CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 429 



on the land-owner with all the cogency of reasoning and all the zeal of 

 kind and generous feeling — if it make but one convert in a proprietor of 

 land, as yet insensible of the blessings he has the power to confer, and 

 the family of one labourer be thereby saved from the degradation of 

 pauperism and vice, and led to industry and habits of order and social 

 and moral respectability, the considerate and talented author of this book 

 will not have written in vain. 



There is so much of that benevolent endeavour to benefit the whole 

 human race — so much of that lofty and splendid comprehension which 

 scrutinizes, embellishes, and lays open to clear investigation all intricate 

 and available subjects — so much of the disinterestedness, philanthropy, 

 and kind-heartedness which distinguish high-minded and intellectual 

 women, that we hope often to see her unfold the treasures of her under- 

 standing on subjects more especially of such interesting inquiry. 



To the objection likely to be urged that political economy is not a 

 subject suited either to lady readers or lady writers, the author justly 

 observes that when political economy is confounded with political 

 intrigue, and consequently identified with corruption, contention, and 

 party spirit, the less women interfere with such unfeminine topics 

 the better : but when political economy is made subservient to philan- 

 thropic economy, or a *' disposition of things" based on the principle of 

 good-will to all, therefore calculated to alleviate want, enlighten ignorance, 

 and cause the provocations of injustice to cease, and give place to the 

 growth of the kindly sympathies, it acquires a legitimate interest for that 

 gentler portion of the human race, who have ever been the soothers of 

 all sorrow, the alms-givers of society, the binders up, in short, as far 

 as their limited sphere might reach, of every wound which the rougher 

 hands and more impetuous passions of man have inflicted. 



Taken collectively, this is the production of an author of a more than 

 usually comprehensive mind — of one who searches unflinchingly into all 

 the recesses of knowledge, and thence deduces facts and illustrations 

 with a clearness and vigour which it is the lot of very few to attain, 

 even of long standing literary pretensions. We have scrutinized the 

 contents of this volume with the vigilance we should have devoted to 

 Adam Smith, Poulet Scrope, or any other author on the subject, of 

 equal celebrity ; we have not in this instance suffered our gallantry to 

 warp our judgment, and all our regret is, that absolute want of space 

 compels us to contract our present notice within so narrow a compass. 



The Mechanics of Law-making. Intended for the use of Legislators, 

 and all other persons concerned in the making and understanding 

 of English Laws. By Arthur Symonds, Esq. Churton, Holles- 

 ^ street, 1835. 



It has always been a source of complaint that the framers of our laws 

 encumber their acts with such technical jargon that none but members 

 of the legal profession can understand what is meant to be enforced. 

 The present publication offers a plan of simplifying and making all Acts 

 of Parliament intelligible to the community, by omitting the unmeaning 

 parts, the repetitions, and the technicalities, which do but add to their 

 bulk and mystification, without conferring a single benefit in exchange. 

 From ignorance and want of skill in the workmanship of details, which 

 our legislators leave to the routine performance of mere artisans, it is a 

 common complaint that they seldom succeed in giving to the people a 

 law intelligible either to themselves or the persons for whose especial 

 guidance the law was designed. Acts of Parliament are not unlike a 



