nor disabilities, whether civil or political, vindicated as necessary to the existence of the British constitution. Upon the whole, it may be said with truth of this useful journal, that, for a period exceeding seventy years, it has been the steady and independent advocate of the general interests of literature, of moral virtue, of political freedom and religious liberty, unawed by the threatening aspect of the worst of times, and unseduced by the allurements of days of peace and pleasure, which it has been alike its fortune to witness in its protracted career.'"-pp. xii, xiii.

The success of the Monthly Review laid the foundation of that plan of reviewing, which has since been so well developed in the Edinburgh; and the number of imitators which followed upon the success of the Monthly, showed that criticism in England had assumed an important character, and was sought after with avidity. About a year after the establishment of the Monthly Review, a Journal Britannique was started at the Hague: it was conducted by Dr. Maty, a physician, and gave an account of English works: it was written in the French language.

In the year 1755, the literati of Scotland, seeing the various benefits which accrued to literature from the periodical publications, now so comparatively numerous in England; a proposition was embraced for that purpose, and the establishment of a journal, entitled The Edinburgh Review, was agreed on. The contributors formed a brilliant circle of talent, consisting, as it did, of Adam Smith, Dr. Robertson, Lord Chancellor Roslyn, Dr. Blair, and several other writers of note, are associated with this remarkable work. It contains the earliest efforts of the author of the Wealth of Nations, and of the historian of America.

The Review, however, proved an abortion; two numbers only appeared-the one in July, 1755, the other in January, 1756.The reason why it was abandoned was, the extreme sensitiveness of the Scotch on the subject of religion. In 1756, the Critical Journal made its appearance. It was published in London, and was projected by Mr. Archibald Hamilton, a native of Scotland, and by profession a printer. Having been for some years foreman of Mr. Strahan's printing establishment, his perseverance and talents at length enabled him to commence business on his own account. Hamilton was thus brought into connexion with many. persons of literary eminence, amongst whom was Dr. Smollett, with whose assistance he established the Critical Review. This journal was the unflinching advocate of the Tory and High Church party. The Monthly Review had previously obtained considerable influence as the organ of the Whigs and Dissenters; and it was deemed expedient, by the writers engaged in the new undertaking, to occupy different ground, and to avow their strennous attachment to Church and State. Whatever estimate may be formed of the political doctrines of Dr. Smollett and his coadjutors, there can be no difference of opinion as to the zeal and ability with which they supported them in the Critical Review.

In the same year appeared the first number of the Literary Magazine, or Universal Review. The introductory address was the composition of Dr. Johnson, who, himself, contributed twentyfive reviews to this miscellany, as, also, several biographical, moral, and historical essays.

Scotland made an attempt at improving on the plan first established by the Monthly Review; and a journal was brought out there, in 1773, called the Edinburgh Magazine and Review, having been destined to answer the purposes of both a magazine and a critical journal. It was conducted, at first, by Gilbert Stuart and William Smellie. The work entered upon general matters, and formed a very popular publication. But, for the same reasons as operated against the first Edinburgh Review, this combined magazine was discontinued in 1776.

In 1782, the New Review was commenced by the Rev. Mr. Maty, son to the Editor of the Journal Britannique, already mentioned. This periodical work was principally devoted to foreign publications, but it dropped in 1786. In the year 1783, the English Review made its appearance, and became, at the outset very popular, in consequence of the spirit which it displayed in exposing the sceptical tendency of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This periodical mounted up to thirty volumes, having been relinquished in 1788.

In 1788, the Analytical Review was first published, but the series was terminated at the twenty-second volume.

In 1793, the British Critic, or Theological Review was established, and still continues.

The writer next enters into the changes which the Edinburgh Review, first published in 1802, effected on the old system of criticism, and then proceeds to trace the progress which periodical literature has made from the beginning of the present century, whereby it gradually assumed the political and commanding tone which now so distinguishes it.

The public of England spent the great portion of the latter part of the last century in preparing itself for the solid compositions of the Press, which are now so abundant. Addison and Steele brought to perfection a sort of literature highly calculated to please, at the time; nor was it likely that a less important cause could change the popular taste, than great political changes. Hence, when the reign of George III. began, an evident change took place, for important events occurred, which, says our author, gave a new direction to popular taste, quickened into action the intellect of the whole nation, and turned it from the "green pastures and still waters" of literature, into the agitated ocean of political discussion. It was then that those graphic sketches of manners, and playful satires on fashionable amusements, which once created so lively a sensation, began to be regarded with frigiù indifference. The minds of the people were VOL. I. (1834) NO. I.

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roused to the investigation of more momentous topics, than those furnished by the habits and frivolities of the higher classes, or by the peculiarities of individual character. Publications were quickly adapted to the altered taste of the times. They treated of civil privileges, of the objects of governments, and the duties and rights of the people. They breathed the renovated spirit of a new era. Bold, eloquent, and vigorous in their style, they appealed to immutable principles and enduring interests; and, in the course of a few years, supplanted, in popular favour, the finely-tempered irony and pungent wit of Steele, the grace and moral beauty of Addison, the oriental richness of Hawkesworth, the pomp of Johnson, the vivacity of Colman, the fertile genius of Cumberland, and the pathos of Mackenzie.

