232 
has qualifications suflicient for being 
the mistress of 2 dame school. Sosie- 
tics must exist, because man is aggre- 
garioas. animal; but they areyvirtuous 
and kappy tin the inverse ratio oftheir 
size. -Great schools; like:great cities, 
are great evils; because they defy mi- 
nute superintendance, 
‘The account of Highways, and By- 
ways, or Tales by the. Roadside, is a 
very excelient review of a very inte- 
resting volume. _ It is written in thé 
gocd oid style (which seldom appears 
in the Edinburgh), and gives us a 
sufficient quantity of extract to enable 
us to judge fur ourscives of the nature 
of the work reviewed. Of the tales, 
this ig not the place to give any ab- 
stract ; besides, they must already be 
well known to most of our readers. 
The tenth article treats of Carnot’s 
celebrated work De la Defence dis 
Places Fortes. We say celebrated, be- 
ease, on the Continent, numerous for- 
tresses are so constructed as to be 
defended on his plan.- fn this country 
we have no fortresses to defend, and 
consequently all the investigation that 
our engineers have bestowed on the 
subject has been matter of mere 
amusement. Carnot’s work was pub- 
lished in 1811, and the experiments 
made hy Sir Howard Douglas, with a 
view to demonstrate the ineflicacy 
of the system, appeared’ in 18ts. 
- What- bas induced the Edinburgh 
Review to take up the sabject, at this 
Jais peried, we are not iniormed. 
Carnot hag lately paid the debt of na- 
tre, having left behind him an impe- 
“yishable same; but his death appears 
not to have been known to the reviewer 
when be wrete his remarks. Our 
readers will remember, that Carnot’s 
system is that of “ vertical fire.” When 
the besiegers have formed the third 
parallel, horizontai fire has little effect, 
and therefore Mf. Carnot proposed 
their destraction hy a shower of bul- 
lets, shot from a mortar, so as to fall 
upen-their heads. These bullets were 
to be a quarter of a pound in weight, 
and Sir H. Douglas says they would 
not kill. The reviewer agrees with 
Sir H. D. on this subject, objecting 
only to the manner in which he has 
treated a person of Carnot’s acknow- 
ledged celcbrity. Sir Howard made 
experiments with four-ovnce  balis, 
both of cast and of wrought iron, shot 
at different degrees of elevation, and 
found that they made a very tilling 
indentation in a deal-board, and supk 
‘shipping-interest which 
Philosophy of Contemporary Criticism, No, XXXII. [Octs}, 
in a soft meadow only two or three 
inches. The inference then is; “‘ that 
it is not possible to give to a fonr- 
ounee bail such a descending force as 
will inflict a morial wound on a head 
of ordinary strength.” We say that 
the experiment has not been fairly 
iried, and that it ought to have been 
made upon real human heads, Our 
skull is not, perhaps, so hard as Sir 
Howard’s, but. we should not like te 
venture it beneath a bullet, descending 
with a force capable of penetrating 
three inches into meadow-ground. 
Besides, we should be afraid lest the 
engineer, discovering, that it. was too 
light, might oblige us with a ball of a 
greater diametes. 
The observations onthe Warehousing 
System and the Navigation Laws, give a 
very gecd history of the origin and 
progress of these several commercial 
regulations, from the reign of Richard 
Ii. to the present time; and would 
make a usetul pamphlet, which might 
be purehased by those who are; or 
wish to be, conversant insuch matters, 
and should be distributed among the 
several Members of. Parliament, who 
alone are able to give that relief to the 
it appears 
to require. | 
The twelfth and last article is: on 
the never-ending subject, the Emperor 
Napoleon. Lt professes to speak of 
Tord Ebrington’s . Conversations at 
Porto-Ferraio, and the six volumes 
of the Life and Conversations of Napo- 
leon, written by Las Cases. We have 
repeatedly remarked, that Edinbargh 
Reviews are ofien written to serve a 
particular purpose, rather than to give 
information to the reader; and the 
present appears to be a glaring in- 
stance of that kind. [t is throughout 
an cnlogium on Mr. O’Meara’s werk, 
and it is obviously with this view alone 
that we are introduced to that of Las 
Cases. “The work of Las Cases is of 
the highest interest.’ Why?—Be- 
cause, *' ike Tr. O Meara's, it assumes 
the form of a journal, but is more mi- 
nuteand reguiar.”. ‘*Mr. O’Meara’s 
work contained a body of the most 
interesting and valuabie information, 
—information, the accuracy of which 
stands unimpeached by any of the 
attacks jatelymade against its author; 
and the work before us welds notin im- 
portance and cniertainment to that of 
Mr. O'Meara’ So it is in every page, 
—nothing but O'Meara! ‘The per- _ 
sona} attacks upon its author merit 
searcely 
y 
