For convenience of reference, the items in the foregoing statements are numbered, an arrangement which may also be applied to the returns of November 13, 1852, given in question 146, when referred to.

Issue Department.-It may here be remarked that any person can demand from this department notes for bullion at the rate of £3 17s. 9d. per ounce standard; but if the bank require it to be melted or assayed, it is done at the expense of the depositor (see 4 sec. of Act passed July 19, 1844).

No. 1 is termed the circulation issue, and is the representative of Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5, which are deposited to ensure its convertibility when required.

No. 2 is the unpaid portion of a debt incurred by the Government at different periods from 1694 to 1800, and due to the Bank.

No. 3 are other convertible securities, and, with No. 2, amount to fourteen millions. The Bank are allowed to issue notes on this sum by the Act of Parliament which has already been referred to.

Nos. 4 and 5 are the amounts of coin and bullion deposited to ensure the convertibility of the remainder of the notes issued. These amounts are variable in proportion to the supply of gold, or its demand for commercial or other purposes. Banking Department-Liabilities. The proprietors' capital.

No. 6.

No. 7. What may be termed a surplus capital, as to this amount the profits are added, and from this sum the dividends of the proprietors are paid.

No. 8 consists of the Exchequer accounts, monies lodged for payment of the dividends upon the public funds, savings bank deposits, and other public accounts.

No. 9 are deposits made by London bankers, the East India Company, and by private individuals at London and at the branch banks.

No. 10. Seven-day and other bills, for which the Bank have become responsible.

Assets. No. 11. Advances made upon Exchequer bills for taxes not received, Exchequer bills purchased, and stock and annuities held by

the Bank.

Seven-day and other bills Reserve notes and coin in the banking department...

Rest

17,270 incr.

354,565 decr. 47,919 incr.

The most noticeable feature in these returns is the large decrease in public deposits, occasioned by the payment of dividends and the paying off some of the dissentient holders of stock who declined complying with the terms offered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer when making his late financial arrangements.

The decrease in the other securities held by the Bank is usual at the period when the divi. dends are paid, as the advances upon stock, &c., are now generally repaid. The decrease in Government securities is small, considering the amount withdrawn from the public deposits; and, observing the increase in the active circulation, and in the coin and bullion, it is evident the position of the Bank is better, and the supply of money is somewhat freer than the week previously. Comparing, however, the circulation issue (No. 1) of the last returns with that quoted in question 146, Controversialist for February, the decrease is seen to be £5,315,435, a reduction the Bank was compelled to make in self-defence, owing to the large demand for gold made upon it. Such an abstraction from the issues would have a tendency to make money dearer, and restrict commercial operations, unless the demand for goods would admit of prices being raised sufficiently to cover the advances in the value of money. In 1847 money was dear from its scarcity. At the present time money is dear, not from a want of supply, but from the demand made for commercial purposes. When the returns of the Bank of Eugland indicate a restrictive issue bankers recall their advances, and become more select in the class of bills discounted by them. Then it is that small manufacturers or tradesmen of limited means feel the inconveniences of the pressure, unless their prudence and forethought have led them to make preparation for it, which the following example may illustrate :

A is a small manufacturer, who has conducted his business for ready money; but, from an easy state of the money market, finds little difficulty in getting a bill discounted which has fallen into his hands in the way of business. This induces

No. 1.

plying goods to persons of trustworthy character upon credit terms, taking their acceptances at three and four months. For a time all goes on well. At length the returns of the Bank of Eng land show a gradual and serious diminution of the precious metals. Its issues are restricted; its accommodation to the public is drawn within closer limits. Country bankers feel pressure, arising from the scarcity of money; their advances are called in, and they discount nothing but very good bills, and at short dates, subject to a much advanced rate. A has heard that money has be come dear, but understands little of the reason why. He proceeds with his extended trade, and comes to the bank with his bills as usual; but "the returns" show that the aspect of the money market is become very serious, and the banker feels he is obliged to refuse to discount for him, as the bills taken by A are of a class the bank cannot re-discount. The engagements of 4 ma ture, and find him without the means of meeting them, and he has no alternative but to "ask time"

from his creditors or sink under the pressure. Had A made himself acquainted with the condition of the money market, even from the returns of the Bank of England, he would have seen that money was growing scareer, and would become dearer. Prudence would have suggested that his engagements should be more limited, and that he should have restricted his trade to the limits from which he commenced.

Such is also the principle which operates among prudent men in the higher ranks of the commercial world. A disregard of such passing events brings disgrace and ruin, whilst he who "foreseeth the evil" is enabled to overcome its influences. The value of these returns to commercial men may in some part be gathered from this view of the matter.-W. J.

