No. III. THE EDINBURGH OBSERVER, OR TOWN AND COUNTRY MAGAZINE. Continered from p. 26.. Walks in Edinburgh. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1817. be endless, and I was fortunately saved from launching into that boundless sea by a friend tapping me on the shoulder, and requesting that I would accompany him to Holyrood-house, to which he was conducting a gentleman from the south ern part of the island, for the purpose of seeing the ancient residence of the last of the Scottish kings. The transition from a prison to a palace in search of subjects of contemplation, was sufficiently striking, and might afford useful topics of reflection on the chequered scene of human and affluence, are contrasted with folly, misery, adversity, and poverty. Guided in most of my ambulatory excursions by the maxim of Horace, Quo me cunque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes, I consented to become one of the party, although I must remark, that I am not very desirous of becoming a permanent resident in either of the abodes now al. luded to. HAVING enjoyed, one fine morning lately from the commanding elevation on the Castle-hill, the varied, rich, and ex tensive prospect which it affords, and having witnessed, with more than ordinary feelings of satisfaction, the busy operations of the husbandman, in gathering in and preserving the golden gifts of Ceres, I was proceeding down the Lawn market, when my eye was suddenly ar rested by the work of demolition, to which the old prison is now doomed, for the im-life, in which gaiety, pleasure, prosperity, provement of that part of our northern metropolis. Many spectators were drawn to the spot; some, perhaps, from idle curiosity, and some from that deep interest which few can suppress, even when the indulgence is painful, in watching the progress of a hazardous occupation. But other emotions besides those excited by what was going on before me, or by considerations of the essential improvement of the street by the removal of this unsightly pile, soon arose in my breast.Fancy pictured the thousands of victims who had successively occupied its dreary cells during a period of two centuries, the nightly thief, the daring robber, and the relentless murderer, whom the protecting arm of the law, with little nicety of discrimination, had brought together under the same roof along with the sons of misfortune, who had suffered from imprudence, or had been visited by adversity. In the midst of these reflections, the word WATERLOO on the walls of one of the apartments which had been just exposed to view, caught my attention, and set imagination to work in tracing the allusion to that name which is associated with so many splendid recollections. Had the author been one of the heroes of that glorious day, or had the enthusiasm with which that brilliant victory inspired the nation, reached the inmost recesses of the prison-house, and produced even there the representation of a name which must ever hold a conspicuous place in the British annals? But conjectures might But before proceeding to our destined visit, I stated to the stranger what I knew of the building which would soon be swept from the earth. According to be swept from the earth. According to its brief and obscure history, it was built in 1561, both for the purpose of a prison and as a place for the courts of law and the meeting of parliament. Charles I. soon after his coronation, assembled the Scottish parliament in the old edifice in 1633, and was the last sovereign who presided in that legislative body. The present parliament house, now solely appropriated to the courts of Justice, was erected in 1641; when the former place of meeting was entirely converted to the purpose of a prison. The external appearance of this building seems to indicate that it was constructed at very different periods. The eastern part is of hewn stone, and probably its date is far less ancient than the western division. In passing along the streets it was natural to point out to a stranger the various objects of interest or curiosity which presented themselves in our progress; PRICE 1S. among which were noticed, the cathedral' of St Giles; the former site of the cross; the house of the great reformer John Knox, near the Nether-bow; the house of the Regent Murray in the Canongate ; and the limits of the asylum for debtors in the precincts of the palace, of which,' on a future occasion, I may offer some remarks. The palace of Holyrood-house has not claim to high antiquity as a royal residence. In its present form it was never occupied by any sovereign of Scotland.The earliest notice of any part of this edifice being destined for a royal mansion, goes no farther back than the time of James V. who, it is said, built the towers in the north-west part of the building; but the larger proportion of it was added by the Duke of York, while he resided in Scotland, about the year 1674; and from a design of Sir