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    rtsroed poTver iaadJ-uninterrupted- interest—in other words , really * a / -work * i ^ erWoilast > bd oks >© u % mvAist ^ a not'reqrdr Q way very lengtheaed criticism The Exile is evidently , vthat it ? -i * 'asserted : to be i an the Preface—the work of a young writer ; who , we may add , lias the hard preparatory part of his profession as an author still to pass through . Under these circumstances , we will not go- tiie fehgth 'of ¦ passing any final judgment just yet on the'ff entlemairHvho writes under the not very happily-chosen " fancy name of ^ FhHip'Phosphorus . " We infinitely prefer the - more ? lenient course ffivino ' him time -to try'again . * He ha » evidently devoted-much industry- -to the collection'of historical materials for his-present Tale , and has been sincerely anxious- to turn them to the best romantic vts 6 . l ¥ e would reeommend him , 'when next he tries hispen , 'to be father-less modestly careful-to model his'work accordins to ; those

    ¦ he has hitherto looked with such -deep respect . ' He'should remember » that the first and greatest of historical novelists \ Sir -Walter Scott , wrote according- to no " precedents , " but invented for himself , and consequently revolutionised' the fictitious 'literature of Europe . It is-good-even for the smallest author to * try if he cannot at least imitate , in some degree , the self-dependence of the greatest . As to One in a Thousand 'and Grichton ^ -vrhich we are astonished to find Mr . " PhilipFh « sphor « s ' -ac * uklly classing an his Preface with such a masterpiece as Qnentin Ihirwurdf ^ the less reverently our young author looks to that kind of historicalnovei-writing the better it ? will be for his future prospect ? with the romance-readers of the present day . Our World is another American ! . book , agaiustislavery , with some hard back-handed hits at democracy , 'i down ? South . " Our world over , here in hrase is

    England has had enough qf Oncle-Tomeria , < as the : French p ) , and this book is riot likely to stimulate afresUthe-satiatednational -appetite . The author unquestionably possesses great knowledge o £ : hissubjecivand discloses its slave-horrors with honest , hearty ^ and somet * mesr * most vigorous indignation against the slave system ,: and allr ^ who uphold it . ' But he writes , ' either instrch a hurry , or with such overpoweringly-strong feelings , that he has no time to cultivate' the graces , or even the intelligibilities of style . He dashes . along haphazard , beginning sentences in one tense and ending'them in another , confounding antecedents and relatives ,- careless of tautology , and xeckless of Lindley ' - Murray . Between his carelessness as a writer and the intensely . Xaokee character -of the language—it certainly is not English— - in-which-hewritesi he is frequently entirely unintelligible to the native British vpjafer . . Foresamtjlei a slave-ewner is denying that niggers have souls , and

    a ; reverend ( deacon answers him in this incomprehensible sentence : — " The * aBk of proving your theory would be rendered difiictilt if you were > to transcend vpotfthe scale of blood . " Again , an indignant womaruslave , on bem ^ reminded that ' she is lhvble to be sold , answers enigmatically to a free youn ^ lady : "To sell me ! Had you Tneasured ' the depth of pain- in that wordf Franeonia , your lips had never given it utterance . To ~ seltfne ! 'Tis that . The difference is wide indeed , but the poin f is sharpest . " if-tentences of this kind , and sentences filled . with the most astounding Americanisms , abound in the book . It would have been only charitable to the author to have had his work revised by some careful " Britisher" before publishing it in England . — ¦ . - •¦ _

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    HURAi ; ECONOMY . The Rural Economy of \ JEngland , Scotland , and Ireland . By Le ' oiice : de . JLavergne Translated from the ; Frenchj M-ith Notes by a Scotch Farmer . .-William . JJlackwood and Sous . It is only of recent : date that agriculture has been alloyed to assume her true position among the industrial arts . When population was thin , and the land unexhausted , the part taken by the farmer iil the production of corn ,, and . the raising of . ^ cattle , was not such as to entitle him to claim authorship in Tespect . to them . He did little more than scratch the surface , scatter , the seed , and wait for harvest ; than . allow his cattle , and sheep to wawder at -will on the meadows <\ and uplands till he wanted them for slaughter . He-used sucfrseedias suited his . < soil , never dreaming that he inrn-nt suit the soil to the seed r he-left his cattle veryanuch to : themselves in

