the judicious and sparing distribution of such marks of favour from the Fountain of Honour, on those who have sprung from the people, and achieved their own greatness by an honourable career of public service. But the original design of the Peerage must not be lost sight of, nor its true place and function in the Constitution. What seems to us at the present moment most urgently demanded by the state of opinion in this country, is, the restoration of the Peerage to its proper position and relative importance, as forming and representing, not an oligarchy, not a privileged faction, but the aristocrasy, and then compelling that aristocrasy to respect its constitutional boundaries. It is the palmary merit of the Reform Bill, that, whatever be its defects and anomalies, its tendency is to restore at once to the people their rights, to the aristocrasy their genuine influence, and to the Peerage its true dignity,-at the expense only of that too powerful, yet comparatively small number of peers and borough-proprietors, who have been too long trading in the people's rights, and sucking the life-blood of the Constitution.

The Peerage must be rescued from degradation; and in order to this, it must be made to resign what it has usurped, and to place itself in alliance with the feelings, the interests, and the intelligence of the country. Hitherto, the factitious strength of the Peers has concealed from themselves their real weakness. But opinion too long defied, is sure to revenge itself. We set too high a value upon every part of our Constitution, nay, we are too jealous of a Sovereign House of Commons, too much afraid of an unchecked democrasy, to wish to see the House of Lords deprived, on the one hand, of any portion of its just prerogatives, or, on the other, engaged in an ungracious and ineffectual contest with the Commons of England. To the Barons of England we owe our Great Charter. To our Nobles we were mainly indebted for the Bill of Rights. We have been accustomed to look to the Peers of England as the grand constitutional barrier protecting the people from the pressure of an ever-encroaching prerogative, and defending against an impetuous democrasy, the rights of the Crown. But in the present case, the Crown and the popular branch of the Legislature being in complete accordance, there is required no mediator; and a third party that should rashly intermeddle, would stand in great danger of being taken for a common enemy. What then will the Lords, do? What ought they to do, what can they do, but -pass the Bill.

Art. VIII. The Village Blacksmith. By James Everett. pp. 280. 12mo. Hamilton, Adams, and Co. 1831.

WHEN one large edition of a work is sold off within a month of its publication, and a second within a few days after its appearance, without any of the modern aids of Bookselling, the Reviewer, although in some degree anticipated in his office, turns to the work with a feeling of expectation seldom excited in these days of monotonous cleverness. Such has been the fate of the work before us. We have found that the writers of the memoirs of humble and pious individuals, in many instances, give us merely a dull journal of facts without interest, and of feelings which effect no corresponding excitement in the reader; and finish their task by exhibiting their own incapacity, and the poverty of their materials, dragging before the public the unpretending virtues and the private weaknesses of a departed friend. Such is not the case with the work in question. The Author approaches his subject with talents equally capable of doing justice to the history of his country as to the memoirs of a village Blacksmith; and he has before him abundance of materials, romantic as well as religious, while every page in his work forms a link in a chain of incidents which, whether the reader be religious or irreligious, will drag him onward a willing captive to the end of the volume.

Samuel Hick, the subject of the Memoir, was a Blacksmith in the village of Micklesfield in Yorkshire, and many years a local preacher among the Wesleyans. Samuel was one of those rare and amusing individuals, who can only be described by the word-original; a sort of itinerant drama,-a page torn from the volume of character. He appears to us to have been a weak-headed, noble-hearted, religious enthusiast, with sudden, transitory flashes of thought nearly approximating to the indefinable quality of genius. He is altogether a character whom we love, laugh at, and admire, but find it impossible to esteem or revere. His head was the weakest part of the man; his every action, and his religion itself, were the sole property of the heart; it was feeling rather than conviction. With more, however, of the stuff that arguments are made of,-with less eccentricity, less warmth of feeling, the Village Blacksmith would have been a less useful man. He was emphatically one of the 'weak things of the earth chosen to confound the mighty.' He was one that

to relieve the wretched was his pride,

And e'en his vices leaned to virtue's side;
But in his duty, prompt at every call,

He watched and wept, he prayed and felt for all.'

Samuel moved upon the earth like a piece of 'melting charity'; and the numerous anecdotes of his benevolence and noble patriotism, form not the least delightful part in this delightful volume. There is also blended with each, a simplicity bordering on the ludicrous, like the heart of an angel filling the bosom of an idiot.

Several wonderful instances are brought forward in illustration of Samuel's power with God in prayer;' but his Biographer more appropriately designates him a successful intercessor. Regarding these, the Reviewer perhaps differs from the talented writer; for, striking as they are, he can only view them as remarkable coincidences, without being in any way out of the common course of the general laws of the all-wise Providence, which from eternity hath prepared for every want and exigency of His creatures, from the cares of the sceptred monarch, to tempering the wind to the shorn lamb.

