; and being ordered in quantities, the bills will be sent in at the end of the quarter or halfyear.

With respect to those articles which come under the general denomination of stores, I have known many young Housekeepers, who were desirous to be regular and economical, much puzzled how to keep an account of them. Thinking it right to have a Store-room well supplied, they probably gave orders for a quantity of goods, without the least idea what would be the consumption of the family, or how long the different articles ought to last. In such cases, when the bill was paid, it was entered in the Cash-book, under one general head, as Grocery; and as it included a variety of articles, some of which might last eight or nine months, while others required to be replaced in as many weeks, they could never arrive at any accuracy, nor ascertain the consumption and expense of any separate article of the many included under one denomination.

A well-filled Store-room is absolutely necessary for those who live in the country, but I very much doubt the great advantage of it in the Metropolis, where every requisite can be procured at the shortest notice. To the objection above-mentioned, of not being able to ascertain the consumption of the different articles, I will add one or two more. I will suppose you order six or seven loaves of Sugar, weighing 70 or 80 lbs.: although you keep the key of the Store-room, you may not like the trouble of breaking up a loaf of Sugar; it must, therefore, go into the kitchen to be broken: now, as we daily pray not to be led into temptation, we ought never to lead others into that danger. I have known servants strictly honest in other respects, who could not resist the temptation of Tea and Sugar, and justified themselves by saying that taking them was not stealing. Again, in respect to moist Sugar, a Cook will take a jar, or large basin, to her Mistress, who will fill it without knowing how much it will hold, or how long the quantity should last; and when the whole stock is consumed, is surprised that it lasted so short a time, though all enquiries concerning its rapid consumption must prove fruitless. Though I object to keeping a quantity of stores, I do not recommend that the Cook should go to the Grocer’s shop for every article as she wants it; but that you should order a small stock in the first instance, and make yourself acquainted with the quantity consumed of each article in any certain space of time. You will then be able to form some judgment of how much you will require for one quarter, or for half a year; and that you may do this without much trouble, I will mention a plan which I adopted many years ago. When I gave an order to the Grocer, I desired that the loaf Sugar, a sample of which I kept to compare with the quantity delivered, should be broken, and put up in bags, containing three to six pounds each; and that the raisins, currants, and moist sugar be in parcels of one pound, or half a pound, according to the number of persons in the family: by these means, and with the help of a Memorandum-book, which I keep in the Store-room, I can always ascertain if the quantities given out last the proper time.

The general Cash-book, as I have said before, is for the entry of all sums received or paid, borrowed or lent. I have found the utility of ruling mine according to the above pattern, having six persons of my own family, for whom I had frequent occasions to make purchases, or to pay bills. It was necessary to keep a book for the separate accounts: every sum was first entered in the Cash-book at the time it was paid; in the first small column, was the initial of the person on whose account it was paid, and the second referred to the page in the small book where each person’s separate account was kept. When the sums are transferred to the different accounts, if the article be ticked off in the Cash-book, it will save some trouble when the annual abstract is made. As the entries of cash received will be very few in a family, in comparison with those of expenditure, it is not necessary to sacrifice the corresponding page for the purpose of one or two sums; I have, therefore, appropriated six or eight pages at the commencement of my Cash-book for the account of all sums received. It would be advisable also to balance your accounts frequently, for your own satisfaction, and to make a regular balance in your Cashbook, at the end of every month, or, at farthest, of every quarter.

In the following Tables are to be inserted the quantities and cost of every article of consumption, from the weekly accounts, according to the example of January; by which means the accurate quarterly accounts will be immediately ascertained: which arrangement, it will readily be perceived, is equally desirable for the purpose of checking an excess in any branch of expenditure, and for forming a correct average estimate of your future consumption. The value of this mode of an arrangement will be readily appreciated by you on its first inspection; but when experience enables you to do full justice to its importance, you will then find it, as I have done, inestimable, and indispensable.

Home Book

(a) This estimate does not include milk for puddings.

(b) This is for the servants only.

(c and d) The servants find their own tea.

(e) The Gentlemen’s washing is not included in this scale.

(f) I have not given a weekly average of Oil, as the consumption must be continually varying, according to the length of the days; but have taken the half of a Winter, and the half of a Summer quarter, which will give nearly the quantity, and the expense at the end of the year. The lamps used were the Rumford reading lamps. Two common, for the kitchen, and one night lamp.

(g) The consumption of Coals may be calculated by the number of fires. Eight chaldrons, with care, will be sufficient for three fires; viz. the kitchen, which will consume nearly sixty sacks; a moderate sized parlour stove, which will burn a sack a week during Winter; and the third fire will be probably for a few hours in the day only.

It is to be observed, that the above sum of 321 is for articles of regular consumption only: does not include House-rent, Wine and spirits, nor strong beer. Personal expenses, entertainments, and journeys, are also not mentioned; and there are many other articles, which, however individually trifling, yet, at the end of the year, amount to a larger sum than could be expected, though they are seldom taken into consideration by young housekeepers, when making an estimate of expenses. I subjoin a list of some of the items, with a calculation at a moderate rate.

A house in a respectable situation, large enough for such a family, is scarcely to be procured for less rent than ₤100 per annum, and the taxes are usually calculated to be more than one-fifth of the rent. A bottle of wine will not give more than fourteen small glasses; therefore, allowing two only for the master, and one for each of the other four persons, the consumption would be fourteen dozens in the year. I have calculated the Wine at a very low price.

The sum allowed for wearing apparel may appear small for persons in a respectable situation of life, but with care it would be found sufficient; unless the Ladies frequented gay evening parties three or four times in the week.

In the above amount, no allowance has been made for the following articles, which, being contingent, cannot be calculated; viz. amusements, journeys, occasional coach hire, medicines, postages, stationery, repairs and tradesmen’s jobs, replacing household linen, glass, china, tin ware, brooms, and brushes; the sum total of which expenditure, however economically superintended, cannot but be considerable.

I’ll give you another scenario. You’re writing your next bestselling emotionally-charged romance novel. It’s the last chapter and the hero is dying from a “mineral corrosive poison” that the villain made him ingest. What does your heroine wear when pumping her hero’s stomach to save his life?

These are tough questions! And now we have the answers, thanks to The British Almanac, Containing Astronomical, Official and Other Information Relating to the British Isles, the Dominions Oversea and Foreign Countries by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (I adore that title) published in 1828 and R. Ackermann’s Repository of Fashions, published in 1829.

Note: to read descriptions of these dresses, please locate the appropriate fashion plate in R. Ackermann’s Repository of Fashions

POISONS as excerpted from The British Almanac referenced above.

In introducing this important subject into the Companion to the Almanac, it is not our intention to teach people either to attempt to cure themselves or others, or to neglect obtaining the best professional assistance in their power, as soon as possible, when any poison has been, either accidentally or intentionally, administered. On the contrary, we believe that nothing produces greater mischief then the endeavor to communicate to the public a smattering of medical knowledge, and that no books have contributed so effectually to supply patients for the profession of medicine and subjects for the grave, as these pseudo-medical works, which are well known under the titles of Domestic Medicine, Medical Guides, Popular Treatises on Indigestion and Bilious Complaints, Family Physician, and other similar compilations.

If those who have studied the profession of medicine most efficiently, and who have, by long observation and frequent opportunities, become acquainted with the influence of diseases on the animal economy, often experience the greatest difficulty in recognizing disease, and behold with regret every effort to remove it prove futile, how criminal is the temerity of persons, who, without such aids, presume to treat maladies, of the nature of which they are perfectly ignorant, and to prescribe remedies, which in the hands of the uninstructed, are as likely to destroy life as to restore health! Nothing in the history of society is, indeed, so inexplicable as the proneness to believe in quackery; and it is a curious, but a well known fact, that quacks, who from scruples of conscience have, after being successful, studied the science of medicine, have lost all their business the moment they became instructed! But although we disavow everything like quackery, yet it cannot be denied that, in cases of poison, many valuable lives have been lost for want of knowing what can be done to arrest the symptoms, until proper professional assistance can be obtained. It is this species of information which we are desirous to communicate; and beyond it we do not presume to extend our instructions.

It is not easy to define what is strictly to be considered as a poison; for, in a general acceptation of the term, whatever destroys or injures life, is poisonous; but in this point of view both food and medicine, taken in improper quantities, and under certain circumstances, may be said to operate as poisons, and, therefore, we confine the term to those substances which, when taken into the stomach in small doses, or applied in any other manner to a living body, destroy health or extinguish life. Poisons are productions of the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral kingdoms; and from the effects which they cause upon the living body, may be arranged under five distinct classes.

CLASS I. CORROSIVE POISONS.

These destroy the texture of the organ or part to which they are applied, and when this organ performs functions necessary for the preservation of the entire animal machine, or is a vital organ, death generally ensues. When a person who is in good health is suddenly seized with violent pain, and the sensation of heat in the stomach and bowels, with a drawing together, or constriction of the mouth and throat; vomitings, particularly of blood, hiccough, fæter of the breath, convulsions, and either intense heat or a cold clammy moisture of the skin; if no other cause of these symptoms can be assigned, it may be suspected that a poison of this class has been swallowed. In such a case, the nature of the poison being unknown, the most beneficial step to be taken, until professional aid can be procured, is either to empty the stomach, by means of the stomach-pump, if it can be procured, or to solicit the evacuation of the poison from the stomach by tepid water or milk, containing in solution white of egg, sugar, and magnesia. Whichsoever of these mixtures are employed, it should be drunk in large quantities: but, when the poison is known, the means to be pursued vary according to its nature, as detailed in the following notices.

Animal corrosive poisons.

The Blistering Fly, Cantharis, is the only animal poison of this class. When it is known that it has been swallowed, which may happen by mistake, as a medicine, or by design, milk, solutions of gum or of starch, and similar demulcent fluids, should be drunk freely; the tepid bath used, and clysters of starch with camphor administered. Oil would naturally be suggested to the mind as a proper substance for sheathing the stomach in this case; but nothing can be more improper, because oil dissolves the active principle of the Blistering fly, and consequently extends its influence.

B. There is no vegetable substance belonging to the class of corrosive poisons.

C. Mineral corrosive poisons.

These are very numerous: but, for our purpose, it is necessary to mention those only, which are more likely to be taken, either accidentally or by design. For the facility of reference these are alphabetically arranged.

1. Ammonia, or Volatile Alkali. Many instances have occurred in which liniments, intended for external application, containing large quantities of volatile alkali, have been swallowed by mistake. Vinegar, lemon juice, or solution of citric acid, should be immediately given, and afterwards milk, mucilages, and other demulcent fluids.

2. Arsenic. Solicit the evacuation of the stomach, by administering large draughts of tepid water, mixed with milk and sugar, or chalk and water, or lime water.

3. Corrosive Sublimate. Give large quantities of white of egg, diluted in water. The white of egg decomposes this salt, and reduces it to the state of Calomel, which acting on the bowels, aided by the liquid, is carried off by purging.

4. Lime. Cases of poisoning by this substance must be treated in the same manner as those by ammonia.

5. Muriatic Acid; Spirit of Salt. That this acid has been employed as a poison may be readily detected by holding an uncorked bottle of hartshorn over the mouth of the phial or cup in which the poison was contained, whether it was in a pure state, or mixed with other substances. If the phial or cup contained muriatic acid, copious, dense, white fumes will be immediately perceptible. Administer directly calcined Magnesia, mixed in any bland fluid.

6. Muriate of Antimony; Butter of Antimony. This substance is employed by farriers as a horse medicine, and has, therefore, sometimes been used by suicides. Administer large draughts of a strong decoction of the yellow Peruvian Bark, and, until this can be procured, diluents in quantities sufficient to excite vomiting and to wash out the stomach should be given.

7. Nitrate of Silver; Lunar Caustic. This has been swallowed by mistake by children. Force into the stomach a strong solution of common salt, which forms an insoluble, and consequently innocuous substance, by uniting with the nitrate in the stomach. After this, empty the stomach by an emetic or by the stomach-pump.

8. Subnitrate of Bismuth ; Flake White. This substance is employed as a white pigment by artists, and therefore may be taken into the stomach by mistake. Exhibit large draughts of milk, which is instantaneously curdled by the subnitrate, and involves the poison; thus affording: time until professional aid can be obtained.

9. Nitric Acid; Aquafortis. Give a strong solution of Soap, or a mixture of calcined Magnesia in water.

10. Oxalic Acid. Many persons have been poisoned by taking this acid in mistake for Epsom salts: but this could never happen if medicine were tasted before the draught of it be swallowed; the taste of Epsom salts being bitter, and that of oxalic acid sour. As soon as possible after the poison has been taken, administer a mixture of chalk and water, which forms an insoluble and innocent compound with this acid ; and afterwards evacuate the oxalate thus formed, by an emetic, aided with copious dilution, and by irritating the inside of the throat with the finger or with a feather.

11. Solution of Potass. This solution is colourless, and might be swallowed in mistake for water, by a child or an ignorant person. Vinegar or lemon juice should be immediately administered.

12. Sulphuric Acid; Oil of Vitriol. This, one of the strongest of the corrosive poisons, has not infrequently been taken by the suicide. Give immediately calcined magnesia in milk or water; or a solution of Soap or of any of the fixed Alkalies.

13. Tartaric Acid. Administer chalk and water.

14. Tartar Emetic. As this medicine, when in powder, resembles magnesia, it has been taken by mistake, in dangerous doses, instead of that remedy. Dilute largely with decoction of yellow Peruvian Bark, which decomposes and renders the tartar emetic inert; or, if this cannot be had, evacuate the poison quickly by encouraging the vomiting it induces with warm water, and afterwards allay the vomiting with a grain or two of solid Opium.

15. Verdigris. It ought to be generally known that pickles, vegetable and fermentable substances, cooked in copper pans, if allowed to stand in the pan after it is taken from the fire, produce a ring of verdigris, by the action of the acid, aided by the air, on the copper with which it is in immediate contact: but if copper vessels be kept clean, and the food cooked in them be not allowed to remain in them after they are taken from the fire, no danger can result from their use. When poisoning by this means occurs, administer large doses of syrup, or of sugar and water, until the vomiting is produced by the bulk of the liquid; and afterwards give sugar or syrup in more moderate doses.

16. White Vitriol. Administer milk freely: it not only assists in sheathing the stomach against the corrosive quality of the poison, but partially decomposes it and renders it nearly inert.

CLASS II. ACRID POISONS

These are substances which have a more or less caustic taste, and which, on being applied to the skin, excite inflammation, terminating sometimes in vesication, and at other times in suppuration and the destruction of the cuticle. When taken into the stomach, they operate nearly in the same manner as the corrosive poisons. The substances arranged in this class belong chiefly to the vegetable kingdom; and this is an important fact; for, knowing that none of the corrosive poisons are vegetables, when the symptoms of poisoning similar to those caused by the corrosive poisons occur, and it is found that these have been excited by a vegetable substance, if may be immediately concluded that it belongs to this class of poisons. If the poison be unknown, first empty the stomach by copious draughts of mucilaginous diluents, or by the stomach-pump; after which, vinegar or lemon juice, or any other weak acid, must be freely administered until professional aid can be procured.

A. There are no Animal Acrid Poisons

B. Vegetable Acrid Poisons.

These are very numerous, but we will notice those only which are more or less likely to be taken into the stomach either by design or by mistake.

Bryony Root. This is a large, fleshy, yellowish-white, spindle-shaped root, with a sweetish, but at the same time acrid and bitter taste. When it is known that Bryony root has been swallowed as a poison, excite vomiting by irritating the throat with the finger or a feather, and by administering large draughts of tepid water; after which, give milk, with from a grain to two grains of opium, once in two hours, until the violent colic pains are abated.

