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can frighten Love away, when the javelins of the warrior are hurled at him in vain. But if Feramorz were here, I would tell him he had only told half of the truth, and instead of a vina, I would take a guitar in my hands, and thus I would sing,

'Tis true, sweet bard- light cause may move
Dissention between hearts that love;'
Yet 'tis as true, a cause as light

May severed hearts again unite.

A look-whose timid gentleness

Will scarce the secret hope confess,

That each harsh word, each unkind thought,
Is now forgiven and forgot.

The tear-that late in anger rose,

And now in silent sorrow flows;

One of those glistening drops, that fill
The eyes of weeping penitence,
(For rebel Love full soon relents,)
Like lingering raindrops falling still,
When the rude storm has passed away,
And severing clouds unfold the day.
A playful smile-that fain would earn
A sinile as playful in return;

And seeks, though struggling frowns oppose,
To win the pardon it bestows.

A word-whose mild and humbled tone,

Speaks sweetly of resentment gone;
And, when the lov'd one's heart rebels,
Wafted in suasive whisper, quells,
With more than Music's mastery,
The scornful lip and angry eye.
A single touch-from that lov'd hand,
Whose thrilling pressure can command,
With master-sway and magic art,
The stormiest tempests of the heart.
As erst the enchanter's rod, 'tis said
Wild-heaving Ocean's wrath allayed,
Lulled to repose the whirlwind rude,
And the chafed tyger's ire subdued.
A song whose soothing speech can melt
The soul, that never else had felt
The rushing tide of tenderness
Oppress the heart with sweet excess,
Bearing a wild tumultuous throng
Of thoughts uuspeakable along.
A sigh-that with soft murmurings,

Steals over the heart's responsive strings,
(As the wind-lyre its sweetest tone
Yields to the southern breeze alone,)
And with contagious melody,

Wakes throb for throb, and sigh for sigh.
Oh yes! the penitent voice of love,
Stern bosoms to forgive can move,

Vol. II. No. I

4

And melt the heart that heeded not
Or wrathful word or angry thought.
Thus the first warm sweet sighs of spring,
A kind and magic influence bring,
Dissolving on the mountain's brow,
Receding winter's lingering snow;
While gently-breathing Zephyr then,
Soothes into warmth and joy again,
The hill's cold breast which colder grew,
When the harsh blast ungently blew.
A trifling gift-a toy-a flower-

Oh! there is nought that has not power
(If love the generous charm imparts,)

To join once more divided hearts.

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Then, minstrel, though light cause may move
Dissentions between hearts that love,'

Is it not true, a cause as light,

May severed hearts again unite,
In truer, kindlier harmony

Than felt before?-Thus oft we see

The floods, that, round the mountain's base,

The rude descent compelled to sever,

Ere long in closer bands embrace,

And blended thus, flow on forever.

O. P. Q.

New Ideas on Population, with Remarks upon the Theories of Malthus and Godwin. By Alexander H. Everett. 8vo. pp.

125.

We can truly say, that we never opened a book with stronger prepossessions in its favour, than the one before us, and never closed one, with sincerer regret, that we were not entire converts to its principles. The benevolence of the author is so conspicuous, that he excited in us a lively interest in his behalf, and an earnest wish, that he had more fully developed his ideas on this important subject. We have been so long accustomed to regard the theory of population, as explained by Mr. Malthus, as the true one, that we did not feel prepared to yield that full assent to Mr. Everett's, which, perhaps, we might have done, had he entered a little more into detail; neither did the article, which appeared in the North American Review, on the same subject, from the pen of the author's brother, carry entire conviction. Certainly, on no subject were we ever more disposed to be convinced, whether we regard the high source whence these opinions emanated, or the benevolent feelings by which they were dictated. The name of Edward Everett is now become endeared to us by the fondest literary associations, and his opinions on political science have long been considered indubitably correct. We may add, that with

the present solitary exception, we have always had the happiness to find our sentiments coincident with his ; and even now, it is possible, we may differ only from misapprehension. With these remarks, we shall proceed to point out those parts of Mr. Everett's essay, which appear to require some farther elucidation, in order to render them entirely conclusive.

About twenty-six years ago, Mr. Malthus published his Essay on Population, which excited considerable sensation on its appearance. The principles which he unfolded, and which he proved, or attempted to prove, to result from an inevitable law of nature, were too startling to be readily received. His leading proposition may be stated as follows. The means of subsistence cannot, in the nature of things, increase as rapidly as population increases; but mankind cannot exist without the means of subsistence; and are, therefore, constantly perishing for want of those means. Much has been written to controvert this truth, but opposition gradually ceased, and the objections were forgotten; while Mr. Malthus's theory rose in public estimation, in exact proportion to the degree in which his opponents failed to point out his errors; and finally his work has assumed its station, as the standard on this subject.

