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"population of the United Kingdom." An assertion is then made, that the first prospectus was published in 1825, (we have stated under what auspices, and with what honesty,) and that the delay in bringing out the work had "furnished a well-known party with an opportunity of taking up the plan, with all the imperfections which never fail to distinguish between imita❝tion and originality!" The Society, certainly, is in no condition to retort the description of "a well-known party" upon those who put forth this charge,-for nothing, we presume, can be more obscure than the quarter it proceeds from; and the kind of originality claimed is as little likely to be disputed by any author, as the example of style and method here set is to be imitated. It is then laid down as an original principle, that a work of this kind must be popular from the selection of subjects, as well as in its display and execution. "Cold mathematical pro"ductions, and formal scientific disquisitions," it is said, "may "properly issue from the London University, but they will ne"ver reach the firesides of the universal population." The mo→ desty of these pretensions to originality, as far as regards the plan, and the fairness of the charge of imitation, we have already illustrated by written documents. Any attempt to imitate the execution of such works as we are citing would be hopeless. But it seems, after all, that even the plans of the two works are wholly different, not to say opposite. The one before us professes to amuse, and only to teach what may be conveyed in the shape of entertainment. The Society's plan is, to convey instruction upon all subjects. The scheme of the prospectus be fore us is more fully given in the arrangement announced for the Library of the People. It is to consist of four divisions, en titled,-"The Arts of Life and Society;"-" The Wonders of "Nature and Art;"" The Worthies of the United Kingdom;" and, “The Chimney Corner Companion." We defy any head but the writer of this arrangement of human knowledge to match it. The two first classes plainly run into each other,there being hardly anything of the first that belongs not to the second, unless arts are to be classed by the degree of wonder they excite-a standard somewhat difficult of application. The Worthies are confined to this country; and the last head mayindeed must contain matter common to all the other three. The description given of the Chimney Corner Companion (the division plainly most relied on for attraction) is entertaining certainly, though not very dignified or philosophic. "An exhaustless and ever"lasting magazine of the curiosities and good things in the entire "circle of literature, books, and knowledge, adapted to all. "tastes, fancies, ages, and conditions, and containing the quint

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"essence of many thousand volumes, and everything worthy of "being read that ever was printed in history, biography, natural history," &c. &c. &c. We are then told that, "To make promises of perfection, would be empirical; but it may be wise "and just to declare, that all that ingenuity and learning can "effect, shall be honestly and honourably performed, to render "the Library for the People a work of unparalleled popularity "and sterling permanent worth." A declaration, we presume, not at all empirical.

We are very happy to find that this most unpromising announcement has not been followed by works nearly so bad as there was every reason to expect. The arrangement is, no doubt, as absurd as possible, and indeed is wholly unintelligible. Thus, under "The Arts of Life and Society," we have the science of Astronomy, with Cookery, Gymnastics, Oil-painting, Road-making, Chemistry, Brewing, and Chronology. The execution too, is, in most places, of a very depraved taste;-take, for example, the following passage with which the Treatise on Astronomy opens after a tawdry engraving, which represents an old man in a nightcap, or Welsh wig, poring over a globe,-a young man looking through a telescope, and a lady reading a book-"The Earth, out of the dust of which man was originally "formed, the scene of our joys and our sorrows during life, and "the receptacle of our remains when its brief measure is run "out, and the Heavens which are spread over us as a dome of "the most stupendous magnitude, and the most lively colour, "lighted up by the glories of the sun during the day, and glit "tering with the countless myriads of the starry host during "night, and beyond which every good man hopes to find an "everlasting abode, when the earth shall have gone into obli"vion, and all its history been forgotten, are subjects to which even the most incurious of the human species cannot remain "indifferent." It is shameful in those who pretend to instruct the people, or even undertake to provide amusement for them, to debase and corrupt their taste by such trash as would be rejected from the rhapsodies of a tenth-rate preacher, and is as truly disgusting as it is misplaced in a work of science. The Treatise of the Atmosphere is begun by an effusion in the same wretched taste, about the "oak building its lofty tower in the "sky," and "the eagle leaning motionless on the breast of the "sky," occupying about one-eighth part of the number. The Series of Lives is really much better, because more plainly executed; and the Wonders contain much entertainment, and even information, which cannot fail of improving the reader. The selection is, of course, perfectly miscellaneous, and merely

extracted or abridged from known books. The Chimney Corner Companion might be, for the subject, the same series-it is a collection of scraps of all kinds, from every sort of work.

Humble as the merits of this publication appear to be, with the exception of the bad and vulgar taste of which we have complained, it is wholly innocent, and must be of considerable benefit in encouraging habits of useful reading.

Upon one thing, however, we certainly must express our opinion very frankly and without reserve: The public are not dealt fairly by, in the prospectus, where it announces the extreme cheapness of these tracts:-" Every number will contain as much "matter as is usually sold for five shillings, even in elementary "works, but for twice that sum in ordinary works." Never was a more scandalous misrepresentation. Each number consists of 24 pages of single column-and there being under sixty letters in a line, and 44 lines in a page, there are in each page at the amount of 2600 letters, and in each number under 63,000 letters. Now, take the reviews, which sell for six shillings, and are certainly not at all cheap publications, but among the dearest; the page has 45 lines, of 50 letters each; consequently, each page contains 2250 letters, and therefore there is equal to 28 pages of the review in each number of the Library, which is equal to one-ninth part of a number sold for six shillings. Printed at the rate of the Library, then, the review would sell for four and sixpence instead of six shillings. This is the whole difference; that is, 25 per cent., or one-fourth cheaper, instead of being, as is most untruly pretended, ten times cheaper than some books, and twenty times cheaper than others. The review being a dear book, it follows that the Library is not at all a cheap one; and if we compare the bulk of volume, this will appear still more plainly :-An octavo of 500 pages sells for six or seven shillings; 500 pages of the Library sell for ten shillings, and the engravings are, generally speaking, below contempt. Compare the work with any of the really cheap publications, and the deception is at once perceived. The Mechanics' Magazine has nearly as much matter in one of its numbers as the Library, and the plates are both numerous and beautifully executed. We have made the calculation-there are in the Magazine 57,000 letters; in the Library 63,000. But the Library sells for sixpence, and the Magazine for threepence. Taking quantity and execution together, the Library is much more than twice as dear as the Magazine. The Library of Useful Knowledge published by the Society is also twice as cheap, without making any allowance for its vast superiority of execution, in every respect. Each treatise has 32 pages, and each page two