William Bruce, an eminent architect of his time. The length from north to south is about 230 feet; but is rather less from east to west. The west front consists only of two stories, surmounted by a double balustrade; and the magnificent portico in the centre is adorned with massy columns, which support a cupola in the form of an imperial crown. The other three sides of the square are composed of three stories. The gallery which occupies the first floor of the north side of the building is a noble apartment, of 150 feet in length, about 27 feet in breadth, and the height of the ceiling is about 18 feet. The walls are adorned with a complete series of portraits of Scottish kings, from the earliest times; but the stranger must not conclude that they were taken from real life. On the contrary, these productions of the graphic art are a kind of wholesale manufacture of the work of De Wit, a Flemish painter, who was employed by the Duke of York, afterwards James II. of England, who, during his residence in Scotland, enlarged and beautified the mansion of his ancestors. Some of the portraits, as those of the earlier kings, of which no representation could be found, this belief I must remain till some learn [October 11, 1817. lies who held official situations in the royal household. A fine marble monu ment erected to the memory of Lord BelOur next visit was directed to the haven, who died in 1639, is seen in the ruins of the Abbey-church, adjoining to lower part of the tower. A full-length The north-west towers, the only an- the palace, and indeed connected with figure in robes, in a reclining position, cient part of the building, are in the oc- its north-east angle. The abbey was is executed in a superior style of workcupation of the Duke of Hamilton, as founded by David I. in 1128, for canons manship, and is said to be, the produchereditary keeper of the palace. Queen regular of St Augustine; and by addition- tion of an Italian artist. Unfortunately Mary's apartments are on the second al grants from succeeding sovereigns be- it is much defaced, by the fall of the floor; and in one of them, which is said came one of the richest religious estab-building, or by those rude hands which to have been her bed-room, the bed, the lishments in Scotland. The borough of delight in the work of destruction. Near chairs, the grate, and other furniture, are Canongate derives its name from that the east end of the chapel is the royal still shown, and asserted to be the same order, and the Canonmills on the water vault, in which were formerly seen some which were used by that unfortunate of Leith was part of their ancient pro- of the bodies of the Scottish sovereigns, princess. This is the traditionary story, perty. This fine specimen of Gothic and particularly the huge bones of Darnof which, I confess, I cannot avoid en- architecture has suffered much at differ- ley; but surely with no impropriety strantertaining some doubts, as well as of the ent periods from barbarous hands. It gers have been excluded from visiting this spots of blood on the floor near the place was nearly destroyed by the English ar- repository of the dead, since the mortal where Rizzio was barbarously murdered, my which invaded Scotland about the remains of a French lady in the suite of almost in the presence of his royal mis-middle of the 16th century. After the the exiled Royal family of France, part tress, but of which I could perceive no Restoration it was elegantly fitted up as a of whom occupied the palace during the certain marks. I have no less hesitation chapel-royal, with a throne for the sove- Revolution, found a temporary asylum in about the authenticity of Darnley's single reign, and twelve stalls for the knights it. Now that the Bourbons have been boot, gloves, and armour, which are of the Thistle; but the celebration of restored to the throne of their ancestors, shown in another apartment; and the hat mass in it during the reign of James II. the body, it is said, is to be carried back which is exhibited as James the Sixth's drew down the fury of the populace at to mingle with its native dust. was probably in the manufactory within the Revolution. It was despoiled of its The Ciceroni of the place I find are all the last twenty-five years. All this is a ornaments, and reduced to the state of females, and certainly they are not deficient matter of no great moment; but however naked walls; even the sanctuaries of the in qualifications for the task. To one point, vulgar credulity may be gratified by the dead were violated; the royal sepulchre not more connected with this palace than deception, perhaps innocent in itself, and was broken into by the mob; the leaden with others which are objects of curiosity to not once suspected by those whose inter- coffins were torn open, and part was car- strangers, I cannot avoid adverting, and est it is to have it perpetuated, yet it is ried off. The roof of the chapel was re-expressing