To effect these desirable ends without loss, nay, rather with a present eligible profit upon the operation, and a future prospect founded upon sound data, to which very conspicuous natural advantages invite the adventurers of both English and American monies, upon the best possible prospect and security, I have conceived the idea of erecting works fully adequate to the end proposed in the first instance; and I trust they will be found justified, by the capacity of a contrivance, to employ both its attendants and machinery to full advantage, at all times whatsoever, when vessels are not passing. To attain all the proposed advantages of such a project, it is only requisite to construct the inclined plane of solid masonry, disposed into onef immense edifice, the roof whereof should form an inclined plane o twenty, or twenty-five degrees elevation, upon which vessels may pass and repass, while the structure below is formed into suitable compartments for the various forges, furnaces, saw mills, grist mills, and factories for preparing raw and rough materials for market, which nature has presented to the notice of British and American inter Course. The elevated site of this cascade falling from the inexhaustible reservoir of the lakes, which is backed by an infinite supply of springs and running waters, which will continue to feed it to the end of time, will afford an all competent mechanic power, which, by communicating rotary motion to successive water-wheels, constructed in the floor of the inclined plane, which forms also the roof of this grand national structure, designed to be built with suitable platforms, leading from the plane to the respective stories of the building, observing order and uniformity; and these wheels respectively giving motion to the varieties of mechanism below their axis, instead of the usual method of placing the machinery above the axis of the waterwheel, (which is, perhaps, a habit acquired, merely with views to obviate deficiencies in the limited power of small falls, and thereby to obtain the greatest possible force) it will possess a capacity for casting in and out of geer, to perform the alternate operations of passing vessels, or grinding corn, sawing timber, beating hemp, and malling metals for exportation, as occasion may require. Thus, by disposing the plane into one piece of compact architecture, supported by strong arches, and ornamented with suitable columns, it will compose a huge pile of building, answering all the ends of a town, suited to the preparatory manufactures of this grand mart for commercial materials; and the shaft or axis of each successive water-wheel, down the angle of inclination, laying in a transverse direction to the face of the plane, and communicating so as to work tooth and pinion into the contact geer of the vessel, or into a rack screwed to the angular platform, or under the bottom of a cradle, for receiving the vessel, (as the case may happen to be respectively) and guided by a strong and suitable double railway, extending from the top to the bottom of the plane, so as to receive vessels from the pool below, and transfer them safely over the summit point or bridge of the plane above, will have an ample capacity for receiving vessels of any form or construction, and conveying them upon the roof of the building, (as it were) whensoever they have occasion to pass; and, at C 3 all all other times, the customary avocations of the place might proceed forward with their timeous pursuits.' The proposition made to Alexander, of forming mount Athos into the statue of a man, which should contain a large city in the left hand, was a trifle to this!! Had it been intended to have run Mr. Fulton's ingenious plans into a species of burlesque, it could scarcely have been carried higher than by this flighty scheme. We cannot refrain from expressing ourselves strongly in this instance, because the extravagance of it may tend to do much injury, by influencing many readers to think indifferently of all that has been advanced by Mr. Fulton; who has judiciously confined his consideration of inclined planes to small vessels. Mr. Chapman also (to whom Mr. Tatham has not sufficiently attended,) has ably shewn that, where there is a command of water, and difficulties of other kinds do not ensue, the lock-system must maintain the advantage. The proposition of rolling ships of the greatest burthen down an inclined plane shews that the author is but little acquainted with the nature of large vessels of navigation; which, if they touch on any partial support, are doomed to immediate destruction. great a command of water, as occurs at Niagara, affords every recommendation of locks: through which all ships might pass with safety, and extend commerce on the greatest scale to the most distant regions of America. The time that would unavoidably be occupied in passing such extensive locks would be a small object, compared with the bulk of the vessels that would be necessary to navigate those waters. Så We shall take some notice of the subject which occupies the greatest part of this book, viz. a canal of insulation round London; and which, without farther investigation, carries with it a degree of plausibility. There is a limited distance, however, within which it is not economical to convey goods on water, if they must be carted to the water side, and again thence to be delivered: since more time is occupied in loading and unloading, &c. than would be required for the horses to go the whole of the distance; besides the damage and waste, as well as expence, that ensue from shifting the cargo so often. Suppose that a farmer has occasion to send a load to a distance of ten miles, and a canal passes near his premises, and not far from the place of delivery: but that he has to load a cart to carry it to the water side; and again from the water to its destination. He would certainly hesitate to use the water conveyance, and would with more advantage send his cart the whole journey; particularly if he were certain of a load to be returned with it. A canal, therefore, could not answer in that view, unless it extended to every farm, &c. &c. and passed through every street, as at Venice; which is impracticable here. The inconveniences, however, arising from a canal of insulation would more than counterbalance the good, as the bridges must be extremely numerous by being an every outlet from the town, and very troublesome from the great height of them which would be necessary to admit of a towing path, &c. under the arches. The question of extending canals about London, we conceive, should in a great measure be determined by considering whether the wharfs above bridge are sufficient for the requisite depositories of stores, to be retailed out in the regular supply of London and its vicinity. For the larger mercantile concerns, ample provision is intended to be made on the new docks. If it should be found that the Thames does not afford sufficient wharfs, a cut might be made from the Paddington canal, in the most direct and least inconvenient line, providing plenty of space for the desired purposes. Such wharfs, no doubt, are highly beneficial, as centres to exchange the articles of London for those of the country. It may however be argued, by some, that all this is effected by the communication between the Grand Junction Canal and the Thames at Brentford. We repeat that we cannot withhold our censure of these indiscriminating works, which possess neither originality nor judgment; and which, by applying the inventions of others (good. within certain limitations) to a ridiculous excess, do the greatest possible injury to the spirit of forming canals:-a spirit which, when guided by sound judgment, may produce the highest benefit to the community. ART. IV. St. Leon: A Tale of the Sixteenth Century. By Wil liam Godwin. 