justice would be afforded to creditor and debtor: but, is this advantage to be weighed for one moment against the loss of business which it would cause to the courts of law; this is the consideration accordingly which has all along guided the legislature in framing its enactments, and which instead of rational and just laws, has produced abominable incarceration acts, and pretended relief acts. Notwithstanding, the proper course to be adopted must be perfectly obvious to all who will bestow any moderate attention on the subject, we continually behold the disgusting spectacle of senators, supporting the present disgraceful system in reality, while in appearance only are they trying to reform it.

The principle of the act being erroneous and mischievous,* it is not surprising that its application should be attended with all sorts of evil doings; it would be surprising if it were otherwise. The Insolvent Debtors' court being a court of record, has most of the abuses connected with such an establishment, and among others is the inexorable demand for fees on every occasion. Six hundred persons contrive to get good incomes by practising in this court as attornies or agents. The expenses

Mr. Cullen proposes to reduce the number of Commissioners from seventy to fifteen, who shall devote their whole time to the business, giving them a fixed salary proportioned to their increased labour. This would unquestionably render the Bankrupt Court much more efficient in administering justice, and the public interest requires that the change or something like it should take place; but that which stands in the way of all reforms, stands in the way of this, viz.-vested interests. It cannot be supposed that the Lord Chancellor will be very ready to part with the patronage of fifty-five Commissioners, and if Mr. Cullen wishes to see his suggestions carried into effect, he must propose in addition to handsome pensions of retreat to the supernumerary Commissioners, and pensions to those who now expect to be made Commissioners, a moderate grant to the Lord Chancellor, say fifty thousand pounds as compensation-money. The theoreticality, wildness, and impracticability of the scheme would then vanish, and honourable gentlemen would say, they thought the number of Bankrupt Commissioners would admit of reduction, without endangering the safety of our judicial establishment. Mr. Cullen has spared no pains in collecting evidence from all quarters, to make out his case; and his pamphlet may be taken as a favourable sign of the times. Here we have a Commissioner of ten years' experience exposing the abuses of his own court, and proposing real reforms: he has even the hardihood, in his long dedicatory letter to Mr. John Smith, to express a profound veneration for Bentham and his writings.

It must be borne in mind, that the objections apply to the constitution of the Bankrupt Court, and not to its forms of procedure, many of which are excellent, such as the appearance and examination of the parties themselves.

*This is very like retaining a law which allows villains to break men's heads, and making a law to relieve men with broken heads by allow ing them to buy plaisters.

of obtaining a discharge amount to about five and twenty pounds, and yet every body who does obtain his discharge must declare on oath that he has given up all his property in fact Mr. Jones declares-" It is universally allowed, that the present insolvent act has been productive of more frauds and perjuries than any act that ever was passed in this country, because it is hardly possible for any insolvent to take the benefit of it, without being guilty of perjury.'

For the details of the abuses we must refer to that gentleman's "Observations," and Mr. Dance's clever and independent "Remarks."

To conclude, arrest on mesne process should not be totally abolished; but a power given to the judge to cause any person to be arrested, debtor or not debtor, whenever he thinks there is sufficient ground for such a proceeding; to prevent as far as may be any malicious or unnecessary suit, whether for the recovery of a debt or for any other purpose, the plaintiff should in every case be required to give such security as will satisfy the judge.

Neither should imprisonment for debt at the end of a suit, be totally abolished: but used as a punishment for fraud, extravagance, gross indiscretion, or other culpable misconduct,the object of punishment being to deter others from committing offences, and not to satisfy the malignity of creditors. Those who advocate the total disuse of imprisonment for debt, say that it is no satisfaction to the creditor, which may be very true but it is frequently required for the satisfaction of the public, as we have pointed out. Hanging a man for murder is no satisfaction to the individual he murdered: the murderer is hanged to prevent other men from committing murders,—and the same reasoning applies to all punishments.

Some apology may be considered necessary for having made so many references to the statutes. It was not we can assure the reader from there being any thing so inviting in examining into such a mass of folly, inconsistency, contradiction and injustice, that induced it, but because unpalatable statements are frequently met by a general denial of their accuracy; and by giving authorities in every case, general denial cannot so easily be given, or if given, be regarded as a sufficient refutation.

ART. VII.-Random Records. By George Colman the Younger. 2 Vols. 8vo. Colburn and Bentley. 1830.

WHAT antic have we here, in motley livery of red and yellow, with cap on head, and dagger of lath in hand, which he thrusts at every honesty? It is the king's jester, a professed droll, strangely gifted in all grimace, who pulls faces, and sells grins by the yard. For the impudent joke, the abject sycophancy, or the ignorant scoff, he has scarcely an equal. He is of two colours, as becomes his cloth, and can at will enact buffoon or prude; indulgent to his own excesses, and rigidly censorious on the freedoms of others.

Foote has drawn the female Cole, worthy Mistress Cole of The Minor, and had he submitted a farce to the pruning of our licenser, he might have seen occasion to mate her with a Colman, whose practice and sermons are no less diametrically at variance. There are persons who grant so much to themselves, that all their denials are reserved for their fellows. A master of Christ's Church used to say that his college should be the greatest depositary of learning in the University, for every one brought a little, and nobody took any away. By the same rule, it is commonly observed, that those who have never employed any modesty in their own government have the largest fund of it in reserve for the censure of the rest of the world. Hence the rigorous fitness of making the licentious a licenser. Quis tulerit Gracchos de seditione querentes? was the question in antiquity, but mankind has, since Juvenal's day, become more patient of the inconsistencies between action and pretension.

