SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

STATISTICS,

A Descriptive and Statistical Account of the British Empire : exhibiting its Extent, Physical Capacities, Population, Industry, and Civil and Religious Institutions. By J. R. M'Culloch, Esq., Member of the Institute of France. Third edition, cor- rected, enlarged, and improved. In two volumes Longman and Co. RIVIGIOUS FICTION,

From Oxford to Rome ; and how it Fared with Some who lately made the Journey.

By • Companion Traveller Longman and Co.

IIISCELEANEoUs LITERATURE,

The Poetical Language of Flowers; or the Pilgrimage of Love. By Thomas Miller,

Author of "Pictures of Country Life," tce Bogue.

• SOCULLOCH'S DESCRIPTIVE AND STATISTICAL • ACCOUNT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

SINCE the appearance of the first edition of this work in 1837, and of the second in 1839, great changes have occurred in many of the subjects which it treats of. That great social reform the Penny Postage has been established ; and if it be curious to read Mr. M'Culloch's lamentations over the evil done, it is still more curious to turn to the arguments by which, in the second edition, he sought to prevent it : they were, mainly, that prepaid letters would not reach their destination; that the postmen, not having advanced the money which the delivery was to reimburse, would shirk that delivery ; or that people, having nothing to pay, would take in wrong letters ! Another of the economist's bugbears, the Income- tax, has been imposed, with all its rich-yielding statistics; but upon this Mr. WCulloch is somewhat mollified : he thinks it was necessary at the time, and therefore defensible, but holds that its rate should not be raised. The Corn-laws practically have been swept away : necessary too, from the stubborn resistance of the landlords; but Mr. M‘Culloch would rather have had his own "moderate fixed duty with a drawback." Peel's great measures of Tariff reform have been passed ; the Sugar-duties have been improved ; the banking system, or rather the currency, has been put upon an improved footing; another census has been taken, furnishing new and important facts upon the statistics of population ; the health of town and country, the moral condition of the people, and the treatment of the poor, have all become fashionable subjects ; Ireland has started up as Lord John Russell's difficulty ; and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Know- ledge has ceased to revise proofs or fetter their authors,—which Mr. M'Culloch manifestly feels as a relief.

"It was customary, we believe, to submit the proof-sheets of works published under the auspices of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge to the revision of certain of its members. This, at all events, was the coarse followed with the former editions of this work. But how leniently soever this sort of ma- sorsbip might be exercised, it was, like all similar devices, disadvantageous rather than otherwise. It occasionally, no doubt, may have prevented blunders and mis- statements in matters of fact; but, on the other hand, it tended to prevent the expression of such views and opinions as were not deemed acceptable to the mans- gyig committee. The Society in question having, however, ceased to exist, this edition has not been subjected to any species of surveillance; and we have not re- frained from freely stating our opinions in regard to the various subjects we have bad to discuss, from any apprehension that they might be objected to by any par- ty previously to their tieing published. Whatever, consequently, may be the merit i or defects of this work, we are alone entitled to all the credit of the former, and must bear all the blame of the latter."

Besides the changes in the subject-matter of the work, some altera- tions have taken place in the contributions. The late Mr. Bakewell's Geology has been revised, and mostly rewritten, by Sir Henry de la Beche and Mr. Maclaren ; Zoology "required and has received much alteration in this edition." Various other changes have also taken place ; and much information of an important kind has been contributed by different par- ties. Among these is the head of the Poor-law Commissioners. "Our esteemed friend," says the author, "Mr. G. C. Lewis, procured for us many important statements : and we are truly sorry we have no better return to make for his uniform kindness, than to denounce in no very measured terms the entire system of which he is the ablest administrator, and which, were it practicable, lie would conduct satisfactorily." All these alterations, with a revision of the whole, and many additions in parts, the fuller knowledge and mastery which time and time alone can bestow, with perhaps some attention to critical objections, have greatly improved the work since it first came before us in the last week of 1836. Objections as to the bareness of particular subjects have been removed, and the whole has acquired greater unity and smoothness. It has now more the air of a production than a compilation.

Having formerly described the plan and particular sections of this great undertaking, we need not enter into further criticism ; but we may take a few quotations of things that struck us in passing through its ample pages without caring whether they are old or new.

Many a one visits the Isle of Thanet who may never open the Descrip- tive and Statistical Account of the British Empire ; and if they wander beyond the common boundaries of the two great watering-places, they are grievously puzzled to find the Isle. Here is the story of how the seas became dry land. "Few topics connected with the progressive geography of England are more interesting_ than that which relates to the past and present state of the Isle of Thanet. It is now scarcely a river peninsula; but during the Roman ascend- ancy it was a complete island, of a circular form. At that period, the sea on its South-west side, between it and the mainland of Kent, was at least four miles broad, gradually decreasing, as it flowed through the strait, till at Sar, where it was narrowest, its breadth did not probably exceed a mile and a half. Thus fax flowed the South, which there met the North Sea: the latter entered at what was, from this circumstance, called Normutha, s. e. Northmouth. We have the explicit testimony of Arnmianus Marcellinus to prove that the direct route and accustomed passage to London by sea, so late as the middle of the fourth cen- tury, lay through this channel. In the time of Bede, however, its breadth was considerably diminished; for he tells us, that it was then but three furlongs wide so shallow that it was fordable in two places, and that it was thence called Wanisome, or the deficient water. It continued, however, a passable strait for ships of some burden till about the time of the Norman Conquest; when the inhabitants, perceiving that the tide no longer flowed with any considerable vigour, began to erect dikes to keep it out; in which object they were at length completely successful. Thus, the Isle of Thanet, which was formerly separated from the rest of Kent by the channel called the Paths Ritapensis, and was in its natural state, all high land, is now a peninsula, or, at most, a river-isle only., having the Stour-wantsome on the South, the Mile-stream on the South-west, and the Nethergong-wantsome on the West. The rest of the island fronts the East and North Seas, as before; but its figure is altered from that of a circle to an ir- regular ellipse. After the.junction of the isle to Kent, the sea, no longer finding a passage through the strait, began to throw up immense quantities of beach on the Eastern shore; which produced Stoner, or rather Estanore, that is, the East- stone-shore: this was originally a separate island, but it was speedily united by a causeway to the Isle of Thank."

