But it is to be lamented that so much preparation, having led to nothing, has been thrown away,-for not a single number of the National Library has as yet seen the light, nor has any repetition of the advertisement been risked! Doubtless, too, there was a society formed; but the names of its members are among the secrets-the special arcana of the bookselling craft. The trade may be acquainted with them, and may know how many Bishops and Lords of the Bedchamber-General and Staff Officers and Contractors-and other regular friends of Popular Instruction, had classed themselves in a band to bring politics home to every man's door, as cheap as air, and thus introduce into the cottage the mysteries of the palace. But we have, as yet, been unable to hear of one name-one person-clerical or lay-who is a member of any such society. The whole body, and its doings, seem to be wrapt in thick secrecy,-peradventure, is it a secret society! and possibly within the acts of Parliament in such case made and provided. Pray we the gods, that the pit dug by the high Tory party for their popular adversaries, may not be first tenanted by those worthies themselves!

The attempt of another rival has not been quite so abortive: it, at least, was made more in earnest, and has produced some signs of actual operations. As some very unfounded statements have been published by the tradesmen concerned in it, we are desirous of stating what is known to us respecting its history, and authenticated by published documents.

The plan of the Society of Useful Knowledge, and of the Library to be published by it, was first announced to the world by Mr Brougham's Treatise on Popular Education, written in the end of the year 1824, and published in January 1825. The following passages, from the eighteenth edition of that work, we extract as proving that the plan was then nearly matured, and as showing what claim to it any one else can have :

"In the third place, it is evident that as want of time prevents the operative classes from pursuing a systematic course of education in all its details, a more summary and compendious method of instruction must be adopted by them. The majority must be content with never going beyond a certain point, and with reaching that point by the most expeditious route. A few, thus initiated in the truths of science, will no doubt push their attainments much further; and for these the works in common use will suffice; but for the multitude it will be most essential that works should be prepared adapted to their circumstances. Thus, in teaching them geometry, it is not necessary to go through the whole steps of that beautiful system, by which the most general and remote truths are connected with the few simple definitions and axioms; enough will be accomplished, if they are made to perceive the nature of geometrical investigation, and learn the lead

ing properties of figure. In like manner, they may be taught the doctrines of mechanics with a much more slender previous knowledge both of geometry and algebra, than the common elementary works on dynamicks presuppose in the reader. Hence, a most essential service will be rendered to the cause of knowledge by him who shall devote his time to the composition of elementary treatises on the Mathematics, sufficiently clear, and yet sufficiently compendious, to exemplify the method of reasoning employed in that science, and to impart an accurate knowledge of the most useful fundamental propositions, with their application to practical purposes; and treatises upon Natural Philosophy, which may teach the great principles of physics, and their practical application, to readers who have but a general knowledge of mathematics, or who are even wholly ignorant of the science beyond the common rules of arithmetic. Nor let it be supposed, that the time thus bestowed is given merely to instruct the people in the rudiments of philosophy, though this would of itself be an object sufficiently brilliant to allure the noblest ambition; for what higher achievement did the most sublime philosophy ever aspire after, than to elevate the views and refine the character of the great mass of mankind -at least in later times, when science no longer looks down as of old upon the multitude, supercilious, and deeming that great spirits alone perish not with the body? But if extending the bounds of science itself be the grand aim of all philosophers in all ages, they indirectly, but surely, accomplish this object, who enable thousands to speculate and experiment for one to whom the path of investigation is now open. It is not necessary that all who are taught, or even any large proportion, should go beyond the rudiments; but whoever feels within himself a desire and an aptitude to proceed further, will press forward; and the chances of discovery, both in the arts and in science itself, will be thus indefinitely multiplied. Indeed, those discoveries immediately connected with experiment and observation, are most likely to be made by men, whose lives being spent in the midst of mechanical operations, are at the same time instructed in the general principles upon which these depend, and trained betimes to habits of speculation. He who shall prepare a treatise simply and concisely unfolding the doctrines of Algebra, Geometry, and Mechanics, and adding examples calculated to strike the imagination, of their connexion with other branches of knowledge, and with the arts of common life, may fairly claim a large share in that rich harvest of discovery and invention which must be reaped by the thousands of ingenious and active men, thus enabled to bend their faculties towards objects at once useful and sublime.

"Although much may be done by the exertions of individuals, it is manifest that a great deal more may be effected by the labours of a body, in furthering this important measure. The subject has for some time past been under consideration, and I am not without hopes of seeing formed a Society for promoting the composition, publication, and distribution of Cheap and Useful works. To qualify persons for becoming efficient members of this association, or co-operating with

it all over the country, neither splendid talents, nor profound learning, nor great wealth, are required. Though such gifts, in their amplest measure, would not be thrown away upon so important a design, they are by no means indispensable to its success. A well-informed man of good sense, filled with the resolution to obtain for the great body of his fellow-creatures, that high improvement which both their understandings and their morals are by nature fitted to receive, may labour in this good work, either in the central institution or in some remote district, with the certainty of success, if he have only that blessing of leisure for the sake of which riches are chiefly to be coveted. Such a one, however averse by taste or habit to the turmoil of public affairs, or the more ordinary strifes of the world, may in all quiet and innocence enjoy the noblest gratification of which the most aspiring nature is susceptible; he may influence by his single exertions the character and the fortunes of a whole generation, and thus wield a power to be envied even by vulgar ambition for the extent of its dominion-to be cherished by virtue itself for the unalloyed blessings it bestows."

