MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 333 



particular, are conservatives of the first class ; the Sergeant is likewise 

 recorder of three or four corporations. The inference deducible from which 

 is obvious to every one to wit, that the abuses of these bodies must be 

 very gross indeed their usurpations fearfully glaring their assumed posi- 

 tion most false and illegal, and their unduly arrogated power unconstitu- 

 tional in the extreme, when two lawyers, one of them the first consti- 

 tutional lawyer in the kingdom, and the other, though less known to the 

 public from the circumstance of his being a shorter time before them, not 

 less learned in this particular branch of his profession lead the way in 

 their purification and reform. 



The irrefragable positions assumed by the learned authors, as derived 

 from dispassionate and impartial research into all the records relative to 

 corporations extant, are fully set forth. 



The remedies are then proposed, and next comes the plan, which, it will 

 be perceived on perusal, proceeds on the idea of renovation and restoration, 

 rather than of effacing the corruption of the present system, and founding 

 a new and improved one in its place. 



The very late period of the month at which this work was published, 

 (the 21st) precludes our entering more largely into the nature of its con- 

 tents : sufficient time, however, has been afforded to satisfy us of its value 

 and importance to the community at large, and of the absolute necessity 

 of its substance being thoroughly known to every member in the legislature, 

 previous to the' question respecting municipal corporations coming on for 

 discussion in parliament. 



CHANCES AND CHANGES. 3 VOLS. SAUNDERS AND OTTLEY. 



It is very long since we rose from the perusal of a novel so much de- 

 lighted as we have been with (C Chances and Changes." Novel-writing 

 has of late degenerated sadly, and common-places and extravaganzas have 

 ousted nature. There is no branch of literature, however, which offers so 

 many capabilities to a writer of sterling talent, or to one possessing a 

 knowledge of society, and of the motives and designs of the multitudinous 

 struggles which are going on around us, as novels. The scope afforded 

 permits of the development of trains of actions, of which the moral essayist 

 and the historian can only give faint and general outlines. Where the aim 

 of a novel-writer is good, and when he keeps within the legitimate bounds 

 to which a pure novel ought to be confined, we know of no works more 

 deserving of being read, and of none from which a larger fund of knowledge 

 may be derived. Unhappily, it has happened that novels have been made, 

 in a vast many instances, mere speculations upon public taste. The pub- 

 lishers, knowing that a good title was enough to sell an edition, have 

 become manufacturers of title-pages, never spending a thought upon the 

 merits or demerits of the work, or upon its moral characteristics. Hence 

 it has come to pass, that but few writers of distinguished talents, or of 

 extensive acquirements, venture into the field, satisfied that the parties 

 who are first to be consulted have few or no sympathies with them. 



" Chances and Changes" would lead us to hope that we are upon the 

 dawn of a better day, and we hail it, therefore, " as a star of promise," 

 independently of its own beauties. These are, indeed, of the most attrac- 

 tive character, so much so, that we have placed it upon our book-shelves, 

 amongst a few other standard works, which serve to beguile our literary 

 labours. 



The spirit which prevails in these volumes is excellent the purity of its 

 aim is obvious and the description is lively arid animated. The charac- 

 ters of Catharine Neville of her father of Edward Longroft and of 

 Colonel Hamilton, are finely conceived, and beautifully executed. That 



