the present race of paupers settled comfortably on the national lands--our manufactures, we suppose, are not to be deserted, and all our other undertakings are still to be supplied with hands as formerly: But it is the fluctuating demand for labour, which is produced by the fluctuating profit of those undertakings, which every now and then throws such shoals of unemployed artisans on the parish; and this cause must continue to operate after the national farms are all occupied, just as before. In short, we should just have a new race of compulsory agriculturists, toiling for a bare subsistence, without profit, superadded to the rest of our redundant population; and we should merely pension off the present race of paupers on a permanent and perpetual provision, to make room for another race, for whom no such resource could be provided. This, however, we suspect, is rather beyond the depth of our Laureate-who talks very eloquently of colonizing at home with disbanded soldiers and sailors--and thus lightening the poor-rates, encouraging manufactures, and even providing a permament source of revenue. Very pleasant certainly and feasible!

The laureate's third panacea is the education of the poor; and, with his constitutional horror at half learning, which he repeatedly says is far worse than ignorance, we confess we were rather surprised at his having the courage to recommend it at all. Most certainly, half learning is all that the bulk of the poor can ever expect to obtain; and if we thought, as he does, that it was worse than none, we should be compelled to decide against giving them any education. But then, the worthy poet is not for trusting them with the dangerous arts of reading and writing alone:-By no means;-'they must also be instructed according to the established religion;' and the scheme of their education is to be so connected with the church, as to form part of the establishment; and thus we shall 'find it a bulwark to the State, as well as to the Church.' Now, there really seems to us to be something portentous in this, coming from the pen of a layman who holds as yet but a small ornamental sinecure, not depending on ecclesiastical patronage, and who professes great philanthropy and liberality. The question is, how best to counteract the grievous ignorance, improvidence, and profligacy of the lower orders; and when the answer is-By education; up starts the Poet-Laureate, and puts in the qualification, that they shall get no education unless they conform to the Church of England, and come for it to a school that is part of the church establishment! This, we suppose, would, in point of fact, exclude about two-thirds of the subjects of this realm-and those who are most in need of it; and all this in order that a bulwark may be reared up for the church, and the people attached to their national institutions. From this intolerant and flaming zeal for the Church of England, one would naturally suppose that Mr. Southey had been a dissenter in his youth; and though we know nothing whatever of the matter, he has dropped some hints in the course of this epistle that seem to countenance that supposition: where he

says, for example, that his 'Joan of Arc' received the approbation of all the dissenting journals' of the day: and that his fine scheme of emigration to America was much talked of among certain sects of Christians. But whether this desire to exclude all sectaries from the benefits of a national education proceeds from mere hostility to all the objects of his early attachment, or from principles of more comprehensive patriotism and prudence, it is impossible not to be struck with the singular figure it makes among the ways and means by which discontent and vice, as well as poverty and disaffection, are to be eradicated from society. Does the worthy Laureate now hold, that all dissenters are so profligate and sedítious by nature, that reading and writing would only make them more dangerous? or does he hope, by this exclusion, to force them gently back within the pale of the church, by refusing them all instruction elsewhere? Whatever his views may be, there is certainly great originality in proposing such a restriction, as a means of attaching the dissenting population to the government of the country. But the grand secret and glorious discovery of the excellent Laureate remains still to be mentioned. It is, that the present distress of the country proceeds entirely from the extreme parsimony of the government; and that the only catholic remedy is, for it to increase its levies and its expenditure without sparing. We are afraid that this would not be believed upon our report--and therefore we must quote the words of this learned Theban himself, whose opinions have been maturing among the mountains of Cumberland, during, we know not how many years of intense study and deep meditation. 'Never, indeed,' says he, was there a 'more senseless cry than that which is at this time raised for re'trenchment in the public expenditure, as a means of alleviating 'the present distress. Men are out of employ. The evil is, that 'too little is spent; and, as a remedy, we are exhorted to spend 'less!' This is dwelt upon with the same complacency for some time; and so perfectly assured and satisfied is he with this brilliant position, that he proceeds to taunt, somewhat severely, the unfortunate speculators who have recommended a reduction of our establishments. There are many mouths, he says, without food, because the hands want work; and for this reason, the state quack ' requires further reduction. O lepidum caput! and it is by such 'heads as this that we are to be reformed!' Nay, there is yet more of the same pattern. Instead, therefore, of this senseless cry for ' retrenchment, which is like prescribing depletion for a patient, whose complaints proceed from inanition; a liberal expenditure *should be advised in works of public utility and magnificence. 'Build, therefore, our monuments,' &c. &c.