    thertitting season , took such fleeca-and fleBhns'they yielded * , spontaneously , and as long as there was enough to ' Gat and be clothed witb / withalj in however simple a style , he was highly-thankful . 'But when population increased , and the necessity for a greater produce became pressing , 'these old- " arts " of culture were found insufficient ; and then , as at all times , necessity pi-oved the mother of invention . Invention * and innovations followed Want , and in their , turn made an increase of population both possible and desirable . En « land , which under the Stuarts . was barely able to . feed itself , was thus able a hundred years later to . aupport a doubled population * . and at the same time" to : ¦ export nearly a million quarters of corn . > But eveou the means which " wr ought this great change in nor economy were destkiedrfto boproved in their turnand bhiherethodsUnderthe

    insufilcrentr , superseded y g-m . - Stuarts '• England hardly produced two 1 million < qu « rfcers"of wheat ; 'in the reign of Geprge the Second—the middle of last century—this -produce had already doubled ; and now , under Victoria , we are advancing-from' thirteen million quarters ! And it is highly probable that this enormous produce of wheat from English lands will be doubled within the next half century by moanft'of high' -forming . With this immense increase i » v production , population' has * fairly kept pace ; it has doubled since 1800 ... and in some districts even tripled " , so thutthe pressure under which all . this progress has been made is no less now than it was in the days-oftho Charleses . Thus the agricultural revolution which has been silently working itself out during the ¦ l ost hundred years ; -is as yet incomplete . Rural economy ,, and all the ^ arts of increasing production , urc still eagerly studied , from necessity ^ by a pQjJplc constantly-pressing on ' the' Mnlthusian limit . Hero at least , if ^ nowhoro olso , Affriculturo has hail her "trueplace assigned to her , -with 'capital , sisuVand modern science asher handmaidens . , # ^ muta-iu cU has been . the . caso in regard to ag riculture in England , 'its pnogness , ' ehwswhero > has . boon steady , if not so rapid , flrid if not ire a parallel direction . In France , from many , causes , the revolution has

    chance of . working out economic theories ; . and no sooner -did- commerce and manufactures begin to advance than . agriculture reoeived an impulse which has nevervsince ceased to influence it $ ,. and what the nbove-namediingenious men-did for : trade and manufactures , was effected by , Arthur Young and Bakewell for agriculture . Stean > navigation and railways , have contributed in the highest degree to this progress by throwing all the markets of the country and the world equally open to our farmers , and thus . rendering the growth of large * towns—trading and manufacturing centres—an advantage to the whole body of agriculturists * whereas , with-the old . methods of transport , they ; would have benefited only such as . were in their immediate vicinity . Thus , then , our advantage over our neighbours the French has resulted from , a confluence of circumstances , including our commercial and manufacturings prosperity as well as our superior political and civil institutions . haseof the ricultural revolution

    beenitless complete , iand-r-if the phrase may , be perinitfce < i--wdifierent < jni kind . /^ Inv * he ; period within which- our . population . hasodo . ubled ,-4 hatiX ) f France hasninereased .-ojrily by- a fourth ,- , and . than , this of -population there isisno .-better ' . testfof a-nation ' s progress in .: ' the « . arts .- of production . . The ¦ explanation of this : disparity-is to * be sought £ br : ins-ar variety 'Of considerations . The nature of the land and climate favours France ; the causes of its retardation , therefore ,-must be closely connected-with , its political and civil history , andiihe . temperament and habits of its people ; , sand there is . ; no doubt tlxat its jurisettled state , its long and bloody re « okttions , and bad gor vornmentsin . times of p > eace , go far to explain the -negleeted . state of its aorieultttre . . ; . But . there is stillanother cause for our isuperiorityi more iniporta"nt > even than this of- government . The causes of the wealth < and gr ^ eatness of nations-begatt to be understood with us earlier than with our neighbours . ¦ . ' Among us too appeared Arkwright and Watt to give . us the first