164. Conversation.-The answer sent by S. G. hardly meets the case of R. F. F. Perhaps the inquireris in circumstances that require a pleasing delivery-in some department of trade, or in one of the learned professions-and is in constant communication with persons of cultivated minds, who are displeased with uncouth expressions; but if he is in communication with persons of lowly birth, even then it is necessary to possess a careful utterance, for the poor are very prone to like or dislike one who speaks to them, according to the manner in which they are addressed. A friend of mine once offended one of his parishioners by a harsh expression, though the idea expressed was not objectionable. If the inquirer is anxious to be agreeable to his friends by giving expression to his thoughts with ease and grace, so far his aim is laulable, and deserves encou ragement. S. G. advises the attainment of a great amount of knowledge; but the possession of extensive knowledge is not always accompanied by a ready and pleasant communication of thoughts to others: yet extensive knowledge is necessary to furnish the materials for profitable conversation. A man might be able to acquire great stores of knowledge, and yet find his ability to Converse very defective. It is, indeed, painful to listen to the address of many persons;-such a difficulty to find words, such wandering and discord in their discourse, that if by instruction these can be enabled to obtain a pleasing utterance, time will not be wasted in the attempt to improve

them.

The author of the " Art of Reasoning" has furnished us with a foundation on which improvement may be built. He says, "As is the form of our thought, so should be the form of our style." When each part of our knowledge is not distinctly seen by ourselves, but the whole is in confusion, our discourse must partake of the same disorder. If our knowledge has been attained through the medium of a harsh and dry style, our utterance must share the same character. If R. F. F. has not studied the articles in the Controversialist, by the author of the "Art of Reasoning," I advise him to do so, as the splendid diction in which they are written will conduce to the end he aims at. Let him read Shakspere's plays, Byron's poems, Hume's "History of England," Lytton Bulwer's works, &c. If the ideas contained in these works be made his own, with the beauty of style in which they are written, he will be able to appreciate elegance of style wherever it exists, and the knowledge acquired through such authors must colour his own

thoughts with beauty. The moon, by the light she receives from the sun, imparts a halo of loveliness to the clouds as they pass over her surface along the sky-so our souls, enlightened by the great spirits of our race, will beautify our own conceptions.

The cultivation of the ideal faculty will also prove a great assistance to the inquirer in the attainment of a graceful and harmonious utter

ance.

The study of words will enable R. F. F. to reject those that are composed of many consonants, and choose those that abound in vowels The word mankind is not so pleasing in sound as humanity; this word is composed of an equal number of consonants and vowels, and is very beautiful.

The inquirer says that persons are esteemed more on account of a beautiful utterance than strength of intellect. This I consider wrong, as the pleasure we receive from a delightful diction is of a transient nature, unless such language is the expre-sion of intellectual attainments or goodness of heart. The adornments of style may be forgotten, but intelligence and virtue will ensure us the esteem and love of all those whose approval is of value.-R. H.

186 (p. 353, Vol. III.). Scanning Poetry.-In asking how to "scan" a passage from Collins' "Ode to Evening"-one of the most unique and peculiar, yet most chaste and musical, compositions of English poetry-" Juvenis has, I conceive, started a question of no common difficulty. Surely, in default of a genuine poet, the gentleman owning the initials E. B., who sits in the critical chair for the purpose of passing judgment upon unfortunate aspirants to the laurel wreath, might have turned his attention to the question of "Juvenis." It might be delicately hinted, that the readers of the Controversialist have a strong interest in the nature of English poetry, but a very slight concern in "wretched verses" or "glib nonsense;" and that the annotated" perpetration, written off at once, without any consideration," appearing in pp. 29-31, might have been advantageously displaced for the introduction of a short essay on metre and poetic construction. I hope that these remarks may catch the eye of E. B., and awaken him to a sense of the duty of promulgating the law of poetic justice, which it is his office to administer. For myself, I am neither a poet, nor the son of a poet. Like others, on leav ing school and donning the toga virilis, I began to write verses; but an inner love for the poetry of our Miltons and Cowpers, our Shaksperes and Drydens, warned me that a verse-maker was not a poet; and I was glad to become a silent worshipper, and to listen in rapt admiration to the ecstatic harmonies of the great masters of song. But, while I abjure any attempts at poetic power, the question naturally occurs, In what does poetry differ from prose-on what principles of construction is it founded? It evidently is not the quality of the thoughts expressed which alone distinguishes the two classes of composition; nor is it the beautiful imagery, the metaphors, and the similes with which the poet "points a moral or adorns a tale." It appears to me that the only

real distinction which can be drawn between poetry and imaginative, flowery prose, is that one is metrical, the other unmetrical. I think the careful reader will find a proof of this positio...