Now, we must say, that the utter absurdity of those passages, combined with the undoubting confidence with which they are brought forward, have given us a higher idea than we ever entertained before of Mr. Southey's poetical genius.-Nothing, we conceive, but the true poetic temperament could have given birth to

such conceptions--or blinded the author's eyes to the glaring fallacy of his assumptions: For the whole of this most comfortable doctrine rests upon the ingenious supposition, that government has the means of spending without measure or limit--and that its present moderation in that particular arises merely from a sort of stinginess, which will probably be overcome by the warmth and eloquence of his exhortations.-Now, we are very much afraid that this is not exactly the case; and, at all events, it is to be regretted, that the worthy Laureate did not think of inquiring a little into the cause of this effcct; or rather,' as the sage Polonius expresses it, of this defect--for this effect defective comes by cause,'-as he might then perhaps have discovered, that the insufficiency of our expenditure was occasioned entirely by the difficulty of raising funds to supply it--and that the remedy which he prescribes, however pleasant and desirable in itself, really could not be conveniently applied, in the present posture of our affairs.

If things, indeed, were otherwise,--if government could raise money to any given amount, by its own creative fiat, and without at all burdening or distressing the people, nothing, to be sure, could be easier, or more laudable, than to employ all the idle people in the land at double wages, on works of utility and magnificence,-or of no utility or magnificence at all. On that delectable supposition, there could be no possible objection to giving all the paupers in the country handsome allowances, and employing them in parading up and down the streets with standards and bands of music. Nay, nobody would grudge that the salary even of the Poet-Laureate should be multiplied tenfold, and an additional butt of Sherry rolled into his cellar for every ode he indited. But, alas, when things are but too notoriously in the very opposite situation--when the pressure of taxation has not only swallowed up the income, but actually annihilated the capital of many of the most industrious individuals in the country-when the household furniture of hundreds of decent families is sold every day in the streets, for arrears of taxes--and the expenditure of every householder is necessarily restricted by absolute inability, within the most penurious limits, it does sound something wild and extravagant, and poetical, and lyrical, to talk of relieving the distresses of the country by a liberal expenditure by the government in works of public magnificence. The money which the government is thus exhorted to spend, it must first squeeze from the pockets of its subjects--and to that extent, at least, their expenditure must be diminished. If they had been allowed to keep it--and could with prudence afford to lay it out for their own ends, it would equally be spent as if it was handed over to government for that purpose;--and the only difference would be, that the owners would, in all likelihood, spend it profitably and productively, while the government would throw it away; that the one would use it to maintain productive labour, and make it act as the spring of a long series of prosperous industry--while the other would consume it in the payment of soldiers, taxgather

ers, and sinecurists, in whose hands it would be productive of nothing. But, if the original owner could not afford to spend it in his own business, or for his own enjoyments, still less can he afford to pay it in taxes: And this hopeful project for charming away the poverty of the country, by a liberal expenditure on the part of government, turns out to be nothing else than a device for completing the impoverishment of the industrious part of the community, and cutting off the sources of future wealth and prosperity, in order to enable government to maintain, a little longer, its hosts of stipendiary servants:---And the worthy Laureate, who comes down from the mountains with this precious scheme of finance on his shoulders, cackles, with vast self complacency, at the state quacks who recommend economy; and imagines himself the most profound genius in the world, because he can talk, with physiological solemnity, of depletion and inanition; and compare, in bucolic strains, the wealth which is taken from the people, to vapours which are drawn im' perceptibly from the earth, but distributed to it in refreshing dews and fertilizing showers.' How amazingly pretty!