Although Malthus cannot, generally speaking, be accused of want of perspicuity, yet there is one phrase which, as it frequently occurs, he ought more fully to have explained. It is obvious that until the precise meaning of terms is established, there can be no definite point of dispute ; and no cer tainty that the whole may not turn out a verbal difference. Indeed, we strongly suspect the present to be a case in point; and that one chief difficulty between Mr. Everett and Mr. Malthus consists in the meaning of the phrase, 'means of subsistence,' the latter extending its signification to every thing necessary to lengthen out life, as long as nature will permit, and the former supposing it restricted entirely to food. Thus in page 18, Mr. Everett says, that Malthus "maintains that in consequence of the laws of nature, which regulate the increase of the human species, and of the means of their subsistence, there does actually and must of necessity exist in all ages and countries, and in all stages of civilisation, a disproportion be tween the demand for food and its supply; or, in other words, that there is now, always has been, and always will be, throughout the whole world, a perpetual famine." Now we freely acknowledge, that if Malthus does actually maintain this propo sition, he maintains it against all experience; for every body knows, there has not existed throughout the whole world a perpetual famine; and we should be within the mark, to assert, that not an individual in the United States has perished of

starvation, since the revolutionary war. If, therefore, Mr. Malthus maintains the proposition ascribed to him, he maintains that which every one's experience proves to be untrue. We have no later edition of his work than that published in 1809, and therefore do not know what alteration his opinions may have undergone since that period. But, the fact is, that at that time, he certainly did not maintain the existence of a perpetual famine. In chap. 2, he says, "The ultimate check to population, appears then to be a want of food, arising necessarily from the different ratios, according to which population and food increase. But this ultimate check is never the immedi ate check, except in cases of actual famine. The immediate check, may be stated to consist in all those customs, and all those diseases, which seem to be generated by a scarcity of the means of subsistence; and all those causes independent of this scarcity, whether of a moral or physical nature, which tend prematurely to weaken and destroy the human frame." Chap. 2, vol. 1.

66

In this, as well as in a variety of other passages, it appears evident, that Mr. Malthus intended to use means of subsistence," in its most comprehensive signification. The wants of mankind are almost infinite; and there are many of them, besides want of food, which will deprive us of existence, if not satisfied. In this climate for example, means of subsistence certainly includes a house, fuel and clothing; and we may even go much farther, and with the strictest accuracy, extend it to medicine, nursing, exercise and rest; in a word, to every thing which wealth can procure towards preservation of life. It is in this sense we have always understood the words; and in this sense, Mr. Everett will admit, that in all places and at all times, a portion of mankind are perishing for the want of means of subsistence. Thus it evidently appears that Mr. Everett and Mr. Malthus are not debating on a common topic of difference, and we may, therefore, dismiss so much of the work as is devoted to an examination of this point.

The next division of Mr. Everett's work is very important, and on the subjects debated in it, the author and Mr. Malthus appear to be precisely at issue.

"The economical effect of an increase of population is an augmentation in the supply of labour, and in the demand for its products. The wants of the new comers create the new demand, and their labour furnishes the new supply."

p. 21.

In cases of emigration, where individuals carry with them some little capital and robust bodies, this proposition is certainly correct; but it is not so, when applied to the natural manner of

the increase of the species. It seems to us, the author as well as the reviewer has fallen into an error, to which philosophy seems peculiarly liable; a too great generalization of ideas, without sufficient allowance for the operation of local or temporary causes. This propensity is always to be deprecated, because it opens the door to ridicule, to those who are not able to esti mate the value of general principles. The above proposition appears to be true in the abstract; but when we test it by facts we find there is a variety of data which ought absolutely to be taken into the estimate. These " new comers" are infants; they necessarily create a demand not only of commodities but also of the time and attention of their parents; on the other hand, they cannot for many years furnish a supply equal to their consumption, and a large proportion of them never furnishes the supply at all, being prevented by death; all these are circumstances of the argument to be taken into con sideration, and place the proposition before us in a much more questionable shape; and in fact, in such a shape that we cannot give our assent to it at present. But Mr. E. has another source whence to draw a supply sufficient to meet the increased demand. Let us see what this is.

"It is sufficiently notorious that an increase of population, on a given territory, is followed immediately by a division of labour; which produces in its turn the invention of new machines, an improvement in the method in all the departments of industry, and a rapid progress in the various branches of art and science. The increase effected by these improvements in the productiveness of labor, is obviously much greater in proportion than the increase of population, to which it is owing. The population of Great Britain, for example, doubled itself in the course of the last century, while the improvements in the modes of applying labour made in the same period have increased its productiveness so much that it would probably be a moderate estimate to consider its products a thousand times greater than before. If, however, we suppose the increase in the products of labour naturally resulting from a doubling of a population on a given territory to be only in the proportion of ten to one, the means of subsistence will still be more abundant in the proportion of five to one than they were before. And on this very low calculation the respective rates of increase in the amount of population, and the means of subsistence, comparatively stated, will be as follows, to wit: for the population, 1, 2. 4. 8. 16. &c., and for the means of subsistence, 1. 10. 100. 1000. &c," P. 27.

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