our language than that of "The Divine Comedy." Dante himself, I believe, termed it simply "The Comedy;" in the first place, because the style was of the middle kind; and in the next, because the story (if story it may be called) ends happily.

Instead of a life of my author, I have subjoined, in chronological order, a view not only of the principal events which befel him, but of the chief public occurrences that happened in his time; concerning both of which the reader may obtain further information by turning to the passages referred to in the poem and notes.'

The chronological view and the notes, to which the translator alludes, are in one respect far from modish; since, instead of being unduly extended, or drawn into prolixity, they are eminently charac terized by conciseness and brevity, and, in almost every instance, they throw some necessary or convenient light on the multifarious and local topics of the poem. As to the translation itself, it is evidently the work of no ordinary pains and diligence, and may safely, we think, aspire to the praise of fidelity; at least, it is not often that we would venture to dissent from Mr. Cary's interpretations. The uni form gravity, too, the occasional harshness, and the antiquated quaintish air of many of his lines, singularly harmonize with the kindred qualities of his celebrated exemplar. If, in short, we overlook the absence of rhyme, the present version appears to be a close approximation to the original, and to breathe much of its peculiar and singular spirit.

3

As a favourable specimen of Mr. Cary's manner, we extract the opening passage of the 28th canto of the Purgatorio:

Through that celestial forest, whose thick shade
With lively greenness the new-springing day
Attemper'd, eager now to roam, and search
Its limits round, forthwith I left the bank,
Along the champaign leisurely my way
Pursuing, o'er the ground, that on all sides
Delicious odour breath'd. A pleasant air,
That intermitted never, never veer'd,'
Smote on my temples, gently, as a wind
Of softest influence; at which the sprays,:
Obedient all, lean'd trembling to that part
Where first the holy mountain casts his shade,
Yet were not so disorder'd, but that still
Upon their top the feather'd quiristers
Applied their wonted art, and with full joy
Welcom'd those hours of prime, and warbled shrill
Amid the leaves, that to their jocund lay's
Kept tenor; even as from branch to branch,
Along the piny forests on the shore
Of Chiassi, rolls the gathering melody,
When Eolus hath from his cavern loos'd
The dripping south. Already had my steps,
Though slow, so far into that ancient wood
Transported me, I could not ken the place
Where I had enter'd, when behold! my path

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Was

Was bounded by a rill, which to the left
With little rippling waters bent the grass,
That issued from its brink. On earth no wave
How clean soe'er, that would not seem to have
Some mixture in itself, compar'd with this,
Transpicuous, clear; yet darkly on it roll'd,
Darkly beneath perpetual gloom, which ne'er
Admits or sun or moonlight there to shine.'

Some blemishes have occurred to our notice, chiefly of a trivial description; yet such as we cannot very patiently tolerate in any performance of classical pretensions. The pronouns thou and you, for example, and thy, thine, and your, are frequently, used indiscrimin ately, though applied to the same person.

• Thou shalt discover, that your art on her.'

and hadst thou thought,

your

art.'

• How in the mirror your reflected form,' &c.
• And mayst behold
• If thou wouldst tell me of thy name, and this
Your station here.'

To the end

This truth may stand more clearly in your view,
I will content thee,' &c.

Nor may I tell thee more, save that the meed

Of sorrow well-deserv'd shall quit your wrongs.'

As instances of lines unmusical, or prosaic, the following may suffice:

• Through me you pass into the city of woe.'

Of a magnificent castle we arriv'd.'

• Either shore tremble, as if of a wind.'

• O Tuscan! thou who through the city of fire.'

• Launch he full aim'd at me with all his might.'

It is remarkable that, in the last hobbling line, every word is a monosyllable, when the sense obviously called for a more smooth and rapid measure: but what shall we say of

or of

• They are the father and the father-in-law?"

By

the which thou didst on the billows walk ?

Since the adoption of blank verse imposes no rigid shackles on the structure of a line, we can perceive no dire necessity for the fluctuat ing pronunciation of Beatrice and Beatricé, nor for such grotesque accentuations as impulse, medicine, &c.

