1822.] 
Atlantic, they will not, probably, excite 
much attention. 
The question as to the injurious or bene- 
ficial effects of machinery has been of late 
contested with some warmth, in conse- 
quence of the depressed state of agricul- 
ture, and the attempts which have been 
made in some parts of the country to de- 
ter the farmer from the use of the thresh- 
ing machines. In Norfolk and Suffolk 
maby of these machines have been riotous- 
ly destroyed, and we observe that many 
gentlemen have recommended to their 
tenants to desist from using them. This 
measure originates, no doubt, in a very 
benevolent motive; but we confess it 
seems to us absurd to compel the farmer, 
in the midst of his distress, to thresh his 
corn iu a more tedious and expensive way 
than before. This is not the way to re- 
lieve him, nor, in the end, to serve the 
labourer, who cannot thrive on the ruin of 
the farmer. Itis not the threshing ma- 
chine which has thrown agricultural la- 
bourers out of employ, but a financial 
machine of a very different structure. Let 
the farmer get, what he cannot get under 
the present system, a permanent remune- 
rating price for his crops, and we should 
soon see the labouring classes in full em- 
ploy, in spite of machines for threshing, or 
for any other purpose. We have been led 
into these remarks by a little tract, enti- 
tled, An Address to Manufacturers, Far 
mers, &c. proving the use of machinery to be 
destructive to the morals and happiness of the 
nation,—a position in which we cannot at 
all concur with the author, whose work, 
however well meant, is calculated to 
spread very mistaken and mischievous no- 
tions. Of the general good effect of ma- 
chinery, in supplying an article of neces- 
sity or comfort in greater abundance, and 
at a diminished price, there cannot bea 
doubt. Nor do we consider its particular 
effect on the labourer to be more ques- 
tionable. Every diminution in price acts 
as a bounty on consumption; and the in- 
crease of consumption will create a de- 
mand for additional labonr. No one will 
pretend to say that, without the aid of in- 
genious machinery, our cotton and woollen 
manufactories would have employed more 
than a small proportion of their present 
hands. The low prices and_ extensive 
markets created by machinery have been 
found, by experience, to call more labour 
into action than can be required by the 
limited demand for the slower and more 
expensive operations of the hand. ‘Yo 
conclude with an example: the invention 
of the press threw a number of scribes out 
of employ, but we think it must be allow- 
ed that this machine has found occupation 
for au incalculably greater number of la- 
bourers than would ever have earned a 
livelihood by the pen. 
The relatives of the late Rev, CALEB 
Literary and Critical Proémium. 
255 
Evans have acted with sound discretion 
in publishing his Sermons, which are cha- 
racterised by much good sense and very 
excellent principles, both moral and reli- 
gious, When regarded as the productions 
of a young man, who was cut off, at the 
early age of twenty-one, from the society 
of which he promised to become a distin- 
guished ornament, they may be reyarded 
as singular indications of mature excel- 
lence. A short but interesting memoir is 
prefixed to the sermons, from the pen of 
the editor, Dr. T. Southwood Smith, who 
has recorded the talents and virtues of his 
deceased young friend in terms of warm, 
and apparently well-founded, affection and 
esteem. An amusing journal of a tour, 
under the title of “ A Week’s Ramble into 
the Western Highlands,” is subjoined, 
which is interesting, as another relic of the 
young author; and the volume concludes 
with an excellent Sermon on Resignation, 
by the Rev. John Evans, the father of the 
deceased, being the first preached after 
the death of his son, and written for that 
occasion. 
The sudden and afflicting catastrophe, 
which terminated the career of one of the 
most original and imaginative of our poets, 
has excited general sympathy and regret; 
and the admirers of his brilliant and eccen- 
tric genius will not be slow to lament his 
fate, and commemorate his high endow- 
ments, We notice a short, but elegant 
and feeling tribute to his memory, in an 
Elegy onthe Death of Percy Bysshe Shelley, 
by ARTHUR BROOKE, whose compositions 
we have heretofore had opportunities of 
mentioning with deserved approbation. 
There is much pathos and poetical spirit 
in Mr. Brooke’s stanzas; and it is an 
affecting consideration, that the generous 
poet, who so lately gave “‘ the meed of his 
melodious tear” to the grave of the young 
and unfortunate Keats, to whom he was 
personally unknown, should so soon claim 
the same melancholy offices, and receive 
them, as in this instance, from stranger 
hands, It is not fit that he should “float 
upon his watery bier unwept,” who has 
“built the lofty rhyme” so often and so 
well, and from whoni, in the maturity of 
his extraordinary powers, so much more 
might have been expected. Nor will the 
effusion under our notice, though extreme- 
ly pleasing and creditable to the senti- 
ments and talents of its author, supersede 
the exertion of the high and acknowledged 
genius of some of Mr, Shelley’s personal 
friends, on whom the task of raising an 
honourable and lasting monument to his 
fame seems naturally to devolve. 
—__ 
AGRICULTURE. ; 
Vol. V. Part I. of the Transactions of 
the Agricultural Society of London. 4to. 
il. 118. 6d, 
ANTIQUITIES, 
