“ Never, perhaps, did there exist at once, a greater number of men distinguished by virtue and talent. To prove this assertion, nothing more were necessary than to give a list of the honest statesmen who then presided in the councils of Athens,—of the warriors who devoted their lives to her independence,—of the architects, sculptors, painters, poets, historians, and philosophers, whose names are, even at this day, shedding a glory over her ruins, brighter than that which illumines the maturity and vigour of any other state. ”

“ Of the many eminent and good men whom Great Britain may proudly boast of having produced,—who have dedicated their lives to the service of the state,—and have ministered to the improvement and the happiness of their countrymen, not less by the exercise of splendid talents in the public councils of the nation, than by the bright example they have afforded in private life, of inflexible integrity, and the practice of every amiable virtue,—there is certainly not one whose death has excited a deeper or more universal regret, than that of Mr Francis Horner. ”

“ It was their delight to contemplate, in this highly-gifted individual, a combination almost without a parallel,—of every virtue, and every acquirement, which can dignify and adorn the character of a public man;—a powerful understanding,—various and profound knowledge,—a sound and penetrating judgment,—original and enlightened views,—a correct and elegant taste,—an impressive yet modest eloquence,—a fervent but chastened zeal,—never-failing discretion,—a high and independent feeling,—and, above all, a most unimpeachable honour. ”

“ In the battles of liberty, in which Æschylus, and Pindar, and Socrates, fought, a little band of freemen resisted and baffled the whole power of a mighty empire; and war, that in common cases depresses talent, and extinguishes all the arts but such as are subservient to the purposes of destruction, kindled a flame of enthusiasm that cherished and developed the seeds of whatever was great and good in man ”

“ I shall now give a short analysis of the Electra, which is justly considered one of the finest plays of the Greek stage. Sophocles was not a man of so sublime a mind as Æschylus; but what he wants in loftiness and fire of spirit, he compensates by a delicacy of taste, and a tenderness of feeling, which, if they do not render him the greatest of the ancient poets, make him at least one of the most interesting of them. Nature had endowed him with an imagination which was ever under the guidance of a sound understanding ”

“ Air is extremely useful; it is not possible to exist without it; but as it can be had at pleasure, as all can acquire it without any exertion, it has no exchangeable value. Utility, then, as Mr Ricardo has observed, is not the measure of exchangeable value, although it is absolutely essential to it. If a commodity were in no way useful,—in other words, if it could in no way contribute to our gratification,—it would be destitute of exchangeable value, however scarce it might be, or whatever quantity of labour might be necessary to procure it. ”

“ The policy of balancing the power of one state against another, was never pursued but in modern Europe—nor was it till the commencement of the sixteenth century, that the European states began to be formed into one grand federal league, to be the guardians of each other's interests. The ultimate intention of this system of policy was, to secure every state in the full possession of all its rights, by checking the first encroachments of ambition, watching the movements of foreign powers, and uniting their respective force in support of the weak against the strong. ”

“ And the more I consider the simplicity of the people of whom I am now writing—the scenes among which they have been bred—and their lonely and sequestered habits of life, where the workings and phenomena of nature alone appear to attract the eye or engage the attention,—the more I am convinced that the temperament of their minds would naturally dispose them to devotional feelings. ”

“ Dutiful, affectionate, and social; gentle, cheerful, and unassuming; full of kindness and full of charity; he was the joy and pride of his family, dear to every friend, and a perfect pattern of goodness in all the relations of domestic life. For these sorrowing individuals, this only consolation now remains,—silently to dwell on the remembrance of his numerous virtues, and to fix the love of them for ever on their hearts. ”

“ It is with deep concern we have to announce the death of Francis Horner, Esq. Member of Parliament for St Mawes. This melancholy event took place at Pisa on the 8th instant. We have had seldom to lament a greater loss, or to bewail a more irreparable calamity. With an inflexible integrity, and ardent attachment to liberty, Mr Horner conjoined a temperance and discretion not always found to accompany these virtues. The respect in which he was held, and the deference with which he was listened to in the House of Commons, is a striking proof of the effect of moral qualities in a popular assembly. ”