2. Coloquintida ; Bitter Apple. Much danger has been often incurred by overdoses of this substance being ordered by empirics and pretenders to specifics; but it has seldom caused death. First evacuate the stomach, in the manner already described, and then administer milk and oil.

3. Gamboge. This vegetable production, being used as a pigment in water-colour drawings, has often been swallowed in dangerous doses by children, and has produced fatal effects from the violence of the vomiting and purging which it causes. Administer milk and other demulcent diluents, with a grain of opium at short intervals.

4. White Hellebore Root. This root excites violent vomiting and purgings, with bloody evacuations which soon prove fatal, if proper measures to counteract its influence be not immediately taken. Evacuate the stomach with copious draughts of demulcent fluids, and sheathe the bowels with clysters of starch and other emollients; then administer freely acidulous drinks, coffee, and camphor in doses of from six to ten grains. Professional aid cannot be too early procured when this poison has been taken.

5. Black and Fetid Hellebore. The symptoms resemble those caused by Bryony-root, and require to be treated in the same manner.

6. Sow Bread; Cyclamen. The root of this plant, which is a flattened, circular tuber, produces effects similar to those of white Hellebore when it is swallowed; and, consequently, cases of poisoning by it require to be treated in the same manner as those by white Hellebore.

7. Spurge. The seed-vessels of this family of plants are what is termed tricoccous, that is, composed of three capsules or distinct cells united back to back on a common footstalk. Those of the species indigenous in Great Britain bear a distant resemblance to capers, and have been occasionally eaten by the ignorant and children, in quantities which have proved fatal. The symptoms are great heat in the stomach, vomiting, violent purging with bloody stools. When poisoning from these seed-vessels, or from the Euphorbia of the shops, occurs, first evacuate the stomach by large draughts of tepid water; and then give repeatedly olive oil and milk, sheathing the lower bowels with starch clysters.

In the same manner are to be treated cases of poisoning by Arum, or Cuckoo pint, the beautiful red berries of which, as they appear in autumn, sometimes allure children to eat the root; Croton Oil, when overdosed; the Meadow Anemone; the Meadow Narcissus; the different species of Ranunculus or Buttercups; and Aconite, or Wolfsbane: but in all these cases, we must again repeat it, the best professional assistance should be procured as soon as possible.

C. Mineral Acrid Poisons.

These are few when compared with those belonging to the class of corrosive poisons. We shall notice only one.

1. Nitre; Saltpetre. This excellent medicine has occasionally been taken, by mistake, instead of Glauber salts, in doses of an ounce or more. It produces vomiting, purging with bloody stools, excruciating gripings, cold sweats; and if it do not terminate in death, the future life of the patient is likely to be rendered wretched, and he dies paralytic. The instances of poisoning by Nitre demonstrate the propriety, or rather necessity, of tasting inedicines before swallowing them, as it would be very unlikely, under such precautions, to mistake Nitre for Glauber salts ; the taste of the former being cool, bitterish and penetrating that of the latter strongly saline and nauseous.

When Nitre has been taken in such large doses, dilute freely with milk and bland diluents.

CLASS III. SEDATIVE AND NARCOTIC POISONS

The substances comprehended in this class of poisons, when taken into the stomach, or applied to the body in such a manner as to be rapidly absorbed, cause drowsiness, stupor, paralysis or apoplexy, convulsions, and death when the dose is sufficiently large. They belong, almost exclusively, to the vegetable kingdom.

A. Vegetable Sedative and Narcotic Poisons.

1. Camphor. This excellent medicine has occasionally been swallowed in doses so large as to cause very violent excitement of the brain and nervous system; such as vertigo, difficult breathing, fainting, cold sweats, convulsions, and, in some instances, death. When it is known or suspected that these symptoms have resulted from the administration of Camphor, give wine in moderate quantities, with ten or fifteen drops of laudanum, at short intervals, until professional aid be procured or the symptoms abate.

2. Hemlock; Conium maculatum. When this poison has been swallowed, either in the recent state or in the form of extract or of tincture, so as to produce high delirium or frenzy, or stupor, dilatation of the pupils, and convulsions, which frequently terminate in death, the stomach should be first evacuated by the stomach pump, if it be at hand, or by a scruple of white Vitriol, and acidulous fluids afterwards freely administered.

3. Henbane. Poisoning by this plant, either in its recent state or prepared for medicinal use, must be counteracted in the same manner as a case of poisoning by Hemlock.

4. Laurel Water. This acts as a direct sedative, and destroys life without convulsions or any of the other symptoms which those substances which are regarded as simple narcotics, produce. It is distinguished by the strong odour of bitter almonds; and, in cases of poisoning by it, whatever steps are taken must be prompt. Brandy, containing in each glass from fifteen to thirty drops of solution of Ammonia, or a teaspoonful or two of Hartshorn, should be administered, at short intervals, until the habit is roused, and the influence of the poison is overcome.

5. Opium. As this medicine, in all its forms of preparation, is the poison most commonly had recourse to by the suicide, there is reason for suspecting that it has been swallowed when the following symptoms occur: drowsiness, followed by delirium, pallidness of countenance, sighing, deep and snorting breathing, cold sweats, and apoplexy. The first object in the treatment of such a case is to dislodge the poison still remaining in the stomach, either by means of the stomach-pump, if that valuable instrument can be procured, or by the administration of an emetic consisting of a scruple of white vitriol, or from five to eight grains of blue vitriol; and by irritating the upper part of the gullet and the throat by the finger introduced into the mouth, or with a feather. If no professional aid can be procured, even after the stomach is emptied, then give freely acidulous fluids, with strong coffee and cordials. The subsequent drowsiness should be averted by rousing continually the attention of the patient; by obliging him to walk about; and, when it can be done, by immersing him in a tepid bath.

6. Prussic Acid. When this poison is taken in a large dose, death almost instantaneously follows; but when the quantity is more moderate, it produces the same sedative effects as laurel water, and is to be counteracted by the same means.

7. Stramonium, or Thorn Apple, acts nearly in the same manner as Opium; and, consequently, cases of poisoning by this agent are to be treated in the same manner as those by Opium.

8. Strong Scented Lettuce produces the same effects as Opium; and persons poisoned by it are, therefore, to be treated in the same manner as those by opium.

9. Tobacco. The symptoms which lead to the suspicion of poisoning by this substance are severe nausea, vomiting, and other sensations of drunkenness, great sinking of the strength, cold sweats and convulsions. If little time has elapsed from the swallowing the poison, clear the stomach by two or three grains of Tartar-emetic ; but, if some time has passed, administer purgatives, and afterwards acidulous drinks, with brandy, camphor, and other cordials.

B. Mineral Sedative and Narcotic Poisons.

1. Carbonic Acid Gas. The utmost danger often arises from this gas being extricated by burning charcoal in close rooms; and from the gas accumulating in cellars and other places, which have been long kept closed, and into which individuals imprudently enter immediately after they are opened. No person ought to enter a cellar, pit, well, or other place in which this gas can accumulate, without carrying with them a lighted candle, the going out of which should be the signal for instant retreat.

When suspended animation occurs from this gas, remove the body into the open air; and, while friction is applied over the chest, let the lungs be inflated by means of a pair of bellows, closing and opening the nostrils and mouth alternately, and pressing on the chest after each inflation, so as to imitate, as nearly as possible, the action of breathing. The influence of hydrogen gas on the body is to be counteracted in the same manner.

CLASS IV. ACRO-NARCOTIC POISONS

These are substances that inflame, to a certain degree, the surfaces to which they are applied, and, at the same time, produce the stupifying and sedative effects of the narcotic poisons. They are almost all vegetable productions.

A. Vegetable Acro-narcotic Poisons.

1. Cocculus Indicus. The symptoms produced by this poison dosely resemble those of intoxication. Vomit and purge freely.

2. Deadly Nightshade; Belladonna. The beautiful appearance and sweet taste of the berries of the deadly nightshade often allure children to eat them. The symptoms resemble those of intoxication, with high delirium, accompanied with laughter; an effect which is beautifully alluded to by our immortal dramatist in the following lines :

“Or have we eaten of the insane root, That takes the reason prisoner.” — Macbeth.

It also causes such a state of paralysis of the stomach, that vomiting can scarcely be excited by the most powerful emetics. Administer vinegar and acidulous drinks, which often enable the emetics to operate; and continue the use of the acids until all the symptoms disappear.

3. Elaterium. This is not likely to be used as a poison; but it may be overdosed in the hands of the ignorant. The chief symptoms are violent purging of watery stools, followed by sudden sinkings and excessive debility. Support the strength by cordials and opium in doses of a grain, repeated at short intervals; and exhibit clysters of starch, with from forty to sixty drops of laudanum in each clyster.

4. Foxglove; Digitalis. An overdose of this medicine, in any form of preparation, produces sickness, vomiting, vertigo, indistinct vision, cold sweats, delirium, and fainting; and may cause death. To counteract these effects, administer brandy and cordials.

5. Fool’s Parsley: Ǽthusa Cynapium. This plant is readily distinguished from real Parsley by three, long, linear leaflets, which are pendent on one side of the base of each umbellule, or umbrella-like expansion of the footstalks of the flowers, and which are not present in Parsley. When eaten, Fools-Parsley produces heat of throat, thirst, vomiting, a small frequent pulse, headache, vertigo, and delirium. It must be evacuated from the stomach by large draughts of demulcent fluids, until professional aid be procured.

6. Funguses and Poisonous Mushrooms. The general result of these funguses on the animal economy is pain of the stomach, nausea and vomiting, colic and purging, cramp of the lower extremities, with vertigo, delirium, and convulsions. Evacuate the stomach by emetics and purgatives, or by a combination of the two; as for example, a scruple of powder of ipecacuanha, and two ounces of Glauber salts; after which give acidulous drinks with brandy, or a teaspoonful of Ǽther at short intervals; and lastly Peruvian Bark. Ammonia and Hartshorn are hurtful.

It would be impossible within our limits to give a detailed account of every poisonous Fungus or Mushroom; but, as a general guide, we offer the following rules for indicating those of a suspicious character. All Funguses which grow in damp, shady places, which have a porous, moist, dirty surface, a disagreeable aspect, a foetid odour, a gaudy colour, have soft, open, and bulbous stalks, and which grow very rapidly, and corrupt as quickly, are to be suspected.

7. Meadow Saffron; Colchicum. Overdoses of the remedy and its preparation produce violent purgings, often with bloody stools, sinking of the pulse, and cold sweats. Evacuate the stomach by copious draughts of demulcent fluids; then give from six to ten grains of Ammonia, or a tea-spoonful, or two tea-spoonfuls of Hartshorn in a glass of brandy at short intervals.

8. Nux Vomica; Ratsbane. The symptoms of poisoning by Ratsbane are those of inebriety, vertigo, rigidity of the extremities, extreme difficulty of breathing, and suffocation. Evacuate the stomach and bowels; and afterwards dilute freely with acidulous fluids.

B. Mineral Acro-narcotic poisons.

1. White Lead; Carbonate of lead. The effects of this poison are felt chiefly by painters and workers in white lead, who do not wash their hands before eating their meals. It causes obstinate costiveness and violent colic, with tremors and palsy of the legs and arms. The same symptoms are produced by cider, wine, and other liquors, into which Sugar of Lead and Litharge have been introduced to remove acidity. Until professional aid can be obtained, administer an ounce of castor oil, with forty drops of Laudanum; and let the patient be put into a warm bath.

CLASS V. SEPTIC OR PUTRESCENT POISONS

This class of poisons comprehends those substances which, on being taken into the stomach, or introduced by any means into the system, produce general debility, faintings, and a breaking down or putrescent state of the animal fluids and solids, without much effect on the intellectual faculties. They are almost all of an animal nature.

1. Venom of Serpents, such as the Viper, the Rattlesnake and Cobra de Capello. The symptoms resulting from the bite of all venomous snakes are nearly the same: pain in the bitten part, extending towards the heart; stupor, cold sweats, pallor and lividity of countenance, and gangrene of the bitten part, are indications of such venomous bites. Put a ligature upon the limb which has been bitten, between the wound and the trunk of the body, and apply a wine-glass, exhausted by burning a little spirit within it, as a cupping-glass over the part, or let the wound be sucked by a person whose lips and tongue are not chapped, until professional aid can be procured. Animal poisons of this description are innocuous when taken into the stomach, although their action is so powerful, and often fatal, when they are introduced into the habit by a wound, or any other method of innoculation. If the lips or the tongue of a person who sucks a poisoned wound be chapped, the system is innoculated in the same manner as if it were inserted by a lancet, or by a bite, under the skin.

2. Stings of Bees, Wasps, and other Insects. These are seldom fatal; but the pain which they excite is almost insupportable in some habits. Let the affected parts be bathed with tepid spirit of Mindererus.

3. Fish Poison. In this country poisoning from this cause seldom occurs, except when the Mussel or the Oyster is in an unhealthy state, or beginning to putrefy. The symptoms are a sensation of weight at the stomach, nausea, thirst, vertigo, itching over the skin, hiccough and faintings, with cold, clammy perspirations. Evacuate the stomach by a powerful emetic and the bowels by a purge; after which, administer copious draughts of acidulated fluids, with from twenty to forty drops of Ǽther at short intervals.

4. Bite of a Mad Dog. Tie a ligature above the wound, and apply a wine-glass or a cupping-glass over it, until a surgeon can be procured to cut out the bitten part. As everything depends on the complete extirpation of the part, a good surgeon must be employed. When the disease appears, if the medical attendant has not previously seen a case of the disease, which may happen to the most skilful practitioners, request him to cup the patient over the course of the spine, and immediately administer Prussic acid.

In concluding these brief instructions, we conceive it to be imperative upon us to caution persons from hastily taking up the idea that an individual is suffering under the influence of poison, without consulting a physician or a surgeon if practicable. The symptoms of cholera morbus, diarrhea, malignant fever, and several other diseases, may be mistaken by the ignorant and inexperienced for those of poison; and, thence, the necessity of immediately procuring that assistance, without which, in either case, not only is future health endangered, but life itself placed in the utmost peril.

To put things into perspective, I’ve excerpted the crime statistics found in the same volume of The British Almanac

Happy Friday!

The following information is excerpted from the British book Cassell’s Household Guide,  published in 1869, and other sources as indicated.

From Les Modes parisiennes and Journal du Beau Monde, 1862. See plate description below.

MATRIMONIAL ENGAGEMENTS, SETTLEMENTS, ETC.

WITH the peculiar sympathy which attracts two persons to unite their hands and hearts, and to take each other “for better or for worse,” the rules which govern social life have very little indeed to do. It is only in as far as outward observances may or may not influence the welfare of the devoted pair that it is necessary to observe the customs prescribed by the code of society. From the prominent position which every engaged couple occupies in the eyes of their immediate circle, little acts of inadvertence are liable to be judged with more severe criticism than, from their trivial nature, such acts would at other times excite. It is of no avail to protest against the right of one’s acquaintances to comment on matters that are purely personal; people will observe lovers with intense interest, and pass judgment on their conduct in a manner that no other situation in life warrants. The only mode by which to disarm officious meddling is in all outward forms to comply with the observances generally approved and practised by refined and educated people.

Beginning with the engagement of two young persons. In England greater freedom in the choice of a husband or wife exists than in any Continental society. Abroad parents generally choose for their children, and, as mutual affection and suitability of tastes are not always the chief considerations, it is not wonderful that very ill-assorted unions are frequently the consequence. In France, for instance, the amount of dower that a bride takes to her husband is considered a more important question than the amount of love or esteem she entertains for the object of her parents’ choice. Suitable partis are bespoke, so to speak, from their birth. Business connections and family interests are strengthened by such marriage ties, just in the same manner that a partner in a firm is considered more or less eligible on account of his capital or experience. Marriages of affection are not necessarily incompatible with marriages formed from interested motives, but mutual affection is not considered necessary as a starting point.

