OBSERVATIONS. The total Sum of Capital Redeemed by Life Annuities, Sale of LandTax, and purchases by the Commissioners, is as follows, leaving the Debt Unredeemed as above. For Great Britain Germany Portugal... .340,087,225 13 3 1,920,716 3 0 426,721 0 0 East India Company .. 900,523 0 0 Having been purchased in discharge of the following Debts: ..... And, in addition to the above, the Sinking Fund has purchased, from the 1st February to 1st August, 1817 9,461,657 0 0 Which will make an addition to the Sinking Fund of 283,8491, 14s. 2d. per annum. So that the Sinking Fund for the Debt payable in England amounts, on the 1st August, 1817, to 13,844,4341. 138. 14d. per annum. By an Account transmitted from the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt, in the Account standing in their names are included the following Capitals; the Dividends upon which have remained unclaimed for ten years and upwards-See Act 56 Geo. III. cap. 60. 3 per Cents, Consols. 3 per Cents, Reduced 3 per Cents, 1726 4 per Cents. 5 per Cents ..... 5 per Cents, 1797 and 1802 Imperial 3 per Cents. 131,672 4 11 44,307 10 2 461 11 16,313 17 0 14,208 f 5,294 15 2 400 3 0 3 per Cents. Reduced, purchased with Unclaimed Dividends 327,000 0 0 And also the following Annuities, of Great Britain; £.539,658 12 10 ....... 471 6 82 33 7 85 per annum. Long Annuities.. By the Act 57 Geo. III. cap. 79, the holders of 3 per Cent. Consols, 4 per For An Abstract of the Net Produce of the Revenue, in the Years and Quarters ended 5th January 1817 and 1818, vide page 44. Brook Green, -.3 2 2 3 Isleworth July 15th Chiswick ..3 26th } West End, Hamp stead .3 August 5th Bromley 12th Mitcham ... To the Editor of the European Magazine. A PLAN FOR EFFECTUALLY PREVENTING ONE supernumerary clerk in a house of the most extensive business would be sufficient; and only two books would be necessary. All the checque books should be numbered progressively, and the checques, which they contain, should be numbered progressively also: the checques in each book commencing with No. 1. The margins of the checques, and also the checques themselves, should be numbered; and upon both parts should be inserted the number of the book, placing near Shoreditch 3 this above the other thus 500|6 Bartholomew...4 Edmonton ....3 Black Horse Fair, Enfield .2 3 STAINES BRIDGE. SIR, A CONSTANT READER, under the signature of “ A CITIZEN," in an article on Southwark Bridge, in the last month's Magazine, speaks of Staines Bridge falling into the river. If he has seen it, I would ask him if he has not admired its elegant lightness, and ingenious construction, consisting of one arch hanging over "the stream beloved of Liberty."-I would next ask him if he is acquainted with the real cause of its failure-if not, I would respectfully inform him, that at one end of it there was a vacancy commonly called a wine-cellar. Your's, respectfully, A. PICTOR. - were The collateral figures in Book B. by the house being improperly used. are the numbers of the checque-books, This, however, would vanish in a moand the vertical ones are the numbers ment, at the expense of a little trouble. of the checques in each, all of which For the checques and their margins may be printed. If a book contain being progressively numbered (as before fewer checques, the number can be mentioned) would enable a man at any determined by a horizontal line (as time to inform himself if one under No. 3) and if it contain more, taken out surreptitiously; and his the excess can easily be supplied by the giving immediate notice to the house pen. would effectually prevent its being paid; because the number would be marked off (in book B); and if checques were spoiled or cancelled in any way, it would be very little trouble to send the checques, or the numbers of them, to the banking-house. But if people should be disinclined to do this, or if they refuse to conform to it, why this, notwithstanding, is certain-if a checque should be clandestinely taken from that part of their book which is in use, they must know it—and if it be removed far on in the book, or taken from the end of it, the chasm in the numbers (for the highest previous number would be always noticed by the checque-clerk) would excite suspicion, and lead, if necessary, to inquiry-and if the number should be altered, that, as well as the name, must be done so cleverly as to escape detection, before the draft could be paid; ALL of which I conceive to be impossible. The clerk should be particular in entering into his book (A) all the checque-books, as they are received by him, and be careful also of noting therein, each book at the time of its delivery; observing that it contain the right number of checques: if this be done, no checque can be obtained in the house surreptitiously, without detection. It is, moreover, very desirable, that all the checques that are printed should be made up into books or destroyed, or otherwise secured; for the facility with which blank ones are obtained is one cause of the evil in question. The numbers of the checques (in Book B.) should be printed red), that, when they are paid, a dash across them may be more conspicuous. Every one of these numbers should be accounted for. If one be cancelled, a mark (c) may be placed beside it; and if any are destroyed, it may be noted by a circumflex (as under No. 1.). One folio volume, of about seven quires, would contain several thousand checque-books: and if it were numbered down the edge (like an alphabet) at every bundred (or as may be requisite) a reference to any checque may be made in a moment. Every checque presented for payment should first be handed to the checque-clerk, who would immediately refer to his book (B); and, finding the drawer's name agree therewith, the number of the checque open, and his own signature correct, he would mark off the number, and pass it for payment. One clerk might thus keep several active persons employed in paying at the counter; and it would moreover release them from an unpleasant responsibility and it would prevent also the necessity (sometimes to the discredit of their customer) of referring to the book of signatures. All this is very practicable; and it appears to be effective. The only difficnity that I see is, the preventing any