“ He recommends that their great naval resources should be carefully fostered in time of peace, and that their land forces should not be neglected; but that it ought always to be held in view, that the safety of these states, and of every thing dear to a free people, must depend in an eminent degree on the militia. He rejoices that he enters on the discharge of his duties in the time of peace, and adds, that it shall be his sincere desire to preserve it, on just principles, with all nations, claiming nothing unreasonable of any, and rendering to each what is its due. ”

“ The science of Political Economy owes its rise to the eighteenth century. Many facts, and several of the principles which now enter into treatises on that subject, had been previously ascertained, but it was reserved for Stuart, Turgot, Smith, and other eminent men of the last age, to combine them into one consistent and harmonious whole, and to analyze, in a much more accurate manner than had ever been done before, the sources of wealth, and the laws which regulate its distribution among the different classes of society. ”

“ And like a dream are gone!
Though beautiful the moon-beams play
On the lake's bosom, bright as they,
And the soul intensely loves their stay,
Soon as the radiance melts away
We scarce believe it shone!
Heaven-airs amid the harp-strings dwell,
And we wish they ne'er may fade—
They cease! and the soul is a silent cell,
Where music never played.
Dream follows dream through the long night-hours,
Each lovelier than the last—
But ere the breath of morning-flowers,
That gorgeous world flies past. ”

“ These bit the hind-legs of the horses, snapped at their noses, and raised such an outrage of barking, that the poor animals, forespent as they were, were constrained to lay themselves out almost beyond power. Nor did the fray cease when the race was won. Encouraged by the noise and clamour which then arose about the gaining of the mell, the staunch collies continued the attack, and hunted the racers round and round the houses with great speed, while the horses were all the time wheeling and flinging most furiously, and their riders, in desperation, vociferating and cursing their assailants. ”

“ That great work, by shewing its infinite importance to our best interests,—by proving that no legislative measures could be adopted clashing with its principles, but what must be vitally injurious to the community at large,—and by successfully exposing many absurd theories, enactments, and practices, hitherto looked upon, as the acme of genius and wisdom, contributed in a very high degree to draw public attention to the science of which it still continues the brightest ornament. ”

“ Of staring comets, that look kingdomes dead.—
His breath Hell's lightning is, and each deep groan
Disdains to think that Heaven thunders alone!
Three rigorous virgins, waiting still behind,
Assist the throne of the iron-scepter'd King;
With whips, of thorns and knotty vipers twin'd,
They rouse him, when his rank thoughts need a sting.
Thus reigns the wrathful King, and while he reigns,
His sceptre and himself both he disdains.
Disdainful wretch! how hath one bold sin cost
Thee all the beauties of thy once bright eyes? ”

“ Hence the curiosity which every thing connected with that extraordinary people has excited, and the enthusiasm with which the ruins of their city have been explored, and the works of their poets and sages studied; yet it has happened, unfortunately for literature and the arts, that little more than the wrecks of their genius have survived. ”

“ A few of the more intelligent and cautious of the learned might still entertain a very invincible opinion, that the phenomenon in question had not really been accounted for but the great multitude of the studious, who seldom condescend to a very careful examination of any particular subject, received the doctrine as impregnably established—while, in the public demonstrations of professed teachers, the difficulties that remained were either entirely unnoticed, or were hastily concealed from the view of the curious, by ambiguous language, or unsatisfactory conjecture. ”

“ He is always in the elementary of our nature—therefore he always takes possession of the heart; and though he does not reign there with absolute dominion, like Shakespeare or Homer, he is a guest whom we receive with pleasure, and dismiss with regret; and if he does not fill us with the idea that he is the greatest poetical genius of the dramatic writers of his country, he has certainly produced better plays than any of them. Less impetuous and less daring than Æschylus, and less pathetic than Euripides, he knew how to turn his talents to account better than either. ”

“ War was not then waged to aggrandize one and to degrade the many—it was the generous struggle of a whole people, determined to perish amid the ruins of their country, rather than receive a foreign yoke. ”

“ It was no part of this system to equalize the powers of the states composing the grand community—which is as impracticable as to preserve an equality of property among the individual members of a nation. The question is not what amount of power above another any state possesses, provided that power is fairly acquired, but whether any state possesses its power in such circumstances, as to enable it to trespass at will on a weaker neighbour. ”

“ Hence, there is an inducement to remit capital abroad to where it will yield a larger return; and although capitalists, as well as other men, have a natural repugnance to remove to foreign countries from the land of their fathers and their friends, yet, as Mr Ricardo has justly observed, "There are assuredly limits to the price, which, in the form of perpetual taxation, individuals will submit to pay for the privilege merely of living in their native country." ”