In England the contrary is the case. From the highest to the humblest sphere of life, English maidens, as a rule, enjoy very much greater freedom of choice in matrimony, and very rash and improvident matches are sometimes the result At the same time, the cases are few indeed when the bride-elect marries in open defiance of her parents’ wishes; a lasting and disappointed love is more often preserved when direct disapproval of a marriage is entertained by parents.

According to English custom, a gentleman generally ascertains the state of a lady’s feelings towards himself before he makes a positive declaration of his love. His proposal having been conditionally received, the lady usually refers him to her father or nearest relative for sanction of the union. If all preliminary statements are satisfactory, the young couple are considered engaged, without any further formality than the exchange of rings or some similar love token. If it should happen that delay arises before the engagement can be completely effected, it is not customary for the young people to meet in the interval. The lady in such cases usually pays a visit to distant friends, or in some manner contrives to absent herself from circles where she is likely to meet her admirer. All correspondence by letter is suspended, and, in fact, the lovers live towards each other as perfect strangers for the time.

The delays which most commonly arise in the acceptance of a suitor by a lady’s parents and guardians are those occasioned by marriage settlements and similar business transactions. It is a generally-recognised custom that, when a lady has a fortune, some portion of it should be settled on herself, for her own especial use and absolute benefit, leaving the interest which is derived from the principal of her fortune to the use of her husband. The principal is generally held under trust for the joint lives of the husband and wife, to be ultimately divided amongst the children (under trust or otherwise) that may issue from the marriage.

A lady who has a fortune at her own disposal sometimes sets all such prudential measures as settlements at defiance, and consigns herself and her belongings to the absolute disposal of her future husband. Believing, in the ardour of her affection, that no change from time or circumstances can ever alter the conduct of her devoted admirer towards herself, she resents every attempt on the part of friends to convince her of the necessity of any kind of self-protection. She is apt to infer that acts of prudence are simply acts of suspicion, and will not consent to any accordingly. That the latter course is sheer folly may be proved by every one not hopelessly under the influence of love-blindness. Far from misconstruing just measures, a really disinterested man is anxious that his bride-elect should receive every protection her guardians may judge necessary to her future welfare; at the same time it is only reasonable that the conditions imposed on himself should not be of too stringent a nature. Every man that marries undertakes a pecuniary liability, in the form of a wife, and should not be stripped of the means of meeting that liability. The higher in the social scale of society that observation is made, the more closely are honourable dealings apparent in the matter of marriage settlements.

There is, besides, another point of view from which to regard marriage settlements. Similar engagements are of an enduring nature, whatever may afterwards betide in the way of losses to the persons concerned: thus, if a man is not actually under a fiat of bankruptcy at the time of making a marriage settlement, the amount of money which he settles before marriage on his future wife is reserved to her use in the event of his afterwards becoming insolvent towards other creditors. The same rule applies to women. Under every circumstance, whatever amount may be agreed on for the benefit of either party, that amount is secured in perpetuity for the individual’s benefit. The instances are numberless in which the marriage settlement framed for a wife’s benefit—in the view, perhaps, of providing for her use mere pin-money —has been the sole income left to a family when, by unforeseen misfortune, the bulk of income from all other sources has disappeared. On this account alone, if for no other, ladies about to marry should suffer their natural guardians or nearest friends to act in accordance with the principles of prudence and common sense observed in other transactions of daily life.

Women that have no money escape, to a certain extent, many preliminary troubles of a business nature when forming a matrimonial engagement. There is one stipulation, however, which most sensible parents make when young persons without any but precarious means of living are about to be united, namely, Insurance. The man, as the bread-winner, is usually expected to insure his life before marriage, and to settle the amount of the insurance on his wife. Of course, it becomes a matter of honour and of means to keep up the payment of the insurance premium afterwards. ^Whenever it is possible, the parents of a young lady although herself penniless, should endeavour to obtain from her future husband the promise or settlement of a certain sum of money, however small, which she may call her own, and dispose of at will. Very few women, even when happily married, like to ask their husbands for trifling sums, or to give account of every farthing expended on their personal wants. Although not openly confessed, the restraint is galling, and embitters many lives. Nay, the need of a certain amount of pecuniary independence frequently leads to unpleasant results; and the bond of confidence once having been broken, it is impossible to limit the breach which may ensue. Money, we know, is not always at the root of all conjugal discords, but many owe their existence to that source alone.

The anxieties of business transactions being happily at an end, engaged couples are subject, in good society, to certain restraints which are almost if not equally irksome. Lovers do not usually bear in mind that the whole period of their engagement is a period of probation. They are mutually under trial. The opportunities of sharing each other’s company previously may have been few; in all that constitutes their habits of thought and living they may be totally ignorant ; and it by no means follows that, because an engagement has been entered into, marriage is certain to crown the intimacy. In no case does the old proverb, “many a slip between cup and lip,” hold good with such disappointing force as in projected marriages. The strict surveillance to which a maiden is during that time subject often constitutes the “rugged course” of which lovers so bitterly complain. For instance, no young lady who values her status in the eyes of society ever appears at theatres or other places of amusement alone with her lover, she is either attended by her mother, sister, or some other female chaperon. Neither should she frequent promenades and other places of general resort, without the companionship of a sister or friend. Retiring from a circle of friends in the same apartment, and whispering apart in conversation to each other, is also forbidden by every rule of good taste. A gentleman may pay particular attention to the lady he is about to marry, but at no time should his attentions be of a nature to excite smiles and comments on the part of others present. Whatever makes people look absurd is a violation of propriety, and should be scrupulously avoided. Lovers’ quarrels are a fertile topic, and are supposed to be inseparable from an engaged state. What do they arise from ?—generally from fickleness and jealousy. On the one side there is too much exaction, and on the ether too great a proneness to take offence. These disagreeable scenes might be’ avoided by two persons not imposing on each other unaccustomed restraints. If a lady, for example, objects to smoking, and a gentleman to seeing his future wife waltzing, an understanding should be arrived at from the commencement, and the rule observed, or not, as may be agreed. Also, engaged people should not consider that they can henceforward live only for each other, and confine all the amenities and attentions demanded by other members of society to their individual selves. Acts of courtesy and duty towards friends and relatives should not be suddenly relinquished in favour of one person only, and it is both unreasonable and unwise to expect such sacrifices. A state of life equivalent to warm and sincere friendship is the nearest approach to perfect happiness and decorum that engaged couples can aspire to.

Invitations to visit in society are generally given jointly to engaged persons ; but it is not considered good manners for either the lady or gentleman to refuse if the act of courtesy has not been extended to the other. In the case of a young lady being invited to the house of any of her future husband’s friends—she herself being a stranger— it is necessary that an invitation should be given to the mother or some female relative of the bride-elect also.

The escort of her lover is not, under the circumstances, considered sufficient.

In going to or from places, on business or pleasure, engaged people, if alone, should either walk or else use public conveyances—cabs and private carriages should be avoided. In walking in the streets or promenades, the engaged lady may take the left arm of the gentleman, but it is excessively vulgar and indecorous to clasp her hands on his arm, as is sometimes seen.

It frequently happens that two persons, who upon slight acquaintance appeared to be exactly suited to each other, discover, when intimate, that they have been mistaken. The engagement is then broken off. On such occasions the parent or nearest friend is usually appointed to see that all presents and correspondence are returned, an act which it should be a point of honour to carry out most scrupulously. The best mode of proceeding is for each person to seal with his or her own hand the letters each has received. With regard to presents, things that have been worn, such as slippers, and other fancy articles, should not be sent back; they should not, however, be worn any more. Jewellery, books, and articles of furniture, if any have been presented in view of the approaching marriage, should be returned.

The character of presents given to each other by an engaged couple, should be in strict accordance with their position in life and pecuniary means at disposal. Love should not be measured by the costliness of its tokens. A rich man may spend a little fortune on an engagement ring, whilst a poor man may only be able to afford a simple band of enchased gold, to be worn afterwards as a keeper to the wedding ring itself. There is no greater folly than making extravagance in present-giving before marriage a burden to be afterwards defrayed by stint of living and privation of necessaries. Expenses multiply enough in the ordinary course of things at the outset of housekeeping, without having to clear off obligations due to mistaken generosity. Brides that are to be propitiated only by such sacrifices are seldom found to front bravely the cares and unavoidable anxieties of real wedded life.

The absurd revelations which from time to time enliven the proceedings of certain law courts should be warning sufficient against engaged people indulging in the folly of extravagant language when writing to each other. The term “love-letter ” usually means downright nonsense, and is no proof of genuine affection. Plain truth and common sense are not at all incompatible with devotedness and warmth of feeling, and, if preserved, such letters call up no feeling of self-reproach in after life, which is more than can be said of many of the foolish epistles penned before marriage. ,

An elopement is the crowning act of folly which some over-ardent spirits are tempted to commit during the course of their probationary state. Far from such a step being proof of devotedness towards each other, it is an act of unmitigated imprudence, and utter selfishness. A young lady who consents to such a proposal virtually throws on her right to the love and protection of her parents throughout her subsequent career, neither does she ensure the lasting respect of her husband. Except in very rare instances, such a course renders him mistrustful of his wife’s constancy. The step is the last he would be inclined to sanction in a child of his own, and should, therefore, be the furthest from his wish to instigate.

The length of a matrimonial engagement depends entirely on the personal convenience and inclination of the engaged couple. Hasty marriages are seldom a wise step ; on the other hand, a long period of courtship affords no guarantee of more perfect happiness in the married state. People who think that by an unusually long engagement they shall be enabled to ” know each other better,” are just as liable to be deceived as those who consider that the intimacy of a few weeks is sufficient. However long an engagement may last, the couple usually endeavour to make themselves as pleasing as possible; therefore, not so much the conduct of engaged people during their courtship is the true test of a disposition as the character generally displayed beforehand. Between persons who have been intimately acquainted for years, less concealment of the real temper is likely to occur. It is when strangers meet, in unfamiliar circles, that there is danger of overhasty marriages being a source of ultimate repentance. Twelve months’ engagement is considered by most people in the middle circles of society quite long enough.

It is the lady’s privilege to fix the wedding day. When it is generally known amongst friends that the marriage is speedily to come off, presents are mostly the result. The nature of presents depends very much upon the style of living the young couple are about to adopt. The widest latitude is allowed in the matter, but generally something of a lasting and useful description is best approved. Plate is always presentable, so are linen, lace, and articles of furniture, musical instruments, carriages, &c. The least acceptable gifts are those which require an amount of expense and trouble to maintain them in order. Fragile articles, also, are not well adapted for wedding-presents. Some people are very fond of giving costly table-ornaments, or sets of choice china and glass. When one article of such sets is by accident broken, the companion pieces are comparatively valueless, and the replacement, which, out of compliment to the donor, is generally thought necessary, is a tax on the purse of the recipient.

Very intimate friends and relatives may ascertain the wishes of the future bride or bridegroom as to the form which the proposed present shall assume; and it may be also mentioned that gifts of money are not out of season when a wedding is in question. Of course, money-presents would only be bestowed by one who was the superior in age and circumstances to the bride or bridegroom elect.

In England it is not de rigueur that the affianced bride should provide any article towards house-furnishing; still, many ladies like to add something to the joint stock, and in such cases household linen is generally the favourite object.

Elegant additions to the wardrobe of the bride are very popular as presents. Even in the most affluent circles, presents of shawls, furs, silks and velvets in the piece, are in accordance with good taste. The above should be of perhaps a more costly nature than the bride would purchase at her own expense, but should be such as she can wear with propriety in whatever station of life it may be her lot to fill.

In France, when means are ample, the bridegroom’s wedding gift to the bride is chiefly composed of expensive articles of attire, including jewellery, &c. In England the bridegroom is not expected to contribute anything to his future wife’s wardrobe. That task rests with her parents, provided she has no fortune of her own. In selecting her wardrobe, or trousseau, as the term is, a bride’s taste should be guided exclusively by common sense to choose only such articles of apparel as befit her position in society. To be meanly clad would reflect discredit on her husband, whilst to be over-dressed would be ridiculous. Good, durable materials, genuine of their kind, whether of one description or another, should-be the chief aim. Cotton velvets, “faced” silks and satins, imitation lace, cheap jewellery resplendent with false stones, gaudy feathers, flimsy streamers, thin, showy boots, outrageously fashionable chignons and bonnets, should be avoided, as so many signs of a frivolous ill-regulated mind. A bride cannot well have too much good body linen—garments of the kind suffering little from change of fashion—and she should have at least twelve months’ outfit of clothes for outward wear. It is not advisable to have all die dresses made up, as many circumstances may tend to render them unwearable at the appropriate season. Changes from ill—health, death, and fashion, may intervene to render a good | wardrobe in a very little time really useless.

Shortly before the wedding-day the bride should pay complimentary visits to her friends. The morning is the best time for calling on such occasions. The bridegroomelect generally receives his friends in a less formal manner. His especial adieu to his intimate acquaintances is made at a supper party or some entertainment of the kind.

WEDDINGS, WEDDING-BREAKFASTS, ETC It is customary for the bridal breakfast to be given at the house of the bride’s parents, and the cost is defrayed by them. If the house is not large enough for the purpose, or any other objections exist, it is not unusual for the breakfast to be given at some hotel that has a connection for similar entertainments, and where as much seclusion is enjoyed as attends meetings of the kind in private life. The Crystal Palace, for example, has become quite a favourite place of resort for bridal parties, where, in the beautiful suites of rooms newly decorated in the south wing, the appointments usual in a well-conducted establishment arc scrupulously observed and carried out. The order for similar entertainments should be given some time previously, and the number of guests specified. The rate at which the contract will be taken should be expressly understood. Having made all necessary arrangements, the host and hostess should refrain from alterations, either in the number of the party, or the description of wines, viands, &c. It is in these heedless changes that disputable charges are liable to be made, converting what otherwise might have been an occasion of unalloyed pleasure into a source of unpleasant reminiscence.

Having decided on placing the management of the breakfast in the hands of competent professional purveyors, the host and hostess need have no personal trouble in the matter. All that is usual to be done on such occasions will be done, and the latest rules observed in the various details subject to the dictates of fashion.

Concerning wedding-breakfasts in private houses, some practical suggestions may not be unnecessary.

Immediately on leaving the vestry, the bride and bridegroom repair to the residence of the bride’s parents, or wherever the breakfast may be appointed to take place. In the drawing-room are usually displayed the presents the young couple have received. This fashion is of questionable taste ; but, being in vogue, the practice cannot be dismissed without a word of comment. Some people carry the display to the extent of announcing the names of the donors of the respective gifts by having written cards affixed; or by placing the ordinary visiting-card of the donor, or the letter that may have accompanied the present by the side of the offering. Some little time is usually passed by the guests in inspecting the presents and bestowing their congratulations on the bride and bridegroom. If, however, any period of time longer than half an hour should be required to elapse before descending to breakfast, biscuits, tea, coffee, and (if in the summer) ices should be handed round to the company.

The precise time at which breakfast is to take place, as also the hour for solemnising the marriage, and the name of the church, should be written on the card of invitation. The following is the usual form of invitation :—

Mr. and Mrs. _______ request the pleasure of __________’s company at breakfast on ________, at ______o’clock.

St,___________’s Church, at __________o’clock.

The blanks should of course be filled in with the names, dates, &c. The address of the intended host and hostess should be written on the top of the paper.

People who wish only to go to the breakfast may please themselves without any offence being taken—religious faith and practice being beyond the control of ceremonious social observances. Many members of Protestant denominations object to entering a Roman Catholic church, but would be glad, nevertheless, to offer their congratulations in person at a breakfast; to such, the course is quite open.

The hour at which the breakfast takes place is generally regulated by the departure of the bride and bridegroom for the wedding-tour. It is the custom for the bride to leave the table to exchange her bridal costume for a travelling suit, and not to return to her friends’ company. The earlier the departure the better, it is considered, according to present etiquette.

