130 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



of human beings thrown out of employ, the incalculable 

 diminution in the number of horses, and the consequent 

 deficiency in demand for agricultural produce — not to 

 mention the enormous deduction from the revenue, 

 consequent upon the abolition of the post-horse duties; 

 when we think of its varied and multitudinous bearings 

 upon the present state of society ; and add to all this the 

 fact, that in no quarter of the globe were the means 

 of travelling established on so admirable a basis as 

 hitherto in this country,— that, like the dog and the 

 shadow, we are about to cast away the substance of 

 good for the sake of catching at a change of prob- 

 lematical good, in the opinion of some, and fraught 

 with positive evil in the estimation of many; — when 

 we reflect on these things, we cannot but wonder 

 at the blindness which has countenanced the growth 

 of a monster, which will rend the vitals of those 

 by whom it has been fostered. But let us turn from 

 the contemplation of a gloomy prospect ; let us 

 hope that Heaven may avert from old England — and 

 Heaven alone can save her from sharing the fate of 

 empires since the world began, — the downfall which 

 the refinement of luxury, and its train, entailed on 

 Rome; the too certain consequences of that restless 

 spirit, that proneness to discontent, inherent in the 

 human breast, which causes men, for the sake of "keep- 

 ing moving," to catch at any idea of improvement. 