Of a truth, the laureate shines in political economy---but he had better keep to his Spanish romances.

'Art. 8.—Transactions of the Geological Society. Vol. II. 4to. pp. 558. London.'-These transactions were published in 1814, and certainly merited a much earlier notice than they have received. A third volume, we understand, has been published, that ought to be made known with somewhat more attention to the curiosity of scientific readers. The reviewers give a good and favourable account of the papers contained in it. We much wish this valuable collection on a subject of daily increasing interest were republished here. The paper C on the fresh water formations of the Isle of Wight,' is singularly curious and interesting. If to this paper of Mr. Webster's, containing an account of the Isle of Wight basin, were added Cuvier's account of the Paris basin, and some account of the London basin, it would form a moderate sized volume of more interest than almost any scientific work that has appeared for many years.

We are happy to announce that the Rev. Mr. Steinhauer, author of the paper in these transactions, entitled, 'Notice relative to the Geology of the Coast of Labrador,' is now settled at the head of the Moravian institution at Bethlehem, in this state.

'Art. 9.-Tales of My Landlord.'-The following account of the literary merit of the author of Waverly, meets our entire approbation, except that we can find no marks of toryism in his writings. To us he appears a candid, liberal, impartial writer, both as to political and theological facts and opinions. We are decidedly of opinion that the works of this writer are a grade above the standard of Walter Scott's talents:

"This, we think, is beyond all question a new coinage from the mint which produced Waverly, Guy Mannering, and the Antiquary: For though it does not bear the legend and superscription of

the master on the face of the pieces, there is no mistaking either the quality of the metal or the execution of the die---and even the private mark may be seen plain enough by those who know how to look for it. It is quite impossible to read ten pages of this work, in short, without feeling that it belongs to the same school with those very remarkable productions; and no one who has any knowledge of nature or of art, will ever doubt that it is an original. The very identity of the leading characters in the whole set of stories, is a stronger proof, perhaps, that those of the last series are not copied from the former, than even the freshness and freedom of the draperies with which they are now invested---or the ease and spirit of the groups into which they are newly combined. No imitator would have ventured so near his originals, and yet come off so entirely clear of them; and we are only the more assured that the old acquaintances we continually recognise in these volumes, are really the persons they pretend to be, and no false mimics, that we recollect so perfectly to have seen them before, or at least to have been familiar with some of their near relations.

and

"We have often been astonished at the quantity of talent---of invention, observation, and knowledge of character, as well as of spirited and graceful composition, that may be found in those works of fiction in our language, which are generally regarded as among the lower productions of our literature,---upon which no great pains is understood to be bestowed, and which are seldom regarded as the titles of a permanent reputation. If novels, however, are not fated to last as long as epic poems, they are at least a great deal more popular in their season; and, slight as their structure, and imperfect as their finishing may often be thought in comparison, we have no hesitation in saying, that the better specimens of the art are incomparably more entertaining, and considerably more instructive. The great objection to them, indeed, is, that they are too entertaining--and are so pleasant in the reading, as to be apt to produce a disrelish for other kinds of reading, which may be more necessary, can in no way be made so agreeable. Neither science, nor authentic history, nor political nor professional instruction, can be conveyed in a pleasant tale; and, therefore, all these things are in danger of appearing dull and uninteresting to the votaries of those more seductive studies. Among the most popular of these popular productions that have appeared in our times, we must rank the works to which we have just alluded; and we do not hesitate to say, that they are well entitled to that distinction. They are indeed, in many respects very extraordinary performances---though in nothing more extraordinary than in having remained so long unclaimed. There is no name, we think, in our literature, to which they would not add lustre---and lustre, too, of a very enviable kind; for they not only show great talent, but infinite good sense and good nature,---a more vigorous and wide-reaching intellect than is often displayed in novels, and a more powerful fancy, and a deeper sympathy with various passion, than is often combined with strength of understanding.