very bad master. To raise the social pulse to an active healthy rate, we can well understand to be highly beneficial; yet our earnest desire is to keep as short of fever as possible. From the various developments of covetousness, rather than wholesome industrial energy, much of our artificiality and complication of system has arisen: and whenever modifications grow necessary, as they must through the simple lapse of time, to omit other obvious disturbing causes, machinery so intricate and multiform will crash, and tear, and tumble about our ears, with ten times the suffering that would occur, were our habits less ambitious. We only wish further to add, that should the cracks and chasms yawn much further apart, than some of them are doing at the present moment, immense amounts of capital, together with entire commercial interests in which myriads are inextricably involved, will be hurled headlong into a gulf of destruction, leaving few traces behind them except piteous misery and woe. est. The learned professions may be thought scarcely to demand a remark, being so notoriously within reach of universal observation. Medical men appear on the whole to consider themselves exempted from the sphere of politics,-notwithstanding several remarkable instances to the contrary. The College of Surgeons and Apothecaries' Hall are their two houses of professional interThey are at all events more like lookers on, than participants in the fray of those conflicting questions, which sometimes go so far amongst others, as to dissolve even natural affinities. The bar is political enough, yet its members make better advocates than statesmen; the largest portion of them taking, as is generally believed, the Conservative side. Our clergy and pastors probably feel more, and express more, than the lawyers do upon these subjects. They have in truth deeper stakes and interests in the now somewhat darkening drama. The nonconformists might borrow sundry hints from ministers of the Establishment, in hanging close together for general purposes, or in other words, merging personal differences in some one mare magnum of general agreement. This, we are persuaded, might be acted upon amongst Dissenters, with a view to the furtherance of their just views, without any inconvenient or inexpedient compromise of sectional peculiarities: take the case of combining for the abolition of church-rates as a case in point. The upholders of state-churches have caught all manner of alarms. Their armour is on, their battalions are organized, prelates, deans, prebendaries, and archdeacons keep their wigs ready powdered for proper occasions, and even those who preach the gospel faithfully, build away with one hand, brandishing their worldly weapons in the other. From what we have seen with our own eyes, and heard with our own ears, not even hired attornies are more active and effective agents at elections, than are the established clergy. They fasten upon some religious question, to sound it as a trumpet of war, for assembling their followers in the field, and to serve as a sort of apology for being there themselves. The new commutation of tithes has conferred on them an enormous pecuniary benefit. The ancient caricature is perhaps no longer applicable of the tail of a tithe-pig disappearing between the purple lips of some very reverend cathedral dignitary; but another portrait may well be drawn of a Church receiving into her coffers five millions sovereigns a year, and gravely protesting, in all the plenitude of professed disinterestedness, that she had just so many annual reasons for things continuing as they are! Our retailers want the Ballot, nor can it be much longer withheld; but they desire it as a means to an end. They and the farmers are descending fast in the social scale from their being counted over by their customers and landlords, in every sharp contest, exactly as drivers count cattle at a fair. Conscience is made such a mere mockery in the matter, that the franchise is demoralizing, where it ought to purify. Shopkeepers as a class, from their circumstances, and cultivators of the soil from their destitution of knowledge, are peculiarly exposed to the worst influences of bribery or intimidation, or at least to what amounts to those evils. Having lost their self-respect in too many instances, through moral cowardice, the standard of honesty itself, in other dealings or transactions, has been lowered down. Maxims like that in Leviticus, Just balances, just weights, a just 'ephah, and a just hin shall ye have,' float often rather loosely upon the unstable waves of bitter expediency, instead of being grounded as they once were, in the very roots of the heart and conscience. The denunciation of St. James against those keeping back the fair wages of our husbandmen should often lead farmers to listen and tremble. Though the latter may plead, that they are squeezed by their proprietors, they squeeze most unmercifully in return. Indeed the dura ilia messorum have been proverbial, from the days of Horace to our own. But in this way it is, that one mischief begets a score; moral nuisances infest the enclosures of our cultivators, as well as the counters of our tradesmen; and while they themselves groan, those beneath them complain still more, till the basement of the social pyramid rocks to its lowest foundations. We have left ourselves little room for more than a glimpse at the operatives. Here are the hands and feet, we may almost say the heart, or every thing except the head-of the community. What a mass of souls and bodies,-of affections and sympathies,-of mortals doomed to labour,-of immortals destined to eternity! It must surely be admitted, that they have never hitherto received one hundredth portion of the attention which their circumstances deserve; nor will they ever, we will under take to affirm, until the organic framework of our representation is materially altered. Is the pension of some twentieth cousin twice removed of some peer or illustrious commoner presumed to be in peril before a committee appointed by parliament to revise or remove that great national abomination?