"570 



Monthly Review of Liternlurc, 



[Nov. 



of too popular a cast for accuracy, and the 

 value of it lessened by his giving no autho- 

 rities. This is unfair, for it insinuates a 

 distrust for which there is no foundation ; 

 and absurd, for it supposes the existence of 

 other authorities than those which are in 

 every body's hands. The authorities are 

 few, and all, with the exception of Philo 

 (iind little use is made of him), better 

 known than any historical records in the 

 world. They consist of the Jewish Scrip- 

 tures, canonical and apocryphal, and Jose- 

 phus ; and what security was to be gained 

 by special references to these obvious and 

 popular sources ? The incidental mat- 

 ter collected from Greek and Roman writers 

 is so small, as to be quite insignificant in 

 any other view than a confirmatory one. 

 The profession and name of Mr. Milraan is 

 a sufficient guarantee for the fair use of ma- 

 terials, which are, besides, so open to every 

 body's knowledge and reference. For the 

 latter period the author is solely dependent 

 on Josephus ; the historian must follow his 

 narrative — he has no means of checking him 

 by other authorities; but Mr. M. has not 

 credulously and blindly adopted all his 

 statements, and has exercised freely his 

 judgment upon details. He has taken, ap- 

 parently, a very fair estimate of Josephus — 

 quite favourable enough. Josephus was a 

 mere rhetorician in taste and spirit — the 

 hero of his own talc, too, and fuU of con- 

 ceit — delighting to dwell wn particulars that 

 shew off his own tact and fertility of expe- 

 dient. ""W^ith all our respect," says Mr. M. 

 " for his abilities and virtues (for the latter 

 of which, by the way, we have certainly no- 

 thing but his own word), it is impossible not 

 to assign him the appellation of renegade 

 (in the sense of traitor, he must iiiean, not 

 apostate). \^'^riting to conciliate the Ro- 

 mans, both to his own person and to the 

 miserable remnant of his people, he must 

 be received with some mistrust. He unne- 

 cessarily calls the more obstinate insur- 

 gent, who continued desperately faithful to 

 that cause which he deserted, by the odious 

 name of robbers ; but it may be remarked," 

 adds Mr. M., " by way of illustration, that 

 the Spanish guerillas, who were called pa- 

 triots in London, were brigands in Paris." 



We noted a passage or two for remark as 

 ' we went along, but we can only notice one. 

 When the Jews (members of the Sanhedrin) 

 delivered Christ to Pilate, and he, not sup- 

 posing him chargeable with a capita/ offence, 

 desired them to judge him themselves ac- 

 cording to their own law, they declined, be- 

 Tause they were not allowed to put any one 

 to death. This is distinctly stated in St. 

 John's Gospel — then why does Blr. M., 

 when speaking of the event, add — ' whether 

 the Jews had lost or retained the power of 

 inflicting capital punishment, has been de- 

 bated with great erudition ; and, like simi- 

 lar questions, is still in a great degree un- 

 certain.' The Jews say, as plain as words 

 fan speak — 'by their own law he w^s liable 



to death, but they were not allowed to exe- 

 cute it. Particular as Mr. M. is in distin- 

 guishing the members of the Herod family, 

 he should have seen that the tabular pedi- 

 gree corresponded with the text — who is to 

 know which is right ? 



Practice of Tenancy and Customs of 

 Grazing Counties in Great Britain, by 

 Messrs. Kennedy and Grainger. Part II. 



1829 This second volume on the present 



state of the tenancy of land, is confined 

 almost wholly to the subject of wool-grow- 

 ing. The coarse wool of the country, by 

 fiir the largest portion, will not now bring 

 what is called a remunerating price, or what 

 is more to the purpose and more hopeless, 

 scarcely any price at all. It is driven out 

 of the market by the foreign wools, which, 

 quality for quality, from the coarsest to the 

 finest, are always cheapest ; and even were 

 the price and the quality at once the satne, 

 would, from the mere influence of fashion, 

 be preferred ; and, imluckily, it is not 

 equally the fashion for foreigners to prefer 

 ours. The grower, of course, cries out tor 

 protection, and protection he must have, 

 though it do break in upon the project of 

 free-trade. Wool is one of our native pro- 

 ducts, and must not be sacrificed to systems. 

 The interests of the wool grower, the wool 

 merchant, and the wool manufacturer, are 

 all quite distinct, and cannot, as a matter 

 of common sense, be governed by the same 

 law. If the home wool be not protected, 

 and taxation continue unmitigated, we can 

 readily conceive a state, when the home 

 product will be literally without a purchaser. 

 The merchants and manufacturers may 

 suffer little by such a condition of things ; 

 but what is to become of the cultivator ? 

 The land is the source from which all 

 springs ; and is it to be a matter of indif- 

 ference with statesmen that whole regions 

 are thrown into desolation ? Free-trade 

 looks admirably upon paper, and reads with 

 a tone of equity and benevolence that glad- 

 dens the heart of the cabinet philosopher ; 

 it is a good thing too, in practice, and de- 

 sirable where the freedom is really reciprocal, 

 and where jifljfiye productions are not crush- 

 ed and extinguished by its operation. To 

 be unshackled in dealings is unquestionably 

 a good, but then it can only be so, where 

 one party is not stronger than the other, or 

 where the stronger will not take advantage ; 

 and what security can there be for this ? 

 Take the case of wool : if while we im- 

 ported foreign wool, there were a market 

 for our own growth, we should be for free- 

 trade by all means in that article. But 

 when the fact is, that foreign wool is pre- 

 ferred and is cheaper, and our own neither 

 finds a sale at home, nor an outlet abroad, 

 by withholding protection we sacrifice the 

 interests of our fellow countrymen, the grow- 

 ers, to those of foreigners, or at best to the 

 interests of the merchants and manufac- 

 turers ; and why should there be any sacri- 

 fice at all to gratify scribbling lovers of fan- 



