538 
of pulsative and remiss sound, produced by 
the action and’ re-action of the primary 
organ, and the last of the portion of syllabic 
utterance, of composition, accompanying 
the cadential intonation. Notwithstanding, 
however, these and some other defects in 
the system of Mr. R., and some other 
blemishes, which it would lead us into too 
much length to specify, we scruple not to 
pronounce the ‘ Principles of Rythm”’ a 
yaluable addition to our very scanty stock 
of judicious elucidation’ of the science of 
rhythmical utterance:—a science to the 
cultivation of which the language of Greece 
owed so large a portion of its inspiring 
harmony ; and the neglect of which, among 
ourselves, is one of the principal causes of 
that frequent harshness of utterance, and 
cacophony of structure, so unjustly regarded 
as necessarily inhererit to our mother tongue. 
Narrative of the Condition of the Manufac- 
turing Population, and the Proceedings of 
Government, which led to the State Trials in 
Scotland. By Aler, B. Richmond. Miller, 
“London. 
_ Although the manufacturing districts are, 
now, ina state of great activity, and the 
population in the enjoyment of comparative 
happiness, yet the small volume before us 
contains such a mass of evidence respecting 
the events that succeeded to the termina- 
tion of the late war, and the measures re- 
sorted to, by the Government, at that period, 
to quell the discontent of a wretched and 
Starving population, as to render the work 
entitled to the most attentive perusal, both 
of the magistracy and the manufacturing 
class. ‘The author (who appears to have 
been a respectable manufacturer). having 
been inculpated in the state prosecutions, 
from which he managed to escape by a 
temporary self-banishment, finds it neces- 
sary, for the justification of his own character, 
to publish the narrative of the causes which 
led to the discontents, and the share which 
he took in managing the correspondence 
between the miserable weavers and their 
employers in the Glasgow cotton trade. 
There appears an air of veracity about all 
his statements ; and the greater part are 
verified by other accounts published at that 
petiod. After mentioning the ineffectual 
conferences between the masters and work- 
men, with regard to the advance of prices, 
and the meetings of large numbers of the 
latter, for the purpose of petitioning the 
Legislature for some redress of their mise- 
ries, he says, “ The opposition of the 
magistrates had a direct tendency to stimu- 
late them to more severe measures. A 
field was procured in the vicinity of Glas- 
gow, on the 29th Oct. 1816, which was 
attended by more than 40,000 persons. 
‘The conduct of the magistrates was there 
freely animadverted upon, and the idea 
conyeyed by such an assemblage operated 
on, the imaginations of the people like a 
shock of electricity, inducing them to be- 
lieve there was no limit to their power and 
Literary and Critical Proémium. 
(Janel, 
importance,... Had the Magistrates, pos- 
sessed little more knowledge of human 
nature, and been aware of the consequences 
which invariably follow. the line of conduct 
they adopted; kad they expressed a little more 
sympathy and. commiseration for the sufferings 
of « starving people, and allowed ‘places of 
meeting, indoors, to discuss their differences _ 
with their employers, it would haye confined 
the proceedings to a different class, and no, 
ill result would have happened. But as 
the magistrates acted in a similar manner 
in many other parts of the country, (Man- 
chester to wit!) the people fell into the 
hands of a set of illiterate and unprincipled 
demagogues, and were precipitated into 
measures that served as a pretext for abridg- 
ing our general liberties. In the neigh- 
bourhood of Glasgow, the want of employ- 
ment, and the unprincipled speculation of 
the masters, on the price of labour, reduced 
the labourers to the lowest misery and 
famine. Reckless, hopeless and déspetate, 
they considered no change, not anarchy 
itself, could render their condition more 
wretched,”” The author gives a very im- 
partial sketch of the conduct of all the 
official characters with whom he held cor- 
respondence and had personal interviews at 
that period,—as delegate on behalf of the 
unfortunate operative weavers; which ac- 
count is not very creditable to the integrity 
of some of the parties, but which our limits 
will not allow us to extract. He repre- 
sents the venality of the periodical press, 
also, as contributing, in no slight degree, to 
augment the discontents of the starving 
multitude, by inflaming their passions, in- 
stead of soothing their miseriés. He also 
traces the progress of the miscreants, who 
were employed (like wolves in sheep's 
clothing) to betray the multitude into overt 
acts of outrage, and then turn round and 
become informers; for the purpose of having 
a pretence for passing the severe acts of 
parliament which, as is well known, followed 
these discontents in Scotland and the north 
of England. But as the whole narrative is 
well-written and worthy of perusal, as it 
affects the administration of public affairs 
between 1816 and 1820, independent of its 
object in vindicating the conduct of the 
author, in these transactions, we strongly 
recommend it to the notice of the politician 
and the philanthropist. 
A View of the Salmon and Channel Fishe- 
ries, by T. Cornish, Esq., thin 8v0.—Mr. 
Cornish is justly entitled to the thanks of 
the public for his very laudable and spirited 
efforts in exposing the nefarious practice of 
destroying salmon, immediately before and 
after casting their spawn. He ¢learly and 
indisputably shews the urgent necessity for 
the interference of the Legislature, to enforce 
and make laws for the proper protection of 
this valuable fish ; and proves, to conviction, 
the cause of the lamentable fact, that’ Sal- 
mon, instead of being one of the most plen- 
tiful, and consequently the ing aaa TG 
es : : et as 
