62 



Literary and Critical Pro'emium. [Feb. 



which now impends over industry in Eng- 

 land. We said, at tlie time, that " tlie 

 child tliat was unboin would rue the hunt- 

 ing of that day." The rupture ot tlie 

 Treaty of Amiens was caused by such pas- 

 sions as are usually ascribed to the grim 

 personage called the Devil; and mischief 

 could not fail to be the result. 



Mr. lioKCOK has just published, as a 

 sequel to his former work on that subject. 

 Additional Observations on I'enal Jurispru- 

 dence and tlie lirformution of Criminals, 

 containing Remarks un Prison Discipline., 

 Sfc. He commences with an animated, 

 and, in our opinion, a successful attack 

 upon the principles and practice recom- 

 mended in the Edinburgh Review, for 

 February 1822, which have been treated 

 on many occasions with severe and just 

 censure, and which, we are happy to find, 

 are here met by Mr. Roscoe with the dou- 

 ble confutation of argument and fact. 'I'he 

 objections of the author are principally 

 pointed against the indiscriminate use of 

 severe and unproductive labour in our 

 prisons ; and, at a time when the tread-mill 

 is about to be introduced, at a great ex- 

 pense, into so many of our gaols, it would 

 be highly advisable to give these observa- 

 tions full and mature consideration. In 

 the aversion of the author to this newly- 

 discovered mode of punishment we fully 

 partake. As a means of subduing stub- 

 born and refractory criminals, it may, per- 

 haps, like solitary confmemcnt, have its 

 Hse; but, as the regular employment alike 

 of the weak and the strong, the idle and 

 the industrious, the rebellious and the do- 

 cile, it is just the most absurd, useless, and 

 unreasonable, piece of machinery which 

 could possibly have been devised. The 

 essence of the invention seems to be to 

 torture by the compulsion of nniscular fa- 

 tigue, divested of all the results which 

 render exertion tolerable; and thus, it 

 would appear, to make bodily labour still 

 more hateful to the indolent, by present- 

 ing it to them in its worst aspect, and per- 

 mitting them to derive from it neither 

 amuseincnt, experience, nor profit. In 

 what light this novelty is regarded by the 

 public may be collected from a curious 

 fact, that it has been made an object of 

 exhibition at our theatres, where it is re- 

 ceived with great applause, as a most hu- 

 mourous and comic piece of apparatus. 

 On the question of the impression it has 

 made on the public mind, or is likely to 

 make on that of tlie criminal, this fact 

 speaks volumes; and we shall be truly 

 concerned to see this machine at once lu- 

 dicrous and irritating, and, we doubt, un- 

 productive alike of pecuniary and of mo- 

 ral advantages, supersede the use of 

 labour, well regulated, rational, and adapt- 

 ed to the habits and powers of the indivi- 

 dual. On this head, we look upon Mr. 

 Koscocs remarks as of great importance. 



In the progress of his work, he animnd- 

 verts upon the punishment of criminals by 

 solitary confinement, as proposed in some 

 of the United States of America, and he 

 enters into a copious detail of the defects 

 which have |)artially rendered abortive the 

 attempt to establish the Penitentiary sys- 

 tem there, pointing out the most likely 

 method of removing them. In this part 

 of his treatise will be found much to inte- 

 rest those who have at heart the reforma- 

 tion of our own prison-establishments. We 

 think Mr. Roscoe will be found to refer 

 the apparent failure of the American plans 

 to its just causes, and to give us sufficient 

 reasons for persevera:>ce in that honour- 

 able course of rational and himiane reform, 

 which, by instructing and softening the 

 public mind, will procure for society the 

 safety and peace not to be attained by 

 bloody penalties and savage enactments. 

 Happy will it be for that nation whose 

 rulers shall at last be persuaded that man 

 is rather to be scl'.ooled, as an infant, by 

 kindness and wisdom, to virtue, than hunt- 

 ed down like a beast of prey, and beaten^ 

 and branded, and strangled. We heartily 

 wish success to Mr. Roscoe's benevolent 

 exertions. It is proper to add, that an 

 Appendix to the volinne contains many 

 important and interesting documents, 

 which throw great light, in particular, 

 on the posture of these afi'airs in the 

 United States. 



Another novel of the family of " tlie 

 fsreal tmknvtrn,' as he is emiiirically called 

 by his sycophants, has jn»t appeared. It 

 is so like its brctiucn, as chiefly to be 

 distinguished from them by change of 

 names and title. The puerile alliteration 

 of " Peverill of the Peak'' is nauseating, 

 and savours much of catchpenny, but the 

 author plays for higher stakes than pence. 

 His object is to catch guineas, for we have 

 here four volumes, at lOs. 6d. per volume, 

 such as are usually sold at 6s. or 7s. 

 Mercy on the keepers of circulating libra- 

 ries, for nothing but a speculation for sub- 

 sistence would induce any one to submit 

 to the imposition, and they goad each 

 other by mutual rivalry. We always con- 

 sidered the chief value of printing to con- 

 sist in the cheapness with which it produced 

 books ; but in this, as well as many other 

 modern cases, any scrivener would produce 

 a fair copy at less than the price of the 

 printed copies. 



The proprietors of a miscellany, in which 

 various Essays have appeared, under the 

 signature of Elia, have republished them 

 under that title. The pleasure afforded by 

 them is in a great measure weakened, and 

 sometimes destroyed, by a disagreeable 

 quaintness and affectation. The author's 

 style is founded on the writers of Queen Eli- 

 zabeth's time, and with many of their bcau^ 

 ties he has a still greater proportion of their 

 defects. "" In some of his papers he will 

 delight 