The change which took place in our periodical literature, that is to say, its transition from mere literary subjects to political ones, is accounted for by the policy of George III., who commenced by summoning the general attention to questions connected with affairs of deep importance. Wilkes proceedings' warrant, Junius' letters, but, above all, the controversy respecting the American war. All formed subjects of discussion so intense in their interest, and, at the same time, so universal, that soon, the whole of the reviews and magazines became the organs of the popular sentiment. From this memorable time, the periodical press continued increasing in its influence.. Conducted, says Mr. Cross, on a comprehensive plan, aiming at objects of permanent utility, and bringing to the execution of his duties the highest order of intellect, the events which followed widened, to an unlimited extent, the sphere of its power. The Revolution in France may be said to have completed that change in the character and tendency of our periodical literature which had previously commenced. It furnished new subjects of investigation, gave circulation to novel theories and startling opinions, inflamed the passions of the populace; and was productive of as much extravagance and folly in the partisans of unlimited authority as in the wildest advocates of equality. Its effects on literary productions were no less remarkable and sudden, than on the political movements of society.

After more particularly describing the influence on our literature, which had been produced by the French Revolution, the writer observes, that a better time could not have been chosen by the conductors for bringing it out, for they found that all classes, from the aristocrat to the labourer, had entered upon a course of mental and political training, which reudered them peculiarly susceptible to the impressions of works emanating from high ability and extensive knowledge.

The writer then proceeds to give a general analysis of the objects of the Edinburgh Review, and its contents, separated into a series of general heads, in which nearly the whole of the various

papers are embraced, for the purpose of characterising their separate divisions. These divisions are numerous, and an indication is given to show the consistency which has been preserved by the contributors in both morals and politics, and how immensely the work served to promote the great ameliorations of the state which have taken place from the period of its first establishment.

This portion of the work we are not permitted to enter upon, and we leave the reader with a recommendation to refer to the volumes themselves.

ART. XIII.-The Philosophic Rambler; or the Observations and Adventures of a Pedestrian Tourist through France and Italy. 5 vols. 8vo. London: Simpkin and Marshall. 1834.

HAVING passed over much of the ground which has been visited by the author of this volume, with our pleasant guide, Mr. Carne, we should have deemed it expedient to postpone this notice of it to another and better opportunity, did we not find that enough had been collected by this author, to enable us to lay before our readers much that is new and original.

The adoption of the pedestrian system of travelling is always enough to excite our highest expectations, when we take up the tour of the enterprising individual who has selected it. We feel a confidence in the indications which the fact at once announces, and when such a criterion is employed to anticipate its accompaniments, it is very rarely that we find it to fail. The work before us is chiefly valuable for the unusual attention which the author has given to the Fine Arts during his journey. At Paris, for instance, he turns his time to account chiefly by a close inspection of the specimens in the Louvre; and the elaborate criticisms which he offers on the fine examples of sculpture and painting in that institution prove, not merely a taste, but a very high degree of judgment, in those arts. His opinions of David, the celebrated French painter, though differing from those generally entertained, at least by the public, seem to receive a good deal of support in the reasonings with which he sustains them; he concludes by stating it to be his conviction, that David mistook his talent, and that instead of taking the pencil in hand, he should have chosen the chisel. At the same time, the author confesses David's power as a portrait painter, and appeals to his painting of Pope Pius VII., as a proof of his powers in that department of the art. It would appear, according to this critic, that David's faults are attributable, in some degree, to the peculiar character of the times in which he flourished. Dnring, and after the Revolution, every sort of novelty and monstrosity was the prevailing taste of the day. The ancient masters of Italy were neglected, if not despised; and nothing but the pristine models of

republican Greece and Rome were deemed worthy of imitation. This affected taste introduced the stiffness of statuary into all their designs. Studies from the antique became their models; stories from the same source were taken for their subjects; and every rule and practice was outraged by the meretricious desire to produce something piquante, frappante; and hence the number of monstrosities that now line the walls of the Luxembourg; as Girodet's string of horribles, called the Deluge, and such like, exemplify. The progress of taste in the arts is the same as in literature; the marvellous and astonishing in both, in their infancy, are more admired than the sublime beauty of a grand simplicity, where depth of conception composes the sentiment, rather than surprise resulting from some forced expression, and which, inasmuch as it excites a hyperbolical feeling, invariably loses in dignity by so much the nearer it approaches the ridiculous.

In his progress through the provincial parts of Provence, from his very first departure from the metropolis, he appears to have made very careful observations of habits and customs. Indeed, some such extra exertion was essential to an inquirer, whose labours had been preceded by so many investigators. An early inference was noted down by him, to the effect that, whenever a landlady of a French aubrage indulged in the graceful accentuation of every word with an oath, there was no great comfort to be expected therein. This law he found to be invariable, the author's experiments on the point having commenced at Le Plessis.

At Orange, an ancient city which gives a title to the house of Holland, the traveller was struck with the remnants of antiquarian architecture which he discovered. He gives a very full description of the triumphal arch which stands at the entrance of the town, and which appears to be a beautiful though imperfect work. He next visited the theatre of Orange, and in its arrangement seemed to have been erected on the principle of the ancient Greeks and Romans; namely, advantage was taken of the natural state of the locality which supplied the necessary degree of elevation for the spectators. Stopping for a short inspection of the fine old town of Avignon he proceeded forward, and was soon in the valley which leads to the fountains of Vancleuse. We do not remember that this memorable scene has been lately under the observation of any of our locomotive fellow-subjects, and as it is connected with associations of true love, it cannot but prove acceptable to most of our gentle readers.

"As you draw near to the fountain, the scene becomes still more uncouth and rugged; lofty and savage rocks close around you, in which you perceive numerous natural excavations, resembling the caves of the Troglodytes. A dull noise steals on the ear, which becomes louder and louder asyou ascend the steep. All of a sudden the veil of awakened expectation is rent asunder. A majestic scene succeeds to the mild cast of the one you