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    is dedicated . Raphael is described as " past the flower of his age ; his face was tanned , he had a Ion * beard , and his cloak was hanging carelessly about him ; " so that « I conclude he was a seaman " But Peter tells him he is mistaken ; for he has not sailed as a seaman , but as a traveller , or philosopher ; not ignorant of the Latin tongue , and eminently learned in Greek—because he had given himself much to philosophy . ' After a mutual embrace , they enter a garden , sit on a green bank , and entertain each other in discourse . Raphael relates the history of his travels and adventures , commenting also very freely and sarcastically on public affairs .

    Raphael begins by condemning princes that are more set on acquiring new kingdoms " than on governing those well that they have . " He denounces the avarice of the rich and noble , " that live as drones , " and complains of the swarm of idlers , flunkeys , and vagabonds , that ultimately become thieves : wherefore , if you do not remedy these evils , boast not of your justice—it is only a specious lie . You abandon thousands of children to a vicious and . immoral education , whom you afterwards punish with Deatk , for crimes the germ of which was sown in their mother ' s womb ,

    or in their cradle . You breed robbers for the satisfaction of hanging them , twenty on a gibbet —like some ill masters , that are readier to chastise their scholars than to teach them . There are dreadful punishments for thieves ; but it were better to make provision , by which every man might be put in a method how to live , as those bred to idleness , and used to walk about with sword and buckler , are not fit for spade and mat . tock ; and as robbers prove sometimes gallant soldiers , soldiers prove often brave soldiers— " so near an alliance is there between the two sorts of

    life . " For the prospect of war , you maintain so many idle men as will always disturb you in time of peace . In the mean time taxes lie heavy , and money goes out of the kingdom , and blood is shed for the king ' s glory , but the People is nothing the better for it—even in time of peace . In France there is yet a more pestiferous sort of people , for the whole country is full of soldiers in time of peace , "if suck a stale of nation can be culled a peace . " But the necessity of stealing arises , not only from hence—there is another cause : " the increase of fortune , by which the

    sheep may be said to devour men , and unpeople , not only villages but towns . For the nobility and gentry , even those holy men the abbots , not content with the old rents , stop the course of agriculture , inclose grounds , and destroy houses and towns , reserving only the churches , that they may lodge the sheep in them : and as if forests and parks had swallowed up too little soil , these worthy countrymen turn the best-inhabited places into solitude ; for when any insatiable wretch who is a plague to his country , resolve to inclose many thousand acres of ground , the owners as well as the tenants are turned out of their possessions by tricks or by

    mam force , or being wearied out with ill usage , they are forced to sell them . So these miserable people , both men and women , married and unmarried , old and young , with their poor but numerous families , are all forced to change their seats , not knowing whither to go ; and they must sell for almost nothing their household-stuff , which could not bring them much money , even though they might stay for a buyer . When that little money is at an end , for it will be soon spent , what is left them to do , but either to steal , and so be hanged ( God knows how justly ) , or to go about and beg ? and if they do this , they are put in prison as idle vagabonds . "

    Raphael then suggests a plan for the reformation of inveterate beggars and thieves ; but remarks that this will not restrain vagabonds , or deliver you from all beggars , except you take care of the Friars , " for 1 know no vagabonds like them . " Raphael is also of opinion , that ho long as the principle of individual property exists , and while gold and silver remain the standard of all other things , no nation can be governed , either justly or happily ; because ajll things will fall to he Hhare oi the worst , and be divided among a fi w "( and even these are not in all respects lia / py ) , the rest being left to be absolutely miserable . "—a Htate of society which he contniHts very unfavourabl y with the Utopian .

    In the second book we are transported , b y Haplmel , to that distant island , 200 miles broad , 'n form not unlike a crescent , within the horns of which the sea spreads itself into a great bay sheltered from the winds .

    Utopia is divided into 54 cities or townships , each of which is governed by the same constitution , manners , customs , and laws j but the inhabitants consider themselves rather as tenants than proprietors of the soil . Farmhouses , furnished with every needful implement of husbandry , are scattered over the the country , whither the citizens migrate in bands of 20 , by rotation . No country family consists of less than 40 men and women , over which preside a master and mistress . Thirty of these families " choose " every year a magistrate orphilarch : thephilarchs " choose" the Prince or Ademus ( elected for life ) , out of a list named by the people , ' ' who give their voices secretly , so that it is not known for whom every one gives his suffrage . "

    The model capital , Amaurot , in Which the supreme council assembles , is almost a square Amaurot lies on the banks of the river Anidir , and a gushing stream of pure cold water runs through it , from which the houses are supplied in earthern pipes . The streets are wide and uniform , and in the rear of every house is a garden , in which vines and fruits and flowers are cultivated with the greatest care—" gardens both so fruitful and beautiful were never seen . " Idleness is unknown among the Utopians , who devote their lives to labour and instruction . The

    old men are honoured with a particular respect , and engage the younger in that free way of conversation , that so they may find out the force of every one ' s spirit and observe his temper . Of all pleasures they esteem those most that lie in the mind , " and arise out of true virtue and the witness of a good conscience . " They reckon that all our actions and even all our virtues terminate in pleasure , as in our chief end and greatest happiness .

