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    her great work , before its completion . Whatever a life , which we hope will be prolonged , and a power of attainment and improvement , which we know to be great , may hereafter enable her to accomplish , it is yet obvious that for many years to come her fame and influence must rest upon the * Illustrations of Political

    Economy . ' Ultimately , no doubt , that work will take its proper rank , without reference to the circumstances of its publication . Its immediate utility cannot but be diminished by this undertaking ; as this would have had more effect had it not appeared contemporaneously . The world will , in spite of evidence , rather doubt than admire the ability with which both may be sustained . We

    regret also , that she has been led to what seems to us , an inappropriate and injudicious application of her peculiar falent of illustrating a truth by fictitious narrative . In her other work , this talent is in its proper sphere . Her tales , true to nature and to history , do illustrate the principles of Political Economy . But in the operation of the Poor Laws , we have to deal with , not an

    abstract or general proposition , but a practical grievance . We want to know the facts . It is inconvenient and unsatisfactory , to have them strung upon a thread of fiction . The writer's object is defeated ; the evil is not exposed ; it is veiled : no one knows exactly where the certified mischief ends , and the fictitious adornment begins . What was wanted , was an arrangement of

    the most striking facts in the Reports of the Poor Law Commissioners , with a judicious commentary . If , instead of more tales , her engagement will allow Miss Martineau to complete her work on Poor Laws and Paupers , ' in this manner , a much greater service will , we apprehend , be rendered to the public . Nor can we help still further regretting that Miss Martineau has

    consented to write , on subjects of this class , Under the superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge . ' That Society has long been losing the public confidence , which , as an independent writer , Miss Martineau was rapidly gaining . Her influence over those whom it is so important to instruct , the great body of the operative and producing classes , is impaired by the coalition . The circulation of the Society's books is chiefly

    amongst the trading classes . The suspicion into which it had previously fallen , has been deeply strengthened since the accession of so many members of its Committee to political office . We believe the general opinion of the intelligent operatives throughout the country to be fairly expressed by the following resolutions , passed at a meeting of the Birmingham Mechanics' Institution in July last . The discussion which terminated in their adoption had been provoked by an agent of the Society .

    * 1 . That , whilst this meeting is anxious to bear its testimony to the excellence and utility of many of the publications of the u Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge , " abstractedly considered , yet it cannot withhold its opinion , that viewed in connexion with the times

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    876 Poor Laws and Paupers .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1833, page 376, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2616/page/16/