Q

bat,

With short, shrill shriek, flits by on leathern wings,"

I think it would be mere folly to maintain that there is anything in the idea conveyed which constitutes them poetry. If we change the order of the words, and supply the ellipses, the character of the composition is entirely changed:-"The air is hushed now, except where the weak-eyed bat flits by on its leathern wings, and utters its short, shrill shriek." No one can pretend that, as a simple statement of facts, the meaning of the couplet differs from the equivalent prose; and yet I conceive that it would be impossible for any educated person to deny that the one is poetry of a high class, and that the other is very ordinary prose. The essential nature of poetry, then, is metre. But what is metre? I believe there are two wide-spread opinions on the subject, which are vaguely held without any thought as to their truth, viz., first, that metre consists of a mere mechanical arrangement of syllables, so many in a line, and of lines recurring at intervals, like the figures of circulating decimals; and, secondly, that metre is a system of prosodiacal quantities. The former opinion, held chiefly by the unreflecting and uneducated, is considerably countenanced by the custom of religious denominations in designating the measures of their hymns as "four lines sevens," "8, 6, 8, 6," (the ordinary "common metre,") &c.-a custom perhaps necessary where music is to be fitted to words "at the shortest notice," like a ready-made outfit to the body, without reference to the character and internal nature of either, but ruinous both to the music and the sentiments of the poet, and sadly misleading as to the nature of poetical metre. The idea that English metre is a system of prosodiacal quantities is probably held by most persons who, as boys, have toiled through the wearisome pages of Latin prosody, and been drilled in the art of "scanning" Latin poets, and of constructing "nonsense verses" by the help of a Gradus, or by pulling a passage or two of Virgil to pieces and joining the bits again. If I mistake not, somewhat higher views of Latin poetry are now generally held, and accent is believed to have played its part in ancient verse; but still quantity was the grand governing quality of the Virgilian and Horatian metres. To attempt, however, to subject English poetry to strict rules of quantity, must, I imagine, fail. Southey tells that amongst the multitude of our dissyllabic words we have only one pure spondee, and that not a very serviceable one, being the proper name

us,

Egypt." Hence in his attempt to form an English hexameter he tells us that he was compelled to use the trochee and dactyl in place of the spondee and dactyl. I believe the general system adopted by those who wish to govern our English metres by prosodiacal rules of quantity is, to regard the accented or emphatic syllables as long, and those unaccented as short. But this appears to me a somewhat unjustifiable liberty, prompted only by a desire to bind the rules of one language on the constructions of another of a totally different origin and nature. We might, perhaps, force Latin metres on our English poesy, as some have forced the inversions and constructions-almost the very words of the ancient tongues-on our English speech; yet in both cases the advantage is doubtful, and the success but very partial.

It will be seen from the foregoing remarks that I consider the application of strict rules of "scanning" would be alien to the genius of English metre. I am quite open to conviction, and shall be happy to see any other writer explaining his views of this interesting subject, however opposite to my own. Indeed, my chief object in penning the present remarks is a wish to test, by public opinion, the value of views formed in the course of individual thought and study. The "Ode to Evening" is evidently modelled on Milton's translation of the "Quis multa gracilis te puer in rosa" of Horace, a translation intended (professedly) by its author as an imitation of the Horatian metre (Asclepiad and Pherecratic). The resemblance of the English to the Latin measure is however, I think, confined to the fact that each contains two long and two short lines in a stanza: to show any real prosodiacal identity between the Latin model and its English counterpart would be impossible. The metre is undoubtedly interesting, and in the ode of Collins has proved to be of the highest value, and become the foundation of a variety of unrhymed metres, which are probably destined to play a still more prominent part in the future eras of English poetry. Now, it appears to me that the basis of English versification consists in a melody of expression and a harmony of construc tion; the former governing chiefly the choice of words, and the latter the metre. This latter quality-harmony-seems to be regulated by accent, and (generally) wrought out by the assistance of rhyme, and uniformity in the number of the syllables. It is this which pre-eminently distinguishes the great and mature poet. Without a thorough power over the details of this harmony of versification, the mere melody of words cloys, and degenerates into what has been aptly termed "an overbalance of mere sweetness of sound." An attention to this particular will often enable us to distinguish the earlier writings of our great poets from those of more mature age; they are generally wanting in that endless variety of pause, and that exquisite adaptation of the natural characteristics of the words employed to the sense conveyed. Hence the best poets, even in the same nominal description of metre, gain an idiosyncracy of style which it is impossible fully to imitate. It is said the rhythm of the Spenserian stanza has never been exactly caught by any succeeding poet; and it may assuredly be asserted that the rhythmical movement of Miltonic blank verse is virtually a distinct metre, and has a character as essentially its own as exists in the music of a Handel or a Mozart. Indeed, I imagine that music and poetry