a wish that the perquisite, or always pleasing to trace the truth even paired in 1758; but the ill-judged, heavy gratuity to the attendants, was placed unin trifles. Let it then be recollected, covering of flag-stones brought the whole der some regulation. I shall not recomthat the whole palace was greatly en- to the ground in 1768. The public au- mend, in its full extent, the liberality of larged, re-modelled, and completely re- thorities very laudably interposed last the French, who in general probibit such paired, by the Duke of York, and can it year to prevent the premature decay of perquisites; but I may remind those who be doubted, that the more ancient part this venerable fabric, at least from neglect, have visited St Paul's and the Tower of of it was in like manner reformed and or the unhallowed depredations of modern London, that the sums charged for ad. beautified? It is true that the initials of barbarians. The accumulated rubbish, mission to the different apartments are Mary Stuart are seen on the cieling of both within and without, has been cleared all moderate and fixed; and I can see the apartment which is said to have been away and removed, and parts of the no reason why innocent and laudable cuher bed-room; but the cieling itself bears building which few of the present genera-riosity should not be gratified without bethe character of the 17th century, and it tion had seen, brought into view; detach- ing subjected to an oppressive tax. The is extremely probable that the name was ed walls and houses of later erection have visit which I have described above cost placed there by the orders of the Duke, been taken down; the ancient cemetery ten shillings, and I know a party of four from regard to the memory of his great- has been very properly enclosed; and the or five, who distributed one guinea among grand-mother. In short, I am disposed fine square tower has been roofed and co- the different attendants, a week or two to think that the whole furniture of that vered with lead, which, if kept in repair, before, when five shillings might be conapartment belongs to the same age. For will ensure its existence for a century or sidered ample remuneration. let it again be recollected, that the palace two more. But while I felt highly gra- Continued p. 73 was oftener than once in the hands of tified with what has been done, I could Remarks on Sketches of Foreign Scenery,} the reformers, who held nothing sacred not help regretting that the whole of the &c. in the Edin. Monthly Magazine. that was connected with a popish Queen; detached buildings, both on the north and and that it was subjected to another se- south sides of this magnificent structure, Edinburgh, Princes-street, Sept. 22. vere visitation by Cromwell's soldiers, have not been removed, and a low parapet who were not guilty of respecting the wall with a railing substituted, by which the ensigns of royalty, or the gaudy trappings entire edifice would be seen from all sides. of a pompous form of religious worship. Such may be considered the probable and internal evidence of my opinion; and in The inside of the chapel seems now destined as the burial-place of some of the Scottish nobility, and of other fami MY DEAR MARY, As I know how impatient you are for the sixth number of the Edin. Monthly Magazine, I have forwarded it to you by our good friend the minister, who will put it into your hand to-morrow evening, October 11, 1817.] when you drink tea at the manse.— I beg leave to direct your notice to the "Sketches of Foreign Scenery and Manners," the former part of which afforded us so much amusement. You will, I am sure, be mortified to observe how miserably the writer has fallen off; and will agree with me in thinking his account of Rotterdam a "most lame and impotent conclusion." As that tart old girl at the farm, Peggy Smollet, so often says, "he seems, I think, both ignorant and impertinent." "In some parts of Holland, particularly at "Haarlem and Enchuisen, on the occasion of a "birth, a piece of silk, with a lace border, four "sometimes square, is pasted on the outside of ❝tleman in Amsterdam, the same information, Remarks on Sketches of Foreign Scenery,' &c. and envious of that happiness he can never hope to enjoy, he makes a contemptible effort to throw ridicule upon an event which, from the earliest period, has never failed to diffuse happiness over all around. This simple intimation, "Please call at the low door," which draws from him so much spleen and malignity, and which, from his own account, haunts him in every country thro' which his restless and unhappy disposition hurries him, recalls to my mind the story of Haman, whose riches availed him nothing, so long as he saw Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate. The old gentleman is pleased to say, "or five inches in diameter, sometimes round, that many decent people reside up half a "the lady's door, as an intimation to the world, dozen