LITERARY NOTICES. 391 



ing. The hereditary rights of the aristocracy, it is argued, are precisely what 

 afford security for its permanence, steadiness, and independence; if these, ei- 

 ther from levity or malignity, are thrown into the vortex, constancy, modera- 

 tion, and order are lost. This argument deserves infinite attention. But we 

 must remember that not only were these privileges, as I just observed, re- 

 garded with more veneration formerly than now ; but that a multitude of 

 other conditions, aids, and props were connected with them, some of which 

 no longer exist ; others are equally in the possession of the tiers etat. If, 

 then, the reverence for birth cannot be restored ; if the aggregate wealth of 

 the nobility is less than that of the other classes, the question remains, whe- 

 ther their strength might not be increased by the addition of talent and know- 

 ledge. 



" And here we come to the question, whether it were not expedient to as- 

 sociate, for life, to the hereditary peers, certain distinguished men, who might 

 help, as in the Roman senate, to support the optimates against the plebeians. 

 But if (contrary to the Roman practice) children and grandchildren were thus 

 introduced to power, what was strength in the beginning, would perhaps be 

 weakness in the end ; and the means taken to command authority and reve- 

 rence might lead to contempt and degradation. There is another example of 

 aristocracy besides that of Rome — one of boundless power — which holds its 

 privileges for life alone ; that of the Church. Opposed to the mental ac- 

 tivity of Europe, how long would an hereditary caste of priests have retained 

 their power and influence ? But arguments against an hereditary priesthood 

 are now turned, by analogy, against an hereditary peerage. 



" All this does not affect to be an exhaustive view of the subject. I only 

 start from the undeniable fact, that compared with former times, the power 

 of the House of Lords has declined, and that of the Commons increased. But 

 if the existence and influence of the Upper House is regarded, by pU mode- 

 rate and reasonable men as beneficial and even necessary, this two-fold truth 

 leads inevitably to the question, how the lost balance is to be restored. The 

 rotten boroughs were not only materially, but politically, decayed ; instead of 

 holding to crumbling ruins, it would have been wiser to discover and to apply 

 means of propping and repairing the edifice. It is impossible to go on in the 

 old road : a new path must be opened for the Upper House, if it is to keep 

 pace with the Lower. 



"To throw all the blame on the'Reform Bill, Lord John Russell, or his partv', 

 is just as rational as it would have been for the Catholics of the sixteenth 

 century to forget, or to deny, their own character and position, or the state 

 of the world, and to reproach Luther and his adherents as the sole authors 

 of that stupendous change. When all the previous conditions of change are 

 already in existence ; when all remedies are either contemned or worn out ; 

 when the Archimedean point of motion is given, the motion is inevitable, — 

 it must come ; and the only remaining problem is to understand its peculiar 

 laws, and to turn it into safe channels and to salutary uses." 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



The talented Author of Prediction has a Novel in a state of for., 

 wardness, to be entitled, " The Mascarenhas." 



Mrs. Strutt's clever domestic Novel, "Chances and Changes," is 

 reprinting, and will be ready early in April. 



Mr. James Matheson, of Canton, has just completed a highly in- 

 teresting Commercial Work on the Present Position and Prospects 

 of the British Trade with China. 



A Summer in Spain, being the Narrative of a Tour made througli 

 that interesting Country, in the course of last year, will be published 

 in a few days. 



A particularly piquante Pamphlet, with the outre title of '* The 



