that of France, under the ancient monarchy, and at the most brilliant æra of her commerce. In this part of the work the author goes into a variety of interesting details, for which we muft refer the reader to the work itfelf; noticing however that it appears "the amount of British manufactures taken by Ireland has increased fince the union from 2,087,672 to 4,500,000l." Nothing, the author remarks, can be a more certain proof of the opulence of a country, than a progreffive increafe in the amount of her imports, and this increase not confined to articles of luxury, ufed by the rich; it has been fill greater in the confumption of the inferior ranks. All thefe obfervations are illuftrated at large, and proved by authentic documents. "An increase in the imports of a nation proves;" fays the author, "an increase in her enjoyments, an increase in her exports proves an increafe in her induftry." He begins with the first, and in order to fhow how Ireland has been affected by the union, and how by the blockade, has formed three columns, the firft fhowing the average annual imports of the three years immediately preceding the union, the fecond the averag annual imports of three years immediately preceding the Berlin Decree, and the third the imports of the year 1808, when the blockade was carried into complete effe. The articles are even claffed in order to fhow the progrefs of agriculture and other useful arts; and the increase both in the luxuries of the rich, and the comforts of the lower ranks of fociety. Some importane obfervations are fubjoined, il luftrating the facts which have been proved; and amongst other circumftances, the author remarks how egregioufly, thofe perfons were deceived who opposed the union from an apprehension that the removal of the legiflature would reduce many of those who were engaged in the manufacture of articles of luxury, to idlenefs and beggary. The demand for feveral articles of that defcription has, he ftates, in general been doubled fince the blockade, and tripled fince the union; and as to fome there has been even a tenfold increafe. He infers from thence, that for every wealthy family which has quitted Ireland, three or four of thofe which remain have afcended from the middling ranks to the higher, and at leaft nine or ten from the lower to the middling ranks. This great change, he obferves, has been effected within the laft ten years. The foregoing is but a faint outline of the able ftate ment by which the wonderfully rapid increase in the induftr and profperity of Ireland is proved. A diligent perufal of this farement, and of the forcible and acute obfervations interfperfed with it, will, if we miftake not, amply reward the attention attention which an intelligent reader may bestow. We were particularly ftruck with the author's remarks on the erroneous notions that have prevailed refpecting the balance of trade, and on the error of those continental statesmen who discover in the increafed imports of their country nothing but caufes of alarm; and we congratulate the friends of both countries on the ample proofs here difplayed of the benefits refulting from the union of Ireland with Great Britain. The author has fubjoined fome obfervations on the wellknown work of Mr. Hauterive; a work, the nature and tendency of which was briefly pointed out by us foon after its appearance*, and which was moft fully and ably answered by Mr. Gentzt. A few of the most striking and mifchievous fallacies of the French writer are here expofed, and particu larly the inconfiftency of reprefenting, in one part of his work, the English as fo burthened by the weight of their debt, amount of their taxes, &c. that a continuance of the war muft involve the ruin of their finances, their credit and their commerce, and yet, in a fubfequent part, labouring to prove that" war is the only actual and the only poffible fupport of the commerce of Great Britain." "The direct reverfe of this," fays the prefent author, "is the truth. The perfection to which all operations of labour have been brought in England is precifely the reafon that this country is the greatest lofer from every war which impoverishes her neighbours, and the greatest gainer from every circumftance which inriches them." Still however her loffes are (it is added) but of a negative defcription, while thofe of other nations are pofitive; and the perfectly new and unexampled ftate of things introduced by the blockade renders the prefent war an exception to the general rule. Ireland (he admits) is indebted to it for the doubling of her industry and her comforts. The Appendix contains fome obfervations on a late work of Mr. Newenham, called a View of the Natural and Com mercial Circumftances of Ireland, and that author is reprehended for fome exaggerations and mifreprefentation; upon which, not having the work before us, we will not take upon ourselves to pronounce. "Every one of Mr. N.'s affertions of the impoverishment of his country, is accompanied," fays the prefent author, "by a ftriking and irrefiftible proof of her increafing wealth." See Brit. Crit, vol. xviii. p. 95. + See Brit. Crit. vol, xx. p. 524 and 628. Mr. N.'s declaration, that "the commercial profperity of Ireland has visibly declined fince the union," is combated by Sir F. D'Iveinois hy fhowing that, in order to make the balance of trade againft Ireland, that author has taken the Official Rates, inftead of the real value of the several articles; by which real value the balance of trade, instead of being (as fted by Mr. N.) above a million against her, was, in 1808, between four or five millions in her favour. This is fhown from a