MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 429 



New England, and her Institutions ; by one of her Sons. Seeley 

 and Burnside, London. 1835. 8vo. 



Books containing accounts of the manners, the habits, and the insti- 

 tutions of the people of America are worthy of careful attention. We 

 regret to see works, such as occasionally gain notoriety, come before the 

 public ; and, were it in our power, we would not only consign them to 

 oblivion, but we would also pillory their writers. 



New England is plain and unpretending, with a tinge of religious en- 

 thusiasm about it ; but, taken altogether, it abounds in information of the 

 most valuable kind. There are also a good many well-written scenes in 

 it. The " district school" is invaluable ; it is worthy Irving, and should 

 be read by every father in the empire. The book deserves careful 

 perusal, and will well repay both the money spent in its purchase, and 

 the time devoted to its examination. 



Memoirs of Mirabeau ; Biographical, Literary, and Political. By 

 Himself and Family. 2 vols. 8vo. Edward Churton, London. 

 1835. 



Mirabeau ! how many emotions rise within one on the mention of this 

 name ! Mirabeau, the despot of revolutionary France, and the directing 

 power, which would, had his life been spared, have modified the great 

 struggle which deluged his country with blood, and broke up society like 

 a moral earthquake ! 



The personal history of a man like this is a part of a nation's history. 

 The moral and intellectual character of Mirabeau forms one of the most 

 curious and interesting chapters of the human mind ; and it is here laid 

 bare before us in its minutest shades. Extracts would fail to convey to 

 our readers any correct idea of this work. It is a psychological curiosity, 

 full of interest as it is full of feeling and romance. The family history 

 which it developes is one of the most striking historiettes which has ever 

 come before us. 



History of the Cotton Manufacture in Great Britain. By EDWARD 



BAINES, Junior. With Portraits, &c. Fishers and Jackson, 



London. 



A history of the Cotton Manufacture of Great Britain requires talents 

 and acquirements of no common order. It is not enough for a man to 

 have access to official documents it is not enough to be in communication 

 with the manufacturers themselves it is not enough to be able to quote 

 Pliny it is not enough to have the praise of the Edinburgh Review for 

 if these were sufficient qualifications for constituting a man, the historian 

 of Cotton Manufacture, Mr. Baines, junior, would be a very fit and proper 

 person for the task. We do not deny to him the praise of industry, ner 

 do we deny that the work is pretty fairly arranged and well got up but 

 we do deny to him the praise of being either a moral philosopher or a 

 sound political economist. 



There is an air of assumption about the book too, which is not a little 

 oifensive ; and we quarrel with the author on the very threshold of his 

 undertaking: for he asserts, "that in the greater part of the field which 

 he has aspired to occupy, I have had no predecessor." Now as the book 

 happens to be little else than a compendium of the labours of others, 

 sometimes acknowledged, but more frequently unacknowledged, Mr. 

 Baines' assertion is at least unfounded, and in exceedingly bad taste. 



We have not space this month for more than the following character of 



