refer for any particular information of which he is desirous. Every general reader should, if possible, be furnished with an English Dictionary, a portable Encyclopedia, a summary of universal history, and some of the best systems of popular science. IX. Knowledge might be promoted by delineations and inscriptions on various articles of furniture.

We have, for example, many kinds of bowls, drinking vessels, &c. made of porcelain or earthen ware, on which many foolish inscriptions and devices are engraved. We have likewise carpets, bed-curtains, handkerchiefs, &c. on which groups of fantastic figures, and various distorted representations of natural and artificial objects, are depicted, which serve no purpose but that of exhibiting a gaudy show.-Now, if, instead of such paltry devices, moral sentiments and maxims, pithy sayings, and sentences descriptive of certain historical and scientific facts, such as those formerly specified, (pp. 132—406.) were inscribed on the articles to which I allude, useful hints might be communicated and rendered familiar wherever we turned our eyes, and might occasionally suggest topics for useful conversation. In like manner, were real objects in nature and art depicted on china-ware, drinking vessels, printed cotton handkerchiefs, window-curtains, carpets, and similar articles, in place of the fantastical figures usually delineated, which have no prototypes in nature, a considerable fund of information might in this way be imparted. For pictures, when true to nature and correctly delineated, convey useful knowledge as well as books, and sometimes in a more pleasant and rapid manner; and there is no more difficulty in engraving real objects than in depicting the distorted and fantastic objects which are usually represented; and in course of time, every rational person would be induced to consider every thing as beautiful which is really useful. In following out these suggestions, we might have paper hangings and carpets diversified with maps of the world and of particular countries-bed and window curtains adorned with public buildings, landscapes, views of caverns, grottos, volcanic mountains, cataracts, steam-carriages, air-pumps, telescopes, foreign trees, shrubs, and animals-our plates, teacups and saucers decorated with miniature pictures of similar objects, accompanied with wise sayings, immutable truths and short statements of important facts. In this way a fund of sententious wisdom, in connection with views of interesting scenery, might be introduced into every family; which would tend to excite inquiry, to lead to improving conversation, and to deter from tne pursuit of vicious and criminal courses. A king was said to have been saved from being poisoned by his cup-bearer, by the

following motto engraved on the cup which contained the poison, "Never begin any action of which thou hast not well considered the end."—It is evident, that the above hints might be reduced to practice with as much ease and cheapness as silly and licentious inscriptions and clumsy castles in the air; and that almost every article of dress and furniture, every garden bower, and every rural and architectural decoration, might in this way be rendered subservient to human knowledge and improvement; provided society would give encouragement to such devices. But, hitherto, the foolish and depraved character of man has displayed itself in this as well as in almost every other department of his actions.

X. The improvement of society requires that changes and alterations be made in many of our established laws, regulations, and customs.

The laws and practices to which I allude are so numerous, that I shall mention only two or three as a specimen. 1. All taxes connected with the diffusion of knowledge should be wholly and for ever abolished. These include taxes on the materials and the manufacture of paper, which, besides directly adding to the price of this article, are found to be extremely vexatious to the manufacturer, and prevent him from getting his articles rapidly conveyed to the market-taxes on newspapers, engravings, pamphlets, periodical works, and advertisements of books and other articles of trade-and taxes, too, in the shape of entering books in "Stationers' Hall," depriving the author or publisher of thirteen copies of his work, however valuable and expensive, which in certain cases will amount to the sum of £200 or £300. Were these and all other taxes connected with literature abolished, and an economical mode of printing adopted, books might be purchased at little more than one-half of their present price. In this connection, too, it may be stated, that the charges demanded for the insertion of advertisements of books in newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals, are extravagantly high, and add, in no inconsiderable degree, to the price of literature. In consequence of the tax on newspapers there are only 30 millions of them circulated in Great Britain and Ireland, which is but the one twentyfifth part of the number circulated in the United States of America, which contain little more than half the population of the British empire. In England there is only one newspaper to 46,000 inhabitants.-2. The postage of letters should be greatly reduced The conveyance of letters is scarcely a fair subject of taxation, if we wish to facilitate the interchange of sentiment and friendship among mankind. It tends to prevent the poor man from corresponding with his friends and relatives at a distance-to prevent

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communications being sent to periodicals—and to abridge the correspondence of men of literature and science, some of whom have very little money to spare. I have known persons of this description taxed in this way, to the amount of three or four shillings, and even of half-a-guinea in one day, when such sums were imperatively required for procuring the necessaries of life.—It is likewise unfair, and absolutely unjust, that the inhabitants of villages, who are generally poorer than those in towns, should pay more for letters and newspapers than others. While a person in a large town receives a daily newspaper from London gratis, the villager, only four miles farther distant, pays for the conveyance of the same paper, twenty-six shillings a year, besides paying an additional penny for all his letters.* The postage of letters should be so regulated that all may enjoy an equal benefit—that every facility may be afforded for transmitting them to foreign countries, whether belonging to the British dominions or not, and the charge for letters and packages should be no more than what is sufficient to defray all the expenses of the Post-office establishment; as is the case in the United States of America. certain regulations all proof sheets of any work sent to the author for corrections should be free of postage. In these and many other respects our Post-office regulations require a thorough investigation and amendment.†-3. The names of ships and steam-vessels should be painted in large characters on the most conspicuous parts of these vehicles. If the names of ships are intended to distinguish them from each other, it appears preposterous and truly ridiculous, to have the name depicted on the lower part of the stern, which always stands in an oblique position, and which is seldom or never seen, when approaching another vessel or towards the shore. If the name of a vessel were painted in large characters on each side of the bow, it might be distinguished by a good telescope at the distance of four or five miles, whereas it is sometimes difficult to read the name of a vessel on the stern at the distance of a few yards. As it is interesting in many cases, not only to the owners of ships, but to those who have friends and relatives on board, to be able to distinguish any particular vessel, when it first makes its appearance, the hint now given cannot be deemed altogether unimportant.-4. The practice of paying waiters, chambermaids, boot-boys, and ostlers

