d; Malthus wrote in an age of Protection, and that the prevailing idea of the time was that the population of a country was to be fed by the produce of that country; and, things being as they were, it was a somewhat alarming revelation when he proved that, whereas the population tended to increase in a geometrical ratio as 1, 2, 4, 8, etc., the food-producing capabilities of the land could only be made to increase in an arithmetical ratio, as 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. This being so, the writer's attention was naturally directed to the possible checks on the increase of the population, and it is for this that his name has been held up by pseudo-philanthropists to the abuse of the easily-led portion of mankind, as a man devoid of sympathy towards the poorer classes, a cold-blooded statistician with an utter disregard of the feelings of the people about whom he writes. As well might a doctor, who prescribes unpleasant medicines, be called hard-hearted all that Malthus does is to point out the fact that an evil exists, and that there are remedies, some always present and always working, and some which, in contradiction of those which do exist and should not, should exist, and might exist, but as a rule, do not. Some of the checks to population may perhaps be taken as being between these two extremes, such as utter destitution, compulsory military service, the prevalence of epidemic disease or any similar cause; but apart from such more or less exceptional checks, Malthus divides his remedies into these two classes-firstly, preventive, meaning such as are instituted by the action of reason and prudence, such as the avoidance of marriage without the prospect of being able to sustain a family; and secondly, positive, by which he implies such checks as rise unavoidably from the laws of nature, and which he classes as misery, under which head comes the utter destitution mentioned above, with the addition of severe labour, unwholesome occupations, had nursing, or undue exposure to the weather. All forms of vice too are positive checks, but these are of the kind which have to be taken into consideration only because they exist, and the continuance of which the most ardent opponent of the excessive increase of population cannot wish. If, upon these principles, Malthus is to be criticised in such terms as everyone must have heard used about him, it is difficult to know what social system can be so framed as to escape censure. Malthus published one essay upon the Principles of Population before he gave to the world the work upon which his reputation is founded. Among many treatises upon the different points of Political Economy raised in his time, an Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent, and the Principles by which it is Regulated, published in 1815, is perhaps the most important. HENRY HALLAM, born 1798; died 1859. Published View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, 1818. Constitutional History of England, 1827. Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the 15th, 16th, and 17th Centuries, 1837-39. JOHN LINGARD, born 1771; died 1851 Published Catholic Loyalty Vindicated, 1805. Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church, 1809. History of England from the first Roman Invasion to the Accession of William and Mary, 1819-1830. And many polemical pamphlets. THOMAS M'CRIE, born 1772; died 1835. Published Life of John Knox, 1812. Life of Andrew Melville, 1819. Suppression of the Reformation in Spain, 1829. JEREMY BENTHAM, born 1747; died 1832. A Plea for the Constitution, 1803. Elements of the Art of Packing, 1810. With many other works on political and economical science. Sir JAMES MACKINTOSH, born 1765; died 1832. Introductory Discourse to Lectures on Law, 1799. (in Encyclopædia Britannica) separately, 1836. History of England, 1830-31. Fragment on Causes of Revolution of 1688, 1834. JAMES MILL, born 1773; died 1836. Published History of India, 1818. Elements of Political Economy, 1821. With many lesser works on political subjects, and contributions to reviews and other periodicals. Rev. THOMAS ROBERT MALTHUS, born 1766; died 1834. Published An Essay on the Principle of Population, 1798. enlarged in 2d edition, 1803. An Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent, 1815. Principles of Political Economy, 1820. With smaller works on Political Questions, the Corn Laws, VOL. III. X CHAPTER IX. THEOLOGIANS. It is hardly possible to reckon so important a name as that of Paley as belonging to the period within which we are limited. It is true that his last publication, and one of his most important, came before the world only in 1802, but neither in his life nor his work was there any variety from the moderate religiousness and scientific dignified apologetics of the eighteenth century, to which he belonged. His first publication on Moral Philosophy appeared to some of Bentham's friends to be likely to "take the wind out of the sails" of the Utilitarian system, and alarmed them momentarily, eliciting from the philosopher himself a half cry of panic. But this alarm seems to have been without foundation. Paley's works, whether judiciously or not we need not pause to inquire, are still text-books at the universities, but the scepticism against which he sets his forces in array was not of the kind to which we are now accustomed, which takes much of the force from his defence. They are still however eminently readable in a merely literary point of view, and extracts might be made, in which the reader would find much happiness of expression and force of illustration, without any of the disadvantages of antiquated polemics. Dr. Watson, the Bishop of Llandaff, who lived for some time, almost a neighbour of the poets, on the edge of the EVANGELICALS. Lake country, and in his day too defended Christianity, without perhaps any very warm enthusiasm for it, requires mention at least. Godwin dedicated to him a volume of the sermons which he had preached in the earlier part of his career, which was, perhaps, but a doubtful compliment to his orthodoxy. Dr. Horsley Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. Beilby Porteous Bishop of London, and Dr. Marsh Bishop of Peterborough, can scarcely be said to exist save to students of the most dusty shelves in theological libraries. Dr. Hartwell Horne, the author of the Introduction to the Study of the Scriptures, is better known and holds a more living place: but even he still lingered in the eighteenth century, and cannot be called a man of his time. It is not, however, in detached names or treatises that we find the special religious interest of the age, but in the predominating Evangelical party then in full zenith of its power in England, first in all great and good works, and attaching to itself not only the most devout but the most benevolent and philanthropic spirits of the age. The men who with the hard labour of twenty years won from England the abolition of slavery-a step which cost so much in actual expenditure, and by which the nation ventured nobly upon a great sacrifice and effort for abstract right with doubtful results-belonged, without exception, to this straitest of religious communities. These men can scarcely be said to belong to the history of literature, but they all dabbled in composition more or less, pouring forth pamphlets, speeches, pleas of every kind, masses of evidence, and appeals full of the eloquence at least of sincerity, and glowing earnestness and zeal. Among these guides and leaders, however, were some whose gift of speech was indisputable, and who have left behind them volumes of sermons and essays and church histories which have supplied reading for thousands of devout persons, and have been considered by their readers |