columns, of 62 lines, and 60 letters; making for each page about 3700 letters, and for each treatise nearly 120,000 letters; and yet it is sold at the same price with the Library for the People. In order to realize the promise of containing in each number as much as is sold for five shillings of some works, and ten of others, the numbers should contain between nine and ten times as much as they do.

We now come to describe, somewhat more in detail, the Library published by the Society, and which realises every promise held out by that most distinguished body.

These publications were introduced by a Discourse upon the Objects, Advantages, and Pleasures of Scientific Pursuits, designed to prepare the reader for the series of treatises upon all branches of physical science. After dividing the whole of human knowledge into its grand classes, it gives a plain and most easily understood description of the nature of the pure mathematical sciences, with many illustrations of their use in practice; a full account of the difference between necessary and contingent truth, and the evidence upon which mathematical and physical propositions rest; and a copious illustration of the various branches of natural philosophy, with a variety of examples of their application to the animal and vegetable world. It closes with a discourse upon the advantages and pleasures to be derived from the study of those sublime and interesting sciences. This subject is placed in an original and striking light in the following passage:

"That every man is capable of being delighted with extending his information upon matters of science, will be evident from a few plain considerations.

"Reflect how many parts of the reading, even of persons ignorant of all sciences, refer to matters wholly unconnected with any interest or advantage to be derived from the knowledge acquired. Every one is amused with reading a story: a romance may please some, and a fairy tale may entertain others; but no benefit beyond the amusement is derived from this source: the imagination is gratified; and we willingly spend a good deal of time, and a little money, in this gratification, rather than in rest after fatigue, or in any other bodily indulgence. So we read a newspaper, without any view to the advantage we are to gain from learning the news, but because it interests and amuses us to know what is passing. One object, no doubt, is to become acquainted with matters relating to the welfare of the country; but we read the occurrences which do little, or not at all, regard the public interests, and we take a pleasure in reading them. Accidents, adventures, anecdotes, crimes, and a variety of other things, amuse us, independent of the information respecting public affairs, in which we feel interested as citizens of the state, or as members of a particular body. It is of little importance to inquire how and why these things excite our attention, and wherefore the reading about them is a pleasure: the fact is

certain; and it proves, clearly, that there is a positive enjoyment in knowing what we did not know before; and this pleasure is greatly increased when the information is such as excites our surprise, wonder, or admiration. Most persons who take delight in reading tales of ghosts, which they know to be false, and feel all the while to be silly in the extreme, are merely gratified, or rather occupied, with the strong emotions of horror excited by the momentary belief, for it can only last an instant. Such reading is a degrading waste of precious time, and has even a bad effect upon the feelings and the judgment. But true stories of horrid crimes, as murders, and pitiable misfortunes, as shipwrecks, are not much more instructive. It may be better to read these than to sit yawning and idle-much better than to sit drinking or gaming, which, when carried to the least excess, are crimes in themselves, and the fruitful parents of many more. But this is nearly as much as can be said for such vain and unprofitable reading. If it be a pleasure to gratify curiosity, to know what we were ignorant of, to have our feelings of wonder called forth, how pure a delight of this very kind does Natural Science hold out to its students? Recollect some of the extraordinary discoveries of Mechanical Philosophy. How wonderful are the laws that regulate the motions of fluids! Is there anything in all the idle books of tales and horrors more truly astonishing than the fact, that a few pounds of water may, by mere pressure, without any machinery, by merely being placed in a particular way, produce an irresistible force? What can be more strange, than that an ounce weight should balance hundreds of pounds, by the intervention of a few bars of thin iron? Observe the extraordinary truths which Optical Science discloses. Can anything surprise us more, than to find that the colour of white is a mixture of all others--that red, and blue, and green, and all the rest, merely by being blended in certain proportions, form what we had fancied rather to be no colour at all, than all colours together? Chemistry is not behind in its wonders. That the diamond should be made of the same material with coal; that water should be chiefly composed of an inflammable substance; that acids should be almost all formed of different kinds of air, and that one of those acids, whose strength can dissolve almost any of the metals, should be made of the self-same ingredients with the common air we breathe; that salts should be of a metallic nature, and composed, in great part, of metals, fluid like quicksilver, but lighter than water, and which, without any heating, take fire upon being exposed to the air, and, by burning, form the substance so abounding in saltpetre and in the ashes of burnt wood: these, surely, are things to excite the wonder of any reflecting mind-nay, of any one but little accustomed to reflect. And yet these are trifling when compared to the prodigies which Astronomy opens to our view: the enormous masses of the heavenly bodies; their immense distances; their countless numbers, and their motions, whose swiftness mocks the uttermostefforts of the imagination."

"To pass our time in the study of the sciences, in learning what others have discovered, and in extending the bounds of human knowVOL. XLVI. NO. 91.

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