B March, 1919, was subject to a duty ARILLA, previously to the 29th of 11s. 4d. per cent. indiscriminately; on that day the Royal assent was given to an act to repeal the said duty, and in lieu to enact a rate similar to an ad valorem duty, whereby the mineral alkali or soda, (being the most valuable ingredient in Barilla) was subjected to pay from that day, viz. 29th March, 1819, in proportion to the mineral alkali or soda any cargo should contain on importation If 20 per cent. and under, 11s. 4d-per cent. as before. 20 and under 25 25 and under 30 30 and under 40 40 and upwards 15s. 18s. 4d. 23s. 4d. 30s. It must be admitted that an act so very clearly stated, could not very well be misunderstood. How, then, is it to be accounted for, that it remains altogether a dead letter? Sir, I have heard the case stated as follows: The duty is under the officer of customs, the higher order of whom say this act will occasion us much trou *The criminal who was tried at the summer assizes at Dolgelley, was convicted of stealing goods, but to a very trifling amount, so trifling, indeed, that imprisonment for 6 months was deemed sufficient punishment. In Myers's "New System of Geography" there is a table which shews the proportion which the number of persons committed to prison, in each county of England and Wales, bears to the whole population: thus illustrating the influence of local circumstances on the morals of the people. The average of the commitments is taken for 13 years, viz. from 1805 to 1817, inclusive, and the population as stated in the returns of 1811. By this calculation it appears that the greatest number of commitments exists in Middlesex, there being 1 in 588; while the smallest is in Angle sea. Cardiganshire comes next, and then Merionethshire, there being in the latter only 1 in 13,377. ble, and also our officers, and bring to us a new method to ascertain value. We decline altogether to introduce it; and thus the intended increase of duty is totally lost to the public. The excise have a similar duty on the inland manufacture of alkali already under a former act, and their officers continue to manage it with perfect ease, and ascertain the proportion of alkali precisely-they are quite competent to it, and are ready and willing to receive a transfer of the duty. Dr. Henry, of Manchester; Dr. Ure, den, cofour in recent publications to say of Glasgow; and Mr. Brande, of Lonthat nothing is more simple and easy than to ascertain the proportion of alkali in any sample of a cargo of Barilla, &c. &c. For the last two years and a half since the passing of the act, the revenue on Barilla imported has decreased several thousands, say about £25,000, although the duty on soap, the article in the manufacturing of which mineral alkali is chiefly used, has very much increased. Vide government yearly finance account for several years. This effect is the natural consequence arising from the payment of the duty on Barilla according to the weight, and not pursuant to the aet of parliament according to the strength. There is some mineral alkali imported from France, under the name of soude factice, but which has seldom or ever exceeded 20 per cent. and therefore subject only to the former duty of 11s. 4d. But the manufacture of Barilla is chiefly with Spain and Portugal, which have also, as all Europe has, advanced very much in improvements, and particularly in the manufacture of this article; the average alkali contained in which, a few years since, was 12 to 15 per cent., and now is 23 to 25 per cent., being an increase of one-half to the consumer in England, for which he pays no additional duty. Notwithstanding the specific directions in the act of parliament, so very wisely and properly enacted, and before alluded to. a certain loss results to the general revenue of about £10,000 per annum. Also, by finance account, a sum which might go in aid to prevent the discharge of many inferior clerks of office. The act does not require any oath from the merchant as to the proportion of alkali; and the certainty of ascer taining the strength by sample cannot be more objectionable er difficult than A in many or most articles, such as spirits, &c., and, indeed, all sort of corn, the most necessary article of our existence, is altogether valued by very small samples of every cargo. Upon the whole, Sir, it seems incomprehensible why this act should not be strictly enforced, unless it may he imputed to the interference of speculators, jobbers, &c. &c., since the regular consumer would repay himself amply, as they always do, upon the advanced cost of any article of their manufacture. H. For the Monthly Magazine. CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS. T No. XI. MISS EDGEWORTH. HERE are some names in the re public of letters, as in the world of politics, which, from a variety of associations in the mind, seem to have a prescriptive title to public respect, even when all the members have not the fortune to be distinguished by particular pre-eminence over their contemporaries. Among this envied list is that of Edgeworth. And, their own specific merits out of the question, it would almost be a reflection on our taste were it not so, with the chosen friends and associates of Watt, Wedgwood, Darwin, Day, Beddoes, and so many other eminent names in science and literature. To the father of this lady they rendered the regard due to solid and useful acquirements. To herself something more. Her friends have been, not merely warm, but enthusiastic in her praise; and the public in general, sufficiently partial. Even those bulldogs of literature, the reviewers, who guard all the