218 
tially the servants, of the human race; 
and that the unlimited freedom of tue 
human mind is the high road to every 
thing true, every thing useful, every 
thing moral. There was yet an 
esoteric, an undiscovered, signification 
in the noble and pithy old adage— 
Naturam eaupellas furca, tamen usque 
recurrit. 
The advocates for restraining and 
regulating the use ef money, like our 
early economists, religious or political, 
see but one side of the question. Do 
they imagine. that regulation and re- 
stiaint will augment the general quan- 
tum (the objeet} of either money or 
bread? ‘They indeed see, or seem to 
see, an immediate advantage in en- 
acting a low. price, without being 
aware that nature laughs. to scorn 
their imbecile aets; that weight. and 
measure, abundance and scarcity, 
must. in time be conquerors, in spite 
of all the parchment and wax enact- 
ments, and le roi le veuts, of all ihe 
legislatures on earth. In vain did the 
law restrict the rate of interest to five 
er cent. during the scarcity of money ; 
in the aggregate, at that period, as it 
must in all others, the price or rate 
was regulated by the demand at mar- 
ket; and individuals were, in the 
ultimate, proportionally affected, not- 
withstanding the plausible but decep- 
tive appearance of temporary advan- 
tage. No concomitant circumstance 
better illustrates the case than the 
following, and that nniversally. A 
man dealing on credit, alihough sound 
at bottom, shall be tardy in his pay- 
ments. His creditor, on pereciving 
this, either openly raises his price, or 
takes certain other steps, dictated by 
the usual craft of trade, tending to the 
same effect; which, far more com- 
monly, exacts the paymeat of ten, 
rather than of the Aet of Parliament 
five per cent. for the lean of money 
implied in the extended credit. As to 
the ancient and customary modes of 
evading the statute, they are too com- 
mon and well known to demand par- 
ticular recital. In the mean time, has 
the old musty law, or plenty of money 
at market, occasioned the present 
reduction of interest?- Surely then a 
new act, for the reduction of interest 
to ‘two and a half or three per cent.” 
must be a mete interloper in our hot- 
bed of legislation. It would, indeed, 
be an easy mode of “ adjustment,” and 
not sayouring so highly as a. certain 
other mode of Dr. Warburton’s domi- 
An Evening’s Walk near Bath in Autumn. 
{ Oct. 1, 
eil, though about on a par as to xeal 
effect. 
Serjeant Onslow’s hitherto. umsue- 
cessful, exertions, do great honour te 
his economical principles and | his 
patriotism ; but his patience must be 
put to the test, as. it. will, no doubt, 
take further time to scour off the rust 
of ancient prejudice. In all conside- 
rable changes, inconveniences of some 
weight. must be expected. _We must .. 
comply with the nature. of things, or 
remain eternally stationary. The mo- 
ney-market being thrown open, capital 
would be attracted to the loan busi- 
ness, and competition would keep the 
rate of interest as low as the universad 
interest would admit; and that would 
inevitably be as low, and in all preba- 
bility lower, than under the ancient 
restriction. Et is sincerely and pa- 
triotically to be wished, that not only 
the usury-laws, but that every similar 
restraint on the freedomof commerce, 
and men’s minds and exertions,— 
those sickly faneies, arbitrary caprices, 
and. maggots of monster-breeding 
brains, may be gradually, but with the 
least possible delay, erased from ‘our 
cumbrous and overladen statute-book, - 
Indeed a parchment bonfire at Smith- 
field, enlivened by the {frying and hiss- 
ing of the seals, and ihe huzzas of @ _ 
people relieved from such a burdem, 
would be a far more pleasant, pa- 
triotic, and national, show, than certane 
bonfires we have seen. 
JoHN LAWRENCE. r 
——<_ 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
AN ENENING’S WALK nea BATH in 
AUTUMN; 07 @ CONTEMPLATION. on 
MEN and THINGS. 
T was one of those evenings when 
| nature may be said to be on the 
wane,—enough of vegetation remained 
to remind the spectator of those gay 
and. festive days when the busy 
labourer toils over the field strewed 
with the luxuriant crop, or smiling 
with myriads of cnamelled flowers 5 
but man had scarce resumed his win- 
ter habits and occupations: an evening 
indeed when,—although, as Thompson 
expresses it, 
The bright Virgin gives the beauteousdays, 
And Libra weighs i in equal scales the year, 
—the “attemper’d” sun, and the deep 
tint of the foliage mellowed by a hun- 
dred variegated hues, proclaimed that 
‘winter would soon trench upon the 
golden days of autumn. Tempted by | 
the serenity of the weather, and feel 
in 