    The infants in Utopia are placed in spacious halls , where fire , water , cradles , and everything favourable to the most scrupulous cleanliness is provided . The mothers nurse their own children , who are transferred to other apartments as soon as they are weaned . Divorce in certain cases , of " adultery or insufferable perverscness , " is permitted . But the life-endurance stamped by the

    Creatoi * upon the natural union of marriage , is sanctioned and confirmed by their laws . In the cities the " ancientest" of every family governs it . In every street there are halls , at equal distances from each other , marked by particular names : " in these they do all meet and eat . " And without their towns are places appointed , near some running water , for killing their beasts and washing away their filth . Raphael having thus described " particularly " the constitution " of the best commonwealth in the world—the only one that trulj deserves that name , " finally asks what justice or equity is there in this , that men who do nothing at all live in great luxury and splendour , while a mean man that works harder than the beasts , and is employed in labours so necessary that no commonwealth could hold out a year without them , can yet earn so poor a livelihood out of it , and lead so miserable a life in it ? " Therefore I must say , that as I hope for mercy , 1 ean have no other notion of all the governments that I see or know , than that they are a conspiracy of the richer sort , who , on pretence of managing the public , do only pursue their private ends . " To which pregnant observations Sir Thomas maketh answer , that indeed , though he " cannot perfectly agree to everything that was related by Raphael , yet there are many things in the commonwealth of Utopia that I rather wish than hope to see followed in our governments . " " Doctor . Not so nick , my lord , As Hhe is troubled with thick-coining fancies , That keep her from her rest . " Macbeth . ( hire her of that ? " Doctor . Therein the patient Must minister to himself . " Such is the Utopian policy of Sir Thomas More , who sacrificed his life to his convictions , in resisting the claim of a sanguinary tyrant to Royal supremacy in the professedly Apoxiolic Church of Christ . " Nothing was wanting to the glory of his end except a better cause , more free from weakness and superstition ; but as he followed his principles and sense of duty , however misguided , his constancy and integrity ' are not less the object of our admiration . "f- William Conin <; ham .

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    The greatest thinker of Antiquity , Aristotle , declared that certain races were eternally destined to slavery , because they wanted the superior qualities which distinguish freemen . And what were the races specified by him ? The Celts and the Scythians—the races which now lead the world I The barbarians have overrun Greece and Rome , destroyed its Art , its Polity , its Culture , and its Religion , to found instead a more enduring and

    more comprehensive social state . The humblest artisan has greater knowledge and greater comforts than Agamemnon , the King of Men . In the tent of that haughty " Shepherd of thePeople , " there was no glass , no lock , no chimney , no clock , no engraving , no books , no newspaper , no sugar , no coffee , no tea , no tobacco;—he was innocent of shirts , of stockings , of handkerchiefs;—if he broke his leg , he might perish in agony , for ^ Esculapius himself knew nothing of tying an artery .

    But our present purpose is not to chant the hymn of industrial progress , and we must break off here . The allusion to Aristotle was meant to direct attention to the condition of the barbarian hordes of the Russian Empire , which the European philosopher may regard with something- of the contempt felt by Alexander ' s tutor for the Celts and Scythians . Are we not somewhat in the position of Greece and Rome , with the barbarians at our gates ? Is our boasted Civilization in no peril ? We make progress ; but what progress is made by the Slavonic races ? The solidarity of nations

    ( to which we last week referred ) renders this an intensely important question . Are we to become Republican or Cossack ? If Europe hastens its development and greatly outstrips Russia , it may fall a victim to its precocity ; for Humanity is slow in its movements , and any section of it too quickly developed , is in peril . Humanity grows ; we cannot force it . As Goethe says , Who can tell the Caterpillar creeping on the twi ^ f , of its future food ? Who can aid the chrysalis in burstingthrough its shell ? The time comes ; it loosens itself and flies into the rose ' s lap : —

    " Wer kann der Itanpe , die am Zweige kriecht , Von ihreni kiinft ' gen Flitter sprechen ? Had wer tier I ' uppe , die am lioden . liegt , Die zarte Schale helfen durchzubrechen ? Es kommt die Zeit : sic diiingt sich selbrr los , UikI oilt auf Fittigen der llu ^ o in . den Schoos . " It is perilous for Europe to become Republican to

    while Russia is Cossack ; but we are ^ la . d y that in Russia herself the Republican doctrine has its adherents , and among the announcements of new works considerable interest , is excited by the JJevelopcment des ldv . es licvolutionnaires en liussie , par A . Iscandku . Should this prove an important work , our readers will hear of it again .

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    1 'knimouk Cooi'Kii , the American novelist , ia dead . The thousands who have read with delight his vivid pictures of Indian life , who remember the charmed hours spent over his early pages , will hear this with regret : — ' Morte , villana . . . l ) i dolor ttuidrc antica . " O Death ! " Mother of Sorrow ! " ( as Dante calls her ) , who can bear of thy presence , without a shadow falling upon the soul ? " What is Death ? " asks a subtle writer in the

    last Westminster Review ,- and proceeds to examine tin ; vexed question of Life and Immortality . To say that he arrives ivt any sntisfnetory conclusion would bo saying what , no one will believn ; but t ; ho great mibjert is treated in a candid spirit of inquiry , such as must engage the sympathy even of opponents . In the same number then : is a review of Mr . Newman ' s Political Economy , in which the somewhat feeble and inconsiderate arguments against Socialism put forward by Mr . N kvv m an , are quietly and with great superiority answered .

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    * See George . Coomhe's Moral Philosophy . t Hume ' a History of England .

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    Oct . 4 , 1851 . ] Gb * Q , $ a * tt . 945

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    Critics are not the legislators but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws-foey interpret and try to enforce them—JBdinburgh Review . 7 pet

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 4, 1851, page 945, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1903/page/13/