We remember to have read some pleasant grossnesses by Mr. Colman, and he has the reputation of being a vastly funny person; but alas! poor Yorick !-we have here his empty skull, sans eyes, sans teeth, a saddening example of what the droll may come to. There is the grinning jaw, but it is of sheer bone, and apter for moralizing than laughter.

If it was desirable, as it might be for certain stations in life, to educate a youth for all meannesses, and the suppression of his better capacities, we should say train him in the coulisses of a play-house. Thus give him the habit of considering mainly all vulgar effects, and confound his judgment by that custom of laying much stress on little matters, which so prevails in theatres. There he will learn to fence with gibe and jeer, and to heat his mind with petty squabbles, and form it to despicable intrigue. The habit of looking at all things in false proportions of importance, will grow upon his judgment; and, above all, he will catch the infection of sycophancy, for the mimetic class

may be observed to be generally sycophantic. There are actors, and dramatic authors, meliori luto compositi, who have escaped these corruptions, but they are commonly incident to the vocation. An affinity, indeed, seems to act upon the amateurs, and on running over the names of the great theatrical patrons, one cannot but be struck by the general quality of their characters. Early in life, Mr. Colman's taste and opportunities brought him behind the scenes of the Haymarket theatre; and, accordingly, the book before us smells pestilently of orange peel and the lamp, not the lamp of patient study, but the lamp which typifies the genius of the writer, the oil of adulation, and the flare on trumpery properties; nor is the fuligo wanting.

Our wag writes under an obvious persuasion that whatever he puts to paper will be accepted as very clever or very droll; and he relies more on his character for fun with the public than the matter which he offers to it. He presumes on his readers as boys presume on the swans of the Serpentine, when they fling the poor birds any rubbish which they greedily and gratefully swallow, under the persuasion it is the accustomed bounty of bread. Thus the waggish author deals in passages of wearisome flatness, going off at the end of the paragraph with the glance at the pit, expressing "am I not a funny dog?" He plays to the life Mathews's old Scotch lady, fags up a story with great preparation of point, and leaves expectation staring about for the humour.

These court jesters never distinguish the things with which they should not meddle; and Mr. Colman commences with a view of the prosperity of the country, which ministers possibly adopted in the King's Speech. The cause of the vision lies in the dedication.

'To the King's Most Excellent Majesty.

'Sir.-To Your Majesty I have the honour of dedicating, by Gracious Permission, these desultory records of my life;-and from Your Majesty's long-continued patronage and favour I, now, chiefly derive "the means whereby I live." With feelings proud of such exalted protection, and a heart most truly grateful for such constant beneficence, I have the honour to be, Sir, Your Majesty's ever dutiful subject, and most devoted servant, GEORGE COLMAN.'

The gratefulness of Mr. Colman's heart produces an effect on his intelligence which has no parallel. Certes, he ought to have been in parliament to correct the believers in some distress, and to confound the asserters of general suffering.

'What revolutions, wars, dismemberment of States, with "moving accidents by flood and field!"

at home, what shocks, from within and without, has our little Island proudly sustain'd, while scoundrel traitors croak of the ruin which they wish, but are unable, to effect!-Ruin'd are we?—Then what merry undone dogs are Englishmen !!-Ride through our laughing land, and what is now to be observed ?—The residences, parks, and wide domains, of the noble and the rich; gay boxes of the tradesmen, snug tenements of the yeomanry, and comfortable cottages of the peasants; morasses drain'd, and wastes cultivated: excellent roads and canals intersecting the country, in every direction ; commodious vehicles, high-fed horses, and luxurious inns; hills bored or levell'd, and bridges stretching from bank to bank, where lately the traveller was forced to climb the steep, and ford the torrent, in peril of his life.-Then, drive to the metropolis; be quick, or, before you have got within twenty miles of it, it will have met you half-way;-there you behold art and science improved, with a rapidity beyond the most sanguine expectation; new spacious streets and squares, throng'd with equipages; mansions whose external grandeur betokens the gorgeous decorations to be found within; publick offices rebuilt or beautified; even hospitals, and other structures of charity, towering like palaces; churches multiplied, theatres enlarged, clubs in clusters, hotels in swarms, brilliant assemblies, and Lucullan feasts.-Shops, too, where the costliest articles of home and foreign fabrication are display'd, while the worth of many thousand pounds lies glittering in a show-glass ;-and in various districts of the town, where, not long since, a few miserable lamps wink'd at dismal distances, to make darkness visible," a joyous blaze of gas now gladdens the passing population, and illuminates the night-scene.'— vol. i. p. 17.

An anecdote illustrative of this mentis gratissimus error, is told of the little Duc de Bordeaux, who observing one of his attendants to be sad inquired, "What grieves you? What can be the matter? Why are you melancholy? For I am quite well."

He continues:

If this be Ruin, thanks to Him, who, under Providence has thus ruin'd us! Thanks to the King of England, who, during his regency and his reign, has evinced energies, and pursued measures, which, by endearing him to his people, have doubly fortified him in the power of guarding his dominions!-Thanks to the illustrious George the Fourth, and the wisdom of those counsellors whom his judgment selected, in the midst of convulsions which shook the world to its centre, for not only preserving our Constitution, when the storm was at its height, but for enabling us to quell the tempest, and dictate peace to Europe.*

It is almost redundant to observe, how greatly and triumphantly the zeal and talent of the executive government, the skill and gallantry of our naval and military officers, and the proverbial valour of our men, have