avenues to the temple of Fame with a vigilance that looks as if they thought none but themselves had any right to enter there, have opened their wide and noisy throats to join in the cry of applause. The coarsemouthed journal of Edinburgh, grown hoarse in abuse, has deigned to take her under its especial protection, and now flourishes the dulcet notes of eulogy over her volumes; the fact covers a multitude of its sins. Nor has the Quarterly ventured strongly to dispraise, though, like the opposite principles of electricity, these two always draw different ways. The British pursues its drowsy way with characteristic indifference. While all the monthly tribe-the mere dog-fish of criticism, with the form and appetites of the shark, without the same powers of doing mischief-let pass with impunity what their more voracious elder brethren are compelled to spare. The truth is, she is above them all. She has had in an eminent degree, public opinion in her favour. And this, if it does not elevate an author out of the reach of unjust or petulant criticism, at least destroys much of its point, and all its malice. Something is likewise due to coming out into the world under the wing of a father favourably distinguished in the walks of science and ingenuity; something to her wise exclusion of politics and political opinions from all her works;-something to their uniform aim-utility: most of all, to her undoubted talents as a theoretical teacher of education, as a general novelist, and as a faithful delineator of national manners. The genius of Miss Edgeworth is peculiar. If good sense can be said to be embodied in any one novel-writer's pen of the day, it is in her's. It is never on stilts-never runs away with her; but by a species of habitual caution, seems pinned down to the steady, the sober, and the practical. She never attempts to astonish or surprise us in the conduct of her stories, to excite the mind by extraordinary or violent means, in order to interest it to a painful degree, but seeks to win the attention by legitimate and more ordinary incidents; and these experience has proved both to require more power in the writer, and to possess more permanent effects on the mind of the reader. Following up this design, we find in her volumes so much of nature and general life, combined with that rational tone of feeling peculiarly her own, that we are often tempted to think her tales of fiction, actual truths. This very adherence to nature, may induce some to think her too tame; they want to see her give the reins to her imagination ; to revel in the wild regions of improbability, without any check from reason or reality. We doubt much whether she has any taste for this. We doubt more whether she could accomplish it successfully even if so inclined. For tightly curbed as her genius evidently has been by paternal criticism and admonition, it might now require some whipping and spurring to plunge headlong into the abyss of romance. With writers of this kind indeed she claims no kindred. All the stories of the the marvellous, of apparitions, imprisoned ladies, vaulted castles, horrible ruffians, knights, tournaments, all the clap-traps of the circulating library, the hack machinery which writers of inferior genius find it necessary to use, and which even the author of Waverly does not disdain, find no favour in the eyes of Miss Edgeworth. Like Fielding and Smollett, she draws largely from actual life; and her sketches being worked up with skill and effect, the finished painting as it is true, so is it likely to be permanent in public esteem. As her subject is modern life, so her great aim seems to be moral improvement. To this every thing else is subservient. And it is a high degree of praise, more perhaps than can be said of most of her contemporaries, who only teach incidentally what, with her, forms the chief design. She seems to have surveyed mankind, so far as a woman's opportunities admit, with a keen and accurate eye; and in those points which seldom come under female remark, to have been well informed by the extensive knowledge of life and manners possessed by her father. It is not difficult to discover, what in reality she has admitted, that facts have mostly furnished her with models and materials. We might go farther and say, that passing occurrences have been on the instant carefully noted down, serving, like masses of ore, to form the rough materials from which the metal was afterwards to be extracted. This impression is so strong, that we never put down her volumes without feeling convinced we have gained something in experience of the world, as well as much in amusement. Her Essays on Education are ingenious,and display great attention to detail, but they are not, perhaps, what will carry her name down to posterity. Many of her opinions, and her father's opinions, are controverted, and their conclusions denied. They have able and numerous competitors, equally acute, equally philosophical, equally practical in the process of unfolding the latent germ of the human understanding. Of all knowledge upon this extensive subject, that which is derived from experience is the best. We, therefore, question whether one family can furnish sufficient general deductions for the guidance of mankind upon what, as it interests all, must ever elicit various views, opinions, and systems. As the faithful delineator of the national character and manners of Ireland she is beyond all rivalry. Though not, we believe, exactly born there, she is nevertheless Irish in education, in connexions, in property, in family, in all the relative associations which, in fact, constitute