    f Hiffh-farming constitutesithe last p . ag > which we have indk 3 ated' : « bove . In this the old distinctions between agriculture and the manufacturing industries are being gradually lost . It would perplex our ^ rawlfafchers could they hear us speaking of corn and flesh - as manufactured articles . A little reflection , however , would have convinced them that , in spite of the apparent umxaturalness of the designation , and of the revolt from its app lication to products immediately animal , such as beef , it was just and philosophic nevertheless . The difficulty experiencedby some even now in conceding the propriety of this use of terms , arises ^ chiefly from two causes : * he first , that they see in agriculture " nature " . directly relied upon for her active co-operation ; and the second , that i the result i is ' * oi"ganic . ; " whereas in most of the . articles commonly caHediimanufaetured nature ' s interference is indirect , at least insensible , and the result "< anorganic , " - as was also the . material from which it w . as formed . But : 8 mallecmsideffation . is necessary to perceive that in all cases wherein

    use is made of chemicaLagents , of light , heat , steam , electricity , and so iorth , mature is . orelied upon for active co-operation as well as inthecultivationKjf corn or the raising of cattle—in -the former directl y to produce new compounds , inthe latter by xliflterentiation of cells and tissues-to produce new compounds also—the art consisting in either case in . . bringing-together the ¦ necessary-materials under circumstances favourable to the production of the desired result . And thus nature being similarly depended upon in bath oases , though for dissimilar actions , the first ground of objection is avoided ; and the ; second , ; there is no doubt , is nothing more nor less , than a prejudice based on . the circumstance that , the objectors being " organic' ] products themselves , sympathise withntheir . kind , and prefer not to , rank with manufactures ! Whatever may be said to the contrary , a grain of corn , a turnip from Mr . Mechi ' s farm , . or . a bullock from his stalls , is as ; much a work of art as the Apollo Belvidere ; and , in another point , of view ,, as niuoh a manufacture as & Brummagem pop-gun !

    Hi <» h-farming is the latest attempt at a solution of the problem , How to get from the land . the largest amount of food and of other necessaries , while yieldino- the largest profit to the farmerand rent to ^ theproprietor ? Along with tlie necessity of feeding the population is-another : that it shall be done at a certain price . " Thus it becomes a question how to increase production , and at the same time lower its cost so as to make it profitable . To the solution of this , agriculture has called in the aid of capital , science , and skill ; and to the aid of these , enterprise . The solution presented by these , stated briefly in a receipt , is as follows : —Convert all pasturage lands and meadows into arable fields ; to fertilise these , drain them thoroughly , and grow artificial grasses-and roots ; on which feed as much live atock as , with the addition of artificial food—oil-cakes , &c . —you can . " To fatten your stock , prevent them taking exercise , coping them up in stalls ; feed them there faithfully and unsparingly as above , carefully preserving their

    manure , with which , enriched by chemical adjuncts it necessary , fatten your fields . This receipt , to follow which requires much skill and capital , is said to lead to miraculous results , enabling the farmer to nearly double his produce in cereals , and more than double his profits ' from live stock . It must be confessed , however , that thia high-farming suggests many delicate . considerations , not as regards the profitableness of draining , the use of machinery , or the system of manuring , which are all excellent , but in respect to stabulation or stall-feeding , which is'the key to the entire scheme . It may not matter whether , our pastures are or arc not to be abandoned— - the loss of green fields will be amply compensated by the duplication of the arable lands ; it may not matter , except to some artists of the Cooper and Lee school , should cattle bo no longer allowed to wade m pools , or ho " huddled on the lea "—the injury to the sentimentality of a few will bo more than counterbalanced by the quadruplicate of' the yearly supply ot beef and mutton . But what is to bo feared is , that this hot-house system of forcinrr cattle with cooked victuals selected for their fattening qualities , with not tur in advan

    little regard to their wholcsomencsd , may nt some date , ce of the " success" of the high-farming revolution , be prejudicial to the pubhc health , as there is ground for fearing it Will soon deteriorate «»<> kfeed of the poor beastfl who are manufactured by the above process into butcher . moat . Besides this , the new life of these creatures is grievously prtiablo . Iho sight of some hundreds of them coped up , w . th then- blubberly bulks , in narrow stalls lest they should lose . weight by oxerciso , is exceed in gly disgusting . One not actually engaged m this beef factory , can-scarcely sit

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    3 &AB 0 B 24 , 1855 . ] THE JIItElA . D E B . ms

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 24, 1855, page 283, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2083/page/19/