Knowledge." The Society know just as much about it as the Mandarins of the Celestial Empire. Does anybody in his senses believe that the Lord Chancellor, or Lord John Russell, or Sir Henry Parnell, has time to correct the proofs of a penny journal? The history of this publication may be thus concisely stated: Mr. Hill, member for Hull, and one of the committee of the Diffusion Society, is a particular friend of Charles Knight. Knight bethought himself of a penny magazine, on the plan of Chambers' Edinburgh Journal." Says Knight to Hill, "This would be a capital speculation, if you could get me the name of the Society." Says Matthew Hill, "I will." And he succeeds, and the magazine is published under the fiction of its being the property of the Society, whereas, in truth, it is the property of Charles Knight and Co. The consequence of which has been, that this weekly sheet, called the Society's magazine, brings in Knight some thousands per annum, although, if it had been publicly known to be what it truly is,-nothing more than a bookseller's speculation,—it would have been at the bottom of the Lethean lake by this time. It is, in fact, a very feeble compilation of poor Craik's abridgments of all sorts of matter-an olla podrida which he dishes up at some small pay per diem. We pity him much; but more do we lament the fate of the unhappy authors, whose lucubrations it is his business to melt down into a retail shape, and whose expectations of a reasonable reward for their labours he contributes to baffle by his abominable epitomization. We know of no difference in this respect between the "Penny Magazine " and the "Thief." The motto of the latter, "Ex rapto vivens," (living by plunder,) is equally applicable to the former, and, indeed, to all the publications of the Dif fusion Society, who have not, during the nine years of their existence, produced a single original volume, appertaining to any one of the hundred departments of science and art with respect to which they have undertaken to enlighten the world. Peace be to the shades of the many "Gleaners,' ""Spies,' "" Investigators," "Scrap-books," "Caskets," "Correctors," "Schoolmasters," "Guardians," and "Devils," which we have consigned to the tender mercies of our scout, in order to save the expense of wood for the ignition of our fires. We were about to add to them a whole volume of the "Crisis," when the ghost of Robert Owen, its patron, stared us in the face, mildly reproving us for our consummate ignorance of the disorders which prevail throughout all classes of society, and for which he, Robert, believes that he has discovered a most effectual remedy. The "Crisis" is, it seems, intended to prepare the way for the new terrestrial Paradise, which he has been labouring for many years to create. Having been quietly bowed out of the factory at New Lanark, where he had been for some time managing clerk, but where he had contrived, by his inspirations, to introduce most admired confusion, he came to London to dissipate his chagrin, and diffuse his principles. But here he toiled in vain. He found no associates to assist him in the scheme of rendering property common, in order that he might come in for a share of a commodity of which he happened then, as he happens still, to be rather in need. He next, like many other speculators who have been sadly disappointed at home, turned his eyes towards America, and, having purchased a dim forest in the back settlements, for a few dollars, he 'ycleped it "New Harmony." But old Discord was too strong for even that sweetly sounding title, the concern was dissolved, and he returned once more, resolved on fresh speculations, to this Babylon. He took up his residence near the pastoral glades of Burton-crescent, put up a brick and composition portico to a little, low house which he called "The Institution for the removal of Ignorance, and the regeneration of the World." Here he preached and lectured, gaining a few shillings now and then, by way of admission-money, and informing his slender audience that he was charged with an express mission (from whom or whence we never could learn) for the purpose of turning the whole fabric of society exactly upside down. It has been our good fortune to meet with him sometimes in our matutinal perambulations. Strange to say, if it rained, he held an umbrella over his head like any common mortal. Nay, more, we have actually seen this great reformer of our bad habits eating beef, and drinking bottled beer!-although he is indisputably (according to his disciples) the identical person referred to by the sybils of yore, the long-expected of nations, at whose birth 66 Magnus ab integro sæclorum nascitur ordo: Jam redit et virgo, redeunt saturnia regna; Jam nova progenies cœlo demittitur alto." With him the age of iron is to cease, that of pure gold to begin. Every trace of ancient sin and sorrow is to disappear at his command from earth. The lion shall gambol with the lamb, and every field shall spontaneously grow yellow with golden harvests. There will be no necessity for public worship, as in the new order of things everybody is to pray in secret, if he have any disposition that way. If not, he can sing or whistle if he like, instead of going to church, for no church there is any longer to be. The lawyers may sell their wigs and gowns, for law is to come to an end. Order is to be altogether