118 
The Hindoos attributed the earth’s 
motion to a quarrel among the Dyets 
and Dewas, and fabricated the most 
ludicrous stories on the subject. Pro- 
phets sprung up from all classes, casts, 
and sects: some asserted that they had 
foretold the calamity which had occur- 
red; others boldly pointed out the hour 
and moment at which still more cala- 
mitous events were to happen; and in 
short there was a superabundant display 
of every thing absurd or extravagant 
that could be advanced by ignorance 
and presumption, deceit and supersti- 
tion. 
(Signed) J. Macmurpo, 
Captain 7th regt. N.I. 
Camp at Bhooj, Jan. 27, 1820. 
—<Z=a——— 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
THE PHILOSOPHY OF CONTEM- 
PORARY CRITICISM. 
NO. XXXVIII. 
Edinburgh Review, No. 79. 
E do not think that the Edin- 
burgh Review (as some of the 
ultra Tories take pleasure in affecting to 
believe) has fallen off, or, if so, in a very 
slight degree, in the exhibition of those 
acute, profound, and caustic character- 
istics of criticism which in its “ high and 
palmy state” earned for it its renown, 
and procured for it its competitors and 
rivals. Whatever deficiency of interest 
may be descried by jealous depreciation 
in its pages, is to be, in fairness, as- 
signed rather to the force of circum- 
stances than to a deficiency of merit. 
The materials for political lucubration 
are at present dull, and from dull ma- 
terials very brilliant illustration cannot 
be elicited. But the secret of this jour- 
nal’s waning influence lies in this, that 
at a period when every day is producing 
some valuable work, either on the con- 
tinent or at home, a review, consisting 
of some dozen essays, assuming for texts 
the titles of some dozen of books, nei- 
ther meets the public ideas of what cri- 
ticism should be, nor supplies the wide 
‘ embrace of information which the public 
demands. The severity of the northern 
Areopagus is, however, little mitigated : 
it has not abdicated any part of its des- 
potic claims, and the vigorous decision 
of its tone is very little impaired. The 
original laws of this tribunal were pre- 
meditatedly strict, if not Draconian: 
Death was awarded for very slight of- 
fences. Its motto was Judex damnatur 
cum nocens absolvitur; and the review- 
Philosophy of Contemporary Criticism. 
[ Sept. }, 
ers, in no instance that we are aware of, 
have exposed themselves to the chances 
of being condemned by their own funda- 
mental law. The duty of our present 
task may be thought a bold one, that of 
judging, and, if necessary, sentencing 
the judge, but we shall perform it with- 
out any undue terror of the bench. 
Dii nos non terrent, nec Jupiter hostis. 
There is considerable ability in this 
number, of the dlue and yellow; but, 
upon the whole, it is heavy, certainly— 
a mine of type, unproductive of little 
either very brilliant or very substantial, 
The first, on the Rise and Fall of Prices, 
is one of those ambidexter lucubrations 
on Political Giconomy with which the 
reading public has been lately surfeited 
usque ad nauseam, in which we are free 
to say, in this age of cant and quackery, 
that there is more of the essential spirit 
of cant and quackery than any other; it 
is so full of mysticism, that the most 
ignorant person may write pages and 
pages of absurdity upon it without fear 
of being detected; and the only result 
it has hitherto produced, is “a confu- 
sion worse confounded” in the minds of 
the writers and their disciples. How 
can it be otherwise? All the four most 
celebrated writers on the subject are as 
diametrically at variance as the four 
cardinal points of. the compass, One 
set of writers say that there is too much 
production; another that there is not, 
and cannot be too much. “ Encourage 
consumption,” exclaims one party;” 
“ No,” says the other, “ encourage pro- 
duction. Some assert that consumption 
ought to be equal to income; others, 
that it ought to be inferior, Some think 
that the excess of imports over exports 
is the measure of national wealth; 
others, on the contrary, implicitly be- 
lieve that it is the excess of exports 
over imports. “ Who shall decide when 
doctors disagree?” 
The next article is a justly favourable 
review of a very clever work by a very 
clever man—Lxztracts from a Journal 
written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and 
Mexico, by Capt. Basil Hall: it is pub- 
lished. by Constable, and therefore we 
should not expect a very severe one. 
Proprietors of journals cannot be ex- 
pected to be Junius Brutuses, always 
ready to shew their self-denial by sen- 
tencing their own offspring. However, 
the liberal and manly spirit which cha~ 
racterizes Capt. Hall’s Journal deserve 
all that can be said in their favour. 
These things constitute our navy’s mo- 
ral strength; and so thinking, we are. 
happy 
