THE SEVEN AGES OF ENGLAND.
ALTHOUGH apparently designed for youth, this volume may be used advantageously by their seniors. The execution is respect- able; the idea excellent. The book in fact contains the germ of a plan by which the history of the rise and progress of a people IltaV be writtea, instead of a narrative of the exploits of their Infers,
To trace the successive advance of England in language, literature, arts, and arms, from the time of the ancient Britons down to the present day, is the real object of the work. It aims at accomplishing this purpose by dividing the subject into seven epochs. The first —coming down to the conquest—is
termed the Escape from Barbarism. The second—which wit- nessed the improvement of arithmetic and the introduction of algebra and chemistry by the Arabs, the use of the compass, im- provements in agriculture, and many of the mechanical arts, the final shaping of our present language, and the productions of Gowse, CHAUCER, and WICKLIFFE—is styled the Age of Civili- zation. The period from 1420 to 1554—as it witnessed the inven- tion of printing, the revival of letters, and the discoveries of America and the passage to tile East by the Cape of Good Hope— is called the Age of Discovery. That of Learning is chiefly oc- cupied with the reigns of ELIZABETH and JAMES. The Age of Science commences with GALLILEO, and embraces NEWTON, BOYLE, FLAMSTEAD, HALLEY, and many other men whose dis- coveries may be said to have created science. From 1730 to the close of the eighteenth century, is the Age of Invention—cha- racterized by the application of the Steam-engine to practical purposes, and the gigantic improvements in the cotton-trade and other manulieitures. The present century is termed the Age of Progress ; and perhaps not undeservedly, when we look at our advance in medicine, lighting by gas, and travelling by rail- roads.
For the purpose of impressing the mind of the reader, this classification is advantageous; and, in most eases, is truly enough descriptive of the leading characteristics of the age. But if rigidly examined, the necessary chronological limits give rise to many anomalies. SHAIESPHARE, for instance, figures in the Age of Learning; MILTON, DRYDEN, POPE, in that of Science. To the same age belongs the rise of literary journals; whilst Joust- SON'S Dictionary, PORSON'S criticism, and the art of reporting, all fall, rather ludicrously, under the age of Invention. In recom- mending the volume, we value it for its uses as a coup dmil—we recommend it for what it does, and not for what it leaves undone. The Seven Ages of England is not to be considered as an or'ginal work, but as an able and painstaking compilation, in which the writer depends greatly upon the nature of his original materials, and in which his facts are much more valuable than his views. Mr. WILLIAMS himself only notes events, without tracing their causes or effects.
As a specimen of the kind of matter the author introduces from the past, we take the following from a debate about a hundred and fifty years ago, on an act for the building of Putney Midge. Mr. 'WILLIAMS is inclined to smile at the fulfilment of the pro- phecies : if the fully of legislators were subject of laughter, we should smile at the continuance of, the same spirit. Many a gen- tleman now-a-days talks as sillily about figurative landmarks, as Sir WILLIAM THOMPSON did about the walls of London.
SENATORIA L PROPHECIES.
" Mr. Speaker—London is circumscribed, I mean the city of London ; there are walls, gates, and boundaries, the which no man can increase or extend; those limits were set by the wisdom of our ancestors, and God forbid they should be altered. But, Sir, though these landmarks can never he removed— I say ncrer, for I have no hesitation in stating, that when the walls of London shall no longer be visible, and Ludgate L. demolished, Eagland itself trill be as nothing—though, Sir, these landmarks are immoveable, indelible, inde- structible, except with the constitution of the country, yet it is in the power of speculative theorists to delude the minds of the people with visionary projects of increasing the skirts of die city, so that it may even join Westminster." Mr. Bascawen said—" If there were any advantage derivable firm) a hi idge at Putney, perhaps some gentlemen would find out that a bridge at Westmin- ster would be a convenience. Then other honourable gentlemen might dream that a bridge front the end of Fleet Market into the fields, on the opposite side of the water, would be a fine speculation ; or who knows but at last it might be proposed to arch over the river altogether, and build a couple more bridges, one front the Palace at Somerset House into the Sari?, marshes, and another from the front of Guildhall into Southwark? (Great laughter.) Perhaps some honourable gentlemen, who were interested in such matters, would get up in their places, and propose that one or two of these bridges should be built of iron ! (Shouts of laughter.) For my part, if this but passes, I will move for leave to bring in half-a dozen more bills, for building bridges at Chelsea, and at Hammersmith, and at Marble Hill Stairs, and at Breutford, anal at fifty other places besides." ( Continued laughter.) Sir Henry Herbert, just before the House divided, said—" I honestly confess myself an enemy to monopolies; I am equally opposed to mad, visionary pro- jects; and I may be permitted to say, that in the late King's reign several of these thoughtless inventions were thrust upon the House, but most properly rejected. If a man, Sir, were to come to the bar of the House, and tell us that he proposed to convey us regularly to Edinburgh, in coaches, in serea days, and Laing us back in seven days more, should we not vote him to Bed- lam ? Surely we should, if we did him justice: or if another told us he would sail to the Indies in six months, should we not punish him for practising upon our credulity ? Assuredly, if we served him rightly."
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