1822,] [ 
1G] | 
NEW BOOKS PUBLISHED IN FEBRUARY, 
With an Historicat and Critica PRoEMIUM. 
4 a oe 
Authors or Publishers, desirous of seeing an early notice of their Works, are 
requested to transmit copies before the 18th of the Month. 
- ee De 
R. FRANCIS PLACE has contri- 
buted much valuable argument and 
information on a difficult and long disputed 
question, in his Jllustrations and Proofs 
of the Principle of Population, which are 
written with all the clearness, force and 
impartiality which might have been ex- 
pected from the character of their author 
for originality and acumen. The general 
scope of Mr. Place’s work is a defence of 
‘the main doctrine of Mr. Malthus against 
Mr. Godwin in particular; in which, as 
well as in exposing Mr. Godwin’s singular 
contrariety of opinions at different periods, 
we think he is completely successful. Mr. 
Place, however, is an independent thinker, 
and walks in no man’s footsteps. His cor- 
rections of Mr. Malthus’s propositions are 
neither few nor unimportant. We may in- 
stance his refutation of that gentleman’s 
assertion that the law of nature gives no 
man a right to subsistence, when his labour 
will not fairly purchase it, which has ex- 
posed its author to much well-deserved 
animadversion. The great means which 
Mr. Place proposes for regulating the 
proper relation between population and 
supply, is the extension of information 
and the instruction of the public mind, by 
which moral and prudential restraint may 
be increased. In the sixth chapter, on the 
state of the working people of England, 
and the subsequent sections, Mr. Place 
treats the subject in a manner which en- 
titles him to as much respect for the good- 
ness of his feelings as the soundness of his 
doctrines. The volume comprises an his- 
torical view of the population of this coun- 
try from the time of the Britons to the pre- 
sent period ; and we are convinced that it 
stands in need of no recommendation but 
its own intrinsic excellence to introduce it 
to the notice of all who are interested in 
the discussion of the dangerous sophisms 
which it exposes and corrects. 
A Complete Course of Pure and Mixed 
Mathematics, has appeared within these few 
days, edited by Mr. Peter NIcHOLson, 
a mathematician of considerable eminence. 
It is now well known to every teacher, 
that after a youth is perfected in arith- 
metic, there is then no work in sequence— 
no single yolume, which, in regaréto the 
mathematical sciences, can be introduced 
as a system, and corresponding in idea, 
with Walkinghame’s or Joyce’s Systems of 
Arithmetic. Such a volume Mr. N. has 
produced. It begins with Algebra, pro- 
ceeds through fluxions, and the differen- 
tial caleulus, with all modern improve- 
MONTHLY Maa. No, 365. 
ments. then gives verbatim, the first six 
and the two last books of Simson’s Euclid, 
with Trigonometry, plane and spherical, 
Conics, Curves, and all their applications to 
mensuration, perspective, mechanics,optics, 
astronomy, &c.intermingled with hundreds 
of examples, all of which are worked at 
length in a separate Key. Such a volume 
speaks for itself, and its evident utility 
places it above the reach of criticism. 
Weearnestly recommend all who, for any 
purpose, wish to have a true idea of the 
advantages of emigration to America, and 
of the state of society there, to peruse A 
Visit to North America and the English 
Settlements in the Illinois, by ADLARD 
WELBY, Esq. The accounts of many for- 
mer travellers appear to be far from cor- 
rect, particularly those of Mr. Birkbeck, 
to whose settlement the author paid a visit. 
The flattering accounts of that gentleman 
have induced many to quit their former 
situations and to settle in that vicinity. 
He made large promises of wealth and 
freedom, but in every particular, according 
to Mr. Welby’s statement, the adventurers 
have been most egregiously disappointed. 
We mention these charges to point out the 
necessity of caution in trusting to the 
overcharged representations of others. To 
our present author, that caution need not, 
we think, be applied; for so far from falling 
into the common fault, of lavishing unde- 
served praise, he seems to go into the op- 
posite extreme, and to betray even a degree 
of prejudice against the country through 
which he travelled, which if it does not in- 
crease the value of the work, at least 
heightens the amusement to be derived. 
We congratulate the public on the ap- 
pearance of Miss AIKIN’s promised Me- 
moirs of the Court of King James the 
First. The cursory perusal we have been 
able to give it, convinces us that, much as 
we esteem her prior publication, its popu- 
larity is likely to be equalled, if not sur- 
passed, by the present volumes. The ac- 
knowledged judgment, taste, and spirit of 
Miss Aikin, combined with patient and in- 
dustrious research, have accomplished all 
that could have been expected from her. 
In point of novelty and amusing details we 
are inclined to prefer the Memoirs of 
James to those of Elizabeth. The subject 
is less trite, and many veins of anecdote, 
which Miss Aikin has introduced, have 
been before but carelessly and imperfectly 
exhibited. Her task has been a diffi- 
cult one, but worthy of her abilities, and 
she has aequitted herself of it in a manner 
x which 
