Among the most commendable passages in the pamphlet, are those in which the author dísclaims all recourse to arbitrary interference on the part of Government, and exposes the errors into which a very eminent merchant, Mr. Baring, fell in his examination before the Bank-Committee of the last year by answering, on the spur of the moment, questions which required the most mature consideration. As to Mr. Martin's style, however, we have seldom seen a more loose and obscure production: the reader being obliged either to digest and arrange the materials for himself, or to peruse page after page without a determinate idea; a state of mind which will not well dispose him to accept Mr. M.'s apology that the sheets were sent to the press as they were written, on account of the urgency, or imagined urgency, of the question.

Art. 18. Reasons for the immediate Repeal of the Tax on Foreign Wool; (Second Edition;) by James Bischoff. 8vo. pp. 43. Richardson. 1819.

The tax imposed on foreign wool, towards the close of the last session, (50s. per cwt. instead of 7s. 11d.) was so evidently contrary to sound policy, that we could explain it only by a necessity, on the part of ministry, of holding out to the landed interest a bonus, as it is called in the language of the Treasury, by raising the price of British wool, in return for the very heavy addition made at that time to the malt-duty. Be this as it may, the pernicious operation of the new tax will be at once seen by our readers, on reverting to the report in our Number for Sept. 1818, of a pamphlet by Mr. Maitland, chairman of the committee of the woollen trade. Of the injury to the public, there can be but one opinion: but Mr. Bischoff labours (pp. 20, 21.) to impress the landed interest with the conviction that even they will suffer more as partakers in the general loss of the country, than they will gain as venders of an enhanced commodity. Even the revenue, he adds, will sustain a defalcation from the consequences of a tax which, in the first instance, promises to bring 300,000l. into the Treasury.—Mr. B. writes without method or energy, but is familiar with his subject; and the arguments on his side are so clear as to make it unnecessary to dwell on them, while they must render every well-wisher to his country eager

eager for the repeal of a tax which strikes at the root of a manufacture deservedly called "the great limb of our national prosperity."

RELIGIOUS.

Art. 19. The Anti-Deist: being a Vindication of the Bible, in Answer to the Publication called The Deist. Containing also a Refutation of the erroneous Opinions held forth in The Age of Reason; and in a recent Publication, intitled Researches on Ancient Kingdoms. By John Bellamy, Author of the "New Translation of the Bible from the original Hebrew." 8vo. Longman and Co. 1819.

Mr. Bellamy has here engaged in the very laudable attempt to answer numerous objections which have been urged against the Holy Scriptures; and he has been very successful in refuting some of these objections, by shewing that they exist only in the version of the Old Testament, and derive no countenance from the original Hebrew. Mr. B. has also displayed considerable candour in the selections which he has here made from infidel writers, having brought forwards both the strong and the weak; and the answers, which he has given to these opponents, are delivered without any unbecoming asperity or arrogance. A reasonable objection always deserves an answer; and when that answer is de. finite and satisfactory, it must tend greatly to strengthen the credibility of Revelation. Even a sneer should not be answered by an insult; and much less ought we to make war on the sceptic by invoking the demon of persecution to our aid.

Art. 20.

A Remedy for Self-Murder. Suggested in a Letter to a Friend. 12mo. Wilson. 1819.

The principal remedy which this writer suggests for the crime of suicide is comprehended in the religious maxim, "When you are in heaviness, think upon God."

Art. 21. A Catechism, designed chiefly for the Instruction of Young Persons belonging to the Denomination of Unitarian Dissenters. Second Edition. By N. T. Heineken, of Bradford, Yorkshire. 12mo. 6d. Printed at Derby.

It appears to us that this will be found an useful catechism for that class of Christians, to whose sentiments it is more particularly adapted.

NATURAL HISTORY.

Art. 22. The Entomologist's Useful Compendium; or an Introduction to the Knowlege of British Insects, comprising the best Means of obtaining and preserving them, and a Description of the Apparatus generally used; together with the Genera of Linné, and the modern Method of arranging the Classes Crustacea, Myriapoda, Spiders, Mites, and Insects, from their Affinities and Structure, according to the Views of Dr. Leach. Also an Explanation of the Terms used in Entomology; a Calendar of the Times of Appearance and usual Situations of

near

near [nearly] 3000 Species of British Insects; with Instructions for collecting and fitting up Objects for the Microscope. Illustrated with Twelve Plates. By George Samouelle, Associate of the Linnéan Society of London.

8vo. pp. 496.

11. plain. 11. 18s. coloured. Boards. Boys. 1819. This ample title sufficiently sets forth the contents of the volume to which it is prefixed; and we have only to add that the knowlege, judgment, and accuracy displayed in the performance itself, will render it a desirable text-book to every student of British entomology.

MISCELLANEO U S.

Art. 23. The invariable Principles of Poetry; in a Letter addressed to Thomas Campbell, Esq.; occasioned by some Critical Observations in his Specimens of British Poets, particularly relating to the poetical Character of Pope. By the Reverend W. L. Bowles. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Longman and Co. 1819.

Surely this pamphlet bears rather erroneously the title of The invariable Principles of Poetry; the idea of the existence of which seems to have occasioned the unsatisfactory dispute in question. How far the objects of nature may be better calculated than the works of art to supply similes for the poet is a question which would give rise to a discussion as useless as it would be interminable; and we are sorry to observe men of real learning and taste differ from us on the subject. A slight glance at the old adage of the heathen, "De gustibus non est disputandum," might have been sufficient to deter both Mr. Campbell and Mr. Bowles from adopting exclusive opinions on this matter.

