304 CRITICAL NOTICES. Theory of the Constitution. By J. B. Bernard. It is difficult to form a decided opinion on this work until it is completed by the supplementary volume, which is to contain the author's cure for the diseases of the State. He is evidently a vigorous-minded man; one who thinks for himself and almost by himself; and therefore whose writings, though they will not coincide with the views of any class or party, must contain many hints which all may consider with advantage. He advocates the landed interest, and yet regards that of the producing man as the paramount interest of society. He is highly monarchical, and yet would have kings elected. He is devoted to a Church Establishment, and yet would apply the ecclesiastical funds to instruction in science and morals. He dreads revolution, but would reconstruct society. Many bold historical sketches, and able analyses of events and characters are interspersed; especially those of Cromwell, Napoleon, and Wellington. Peel's Bill is the great object of his vituperation, and he deprecates a free trade in corn as a 'deliberate act of self-plunder and destruction.' The Life and Labours of Adam Clarke, LL. D. London, Stephens. Ir all who are connected with Methodism should read this book, as the record of a burning and shining light' in their communion, others may do well to peruse it also, as an interesting delineation of a very able and amiable man, and a curious picture of that modification of social life which is exhibited in the religious denomination to which he was attached. The narrative is written in a simple, impartial, and manly style, and does much credit to the author. It appears not to have the countenance of the Methodist authorities, who, like other authorities, are apt to lag behind the people over whom they are set, or over whom they set themselves, and then to try to keep the people back for their own convenience. The opinions and events recorded in this volume would be an inevitable temptation to extended commentary, had we present opportunity, which we have not. Just now, it may be worth mentioning that Dr. Clarke, in early life, very narrowly escaped impressment. The lieutenant little thought what a blessing he gave to society in the curse with which he dismissed the stripling from the clutches of his gang. D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature. Vol. 1. Moxon. A REPUBLICATION in the portable and handsome form now adopted for Libraries' of this very amusing work. Few travelling companions can be more agreeable. The Beggar of Bethnal Green. By J. Sheridan Knowles. Moxon, THERE is quite sufficient poetry and theatrical situation in this play to sustain the well-earned position of the writer amongst the dramatists of the day. By how many, or by whom, a higher position is occupied, it would not be easy to say. Tait's Edinburgh Magazine. New Series. No. 2. 1s. THE people of Great Britain have a deeper interest than perhaps they are aware of, in the success of the noble experiment now making by Mr. Tait with his Magazine. The result will be a sure criterion of the intellectual condition of our country, and show whether the soil be in a state to receive the seeds of literature, taste, and political knowledge and principle. We rejoice to hear that the prospect of success is a most encouraging one; of the desert, the number before us is ample proof. Here are the most important topics discussed by the ablest hands. Seldom has there been such a corps of writers formed as that now marshalled under Tait's banner. In this number are papers (besides that able anonymous one on the Question of Questions, Establishments or Religious Liberty,') by Mr. Roebuck, the Opium Eater, the author of the Exposition of the False Medium,' Mrs. L. Grimstone; and next month we understand that Miss Martineau will again show herself in their ranks, notwithstanding the extraordinary exertions needful for her own publications. It is difficult to say at what rate the productions of such contributors would not be cheap; and equally difficult to estimate the immense amount of good which will be accomplished by such a circulation as ought to follow, and we trust will, from the reduced price of this periodical. Howitt's Popular History of Priestcraft. Third Edition. We should not notice this reprint of a work which we have already reviewed, but to mention that there are sundry valuable additions to it; four entire chapters, (besides many interpolations,) and the Author's vindication of the work against the attack of Archdeacon Wilkins. The added chapters are all in that portion of the book which relates to the Church of England; and are, 1, a chapter of persecutions; 2 and 3, an extension of the analysis of that Church, and a contrast of forced with voluntary contribution as shown in the United States and amongst the Dissenters; and 4, a chapter of worthies. The additions are in the spirit of the original work, and increase its value both as an accumulation of facts and as an eloquent plea for reformation. The Wonders of Chaos and the Creation exemplified. A Poem. Part I. Hatchard. ONE of the Wonders of Chaos,' this poem may be; it is certainly not one of the wonders of Creation.' We have seldom seen such a mass of confusion. The following litter of alliteration may suffice as a specimen. The Devil's dearest friend being provoked at being told that he and his comrades might 'floundering float upon this flaming flood,' thus taunts him in return: ་ 'And dost thou vaunt thyself above us all Quite conclusive.' A Letter to the Vice Chancellor of England. By James Yates, M.A. Hunter. THE judgment delivered by the Vice Chancellor in the case of Lady Hewley's Trust occasioned this letter, in which the writer shows that, whatever may turn out to be the character of his Honour's law, his theology and Greek are somewhat at fault. The attack on the improved version of the New Testament might, perhaps, have been modified, or not made at all, had the learned Judge been aware that it is, substantially, the work of Archbishop Newcome. It is to be hoped that he will attend to this able and temperate expostulation. At any rate, no authority can. long sustain the dominion of the endowments of the dead over the professions of the living, and that of an ecclesiastical assumption of infallibility over both. The Church of England's Apostasy and the Duty of Dissenters. By John Epps, M.D. DR. EPPS is a radical reformer in Church and State, and fervently denounces their union as an illicit embrace.' He calls on Dissenters generally to follow the example of their brethren at Leeds and Nottingham; we may now say, Manchester. His arguments have been strongly aided, since their publication, by Lord John Russell, whose Dissenters' Marriage Bill,' as it is facetiously called, must have recovered to a sense of their real position most of those who had been misled by the promises of Ministers and the 'moderation' of the United Committee. There will be few more petitions but what will pray for the separation. The Principle of Protestantism incompatible with