210 Crilicism upon Akensides Pleasures of the Imaginalion. [April 1, 



with an acre of land at a moderate rent, 

 lie would contrive to live in such a man- 

 ner, as neither to be dependent on 

 cliarity nor a burtiien to the parish. 

 But half an acre of hiiid would make a 

 wonderful alteration. Pcrhajis, at a 

 future time, I sliail endeavour (o show, 

 that it would he for the interest of tlie 

 farmers that every industrious laliourcr 

 should have land to his cottage, even it' 

 it were taken from the farmers them- 

 selves. One tiling I have to comfort 

 myself with, and that is, J Iiave never 

 l»een degraded by receiving any pay 

 from the parish; and I will still con- 

 tend with diflicnltics, rather than give 

 up my independence to an overseer. 

 Pi'.TER Sleogs. 

 near Hull; Dec. 26, 182."}. 



To tilt Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



OBSERVING in p. 39 of your .•392d 

 number, that your ingenious vm- 

 respondcnt A. L. L. ascribes to Mr. 

 George Harvey the merit of having 

 first drawn the public attention to liio 

 enormous increase of "families chiefly 

 employed in manufactures," which is 

 represented by the late population re- 

 turns; and that liimsell', apparently, 

 takes credit for having lirst discovered 

 the fallacy and errors of the statements 

 in the part of the population returns 

 alluded to; 1 beg to call these genllc- 

 men's attention, and that of your read- 

 ers in general, to the ample and satis- 

 factory exposure of the ultcrerroneous- 

 ness of the returns in 1811, as to the 

 employ of the inhabitants* under three 

 distinct heads, which was, in 1817, 

 published by the Board of Agriculture, 

 in Farcy's Survey of Derbyshire, vol. 

 iii. p. 587, wherein that writer accuses 

 the provisions of the Population Act of 

 1811, (and since, in 1821 (hey were (he 

 same,) in requiring returns by families 

 instead of by persons, (as was llie case in 

 1801,) of having, in chief part, occa- 

 sioned these utterly erroneous returns; 

 but to whieli, also, the vant of more 

 full and explicit directions to the over- 

 seers, as to the enumeration and classing 

 of persons, much contributed. In a 

 long note in p. 590, a set of the direc- 

 tions alluded to are suggested, for the 

 Act of 1821, but which unfortunately 



* See Blr. Cobbett's recent exposure of 

 the falsity of the returns, as to the parish 

 of Botley, the place of his late residence, 

 in vol. 49, p. 337, and p. 402, of his 

 " Weekly Register." ' 



were not then attended to. It may, 

 however, be hoped, that the frequent 

 discussion of the subject by your able 

 correspondents, may not only establish 

 the truth as to the population returns 

 already published, but occasion better 

 and more correct returns to be made, 

 when the deeiannual period of enumera- 

 tion again returns in 1831. i\. I. J. 



For the Monthly Maganine. 

 curnciSM upon AKKKsiUE's pleasures 



of the IMAGINATION, jeaf/fod WEEKLY 

 CLUB. 



" rglHE Pleasures of the Imagina- 

 JL lion" is a poem, tiie merits of 

 which have been long and justly apjiro- 

 cialcd. It cannot, tlicrel'ore, be ex- 

 pected, that any remarks possessing 

 nnieh novelty will he made upon it. 

 Still it is a work of so superior a de- 

 scription, and its excellencies are of 

 such a lasting nature, that the perusid 

 of it can never be said to be unseasona- 

 ble. It ])osscsses that characteristic of 

 real genius, that, however often it may 

 be read, it will always aflord j)leasure, 

 and new beauties will be discovered. 

 And what must add to our regard for its 

 merits is, the age of the author at tho 

 time it was wrote, and the nature of tho 

 subject. He was only tvventy-three 

 years old when it wastirst published, — 

 a period generally remarkable for the 

 excrcsccncics of genius, and the over- 

 flowings of the imagination. Yet there 

 are few verses in this poeni but must 

 receive the award of praise from the 

 most captious critic, or the approval 

 that is generated by the mellowing 

 hand of time. At so early an age, such 

 correctness of judgment, and [)hilosophi- 

 cal discrimination, is seldom to be met 

 with. The naline of the subject, too, 

 iias been usually considered in esti- 

 mating the merits of this poem. It may 

 be said to be aitiigether of a didactic 

 nature, and was quite a new and un- 

 beaten track lor tlie votaries of Parnas- 

 sus. Yet the author has contrived to 

 |)enctrate into the innermost recesses of 

 the heart, and evinced the most intimate 

 acquaintance with the intricate mazes of 

 the imagination. It is, however, a 

 sut)ject, which, though rather abstract, 

 is, with the greatest consistency, suscep- 

 tible of considerable poetical embellish- 

 ment ; and of this privilege the wary 

 author has availed himself; although, 

 in some instances, scarcely to the de- 

 gree which he might have done. 



But tiiere has, perhaps, been too much 



merit ascribed to Akcnside, from the 



abstract 