The order of arranging a wedding-breakfast is as follows :—Everything must be bright, clean, and in good taste. As many flowers as can be conveniently used— not to the detriment of the guests’ comfort at table —should be introduced. Flowers may abound everywhere. Tea and coffee should be served from a sidetable, and, if required, should be handed to the guests in teacups, leaving milk and sugar to be added to taste. On the table everything intended to constitute the repast should be spread at once. No changes occur at weddingbreakfasts. The only additions not on the table are ice pudding, which should be handed round towards the end of the meal. The favourite viands for wedding-breakfasts are such as are in vogue at first-rate ball-suppers; viz., cold joints, poultry, game, lobster salads, ham, tongues, savoury patties, jellies, creams, fruit, &c. &c.

The wedding-cake is an important feature at a wedding breakfast, and should be placed opposite the bride. At that stage of the repast when the appetite for solid fare has been satisfied on the part of the guests, the principal attendant presents a dinner knife to the bride, requesting her to cut the cake. If the cake be large and thickly iced, this is a task of no slight difficulty, and the bride’s task is considered ended by simply placing the knife in the centre of the cake. The servant then removes the cake from the table, and finishes the work, cutting the cake into pieces about two inches square, and presenting them on a separate plate, accompanied by a small fork, to each guest.

The handing round of the cake, as in everything else connected with the service of the table, commences with the bride. She is throughout the most honoured guest, and is served first, although at her father’s table.

Cake having been offered to every one, the business of toasts begins. This is a very tedious and unsatisfactory affair generally to every one concerned, and it is to be wished that considerable restrictions were enforced in the matter. As things stand, the usual plan is for the oldest friend of the family to propose the health of the bride and bridegroom. If he is sensible and considerate, he will not suffer the enthusiasm of the moment to inspire him with extravagant praise of the fair bride, such compliments being received by the most indulgent of friends at the precise value of their worth; allowing a bride is more interesting on her wedding-day than at any other period of her life, that should be no reason for lavishing on her eulogiums unwarranted by common sense.

In return for the above health, the bridegroom rises and tenders his thanks for the honour done. A very few well-spoken words are sufficient for this purpose, no one expecting him to make a speech upon the now so personal a matter as the excellent qualities of his wife.

Some friend on intimate terms with the family then proposes the health of the parents of the bride, to which the father, or his representative, returns thanks. A similar compliment is then paid to the parents of the bridegroom, with the same response, from the oldest friend on their side.

The clergyman’s health, if he be present, is then proposed and responded to. Finally, the health of the bridesmaids is proposed, generally by some familiar friend, a married man. The honour of returning thanks for this toast is reserved for the ” best man,” the bridegroom’s friend.

From The London and Paris Ladies' Magazine of Fashion, 1866

The final toast having been honoured is the signal for the ladies to retire, the bride leading the way. During the progress of the toasts, a very pretty occupation properly falls to the lot of the first bridesmaid, and as it is one which is conducive to a good deal of well-timed complimentary attention, should not be suffered to fall into oblivion. The task alluded to is the distribution of the bride’s bouquet, as wedding-favours, to the assembled guests. These favours, being considered of particularly fortunate omen, are much valued. The bride having selected the flower she wishes especially to preserve as a remembrance of her wedding-day, passes the bouquet to the first bridesmaid, who forthwith begins to loosen the flowers and distribute them quietly to the assembled guests. Every one present should have a flower of some kind given. Of course the privilege of selection is reserved to the bridesmaid, and she does not give the worst to the most esteemed friend present.

The departure of the bride and bridegroom should be arranged to take place without unnecessary delay, immediately after their leaving the breakfast-table. Parents and friends wishing to take a particular and tender farewell generally contrive to enjoy a few minutes’ privacy, no emotion or visible depth of feeling being considered appropriate in a scene of festive enjoyment. All agitation of the kind is very disturbing to every one, and if sincerely felt is best concealed, or indulged in out of sight of less sensitive observers. Every one can understand that parents are moved to the heart at parting with a cherished son or daughter, but it is not necessary to excite undue comment on such an occasion as a marriage.

Directly the bride and bridegroom have left, the general company are expected to disperse. Their carriages should be waiting, ready to be called immediately after the departure of the bridal pair. It is not unusual for the bride’s parents to receive a larger number of friends than could have been accommodated at breakfast, to celebrate the event in the evening. The ordinary evening party is certainly the most suitable form of entertainment. Sometimes the family and most intimate friends go to some place of amusement for the rest of the day.

Marriages if performed by licence, must be solemnised in either parish wherein one of the persons has been for the preceding fortnight resident. The church where the marriage ceremony is to take place must be named in the licence. The parties themselves are not obliged to take out the licence personally, provided that whoever undertakes the office takes oath that both the bride and bridegroom elect are of full age, and, if minors, have the consent of their parents and guardians. Marriage licences may be taken out at the proper office at Doctors’ Commons. The cost is £2 2s. 6d. Special licences differ from the ordinary licence in permitting the parties to be married at any place not named, and at an hour different from that which is otherwise compulsory. Marriages, without a special licence, can only be solemnised between the hours of eight o’clock and twelve in the forenoon of the day.

When a licence is not obtained, the banns must be published on three successive Sundays by the officiating clergymen of the parishes where the persons reside. The banns are generally read after the second lesson in the morning service. Any person knowing of an impediment to such marriages is bound to disclose it. The declaration may be made privately to the clergyman in the vestry. The marriage must be solemnised in one of the parishes where the banns were published, and the clergyman officiating at the ceremony must be furnished with a certificate of the publication of the banns in the other parish.

Nearly all dissenting places of worship are licensed for the celebration of marriages; but it is necessary that the registrar of the district should be present. Marriage, without any religious ceremony, at the registrar’s office, is legal, and comparatively inexpensive, the fees being small and fixed : but the great majority of persons consider marriage a religious as well as a civil contract.

[Susanna’s note: If you want the specifics of English marriage law in the Victorian era, try this awesome resource the fabulous Nancy Mayer sent me: The marriage law of England: a practical guide to the legal requirements connected with the preliminary formalities, solemnization, and registration of the matrimonial contract : with an appendix of statutes, etc, published in 1873

The number of bridesmaids chosen to attend the bride to the altar depends on the style of the wedding. If it is intended to be a very gay and brilliant affair, any number from four to six or eight bridesmaids would be appropriate. If only a quiet wedding, two bridesmaids are sufficient. In the latter case it is considered complimentary to invite an unmarried sister of both bride and bridegroom to discharge the office. The principal bridesmaid is generally either a sister or a very intimate young friend of the bride. If many bridesmaids are to constitute the bridal cortege, and there be young children on either side of the family, their presence is sometimes considered an ornamental and appropriate addition to the group. In village weddings, amongst the upper classes, little children are often chosen to scatter flowers along the path of the bride as she leaves the church.

It is usual for the bridegroom to present each bridesmaid with some token of the joint regard of himself and bride, in memory of the happy event. Lockets, rings, and bracelets are the most popular emblems of the kind. Of late years, crystal lockets, set with a few plain stones, as turquoise, &c, have been in favour as bridesmaids’ gifts. All should be alike, and no difference of cost entailed. The bridegroom gives a bouquet to each bridesmaid, even if he does not present any gift beyond.

Bridesmaids’ bouquets are composed of coloured flowers of the season. The bride’s bouquet, which is also the gift of the bridegroom, should be composed exclusively of pure white flowers.

Beyond the gifts described, the bridegroom has no expenses whateverto incur in connection with the wedding. The bridesmaids’ dresses are purchased at their own cost.

COSTUMES FOR A BRIDAL from The Ladies’ Treasury and Treasury of Literature, 1870

Bridal dress of white gros-grain silk, trimmed with two flounces of Brussels lace, the upper flounce simulating a court train. Sash of grosgrain silk ribbon, the ends terminated with Brussels lace. Veil of white tulle. Head-dress of orange-flower buds. Shoes of white silk, with rosettes of orange-flower buds, and grosgrain ribbon.

Bridesmaid’s dress.—Petticoat of white tarlatan, with nine flounces of gauffred tarlatan. Tunic of white tarlatan, over a jacket bodice of pink silk. The gauffred border of the tunic and jacket is laid over pink gros-grain ribbon. The petticoat is trained, and the tunic very much bunched at the back. Head-dress of pink and white sweet peas. A bunch of the same flowers fastens the collarette of the chemisette.

Young Lady’s Wedding Breakfast Costume.— Tunic and bodice of bright lilac silk. The latter is cut very low in front and at the back, and is encircled with a row of three shades of lilac leaves, pinked out. The chemisette, of net and lace insertion, is high at the back, but square and somewhat low in the front. A row of pinked leaves simulates a semicircular apron in front. The tunic is bordered with the same trimming, and looped on each side of the centre of the back, which slightly bunches it. The petticoat of finest white alpaca, with three rows of lilac coloured pinked leaves, each row being of a different tint.

Hair bound with a hand and bow of lilac velvet.

Lady’s Morning Costume for a Wedding.— Robe and tunic of pearl-grey silk. The flounces of pale pink silk. Trimming, sash, and bows of pale pink glad ribbon. Collarette and cuft of Valenciennes lace.

Child’s dress.—Tunic of green silk, trimmed with quillings of the same. The tunic is made of three breadths of silk, each sloped at the top; the front breadth forms a semicircular apron. Petticoat, or under dress, with bodice and sleeves of white alpaca; the two flounces are corded with green silk ; very narrow green velvet stripes the bodice back and front. Green silk boots. Band and bow of green velvet in the hair.

The selection of the bridesmaids’ dresses rests with the bride. Her taste is generally guided in the matter by the pecuniary circumstances of the parents of the bridesmaids, since upon the latter the expense necessarily falls. Silks are not considered appropriate for bridesmaids’ wear, unless the wearers be past the bloom of youth. Grenadine is a favourite material, but its expensiveness causes it to be little worn except by the wealthy classes. Plain white muslin or tarlatan are the most appropriate, least costly, and generally becoming dresses worn by bridesmaids. Endless varieties of trimmings maybe called into use, to vary the costume according to the fashion of the day and season of the year.

Veils are now so generally worn that very few words need be said in their favour. The rule to be observed is whether the bride wears a bonnet or veil, because the bridesmaids invariably follow her example. Veils are both inexpensive and becoming to a young girl, hence their general acceptance by bridesmaids. The veil worn by the bride should cover her face; those worn by the bridesmaids should be fastened at the back of the head, and only fall over the back and shoulders. A coloured wreath of flowers, or bows composed of ribbon to match the trimmings of the dress, completes the head-dress of the bridesmaids. Bridesmaids’ veils may be composed of plain tulle, unhemmed, or very soft silk gauze. The bride’s veil, if composed of either of the above materials, should be finished with a hem about one inch and a half wide, edged or not with blonde or lace, as may be chosen; lace, however, is generally in favour for brides’ wear; and the veil thus chosen forms a useful addition to her wardrobe as a shawl afterwards.

The material of the bride’s dress is liable to vary with change of fashion, but white is the usual shade. Elderly people and widows generally wear silver-grey, but young people should wear white. From the plain muslin to the richest moire the range of choice may extend. Low bodices are not in much favour for a bride’s dress; the more becoming fashion of high-necked and longsleeved costume is daily gaining ground. In strictly private weddings greater latitude of choice exists.

If people have carriages of their own, the question of conveyance to church is easily settled. If they are not so situated, the bride’s family finds the carriage for the bridesmaids and bride, and the bridegroom finds his own. The carriage which conveys the bridegroom to church is used to convey the bride with himself home to breakfast. Grey horses are generally chosen for bridal occasions. Liverymen usually charge extra for wedding-parties, and it is sometimes found more advantageous to hire the required conveyance for the day instead of for the ceremony only.

In going to church, the bride, with her parents and one bridesmaid, should go in the same carriage, the other bridesmaids having preceded her by some few minutes. The bridegroom goes to the church attended by his “best man,” and should be in the vestry some little time before the arrival of the bride. When all the party has assembled, and the officiating clergyman has taken his place at the altar, the wedding-party instantly approach the altar, the bride on her father’s arm, or on that of his representative, and the bridesmaids, with the rest of the party, following. Immediately on the clergyman leaving the vestry, the bridegroom, attended by his best man, should follow to the altar, in order to be there somewhat before the bride. The bride takes her place at the altar to the left of the bridegroom, with her first bridesmaid within reach at her back, and to her she consigns her left-hand glove and bouquet during the ceremony. The bridegroom removes the glove of his right hand. Some clergymen require the bride to raise her veil during the ceremony at the altar, and it is better not to dispute the point.

On leaving the altar the bride takes the left arm of the bridegroom, and proceeds to the vestry. The signing of the register takes place in the vestry, and is usually witnessed by the bridesmaids and others desirous of signing.

The amount of fees paid to the officiating clergyman, clerk, and others is decided rather by the social status of the principal persons than by legal rights. Some people pay the exact fees, and nothing beyond, others give more. The legal fees vary according to the diocese, and should be ascertained beforehand. A copy of the register should always be taken by the bride, for which the usual fee given is half-a-crown extra. All fees and charges are paid by the bridegroom’s best man, from money supplied by the bridegroom for the purpose.

In returning from church the bride and bridegroom go unaccompanied in the bridegroom’s carriage. They are the first to leave the church. The rest of the party follows in the best order possible, under the confusion which generally ensues in leaving church after a grand wedding.

Wedding favours are found by the bride’s family, and are distributed in the vestry immediately after the ceremony. The coachmen and servants are supplied with favours outside the church during the progress of the service.

The final duty of the first bridesmaid consists in sending cards to friends of the wedded couple. The cards should be previously enclosed in envelopes and addressed. Elaborate cards, attached with silver cord and similar bridal associations, are out of fashion. Either a card is sent, bearing the name of both bride and bridegroom on one card; or two cards, with the address of the joint residence on the card of the bride only. Of late years the custom of sending cards has been generally discontinued, and when such is the case, the advertisement inserted in the public journals announcing the marriage conveys the notice of ” No cards.” The reason is, that certain people may not take offence at not receiving cards.

As a general rule, all persons invited to the wedding breakfast, when no cards are sent, call at the residence of the bride and bridegroom immediately on their return home from the wedding-tour. If a wedding is designed to be of a quiet nature, without breakfast, the parents of the young couple sometimes send invitations to the church only. The latter is a French fashion that is coming into vogue in England, and is found sufficient notification of good feeling towards old friends and acquaintances. All persons receiving such an invitation are expected to call on the young couple on their return home. Such calls are of course returned, in the order observed in visiting, generally.

Formal “At homes” after marriage are now almost dispensed with. The most simple and generally observed plan is for the bride, or her representative, to inscribe in her own handwriting, on the card, “At home after , filling in the blank with the date. The ceremony of calling is then observed just as any other morning call might take place.

A succession of entertainments generally follows upon the marriage of a young couple. At all these the bride takes precedence over ladies of superior age and station to herself. Thus, the bride would be escorted to the dinner-table by the host, and the next most distinguished lady present would be assigned to the bridegroom’s care.

When the round of visiting, entertainments, &c, is at an end, it becomes the turn of the young couple to receive their friends at home.

And now some advertisements…

Welcome back! In part one of this post series, we examined the facts around the opium trade between India and China as brokered by the East India Company. Now we are going to take a more personal and in-depth look at the damage done to the Chinese populace.  The below article can be found in The Merchants’ Magazine and Commercial Review, Volume 23, 1850.  I have edited out sections that medically explain opium’s effect on the body.

The images come from two editions of The Truth about Opium Smoking: with Illustrations of the Manufacture of Opium, etc, published by Hodder & Stroughton in 1882 and Wikimedia Commons. All are in public domain, of course.