the application of a Religious Test. By John James Tayler. A.B. Hunter. WHILE many sects are leaguing to shake off the supremacy of one paramount sect, Mr. Tayler looks with the clear vision of a Christian philosopher, beyond the temporary conflict, to the eventual destruction of the evil principle itself of sectarianism. It is the destiny of such writers as he to advance that happy consummation. He weighs Church and Dissent in the same impartial balance, and goes to the root of the fallacy which puts reason and revelation, the will of the Deity and the progressive improvement of his creatures, in unnatural opposition. Our spirits are seldom refreshed by words of wisdom so sound and beautiful as those of this discourse, and of that recently published by the same author on the Moral Education of the People.' Observations on Retail Spirit Lic enses, &c. in a Letter to Lord Melbourne. Richardson. THE writer proposes that every duly licensed wholesale wine and spirit merchant be empowered to retail, but not to be consumed on the premises; and to confine the license to retail spirits to be 'consumed on the premises' to parties possessed of a beer license, and strictly prosecuting the business of licensed victuallers, on premises adapted to that purpose. This regulation would, he argues, lessen the facilities for intoxication, and yet leave ample provision for public convenience. We have more faith in some other suggestions which he makes, for the extension and improvement of education, and a better administration of the poor laws. He is, apparently, a Quaker, and writes with the characteristic good sense and philanthropy of the Society of Friends. The Town. A Tale by Harriet Martineau. 1s. THE TOWN is No. 3 of Poor Laws and Paupers illustrated.' It is one of the most complete and conclusive, as to the object of the tale, that the writer has produced. No accumulation of facts, or induction of consequences, could possibly convey a stronger conviction (of course they would not be expected to produce so lively an impression) of the way in which magistrates and vestries combine to mismanage the paupers and all that relates to them. As a story, the subject renders it less attractive than some of the Political Economy series; but there are two effects produced in it, of very different descriptions, which are both highly dramatic. One is the character of Guthrie, the bewildered overseer, which might be dramatized for Liston. His helplessness, astonishment, and despondency under the accumulation of troubles brought upon him by the ambition of office, might be made most pitiful and grotesque. The other is the scene in pp. 136, 137; which is narrated with singular delicacy, skill, and power. The Cabinet Annual Register for 1833. Washbourne. THE present volume of this very convenient compilation shows equal diligence with its predecessors, and, we think, more completeness and accuracy. The parliamentary record would be greatly increased in value by tabular lists of the principal divisions, similar to those given from time to time, by the Spectator newspaper. Will the compiler think of this, next year? Meanwhile, we are thankful for the pains he has taken; they must often spare much trouble to the possessors of his work. A Letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons on the Measures required for the Immediate Relief and Permanent Benefit of the United Kingdom. Simpkin & Marshall. THE plan of the author of this pamphlet is to pay off two hundred millions of the national debt by means of the crown lands, the ecclesiastical endowments, and other public resources, due provision being made for any useful public purposes dependent on such funds. The pamphlet is ably written; but so long as rent is paid in the country it seems to us unreasonable to talk of an apprehended impossibility of paying the dividends. Both morally and legally, the latter species of property is at least as sacred as the former. O Fluminense. A Poem suggested by Scenes in the Brazils. By a Utilitarian. THE author says, 'Nature intended me for a tradesman-circumstances have made me a poet.' We demur to both propositions. We believe that both nature and circumstances prefer his being a translator; at least, if they do not, nature and circumstances are not of our opinion. Let the reader who doubts our negative read the strictly commercial poem' of O' Fluminense; and then take the evidence of our positive in the Song of the Bell,' and other versions in 'Specimens of the German Lyric Poets,' and the William Tell' of Schiller, which we are glad to see again in a second edition. Loudon's Magazine of Natural History. THIS useful work appears every other month. One of its most interesting features is the number of short communications, from actual observers, on the characters, habits, and remarkable doings of animals. They form a very pleasant zoological anecdotage, and are excellent materials for the improvement of standard treatises of Natural History. The longer articles have the merit which might be expected from the known judgment and science of the editor in this department of knowledge. Rowbotham's New and Easy Method of learning the French Genders in a few hours. A VALUABLE addition to several valuable school books, by the same author. It consists of tables by which the student may, by directing his attention merely to the endings and exceptions, retain in his memory the genders of about sixteen thousand nouns.' Strikes and Sticks. By Harriet Martineau. MANY authors would have earned commendation by this little Tract, but Miss Martineau has created a standard for her own publications by which she must submit to their being tried, although the test may sometimes seem a severe one. She claims to be a teacher of the people; and well has her claim been supported by most of her works. But to be the people's teacher she must always show herself the people's friend, not merely by the soundness of her advice, but by the tone and spirit of her admonitions. In this Tract she has shown that strikes, as heretofore conducted, are foolish, on account of the certainty of their failure, and iniquitous, on account of the violence by which they have been accompanied. But in her comparative censures she deals rather hard measure to the Operatives, and is somewhat niggardly of her praises. Is it not something that they have learned to unite, however imperfectly or erroneously they may, as yet, work the machinery of union? They have put themselves in the way of becoming wiser, and that is a grand step. The first lesson is learned, and the second will follow, though sundry mistakes may be made by the way. Their progress will bear no disadvantageous comparison with that of any other class of society. For their errors, even the worst, examples are but too abundant. Besides, let the reader advert to the fact mentioned in the last paragraph of our correspondent's note on Trades' Unions (p. 248.) If the strike contribution become the capital of a Joint Stock Company, the Operatives will be following the very advice which Miss Martineau and |
