17 DECEMBER 1864, Page 20

The North British Review. December, 1864.—The number opens with a

notice rather historical than critical, of the efforts which have been made by some of the great manufacturing firms to civilize their workpeople, and to remedy the "great want of English society," the want of sympathy between employer and employed. The reviewer is strongly of opinion that these efforts will never be so fruitful as when there is an avowed attempt to advance the spiritual as well as the temporal welfare of the workmen. A paper falling heavily on Dr. Latham's edition of Johnson's Dictionary, and a biographical notice of the late Mr. John Richardson, whose chief claim to the distinction is that he was the friend of Sir Walter Scott, Campbell, and all other eminent Scotchmen of the last half-century, also both deserve notice. On the other hand, " Wildbad and its Water" is pure ?rut, and is probably inserted to show aspirants to be humorous writers what they ought to avoid.