thecque that has been officially issued Whether gentlemen will co-operate with a house upon this plan, or not, it would certainly throw upon them a responsibility, in the discharge of which their credit is somewhat involved: and so would give them (what they do not now possess) the means of preventing frauds, if they will avail themselves of them. But when men, and men of respectability, know that their co-operation would prevent the possi bility of houses being robbed by forged checques, surely they would not think it onerous, nor let the very little trouble (if trouble it may be called) that would be necessary, restrain themMen of feeling most certainly would not, because it would prevent the dreadful consequences to their fellowcreatures. Many persons (brokers, &c.) who draw very many checques in a day, cannot always have their eyes on their checquebooks, nor keep them secure from de. predation probably-but an attempt at defraud with the name of such a person would be attended with imminent risk; because the spurious draft must, at all events, have a number upon it, which had not been previously paid-I cannot think, therefore, that any one dare make the experiment. If a single checque be at any time wanted, let the clerk keep a checquebook for that purpose; - but, before he issue it, he should note upon the margin for whom it was delivered, &c. nor should it be paid, after that, without regularly passing through his hands, that he may compare it with his checque-book, and ascertain that it be the identical checque delivered by him; of course, he would not so deliver any without a proper authority. If a checque be filled up at the counter, that also should be obtained from him. Thus, it appears to me, that no partner, nor clerk, nor customer of a house, can possibly attempt a forgery (of this description) thereon, without its being brought home to them-no person can set about it, without first commilling a robbery-and no person can be so robbed without their own connivance, or (at least) a reprehensible inattention. Thus, the hitherto honest (though dissipated) youth may be made to shrink from the attempt to rob, and the experienced plunderer be stopped in his career, by the certainty of detectionand thus property may be rendered more secure-and the lives of many of our fellow-creatures saved, who might otherwise disgrace, when they are for ever hurried out of society, instead of living to become its ornaments, by one supernumerary clerk with two books at his command. I shall suspend any remarks upon this subject until I have waited a month, to see if any objections are brought against the preceding. In the interim, I remain, Sir, Воок А. Your's, very obediently, J. RANDALL. THE LONDON REVIEW, AND LITERARY JOURNAL, FOR FEBRUARY, 1818. QUID SIT PULCHRUM, QUID TURPE, quid utile, QUID NON. Rob Roy. By the Author of "Guy Mannering," &c. Three vols. 12mo. ALTHOUGH we opened these volumes with strong anticipations of pleasure, we did not calculate upon reading it twice; first, because we could not help it; and secondly because, having satisfied the childish impatience excited by the fable, we wished to examine at our leisure the dramatis personæ. The result of our comparisons is highly favourable to Rob Roy; for although Meg Merrilies and Edic Ochiltree are still unrivalled as single portraits, there will be found in the present Work a richer variety of figures than have been exhibited on the same canvass within the last half century. The scene is laid in the early part of the reign of George the First, a few months previous to the insurrection of the Highlanders in 1715. By this felicitous choice of his subject, the author has ample scope for those picturesque descriptions so congenial te his talents; and, quitting altogether the level line of ordinary life, he is at liberty to introduce a series of eccentric personages, who in any other situation would almost appear to outstep the modesty of nature. These per sonages are, with scarcely one exception, invested with the attraction of strongly marked individuality: from the formal arithmetical Owen to the jovial Justice; from the conceited shrewd Andrew Fairservice to the bold unconquerable MacGregor; from the comfortable, self-complacent, thrifty, yet kind-hearted Baillie, Nicol Jervie, to the vindictive Helen, or the highspirited romantic Diana Vernon; all are sketched by the hand of a master at once exact and bold, possessing a vigorous imagination, an observant eje, and an almost unlimited invention. Europ. Mag. Vol. LXXIII. Feb. 1818. If there be one character less discriminated, it is that of the hero Francis Osbaldistone, but the deficiency is disguised by his telling his own story; a task which he performs with such admirable address, that it is impossible to lose sight of him for a single moment. This interesting narrative might, however, be comprised in a brief argument. Francis Osbaldistone, a young man of a poetical taste, offends his father, a wealthy merchant, by refusing to become his partner, and, as a consequence of his delinquency, is exiled to the seat of his ancestors in Northumberland, and associated with a family of Jacobites and Papists; till, from the treachery of one of them, he is induced to visit Scotland, where, as might be expected, he meets with many strange adventures. There are many striking scenes in this work which are worthy of graphic illustration. The introduction of the hero to Sir Hildebrand and his rustic sons- the evening colloquy with sly Andrew Fairservice- the meeting between Campbell and Morris at Justice Inglewood's-the exquisite description of the cathedral at Glasgow-the scene in the subterraneous aisle-the rencontre on the Brigg-the recognition of MacGregor and Jervie in the prison the battle of the inn at Aberfoiland, neither last nor least, the sudden apparition of Helen Campbell to the military invaders of the Glen. We approached within about twenty yards of the spot where the advancedguard had seen some appearance of an enemy. It was one of those promontories which run into the lake, and round the base of which the road had hitherto winded in the manner I have described. In the present case, however, the track, instead of keeping the water's edge, scaled the promontory by one or two T |