QUANTITIES OF OLD CHEESE CONSUMED IN PARIS FROM 1817 TO 1854:

Taking for a base the year 1853, we have calculated, after the accounts furnished by the overseers, that the weight of 3,566,292 pounds, which came into the city in that year, can be divided as follows between the various species:

NEW CHEESE. As to new cheese, we have precise indications as to the quantities sold wholesale in the Auction Halls; we possess besides, for these, applicable to the Quarter Markets, some estimates given by the agents of the administration. But for the various kinds which arrive direct from the dairies to the warehouses of the wholesale or retail merchant, we have only calculations furnished by the trade. However, the statements obtained in this way merit confidence.

The imports which have place in the Hall and in the Markets are composed totally of cheese from Brie and Montlhery, and of soft cheese, called "a la pie," inade in the form of great white dishes.

QUANTITIES IN NUMBER AND IN WEIGHT OF NEW CHEESE SOLD IN THE HALL AND IN THE QUARTER MARKETS IN 1846, 1851, AND 1853 :

It is worthy of remark that the sales in the Hall are rapidly decreasing, whilst the sales in the retail markets are augmenting in a very sensible manner; perhaps, also, the retail dealers receive sometimes imports direct. Unfortunately, we have not any correct means whereby to know positively if, in general, the consumption of French cheese has been extended; but we are led to think that it is greater to-day than it was formerly. It is with cheese, like pork, it is sold in very small portions, and is always within reach of the consumer. It is, then, a perfect commodity in the frugal repast of the laborer, the employee, and the small trader. Besides these, which chiefly compose the consumption of Paris, important arrivals take place, from different countries, of new cheese, in great varieties of form and quality. We estimate as under the annual imports of dealers:

QUANTITIES OF NEW CHEESE (VARIOUS SORTS) BROUGHT DIRECT TO THE WAREHOUSE OF THE WHOLESALE MERCHANT DURING ONE YEAR, (1853.)

This table does not comprise all the kinds of cheese consumed in Paris; we note the absence of Coulommiers, of Camenbert, of Sassenage, &c., but the use of these last is so limited that they are of but little importance. We have tried especially to indicate the cheese of greatest consumption, distinguishing by their qualities the different varieties of cheese. Brie comes first. This cheese, unctuous and delicate, has a European reputation; it is superior to all others. That which comes next is, without doubt, the small Norman cheese from Camenbert; it is rich and agreeable to eat, but, although resembling the cheese of Brie in taste and color, it is not equal to it in flavor and delicacy.

To resume. The annual consumption of cheese of all kinds, according to our calculations, reaches to the quantities below for the year 1853:—

These quantities correspond to an average consumption per head for old cheese of three-and-a-half pounds per year, and for new cheese of seven pounds per year. The ordinary price averages as under:

The sales "en gross," in the Hall, average the following prices for cheese of Brie and Montlhery :

1853.

.....

.per ten

£1 1 2 £1 2

1 0

0

0 14 2

0 18 6

0 9

6

0 8 4

Cheese of Montlhery sold on agreement.

084

The difference between the price of cheese of Brie sold by the maker and when sold by auction, is explained by the difference in the quality. With regard to the price of cheese of Montlhery, it must be observed that the weights per ten of these is only 27 pounds, whilst the same number of Brie weighs 55 pounds; and, besides, these last are much superior in quality.

The soft cheese called " a la pie" sells by retail as much in the Halls as in the district markets, at 1s. 2d. per piece.

AVERAGE PRICE OF NEW CHEESE (VARIOUS KINDS) BROUGHT DIRECT TO THE

Art. V. MERCANTILE BIOGRAPHY:

SKETCH OF THE LATE SETH SPRAGUE.

THE HON. SETH SPRAGUE was born in Duxbury, Massachusetts, in the year 1787, and died at his residence in Boston on Friday evening. December 12th, 1857, in the 70th year of his age. He was born in Duxbury on the estate which he owned at the time of his death, on which his father of the same name was born and died, which had been owned and occupied by his ancestors for more than two centuries, and where he had always lived until he established his winter residence in Boston in 1853. He was an uncommon man; extraordinary in goodness, and in the purity and beneficence of his life. Few deaths have touched so many heartsfor few have so many mourned as a benefactor, counselor, and friend. He was a self-made man. He had no other advantages of early education than those afforded by the public schools of his native town as they were sixty years ago. But he inherited a sound and vigorous intellect, which he had cultivated by much and various reading. He was an accurate thinker, and a plain, lucid, and effective speaker. His opinions were emphatically his own-the result of his own thought and reflection. They were clearly defined, strongly grasped, and fearlessly avowed. Against coercion of every sort, whenever and however presented, his resistance was inflexible. But such. was the kindness and benignity of his nature, that to persuasion and entreaty, especially when coming from friends or from the poor or humble, he seemed to have no power of resistance, except what was derived from his convictions of moral duty. He was truly liberal in his opinions, in his affections, and in his charities. successful merchant. His success was derived from integrity, intelligence, industry, and economy. To his employees he was more than just-he was liberal and indulgent, habitually making sacrifices to their interests and their feelings.

