intend two hundred infants for months together, with no aid except that of a daughter, then a child; and, in addition to this, to explain the system to visiters coming from morning till night, may seem incredible; but all this she actually accomplished. Frequently has she been occupied from nine in the morning until five in the afternoon without any relief or refreshment. Visiters often arrived at twelve o'clock, after a journey of ten or twenty miles, when she would cheerfully direct the children (sometimes amounting to fifty or sixty) who dined in the school, to go through their various exercises, and thus relinquish the only rest that could be enjoyed in the midst of her arduous labours. These, at length, undermined her constitution, and aware that her end was approaching, she intimated this to her infant charge. Their replies discovered their warm affection: "We won't part with you ;- -we can't let you go; we love you dearly!" was often heard. When she told them of her exhaustion from so much talking and singing, some entreated that she would not work so hard; others promised to, nurse her; and, when she was confined to her own room, many brought oranges and all the little presents they could command. Indeed, in the whole course of my observation, I never met with ingratitude from children under six years of age; and how much they may be acted upon by love, those to whom reference is made amply proved. Many had come to us to wean, and before they could speak, and were now our head scholars ;-these, in common with others, were most kindly solicitous about their governess when she did not appear in the school as before; and, as soon as they heard she was confined to her bed, the little monitors begged permission to see her. The request was granted. On going up stairs I heard them say, "Hush! hush! don't make any noise." At the desire of one of the leaders their shoes had been taken off, and we reached the room before the nurse was aware of our approach. I marked their anxious countenances as they gazed on their altered teacher, but did not speak, when she raised herself and addressed them on her removal from this world, so simply and pathetically that all were in tears. On their return they told the rest of the little scholars that the governess was dying; and when they went out to play they might be heard, saying, without this being urged upon them, "Hush! hush! Think of poor governess; don't let us count out loud in swinging, but only whisper;" and this was regularly done every day.

'I still buoyed myself up with hopes of her recovery, but these she did not entertain. Almost as soon as she was confined to her room, she said, "It is now four years since you brought me to this place; some hundreds of dear little children have thus been preserved from the dangers and evils of this wretched neighbourhood, and great are the fruits we have been permitted to gather in consequence, not only in the respect and love of the infants themselves, but even in that of their parents universally; but I shall never live to labour amongst them again, nor shall I ever leave this spot till my corpse is borne to its resting place."

"The conviction thus expressed was, alas! too well founded.' -p. 22.

Her husband, in consequence of this bereavement, joined to his arduous exertions, was seized with a brain fever, which kept him a long time in extreme danger, from which he was not expected to recover; but he confines his brief notice of the death of his wife to those particulars which relate to the infant school, thus creating a deeper sympathy in the reader than if he had dilated on his own peculiar grief.

The interest taken in infancy, the judicious choice of means, and the amiable feelings displayed throughout, give to this work an inexpressible charm; and although a little vanity may be detected in making this rather a personal narrative than a mere account of the progress of the system, this is readily pardoned, since it sheds over the work a much greater degree of interest, and makes it incalculably more amusing to the general reader, who will not pause to inquire what have halloween' charms to do with early discipline.'

ILLUSTRATIONS OF POLITICAL ECONOMY. Illustrations of Political Economy, by Miss Martineau. A Manchester Strike-Cousin Marshall-Homes Abroad, POLITICAL economy has heretofore been regarded more as a science of an abstract nature, than as one capable of familiar practical illustration; and its study has been mostly confined to persons, whose previous habits of thought have enabled them to enter into abstruse investigations.

It remained for the author of the Results of Machinery, and for Miss Martineau, to show how this science may be made applicable to the business of life-how its principles may be clearly explained to the general reader, and how their developement may be made at once entertaining and instructive. They have divested the science of the repulsive sternness and coldness with which it has hitherto been supposed to be encrusted, and have shown that the soundest principles of political economy may be united with the purest feelings of benevolence. These little volumes of Miss Martineau, which we now propose briefly to notice, form a series of most interesting tales, forcibly illustrating the principles of political economy, by scenes and events so vividly pourtrayed, and so true to nature, that they come home to the bosoms and the feelings of almost every description of readers.

Miss Martineau having adopted the form of Tales for her

2

Illustrations of Political Economy,' has at once addressed herself to a class of readers who have hitherto been left entirely uninstructed in the most important truths of political science; we mean, the children of the middle classes. For that her tales will be largely read by persons of this age and class, cannot be doubted; and, on the whole, the result will probably be favourable. However this may be, we are ready to acknowledge the great ability that is shown in the construction of these tales. Correct judgment, and generally an accurate acquaintance with the subject, are here united with talents not generally possessed by writers on political science. Some of her characters exhibit a force and originality of delineation not inferior to those of a skilful novelist; while the conversations, usually natural, and sustained with spirit, seem to arise out of the passing events, rather than to be used as arguments in support of any principle. The simple story is managed with so much skill, that we are arrested by the beauties of the fiction, and forget for a time that the work is written with any other motive than to delight the fancy of the reader. As though Miss Martineau had been herself aware of this objection, she has added a concise summary at the end of each volume, clearly laying down the principles which the foregoing tale is intended to establish, and which recalls the reader to the purpose of the work, compelling in general his entire acquiescence in their truth.