The effects flowing from the removal of old London Bridge have an aP traction in the subject, to Cockneys, as well as an inherent interest in the natural consequences. People used to predict that the Thames "above Bridge" would be left without water if the old starlings were removed; it was an article of Cockney faith.

"The removal of the old London Bridge has caused a considerable change in the river above, and also, though in a less degree, below the bridge. Owing to the contracted arches through which the water had to make its way at the old be' there was a fall of from four feet nine inches to five feet at low water; this fall is now reduced to about two inches; so that the low-water line above the bridge is nearly five feet lower at spring-tides than formerly. In consequence, a greatly increased body of tidal water now flsws up and down the river.' and as it meets with no obstruction, it flows with a decidedly greater velocity. The effect of this is to scour and deepen the channel of the river; its influence in this respect being already sensibly felt as far up as Putney Bridge, seven-and-a-half miles above London Bridge. The shores above the latter, that were formerly foul and muddy, are now becoming clean shingle and gravel, and near low-water the beach is quite hard and firm. The shoals are also decreasing below the bridge; and there can be little doubt that the change will at no distant period be felt from the Nore up to Teddington. "Before the removal of the old bridge, a barge, starting from the Pool with the first of the flood, could not get farther than Putney Bridge without the assistance of oars. But, under similar circumstances, a barge now reaches Mortlake' four miles farther up, before using oars; and with a little help she may reachRich- mond, and, taking homes there, may get to Teddington in a tide. The descent down the river has been equally facilitated."

The geographical and agricultural sections continue, as at first, to be distinguished for their knowledge and freshness. Though not exactly to be called new, they have been revised, with many additions, and deserve attention, especially the paper on Irish Agriculture. Some of the remarks are more true than palatable ; but they do not the less deserve considera- tion, for sloth and thriftlessness are certainly not likely to be destroyed by giving them a seemingly inexhaustible fund to draw upon. With a few selections, and a general recommendation, we take our leave of this elaborate, useful, and even curious work.

"Fallowing is sometimes attempted; but it is, for the most part, so ill executed, that it is difficult to believe it can be an improvement. Three ploughings are usually given to the land; but, from the imperfect manner in which they are exe- cuted, it is not unusual for the ground, at the end of the season, to be thickly covered with weeds. Except on the East coast of the island, the drill husbandry cannot be said to be introduced; for, so long as it is entirely neglected by the mass of the occupiers, the fact of its being carried on within the demesnes of a few noblemen and gentlemen can hardly be considered as an exception to the re- mark. To whatever cause it may be owing, a want of continuous industry is everywhere apparent An antipathy to labour,' or an insensibility to its advan- tages,. is now, as in the days of Fynes Moryson and Bishop Berkeley, a distin- guishing trait in the character of the Irish people. Their extreme poverty is principally a consequence of their extreme sloth. Few occupiers seem to imagine that their crops would be improved, or the exhaustion of the land prevented, by clearing it of weeds. If any efforts be made to destroy them, which is seldom the case, it is only when they are found among potatoes. Docks, thistles, and other noxious plants, flourish in corn-fields in unscathed luxuriance. Nay, such is the slovenliness of the mass of the occupiers, that even the potato, though their whole dependence be placed on it, is frequently injured, and sometimes wholly lost, by their allowing it to remain too long in the ground! • * •

"It has been said over and over again, and was frequently repeated in the evidence before the Land Occupation Commissioners, that the want of leases is a principal cause of the idleness of the occupiers; but we doubt whether this cir- cumstance has any material influence. A thousand things might be and would be done by an industrious population which are not done nor attempted in Ire- land, that would materially increase the means and comforts of the occupiers, With- out affording any means or temptation to raise rents. • • • The truth is, that in Ireland the letting of land has hitherto been nearly synonymous with its sub- division; and unless this be effectually prevented, no improvement need be looked for. We may add, that some of the best-managed estates in all parts of the country are held by tenants at will.

"The indolence, carelessness, and bad cultivation of the smaller farmers, is not the consequence of one but of many conspiring circumstances; and we are dis- posed to think that the strongly.marked indifference of the natives to improved accommodations, and their disposition to be satisfied with the merest necessaries, is one of the most prominent of these circumstances, and one which it will be the most difficult to eradicate or overcome. How else are we to account for the vastly superior condition of the descendants of the Welsh in Wexford, of the Palatines in Limerick, and of the Scotch and English in many parts of Ulster? They have been placed under the same circumstances as the native Irish; and they are, notwithstanding, comparatively industrious, orderly, and well off."