He was a

His mind was not wholly engaged by the pursuit of wealth, but he devoted much time and attention to other objects, to books, to politics, to agriculture, practically and theoretically, to social intercourse with his friends and neighbors, to the great moral questions and reforms of the age, especially to the cause of temperance and of education, and, above all, to the cause of religion. He was piously educated, and in early manhood he united with others in building up a Methodist society in Duxbury, of which he was an active and efficient member, and for many years its main stay and support. He gave to it liberally of his time, thought, affections, and money. He was unremitting in his attendance upon all its meetings and services, and took a leading part in its Sabbath schools and other religious and benevolent exercises. He was looked to not only for advice, instruction, and guidance, but to supply deficiencies of pecuniary contributions for the support of the society and its pastor, and such appeals were not made in vain. He was true and faithful to every duty, and in all the relations of life, as a son, a brother, a husband, a friend, a neighbor, and a citizen. His affections, naturally warm, were strengthened and expanded by the genial influence of the gospel, and embraced within their scope all the races of men. But his religion was not merely that of impulse or feeling; he had studied the evidences of Christianity, internal

and external, and his understanding was perfectly convinced of the authenticity, the truth, and the inspiration of the Scriptures. Although always prepared to give a reason for the faith that was in him, he avoided theological controversy, believing it to be much more likely to exasperate and harden the unbeliever in his previous views than to convince him of

error.

He was a descendant of the Puritan Fathers of New England, and was educated with much of their rigid simplicity, and inherited many of their qualities, especially their earnest nature, their stern morality, and their rigid self-denial. No one, not a professed ascetic, could have been more rigorous in the control of his own appetite, or more simple in all his habits of life, but his Puritan rigor was exhausted upon himself-to others he was practically liberal and indulgent. Owing to his Puritan education, his manner did not do full justice to the cordiality of his feelings. The warmth and tenderness of his heart found no adequate expression in words, but only in his acts. In early life he was connected with his father in commerce and navigation. Upon his father's retirement, nearly forty years ago, he formed a partnership with his oldest brother, the late Phineas Sprague, under the firm of P. & S. Sprague. This connection continued until a few years since, and with the most perfect cordiality. There was one peculiarity which marked their mutual confidence and affection. It was that no private or individual account was kept with either. Although both had families, and each his own domestic establishment-one residing in Duxbury and the other in Boston for the greater portion of the timeyet each took from the joint funds whatever he saw fit for his own expenditure or purpose-whether for his personal expenses, or for his household, or equipage, or travel in his own or foreign countries, or presents to his friends, or donations in charity-all was charged to the expenses of the firm, without a suggestion or a wish from either that the amount or the mode should be different. When, at the close of their partnership, there was a division of various parcels of the common property, it was made without one word of discussion upon the valuation first named by either of them. Each felt that it was of little moment whether a few thousand dollars more or less was appropriated to himself, for he knew that what he did not receive would go to a brother whom he loved, and by whom it would be used wisely and beneficently.

Mr. Sprague filled many stations of trust and confidence, both public and private, but never sought or accepted public offices of profit. For several years he represented his native town in the State Legislature, and for six years was a member of the Senate from the county of Plymouth. He might have attained to still higher stations by popular election, if he would have used the appropriate means. He devoted much time and study to the history and politics of our country, and loved its institutions with self-sacrificing devotion. He was a friend of the people, but his was that friendship which consulted their interest, not their passions or their caprice. He went with the current only so long as it set in the direction in which his judgment and his principles carried him. He of course could not permanently continue a popular favorite. He was always desirous of the good opinion of others, and sometimes of their suffrages. Approbation gave him pleasure, but it was sought only by the most perfect sincerity. He never professed an opinion which he did not entertain, nor suppressed one which he did; and his manner of expressing them was