EESULTS OF THE RECORD COMMISSIONS. 451 



bestowing the least attention on the youth who had fallen dead without a 

 cry, Raphael drew forth his talisman with precipitation, to ascertain what a 

 human life had cost him ; and finding it no larger than a poplar leaf, a kind 

 of rattling sound issued from his throat. ' What gape you at ?' cried he, to 

 the postillions, ' Tu the road ! away !' " 



After this fatal occurrence, he repairs to the waters of Mount d'Or, 

 in Auvergne. He flies the contact of the world, and every thing 

 that can remind him of his approaching fate ; but his precautions are 

 in vain : the image of death pursues him every where, and soon claims 

 its tortured victim. 



Such is the wild and fantastic offspring of Mr. Balzac's excited 

 imagination. It is clothed in a language singularly suited to give 

 effect to its gloomy originality. He tells us, that his intention has 

 been to tread in the steps of Rabelais to idealize an epoch to 

 typify the dominant principles that govern the elements of society ; 

 and, while lashing its vices, and exhibiting its studiously concealed 

 deformity, to set forth the all-absorbing egotism of the day. 





RESULTS OF THE RECORD COMMISSIONS. 



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OF all British literature, that which costs the most to society, and 

 is in proportion of the least public service or amusement, is the 

 literature which derives its origin from the laudable national anxiety 

 for the preservation of valuable records, and its existence from the 

 public purse. Without for a moment disputing the importance of 

 the labours superintended by the Commissioners of Public Records 

 for the last thirty years, we lament that every other object of the 

 commission should not have been fully attained, before it commenced 

 the printing, at an enormous national expense, of such works as the 

 " Calendarium Inquisitionum Post Mortem," the " Inquisitiones in 

 Curia Scaccarii," the " Rotuli Hundredorum," and the " Testa de 

 Nevill/' a concise and intelligent report upon which, would have 

 been of far more use to the public than the records themselves. Such 

 a course, would have been more in accordance with the spirit of the 

 Commons' address to George III., in 1800, and of his Majesty's 

 commission ; in the former of which, it is suggested that some of the 

 <f ancient and valuable monuments of our history, laws, and govern" 

 ment" should be printed ; while in the latter, the printing of ( ' Re- 

 cords and papers" is mentioned after that of calendars and indices, as 

 the last duty of the commissioners. 



Are the works above enumerated among the " monuments of our 

 history, laws, and government" in the liberal and natural sense of 

 the expression ? A painful examination proves the contrary. In 

 point of utility their pretensions can go no further than contributing 

 to the knowledge of what is already pretty well ascertained the 

 ancient value of land and commodities; and, in some few instances, 

 saving trouble and expense in private researches after property. The 

 English Record Commission, has, however, been a model of useful- 