pair of stairs, and probably his that is, the neighbour on each side of the worthy parents were of that description; "house, of this important event. In our own nor do I doubt that in such houses many country, as I was informed by an elderly gen-"buirdly chiels" may have been born "however attempted to be disguised, and in- and bred,though, if my suspicions are deed solemnly denied were you to assert such right, he is not of that number. I can "a thing, is conveyed by a paper, entitled- assure him, however, that if his tottering "Please call at the low door; as if, the old gen-limbs could still carry him up so high, "tleman added, any gentleman not paid for it, his sight would, even there, be often "would accept of such an invitation, or call by blasted by his old enemy-whether in a square or round form, I shall not deter "a route appropriated exclusively for servants, "attorney's clerks, sick-nurses in long silk "cloaks, and square-sterned femmes sages."Many of our remote ancestors, I am credibly "assured by several old women and some anti “quaries, had only, it seems, one door, and that "sometimes low enough. Even at present, I "am told, that some decent-looking people re“side, at this moment, in many parts of Britain, "up sometimes one pair of stairs, and some"times up half a dozen; that there they con "trive, nobody knows how, actually to have "children; and that • “Long before the days of Tristram Shandy, there must have been something magnificent "naturally associated with the idea of parturi“tion, I mean among females; for as to the "male animal chiefly concerned, it has been "remarked, that on such occasions he has ra **ther a sober, pitiful, sneaking aspect. Even "a hen in an out-house cannot drop an egg **clack and hullyballoo set up in the neighbour"hood, in which the cock, too, like a fool, "sometimes joins, as is absolutely intolerable. "quietly-No; there is incontinently such a "A learned friend of mine, who has studied all "languages, particularly that of birds, and who "pretends he can converse with them, assures "me, that all this cackle and uproar in the " henhouse is nothing more than Please call at "the low door.”—Edin. Mon. Mag. No. VI. Now, are you not convinced, my dear Mary, that the writer of this trash must be either a married man, who after twenty years anxious expectation finds his hopes of perpetuating his name for ever blasted; or rather, some peevish, musty bachelor, who has passed his grand climacteric His temper has undoubtedly been soured and fretted by repeated disappointments; mine. This great traveller is so utterly ignorant of the customs of his own country, as not to know that the bell or knocker of a door is tied up; not for the sake of notoriety, nor to call upon all passers by to rejoice in so miraculous an event as the birth of a child, but merely to ensure quietness to the invalid; and this precau tion is frequently adopted when an old gentleman, like himself, is lying ill of the gout, and just about to make his exit from this world, instead of any young gentleman having made his entrance in to it. I never heard before, (did you, my dear Mary?) that when a child is born, the father necessarily has a sober, pitiful, and sneaking appearance, and I am sure that the author of Tristram Shandy was too clever a man ever to write any such nonsense. I can only answer for my own husband, who, on such occasions, looks remarkably well; and never better than last year when you were with us, and I was brought to bed of my pretty twins, (God bless them!) The man who ought to look pitiful and sneaking, and who always does so, is your fusty bachelor, alike useless to himself and the community. Can any thing be so stupid as his simile of the hen? He compares the silence and quiet of a house where there is an accouchement, to the noise and "hullyballoo" (elegant Narcissus!) of a hen 51 house; and the pitiful, sneaking look of a father, to the bold and exulting appearance of chanticleer! Really, Mary, the old hunks has lost his wits. He says, that he has a learned friend, who understands all languages. What a pity that the said learned friend will not give him a few lessons in the French tongue, of which he is so deplorably ignorant! Observe, he calls a midwife (sage-femme) femme sage!—a mistake which would be disgraceful in the greatest dunce, of the lowest form, of the worst school, in the remotest parish of the Hebrides! But I am beginning to lose my temper, and feel quite flushed; so 1 turn from this odious old cynic to a very different subject, my worthy husband, who has just returned from the Circuit, (he has got the old bachelor off for rudeness to the girl,) and I send you his kindest remembrances. He is quite amused with seeing me so ruffled. Yours ever, Jane Well-beloved. P.S. All the children are now pretty well. The four eldest ones have had the measles, but they were very mild; and the three youngest the scarlet fever, very slight. All the rest are well-and two of them (Susan and Ned) are in the country with their cousins, the Pringles. 