country; with the advantage of having been so often and so long in England, as fully to appreciate the local peculiarities which prevail in the sister island. For contrast and comparison are essential to all who would correctly describe the manners of a people. That to which we have been always accustomed necessarily excites little notice and no surprise; and were even a wise man to remain all his life in his native village, it is not likely that he would note the manners of those around him as peculiar or strange. To know ourselves thoroughly, it is first necessary to become intimately acquainted with others. To To do this so as to penetrate to the heart; to shew at one view, not merely the language, but the feelings, sentiments, and even thoughts of a peculiar people, requires a moral anatomist of the first-rate order. Miss Edgeworth is second to none of her day. She has displayed for our inspection, with almost intuitive sagacity, the inmost recesses of the minds of her countrymen of every class; the peasantry, indeed, most powerfully and distinctly; but the higher and middling ranks with those delicate shadings which alone distinguish people of education and good breeding in different countries. quote examples at random, the tale of the "Absentee" furnishes samples from the peer to the peasant. "Ormond," her last, is equally rich in original portraits. None who are acquainted with the mental constitution of Ireland, but will immediately recognize Sir Úlick O'Shane. His brother, "King Corny," a humourist, eccentric, acute, strong-minded, a despiser of rank, yet the king of his companions, is of a higher and richer stamp, very difficult of delineation, but unquestionably true to nature. racter, at least in all its leading lineaments, we think we have seen. The scenes in his dominions of the "Black Islands" are admirable. To continue them would have been a work of great labour and ingenuity; and we are half inclined to think what has been suggested, that it was necessary to kill King Corny," in order to let the story run more freely. Such a cha As As a play-writer she has been much less successful, though encouraged to that department of literature by no less a judge than Sheridan. The Comic Dramas" do not please in the closet, and their fate would not perhaps be more fortunate on the stage. But Miss Edgeworth has little reason to repine; for by a decree of the muses of ancient date, the callings of dramatist and novelist seem to be incompatible in one mind. Excellence in the one almost ensures mediocrity in the other. They demand, in fact, very opposite powers; requiring, in the one instance, condensation of incident and character-in the other, expansion. Fielding is the only novel-writer who has had any material countenance as a play-wright; so little, indeed, that in the latter capacity he is nearly forgotten. There is, however, a merit of this lady, not yet noticed, we believe, by the public or her friends, but which to the lovers of novel-reading is no ordinary one-that of having drawn forth the author of Waverly. If this affects his claim to originality of design, it is, at least, no discredit to follow the footsteps of Miss Edgeworth. She is the undoubted founder and finisher of that species of novel which introduces us to the peculiarities of a whole people. Miss Owenson powerfully seconded the attempt; both long precede the Scottish writer as to time; and both had brought Ireland and Irishmen into fashion, when he at length started up to perform the same good offices for his countrymen. He has, certainly not from poverty of genius, imitated the former lady closely, not merely in the general subject, but even in arrangement; for he, too, tired of writing long stories, turned his attention, like her, to tales. The fact is remarkable. In many of the incidents there is likewise no small resemblance. A striking one of an Irish nobleman conceiving it better to set fire to his mansion at once, than to receive an expensive party of visitors, is adopted in effect in the "Bride of Lammermoor." The whole of the scenes in and about the dilapidated castle of the "Master of Ravenswood," are familiar to the reader in the pages of "The Wild Irish Girl" and O'Donnell," in the ruined habitations, faithful attendants, and family pride of their principal personages. Miss Edgeworth and her unknown pupil, though of various merits, have no reason to be ashamed of each other. He The latter, in variety of powers, may excel his mistress; but the chief claims of both to public favour, are grounded on the delineation of national character. On this point it would be difficult to say which has the superiority. writes currente calamo; she with more caution and deliberation; he is rapid and overwhelming; she more slow, minute, and accurate; he throws off his pages carelessly, seemingly secure of their being well received by the present generation, whatever they may be by the next; she appears to have her eye more steadily bent on futurity. He possesses greater powers of imagination and displays more stores of knowledge. He deals continually in the bold, the glowing, and the impassioned; but after all, the scenes incessantly trench on the improbable, and the characters, striking as they are, seem too highly coloured. We see in them something beyond the common qualifications of men-too brave, too witty, too learned, too shrewd, too adventurous, too wicked, too good-too much, in short, the characters of a novel to be mistaken for nature; yet all so admirably done, that it is difficult to find fault with what is productive of so much amusement. cau Miss Edgeworth, with a more