J821.] 



CrUical Notices of Buoks of the Month, 



ccrn themselves about it. For the iiifor- 

 niatiou of our readers we may nevertheless 

 observe, that it consists of 300 pages of 

 dull text, and 200 of preface and appendix, 

 with 20 engravings, three or four of thera 

 exquisitely executed. Ofnothing',nothin;j 

 can come ; the information, therefore, is 

 trivial, and oug^ht in trulh, in a voyage 

 undertaken at the public expeuce, to have 

 been detailed iu a five shilling pamphlet. 

 Considered however, as a writer, Captain 

 Parry, if he is the author, has much merit ; 

 the style is good, and he has made the ut- 

 most of his inconsiderable materials. 



The extraordinary success which has 

 attended the author of the Scotch novels, 

 and which, in fact, forms au epoch in the 

 annals of literary speculation, has natu- 

 rally produced a crowd of writers who 

 pursue the same path at various distances 

 from their great prototype ; amongst these 

 imitators the author of Banncckburn, a 

 Novel, ill three volumes, is entitled to a 

 respectable rank, but he is not entitled to 

 any higher commendation. In choosing 

 so remote a period at which to lay the ad- 

 ventures of his hero, he is by no means so 

 fortunate as his model iu giving at least 

 an air of antiquity to the dialogues of his 

 actors, and indeed we sometimes feel ra- 

 ther shocked at the unfitness of some of 

 the sentiments for the time when they are 

 supposed to be uttered. The character 

 of Clementina is delicately and finely 

 drawn, though it seems to want that strong- 

 individuality by which alone we become 

 deeply interested in the fortunes of a fic- 

 titious character. Keelie Baun, is rather 

 a failure ; he is too like the hero of a 

 melo-draraa, ming-liug- good and bad qua- 

 lities iu one confused mass. Those parts 

 of the uovel which are more purely na- 

 tional, are well UKinaged, and the character 

 of Tib, would almost bear competition 

 with some of the old women of his original. 



There is a degree of merit in Tlic Legend 

 of St. Loy, with ot Iter poem.y, by John A. 

 Heraud, which interests us in the future 

 succe-s of the author, whose poetical ta- 

 lents seem to deserve cultivation. His 

 principal eflbrt is in the style of Walter 

 Scott's poem, and can therefore only rank 

 as au imitation j an objection which may 

 also be made to the Lament of the Bard, 

 asmalkr poem, evidently formed upon 

 Lord Uyron's Lament of Tasso. The 

 latter effusion, however, we think very 

 creditable to the author's feelings and 

 powers. VVc are not so well satisfied with 

 the prefatory matter to the different pieces, 

 which is written in very bad taste ; and 

 muy lead his readers to impute to vanity 

 and egotism, faults which are, perhaps, 

 only the result of youth and inexperience. 



Our readers will be entertained by the 

 perusal of Two Leifer.t io Lord Byron, 



U7 



by the Rev. W. L. Bowlfs, in answer to 

 his Lordship's letter. Whether poetry be 

 more indebted to what is sublime and 

 beautiful iu nature or in art, is the vexata 

 questio, and whatever opinion the reader 

 may form for himself, he will agree that 

 Mr. Bowles shews great alacrity and spirit 

 in the contest, and makes very good fight. 

 Mr. B. seems to be delighted with the op- 

 portunity of entering into a controversy 

 with the noble Lord, and certainly upon 

 many points pushes him very hard. The 

 letters are well written, with a fluency 

 which shews them to have been thrown off 

 in the warmth of the moment, and the 

 thorough good humour which pervades 

 them pleases the more, when contrasted 

 with the usual bitterness of similar pro- 

 ductions, from which indeed Lord Byron's 

 letter is not altogetlier free. 



Monopoly and Taxation Vindicated 

 against the Errors of the Legislature, 

 by a IS'oiiingliamsliire Farmer, is an in- 

 genious attempt to she%v that high taxes 

 and close nic iiopolies are the true sources 

 of national prosperitj'. The main argu- 

 ment appears to be that revenue commends 

 labour, and that, therefore, the greater 

 the revenue, the more plentiful are the 

 funds for the employment of labour; which 

 are raised in the shape of taxes, and im- 

 mediately distributed ag-ain through the 

 country, as the recompense of labour. 

 But we would ask, w hether the same ap- 

 plication of the immense sums drawn fi-om 

 the people could not take place, if they 

 were allowed to remain in the hands of the 

 tax-payers ? Twenty millions a year, for 

 instance, are raised by the government, 

 paid to the fund-holders, and by them ex- 

 pended in the encouragement of labour; 

 but these twenty millions would have been 

 applied in a similar way by the public, from 

 whose pockets they have been drawn. But, 

 says the advocate of taxation, these riches 

 are rolled back upon you, as the reward of 

 labour. This is true, — as a stimulus to la- 

 bour the efficacy of taxes has never been 

 doubted. A fourth part, we will say, of 

 a mau's income, is demanded by the go- 

 vernment ; and he is told that by working 

 sufficiently hard, he may earn it back 

 again ; that is to say, that to place himself 

 iu the same situation as to income, he must 

 add one fourth to his usual labour. No 

 wonder that we are become an industrious 

 nation, and no wonder that the power of 

 taxes to excite and reward labour is easily 

 demonsti'ated. Is there any example in the 

 history of nations, of a people taxed into 

 such a ferment of industry as that exhibit- 

 ed by our own ? Invention and ingenuity 

 racked to the uttermost — exertion, bodily 

 and mental, carried even to a pitch of 

 ^!?"".Vj y<'t often insufficient to procure 

 the common necessaries of life. Never did 



any 