That the subjects of the Society's publications were to be very extensive, is proved both by these passages, and by the following remarks upon teaching Politics and Political Economy to the common people :

"Why should not political, as well as all other works, be published in a cheap form, and in numbers? That history, the nature of the constitution, the doctrines of political economy, may safely be disseminated in this shape, no man now-a-days will be hardy enough to deny. Popular tracts, indeed, on the latter subject, ought to be much more extensively circulated for the good of the working classes, as well as of their superiors. The interests of both are deeply concerned in sounder views being taught them; I can hardly imagine, for example, a greater service being rendered to the men, than expounding to them the true principles and mutual relations of population and wages; and both they and their masters will assuredly experience the effects of the prevailing ignorance upon such questions, as soon as any interruption shall happen in the commercial prosperity of the country, if indeed the present course of things, daily tending to lower wages as well as profits, and set the two classes in opposition to each other, shall not of itself bring on a crisis. To allow, or rather to induce the people to take part in those discussions, is therefore not merely safe, but most wholesome for the community, and yet some points connected with them are matter of pretty warm contention in the present times; but these may be freely handled, it seems, with safety; indeed, unless they are so handled, such subjects cannot be discussed at all. Why then may not every topic of politics, party as well as general, be treated of in cheap publications? It is highly useful to the community that the true principles of the constitution, ecclesiastical and civil, should be well understood by every man who lives under it. The great interests of civil and religious liberty are mightily promoted by such wholesome instruction; but the good order of society gains to the full as much by it.

The peace of the country, and the stability of the government, could not be more effectually secured than by the universal diffusion of this kind of knowledge. The abuses which through time have crept into the practice of the constitution, the errors committed in its administration, and the improvements which a change of circumstances requires even in its principles, may most fitly be expounded in the same manner. And if any man or set of men deny the existence of such abuses, see no error in the conduct of those who administer the government, and regard all innovation upon its principles as pernicious, they may propagate their doctrines through the like channels. Cheap works being furnished, the choice of them may be left to the readers. redly, a country which tolerates every kind, even the most unmeasured, of daily and weekly discussion in the newspapers, can have nothing to dread from the diffusion of political doctrines in a form less desultory, and more likely to make them be both well weighed at the time, and preserved for repeated perusal. It cannot be denied, that the habit of cursory reading, engendered by finding all subjects discussed in publications, which, how great soever their merits may be, no one looks at a second time, is unfavourable to the acquisition of solid and permanent information,"

Assu

Soon after, that is, in April 1825,-Mr Brougham, with Lord John Russell, Dr Lushington, Mr Crawford, William Allan, and other known friends to the education and improvement of mankind, formed themselves into a society, under the name of the "Society for Promoting the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge;" and raised a fund by subscription, Among others, the Duke of Bedford evinced his wonted liberality, and that desire of promoting the best interests of his country which, in all times, has ennobled his illustrious house. The agitations of the times, however, that year and the next, impeded the Society's progress; and they did little more than institute inquiries, and make preparations for prosecuting their grand object with effect. But in the month of December 1825, about a year after Mr Brougham's tract appeared, a prospectus was put forth by some booksellers, whom we decline naming, purporting to be from the "Society "for Diffusing Useful Knowledge," and announcing a work consisting of treatises on all subjects, and to be called, "The "Library of the People." Now we happen to know, that not one member of the Society had ever spoken or written to those booksellers; or directly or indirectly communicated with them on that, or on any other subject. It was a scandalous imposition, therefore, thus practised on the community, and a usurpation upon the Society, to use their name in addressing

* At the end of the tract, Mr B. alludes to the scientific education of the higher classes, and proposes the establishment (p. 32) of a University in London.

the public; and when complaint was made, and, we believe, proceedings of a different kind threatened, the booksellers defended themselves by proving, satisfactorily enough, that they had been themselves deceived by another tradesman, who pretended to have thought first of the plan, and even sold the title for a sum of money to the present undertakers! This person, being applied to, said he never meant to use the Society's name, but that, in fact, there existed another society under the same name, of which he was, he said, a member!-and on being asked where it met, and who belonged to it, he could only name Sir John Sinclair, who was living in Scotland. The worthy Baronet certainly printed, some time afterwards, a list of persons out of whom he proposed forming some kind of Association. They were chiefly old Scotch peers and placemen, with some English Lords of the Bedchamber, and other public func-. tionaries; and the only operation pointed out as the proposed labour of the society, was, circulating copies, at their own expense, of the "Code of Health and Longevity," and other works of Sir John's,-whose reputation and circulation are, we imagine, believed very sincerely by him to be far inferior to their merits. The invention of a society by the bookseller was a manœuvre wholly unexpected, and not perhaps to be paralleled in the history of inventions. It was as if the same learned wight (for he writes as well as sells) had published an address from The Royal Society, stating, that they highly approved his refutation of the Newtonian Theory, and on being asked by Sir H. Davy what authority he had, were to say, he never meant the Royal Society of which Sir H. was president, but one held by himself and Sir J. Sinclair, in their cups. This, however, was the whole amount of the defence made for assuming the title of the "Society for Diffusing Useful Knowledge," announcing works in its name, and publishing an address from it in favour of those works.

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When the preparations of the Society were at length completed, its prospectus came forth; and soon after appeared a prospectus by those same booksellers, repeating the announcement of their "Library of the People," but dropping the address, and suppressing all mention of any society, except that sometimes there was reference to a society of gentlemen "of the first literary distinction." Nothing, we will venture to say, ever appeared less calculated to command respect by its style, than this prospectus; -and some of the works which it ushered into public notice, were of the kind that might have been expected from such an introduction.

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The title is, "Library for the People,-calculated at once to amuse and interest, and to instruct and enlighten, the entire