12mo. 4 Vols. 16s. sewed. Robinsons. 1799. NOVELS and romances have often been chosen by theorists, as most convenient vehicles of philosophical sentiment. Opinions, when artfully interwoven in the thread of an interesting story, assume a fascinating and imposing form; and speculations, however wild and extravagant, then appear under the semblance of truths supported by facts. If a philosopher employs himself in constructing a theory of the universe, after the utmost efforts of genius, he is expected fairly to make his appeal to nature, and to confirm his system by actual observation and experiment; so also the physician, who proposes any new method in the healing art, is required to produce cases to substantiate and give it credit; and if this be refused or omitted, both the philosopher and physician are ranked in the class of visionaries. The moral speculatist, however, manages C4 with with more facility and advantage: the cases which substantiate his theory, as well as the theory itself, are matters of invention; and, by a tissue of imaginary representations, the mind is seduced into an admission of certain statements as the very truths of nature, which perhaps neither have nor can have any existence in reality. An author, who possesses any brilliancy of imagination, will find this easy to himself and pleasant to the general reader: but it may be questioned whether a sturdy moralist" would thus indulge himself, or whether it be consistent with the character of him who professes to be actuated by a pure and sacred love of truth. From the author of the well-known work on Political Justice, who could have expected the singular tale before us? Is it a mode of instruction which such a philosopher ought to select? Is truth obliged to invoke the aid of the wildest fictions; and will it be said that virtue and contentment are best taught in the school of romance? As Mr. Godwin must be aware that his novels will obtain readers, he should consider whether such publications are to be employed without extreme caution in disseminating instruction. We make this remark not because the present tale comes in support of the principles exhibited in the work on Political Justice; for it is in fact a recantation of some of the leading principles of the system there laid down; and it proves that, with all his sublime sentiments, Mr. G. is as much the creature of circumstances as any other man We may say of him what he says of the negro Hector, in the romance before us; that Love taught him a lesson he had never learned before.' His attachment to the late Miss Wollstonecraft, which caused him to become a husband and a father, seems to have operated a complete revolution in his opinion respecting the affections and charities of private life; so that, though these qualities met with no indulgence in the Enquiry concerning Political Justice," they are in the present work treated with respect, and honoured with an impassioned eulogy. In the preface, Mr. G. himself notices and apologizes for this inconsistency; observing that, for more than four years, he had been anxious for opportunity and leisure to modify some of the earlier chapters of that work, in conformity to the sentiments inculcated in this.' Such a modification as is here announced, the public will be happy to see; and we are of opinion that, (though Mr. G. will not allow it,) if his new ideas be fairly pursued, they will subvert some fundamental principles of his system; since there can be no virtue in the purest indulgence of the amiable affections and charities of domestic life, if self-oblivion, and universal regard to general benefit in all our actions, be essential to yirtue, A work A work written by the late Dr. John Campbell, intitled Hermippus Redivivus, or The Sage's Triumph, in which with apparent seriousness the Dr. undertakes to shew that the life and vigor of man may be prolonged puellarum anhelitu, and produces a variety of grave ironical reasoning and invented evidence in support of that curious position, (similar to what an anonymous ingenious writer has given in a publication of the same class, intitled Lucina sine Concubitu,) contains an anecdote which suggested to Mr. Godwin the first hint of the romance of St. Leon; who is supposed to possess the secrets of the philosopher's stone and of the elixir vita, by which he has an unbounded command of wealth, and the power of making himself immortal. So privileged an individual will be imagined to be the happiest of human beings: but the object of this tale is to shew, according to the Stoical doctrine, the inferior value of external things, and to prove that "our very wishes give us not our wish." In the construction of this fictitious history, much art and genius are displayed, mixed with some peculiarities; and much good composition is manifested, alloyed by some affectation and inflation. The author has contrived to keep alive our affections, and to intersperse a variety of apposite remarks through an interesting narrative: but we must confess that we do not perceive the utility of drawing our attention to such ideal beings as St. Leon. Extravagant fictions are not necessary to demonstrate the insufficiency of the most unbounded wealth to procure happiness for ourselves, or to confer it on others. Philosophers, moralists, and divines, have niade a thousand observations of this kind, and the history of wealth and power invariably confirms them. During the mania of the philosopher's stone, such a tale might have had its use: but it is now as obsolete as would be a farce or novel designed to ridicule astrology and the casting of nativities. The effects of immortality in this world, were it attainable by any individual, have not been so much considered as those of unbounded wealth. Juvenal has well described the miseries attendant on the most virtuous and vigorous old age*: but Mr. Godwin goes a step farther, and paints the wretchedness of sublunary immortality. St. Leon, like the wandering Jew, stands isolated in existence. He lives, indeed, but every thing dear to him is dying around him; his affections are checked by "Ut vigeant sensus animi, ducenda tamen sunt Perpetuo mærore, et nigra veste senescant."-Sat. x. l. 240. the |