Among the many examples which might be brought in illustration of these remarks, are more especially some of the scenes and characters in Ireland,' in Ella of Garveloch,' and its continuation, where the character of Ella, as shown in all the relations of social life, is drawn out with a beauty and a force, which could only be accomplished by a master hand.

Notwithstanding the admiration and deep interest which the perusal of these books excites, it never fails, however, to leave a painful impression on the mind. This perhaps arises as much from the nature of the subjects, as from the manner of treating them. Many excellent writers have hitherto only laid open the miseries of society; they have, as skilful and honest surgeons, displayed the gangrene which is preying on the constitution; they have exposed the pernicious treatment of quacks, who would allure to hope by false views, but while they have shown how much the disease is aggravated by such nostrums, some have not scrupled to pronounce it incurable, and to assert that the bright visions of the philanthropist can never be realized.

Such writers have hitherto perhaps generalized too much.

In viewing a mass of suffering, nothing appears to us prominent or distinct: with the utter hopelessness of removing it, our sympathy is not strongly awakened, and the contemplation can be endured without injury to personal happiness. It is on this point that Miss Martineau differs so materially from all who have gone before her; she does not dismiss feeling as inimical to the sober exposition of her subject; while she would enforce the necessity of abstaining from charity in the common acceptation of the word, she still more strongly creates a desire for its judicious application.

It would be impossible, within the limits of one review, to do justice to all the volumes of this series, nor can we be content to dismiss them with general and indiscriminate praise. Out of the number we have therefore selected for more particular notice three, the titles of which are prefixed to this article, not because the merits of these have any greater claims to attention than some of the rest, but because they more particularly treat of the state of the labouring class in this country, and of the relative duties of the rich and poor. While The Manchester Strike' fully admits the right of workmen peaceably to combine against their masters for a higher rate of wages, it, at the same time, proves the bad effects of such a measure. This purpose is extremely well executed, the characters are well supported,-the arguments are strikingly put, while they so completely form a part of the story that there is great interest in the detail. The character of the man who is compelled by circumstances to take the most conspicuous part in opposing the masters might to some, perhaps, appear too elevated. One who could think, feel, and express himself in the manner here depicted, would, it may be supposed, scarcely have remained in the rank of the mechanic. That there are such men, however, among the class of mechanics, we are assured by those who are well acquainted with their condition. He is thus made to speak when suddenly called upon to take a leading part for which he was wholly unprepared.

*** Evils there are indeed still; and such a thing is still heard of as persecution in consequence of a combination; but such evils as are inflicted by the crushing hand of power light on a few, and the devotion of those few secures the exemption of the rest. It is certainly an evil to a peaceably disposed man to see himself regarded with a fierce eye by those to whom he no longer dares touch his hat lest he should be accused of suing for mercy. It is certainly an evil to a man of independent mind to be placed under the feet of any former enemy, to receive his weekly subsistence from the hands of his equals, and to fancy that the whisper is going round,—“This is he who lives upon our gathered pence." Such evils await, as you

know, him who comes forward to lead a combination; but they belong to the state of affairs; and, since they can neither be helped nor be allowed to weigh against the advantages of union, they should be not only patiently but silently borne. Well is it for the victim if he can say to himself that now is the time for him to practise the heroism which, in grander scenes, has often made his bosom throb. He may even esteem himself honoured in his lot being somewhat of the same cast, though his own consciousness alone may perceive the resemblance,-something of the same cast, I say, with that of venerated statesmen who have returned to the plough to be forgotten in their own age and remembered in another, -with that of generals who have held out the decrepit hand with a petition to the gay passers by to give a halfpenny to the deliverer of his country.' 'But if, indeed, interests must continue to be opposed, if bread must be fought for, and the discord of men must for ever be contrasted with the harmony of nature, let the battle be as fair as circumstances will allow. Let the host of pigmies try if they cannot win a chance against the regiment of giants by organizing their numbers and knitting them into a phalanx. "The odds against them are fearful, it is true, but more desperate battles have been sustained and won. I have not, indeed, as the friend at my elbow reminds me, represented our case so favourably as I might have done. Many here think that the power is in our own hands; some, that the chances are equal, and, the least sanguine, that the chance is fair. I have spoken of the general necessity of union, and not with any intention of taking for granted that we are on the eve of an express struggle;-this depends on circumstances yet to be disclosed. Some change, and that a speedy one, there ought to be in the condition of the working classes ;— they cannot go on long labouring their lives away for a less recompense than good habitations, clothing, and food. These form the very least sum of the just rewards of industry; whereas, a multitude are pinched with the frosts of winter-live amidst the stench of unwholesome dwellings in summer-have nearly forgotten the taste of animal food, and even sigh for bread as for a luxury. The question to be debated and to be put to the trial if necessary, and I wish every master in Manchester was here to take down my words for his further consideration,-is, whether a social being has not a right to comfortable subsistence in return for his full and efficient labour."" -pp. 47, 50.

This excellent, as well as eloquent, man, who is made reluctantly to put himself forward from a sense of duty, and for the sake of his fellow-workmen,-who conducts himself throughout in every respect wisely, discreetly, and with the highest integrity, is made to fall a sacrifice to his very virtues, the masters afterwards refusing to employ him as having been the leader in the general strike.

He no longer touched his hat to the masters or appeared to see them as they passed. He no longer repaired to the Spread Eagle OCT., 1832.-JAN., 1833.

L