1 expect to be confined in the first week of November, and shall get Dick, who has a fine round hand, to write "Please call below, every letter an inch long at least. John Wilson, adole Mr Owen's Plan for the Relief of the Labouring Poor. THIS gentleman has for several years been assiduously promulgating his opinions on this important subject; but has lately laid his plans before parliament, ministers, public meetings in London, and now before the country at large. His publications have followed each other with so much rapidity, and are written with so much enthusiasm-so little coherence, that it would not be easy to communicate any thing like a just notion of the senti ments which he entertains on the differ. ent subjects connected with his favourite plans. That he is often wrong, no one, we believe, will doubt; that he is sometimes right appears no less certain. an advertisement he called a meeting on the 14th ult. for the purpose of considering "a plan to relieve the country from its present distress; to remoralize t lower orders; reduce the poors'-rate; In 52 Mr Owen's Plan for the Relief of the Labouring Poor. gradually abolish pauperism, with all its degrading and injurious consequences." At the same time he published what he denominated, “A sketch of some of the errors and evils arising from the past and present state of society, with an explanation of some of the peculiar advantages to be derived from the arrangement of the unemployed working classes into agricultural and manufacturing villages of unity and mutual co-operation." Of this sketch we shall give the following abstract of the preliminary part. He begins with remarking manding exertion and an amount of expenditure "But peace at length followed, and found "A little reflection (he adds) will shew, that the working classes have now no adequate means of contending with mechanical power: one of these three results must therefore ensue [October 11, 1817 public kitchen, and mess-rooms, a chapel, infant schools, schools for adults, grounds for exwith trees; lodgings for the married poor, who ercise and recreation, planted and beautified are not to be allowed to retain more than two children; dormitories for children above three years of age; manufactories and gardens; a complete farming establishment; malting and brewing-houses; corn mill, dairy, and, in short, all the constituents for self-support. To the mèn are assigned the labours of agriculture, and the heaviest part of the manufactures. To the women, the care of their children and houses; the cultivation of vegetables; the making of clothes; and an attendance in rotation on the kitchen, mess-room, and dormitories. The children to be trained in the lighter occupations. The expence of building apartments for 1200 persons, is estimated at £.17,000, with £.2400 for furnishing 300 lodging rooms. The expence of this establishment for twelve hundred persons is estimated at £.96,000; or a capital of £.80 for each individual; and in Mr Owen's opinion, the scheme may be modified for parishes, districts, towns, or counties. derived from the execution of such a plan, In a summary of the advantages to be he adds "Many of the unemployed poor are now in a state of gross ignorance, and have been trained in are likely to continue for endless generations. bad habits; evils which, under the present system, That the object of all human exertions is to be happy; but happiness cannot be attained, enjoyed, and secured, unless all men possess health, real knowledge, and wealth. The two former, he asserts, have been hitherto neglected for the attainment of wealth. The world, he adds, is now saturated with wealth-with abun dant means of still increasing it, and yet misery abounds; while immense valuable energies, competent with ease to procure every thing beneficial to humanity, lie waste, or are so misdirected as to defeat the object of all their wishes. The world, however, is now amply supplied with the means to call these dormant powers into action. These means surround us, are at our instant disposal, and exist in a superfluity of abundance-yet the great mass of the world is in the depth of ignorance, without the comforts of life-a large proportion of them are in want of a sufficiency of food, subject to every privation, and are to be found at this hour in the midst of almost inconceivable distress and wretchedness. Extraordinary as it may seem, the change from one state to another will be most easy. No difficulty or obstacle of magni"But, under the existing commercial system, tude will be found in the whole progress. The mechanical power cannot in one country be dis-ing the population of such unpopulous districts of Europe and America as may be deemed ne-. world knows and feels the existing evils: it will continued, and in others remain in action, withcessary; and of increasing