516 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITER ATURfc. 



factures and commerce. Long and obstinate were the struggles of the agri- 

 cultural interest to set themselves up as the main-props of the British empire; 

 and a generation or two must pass away ere the prejudices of the land- 

 owners can be subdued. Yet, the triumph is complete : sea-girt England 

 must be a nation of shopkeepers or nothing. In fact, England never truly 

 prospered, until she became such. Why then, should we care for the envious 

 censures of foreigners ? 



The volume now before us is of inestimable value to a nation of shopkeepers, 

 inasmuch as it shows the almost inexhaustible resources of a commercial 

 population. We should like nothing more than properly to analyse this ex- 

 cellent book, to give an epitome of the extensive statistical knowledge 

 possessed by the author ; but within the limits of a short notice it would 

 not be possible to give even a very brief account of the contents of Mr. Porter's 

 elaborate book. 



Hoping that it may be in our power to give a more extended article in the 

 ensuing number in favour of this volume of statistics, we just give a brief 

 account of its chapters. 



The subjects of this volume the first, we hope, of a series are Popula- 

 tion and Production. The former section (consisting of five chapters) includes 

 all particulars on the population of Great Britain during the last thirty years 

 and the effects of medicine, medical discoveries and medical establishments, 

 the occupations of the people, and particularly of the manufacturing people 

 and traders, the history and tendency of pauperism in England and the 

 different methods of relieving the poor on the Continent, the advantages 

 resulting from Emigration, Statistics of Emigration, and of Criminal Emigra- 

 tion. The latter section, that entitled Production, considers first, the 

 agricultural productions and the effects of different laws on the farming- 

 population, the effects of Machinery and of Revenue laws, the proportions 

 of cultivated and waste-lands in the United Kingdoms, and the effects of an 

 increasing population on the farming interest ; secondly, it treats of the diffe- 

 rent manufactures of Britain, those of the various textile fabrics, woollen, 

 cotton, silk, and linen as compared with those of foreign countries and those 

 of the metallic description, as iron, steel, brass, copper, plated-goods, glass 

 and hardwares. The author next proceeds to discuss the effects of machinery 

 in our own country and the consequences likely to follow on its exportation 

 and on the licence given to artizans going abroad. The concluding chapter 

 gives many valuable details on the mining interests of our insulated empire, 

 which are of no less importance than the points before mentioned. 



We doubt whether, except Mc.Culloch's Dictionary, any work has been 

 produced since Colquhon'a of such real interest as that now under review. 



VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 



A Residence in France, with an Excursion up the Rhine and a second 

 visit to Switzerland. By J. F. Cooper. 2 Vols. post 8vo* 

 Bentley. 



IN our September number we gave to our readers some criticisms on Mr. 

 Cooper's excursions in Switzerland which formed the first series of the writer's 

 travels, and we took occasion to make some rather severe strictures on that 

 production. All the faults and good points of the former work are visible in 

 the present volumes ; only, as the author has to describe what does not so 

 much require the imagination of the painter or poet, as he is in these later 

 writings the describer of men and of manners rather than the landscape 

 sketcher, his faults are less prominent, while his striking and more winning 

 peculiarities come forth in more prominent relief. Mr. Cooper has certainly 

 considerable talent in the portraiture of men and manners, and the simplicity 



