this let a few pages of introduction be prefixed, briefly explaining the nature of the original record, and the principle on which the extracts had been selected. This would no doubt bring the craft of antiquarianism into danger. The student and writer of history are anxious to run down the game, the antiquary thinks of nothing but the pleasures of the chace. The pernicious precedent would be set of sifting the wheat from the chaff, and that, we shall be told, is what no editor can adequately accomplish. Is there any man of sense in the country by whom this can really be credited? We should send Mr. Hardy, or Sir Harris Nicolas (and abundance of accurate and able coadjutors may be found,) into the Pipe Office, Chapter House, or Augmentation Office, or any other depository of records, in the most perfect confidence that their extracts would contain every one fact of the least importance to be found therein, while whole rolls would by this process be distilled into pages, and access to all that is valuable in the contents of our archives would be a thousand-fold facilitated. It is impossible to overrate the value of such condensation, provided it be done with judgment and accuracy, and it must not only be proposed but executed, before the useful part of our records can be rendered generally available to the public.
We here close our observations on the Record Commission, and regret that they should have proved so unfavourable. They have neither proceeded from a desire to find fault, nor from personal or party motives. We have stated nothing beyond what we believe we are warranted, and almost required, to do. We are also fully aware that in their individual characters the present commissioners are, and their predecessors have invariably been, entitled to all consideration and respect. But this cannot change the nature of their public acts, nor affect the judgment of sober and impartial observers. In no age or country have funds for the accomplishment of a literary undertaking ever been so unsparingly supplied, or so preposterously squandered. With the 450,000l. which the commissioners have received they might long ago have ar ranged the whole records of the kingdom; produced the most ample and correct catalogues and calendars which skill and industry could furnish; and printed every page, either of copy or extract, which ought ever to have passed through the press.
We see no prospect whatever that the publication of national records can be advantageously carried on under a Board of Commissioners, let it be constituted as it may—or in any other manner, at the expense of the government. Between contrariety of views and interests within, and intrigues for patronage and influence without, the plan will never confer benefits on the country at all proportioned to its cost. If, however, it should be thought fit
to continue the Record Commission at all, we are persuaded it would be the wisest course to confine it strictly to the arrangement of the records, and the preparation and printing of catalogues and indexes alone. Let these be brought to the highest possible perfection. Let the State Paper Office, under prudent regulations, be thrown open; or let the oldest and largest part of its contents be transferred to the Museum. This has been, proposed in France, and would be found no less advisable in this country. Jusqu'ici,' says M. Guizot, tantôt la nature du gouvernement, tantôt des justes convenances ont rendu ces grands dépôts à peu près inaccessibles; mais la séparation est si profonde entre notre temps et les temps passés; la politique de notre époque est si peu solidaire de celle des siècles antérieurs, que le gouvernement peut, sans crainte et sans scrupule, associer le public à une partie de ses richesses historiques. Let these objects be attained, and then, so far as history is concerned, government will have done its duty. The individual or united exertions of private persons will accomplish the remainder.
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It is indeed high time that some effectual step should be taken on this subject by the legislature. The half million already expended on this gigantic job infinitely exceeds all the sums spent, by public authority, in the cause of the genuine literature of this country, from the days of William the Conqueror to those of William IV. inclusive.
VOLUME FIFTY-EIGHT OF THE QUARTERLY REVIEW.
Abelard, Peter, value of his letters, 417.
Africa, Eastern, Travels and Adventures
in, descriptive of the Zoolus, their
manners, customs, &c., with a sketch
of Natal, by Nathaniel Isaacs, 1—
the Cape of Good Hope, ib.—emigra-
tion thither at the close of the war, 2
-second emigration in 1809, ib.—
prosperous condition of the British
settlers, ib.-simultaneous irruption of
the Caffres, 3-distress of the inha-
bitants, 4-the sufferers seek an asy-
lum in Natal, 6-nature of the coun-
try ib.-character of Mr. Isaacs' book,
ib.-and of a Narrative of a Journey
to the Zoolu Country, by Captain
Allen Gardiner,' 7-sketches of the
interior, 9-an elephant hunt, 10-an
execution, 11-a review, 12-a dance,
ib.-a massacre, ib.-murder of King
Chaka, 14-first missionary establish-
ment at Natal, 18-natural history,
23-the Caffre nation a pastoral one,
24-possibility of increasing the popu-
lation a hundred-fold, ib.-manner in
which the new settlers should conduct
themselves, 26.
America and Europe. See Europe.
Ancient Collections of Private Letters.
See Letters.
Arago, M., his vindication of Dr. Thomas
Young, 302.
Archdeaconry of London in the twelfth
century, state of, 453.
Architects, British, Transactions of the
Institute of, 524-mischiefs of the
percentage system, ib.-papers on the
newly introduced mode of building
termed concrete, ib.-cob-walls of the
cottages of Devonshire and Cornwall,
527-derivation of the word cob, 528
-mode of constructing cob-walls, 529
-varieties of cob, ib.-antiquity of
cob, 531-traced from the time of Cain,
ib.-the watch-towers of Hannibal
built of concrete cob, 537-cob brought
into the west of England by the Pho-
nicians, 539.