The Opium Trade 

As carried between India and China, including a sketch of its history, extent, effects, etc.  

Part II

OPIUM is one of the oldest and most valuable articles in the Materia Medica. It is used in medicine, in its various preparations, under a greater variety of circumstances, and to accomplish more important results, than any other single article. Strike out this drug from the list of therapeutical remedies, and it would be very difficult for the whole class of narcotics or sedatives, or even both combined, to make good its place. The immortal Sydenham once remarked, that if he could be allowed only two weapons with which to combat disease, in its multifarious forms, opium would be his first choice. So on the other hand, the evils growing out of its abuse, surpass in magnitude, permanency, and extent, those of all other medicinal agents combined, unless it be that of ardent spirits.

The effects of opium on the human system depend very much upon the quantity and frequent use, as well as the age, temperament, habits, idiosyncracy, &c., of the individual. Its first and most common effect is to excite the intellect, stimulate the imagination, and exalt the feelings into a state of great activity and buoyancy, producing unusual vivacity and brilliancy in conversation, and, at the same time, the most profound state of perfect self-complacency. All idea of labor, care, and anxiety, vanish at once from the mind. Then follow a succession of gorgeous dreams, or a continued state of ecstasy, almost indescribable…There seems to be a wonderful power in the use of this drug, to attract and captivate. It holds out a temptation far more powerful than that of any other intoxicating agent. Such is the testimony of all experience, as well as observation in the matter. This fascination does not arise merely from that passion in human nature for exciten1ent——that yearning after stimulus, and that horror of ennui which crowd the Parisian theatre, the English gin palace, and the American bar-room—but from having experienced or heard of that peculiar state of ecstasy which can be produced only by this drug, and which has not inappropriately, in some respects, been termed the “ Chinese Heaven.”

It is the after, or secondary effects of this drug, which have such a destructive influence on the constitution. Its continued use destroys the natural appetite, deranges the digestive organs, impedes the circulation, and vitiates the quality of the blood, depresses the spirits, and gradually Weakens the power of the involuntary nerves, as well as the volitions of the mind, thereby taking away the powers of free agency, and converting the man into the brute. How expressive the remark once made by a native Chinese, It is not the man who eats opium, but it is opium that eats the man.

The practice of eating opium, as a luxury, has prevailed for more than a century in Persia and Turkey, but that of smoking it, originated at a much later period, and has been confined mostly to China and its adjacent provinces…The manner of smoking opium differs materially from that of tobacco. The process consists in taking very long whiffs, thereby expanding the lungs to their utmost capacity, and communicating the influence of the drug to all the air-cells, and, at the same time, retaining it there as long as possible. This secret explains in part the almost instantaneous and powerful effect which it exerts upon the whole is system…Travelers in Persia, Turkey, and other countries where the vice of opium eating has existed for a long time, do not represent the evils to be near as great as those of opium smoking in China. The change produced by the former practice upon the physical system is not characterized by so rapid or marked progress. Its victims, too, retain a better control, as well as a longer use of their mental faculties, and are known oftener to reform. Other essential points of difference might be noticed, but we will here introduce a brief statement from the Chinese themselves, as well as others, who have been careful observers of the effects of smoking opium.

A distinguished Chinese scholar, in a memorial to the emperor, says “Opium is a poisonous drug, brought from foreign countries, and, when the poison takes effect, the habit becomes fixed, and the sleeping smokers are like corpses——lean and haggard as demons.” He proceeds to illustrate, in detail, its effects under these heads—it exhausts the animal spirits—impedes the regular performance of business—wastes the flesh and blood—dissipates every kind of property—renders the person ill-favored—promotes obscenity —discloses secrets——violates the laws—attacks the vitals, and destroys life. Another Chinese, (holding a high office in government,) speaking of opium smokers, remarks that “ when the habit becomes inveterate, it is necessary to smoke at certain fixed hours. Time is consumed, men’s duties are forgotten, and they can no longer live without this poison. Its symptoms are difficulty of breathing, chalky paleness, discolored teeth, and a withered skin. People perceive that it hurries them to destruction, but it leaves them without spirit to desist.” Another government officer writes to Sir Henry Pottinger, that “ opium is an article whose flowing poison spreads like flames. It is neither pulse nor grain, yet multitudes of our Chinese subjects consume it, wasting their property and destroying their lives; and the calamities arising there from are unutterable! How is it possible to refrain from forbidding our people to use it. In another state paper this evil is described by one of the emperor’s ministers, “ as a fearful, desolating pestilence, pervading all classes of people, wasting their property, enfeebling their mental faculties, ruining their bodies, and shortening their lives.”

Dr. G. H. Smith, who resided some years as a surgeon at Penang, describes the effect of opium-smoking, in the Medico-Chirurgical Review for April, 1842, as follows: “The hospitals and poor-houses are chiefly filled with opium-smokers. In one that I had the charge of, the inmates averaged sixty daily; five-sixths of whom were smokers of Chandoo. The baneful effects of this habit on the human constitution are conspicuously displayed by stupor, forgetfulness, general deterioration of all the mental faculties, emaciation, debility, sallow complexion, lividness of lips and eyelids, languor and lack-lustre of eye, appetite either destroyed or depraved. In the morning, these creatures have a most wretched appearance, evincing no symptoms of being refreshed or invigorated by sleep, however profound. There is a remarkable dryness or burning in the throat, which urges them to repeat the opium-smoking. If the dose be not taken at the usual time, there is great prostration, vertigo, torpor, and discharge of water from the eye. If the privation be complete, a still more formidable train of phenomena take place. Coldness is felt over the whole body, with aching pains in all parts. Diarrhea occurs; the most horrid feelings of wretchedness come on; and if the poison be withheld, death terminates the victim’s existence.”

In the London Lancet for 1841, we find these observations, from James Hill, a surgeon of an English ship, which visited China in 1839: “The habitual use of opium, as practiced by the Chinese, cannot fail to produce the most injurious effects upon the constitution. The peculiar, languid, and vacant expression, the sallow and shriveled countenance, the dim and sunken eye, and the general emaciated and withered appearance of the body, easily distinguish the confirmed opium-smoker. The mind, likewise, soon participates in the general wreck of the body; and the unhappy individual, losing all relish for society, remains in a state of sottish indifference to everything around him but the deadly drug, now his only solace, which sooner or later hurries its victim to an untimely grave.” Such is the testimony of two medical observers, whose education and professional duties gave them superior advantages for judging correctly of the effects of this drug.

Mr. R. M. Martin, who is well known as the author of several valuable works on India and the British Colonies, has recently published a large work on China. Mr. Martin for some time held the situation of her “Majesty’s Treasurer for Colonial, Consular, and Diplomatic Services in China,” and was also a “Member of her Majesty’s Legislative Council at Hong Kong.” His opportunities, therefore, of acquiring information, oflicial and by observation, were superior, and in a chapter on this subject, vol. ii., page 176, he remarks thus —‘‘ No language would convey a description of the sufferings of those to whom opium has become a necessary part of existence; no picture could impress the fearful misery which the inmates of an opium-smoking shop exhibit. Those dens of human suffering are attended by unfortunate women—as opium in the early use is aphrodisiac, and as such prized by the Chinese. In few, but very few instances, if indeed in any, moderation in opium is exercised: once fairly begun, there is no cessation, until poverty and death ensue; and when digestion has nearly ceased, and deglutition even becomes painful, the utmost effect of the drug is merely to mitigate the horrors of existence. Those who begin its use at twenty, may expect to die at thirty years of age; the countenance becomes pallid, the eyes assume a wild brightness, the memory fails, the gait totters, mental exertion and moral courage sink, and a frightful marasmus or atrophy reduces the victim to a ghastly spectacle, who has ceased to live before he has ceased to exist. There is no slavery so complete as that of the opium-taker: once habituated to his dose as a factitious stimulant, everything will be endured rather than the privation; and the unhappy being endures all the mortification of a consciousness of his own degraded state, while ready to sell wife and children, body and soul, for the continuance of his wretched and transient delight; transient indeed——for at length the utmost effect produced is a temporary suspension of agony; and finally no dose of the drug will remove or relieve a state of suffering which it is utterly impossible to describe. The pleasurable sensations and imaginative ideas arising at first, soon pass away; they become fainter and fainter, and at last entirely give place to horrid dreams and appalling pictures of death; spectres of fearful visage haunt the mind; the light which once seemed to emanate from heaven is converted into the gloom of hell: sleep, balmy sleep has fled forever; night succeeds day only to be clothed with never-ending horrors; incessant sickness, vomiting, diarrhea, and total cessation of digestive functions ensue; and death at length brings, with its annihilation of the corporeal structure, the sole relief to the victim of sensual and criminal indulgence. The opium-shops which I visited in the East were perfect types of hell upon earth.”

Lord Jocelyn, who was engaged as a military secretary in the campaign of 1840, thus adverts to the use of opium as witnessed at Singapore; “ One of the streets in the center of the town is wholly devoted to shops for the sale of this poison; and here, in the evening, may be seen, after the labors of the day are over, crowds of Chinese, who seek these places to satisfy their depraved appetites. The rooms where they sit and smoke are surrounded by wooden couches, with places for the head to rest upon, and generally a side room is devoted to gambling. The pipe is a reed of about an inch in diameter, and the aperture in the bowl for the admixture of opium, is not larger than a pin’s head. The drug is prepared with some kind of conserve, and a very small portion is sufficient to charge it, one or two whiffs being the utmost that can be inhaled from a single pipe, and the smoke is taken into the lungs as from the hookah in India. On a beginner, one or two pipes will have an effect, but an old stager will continue smoking for hours. At the head of each couch is placed a small lamp, as fire must be held to the drug during the process of smoking; and from the difficulty of filling and properly lighting the pipe, there is generally a person who waits upon the smoker to perform that office. A few days of this fearful luxury, when taken to excess, will give a pale and haggard look to the face, and a few months, or even weeks, will change the strong and healthy man into a little better than an idiot skeleton. The pains they suffer when deprived of the drug, after long habit, no language can describe; and it is only when to a certain degree under its influence that their faculties are alive. In those houses devoted to their ruin, these infatuated people may be seen at nine o’clock in the evening in all the different stages. Some entering, half distracted, to feed the craving appetite they have been obliged to subdue during the day; others laughing and talking wildly under the effects of a first pipe, whilst the couches round are filled with their different occupants, who lie languid, with an idiot smile upon their countenance, too much under the influence of the drug to care for passing events, and fast emerging to the wished for consummation. The last scene in this tragic play is generally a room in the rear of the building, a species of dead-house, where lie stretched those who have passed into the state of bliss which the opium-smoker madly seeks—an emblem of the long sleep to which he is blindly hurrying.”

Such is the testimony of two officers holding important trusts under the English government, as to the pernicious effects of this practice among the Chinese; and we might add many similar statements from travelers and other residents in China, but deem it unnecessary.

In view of these facts, the question naturally arises, what has China done to oppose the introduction, or arrest the progress of such evils? Has she ever, as a government, adopted any decided, systematic measures to prevent them?

Prior to the year 1800, opium was included in the tariff of maritime duties, under the head of medicinal drugs, and was treated by government as an article intended exclusively for medical purposes; and the duty exacted upon its importation, was a mere nominal sum, without any particular reference to raising a revenue. But the practice of smoking the “vile dirt” had already taken deep root, and its evil effects were beginning to awaken the attention of the Chinese government. In 1799, one of the emperor’s chief ministers, “fearing lest the practice of smoking opium should spread among all the people of the inner land, to the waste of their time, and the destruction of their property,” presented a memorial requesting that the sale of the drug should be prohibited, and that offenders should be made amenable to punishment. Soon after this, the Chinese government enacted special laws to prevent both its importation and its use, denouncing upon the seller and smoker of the poison the bastinado, the wooden collar, imprisonment, banishment, and the entire confiscation of his property ; yes, even more, the severe penalty of capital punishment, either by public decapitation or strangulation.

In the years 1809-15-20-30, and 34, edicts, one after another, were sent to Whampoa, Macao, and Canton, proclaiming these laws, and not unfrequently the severest penalties were inflicted upon such Chinese subjects as violated them. Notwithstanding all this, the trade kept constantly increasing. In 1838 it amounted to between 39,000 and 40,000 chests. The emperor, finding that the measures thus far employed had failed to check the traffic, after consulting his ministers, determined to depute an Imperial Commissioner to Canton, clothed with the highest powers and authority. The officer chosen for this purpose was Lin, a man distinguished for his talents, acquirements, and knowledge of maritime affairs.

Lin arrived at Canton in March, 1839, and immediately gave orders that all the opium, whether stored in the factories or on board of ships in the harbor, should be at once surrendered. He succeeded in compelling the merchants to give up 20,000 chests, and to sign a bond that they would forever cease trading in the article. These 20,000 chests of opium were publicly destroyed in the vicinity of Canton, according to the commands of the emperor. This bold measure of Lin to suppress the traffic led to a war between England and China, commonly called the “opium war.”

From Wikipedia entry on Lin Zexu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lin_Zexu) , "He initially attempted to get foreign companies to forfeit their opium stores in exchange for tea, but this ultimately failed and Lin resorted to using force in the western merchants' enclave. It took Lin a month and a half before the merchants gave up nearly 1.2 million kilograms (2.6 million pounds) of opium. Beginning 3 June 1839, 500 workers laboured for 23 days in order to destroy all of it, mixing the opium with lime and salt and throwing it into the ocean outside of Humen Town. 26 June is now the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in honour of Lin Zexu's work."

As the history and character of this war are so well understood we need not here enter into details respecting it, further than briefly to notice its connection with, and the effect of its results upon the opium trade. One argument advanced in favor of the war was to obtain indemnity for the loss of these 20,000 chests, estimated to be worth $12,000,000. Capt. Elliot, the representative of the English government in China, in his public call on British subjects to surrender all the opium in their possession into his hands, to be delivered over to the order of Commissioner Lin, declared himself responsible for its loss on behalf of Her Majesty’s government. And accordingly, the merchants, in confirmation of this pledge of Capt. Elliot, afterwards sent a petition to the lords of Her Majesty’s government, urging the following reasons as a claim : “ That the trade in opium had been encouraged and promoted by the Indian government, under the express sanction and authority, latterly, of the British government and Parliament, and with the full knowledge, also, as appears from the detailed evidence before the House of Commons, on the renewal of the last charter, that the trade was contraband and illegal.”

The English government itself had, in fact, directly approved of the traffic, and was deeply interested in its continuance. For we find that the Parliamentary committee appointed in 1832, expressly for the purpose of considering the opium monopoly in all its bearings, moral, political, and economical, concluded their report, which was accepted, as follows: “In the present state of the revenue of India, it does not appear advisable to abandon so important a source of revenue—a duty upon opium being a tax which falls principally upon the foreign consumer, and which appears, upon the whole, less liable to objection than any other which could be substituted.”

At the time of the war, the East India Company was receiving between $10,000,000 and $12,000,000 of revenue annually from this source. Though it was all collected in India, yet the whole trade, the cultivation of the poppy, and the manufacture of the opium, the sale of the drug in Bombay and Calcutta, and its transportation to China, was encouraged by the government. The opium merchants sailed under the British flag, and were defended by British arms, and looked to the English government for protection. At the same time, it was known to all parties concerned, that the traffic was contraband and illegal.

Thus we see that England was an interested party, and would naturally be disposed to justify recourse to war, in order to secure indemnity for loss, and a continuance of the trade. The Chinese government had endeavored to arrest the traffic by punishing severely, and in various ways, their own subjects, and also remonstrating, entreating, and threatening the English; but all to no purpose. They saw their country and people becoming impoverished and ruined—-the severe punishment of their own subjects of no avail so long as the English continued to sell hundreds and thousands of chests of opium, in spite of entreaties and threats, and in contempt of all law.