* Here I allude to the Penny posts lately established in most of our villages.

+ In America the postage for 30 miles is 6 cents, equal to 3d. English ; 80 miles, 10 cents; 120 miles, 12 cents; 400 miles, 18 cents, &c.

at inns, servant-maids, &c. at private houses, and guards and postilions in stage-coaches, should be universally discarded-as creating unnecessary trouble and expense to travellers, and fostering a spirit of meanness, impudence, and avarice, in the persons occupying such situations. It would be conducive both to the moral and pecuniary interests of all parties concerned, were such customs abolished. Mr. Stuart informs us, that no such custom prevails in the Northern States of America, and that it would be considered in almost every instance as an insult, to offer such persons a gratuity for performing their duty. This absurd and degrading practice has been handed down to us by the aristocracy, the servants of whom are always on the watch for gratuities from strangers and visitors. A literary gentleman, Dr. who had frequently been invited to dine with Lord was one day accosted by his lordship, and asked why he had not for a long time past complied with his invitation to dinner? "Why," replied the doctor, " because I cannot afford it; I can dine at my own apartments for less than two shillings, but when I dine with your lordship it costs me at least five shillings-every one of your servants, at my departure, holding out his hand, and expecting a half-crown or a shilling at least to be given him."5. Another abominable custom which prevails at public meetings, and which should be discarded, is, hissing and groaning at certain speakers, or at the sentiments they express. A hiss or a groan may display the malignity of those who utter it, and their antipathy to the opinions expressed, but it never embodies a reason or an argument to confute the speaker, or convince the audience of the futility of his sentiments. In all deliberative assemblies, every speaker who conducts himself with decorum should be listened to without interruption, and facts and arguments brought forward to confute his positions, if they be untenable. To attempt to put down a speaker by hisses or groans is inconsistent with the dignity of an assembly of rational beings-is characteristic of a rabble, or a company of boors, rather than an assemblage of men of intelligence and generally indicates the weakness of the cause which such conduct is intended to support. -6. Our civil and criminal codes require to be simplified and re-modelled, and formed on the principles of equity and natural justice. Many of their enactments are repugnant to reason and religion, and inconsistent with the dictates of philanthropy and common sense, and with the spirit of an enlightened age. The expense of law processes, as presently conducted, amounts to a prohibition of a poor man's obtaining justice in any case where he has suffered an injury; and the multiplicity of statutes and

precedents, the vagueness of their language, and the unintelligible jargon of terms and phrases connected with them, frequently lead to almost interminable litigations, till the whole value of the subject in dispute is more than expended, and the litigants reduced to poverty. Our civil code requires to be cancelled, and reconstructed, de novo, on principles similar to the "Code Napoleon" -and our penal statutes require to be remodelled in such a manner, that punishments may be proportioned to crimes, and that they be of such a nature as to promote the reformation of the

criminal.

The above are merely specimens of customs, laws, and usages, which require to be either modified or abolished, in order to promote the advancement of society.

XI. The diffusion of knowledge, and the improvement of mankind, are, in some measure, dependent on a friendly intercourse being established among all civilized nations.

Hitherto, nations, even those that are adjacent to each other, have acted towards other nations with a spirit of selfishness and jealousy, as if they were beings of a different species, and had no common relation as brethren, or as children of the same Benevolent and Almighty Parent. Harassing restrictions, duties, excise regulations, and every other impediment, are thrown in the way of travellers, when passing from one country to another, as if the interests of one class of human beings were set in opposition to those of another. When a traveller passes from England to France he must pay for a passport, and should he happen to lose it he is treated as a rogue or a spy. When he passes from Holland to Britain, and carries an old Dutch Bible along with him, before he can convey it from the shore he must pay a duty to the amount of far more than its value. When he is about to embark at Liverpool for America, his trunks and packages are searched, duties demanded, and a host of petty tyrants under the excise vex and harass him in all his arrangements; when he lands on the other side of the Atlantic, he is subjected to a similar ordeal; and when he returns to England with a few volumes of American literature, his luggage is again subjected to a strict scrutiny, and he must pay a shilling for every pound weight of knowledge he has imported.* Besides the spirit of warfare, which has so fre

The following instance, among many others, shows the harassing nature of custom-house restrictions :-A. Davidson, A. M., a celebrated lecturer on experimental philosophy and chemistry, after having returned from Ireland to Liverpool, had his packages, containing an extensive apparatus, thrown into the custom-house, which were not permitted to be removed till thev should be minutely inspected. They consisted chiefly of glass cylin