VI. 1. The Archæology and Prehistoric Annals of Scotland. By Daniel Wilson, Honorary Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Edinburgh, 1851. 2. The Primeval Antiquities of Denmark. By J. J. A. Worsaae, &c. &c. Translated and applied to the illus- tration of similar Remains in England, by W. T. Thoms, 3. Vestiges of the Gael in Gwynedd. By the Rev. W. B. Jones, M.A., Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford. 4. Remains of Pagan Saxondom, principally from Tumuli in England. By John Yonge Akerman, Fellow and VII. 1. Essays on the Errors of Romanism having their Origin in Human Nature. By Richard Whately, D.D., Arch- bishop of Dublin. 2d edit. London, 1837. 2. Cautions for the Times: Addressed to the Parishioners VIII. 1. First Report of the Commissioners for the Exposition of 1851. London, 1852. 8vo, pp. 267; with Plates. 2. Education and Educational Institutions considered with reference to the Industrial Professions, and the Present Aspect of Society. By the Rev. J. Booth, LL.D., F.R.S., Chaplain to the Marquis of Lansdowne. Lon- 3. Papers relating to Proposals for Establishing Colleges of Arts and Manufactures for the Better Instruction of the Industrious Classes. By T.A. Lloyd, F.R.S., F.G.S. London, 1851. 8vo, pp. 40. Printed for Private Cir- 4. On the Importance of studying Abstract Science with a View to its Future Practical Application: Being an Introductory Lecture at Putney College. By Lyon Playfair, F.R.S., F.C.S. London, 1848. 8vo. Printed 5. Notes on the Organization of an Industrial College for Artisans. By T. Twining, Jun. In a Letter to Lord Shaftesbury. London, 1851. Printed for Private Cir- 6. Suggestions for a Crystal College or New Palace of Glass for combining the Intellectual Talent of all Na- tions; or a Sketch of a Practical Philosophy of Educa- tion. By W. Cave Thomas. London, 1851, pp. 64. or ought not our highest Education to embrace the whole Range of our Present Knowledge? and ought not the Education of all Classes to have a direct Reference to the Wants of our Free, Busy, and Enlightened Age? By the Rev. Foster Barham Zincke, Vicar of Wher- 8. Why must we educate the Whole People? and what prevents our doing it? By the Rev. Foster Barham 9. Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, fondée en 10. Report of the Head Master of the Government School of Design at Sheffield on the National Exposition of Manufactures at Paris. (In the Annual Report of the 11. Records of the School of Mines, and of Science applied to the Arts. Vol. i., Part i. Inaugural and Introduc- tory Lectures to the Courses for the Session 1851-52. Published by order of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury. London, 1852. 8vo, pp. 148. 12. Lectures on the Results of the Great Exhibition of 1851, delivered before the Society of Arts, Manufac- tures, and Commerce, at the suggestion of H.R.H. THE NORTH BRITISH REVIEW. MAY, 1852. ART. I.-1. History of the Whig Administration of 1830. By J. A. ROEBUCK. London, 1852. 2. Latter-Day Pamphlets, III., IV., V., and VI. By THOMAS CARLYLE. London, 1850. 3. The Statesman. By HENRY TAYLOR. London, 1836. In a country in which action is so rapid, interests so varied, and occupation so intense and unremitting, as with us where men of business, philosophers, and politicians, pursue each their own special object with exclusive and overestimating eagerness -where the whole nation is engaged with healthy cheerfulness in unremitting effort and an unpausing race, it is not easy for those to find a hearing who would call upon the actors in this exciting drama to draw up for a brief space, and consider themselves, their position, and their aims, as becomes beings "Holding large discourse, Looking before and after." Yet these breathing moments in the hasting course of timethese Sabbatical hours of the world's quick existence-in which we may review the past, estimate where we are standing, and ascertain whither we are tending, in which we may calculate our progress and catch a clear vision of our goal, may take stock of our acquisitions and achievements, investigate the value of our objects, and compare them with the price we are paying for them, and the means which remain to us of obtaining them-such pauses for reflection, introspection, and foresight, are particularly necessary if we would not sink from the dignity of men "Who know themselves, and know the ways before them, And from among them choose considerately, VOL. XVII. NO. XXXIII. A With a clear foresight, not a blindfold courage; And having chosen, with a steadfast mind into mere unconscious instruments of destiny, mere unresisting floaters on the stream of time. In politics especially, a mere "hand-to-mouth" existenceliving, as the French express it, au jour le jour—can never be worthy of men who boast to be free and claim to be progressive. Yet it is the besetting peril, and has always been the peculiar reproach of our busy British statesmen. Overwhelmed as they constantly are with a mass of routine work, which must be got through; and having literally to fight their way inch by inch against a host of antagonists, whose sole business is antagonism; knowing that every step will be a struggle, and therefore, naturally enough, stepping less where they wish and think they ought than where they must and think they can, they can rarely get sufficiently out of the press and throng to see far, or sufficiently free from the urgent demands of the moment to deliberate or muse. The position apart, the dry ground of security above, which are indispensable to the profound and patient thought out of which wisdom emerges, are almost wholly denied them. The country, too, seems content that it should be so; it is satisfied to be served by men who do the duties of the day with capacity and decorum; it is never "over-exquisite to cast the shadow of uncertain evils;" it goes on from generation to generation, meeting unforeseen emergencies with extemporized expedients, stopping up a gap with anything that comes to hand, caulking a shot-hole with the nearest hat, slitting open the leather where the shoe pinches, putting in a casual patch when the rent in the old garment becomes absolutely indecent and unbearable, cobbling up the old house as the family enlarges, or the roof decays, or the walls crumble and fall away, adding here a buttress and there a shed, and sometimes, in a crisis of severe pressure or unwonted ambition, joining a Grecian colonnade to a Gothic gable. In this strange style we have proceeded almost for centuries, till the incongruities of our dwellings, our clothing, and our policy, have grown obvious even to our unobservant and accustomed eye. We go on swearing against the Pretender long after his last descendant has been laid quietly in a foreign grave; guarding with testy jealousy against the power of the Crown long after the Crown has been shorn of its due and legitimate authority; risking the loss of our liberties from foreign aggression rather than support an adequate standing army, because in past times those liberties were threatened by a standing army in the hands. of a domestic tyrant; exacting oaths in a court of justice as a security for truth long after experience and reflection have shewn |