MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 481 



This may be true without any impeachment of the courage or conduct of 

 General Long ; as it must be obvious to the reader, that there must frequently 

 arise in every action, circumstances, alike unexpected and unforeseen, upon 

 which a commander of troops may be deceived ; and it certainly appears to 

 us, that General Long was in this predicament ; and, being so, his error be- 

 came a Yair subject for comment; as the test, whereby good generalship 

 should be judged, must consist as much in the correctness of its coup d'aeil, 

 as in the decision of its consequent movement. 



THE BOOK OF REFORM. PART!. BY WENTWORTH HOLWORTHY. LONDON. 

 EFFINGHAM WILSON. 



WE have been successively amused, perplexed, and disgusted by this extra- 

 ordinary composition ; amused by the folly, perplexed by the impertinence, 

 and disgusted by the self sufficient arrogance of its juvenile author. 



It appears, that about six months since, our author was guilty of a small 

 pamphlet entitled " What will Reform do ?" much of which, he informs us 

 in a note, " he has seen reason to wish unwritten ;" and that, about two 

 years ago, he committed two other pamphlets, while yet a boy of seventeen, 

 one of which on the subject of " Colonial Slavery," he pronounces to be 

 penned " in a ranting and declamatory strain ;" and begs humbly to apologize 

 to the public for the boyish and tumacious style in which it is written for 

 having ever insulted it with such trash. This at least is candid. The author 

 begs pardon like a gentleman, but in the same breath repeats his offence ; 

 for nothing can be more ranting and declamatory than the present affair. 

 It is pure pistol from beginning to end. King Cambyses sports a train of 

 247 pages. 



It has been said that a distinguishing characteristic of man, as elevating 

 him in the scale of creation above the level of the brute, is his power of 

 retrospection and foresight. It will not be denied that this double faculty, 

 commonly resides in the Bimanous Mammalia. Now the memory of Mr. 

 Hoi worthy might naturally have been supposed to modify his prospective 

 views with reference to his present production. He might, w r e think, have 

 argued thus : " If, after a lapse of two years, I find that I have written terrific 

 trash, it is not impossible that in another two years ' The Book of Reform* may 

 appear to my cooler judgment, twaddle of a no less nauseous description?" 

 But experience keeps a dear school, and Mr. Holworthy is evidently not on 

 the foundation. 



Let Mr. Holworthy take our word for it, he is not yet competent to the 

 discussion of any one of the numerous questions touched upon in his pam- 

 phlet. And, if he would be advised by us, we would suggest to him that 

 the world is never very willing to be instructed by a gentleman who candidly 

 confesses that he does not think it worth his while to clothe his thoughts in 

 a tolerably decent raiment. We would exhort him, instead of " dashing 

 them down," to hoist them up ; and when the " ill-favoured cubs" are once 

 " whelped," (these are his own words) to give them " a good licking " 



The following is a brief and hurried selection of his beauties : 



" It is, I think, pretty generally admitted by men of all parties, that the 

 present posture of public affairs is most critical, and pregnant with conse- 

 quences of the utmost moment to the future welfare and happiness of the 

 human race." Here we have a posture in the family way. 



" Somehow or other, too, I am addicted to being more pitiful than most 

 men." This is an assertion which we shall not venture to dispute. 



" Now, although I most heartily approve of the principle of the late 

 Reform Bill, I feel half inclined to agree with those who contend that it was 

 conceding a little too much at once taking a little too long a stride for a 



M. M. No. 88. 3 H " 



