all be taken in every case, but they feel convinced that the more closely they are followed, the greater will be the probability of security; and though they may be thought to be of a general nature, they become more immediately important at a time when the community is threatened with the visitation of a malady which especially attacks the stomach and bowels, which usually makes its attack during the night, which falls with the greatest severity on the poor, the ill-fed, and the unhealthy; and which rages most destructively in those districts of towns where the streets are narrow and the population crowded, and where little attention has been paid to cleanliness and ventilation.”

It appears from the above regulations, (in which all parties are agreed,) that temperance, cleanliness, and ventilation are the main points, if we would escape this destructive pestilence; and an attention to them, whether the cholera should make its appearance generally, or not, must be attended with beneficial results. The only objection we have to this regulation is, that persons studying too much what is, or is not, wholesome in their diet, might reduce the stomach to a weak state, and thus bring about the very evil they wished to avoid; that we should be apt to think with another board-" That no sudden nor extensive alterations should be made in the usual modes of living." The true preventive, after all, is an unruffled mind; and the man who places his firm reliance on his God, and who at all times endeavours to prepare himself for that great change which must sooner or later come upon him, he, and he only, can be said to have attained that happy frame of mind. He can look death calmly in the face; and, like the apostle Paul, he can humbly say, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day."-2 Tim. iv. 6.

November 15th, 1831.

576

LAWS RESPECTING SERVANTS.

WE are indebted to a little work, called "The Footman's Directory," for the following abstracts of Acts of Parliament,* which ought, as the book justly observes, to be read, not only by all persons in service, but by masters and mistresses also.

A servant setting fire carelessly to a house, is liable to pay, on the oath of one witness, a hundred pounds to the sufferer, or to be committed to prison and hard labour for eighteen months. 14 Geo. 3. c. 48.

Where servants are hired by the year, they cannot be put away before the expiration of the term, without some reasonable cause, to be allowed by one magistrate; nor after the ending of the term, without a quarter's warning given before witness. If a master discharge a servant otherwise, he is liable to a penalty of forty shillings. 5 Elix. c. 4.

If a servant refuse to serve his term, he may be committed till he give security to serve the time; or he may be sent to the house of correction, and punished there as a disorderly person. 5 Eliz. c. 4; 7 Jac. c. 4.

A yearly servant is not to be discharged, by reason of sickness, nor any disability by the act of God; nor may his wages be abated.

Dalt. 129.

All hiring, without stipulation of time, is, strictly speaking, hiring for a year, and the law so construes it. 2 Inst. 42.

Both master and servant may however part, by mutual consent. A master detaining a servant's wages, or not allowing sufficient meat, drink, &c. is a good cause for a servant leaving his place; but it must be allowed before a justice of peace. Dalt. If a servant, hired for a term, quit his service before the end of it, he loses all his wages, unless his master put him away.

A woman servant who marries, is obliged to serve out her time; and if both man and wife are servants by the year, they must both serve out their time. Dalt. 92.

A servant hired at a month's wages, or warning, cannot quit

* There may be later Acts, which have made an alteration in some of them; but we are not aware of any.

1

Characters, on giving and receiving, Creation, evidences of design in, 549.

Extravagance of Female Servants, Hydrometer and Chinese Merchant,

Religion, the only bond of society, Thin Shoes, 60.