the strength and po-. look at the new order of things proposed-ap-out ruin to that country in which it may be discon- litical power of the country in which it shall be prove-will the change-and it is done! tinued. No one nation, therefore, will discontinue it; and although such an act were possi In his report, laid before the House of Commons, he thus traces the operation of the leading causes to which the distress now existing is to be ascribed. "The immediate cause of the present distress is the depreciation of human labour; and which has been occasioned by the general introduction of mechanism into the manufactures of Europe and America, but principally into those of Britain, where the change was greatly accelerated by the inventions of Arkwright and Watt. "The introduction of mechanism into the manufacture of objects of desire in society reduced their price; the reduction of price increased the demand for them, and generally to so great an extent, as to occasion more human labour to be 1. The use of mechanism must be greatly diminished; or, 2. Millions of human beings must be starved, kind being trained in principles of disunion. The "The greatest evils in society arise from man.. to permit its existence to the present extent; or, 3. Advantageous occupation must be found suit of common objects for their mutual benefit. proposed measures offer to unite men in the purfor poor and unemployed working classes, to whose labour mechanism must be rendered sub-cessity for poor-rates, or any pecuniary gifts of "In one generation, it will supersede the neservient, instead of being applied, as at present, charity, by preventing any one from being poor. to supersede it. "It will offer the means of gradually increas ble, it would be a sure sign of barbarism in those The circumstances of the times having Mr Owen proposes to make the poor national, and to raise funds by mortgaging the present poor's rate to the amount of five or six years of its annual value. The money so raised in sums as required, he would have applied to the purchase of land, in portions of different magni. tudes, and erect establishments thereon, for the employed after the introduction of machinery accommodation of from five to fifteen hundred than had been employed before. "The first effects of these new mechanical combinations were to increase individual wealth, and to give a new stimulus to further invention. "Thus one mechanical improvement gave rise to another in rapid succession; and in a few years they were not only generally introduced into the manufactures of these kingdoms, but were eagerly adopted by other nations of Eu rope, and by America. Individual, wealth soon advanced to national prosperity, as that term is generally understood; and the country, during a war of 25 years, de people. Of these buildings, Mr Owen has fur- rounded by a regulated quantity of land for adopted, more than tenfold. and labouring poor from their present deep dis "It will effectually relieve the manufacturing tress, without violently or prematurely interfering with the existing institutions of society. "It will permit mechanical inventions and improvements to be carried to any extent; for by the proposed arrangement, every improvevient to, and in aid of human labour.” ment in mechanism would be rendered subser Remarks on Mr Owen's Plan of Educa tion. A shaft, though idly thrown, Sometimes hits against a stone. IT has generally been laid down as a first principle by men of learning, in all ages, that men are reasonable animals.Yet, notwithstanding the deference with which we are inclined to regard those our ghostly fathers, it is not easy to discover in what this boasted dignity of human nature practically consists. Whether we consider men as statesmen or fiddlers, admirals, generals, grinders, or coblers, it will be found that they are indebted in a great measure to situation, circumstances, education, and habit. And perhaps with October 11, 1817.] all those circumstances and training, it will be found that the statesman seldom manages his business so well as the queen bee; and that many other of those we denominate the inferior animals, carry on their operations with as much order and regularity, and finish their work in as much perfection, as is usually performed by the dignified arrangements of the exalted two-legged featherless lords of the creation. But there is a "spirit in man," which, it is said, "leadeth to wisdom." The bee forms her cell; the little nautilus plows the main; the beaver builds her submarine abode in the same manner now that they were formed a thousand years ago. We have indeed never heard of the war-horse, the elephant, or the spaniel, transmitting their acquirements to posterity, and thereby improving the future operation of the race. But neither is there any perfect certainty of the greatest statesman, general, or admiral, transmitting his qualities to his son, and perhaps not any thing like an equal