1831.] Mont /ilij Review of Literature, 443 



gradually, and almost imperceptibly, merged into the morals by the intermixture 

 of allegory with sacred history, till they finally ceased to be distinctive. An 

 examination of all the extant moral-plays, similar to that of the miracle-plays, 

 follows, furnishing much novelty of information. 



As the miracles merged into the morals, so these, in their turn, were finally 

 lost in tragedy and comedy, by the introduction, in successive steps, of the 

 characters of history, romance, and society. Mr. C. pursues the growth of 

 tragedy and comedy till they reached their maturity in the hands of Shakspeare, 

 though before he wrote a line for the stage our romantic drama may be truly 

 said to have been completely formed, and firmly established, notwithstanding 

 Dryden's ignorant declaration that Shakspeare " created the stage among us." 

 Mr. C. reviews the pieces of all the predecessors and early contemporaries of 

 Shakspeare in what may be termed the legitimate drama ; and concludes his 

 eieborate performance, the contents of which we can do no more than glance 

 at, with an inquiry into the origin and history of our old theatres — as success- 

 fiiUy accomplished as any other department of his labours. The book is an 

 invaluable one — the worthy result of a toil of twenty years. We hope Mr. C. 

 will now publish an uniform edition of all the miracle and moral-plays, inter- 

 ludes, and dramas, to the days of Shakspeare. 



Ox THE ALLEGED DECLINE OF SCIENCE IN ENGLAND, BY A FOREIGNER. 



. " Science is on the decline in England," says Mr. Babbage. Comparatively, 

 or absolutely ? Both, he replies, or implies — the continent surpasses us, and we 

 have no more Newtons. And what is the cause of this sad declension ? The 

 ■want of patronage, that is, of government patronage ; for under all Mr. Bab-, 

 bage's complaints, lurks a desire for place, emolument, money. He seems to 

 think that men of science should have the monopoly of office ; none but they 

 should be statesmen, diplomatists, legislators, bishops, &c. Knowledge, like 

 virtue, it has been said, is, or should be, its own reward ; but Mr. B. has no 

 toleration for so absurd a maxim. He has no notion of anybody's learning any 

 thing, or communicating any thing but for gain — he has but one idea of the 

 word acquisition. Fame, respect, admiration, are all nothing at all in Mr. B.'s 

 eyes ; and of course he cannot but marvel at Milton, for instance, and indeed at 

 all who have ever written, without the prospect, or the expectation, or the thought 

 of money-making. Mr. Babbage has taken up hastily an opinion, that France 

 is the region of science, and a paradise for the cultivators of science. Some three 

 or four men of science, during the last troubled half century, were in high office, 

 and for this Mr. B. envies the condition of men of science in France ; but he 

 should know that these same persons owed their elevation to connection, to the 

 times, to their own bustling spirit, and certainly not to their " science." This is 

 the feeling of the writer of the pamphlet before us — a Frenchman, who has been 

 led, from a sort of analogous mistake, seeing things only at a distance, and 

 unacquainted with facts, to envy and admire the condition of science, and its 

 cultivators in England. The surprise produced by Mr. B.'s book prompted this 

 reply ; and so have we the singular spectacle of the state of English science 

 attacked by a native, and defended by a foreigner. At all events he has 

 brought forward some pretty conclusive statements to enable the reader to pro- 

 nounce on the truth of the alleged " decline." France has but one philosoi>hicaI 

 journal, and that of course has the choice of all papers offeretl for publication ; 

 whife with us, there are the Quarterly, and the Edinburgh, and Jamieson's Jour- 

 nals, besides the L'hilosophical Magazine, anyone of which will shew an average 

 number of articles e(|ually im|)ortant and well-written. Tlie Germans at least 

 are as eager to translate the English as the French papers. But English mathe- 

 maticians have all an eye to the practical, which of necessity keeps them in the 

 rear of the French, who, pursuing, without such interruptions, theory and ana- 

 lysis, far outstrip us in point of dry knowledge. But is this a jjroof of Jtrliiifi '^ In 

 France eminent men confine themselves to one branch, while, generally, in 

 England, students take a wider range. But is this a disadvantage? We venture 

 to sav, no. The difl'crent branches of science naturally serve each other, and 



2 O 2 