Those of our readers who value their eyes more than their purse will scarcely thank Mr. Cary for the microscopical typography with which he has been pleased to afflict them; and it is a melancholy fact that we, aged and conscientious reviewers, who have painfully explored his volumes by the help of our spectacles and midnight oil, never fancied ourselves completely emancipated from Hell and Purgatory, till Paradise closed on our sight.

CORN

CORN-BILL.

Art. 12. Essay on the Application of Capital to Land, with Observations shewing the Impolicy of any great Restriction of the Import ation of Corn, and that the Bounty of 1688 did not lower the Price of it. By a Fellow of University College, Oxford. 8vo. pp. 69. Underwood. 1815.

On former occasions, (see M. R. Vol. lxxiv. N. S. p. 407. et seq. and Vol. lxxv. p. 92.) we offered our opinion on the restrictive corn-laws, as a general principle; and the question, on its revival and its assumption of a specific form, having excited a very extensive discussion and universal alarm, we have directed our attention to it afresh, for the purpose of collecting the lights which various writers have endeavoured to throw on the subject. It must be confessed that, in the present state of the British empire, this is a question of great embar. rassment; since it not only involves all the most interesting branches of political economy or arrangement, but, in consequence of our paper-currency and enormous public debt, it assumes an unprecedented shape; and, regarded as a temporary accommodation to artificial circumstances, it admits perhaps of no positive solution. Different opinions are hazarded by different writers, actuated by motives equally patriotic; and, though no doubts can be entertained of the wisdom of the general policy of leaving matters of agriculture and manufactures to regulate themselves, or, to use the common phrase, to find their own level, it will be argued that, in a very artificial state of society, some temporary management may be necessary, so that restrictions, in themselves unwise, may be prudently adopted under particular circumstances. Now the questions are, Can the nation, at the present moment, be considered as in this very predicament? Is it for the public good that the price of corn should be held up by legislative restrictions, and to the extent required by the advocates of the CornBill? We regard the matter as of so perplexing a nature, that the populace are scarcely adequate to the discussion, and it is possible even for the soundest political economists to fall into error. As far as our own country is concerned, the Government may be competent to arrange all the parts of the national machine, so as to make it individually work well, and may speculate on keeping up high prices as a mere measure of finance to meet the heavy demand on the public purse for the payment of the national debt: but it must be remembered that we cannot insulate ourselves as a commercial country; and it is fair to ask, how will our national machine work in unison with the great machine of Europe? We are aware of the embarrassment of Ministers; and, that we may deal fairly by the Government and the country at large, we shall report the contents of varying tracts on the question: but our limits and time are now so very circumscribed, that we are forced to observe much greater brevity than we wish. Yet we could not satisfy ourselves in sending out the present Number of our Review without adverting to the subject of the Corn-Bill, which has been the cause of so much agitation both in and out of Parliament. The author of the Essay on the Application of Capital to Land' declaims, with great verbosity and repetition, on the very obvious principle that the raising of rude produce on land becomes gradually

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more.

more expensive, or yields a diminishing return, whether capital be employed in bringing fresh land into cultivation, or in increasing the productiveness of land already in tillage; and he observes, moreover, that the same principle does not obtain in manufactures. It appears, however, that, if this principle were seriously contemplated, it would restrain the application of capital from the improvement of the poorer soils, and diminish the present extent of tillage, which would produce the reverse of abundance: but to prevent this evil the author proposes his remedy. The only means,' says he, of retarding this necessary progress of things is by importing rude produce from countries where we can buy it cheaper than we can grow it at home.' Will this retard it? As he does not embrace the whole question before the public, we shall not farther enlarge on his pamphlet, which thus concludes:

I am inclined to think, that it would be reasonable to grant to the agriculturist, for the present, such protection as would keep up the price of corn to 708., or at the most 75s. the quarter.'

Art. 13. An Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent, and the
Principles by which it is regulated. By the Rev. T. R. Malthus,
Professor of History and Political Economy in the East-India
College, Hertfordshire. 8vo. pp. 61. 39. Murray. 1815.
Art. 14. Dbservations on the Effects of the Corn Laws, and of the
Rise and Fall in the Price of Corn on the Agriculture and general
Wealth of the Country. By the Rev. T. R. Malthus. 3d Edition.
8vo. PP. 47. 2s. 6d.
2s. 6d. Murray. 1815.

