"Long with Mr. Berkenshaw in the morning at my musique practice, finishing my song of Gaze not on Swans," in two parts, which pleases me well.”

Under the date of the 25th of the same month, Pepys refers

to a

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great wind," which had blown down above 1,000 oaks and as many beeches in the Forest of Deane.

On the 5th of the following month we find :

"To the pewterer's to buy a poore's box to put my forfeites in, upon breach of my late vows."

Reaping the reward of his amended manners, he writes on the 13th of the same month :-

"All day about business. Having lately followed my business much, I find great pleasure in it, and a growing content."

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We have thus endeavoured to pioneer our readers through the first volume of this interesting work-interesting as regards the picture it gives us of the manners of the times; the light which it throws on the political history of the epoch; and, above all, the scope which it affords for the philosophical study of an individual mind-at 'all times a profitable study, inasmuch as it must necessarily reflect ourselves in many a fault and folly common to our nature. We think that, in the extracts we have made from this volume, we shall be considered to have established the proposition with which we set out-that Pepys was started in the world with something like sound principles, the result of a religious education. That he did not imbibe those principles from the company into which he was thrown is sufficiently evident. The sea captains," albeit ever a gallant race, were not in his time likely to teach him lessons of sobriety, against which we find him so repeatedly offending. The tone of society derived from the example of a profligate court was not calculated to supply any deficiencies in his early teaching; and thus we are led to the conclusion that the ejaculatory deprecations of God's wrath, so frequently following the record of an offence against His laws, are attributable to the early inculcation of moral and religious truths. All honour, we say again, to honest John Pepys, citizen and tailor!-towards whom, whatever and however numerous may have been the errors of his son, the latter appears to have exhibited the deepest respect and warmest affection. We find our diarist, long after his official elevation, visiting his parent " in the cutting-room;" refusing-because he had not the heart to take them-six pieces which his father offered in repayment of a loan to that amount. And, perhaps, after all, the most convincing evidence of the

character of his early education, is deducible from a passage in the latter portion of the volume before us, to the effect that his father" could discern that he had been drinking, which he did never see or hear of before."

That he was a man of no great elevation of mind is sufficiently evident. Although fond of money, and not scrupulous in availing himself of any excusable means of attaining it, he is often betrayed into what he himself designates as extravagance : thus, to some extent, illustrating the proverb "Alieni appetens, sui profusus."

His journal, abounding as it does in records of the merest trivialities, often induces the comparison of the diarist to Boswell; between whom and Pepys there is still this difference, that the latter was his own Johnson.

To those of our readers who may be disposed to view the character of Pepys, as developed in the volume under review, in a less favourable light than that in which we have regarded it, we would suggest the extenuation of his comparative youth; he not having attained the age of thirty at the period to which this portion of his journal conducts us.

In conclusion, we are bound to record our thanks to the noble editor for this most acceptable contribution to our literature. We shall look with eager interest to the appearance of the remaining portions of the diary; and, in the meantime, commend the volume already published to the attention of our readers. It is full of historical illustrations, quaint anecdote, and lively pictures of the society of the time; and if, regarded in a moral point of view, it abounds not in examples to guide-it is not wanting in beacons to warn.

ART. IX.-The Statistical Companion. Compiled by T. C. BANFIELD, Statistical Clerk to the Council of Education; and C. R. WELD, Assistant Secretary to the Royal Society. London: Longmans.

IN our last number we entered at some length into an examination of the theory of "Direct Taxation," and canvassed with considerable care the leading statements which had been made on this important subject, both in and out of Parliament; and we think we succeeded in showing that a direct property and income tax, imposed to an extent sufficient to⚫ bear on its shoulders the weight of all other taxes, is the wild .chimera of visionary men, and, if ever attempted, would

prove impracticable. So convinced are we of its utter dissonancy to the fundamental principles of civil society that we hesitate not to say that, if all other taxes were abandoned, and a fixed tax on property and income substituted in their place, such an attempt would not only be at variance with the nature of things, but would speedily be followed by national bankruptcy and universal ruin as its legitimate consequences. The wealth of the empire would not dwindle away by slow and imperceptible degrees, but would be carried off as if by a revulsion of nature, and leave not a wreck behind; whilst the empire itself would sink down into the vortex which the shock had created, and be lost in the dark oblivion of the future. Of a truth, we need no such compulsive power. Free-trade speculations are daily conducting us to this catastrophe.

If, therefore, a direct tax on property and income is thus impracticable, and, if attempted, ruinous, to what sort of taxes, which, in their imposition, shall be less arbitrary, more productive, and more safe, shall we resort? We have endeavoured in the following pages to enquire into this important and interesting question; and we shall rejoice if, in the course of the enquiry, we shall be enabled to throw out one suggestion which shall assist in settling the theory of taxation on its just and lasting foundation.

A LAND TAX has been proposed by some writers as a fitting remedy for the difficulties of our present financial pressure; but a brief examination of this proposal will suffice to shew that it is liable to serious objections, and would eventually fall where its proposers would least of all desire it.