The "Village Blacksmith" is altogether one of the most interesting volumes of its kind, and the best written we have met with. No one can take it up without the certainty of reaping instruction and delight. Both the Christian and the critic will be compelled to laugh as they peruse it; but the former will also be edified and improved; the latter will rise with an esteem for the Author. As its price renders it accessible to almost every one, an extract is the less necessary; and we recommend it alike to the religious public, to the admirers of easy simplicity in composition, or of a pure English style, and to the mere lovers of amusement. Mr. Everett is already known to us and to the world as an author of higher pretensions than those of the present volume; but here he has exhibited the continued sweetness and playfulness of beautiful imagery which distinguishes his prose, and in every page tells us in spite of himself, it is "prose by a poet." Its peculiar feature is graceful simplicity, with poetry oozing through every sentence. His arguments are clear and forcible, expressed in language generally elegant; and we feel that we are perusing the pages not only of a man of genius, but of an ardent, active, and cheerful Christian. And with all, there is a tone of delightful pleasantry half-concealed in the writings of Mr. E., which is often placed under unnecessary restraint. We have only to observe, although it possibly would escape the notice of nine-tenths of his readers, that he is falling into a fondness for the words fine and lovely, in using them as expletives; and trivial though the fault be, it is one of those mannerisms of expression, into which every author is apt to fall, and which requires only to be pointed out to be avoided.

ART. IX. LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

Friendship's Offering for 1832, will appear on the 1st of November, in its usual style of elegant binding, and with an Array of highly finished Engravings after celebrated Paintings by Sir Thomas Lawrence, Stothard, Richter, Wood, Purser, Westall, and other eminent Artists. Its carefully selected Literature will also comprise Contributions from the most popular Writers, thus preserving that high character of superior excellence for which this Annual has always been distinguished.

The Comic Offering, edited by Miss Sheridan, will be published at the same time, bound in its uniquely embossed morocco cover, and embellished with upwards of Sixty most humorous and neatly engraved Designs by various Comic Artists, and enriched with facetious Contributions by the principal Female and other eminent Writers of the day.

A new Annual, illustrated in the first style of the Art, from Drawings by Prout, will appear on the first of November, under the Title of The Continental Annual, uniform in size with his Landscape Annual of 1830 and 31, and published, handsomely bound in Morocco, at only two-thirds their price. The Literary Department, under the Superintendence of Mr. William Kennedy, will embrace a Series of Romantic Tales, which, while they gratify the Reader's imagination, will at the same time illustrate the Picturesque Representations of this

celebrated Artist.

On the 1st of November will be published, in small 8vo., elegantly half-bound in Morocco, and embellished with a beautiful Vignette, The Amethyst; or Christian's Annual for 1832. Edited by Richard Huie, M.D. and Robert Kaye Greville, LL.D.

On the 1st of November will be published, The Literary Souvenir for 1832, edited by Alaric A. Watts, which will contain as usual Twelve highly finished Line Engravings. The Large Paper Edition, with Proofs on India Paper, will appear at the usual time.

Also, on the 1st of November will be published, The New Year's Gift, and Juvenile Souvenir for 1832; containing a variety of highly-finished Line Engravings.

On the 1st of November next will be published, in 1 Vol., handsomely bound in rose-coloured Morocco, Heath's Picturesque Annual for 1832; containing Twenty-six beautifully finished Plates, executed by the First Engravers, under the exclusive Direction of Mr. Charles Heath; from Drawings by Clarkson Stanfield, Esq. With Letter-press Descriptions, embodied in the Narrative of a Tour through the most interesting Portions of the North of Italy, the Tyrol, and the Countries bordering the Rhine. By Leitch Ritchie, Esq.

Preparing for the press. To be published in 2 handsome Volumes, Demy 8vo., the entire Works of the Rev. Dan Taylor, late Pastor of the General Baptist Church, Whitechapel, London; under the Superintendence of his Nephew, Adam Taylor; by whom an Introduction will be prefixed.

We learn that there is nearly ready for publication, a beautifully printed Volume of Original Miscellanies, in Prose and Verse, comprising Essays, Tales, Songs, &c.,--in short, an Album of pieces not before printed, and from one hand. The changeable nature of its Contents will account for its odd title-The Chameleon. Mr. Atkinson, the Publisher, is also the Author.

Mr. Brydson, is about to issue a Volume of Poetry, under the Title of " Pictures of the Past."

The Adventures of a Dramatist, in 2 Vols., by Benjamin Ererf, Esq., will appear in October next.

In the press, A Defence of Particular Redemption; wherein the Doctrine of of the late Mr. Fuller, relative to the Atonement of Christ, is tried by the Word of God, in four Letters to a Baptist Minister. By Wm. Rushton, Jun., Liverpool.

In the press, A Manual of the Land and Fresh-Water Shells hitherto discovered in Great Britain; arranged according to the system of Drapernaud, Brand, De Lamarck, and the more recent Authorities. The Characters and Descriptions wholly drawn up from the most perfect Specimens in the Cabinet of the Author, W. Turton. 8vo., with Coloured Plates.

In the press, A Dictionary, Practical, Theoretical, and Historical, of Commerce and Commercial Navigation. By J. R. McCulloch, Esq., Professor of Political Economy in the University of London. In One large Volume, 8vo., with Maps, &c., &c.

In the press, The Family Shakspeare; in which nothing is added to the Original Text, but those Words and Expressions are omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a Family. By Thomas Bowdler, Esq. F.R.S. and S.A. A New Edition, with Illustrations by Smirke, engraved on Wood by Thomson, &c. Complete in 1 Vol. 8vo.

Preparing for publication, Memoirs and Correspondence of the late Sir James Edward Smith, M.D. F.R.S., President of the Linnæan Society, &c., &c. In 2 Vols. 8vo.