Art. 15. The Grounds of an Opinion on the Policy of restricting the
Importation of Foreign Corn; intended as an Appendix to “Ob-
servations on the Corn Laws." By the Rev. T. R. Malthus.
-8vo. pp. 48. 2s. 6d.
2s. 6d. Murray. 1815.

While Mr. Malthus does not overlook the obvious fact on which the preceding writer enlarges, he extends his views much wider, both in his pamphlet on Rent and in those which are immediately devoted to the examination of the Corn-Laws. His definition of Rent is very neat, and ought not to be disregarded by landlords, in their agree ments with tenants: The rent of land may be defined to be that portion of the value of the whole produce which remains to the owner of the land, after all the outgoings belonging to its cultivation, of whatever kind, have been paid, including the profits of the capital employed, estimated according to the usual and ordinary rate of the profits of agricultural stock at the time being.'Arguing on this principle, he deduces many important results; more, indeed, than we can here specify. Among other inferences, however, he gives the following:

We see, then, that a progressive rise of rents seems to be necessarily connected with the progressive cultivation of new land, and the progres sive improvement of the old : and that this rise is the natural and necessary consequence of the operation of four causes, which are the most eertain indications of increasing prosperity and wealth- namely, the accumulation of capital, the increase of population, improvements in agriculture, and the high price of raw produce, occasioned by the ex

tension

The

tension of our manufactures and commerce.' If it be true, that cultivation cannot be extended but under such a state of prices, compared with the expences of production, as will allow of an increase of rents, it follows naturally that under such a state of relative prices as will occasion a fall of rents, cultivation must decline. He farther remarks, With regard to the labouring classes of society, whose in terests as consumers may be supposed to be most nearly concerned, it is a very short-sighted view of the subject, which contemplates, with alarm, the high price of corn as certainly injurious to them. essentials to their well-being are their own prudential habits, and the increasing demand for labour. And I do not scruple distinctly to affirm, that under similar habits, and a similar demand for labour, the high price of corn, when it has had time to produce its natural effects, so far from being a disadvantage to them, is a positive and unquestionable advantage.' His sentiments on the great question are more detailed in his subsequent pamphlets. To his Observations on the Corn-Laws,' (noticed in our Number for August last,) he has made some additions in his third edition: but, as his matured reflections are exibited in The Grounds,' &c. we shall pass without delay to the substance of this pamphlet. Here Mr. Malthus becomes a firm advocate for those very measures against which so many petitions have been presented to Parliament. Fully aware, as every political economist must be, that the decision to be made must be a compromise of contending advantages and disadvantages,' he balances every pro and con, and then offers his decided opinion, without reserve, in favour of the restrictions on the importation of foreign corn.-The arguments of such a writer as Mr. Malthus merit, no doubt, the fullest consideration: yet it is to be remembered that we are to regard them as referring to our peculiar situation; for he observes that, Even if it be intended finally to throw open our ports, it might be wise to pass some temporary regulations, in order to prevent the very great shock which must take place, if the two causes here noticed [the check to industry and the discouragement to the accumula tion of farming capital] of the depreciation of commodities, be allowed to produce their full effect by contemporaneous action.' We do not consider this writer, with all his perspicuity, as fully awake to our situation as a commercial country: but he must be actuated by patriotic motives when he expresses his solicitude for keeping us, in average years, nearly independent of foreign supplies of corn; and, as he is convinced that a system of restrictions will produce this effect, he becomes an advocate for this measure. Its bearing on the different classes of society is next considered; and if Mr. M.'s principles and reasonings be just, neither the labouring classes nor those who live on the profits of stock, nor our landholders, nor our stockholders, will have reason to murmur at the shutting of our ports. To hold up prices in aid of taxation is with Mr. M. a very important point; and his appeal to stockholders is an abundant indication both of our perilous situation and of his having accommodated his arguments to our artificial state of society.

If we consider, with what an increased weight the taxes on tea, sugar, malt, leather, soap, candles, &c. &c. would in this case bear