6\6 



Lard Hdlland on the Life and Writings 



diverted from this object, and if the 

 debts were not kept up by a perpetual 

 addition of new loans, which briiij; an- 

 nually into the m<Trket more interest 

 than the sinking fund buys up. 



fii'ty poutids, which has been lent and 

 consnnied, and which, consequently, 

 produces nothing. 



What are tlie principal forms under 

 ^^hich a government pays the interest of 

 its loaiib? 



Sometimes it pays a perpetual interest 

 on tlte capital lent, which it docs not 

 bind itself to repay: the lenders have in 

 this case no other means of recovering 

 their opital than to sell their debt to 

 other individuals who desire to pUce 

 themselves in the situation of the former. 



Sfimetinies it harrows, by way of an- 

 nuity, and pays the lender a life interest. 



Sometimes it borrows on conditioo of 

 repayment, and it stipulates a pure and 

 dimple repayment, in a certain number 

 of years, by instalments; or a reimburse- 

 ment of the principal sum at periods 

 which are sometimes determined by lot. 



Sometimes it negociates bills on its 

 Agents, the receivers of contributions. 

 The loss wliich it suffers by discount 

 represents the interest on tlie advances 

 it receives. 



Sometimes it sells public offices, and 

 thus pays interest for the money fur- 

 risbed. Tlie incuinbc'nt can never get 

 bitck bis principal witliout selling his 

 othf-e. The price of offices is oden paid 

 under the name of security. 



All these modes of borrowing lijtve the 

 effect of witiiihinving from productive 

 employment capituls winch are con- 

 funied in ilie public servir*'. 



H.ive not the pov«rninen'. the means of 

 paying their dtbis, even those of which 

 It has promised to pay tl»e interest per- 

 petually ? 



Yes; by means of what is called a 

 sinking fund. 



What is a sinkinj; fund? 



When a tax i- iaid upon the people to 

 pay the interest o( a loan, it is laid a 

 litti-e lieavier than ibnecesiary to p;>y ;h s 

 jiiierest; this excess is confided to what 

 are called commissioners lor tlie manage. 

 ni(-i>t ot the sinking fund, and who em- 

 ploy it every year to buy up nt tiie n>ark«t- 

 price a part of the interest or annuities 

 paid by the state. As the same interest 

 alwtiys continues to be paid, the sinking 

 fund devotes in the year following, to. the 

 pijrciiase of these interesis, not only tiie 

 portion of the tax which is devoitd to 

 this use in the first instance, Init albO the 

 interest which it has already biugi^t up. 

 The manner of extingtiisiiiog the public 

 d.ebt by its progressively increasing ac- 

 tion, would extinguish it wiiji sulhcient 

 rapidity if these sinking funds were never 



SOME ACCOUNT 



OF THE 



LIVES AND WRITINGS 



OF 



LOPE FELIX DE VEGA CARPIO 



AND 



GUILLEN DE CASTRO. 



BY 



HENRY RICH. LORD HOLLAND' 



In two vols, octavo. 



[Tins work constitutes one of the pnrest 

 specimens of noble authorship wliici), per- 

 haps, exists in our language. No compo- 

 • sitiou can be conceived more rliast;;, more 

 tasteful, and move pleasing. It would 

 be fortunate if many of our nobility pos- 

 sessed free and indepcndaut minds like 

 Lord Holland, if their principles were 

 strong enough to induce them to shrink 

 from political power when it could not 

 be honestly exerted, and if in leisure 

 their employmnnis were as lionoiirahl^ 

 as that of which this noble author liasi 

 here given a specimen. Loi'e db" 

 Veca was a literary plicnomenou of 

 whom it was highly proper the Euulish 

 people Mionid know more than hereto- 

 fore ; and, in performing this .'■ervice, 

 Loni Holland has mingled various no- 

 tices of Spanish literature, which tend to 

 eorrect many erroneous opinions. Of 

 Lopede Vega, our opinion is not, how- 

 ever, exalted by this account : lie ap- 

 pears to liave been a nnseral>le bijot, 

 incapable of soaring above the prejn- 

 diees ot education, and the abject tool 

 of the vilest system ol policy that ever 

 disgraced any court before onr tinie» 

 Queen Elizabeth was his Napoleon, and' 

 Sir Francis Drake his Marshal Ney— ^ 

 the Scotts, the Southeys, and other simi-;^ 

 lai Sycophants of our days, may therefore' 

 enlarge their vocabulary by consulting^ 

 his writings. He was moreover seci'e-. 

 tary to the Inquisition ; and he died id' 

 consequence of flagellations imposed on- 

 himself to atone for his sins I We fear 

 this will not be the fate of the niodero. 

 imitators t.f the worst fieatiire in the cha- 

 racter of a man of genius ; but in this 

 respect he afl'ords another proof that ge- 

 nius in a particular pursuit ought not 

 to be received as an authority oil other 

 subjects, and tiiat men the greatest in 

 one line may he, and commonly are, the 

 weakest in others. Our extracts will 

 justify 