That the Chinese government has always been earnest and sincere in resisting the introduction of opium, there can be no doubt. Their laws prove this fact, and such is the testimony of all disinterested foreigners residing in China. Says a writer in the Chinese Repository, (for 1840, p. 416) : “ The opposition of the Chinese government to the opium trade has been steady and strong during a period of forty years; the prohibitions have been as clear and as explicit, and the measures to carry them into effect as constant and vigorous as the combined wisdom and power of the emperor and his ministers could make them.” They refused, also, to allow the cultivation of the poppy in China, which, in soil and climate is admirably fitted for its production. If they would only allow the opium to be produced in China, its importation would soon cease, and thus a heavy drain of silver be saved to the nation. They will not, however, impose any tax or duty upon its importation, though they might in this way raise a large revenue. And all proposals or suggestions in reference to encouraging the cultivation of the poppy, or that the trade in the drug be legalized, originated in the opinion and fear that its contraband introduction could not be prevented. This is a lamentable state of things in a great nation like China, with 350,000,000 of inhabitants.

The war was not of long continuance. The Chinese, finding themselves soon overpowered by British arms, and their country being rapidly brought into subjection to foreign power, were ready to receive proposals of peace on almost any terms. The leading articles of treaty proposed by the English plenipotentiary were :——The Chinese government to pay the English twenty one millions of dollars before the expiration of three years; twelve being for the expenses of the war, three for debts due English merchants, and six for the opium destroyed. Five of the principal cities of China, namely: Amoy, Canton, Ningpo, Shanghai, Fughchan, to be thrown open to British trade and residence, under such restrictions as shall be satisfactory, and the island of Hong Kong to be ceded outright, and forever, to the queen of England. The Chinese endeavored to introduce into the articles of agreement a prohibition of all traffic in, or importation of opium, but failed in the attempt. So that this subject, as far as any restriction or discontinuance was concerned on the part of the English government, was left, after the war, precisely where it was before. But it was far otherwise with China. Five of her chief seaports being now freely opened for general trade and commercial intercourse, afforded still greater facilities, and gave a more permanent foothold than ever for the opium traffic. The Canton Circular of 1846, speaking of the high price which the drug brought at that time, very significantly remarked :—‘‘ We need not ask the question who has been chiefly benefited by the war in China, justly called the ‘ opium war.’ ”

Besides these five cities being thrown open to foreign trade, the island of Hong Kong, possessing one of the best harbors in the world, and easily accessible to any part of the Chinese coast, became, after the war, the sole property of the English government. This place was selected as a great depot for trade, and a large amount of money has been expended here on public improvements, such as roads, wharves, buildings, &c. Opium constitutes here one of the principal articles of commerce. Besides numerous shops and stores, several large receiving ships are stationed the year round in the harbor. In 1845, an important event occurred here in the history of the trade, namely : Governor Davis licensed the public sale of the drug by retail. Mr. Martin, one of the Executive Council, expressing his dissent, says afterwards :—“ Twenty opium shops have been licensed in Hong Kong, within gunshot of the Chinese empire, where such an offense is death! Hong Kong has now, therefore, been made the lawful opium smoking-shop, where the most sensual, dissolute, degraded, and depraved of the Chinese may securely perpetrate crimes which degrade men far below the level of the brute, and revel in a vice which destroys body and soul; which has no parallel in its fascinating seduction, in its inexpressible misery, or in its appalling ruin. When the governor proposed the conversion of Hong Kong into a legalized opium-shop, under the assumed license of our most gracious and religious sovereign, I felt bound as a sworn member of Her Majesty’s Council in China to endeavor to dissuade him from this great crime; but no reasoning would induce him to follow the noble example of the emperor of China, who, when urged to derive a revenue from the importation of opium, thus righteously recorded his sentiments in an answer which would have been worthy of a Christian monarch : ‘ It is true I cannot prevent the introduction of the flowing poison: gain-seeking and corrupt men will, for profit and sensuality, defeat my wishes ; but nothing will induce me to derive a revenue from the vice and misery of my people.’ But money was deemed of more consequence in Hong Kong than morality; it was determined, in the name of Her Majesty, to sell the permission to the highest bidder by public auction—of the exclusive right to poison the Chinese in Hong Kong—and to open a given number of opium smoking-shops, under the protection of the police, for the commission of this appalling vice. Would we have acted thus towards France or Russia, and established a smuggling depot on their shores in a prohibited and terrific poison? We dare not. Why, then, should we legalize and protect this dreadful traffic on an island given to us by the government of China as a residence, and for commercial intercourse.

See more opium tools at http://www.opiummuseum.com

Thus the war, instead of either terminating, or even checking this evil, has actually afforded greater facilities for its extension. The number of chests of opium imported into China has continued to increase every year, until now they amount to 60,000 chests, estimated to be worth over $40,000,000; a sum greater, by one-half, than is paid by that great empire on the whole imports from all other nations. New market-places for the sale of the drug are opening every year along the coast, up the rivers, and far into the interior of the country.

The Chinese laws prohibiting its use and trafiick remain unchanged, though, to all practical purposes, they are a dead letter on their statute book. Since the war with England, scarcely any vigorous attempt has been made to enforce them, while, prior to that event, punishment for their violation was of very frequent occurrence.

It is somewhat difficult to account for the present inactive course of the Chinese government, in respect to an evil which is exerting such a destructive influence on that people. Mr. Williams, in his work on China, remarks that “this conduct can be explained only on the supposition that having suffered so much, the emperor and his ministers thought safety from future trouble lay in enduring what was past curing; they had already suffered greatly in attempting to suppress it, and another war might be caused by meddling with the dangerous subject, since, too, it was now guarded by well armed vessels. Public opinion was still too strong against, or else consistency obliged the monarch to forbid legalization, which he could hardly avoid acknowledging was the least of two evils.”

Recent intelligence from China states that the emperor Tankwang, who had reigned for about thirty years, is dead, and that one of his sons has succeeded to the throne. Many foreign residents in China are of the opinion that under a new administration of government, the opium traffic will be legalized, and the native cultivation of the poppy encouraged. Bad as the use of the article is, this measure would undoubtedly work far better, in a political and commercial point of view, as well as improve the finances of the nation. It would prevent the immense drain of specie, and cut off the enormous profits of foreign merchants. Mr. Williams states this remarkable fact, that the “opium trade has been for fifteen years nearly fifteen millions of dollars in excess of the regular exchange of commodities, and the drainage of the country for this balance will probably go on so long as the taste for this pernicious narcotic continues, or there is specie to pay for it.” Fifteen millions of dollars annually, for fifteen years, make two hundred and twenty-five millions, to which, if we add the twenty one millions paid the English at the close of the war, we have then two hundred and forty-six millions of dollars, drained from China since the year 1835, over and above the value of all its other exports. Thus, notwithstanding the immense quantities of tea, silks, and other productions which are annually exported from China, their combined value does not begin to equal the expenditure for this single article of luxury, or rather of destruction, which brings no equivalent whatever in return. And all this drain of specie occurs, too, in a land where there is no national bank, or system of credit to enable the government or people to get along with a substitute for the precious metals. Some recent writers on China represent its finances to have been in an embarrassed state for several years past, which were attributed in part to a diminution of its revenue, but mainly to the vast quantity of silver that left the territory to pay for opium. But this continued and immense drain of specie constitutes only a small part of the evils which this poison inflicts upon that great empire. Loss of health and time, human suffering, mental imbecility, moral depreciation, and destruction of life, are evils which cannot be reckoned in dollars and cents.

One of the results of this traffic is, that it now constitutes the most powerful obstacle in the way of trading in other articles with China. The Canton Circular for 1846, a commercial paper, speaking of the state and prospects of trade generally in China, remarks that “with respect to the opium trade, as at present conducted, it is certainly a great evil, and indirectly injures the sale of other merchandise.” This evil prejudices the Chinese against all commercial intercourse with foreigners, and destroys all desire or ambition on their part to improve their circumstances, or cultivate habits of industry, besides stripping them of all their resources. Had the influence of this drug never been felt in China, we have good evidence to believe that it would have proved the best market in the world for the sale of European and American manufactures. It is a fact that in proportion as the opium traffic has increased, that of British manufactures has decreased. It has been said that the Chinese were adverse to commercial intercourse with foreign nations; but what is the evidence in proof of this statement? Lord Napier, whose testimony is entitled to the greatest respect, wrote in the year 1834 that “the Chinese are most anxious to trade with us,” and again, “it is a perfect axiom that the Chinese people are most anxious for our trade from the great wall to the southern extremity of the empire.” Sir George Robinson also states that in 1835, “the people are intensely desirous to engage in traffic.” Mr. Gutzlaff affirms that the “English woolens are in great demand, yet we have still to look for that time when the spirit of British enterprise shall be roused; for in regard to China it is almost dormant.” Lord Napier, indeed, said that the “Tartar government was anti-commercial.” It may be so. But why is not commerce carried to the fullest extent of the privileges which are possessed? Simply, as Capt. Elliot stated, because the opium traffic is “intensely mischievous to every branch of the trade.” Mr. Dunn, who spent many years among the Chinese, says, “they possess a strong predilection for commerce, and a great taste for foreign manufactures. The principal barrier to the rapid increase in the consumption of British goods is, I conceive, the opium trade. Stop this, and you will have their warmest friendship—a friendship that will so facilitate and increase the consumption of your manufactures that a few years only would show them to be your best customers.” Mr. Martin inquired of one of the chief officers at Shanghai, how trade could be best promoted; he immediately, and with great sternness, answered, cease sending us millions worth of opium, and our people will have more money to purchase your manufactures.”

Another feature of this trade deserves particular notice, namely: its smuggling character. All enlightened, and even civilized nations, have ever regarded it as a fundamental principle in trade, that a nation may enact whatever laws of commerce its interests may be supposed to require. It has a right* to permit or restrict, to encourage or prohibit, any articles of merchandise it may deem necessary. Any known or intended infringement or violation of this right by another nation, is, and should be considered, one of the greatest national crimes. And to take advantage of the peculiar circumstances of a nation, and force it to yield partially or wholly this right, to its great detriment, is, to say the least, highly dishonorable. How has this established right been respected by the English government in its intercourse with China in the sale of opium? At first, and so long as it was employed for medicinal purposes only, its importation with a small duty was allowed. But when it began to be used somewhat extensively for its intoxicating qualities, followed by the most pernicious effects, not only in draining the country of its legal currency, and thereby deranging trade generally, but in the loss of time, health, property, mental and physical capacity for labor, and greatly increasing theft, fraud, licentiousness, violence and premature death, the Chinese government, to prevent these dreadful evils, and save their country from ruin, utterly prohibited its importation, thus making it a contraband article.

Their light to do this has never been called in question, as there was no violation of treaty stipulation, and the interests of the country being jeopardized, required such a measure. But it was entirely disregarded. The drug has been smuggled into that country in rapidly increasing quantities for more than fifty years, in face of wholesome laws, earnest remonstrance, and severe threatenings, and the direful effects on the inhabitants of China, all of which were well known to the parties concerned.

A system of smuggling on a greater scale, and with greater profits, followed at the same time with more disastrous results, the world has never witnessed. It is true the English are not the only party engaged in the opium trade. Some eight or ten vessels, devoted exclusively to this traffic are owned by American merchants, and sail under the American flag. The same censures which are applied to the English, should also be meted out to all Americans enlisted in a business so odious in its character, and so destructive in its influence. It is no better than the African slave trade, and should be exposed and condemned by every enlightened and Christian nation.

The missionaries of the American Board, in their last communication from China, (Missionary Herald, June, 1850,) describe the effects of the drug, and the present state of things in reference to this evil, as follows :“The contraband trade in opium induces a disregard of all law, and leads to smuggling in other articles; it raises up and encourages a set of miscreants and pirates along the coast; it gives rise to constant strife between the revenue officers and the smugglers, the former of whom keep a vigilant oversight of every entrance; not so much to prevent its coming, as to collect their fees for allowing it to pass, it tends to destroy all moral rectitude, and strengthens habits of vice both among the people and the government officers. Its use, as well as its abuse, destroys property, health, intellect, and life. Its introduction constantly sets against us the best portion of the Chinese people, who associate foreigners of every name and occupation with this pernicious traffic. The importation during the past year has probably equaled eight millions of pounds, and this year it will, perhaps, exceed that amount. The Chinese government has given up its efforts to retard its use, winks at the cultivation of the poppy, is obliged to connive at the bribery of its revenue officers, and many persons think that the trade will be legalized, on the coming of a new emperor to the throne. In a national and commercial point of view, such a step would be desirable.” We can see no other alternative, but that the Chinese government will be compelled to resort to this course, in self-defense, and preservation of their empire.

What is to be the probable result of this traffic upon China, is a question of momentous interest. How long is it to continue to drain the country of its specie—embarrass its finances—corrupt its officers—impoverish and ruin its inhabitants? Are the difficulties attending this contraband trade still to be the occasion of frequent broils, and interruptions of commercial intercourse, as in years past, between the Chinese and foreigners? Must there be another opium war? Is this ancient and extensive country to be ruined commercially, politically, and morally? Will the Chinese suffer the devastations of this evil to go on till the great Celestial Empire, with her three hundred and fifty millions of inhabitants, loses, like some neighboring provinces, her own independence, and become tributary to a foreign power? Or, to escape such a melancholy fate, will her government either resort to the extensive cultivation of the poppy within her own borders, or else legalize the importation of the drug from abroad? Are there any rational prospects that China will ever extricate herself from these dreadful evils? We are constrained to reply that neither the light of experience, nor the prospects of the future, afford us any well-grounded hope of such a desirable result.

Who is responsible, then, for the continuance of these evils? And who has power, and to whom does the duty belong to put an end to this traffic? the merchant engaged in carrying it on? or the East India Company, whose treasury is so much enriched by its profits? or the English government, that confers upon this company such chartered privileges? Formerly, the whole trade, not only in India, but the transportation to, and the sale of the drug in China, was a complete monopoly of the government; but now that monopoly is confined to India, whence all the supplies come, and where the government has the entire control of its cultivation, manufacture, and sale, which it can at any time either abandon or prohibit. Notwithstanding, the Friend of India of November 8th, 1849, says “the opium revenue has now become so important an element in our financial system that it is difficult to imagine how the machine of government could be carried on without it.” And the Bombay Gazette of November 20th, 1849, states that “British India now really seems to be supported by the cultivation of a poisonous drug, and selling it or smuggling it into China.”

We have no reason whatever to expect that the merchants will voluntarily relinquish a traffic so lucrative, nor that the East India Company, (an incorporated body, in common parlance, without a soul,) will totally change its revenue laws, which have been constantly increasing its resources for more than fifty years. We must then look to the English government as primarily and chiefly responsible for this traffic, and to Parliament in particular. Clarkson and Wilberforce, by their devoted and unwearied labors to abolish slavery in the British possessions, won immortal fame; but here is an evil of far greater magnitude, enslaving the souls as well as bodies of many millions, fostered, too, for more than half a century by government itself. As the East India Company is shortly to petition Parliament for a renewal of its charter, who will cheerfully come forward, like Clarkson and Wilberforce to examine into this evil, expose its terrible effects, and call for their removal?