tious, perhaps less vigorous pen-and bold pens commonly get most into such scrapes-has in great measure avoided these extremes. She has not risked so much, and consequently failed less. Her personages are seldom overcharged in the drawing: they are less prurient, sometimes less entertaining, but certainly more chaste in the keeping, than those of the great master of Scottish manners. She has gone into the actual not ideal, world, to sketch persons whom we have met with there in general intercourse, and know again immediately on seeing thus exhibited. Like some of the paintings of the Dutch masters, if they are in themselves somewhat ludicrous or singular, they are at least not caricatured. The unknown author having tickled the public into singular admiration, and desirous (very justifiably) to pursue for profit what he perhaps commenced for amusement, has been compelled to seek other game. Being rather hard run for incidents and personages to furnish a good story for the supply of the market, he necessarily draws from imagination what cbservation cannot supply. He takes a wider range in the worlds worlds of fact and fiction, than any or all predecessors put together. He grasps greedily at characters and events past and present, public and private, real and unreal; at civil broils, mobs, pageants, and tiltings; at fanatics, rebels, smugglers, outlaws, fortune-tellers, rogues of all kinds; in short, he leaves nothing unattempted by which the stronger passions of the mind are called into action; but the enthusiasm of the moment over, we revolt from improbabilities in every page. The more subdued key of common life, chosen by our fair author, requires other and peculiar powers of delineation in order to make it interest as highly: much acquaintance with good society and its forms, long observance and nice discrimination of character, intimate knowledge of the human heart, are all necessary to the writer. In a romance, we must take upon trust what is given us, without looking much at proprieties or probabilities. On the contrary, we are fastidious in the details of dinner parties, drawing-rooms, and routs; but surrender our judgment at once to the painter of glens, caverns, inaccessible fastnesses, and impenetrable woods. To draw men skilfully, to give us the lights and shades of character, as we commonly meet with them in the world, possessing a mixture of vices and virtues, but the latter, on the whole, preponderating, is a very arduous task. But to finish bold robbers, or heroes all perfection, requires only a few flourishes of the pen; the former demands the hand of the master artist, the latter may be done by his apprentice. Miss Edgeworth has succeeded. admirably in what may be considered the more difficult department of novelwriting. While it is remarkable that the Scottish writer has not once essayed his powers-and it would be literary heresy to doubt them-on the subject of genteel modern life. For the Monthly Magazine. MONGST notices of books re published, in our num ber, were introduced some remarks on the volume of Miscellaneous Poetry of Samuel Bamford, weaver, of Middleton, Lancashire, lately imprisoned in the castle of Lincoln, with specimens. The homely description of its author on the title page, and the unassuming shape in which this little collection is put forth to the world, are little calculated to attract the attention and respect of the fastidious and polished readers of modern poetry. To please the present day, nothing less than highwrought sentiment, and brilliant imagination are demanded, and these lose none of their effect, when published in a costly form, with noble and celebrated names prefixed to them, and a friendly host of critics behind to vouch for their perfections. These considerations will not, however, deter us from doing justice to real merit, however plain its garb may be. We recollect to have heard an anecdote of an inhabitant of New South Wales, wild from the woods, being introduced to a full assembly of fashionable colonists, and without shewing the least symptom of surprise, conducting himself with the greatest decorum and dignity. It is thus that the native force of a mauly mind rises above the artificial distinctions of society; and such a mind is so strongly marked in many of the compositions of this humble weaver, that we cannot refuse him a tribute of respect, which the arrogant pretensions of the haughty and the rich endeavour in vain to ex tort. It is not our intention to demand the sympathy and aid of the public in favour of a newly discovered bard, and to become the flattering annotators of his beauties. He is no sickly sentimentalist, but an honest mechanic, with a strong head, and a warm heart, and a hard hand, which in times, at least, when the labourer was worthy of his hire, would have been an independence to its possessor. We shall not enter here into any detail of the political occurrences which have been the source of much grievous suffering to Mr. Bamford, and have roused in his breast a strong and irrepressible hatred against the abuses of power, which often breaks out, and sometimes, perhaps, in too coarse a form through his pages. Confining ourselves to his literary merits, we shall content ourselves for the rest with observing that he seems to possess a truly free and fearless English spirit, and a love of liberty which he has shewn in his actions-" Not wisely, but too well." We are proud of the exploits of our countrymen, in ancient and modern times; and it may be a partial opinion, but it is a sincere one, that no nation possesses at once so ardent and so enduring a courage as the English. In the |