“ From these gentle feelings, Electra rises to the true sublimity of her character, and, like a demon, instigates her brother to the murder of their mother. When their plans are fully arranged, Orestes enters the palace, and, from behind the scenes, Clytemnestra is heard crying in a loud voice.
"Cly. The royal halls are full of murderers!
Where are my friends?
E. (To the Chorus.) Hush! hear ye not a voice?
Cho. Yes, sounds of woe, that shake my soul with horror.
Cly. I am murdered! Oh! where art thou, Ægysthus? ”

“ This age may be denominated the spring of the world, and its productions, even in their decay, retain much of the freshness, and the bloom, and the beauty, of that delightful season. Their statues do not appear so much to be imitations of nature, as nature herself, starting into life, and assuming her finest forms. ”

“ Of man, who loves and blesses all,
With kingly accent, sweet though high,
Completes the full-toned harmony.
Its thorns are in my breast—yet still
I love this Earth with all its ill!
Though lone and heartless in the strife,
I dread the long fatigue of life—
And none to whom 'twere sweet to say,
"These heavens how bright! this earth how gay!" ”

“ What every thing is really worth to the man who has acquired it, and who wants to dispose of it, or exchange it for something else, is the toil and trouble which it can save to himself, and which it can impose on other people. * * * If, among a nation of hunters, for example, it usually cost twice the labour to kill a beaver which it does to kill a deer, one beaver should naturally exchange for, or be worth, two deer. It is natural, that what is usually the produce of two days', or two hours' labour, should be worth double of what is usually the produce of one day's or one hour's labour. ”

“ The great bar to the benevolent intentions of improving their situation will be, the impossibility to convince them that there either is, or can be, a mode of life preferable, or even equal, to their own. ”

“ A strong spirit of independence, or what they would distinguish by the name of liberty, runs through the whole tribe. It is no doubt a very licentious liberty, but entirely to their taste. Some kind of honour, peculiar to themselves, seems to prevail in their community. They reckon it a disgrace to steal near their homes, or even at a distance, if detected. I must always except that petty theft of feeding their shelties and asses on the farmer's grass and corn, which they will do, whether at home or abroad. ”

“ The celebrated experiment of Toricelli, and the still more decisive experiments of Pascal, one of the finest and most original geniuses that France ever produced, at length exploded, though not without a violent struggle, the long received maxim of the abhorrence of a vacuum; and proved, with the evidence of demonstration, the pressure of the atmosphere.—"On the whole," says the author of a well-written article on the same subject, in the Edinburgh Encyclopædia, "the history of this research affords a signal instance of the slow and gradual progress of human knowledge. ”

“ On a general view, it would form a curious subject of research, and might throw considerable light on the manners and institutions of our ancestors, to investigate thoroughly the history of this singular fashion, and to mark the different changes which an individual of talent and enterprise was allowed to make in taking up his position at table, according to the increase of his wealth and consequent utility, and the effects of such changes on his general habits, and on the behaviour of those who were formerly his companions in obscurity. ”

“ While Agamemnon was at Troy, his queen, Clytemnestra, had an illicit intercourse with Ægysthus. Fearing the punishment due to their disloyalty, they surprised him on his return to Argos, murdered him, and usurped his throne. Electra, who at the time of her father's death was arrived at womanhood, secretly sent to Phocis, under the care of an aged and faithful tutor, her infant brother Orestes, well aware that her mother and Ægysthus would soon remove this only obstacle to the secure possession of that throne which they had obtained by adultery and murder. ”

“ It is not meet—it is not fit—
Though Fortune all our hopes hath thwarted,
While on the very stone I sit
Where first we met, and last we parted,
That absent from my mind should be
The thought that loves and looks to thee! ”

“ Such being the case, a more than ordinary interest must be excited by the appearance of the work before us, in which this able economist has explained his opinions respecting some of the fundamental doctrines of the science, and in which, as it appears to us, he has established some highly important principles, and rectified many prevailing errors.
Nothing has contributed in a greater degree to perplex and confuse the investigations respecting the principles of political economy, than the confounding together of what Dr Smith has termed value in use, and value in exchange. ”