How can the Chinese regard the English in any other light than wholesale smugglers and wholesale dealers in poison? The latter can expend annually over two millions of dollars on the coast of Great Britain to protect its own revenue laws, but, at the same time, set at bold defiance similar laws of protection enacted by the former. The English are constantly supplying the Chinese a deadly poison, with which thousands yearly put an end to their existence. In England, even the druggists are expressly forbidden to sell arsenic, laudanum, or other poison, if they have the least suspicion that their customer intends to commit suicide. But in China every facility is afforded, and material supplied under the British flag, and sanctioned by Parliament itself, for wholesale slaughter. How long will an enlightened and Christian nation continue to farm and grow a means of vice, with the proceeds of which, even when in her possession, a benighted and pagan nation disdains to replenish her treasury, being drawn from the ruin and misery of her people? Where is the consistency or humanity of a nation supporting armed vessels on the coast of Africa to intercept and rescue a few hundred of her sons from a foreign bondage, when, at the same time, she is forging chains to hold millions on the coast of China in a far more hopeless bondage? And what must the world think of the religion of a nation that consecrates churches, ordains ministers of the gospel, and sends abroad missionaries of the cross, while, in the mean time, it encourages ‘and upholds a vice which is daily inflicting misery and death upon more than four millions of heathen? And what must be the verdict of future generations as they peruse the history of – these wrongs and outrages? Will not the page of history, which now records £20,000,000 as consecrated on the altar of humanity to emancipate 800,000 slaves, lose all its splendor, and become positively odious, when it shall be known that this very money was obtained from the proceeds of a contraband traffic on the shores of a weak and defenseless heathen empire, that the sacrifice, too, of millions upon millions of lives?

Are you sufficiently bummed? I think I need to post something fluffy and with lots of colorful fashion before moving to The London Adviser and Guide again. 

I admit I’m ignorant of many, many things in history, including the Opium Wars. So I found this American article detailing the facts around the initial wars fascinating.

The two-part article is found in The Merchants’ Magazine and Commercial Review, Volume 23, 1850.  I will post part one tonight.

The images (except for poppy flower) come from two editions of The Truth about Opium Smoking: with Illustrations of the Manufacture of Opium, etc, published by Hodder & Stroughton in 1882. The introduction to this book includes the words:

Twenty, thirty, forty and more years ago, there were those who earnestly protested against England’s connection with the opium trade as then carried on with China. Their efforts to arouse public attention seemed unavailing. Few apparently gave heed.

It is otherwise now. Motions in Parliament, resolutions adopted in Convocation, in Church Congresses, Wesleyan Conferences, Congregational and Baptist Unions, and in public meetings all over the country, condemnatory of England’s connection with the opium trade, are so many indications of the awakening of the public conscience to the national sin committed by England in forcing the Government of China to admit our Indian opium.

The Opium Trade (from The Merchants’ Magazine and Commercial Review) 

As carried between India and China, including a sketch of its history, extent, effects, etc.  

Part 1

Few persons in this country are aware of the extent of traffic, or amount of capital invested in what is called the “opium trade,” and carried on mostly in South Eastern Asia. China expends for this single article, annually, more money than the entire revenue of the United States from all sources whatever, and a larger sum than any one nation on the globe pays to another for a single raw material, with the exception of what Great Britain pays to this country for cotton. The traffic is yet comparatively new——has grown with unparalleled rapidity, and is almost unknown, except to those personally concerned in it.

Opium is a production of the common English poppy, originally a native of Persia, but it may now be found growing as an ornamental plant in gardens throughout the civilized world. Most of the opium used for medical purposes in Europe and America is exported from Turkey; but India affords a far more extensive field for its cultivation. It is estimated by good judges, that more than 100,000 acres of the richest plains of Central India, are occupied for this purpose, giving employment to many thousands of men, women, and children. Formerly these same grounds were used for the production of sugar, indigo, corn, and other grain; but these useful crops have yielded to the more profitable culture of the poppy. It appears that a mild climate, rich soil, plentiful irrigation, and diligent husbandry, are absolutely necessary for its successful cultivation. The seed is sown in November, and the juice is collected during February and March. The falling of the flowers from the plant is the signal for making incissions, which is done by the cultivators in the cool of the evening, with hooked knives, in a circular direction, around the capsules. From these incisions, a white, milky juice exudes, which is concreted into a dark brown mass by the heat of the next day’s sun, and this, scraped off every evening, as the plant continues to exude, constitutes opium in its crude state. It is then converted into balls or cakes, covered with dried poppy leaves, and packed in chests of mango-wood, made expressly for the purpose, each chest containing from 125 to 150 pounds.

Benares and Patna, two of the principal localities for the cultivation of this drug in Bengal, have been for many years subject to the East India Company, and consequently the manufacture of opium, as well as the traffic in the article, is a monopoly of government. The native inhabitants being generally poor, and very few of them owning land, large sums of money are advanced to them by the company, to meet in part the expenses of cultivating the poppy, and when the juice is collected, it must all be delivered to government agents at a fixed price. For superintending the business there is an extensive system of government agency, and such is the effect of this management, that by keeping the poor laborers and native land-holders constantly in debt, and making all their interests conspire one way, the cultivation of the poppy becomes almost a matter of absolute necessity on the part of the Hindoos. Thus the Company are able to obtain the opium at almost its own price.

It is found that the expenses in this way amount from $125 to $150 per chest. It is then transported down the river Ganges to Calcutta, and sold on set market days by auction to merchants at prices from $500 to $600 per chest, being about four times its first cost, or 400 per cent. The Indian government thus receives annually an immense revenue from this source. The official returns, as published in the Friend of India for November 8th, 1849, make the number of chests and amount of revenue for the last six years as follows :

The above table includes only the sales at Calcutta, and comprise, therefore, only a part of the trade. The poppy is cultivated somewhat extensively in Malwa, a province lying on the western part of India, and subject in its government to native princes, being entirely independent of all control of the East India Company. There the poppy is cultivated, and opium is manufactured as freely as rice and wheat are raised, and the question with the farmers is simply one of profit. But their principal market is the city of Bombay, from 400 to 500 miles distant, and in order to reach this place, all their opium must be transported through certain territories of the East India Company. For the mere privilege of passing through these lands, the company levy a tax, or “transit duty,” so called, of 400 rupees, or about $187 on each chest. Thus a large revenue is also annually collected at Bombay, where this duty is always paid. From an official report of the chief articles of trade exported from this city, we find that the capital invested in this traffic alone, is greater than in any other article. In 1846, the value of the opium exported from this city to China was more than three times the amount of exports to England, and more than the entire trade, exports and imports, between Bombay and all Europe. The price of the Malwa opium varies from $600 to $650 per chest, being of a more desirable quality than the Beuares or Patna, sold at Calcutta. The Bombay Gazette of November 20th, 1849, gives the following table on the trade, for the last six years, copied from the official reports of the East India Company, as presented to Parliament :

By adding the above tables, we have, then, the whole number of chests exported from India, and the entire revenue of government from this source for the last six years. In 1848-49, it amounted to 57,918 chests, and almost $15,000,000 net revenue, averaging annually for these six years over 40,000 chests, and about $12,000,000 revenue each year.

The price of opium, both at Bombay and Calcutta, is quite variable. The average rate for which the article has been sold for severe years past, as near as we can make the estimate from price-currents, will range between $550 and $600 per chest. Thus 57,918 chests, the quantity for 1848-49, at $600 per chest, amount to $34,750,800, which gives the sum that China paid to India for this single article.

After the opium leaves the hands of the Indian government, it is purchased by merchants, and shipped to China. The vessels used for transporting it are built expressly for this purpose, constructed in the form of schooners or brigantines, with low bulls, and being adapted to cut the waves with remarkable speed, are called “clippers,” or “runners.” It is stated on good authority, that there are about fifty of these clippers embarked in this traffic, constantly plying between India and China, besides many other vessels which are only partially freighted with the drug. It is stated by Mr. Martin that the clear profit to merchants will average about 15 per cent, and in consequence of realizing such sure gains in so short a time, and with so little trouble, they seem unwilling to engage in any other branch of commerce or business. It should be borne in mind that cargoes of opium, in point of value, and certainty of sale, are very unlike those of any other goods. The vessels that transport the drug from India to China, generally carry from 800 to 1,300 chests, making two or three voyages in a year, which, selling in China at $700 per chest, will produce in return from $500,000 to $1,000,000. In 1848 one ship carried 1800 chests from Bombay to Hong Kong, and sold it for $750 per chest, receiving for this single cargo $1,350,000. Suppose a vessel carries 1,000 chests, and sells for $700,000; this, at 15 per cent, would net the owner $105,000. Besides, there is no risk or delay in the sale, and the pay is always cash, or what amounts to the same thing, bills of exchange. Formerly, the payment for opium was made wholly in specie, but of late years bills of exchange are received in part-pay, bearing a cash value, and are used by English and other merchants to purchase teas, silks, &c., of the Chinese. Mr. William Sturgess stated in a lecture delivered not long since before the Boston Mercantile Library Association, that in 1818  $7,000,000 in specie was carried from the United States to China to pay our importations from that country, but now most all our purchases are paid by bills of exchange on England from the proceeds of the opium trade.

The retail part of the trade is mostly carried on by the Chinese themselves, who undoubtedly make large profits on the article, as it passes through several hands, and is sold in small quantities. The Vessels that transport the opium from India anchor on the coast of China, in the vicinity of large cities, and constitute a kind of floating depot of store-houses, from which the Chinese junks purchase the drug in cases or chests, to be retailed at various points on shore. In many of the cities of China may be found numerous shops devoted exclusively to the sale of the drug, with accommodations fitted up expressly for smoking. The poorer classes generally resort to these shops, but the wealthier orders smoke more privately, in their own dwellings. It is stated that in Amoy there are more than one thousand of these shops, and almost every man who can afford to buy the drug, is in the habit of smoking it. More than 2,700 chests are sold annually at Chusan, valued at almost two millions of dollars, and a considerable larger quantity is imported into the city of Foochow, part of which finds its way into the interior. One of the principal articles of commerce carried on at Hong Kong is opium. The drug is now landed without encountering much opposition all along the coast of China, and smoked publicly in the chief cities. The trade was never in a more vigorous state than at the present time. According to the most recent intelligence, it is estimated that the sale will reach 60,000 chests the present year, and the Indian government was taking measures to increase hereafter the growth of the poppy. Notwithstanding the supply has rapidly increased, the demand more than keeps pace with it; and such, in all probability, will continue to be the case for many years to come, unless Divine Providence should interpose to arrest its progress.

The plan of sending opium from Bengal to China was first suggested by a Mr. Watson, in the year 1767, to a council of Representatives of the East India Company, held at Calcutta. Mr. Wheeler, at that time an officer, and an influential member of the company, advocated the plan, and after being favorably entertained, it was adopted as a happy expedient towards raising a revenue for supporting government. Previously to this time, a small trade in opium, rarely exceeding 200 chests per year, had been carried on with the Chinese by some Portuguese merchants, who brought their opium from Turkey.

From 1767 to 1774, the East India Company made several adventures of opium to China, which, for various causes, were not very successful. In 1794, the English succeeded in stationing one of their ships, laden exclusively with opium at Whampoa, where she lay unmolested for more than a year, selling out her cargo. This city continued about 25 years to be the principal market for the sale of the drug, though the trade encountered considerable opposition on the part of the Chinese. Macao also furnished somewhat of a market, but in 1821, the opium merchants, on account of the difficulties attending the sale at these places, withdrew entirely from the harbor of Whampoa and Macao, and stationed their vessels under shelter of Lintin Island, in the bay at the entrance of Canton River. Henceforth this place became the seat of extensive trade. The Merope, Capt. Parkyns, in the same year, was the first ship that commenced the system of delivering opium at different cities along the coast of China, and from that time the trade increased with wonderful rapidity. Eligible places also on the east and north-east coast of China were selected, to station receiving vessels, to which the Chinese might easily have access, and become participators in the trade. From 1794 to 1820, the amount of opium exported to China varied from 3,000 to 7,000 chests each year. In 1824 it increased to 12,639 chests, and in 1834 to 21,785 chests, valued at $14,454,193. In 1837 it amounted to between 39,000 and 40,000 chests, valued at $25,000,000. In 1838-39 the trade was seriously interrupted by the more decided and efficient measures of the Chinese to break up and suppress entirely the smuggling in of opium. After a series of altercations between the parties representing each government, as well as some more violent exhibitions of hostility, the Chinese forced the merchants to surrender what opium they had on hand, and destroyed the whole, amounting to more than 20,000 chests. This step led to a war between the two nations, and the negotiations for settlement were not entirely brought to a close till August, 1842. During these years a much smaller quantity of opium was brought into the market, and the demand being so much greater than the supply, it sold for almost double its former prices, bringing from $1,000 to even $1,600 per chest. Mr. Tiffany, in his work on China, states that the members of one English house made in this way, at the close of the war, from four to eight hundred thousand pounds sterling a piece.

But no sooner was peace declared between the two nations, than again commenced brisk operations in this traffic. By referring to the preceding tables, it will be seen that since the war there has been a constant increase in the trade.

The principal use made of opium by the Chinese is in the form of smoking, and one great object in the trade is to furnish an article adapted to their peculiar tastes. This depends somewhat upon the cultivation of the poppy-— the quality of its seed-—the goodness of the soil—the manner of collecting and converting the juice into a dry extract, or balls, convenient for transportation. The Chinese value any sample of opium in direct proportion to the quantity of hot-drawn, watery extract obtainable from it, and to the purity and strength of that extract when dried, and smoked through a pipe. Sometimes the native cultivators, in order to increase the weight of the article, and consequently their profits in its sale, have resorted to adulterating the juice of the poppy, by mixing with it sugar, catechu, molasses, cow-dung, soft clayey mud, pounded poppy seed, as well as the juice of various plants; but these adulterations are generally detected by the government agents; and the Chinese themselves, having often been imposed upon in this way formerly, are careful to test its purity before purchasing.

After the arrival of the drug in China, it is subjected to a process of heating, evaporation, filtering, &c., in order to increase its strength and improve its flavor. The class and number of persons addicted to this practice may be inferred from the following facts. One of the chief officers belonging to the Chinese Court, in a memorial to the Emperor, says :—“ At first the use of opium was confined to the pampered sons of fortune, with whom it was an idle luxury, but still used with moderation, and under the power of restraint. Since then its use has extended upward to the officers and belted gentry, and downwards to the laborer and tradesman, to the traveler, and even to women, monks, nuns, and priests. In every place its inhalers are to be found; and the implements required for smoking it are now sold publicly in the face of day.” It includes, therefore, among its votaries officers of high rank and dignity, wealthy men, merchants and bankers, as well as the common mechanics and laborers. But it has been the general opinion of writers on this subject, that opium smoking was most prevalent among the higher classes of the Chinese, inasmuch as the habit is a very expensive one, and this class of persons are most exposed to the temptation. As to the number of persons addicted to the vice, it must exceed four millions. From a careful and somewhat extended enquiry made by persons having the best means of knowing as to the exact amount of opium daily used by those in the habit of smoking, it was ascertained that, on an average, each person consumed upwards of 17 grains per day. According to this data, 10,000 chests would supply one million of persons; and for the last six years, there have been over 40,000 chests of opium annually consumed in China in this way.

The quantity of opium daily used depends very much on the habits of the smoker, At first he cannot inhale more than from three to six grains at a time, but will go on gradually increasing the dose, till in a few years some consume even 300 grains daily. The expenses attending this habit are very great—so great that in most instances it regulates the quantity used, each one consuming as much as he can possibly command means to obtain. Mr. Smith, of the Church Missionary Societies, while visiting the opium-smoking shops at Amoy, questioned ten persons, indiscriminately, as he met them, most of whom were laborers, as to the formation, effects, expense of the habit, &c. Five of these individuals consumed at mace, or sixty grains daily, and it cost them, on an average, two-thirds of their daily earnings to purchase the article! This fact shows how amazingly expensive is the habit, and what a fearfully impoverishing effect it must have upon all those who, for any length of time, give themselves up to the vice. Besides, it is calculated by Mr. Martin, and other writers well acquainted with the evil, and competent to form a correct judgment in the matter as any other individuals that can be found, that the victims of this vice do not live, on an average, more than ten years after they have once given way to the habit. It brings on a train of diseases which make rapid work of destruction on all the vital organs of the body. By means of this vice, then, according to the above data, and estimating the number of opium smokers at 4,000,000, more than 400,000 human beings in China find annually a premature grave! What other vice in the whole history of the world ever produced such appalling ravages on human life?