The controversy between these gentlemen appears to us almost similar to that of the travellers respecting the colour of the Cameleon; since the grandeur and beauty of objects both of art and nature depend on the circumstances and associations attached to them, as much as the light in which colours themselves are seen. All subjects of taste, learning, and poetry, possessing terms more vague and undefined than those of science, are ever liable to give rise to different meanings in the minds of those who make use of them; and we are at present not without strong suspicions that Mr. B. and Mr. C. are much nearer the same opinion on the point than they are themselves aware. Mr. B.'s opinions, which were first advanced in his life of Pope, maintaining the superiority of nature over art in providing comparisons and happy allusions for poetic use, seemed to derogate (with other observations) from the character of that great writer; who, artificial as he was in composition, had drawn many of his poetic pictures from scenes of nature as well as art. Mr.C., on the contrary, endeavoured, by quotations from our best authors, to shew how greatly they were indebted to the wonderful productions of art for many of their sublimest images. Each most unequivocally admits the general principle on which his ideal opponent grounds his argument. Approaching so nearly, then, to each other, they cannot do better than shake hands with a good-natured laugh, and end their dispute.

Mr. Campbell's publication was reported at some length in our last Review.

Art.

Art. 24. A Guide for Gravesend. By a Visitor. 12mo. pp. 63. Pocock, Gravesend.

Who would have thought of a Guide to Gravesend? Where will be the end of such guides on this side of the grave? The citizen will surely next be guided to Wapping and Blackwall, and told that they are the most delightful bathing-places in the vicinity of London: for as to the saltness of the water, the Gravesend Visitor positively asserts this to be of no consequence.

We cannot, however, enter the lists with this gentleman as to the beauties of his favourite place, for we confess that we have never explored them: but he is extremely contented with them, and seems to have some little idea of being contented with himself: which is so far from being an undesirable feeling, that we shall not attempt to disturb it. We will not deny, moreover, that he writes with some spirit; that many of his sentiments are not displeasing to us; and that, unless he be guilty of gross misrepresentation, he has shewn that the neighbourhood of Gravesend may be worth visiting: but, as to his speculation of puffing it up into a watering-place, we will have no shares with him; and he must forgive us if we cannot acquit him of having some such idea, rather inconsistent with the disinterested views of a casual • Visitor.'

Art. 25. Report of the Committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline, and for the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders. 8vo. pp. 32. W. Phillips. 1818.

This Report contains an able exposition of the grievous increase of juvenile delinquency, and of one of its principal causes, the lamentable state of our prison-discipline. To check vice in the outset of its career, instead of punishing it without amending to convert gaols from nurseries of crime, as they are, to schools of reform as well as punishment, which they ought to be; and to afford relief and employment to the unfortunate youth just discharged from his cell, thus preventing his recurrence to former practices; are objects so praiseworthy, and of such palpable benefit to the community, that we grieve to see a complaint of exhausted funds on the part of this Society. We trust that such a cause will not long impede that activity, for the exertion of which the names on the committee of this institution are a sufficient warranty.

Art. 26.

Boards.

Sulimé and Alid; or the World in China: a Sentimentalo-Satirico Tale, in Prose. 12mo. pp. 201. Egerton. 1819.

Although we would not completely condemn the manners of a gentleman who made a very aukward bow at his entrance into a fashionable assembly, yet we cannot imagine our readers to be prepossessed in favour of the writer of a Sentimentalo-Satirico Tale in Prose.' In fact, the great cleverness of this book lies in the constant repetition of certain epithets applied to its principal characters; and, like some farces and even comedies of the day, we have no doubt that it will gain a certain portion of approbation

by

by this everlastingly successful expedient. No modern audience can resist the happy recurrence of a joke which they perfectly understand; and it seems impossible to repeat the experiment too frequently. Thus the gracious and wise Liefang' is the key-stone of the merit of this little sham Chinese effusion.

Some truisms, however, are usefully recalled to our recollection throughout the volume.

"Every man is a legislator. Every man is entrusted with the government of himself. The manner in which he regulates the economy of life is always sufficient to prove to us how he would govern an empire. He who exercises due command over himself would be a great and a glorious sovereign!

"True honour is that which procures for us the approbation of our own hearts. Let the wise Liefang aim at that alone. It is superior to fame, because no external circumstances can ever affect it. The path to it is open and discernible; unhappily, few pass that way, so that the track is not beaten. The goal is always ascertained; and neither envy, nor malice, nor opposition, can tear it from our grasp. Our resignation of it must always be voluntary."

The wise Liefang listened without any other symptom of impatience than occasionally curling his mustaches. The influence his secretary possessed over him was astonishing, and sometimes irksome to himself, without his having the power to release himself from the thraldom.'

This is enough for the novel mode of recommending moral truth, which is adopted by the secretary of the gracious Liefang.'

The following advice to an author, contains, alas! too just a satire on the prevailing bias of the day:

To be plain with you," continued my friend, "nothing is palatable now that is not personal. It is of no use to satirize vice without you have a particular object in view. No one now reads general satires; they are quite out of vogue. Select an individual; no matter how vicious; attack him with sufficient severity, and add such features to your portrait as shall immediately enable the world to detect the original. I will deal candidly with you; they will purchase your books not because you ridicule vice, but because they delight in seeing others attacked. This is the best

advice I can give you, and unless you follow it, I think I may venture to assert that you will never find your present profession a profitable one."'

Goldsmith's "Citizen of the World" is laid under contribution by this author: but he displays an extravagance and a caricature in his descriptions (particularly in that of a fashionable English couple shipwrecked on the coast of China), which prove him to be either very young or incorrigible in old absurdities.

LAW.

Art. 27. The Trial of James Bowditch and Nine others, at the Suit of the King, and on the Prosecution of George Lowman Tuckett,