-then how grand is the stir, how delicate the attention shown,-how earnest the desire of alleviating sensibility,-how full and perfect is the reparation afforded. But for those rivers of tears which poverty or toil is shedding every night in secret,-for those countless groans, amongst working millions, which, could they be blended into one, and conducted to the proper point, would rend the roof of the House of Commons, for all these, we repeat it, the effective actual sympathy may be summed up as a positive nothingness! Take as recent instances, the bill for suspending an eighteen penny duty upon the Duke of Marlborough's allowance from the Post-office, a sinecure which has paid his family out of the national funds £650,000 in the last 130 years,-as compared with the treatment shown towards the complaint of certain parties, imprisoned like common felons, previous to trial for political offences. Contrast the £70,000 for stables at Windsor, with the £30,000 for the education of sixteen millions; a grant extorted by the miserable majority of two for the welfare of a population so sunk in ignorance, that a fanatic could raise adherents, and lead them to destruction, under the fullest impression, first that he was Sir William Courteney, then that he was Baron Rothchild, then that he was the Earl of Devon,-and, lastly, that he was the Saviour of the world: all this too, be it never forgotten, in the neighbourhood of the wealthiest archiepiscopal metropolis of the richest established church in the world! And is it to be imagined that Chartism is departed, while things go on unmodified and unmitigated, just because the scum of the first movements, the physical-force enthusiasts, have been committed to gaol, or transported to Australia? Our readers may depend upon it, that it is far otherwise. A deep and dark mine of discontent is widening every moment under the platforms and bulwarks of our national prosperity. Ignorance, the real Guy Fawkes of the nineteenth century, with Riot, and Immorality, and neglected Pauperism, all in one conspiracy, are heaping up fearfully those explosive materials, which wait only for the train and match of an opportunity. Matters can never proceed in safety, for any length of time, should ancient abuses continue to be cherished, and necessary reforms be resisted. Earl Grey came into office upon pledges, which the middle and lower classes of this country will not tamely suffer to be played with, or frittered away. His grand measure was framed upon an acknowledged principle, that real and substantial representation was to be the pillar of government. The result has been, that in They fasten upon some religious question, to sound it as a trumpet of war, for assembling their followers in the field, and to serve as a sort of apology for being there themselves. The new commutation of tithes has conferred on them an enormous pecuniary benefit. The ancient caricature is perhaps no longer applicable of the tail of a tithe-pig disappearing between the purple lips of some very reverend cathedral dignitary; but another portrait may well be drawn of a Church receiving into her coffers five millions sovereigns a year, and gravely protesting, in all the plenitude of professed disinterestedness, that she had just so many annual reasons for things continuing as they are! Our retailers want the Ballot, nor can it be much longer withheld; but they desire it as a means to an end. They and the farmers are descending fast in the social scale from their being counted over by their customers and landlords, in every sharp contest, exactly as drivers count cattle at a fair. Conscience is made such a mere mockery in the matter, that the franchise is demoralizing, where it ought to purify. Shopkeepers as a class, from their circumstances, and cultivators of the soil from their destitution of knowledge, are peculiarly exposed to the worst influences of bribery or intimidation, or at least to what amounts to those evils. Having lost their self-respect in too many instances, through moral cowardice, the standard of honesty itself, in other dealings or transactions, has been lowered down. Maxims like that in Leviticus, Just balances, just weights, a just 'ephah, and a just hin shall ye have,' float often rather loosely upon the unstable waves of bitter expediency, instead of being grounded as they once were, in the very roots of the heart and conscience. The denunciation of St. James against those keeping back the fair wages of our husbandmen should often lead farmers to listen and tremble. Though the latter may plead, that they are squeezed by their proprietors, they squeeze most unmercifully in return. Indeed the dura ilia messorum have been proverbial, from the days of Horace to our own. But in this way it is, that one mischief begets a score; moral nuisances infest the enclosures of our cultivators, as well as the counters of our tradesmen; and while they themselves groan, those beneath them complain still more, till the basement of the social pyramid rocks to its lowest foundations. We have left ourselves little room for more than a glimpse at the operatives. Here are the hands and feet, we may almost say the heart, or every thing except the head-of the community. What a mass of souls and bodies,-of affections and sympathies, of mortals doomed to labour,-of immortals destined to eternity! It must surely be admitted, that they have never hitherto received one hundredth portion of the attention which their circumstances deserve; nor will they ever, we will under character, is to be achieved, without an immense addition to the peerage, we profess ourselves utterly at a loss to conceive. The rule of the satirist is a good one, Nec Deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus; yet surely that precise nodus has now come to pass in our history. Were the crown to exert its prerogative, after a fashion befitting the occasion, one noble remedial act might invest our householders with that which, we must ever contend, the ancient constitution of these realms gave them. Taxation, heavy as it is, would be borne cheerfully when running parallel with representation; or as nearly so as circumstances allow. Great fiscal changes would undoubtedly follow; but that must be the case, do what we will. Our main desire is, that seeing these alterations to be inevitable, they may be brought about peaceably and not violently. Meanwhile Chartism diffuses itself rapidly; by which we mean not physical-force insanity, but the growing impression, that he who sits under his roof-tree, paying imposts whether directly or indirectly for the protection which the law affords him,-and who may be drawn at any moment to serve in the militia, or otherwise be obliged to act in defence of his country,-ought to have the elective franchise. Should this be granted in due season, with due wisdom, and in a gracious manner, all may yet be safe; and although we look round, rather despondingly, we confess, for those able enough, and honest enough, to apply the only real remedy, we pray God, that such may be yet raised up, in his own time and way, so as that our beloved land may subside from her present state of alarm, uneasiness, and uncertainty, into the smooth waters of progress, prosperity, and concord. Brief Notices. Memoirs of Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, and of the Court of Queen Anne. By Mrs. A. T. Thomson. Two volumes 8vo. London: Henry Colborn. 1839. It is remarkable, as Mrs. Thomson remarks, that both the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, two persons who acquired in their lifetime as great a share of celebrity as any British subjects ever enjoyed, incurred a risk of not being commemorated, after their decease, by any connected and adequate work.' Archdeacon Coxe, in his able and elaborate Life of the hero of Blenheim has supplied this lack of service, so far as the duke is concerned, and the volumes now before us, will |