Reserving for another article some further observations upon the effects of opium-smoking, the connection of the British government with the traffic, and its influences, financially and politically, on the Chinese nation, we close by quoting the following extract from the “Friend of India,” for July 26th, 1849, a paper printed at Serampore, and of the highest authority in matters of this kind : “The clear profit of the British government of India from the consumption of opium by the Chinese, at the end of the official year 1848-49, including, of course, the tax on Malwa opium at Bombay, will be found to have fallen little short of three crores and twenty lakhs of rupees, or three millions two hundred thousand pounds sterling ($15,-188,000.) It is the most singular and anomalous traffic in the world. To all appearances, we should find it difficult to maintain our hold of India without it; our administration would be swamped by its financial embarrassments. Its effects on Chinese finances must be as disastrous as it is beneficial to our own. The trade is not legalized in China, and the drug is paid for in hard cash. The annual drain of the precious metals from China, through this article, is, therefore, between, five and six millions sterling. No wonder that the Cabinet at Peking are struck dumb by this ‘oozing out’ of silver, and that we hear from time to time of the most resolute determination to extinguish the trade. But with more than a thousand miles of sea-coast to guard, and so small a protective navy, and nine-tenths of the officers in it venal to a proverb, that Cabinet is helpless.”

Below are more  images  and information from The Truth about Opium Smoking: with Illustrations of the Manufacture of Opium, etc.

Thanks for reading and please check back later this week for Part II of the Opium Wars article, as well as another exciting installment from The London Adviser and Guide. 

Note: After posting this article, my wonderful friend sent me an incredible opium trade and war timeline from PBS Frontline.

The following article is excerpted from Sporting Magazine: or, monthly calendar of the transactions of the turf, the chase and every other diversion interesting to the man of pleasure, enterprize, and spirit, 23, 1804. All but one of the images are from The Repository of Arts, Literature, Fashions, Manufactures, &c in the years 1818 and 1820

A VICTIM TO THE GAMING TABLE RECLAIMED.

MR. EDITOR,
I WRITE from an obscure retirement where your instructive Miscellany has accidentally reached me. As my history may not be uninstructive, I proceed. Deprived, in infancy, of a father whose professional merit as a physician yielded only to the sterling virtues of the man, I was left entirely to the management of my mother, the daughter of a tradesman rather respectable than opulent, not unjustly vain of her personal charms, and most passionately fond of the cardtable. She was left in the full possession of whatever property my father and her own left behind them. With me and the world she passed for a woman of no inconsiderable opulence: and to support that appearance as well as to gratify her sovereign passion for play and parade, she lived considerably beyond her income. Under such a guide, it may be naturally supposed that I could not find my way to the shrine of prudence or rigid virtue. No, Sir. I could support my part in the circle of slander or at the cardtable, before I could regularly subtract my stake from my winnings, or my losses from the former. Yet I was admired, at least in my mother’s presence, for my cleverness.

Having but few ideas, they were the more strongly impressed on my mind, and the more quickly and precisely managed in conversation. Nothing tended to undeceive me in the delusive vanity which the flattery or my mother’s whist and supper friends, and her own loquacious partiality inspired, but the manifest superiority that the dullest of my class-fellows had over me at school. That chagrin however was but transitory, for my master was too lazy to chide me; and as I was a day-boy, I soon forgot it every evening in my conscious cleverness at the card table, where my mother would often say she indulged me merely that, like the young Duke of  B. I should know how to guard my fortune from black-legs, though, poor woman ! As it afterwards came out, she had not then above seven hundred pounds in the world. But she had every year four or five shares in the lottery, and was confident it would make her fortune at last.

In this manner was I educated till I had entered my fourteenth year, at which time I began to be painfully sensible of my mother’s foibles, and to lose that respect for her, which I had till then entertained. We both now thought it high time for me to go to some boarding-school at a distance from my native town: and I accordingly did so. Here I became the chum and favourite of the assistant who was evidently a man that had known better days. He took a pleasure in instructing me, and I in learning from so accomplished and affectionate a teacher. My improvement was rapid for two years, and would soon have qualified me for the university had not my kind instructor fortunately made a young lady of the town, who had a fortune of ten thousand pounds, so sensible of his deserts, that she clandestinely married him. The envious and illiberal comments made by the schoolmaster’s wife and daughters, on this event of which I knew my friend to be highly deserving, called from my indiscreet zeal such asperity of retort, as incensed them against me. It wanted but a few weeks of the approaching vacation, which I past in sullen reserve, and took my leave of school for ever.

I had passed three tedious weeks at my mother’s, when I was agreeably surprised one morning by a visit from Mr. F. my late friend and instructor. He had heard of my angry defence of him at school, and, after thanking me, begged to know my designs and future prospects in life. This investigation, which had never before seriously engaged my youthful mind, led partly to the discovery of my mother’s circumstances: but the painful disappointment it occasioned, was not of long duration; for the generous F. told me he had been in treaty for an ensigncy for me on very eligible terms. It was true, he said, that he thought my mother could very well afford to be the purchaser: but as that was not the case, he would stand in her place, and be a parent to me on that and every future occasion. To be brief, Mr. Editor, I had not been seventeen months in the army, when this active friend procured me a lieutenancy.

With a tolerable person, good spirits, accommodating manners, and a turn for economy, I stood very well with the world in general. I had now and then a visit or letter from my esteemed benefactor, and had the pleasure of hearing that my mother had at last the good sense, before she was reduced to absolute beggary, to lay by the fine lady, and go to live as housekeeper, with a worthy clergyman who had long known her.

Thither I took the earliest opportunity of going to see her, partly with a view to convince her how much more estimable she was in my eyes in the useful state of a menial, than in the beggarly affectation of the gentlewoman, which she had for many months before been ridiculously struggling to keep up. I was kindly received by the clergyman, and a young lady his niece, who had lately lost her widowed mother, and was now come to reside with her uncle. Without describing the progress of a mutual affection between us, let it suffice that it soon had existence; was disclosed to our approving friends, and likely to be crowned by our solemn union, as soon as I could obtain a second leave of absence. My regiment happened then, through the alarm or policy of administration, to be quartered in the vicinity of the capital, in which I had never yet passed three days. My spirits were elated at the near prospect of felicity with my Harriet; every object was new to me in London, and my conductor a young nobleman of one of the first families in the kingdom. But whither, alas! did he conduct me? To the fanes of debauchery, to dens of destruction. From the play we turned into a house under the Piazzas of Covent Garden, where the lively but abhorrent ideas of the immortal Fenelon, relative to Cyprus, were more than realised. To my undebauched but inexperienced mind, it bore the appearance of enchantment. Poetry and fable never gave more attraction and fascinating power to the syren or sorceress than I perceived among the beautiful prostitutes at S.’s. My noble companion, though not past his twentieth year, was deeply versed in the impure mysteries of this Cyprian shrine, and introduced me to one of its priestesses. She seemed not unanxious to make me a proselyte, and somewhat piqued that her charms, seconded by music, wine, and dancing, still found me averse from any closer intercourse. Nemo repente fit turpissimus. One short evening was not sufficient to bereave me of my native modesty, and the guardian idea of my Harriet.

From the lures of the smiling courtesan, to the adjoining gamingroom, was a transition from bud to worse. Yet, from my early habit of card-playing, I felt less horror there than in the dancing-room. I looked on, and thought my knowledge of play superior to that of most of the company. I, however, touched neither card nor die tor that night. From Covent Garden, my friend, another brother officer, and myself, adjourned to Pall Mall, where I soon was taught to consider S.’s at the former place, only as one of the devil’s chapel’s of ease. P.’s and N.’s were his sumptuous temples. There my astonished eye was dazzled, yet fixed, by heaps of gold, that seemed to say, “Win me and wear me.” I panted for an opportunity of appropriating some of those splendid tempters to purposes of pleasure and ornament, which my former system of economy would never soar to. We retired to our lodgings about six o’clock in the morning. I could think of nothing but the Faro Table’s magic centre, and longed for the next evening, when I was determined to enter the path which has led so many to infamy, beggary, or suicide. I began with some caution, and for some time had reason to be satisfied with my success. It enabled me, in truth, to live as expensively as any of my acquaintance. I made golden calculations of my future good fortune, as I improved in skill. My manuals were treatises on gaming and chances: and, without vanity, I may say that there was not a man that frequented a gaming house in London, that understood the doctrine on which they rested, more scientifically than myself. But I unfortunately left out of my calculation, the immense disparity of the two resisting powers —my purse with fifty guineas, and the Faro Bank with a hundred thousand. It was like battering a citadel with a feather. Yet it was ruin only that opened my eyes on this truism at last.

Good meats, good cookery, and good wines, given gratis and plentifully, at those houses, draw many to them at first for the sake of society alone. Among them I chanced one evening to see a clerical prig, who was incumbent of a parish adjoining that in which my mother lived. He was partial to my Harriet, and envied and hated me of course as a successful rival. He therefore wrote an anonymous letter to her uncle, which gave the highest and most malicious colouring to the dissipation in which I lived. In a few evenings after this, I happened to yield to the importunities of a friend, who had bespoke a private Hop at S.’s, and also undertook to provide his quests with partners. He is one of those goodnatured coxcombs who spend their fortune on the most stylish women of the town, and whose greatest ambition it is to be known to have an extensive acquaintance among them. The partner he chose for me would be an ornament to a palace. I became her captive tor the evening, and then left her, intoxicated with wine and pleasure, to go to the haunts of ruin and enterprising avarice at Pall Mall. I played high, and lost in proportion. I rose next day with an aching head and heart, and found two letters on my table—one from Harriet, the other from my mother. The former chid me gently for my late silence, and intimated her fears that the seducements of the capital had made me forget her. The other letter was an angry comment on the tender complaint of my mistress. It stated with some shade of truth, the wicked and dangerous course I had fallen into, and still in her old style threatened to disinherit me to about L.220 which was all she then had to withhold or bestow. My mind was in the most unfit state to answer such a letter, and for that very reason, I could not help answering it. My letter was indecent. I blamed her absurd and vicious mode of educating me, as the sole cause of any propensity I might have indulged for play, and advised her to lay out her property, as she called it, in giving a new edition of Hoyle, which was then out of print. This letter was shewn to Harriet and her uncle. The latter, an inflexible advocate for the jure divino authority and venerability of parents, even in their grossest absurdities, forbid his niece ever to see or correspond with me more. My letter to her was ingenuous and tender: and she in a few days after, gave me an account of the unpleasant effects of that to my mother. To add to my painful sensations at this time, I received a letter from Mr. F. my benefactor, informing me that, on account of the interest which he felt in the progress of liberty on the continent, he had made himself so very obnoxious to the associators of the town he lived in, that he found it adviseable to take his family and property with him to America, and was to sail in a few days from Bristol.

The spirit of adventure was now every day growing on me. I was sometimes very successful, and in those short-lived paroxysms of prosperity, would write to Harriet in the fondness and fullness of my heart; for, in spite of all the folly and depravity which I saw and shared in, she still reigned paramount over my affections. Yet my health was impaired, and my temper soured by the alternation of good and bad fortune, and my pity or contempt for those with whom I consorted. From the nobleman whose acres were nightly melting in the dice-box, there were adventurers to be seen even to the unfledged apprentice who came with the pillage of his unsuspecting master’s till, to swell the guilty bank of Dame N. and Co. Were the commissioners of bankrupt but to know how many citizens are prepared for them, at those houses, they would be bound to thank them. Many a score of guineas have I won of tradesmen who seem only to turn an honest penny in Leadenhall Street, Aldgate, Birchin Lane, Cornhill, Cheapside, Holborn, the Borough, and other eastern spots of industry. But I fleeced them only for the benefit of the Faro Bank, which is sure finally to absorb the transient gain of all. Some of the croupiers would call their gold, which was the most pesant in circulation, the gifts of the wise men from the East; while others, more professional in their allusion, called every rough guinea a cockney counter.

One night I had such a run of luck in the hazard-room, which happened to be rather thinly attended, that I won every thing; and, with my load of treasure, collected from the East and West, nay some of it probably from Finchley Common or Hounslow Heath, I went in the fatal flush of success, to attack the Faro Bank. It was my internal determination, however, that if fortune favoured me throughout the night, 1 never more would become her votary at a gaming-table. For some hours did I proceed under the torture of suspense, in the alternate agitations of hope and fear. But by five o’clock in the morning, I attained a state of certainty similar to that of a wretch just ushered into the regions of the damned. I had lost about three thousand five hundred guineas, which I had brought with me from the hazard-table, together with two thousand which the Bank advanced on my credit. There they stopped, and, with an apathy peculiar to themselves, listened to a torrent of puerile abuse which I vented against them in my despair.

Two days and two nights did I shut myself up to indulge the most racking reflections. I was ruined beyond repair, and had, on the third morning, worked myself up to resort for relief to a loaded pistol. I had rang for my servant to bring me some gunpowder, and was debating within myself whether I should direct its force against the brain or heart, when he entered with a letter. It was from Harriet. I opened it with trepidation, and soon learned she was no stranger to my misfortune. With the pen and soul of a heroine, she urged me to fly from the destructive habits and temptations of the town, and to wait for nine months, when she should have passed her minority, and be in the uncontrouled possession of her fortune, which was seventeen hundred pounds. With that small sum she hoped my experience, talents, and domestic comfort under her housewifery, would create a state of happiness and independence, which millions could not procure in the mad career in which I had been so unsuccessful. This was the voice of a guardian angel in the hour of despair. I wept over my lovely comforter’s name for more than an hour, and found considerable relief. 1 found still more in answering her divine letter. In her next, according to my request, she informed me that the channel by which she had got such early and minute information of my misfortune, was her neighbour and admirer the vicar, who was related to one of the croupiers at P.’s and had from him a regular detail of my proceedings. My lovely mistress’s soothing and monitory language had now tranquilized my soul beyond the absurdity of Gothic resentment, or I would have called this croupier to an account. Instead of doing so, I wrote to the proprietors of the Bank, and stated to them my ruined condition, together with my readiness to sell out, in order to pay them as much as I could of the sum they had lent and won of me. Those gentlemen have friends in every department. They contrived, in the course of two days, to complete the transfer of my lieutenancy, and then, in their superabundant humanity, offered me the place of croupier in an inferior house which they kept in the vicinity of Hanover Square. This offer I declined; and after having paid every tradesman’s bill, left London with only eleven guineas and a half in my purse.

In two days after my arrival at a friend’s house in Wiltshire, I saw an advertisement for a private tutor, which I answered, and was engaged as the mentor of two ill-mannered, ill-disposed lads, the sons of a wealthy clothier. I entered on my new office with the best of dispositions. I met with many slights and mortifications from this low-bred family and their connections. Yet I daily and successfully laboured to improve the heads and hearts of my pupils; and in that consciousness, and the letters of my Harriet, did I find a ready balm for the wounds which pursepride and coarseness inflicted on my sensibility.

Harriet had now attained her twenty-first year. I took leave of my pupils and their family, with some regret, and in the course of the next week was united to the best of women. I hired a cottage with six acres of land in a very retired situation about ninety miles from London, and having sold out fifty pounds of my wife’s fortune, to help to furnish it, commenced farmer in miniature, and have ever since lived in real comfort and happiness, on an income somewhat under a hundred pounds a year, though the addition of a little cherub, the lovely model of her mother, has made it necessary for us to keep a second maid.

[Susanna's note: How people lived in Regency time based on their income level from the Jane Austen Centre in Bath.]

I regularly correspond with my friend F. who has made considerable purchases in the vicinity of the rising city of Washington, and strenuously exhorts me to come over to him, which I mean to do as soon as the stocks rise from their present very depressed state.