BLACKWOOD'S
EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
NO. CCCLV. MAY, 1845. VOL. LVII.
CONTENTS.
| Sismondi, | 529 | |
| My First Spec in the Biggleswades, | 549 | |
| German-American Romances. Part the Third, | 561 | |
| The Rector's Daughter, | 580 | |
| A Glance at the Peninsula, | 595 | |
| Æsthetics of Dress. No. III., | 608 | |
| North's Specimens of the British Critics. No. IV.—Dryden on Chaucer, | 617 | |
| Maynooth, | 647 |
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BLACKWOOD'S
EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
No. CCCLV. MAY, 1845. Vol. LVII.
SISMONDI.[1]
Never was there a juster observation, than that, in ordinary times, in thesame state, genius moves in a circle; originality is lost amidstimitation; we breathe thought not less than vital air. This is moreespecially the case in all those branches of opinion or philosophy whichrelate to internal economy, or the social concerns of men. There, it isnot merely abstract principle, or disinterested reasoning, which havestruck their roots into the human mind; interest, prejudice, passion, havemoved it yet more deeply, and rendered the change from one set of opinionsto another still more difficult. Universally it will be found, that inregard to the social concerns of men, which are so closely interwoven withour habits, interests, and affections, the transition from error to truthcan rarely be accomplished by any intellect, how powerful soever, whichhas not imbibed, in part at least, the maxims of foreign states. Newideas, like lightning, are produced by the blending of two streams ofthought, wafted from different ages or parts of the world. The Frenchpolitical revolution was brought about by the meeting of new-born Frenchfervour with long-established English ideas: the Anglomania whichimmediately preceded that convulsion is the proof of it. The Englishsocial revolution has proceeded from the same cause: it is the junction ofBritish practical habits with French speculative views which has producedthe political economy of modern times: and the whole doc