Architecture, 62-inferiority of all our
recent public buildings to the contem-
porary edifices of foreign sovereigns,
63-the present system a nursery for
jobs, 64-innovations perpetrated on
the law-courts, &c., ib.-new Bucking-
ham-house, ib.-amateur commission,
65-narrow feeling which animates
our professors of architecture, 66—re-
strictions imposed on the artists as to
the style of their plans for the houses
of parliament, 66-defence of the Go-
thic school, 67-the Grecian school,
73-our architectural coup d'essai in
Regent-street, 74-church of St. Pan-
cras, 76-porticos in Regent's-park,
ib.-the club-houses, ib.-the Athenian
style the source and fountain of good
architecture, 77-the Roman style, ib.
-works of Wren and Jones, 78-in-
novation suggested by Mr. Purser, ib.
-St. George's-hospital, ib. -contro-
versies on the National Gallery and
the Commission on the Houses of
Parliament, 79.
Ariosto, remarks on the poetry of, 48.
Army, manners and morals of, in the
twelfth century, 425.
Austin, Mrs., her preface to M. Cousin's
Report on the Educational System in
Prussia, 307.
Austria, policy of, 327-happy condition
of its inhabitants, ib.-state of educa-
tion in, 330-its criminal code, ib.
Authorship, present condition of, in Eng-
land, 321.
Basque provinces, social and political
state of, 278.
Bavaria, sketch of the king of, 331-
.progress of the fine arts in, ib.—crimi-
nal code of, ib.
Benson, Rev. Christopher, his 'Letter to
the Bishop of Lincoln, on the proceed-
ings of the Ecclesiastical Commis-
sioners,' 197. See Cathedral Esta-
blishments.
Berlin, 305.
Boiardo, his Orlando Innamorato cha-
racterized, 48.
Booksellers of the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, 444.
Brewery, Barclay and Perkins's, de-
scribed, 499.
British Fishes, History of, by William
Yarrell, F.L.S., 334-its appearance
the dawn of a new era in the natural
history of England, ib.-the subject
especially interesting to Britons, 335--
our fisheries a nursery for seamen, ib.
-practicability of making our rivers,
&c., a source of emolument, ib.-and
of naturalizing the goramy of India
and other species, in this country, 336-
canal in St. James's-park, 339-origin
and progress of ichthyology, ib.-phy.
siology of fishes, 343-the author's
arrangement of the several families,
346-perches, 347-modes of making
water-souchy, ib.-the weevers, 348-
red mullets, 249-gurnards, 350-
trawling described, ib. — sticklebacks,
352-gilt-head and Spanish bream, ib.
-teeth of fishes, 353-receipt for
dressing sea-bream, ib.-the mackerel
family, 354-their supposed migra-
tions, 355-the doree, 356-grey mul-
lets, 357-the fishing-frog or angler,
358-carp, tench, &c., ib. - mock
pearls, 360-pikes, &c. ib.-salmon,
trout, &c., 361-smelts, 363-the her-
ring family, ib.-cod, haddock, whiting,
&c., 364-turbot, brill, &c., ib.—eels,
&c., 365-the file fish, 368-royal
sturgeons, ib.-lampreys, 369-scarcity
of food in the Scotch islands, and on
the coasts of Ireland, 370-prejudice
of the Celtic tribes against fish and
fishing, ib.
Buonaparte, Napoleon, his Opinions in
the Council of State,' by Baron Pelet,
473-the St. Helena romances, ib.-
M. Pelet's idea of Buonapartean his-
tory, ib.-rage for personal distinctions
in France, 476-Napoleon's maxims
concerning legislative assemblies, 479
-opinions on public instruction, 480
-administration of justice, 481-the
gendarmerie, 482-corporal punish-
ments, ib.-the clergy, 483-the con-
scription, 484-dress of the troops, 485
-management of the national bank.
486 Madame Recamier, 487 - the
Buonaparte family, ib.-first appear-
ance of Napoleon, 488-peace of
Amiens, 489-object of the infraction
of the treaty, 490-murder of the Duke
d'Enghien, ib.-designs against Paris,
ib.-his generals, 493-his senate, 494
-merits of M. Pelet's book, 496-and
of the translation, ib.
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Cambacères, Memoirs of, 406-the work
an impudent fabrication, ib.-the au-
thor's former impositions, 407-Me-
moirs of Madame de Genlis, ib.-of
Madame Campan, ib. - Las Casas'
Memorial de St. Helène, ib.-Memoirs
of Robespiere, 410-of Fouché, ib.—of
Madame de Crèqui, ib.-of Madame
Fars, Vicomtesse de Fosse-Landry,
411-of the Duke of Rovigo, ib.—and
of Madame du Barri, 412 the author's
account of the way in which he hashed
up the Mémoires of Louis XVIII,' ib.
Cape of Good Hope. See Africa.
Carnarvon, Earl of, his Portugal and
Gallicia, with a Review of the Social
and Political State of the Basque Pro-
vinces, 254. See Portugal.
Cathedral Establishments, 197-recom-
mendations of the Ecclesiastical Com-
mission, ib.-lukewarmness of the go-
vernment in defence of the church, ib.
-proposed destruction of our cathedral
establishments, ib.-no organ more es-
sential to the health and vigour of the
church, 199-the question of right
considered, 201-trusts and corpora-
tions protected by our old constitu-
tional law, 203-Europe indebted to
corporations for all its liberty, know-
ledge, and power, 204-cathedral es-
tablishments the oldest corporations
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