table of rates given by Mr. N. in his own Appendix. The increase in the commercial profperity of Ireland is alfo fhown to be the foundation on which Mr. N. bimfelf has objected to the number of Reprefentations allotted to her in the year 1800, as having become (in 1807) too fmall by one third, for her increafed population, revenue and commerce. This objection (the prefent author obferves) is grounded, not upon the official, but the real value of her exports and imports; though, when he is reprobating the union, as deftructive of her profperity, he fets before us only the official rates. The following important fuggeflion, refpecting Ireland, concludes this able and excellent work. I have fcrupulously confined my remarks to that part of Mr. N.'s work which was in direct contradiction to mine. But "if, as I fear, it be true that his attack has fomented the prejudices which too many perfons in Ireland entertained concerning the Union, it ought undoubtedly to be answered at large; more particularly, becaufe, as it feeems to me, the time is already come, when the way should be paved for the entire completion of the Union by a gradual confolidation of the financial concerns of the the two islands. With a view to an operation fo delicate, yet withal fo neceffary, I can.ot but conceive that every impartial inveftigation and difcuffion of local circumstances, and even of prejudices which may thwart it, must be highly ufeful.” P. xxiii. Were Many and useful have been the works of the able and public fpirited writer before us: but we do not recollect one fo - interefting to the people of this country, and in its tendency, fo beneficial to the nations of the European continent, as :that which we have now endeavoured to delineate. this Trect and the jufly admired "Letter" (by an American Gentleman)" on the genius and difpofitions of the French Government," circulated as widely and perufed as attentively as their importance and merits delerve, whatever force might for a time controul the actions, one fentiment would pervade the minds of men, at leaf of all but the moft profligate of mankind; a fentiment of enlarged and liberal policy, a deteftation of commercial jealoufies, and a warm attachment to that that nation which alone opposes a mound to the deftructive side of military defpotism *. ART. III. The Lady of the Lake; a Poem. By Walter Scott, F/9. 40. 419 pp. 21. 2s. Longman and Co. 1810. Alfo in 8vo. 2d Edition. 12s. To thofe who are truly and steadily good," fays Plutarch, "no honour is more dear than that of conferring honour on the deferving; nor any diftinction more becoming, than that of giving diftinétion f." After the delight we have received from various compofitions of Mr. Scott, we should feel degraded in our own eyes if we felt a wifh to deny him the well earned title of a poet; or even to lower and diminish his fame by captious and invidious abatements. Such attempts, however called for by the cravings of fome readers, will never be made by the British. Critic, whofe editors, if they prefume not to take all the praise bestowed by Plutarch, are more ambitious to deferve it, than the utmost credit that could be gained by harfhuefs and injuflice. If we lay then that the poet has confulted his own eafe in the verification of this Poem, we do not mean to add that he has thereby defrauded the reader of any gratification. May perhaps may read the Poem without perceiving that the whole narrative is given in the easiest, and generally the tameft measure that our language knows; the meafure in which improvifatori, if England could produce them, would certainly fpeak or fing; the eight fyllable couplet; the verfe of Gay's Fables, Prior's Alma, &c. that the numbers which divide the pages, and certainly relieve the attention, are perfectly arbitrary, marking neither ftanzas, nor any artificial divifions, but inere paragraphs; and that the poem might as Since writing the above we have received the third Edition of the original work in Freneb. It contains the remarks on Hauterive's work, but not the Appendix on Mr. Newenham's "View of Ireland." In other refpects it feems as full as the English Edition, fo far as we have yet compared them, and being the original, is, as may be conceived, expreffed in more lively and energetic language. + Τοῖς ἀληθινῶς καὶ βεβαίως ἀγαθοῖς, τιμή τε καλλίση το τιμῆσαι τινα τῶν ἀξίων· καὶ κόσμος εὐπρεπές αλός, το αποκοσμήσω. ΡLUT. Περὶ τοῦ ἀκούειν. Hyttenb. I 4 well well be printed without them, except that the reader would then feel the want of relie, which always has been felt in long poems of this conftruction. But, having ventured upon this ftyle of narrative, Mr. Scott, like a man of true genius, has ennobled it; he has infufed into it a vigour, which it has feldom, we might perhaps fay never, been known to poffefs. He has enjoyed the full benefit of its freedom, and has repaid it by ftrength and animation. In defcriptions more particularly, his touches are fo lively and picturefque, that it seems as if their effect would be damped and flattened by any other mode of verfification. Thus we actually fee the ftag fetting out before the hounds. "But, e'er his fleet career he took, That thickened as the chafe drew nigh*: Then, as the headmoft foes appeared, With one brave bound the copfe he cleared." P. 6. Nor is the following picture of a calm morning, amidst mountain scenery, at all lefs animated. "The Summer dawn's reflected hue To purple changed Loch-Kattrine blue; The grey mift left the mountain fide, The lark fent down her revelry; The repetition of the fame rhyme after only one couplet is an inadvertence eafily corrected. Rev.. The |