certainty as that of the spaniel or the war-horse. We have, it must be confessed, sometimes seen the pliancy of the spaniel, in the sons of great statesmen, but very rarely the spirit and courage of the war-horse have we observed to descend to the posterity of a modern “hero.” To what then is this boasted dignity of human nature to be attributed? In what shape is it to be detected? A celebrated philosopher has asserted, that if the hands of man had been made like the hoof of a horse, he would only have possessed the intelligence of this animal. But there is a principle in man which darts its rays throughout all his existence, and of which no country, however savage, has been found destitute. There is in man, that which perishes with his earthly existence, and that which may survive him; that which experience enables him to acquire, and that with which moral instinct inspires bim-the finite, and the infinite. "Every thing," as elegantly expressed by Madame Stael, 66 Every thing seems to testify in us the existence of a double nature. The influence of the senses, and that of the mind, shew our being between them. The soul and nature, liberty and necessity, divide the dominion of existence; and just as we place the commanding force within ourselves or without us, we are the sons of heaven, or the slaves of earth." Those doctrines by which the sentiments and conduct of men are attributed to the course of events, necessarily de 53 of the views to which the whole is obviously directed, of preventing the accumulation of human misery, and diffusing health and happiness throughout a great portion of the manufacturing classes in this kingdom? We flatter ourselves, that we cannot more effectually promote the purposes of this publication, than by endeavouring to give a just view of the author's objects, and to open for it that public discussion, which he so boldly challenges, of the principles and the practice he so strenuously recommends. Remarks on Mr Owen's Plan of Education. This work deserves particular attention, from the worth and good intention of the author; from the benevolence of the design; from the circumstance of the plans he proposes being founded on the experience of twenty years; from the perseverance with which he has endeavoured to obtain attention to his proposition, and the expence he has put himself to for that purpose; all proving the conviction he entertains of the truth of his positions. "These principles," he asserts," applied with judgment, will effectually reform the most vicious community existing, and train the younger part of it to any character which may be desired; and that too, much more easily on an extend ed, than on a limited scale." This the author assumes as the motto of his work, and in the course of it he makes the following bold assertion, viz. "that this principle is true, to the utmost limit of the terms," he says, "is evident from the experience of all past ages, and from every existing fact." We are sorry to be under the necessity of contravening this proposition, on the appeal to the experience of past ages, in the very outset. We have on record the history of a peculiar people, not under the government only of the wisest of mankind, but under the immediate direction and controul of that omnipotent Being, under whose influence all mankind "live, and move, and To reject such a proposition because have their being." Yet it is hardly poswe may think he has carried the power sible to find in the history of mankind of external circumstances too far, would any community of a general character, so be, in our opinion, very unphilosophical. vile, so perverse, so abject, so degraded, Still more would it be highly unfair to in all periods of their history, even to their refuse attention to his doctrines and rea- last act of ferocious atrocity, which dissonings, because he has not flattered the persed them amongst all the nations of lower orders of people, by making them the world, still remaining a distinct peosuppose themselves capable of wisely chuple, and possessing the same general chasing the members of the legislative body, racter of depravity, obstinacy, and abject which opinion seems to have been the chief meanness. ground of the opposition raised to his pro- It may be alleged, that we ought not position by the leaders of what is called to draw any inferences from the state of the popular party in the city of London. a people whom we are instructed to con Nor, perhaps, would it be candid to can-sider as an anomaly of the human race, vass, by the strict rules of criticism, every part of the worthy author's assertions; or because some of his expectations of the result of his propositions appear to be too sanguine, would it not be too fastidious to refuse to entertain the discussion and who seem to be preserved distinct from all the communities amongst which they are dispersed, not only as perpetual · Essay first on the formation of charact P. 19. |