Miscellanies . 165 



arrows fly from no uncertain hand ; he stands forth avowed, and di- 

 rects his artillery at men and institutions of the greatest celebrity. 

 If his satire is caustic, his irony cutting, his playfulness provoking j 

 they are not the less so on account of the constant appeals which he 

 makes to facts, documents and living witnesses. 



We pronounce, for the present, no opinion on this remarkable vol- 

 ume ; it cannot however fall to the ground, mere hrutum fulmen ; it 

 must tell, in some way or another ; either by a recoil upon the au- 

 thor, if his case is not made out, or by a salutary operation upon the 

 high institutions and individuals who are so powerfully assailed. 



The following tariff of admission to some of the principal societies, 

 we quote simply as a statement of facts, remarking only, that how- 

 ever proper or necessary it may be thus to raise a revenue at home, 

 vfe should hardly have expected the same terms to be prescribed to 

 foreigners, to whom membership is indeed a gratifying honor, but 

 cannot afford much positive advantage.* 



Fee of admission. 



Mr. Babbage remarks, that " those who are ambitious of scientific 

 distinction may, according to their fancy, render their name a kind of 

 comet, carrying with it a tail of upwards of forty letters, at the aver- 

 age cost of £10 9s 9^d per letter." 



* We do not know that the demand of money, from foreigners, is universal with 

 English learned societies; we know however that some of them enforce this demand. 

 Nor are we certain how far other European societies pursue this course, but we have 

 hot known any instance of money being required out of Britain, where honOr was 

 conferred. 