are much more closely connected than is generally imagined. In both melody is the indispensable basis, but the inferior gift; while harmony forms the distinctive province of the master mind. In both it is possible to write by rule, though the result is in each case feeble and worthless. It is related of Coleridge, that he once declared his ennui in listening to a feeble piece of Rossini, adding, that "it sounds like nonsense verses ;' but when the sublime strains of Beethoven commenced, his ennui vanished, and he became enraptured. Is not the attempt to write English poetry on the principles of prosodiacal quantity a species of intelligible nonsense-verse-making? On this point I may remind the reader that Coleridge expressly tells us that "Christabel" is written on a purely accentual system, and consists of four accented syllables to each line. Perhaps some correspondent may be able to say whether the deaf have any interest in poetry as poetry, and apart from the ideas conveyed. It seems to me exceedingly probable that English metre, depending chiefly on musical principles, may be without charm to them; while the accurate measure of long and short quantities, depending on fixed but arbitrary rules, may give to Latin poetry an especial charm for those amongst them who understand the language. Perhaps a few specimens of "accentual scansion," where each accent is regarded as a long quantity, and the feet are measured off more Latino, may interest "Juvenis :"—

Hexameter.

popular edition of his works is being issued by the Messrs. Blackwood, of Edinburgh. His "Physician's Diary" was rejected by nearly all the leading English magazines, and thrown aside by the author as useless. Subsequently, through the persuasion of a friend, it was offered and sent anonymously to Professor Wilson, by whom it was accepted; and not till some time after did the editor know his correspondent. He is described by the author of "Pen and-Ink Sketches" as a man of shy, retiring disposition, with a face which may be called "heavy," still of a very thoughtful cast, the high and broad forehead indicating powers of a very superior order. I hope the preceding may be satisfactory to your correspondent J. C.-D. M. W.

208. The Cause of the Apparent Size of the Moon when Rising and Setting.-Not being satisfied with the replies given by C. C. F. and Wm. C. to "Textor's" question on this subject, I have examined the question for myself, and am led to consider that refraction is the sole cause of this phenomenon. One of the simple experiments I tried in support of this opinion was the following:-I placed a small piece of silver in the centre of a basin, and retired to such a distance as to lose sight of the object. I then poured some water into the basin, when the object by refraction became visible at a greater distance, and, if I were not the subject of a "mental delusion," considerably magnified. The refraction was increased by an addition of water. Refraction decreases as the altitude of the moon,

Trochaics.

"O ye unforgotten pleasures, Pleasures of our tender youth."

Iambic.

"Oh, that on famed Peneus' banks

The nymphs of Pelion had bemoaned."

Alexandrine.

the object is seen as it would be if no atmosphere intervened; at the altitude of 45° the refraction amounts to only th of a degree, but at the horizon it is equal to 33'.

Perhaps some more of your scientific contributors will favour "Textor" and myself with further replies to the question.-J. L.

212. The Classification of Knowledge.-In reply to "Amicus' inquiry regarding the best method of classifying knowledge and information,

Cretics.

"Native floods, rough with ice."

Pentameter.

"The pentamer aye falling in melody back." Some amusing burlesque Sapphics and Dactylics may be seen in the pages of "The Poetry of the Anti-Jacobin." B. S.

205. Samuel Warren.-Samuel Warren is a son of Dr. Warren, once a Wesleyan minister of Manchester, now a clergyman of the Church of England. He is by profession a barrister, and is at present Recorder at Hull. He was originally intended for the medical profession, and studied in the hospitals. His principal works are "The Diary of a Late Physician;" "Ten Thousand a Year;" "Now and Then;" "A Popular and Practical Introduction to Law Studies;" "Caleb Stukeley:"The Lily and the Bee, an Apologue on the Crystal Palace;" an essay on the Intellectual and Moral Development of the Present Age;" and a tale of the assizes, "We are all Low People here" which appeared in "Blackwood's Magazine. He is at present engaged on a work entitled The Memoirs of Sir Astley Cooper." A

best thing of the kind I have met with. It is simply a book cut into an index, with a number of leaves to each letter of the alphabet. The information, extracts, discoveries, statistics, &c., are entered under the initial or leading letter of the subject being entered. It is thus classified, and can at any time be at once referred to. It is highly commendable for making entries of subjects read that may again be required for reference. A glance at the "Index Rerum," as appended to Todd's complete works, will at once convince anyone of its utility and value.-J. B.

In answer to your correspondent " Amicus," I think that the science of Mnemonics is all that is required, which by associating and localizing his ideas, he would have (to use an old phrase) what he wants at his finger-ends. This science contains other advantages besides, by which you may commit to memory, in an almost incredible short space of time, any amount of figures, names, or symbols you have been hitherto unacquainted with.-J. H.

213. Nugget.-In answer to W. R.'s query I may remark that I presume the word nugget is derived from the Persian word nuud, which signifies " ready money."-A. R.