S64i ReviewSi and Notices respecti7ig New Books. 



But the most remarkable portion of this comparative account is 

 that relating to London. The metropolis of the British empire is 

 truly the wonder of the whole world. Its population, amounting to 

 nearly a million and a half, discloses a vast field for contemplation, 

 both to the political and the moral philosopher. As a great centre of 

 enerjjv, its influences are not only powerfully felt in every part of our 

 European empire, but the impulse is transported through a dominion, 

 which the sun in some region or other perpetually gilds ! It is a great 

 moral point of action to which every eye is turned ; and the mighty 

 energies it displays surpasses everything in ancient or modern limes. 

 In literature, the sciences, the liberal and useful arts, in associations 

 honourable to humanity, in the political energies it can exert when 

 roused into action ; — the lofty examples of virtue, and the vice and 

 profligacy which it displays, — what a mighty and tremendous subject 

 for contemplation ! For such a city to be augmenting its population 

 at the rate of 20 per cent., in the short interval of ten years, who will 

 venture to estimate its immense physical and moral energies at the end 

 of the present century! Surely this alone is an application of the 

 labours of the statistical philosopher, which cannot but recommend 

 them to the attention of mankind. Such a population, and above all, 

 a reading, calculating and reflecting population, concentrated within 

 the limits of a few square miles, what an influence it must exert on 

 the destinies of the whole world ! 



London within the walls, properly so called, is the parent city, 

 around which this mighty metropolis has spread itself in all directions. 

 " No place in Great Britain," Mr. Rickman observes, "can have been 

 an earlier resort of commerce, the name of London occurring as a 

 celebrated mart* before the Romans had subdued the natives into 

 steady obedience. The situation of London was no doubt selected as 

 being at the head of a navigable tideway, the deep water ceasing at 

 London Bridge, and the river not being navigable for sea-borne ves.sels 

 over the Vauxhall Shoal. London is thus placed fifty m'les inland, an 

 advantage more striking, as although England is not extensive enough 

 to produce a large river, such access of shipping is unequalled (except 

 perhaps by the Elbe) on the continent of Europe. This situation has 

 always secured to the merchants of London the supply and the export 

 of a territory not less than 300 miles in circumference; and the su- 

 perior power of assortment at such an emporium, has always enlarged 

 their commerce in a greater proportion than this fortunate position 

 naturally indicates. The unembanked Thames must have appeared 

 as an estuary of some breadth, in which the same quantity of tidal 

 water could have had comparatively little effect; and the hill of mo- 

 derate acclivity, on which the City of London within the walls is 

 placed, must have been more remarkable and conspicuous than at 

 present. From the eastern ascent at Tower Hill to the western de- 

 scent at Ludgate Hill, its extent exceeds an English mile; and the 

 walls extend to the northward so as to inclose a space more than three 



* Tacitus, Ann. lib. 14. Londininm, cognomcnto quidem, colonias non 

 insigne, sed copifi negotiatorum et commentuum niaxinie celebre. [A.D. 61.] 