dispensed with, as a beautiful confusion is to prevail in its place. A young man shall meet a young maiden in the streets, and, without asking her how she does, without saying "A fine day, my dear," or anything else of that bashful tendency, he is straight to pop the question, "Will you marry me?" and she will! They are to live together from that moment, without further ceremony, just as long as they choose; they may then separate, and their children, if any there be, are to receive maintenance from the public treasury. Here will be a glorious state of things for all the bucks of Cambridge! "They who give themselves to the study of just and good works," says the Cumaan sybil," and to piety and holy thoughts, shall be carried by the angels through the flaming river, into a place of light, and a life without care, where the immortal path of the great God is, and where three fountains of wine, milk, and honey, flow without cessation. And the earth shall be equal to all, not divided by walls or partitions, but shall bear much fruit spontaneously; and all shall live in common, and their wealth shall be undivided; neither poor nor rich shall be there, nor tyrant, nor servant, nor one greater or less than another; no king, nor leader; all shall enjoy all things in common, and none shall say the night is come, nor to-morrow, or yesterday is past; and no care shall be for many days. There shall be no spring nor summer, no winter nor autumn; nor marriage, nor death; nor buying, nor selling; nor setting nor rising of the sun, for there shall be a long day."—" This is a highly figurative description of heaven upon earth, in the usual hyperbolical style of prophecy," quoth the "Crisis:" "but it is evident, when stripped in part of its mystical character, that it describes such another state of things as we propose to establish by the adoption of the new system of society!" Now observe the wonderful process by which the new system has been already, in part, carried into effect. Among the various speculations upon which Mr. Maberly, unluckily for himself, bestowed, some years ago, his time, together with a princely fortune, was an immense edifice, which he erected near the top of Gray's Inn Road, intending the lower part thereof for a horse-bazaar, the upper for a mart, in which all things whatever, from a kitchen-range to a doll's-eye, were to be exposed for sale. Exposed, indeed, many articles of utility and finery were upon neat stalls, peeping eagerly behind which were numbers of the prettiest faces which that quarter of the metropolis could turn out; but, by some fatality, no purchasers appeared. Indeed, who that could afford to buy even a tetotum was to guess that a bazaar existed in Gray's Inn-road? We have not, at present, the most remote idea how we ever chanced to hear of such a thing. Of course, it was soon shut up. The time was now near at hand, when the true regenerator of mankind was to step forth upon a more public stage than the small institution in Burton-place enabled him to enjoy. Having converted the landlord of the said Horse Bazaar to his principles, he prevailed upon the man to give him the use of the empty premises for nothing. He then collected together numbers of poor mechanics from the neighbourhood of Clerkenwell, formed them into a society pro bono publico, appointed himself their father, and set about knocking into their heads his magnificent principles in a series of grave lectures. In the course of his labours, he had the good fortune to receive the most valuable assistance from Miss Macauley, a lady some time out of her teens, and not unknown to fame as an actress, a teacher of enunciation, a reader of plays and poems, a head of a new religion, in which capacity she preaches, and as an author of pamphlets upon the currency, the poor-laws, agricultural distress, the Factory Bill, and a variety of other subjects, equally poetical and enchanting. She has also a horse, or rather a mule, to which is appended a little omnibus. Within the omnibus sits a lad. On the front, the back, and the sides of this machine are painted, in gigantic letters, three mystic words" Miss Macauley's Repository." "A repository of what?" we asked the lad,-for in our ignorance we deemed it a public vehicle, and flattered ourselves with the hope that it would carry us for a penny from Finsbury, where it then stood, to the rural groves of Paddington. "Sir," replied the urchin, smiling, " of Miss Macauley's pamphlets,-will you buy one? you may have it for a penny." When her store of literature shall have been disposed of, it is Miss Macauley's intention to convert her ingenious shop into a Thespian cart, and to act tragedies all along the New-road. The mirror-like serenity with which this fair associate of Mr. Owen delivered herself of the new doctrines was marvellous. The Messiah, she declared, was a very good sort of a person in his way, considering the manner in which he was brought up; and was tolerably well informed too, remembering the dark age in which he lived; but he knew nothing, or next to nothing, of the evils of society, or of the real remedies which they required. These were matters wholly unrevealed to the world until the Owen made his debût. She was proud to be one of his most zealous disciples, and was ready, as far as she was concerned, to carry all his principles into practice. To her inventive