Now, there are three ways in which it would be possible to levy a tax on land. First:-It might be levied in proportion to the rent, and vary with every variation of it. In this case it would be manifestly a tax on income, and much more objectionable in its character than the income tax, on the ground of its injustice and inequality: for, in the income tax, these charges against it are founded on the fact of taxing every class of contributors to an equal amount of rating; but, in the case of a land tax of the description we are considering, the tax would be laid on one class only, to the exclusion of all others. The introduction of such a tax would violate nearly every canon on which the theory of taxation is based. It would be unequal, partial, arbitrary, and invasive of one portion of national productive capital.

Secondly:-Again, the tax might be levied in proportion to the quality of the land and the quantity of the produce. In

such case it would be an equal tax, so far as land was concerned; and, perhaps, not partial as it respected the community at large. But the payment of the tax would wholly fall on the consumer, inasmuch as the imposition would be laid proportionably to its fertility on all cultivated land. If, therefore, the least productive soils (which, in fact, regulate the price of corn) yielded a sufficient quantity to repay the profits of stock before the imposition of the tax, it is evident that, after the imposition, the cultivator must increase the price of his produce to meet the charge, otherwise his profits would fall below the average rate, and he would withdraw his capital in search of some more profitable employment-a necessary consequence of such a tax, should the farmer be prevented by any circumstances from charging it on his produce. The tax, therefore, will inevitably fall on the consumer; wages will certainly be affected; and the only question of moment to decide is, whether the increase of wages will be taken out of the profits of trade, or fall on the community generally. If wholly abstracted from profits it would undoubtedly be an unjust imposition, partial in its operation, and indirectly an arbitrary invasion of property. But our conviction is, that it would fall on the general consumption; and, in that case, one objection would be, that, affecting wages in the first instance, it would have a tendency to increase the price of all commodities throughout the kingdom. But another objection much more serious may be urged against it. It would act as a bounty to the importers of foreign corn and other produce; for, if you add, by means of a tax, four shillings per quarter to the cost of production at home, whilst the foreign produce is left unfettered, you commit an act of injustice upon your own cultivators; and the only way of remedying such an evil would be to impose an equal tax upon all imported corn-a method which would render this tax fair and equitable.

Thirdly-A land tax might also be levied on all land indiscriminately, without reference to the quality of the soil or the quantity of the production. In this case also the tax would fall on the consumer; but its assessment would be attended by a peculiar circumstance, involving a violation of another important canon belonging to this branch of finance —viz., that it would abstract more from the capital of the people than would find its way into the public treasury. Nay, it would incidentally prove the means of enriching private individuals: for, suppose two farmers are cultivating, with equal outlay, land of different qualities. Now, let a land tax be imposed which shall amount to 507, on the inferior land

producing five hundred quarters of grain, the farmer very properly would compensate himself by a charge of 2s. a quarter on the amount of his produce. The farmer of the superior soil, producing one thousand quarters, would also compensate himself by the same charge of 2s. a quarter: but he also receives 2s. a quarter on the remaining five hundred quarters, and actually gains 251. by the imposition of the tax. The present land tax which is assessed upon each district, according to a certain invariable canon, was imposed by the 4th William and Mary, and was unequal at the time of its first assessment. It is now still more unequal; and the Act of Parliament, passed with a view to its redemption, was surely one of the most audacious propositions ever made to any people, and the most arbitrary invasion of property ever attempted. The tax is, in all cases, paid by the landlord; but it may be doubtful whether, in lapse of time, it may not have become merged in the rent. In the former case, it is a tax on income partial and unjust; in the latter, it is a tax on corn and falls on the consumer, and disables the farmer from competing with the foreign producer. If foreign grain is to be admitted duty free, it is absolutely due to justice that all tax on land should be forthwith abolished.

The ASSESSED TAXES are decidedly a tax upon income; but, unlike the income tax, are neither inquisitorial nor partial, but

press with equal fairness on all the contributors; but they offend against one important canon of taxation-viz., by diverting capital from its natural course, and restraining beneficial expenditure. Dr. Adam Smith is certainly under a mistake when he says of taxes of this description-" Though a part of revenue should be taken away, in order to defray the expenses of the State, no discouragement will thereby be given to any sort of industry." Our impression is far otherwise. If, through the pressure of these taxes, any considerable number of persons through the country should feel it necessary to lay down their carriages, horses, &c., who can tell the discouraging influence it would exercise on every "sort of industry?" Coachmakers, blacksmiths, sadlers, with the trades depending on them, would all be sufferers; whilst the means of employment to servants would be curtailed, and the Government, year by year, would receive diminishing supplies. No taxes react more immediately or more heavily than these taxes on income: they are, however, fair and equitable; and, if moderately levied, would be free from objection. It is their excess which renders them oppressive, and, in their reaction, injurious to the common prosperity.

VOL. XXIV.-O