genius the patriarch is indebted for the establishment of what are called social festivals, at which the mechanics, their wives, their sons and daughters, together with a galaxy of beauties from the virtuous precincts of Shire-lane, assemble periodically, and sing, and dance, and take tea, and enter into those temporary engagements which are to form the principal felicity of the new system. So much for the instruction and amusement of the disciples-and thus far they go in common with the St. Simonians of France, who have recently despatched missionaries to this country, in order to assist in the propagation of the doctrine. But the practical remedy for the real evil of society,—that is to say, for the poverty of the lower orders,— the secret hitherto unknown to all men save Robert Owen,—stands disclosed in the most admirable invention of modern times, the " Equitable Labour Exchange." Through the instrumentality of this institu tion, the labour of the industrious is instantly converted into gold. Knowledge is power. Give the ignorant education, and they will therefore be the rulers of the country. Labour is wealth. Let the poor labour, and they must in consequence become the proprietors of all the land and money in the empire. This is the logic of these grand reformers. But how are syllogisms to be transformed into loaves of bread and roast beef? That is the question. We shall see. There was an abundance of room to spare, as we have already mentioned, in the bazaar in Gray's Inn Road. Thither the distressed shoemaker was invited by the patriarch to send such part of his stock as lay upon his hands. To the same receptacle the cabinet-maker was advised to commit his tables and chairs, the hatter his hats, the cooper his tubs, the nailer his nails, the tinman his pans, the musical instrument-maker his fiddles, and flutes, and tambourines, the toyman his dolls, the milliner her caps, the baker his bread, the butcher his meat, the market gardener his vegetables. Upon such of these articles as were transmitted to the bazaar, a certain valuation was fixed, according to the proportion of labour supposed to have been bestowed upon the production of them; and that labour was estimated, in every case, at sixpence per hour. Thus a table or a dog-collar, for instance, was valued at twenty hours; and to the owner thereof, a nicely printed ship of paper, resembling a country bank-note, was given, stating the number of hours at which his deposit was estimated. This note he had then an opportunity of presenting to one of the attendants behind the counter of the bazaar, and from that officer he was entitled to receive any other article then in store, which was valued at the same amount. Unfortunately, however, nobody could get exactly the thing he wanted. The nailer presented his note for some coals; but there were none, as yet, in the bazaar. An umbrella or a fife was very much at his service; but he needed not the one, and had neither time nor disposition to play on the other. The weaver who had deposited a piece of cloth, the labour of a whole week, required some bread. But the bakers were not yet disciples of the new system, would he have any objection to a tambourine? The cabinet-maker, who had placed in the store a capi tal chest of drawers, looked forward with considerable glee to a series of legs of mutton. But.when he was told that the butchers had not yet become Owenites, and that the market-gardeners continued incredulous, when he looked around and discovered that he could only obtain in exchange for his said chest, a flute or an old coat, or some dozens of list shoes, or half a ton of dog-collars, or a case of dried beetles, or a picture of a shipwreck, or coral necklaces, or merry-andrews, or some piles of Miss Macauley's pamphlets,-he naturally enough kicked up a row. Complaint became contagious among the disciples, riot the order of the day, and the Bazaar the scene of tumult which demanded the interposition of the police. The plain sense of Clerkenwell revolted at the gross imposture of the new Messiah, the Bazaar was shut up once more, and the precious institution was transferred to the West End. Thus the rogue, who is detected in the city, puts on a new coat and renews his enterprizes in Portman-square. The "Crisis" is still the organ of the gang, assisted by "The Destructive," "The Pioneer," and several other periodical publications, which, though unstamped, comprize all the ordinary topics of newspapers, and are attaining a wide circulation amongst the industrious orders of our population. There is a rude energy in their style, added to a profligate dereliction of morality in their principles, which renders them acceptable to all the discontented men in the country-a numerous as well as an active race of idle libertines, who, having neither character nor property to lose, are fervently looking forward to new revolutions, by which they hope, if they cannot ameliorate their condition, to reduce the happier orders of society to the level of their own wretchedness. C. H. ELEGY. BY THE AUTHOR OF CORN-LAW RHYMES." But God hath hence removed thee: Thou canst not die, my buried boy, While lives the sire who loved thee. Will grief forget thy willingness The love of all, the good and true, That made thee look as angels look, The strength with which thy soul sustain'd Thy prayer to stay with us, when sure |