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long, and eight broad. It is not distant from the Morea, and yields to none of those already described in fertility. Its currants, no less than its wines, are celebrated throughout the Levant; and it has a fine port ón the south side, which portion of the country is said to be almost covered with fruit-trees.

Of the remaining Ionian islands, Corfu, the most northern, claims precedence, as the largest of the whole cluster. Though niterior in magnitude to Cephalonia, it is of far superior importance in every point of view. Placed by nature precisely at the entrance of the Adriatic, close to the shore of Epirus, it may be denominated the key of the Venetian gulph. Under the Venetians, in the middle ages, and down even to the seventeenth century, Corfu was esteemed the advanced bastion and bulwark of the Christian states, against the Ottoman power, when the Solymans and the Selims menaced Italy, no less than the German empire. Situated in a beautiful climate, enjoying a salubrious air, and an exuberant soil, near 120 miles in circumference; its productions, of every kind, are of a superior quality. Homer has placed in Corfu, then denominated Phoencia, the gardens of King Alcinous. It is only about 50 miles distant from Otranto, in Apulia, and was justly regarded by Venice, as one of her most invaluable possessions. There are in it several excellent ports; but the circumstance which distinguishes it from all the other in its vicinity, is, that Corfu has a strong, and almost impregnable fortress. It stands, as does the capital of the island which it protects, in a centrical position, looking towards Epirus, built partly on the tock, surrounded by the sea, partly on the amount St Mark. Though now in the possession of Napoleon, yet the difficulty of throwing in supplies of provisions, adequate to the consumption of the garrison, a diffi

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culty which will now be greatly aug mented, may not improbably enable us to expel the French, and to reduce it to our obedience.

Sta. Maura, the Leucadia of antiquity, stands between Corfu and Cephalonia, and almost touches the coast of Epirus or Achia, to which it was undoubtedly joined in the early ages of the world.-Though only about seventy English miles round, yet it produces, in abundance, oil, wine, grain, and fruits of the most delicate flavour.

I.

SCOTTISH REVIEW.

Appeal to the Tenants of Lands in Scotland, on the subject of the I'roperty Tax. By John Shirreff. 8vo. 63 pages. Constable & Co. A VERY considerable fermentation

has been excited among the landed interest of Scotland, by the subject to which the present pamphlet relates. It is alledged, that, by the present mode of levying the property tax from the tenantry of this country, an unequal share of the burden falls upon that useful class of the community. It is certainly very hard that such should be the case; yet, on the other hand, Scottish farmers are at present too prosperous to have any claim to an exemption which is not enjoyed by other classes.

It seems agreed on all hands, that the income of the farmer cannot be estimated, like professional or mercantile income, by any precise annual calculation. He is seldom in the habit of keeping regular books. His farm and house expenses, his fixed and circulating capital, are so interwoven and intermingled together, that it is supposed scarcely possible to make any accurate distinction between them. To remedy this inconvenience, the legislature has enacted, that the income of the farmer shall, in all cases, be estimated at one half of the valued rent.

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A very general clamour has arisen, that this estimate is very much beyond the truth; that the income of the farmer commonly falls considerably short of such a proportion of his rent. Va. rious resolutions of counties to this effect have been passed; and an application, it is understood, will be made to Parliament in the ensuing session, for an alteration in this part of the

act.

from 400l. to Sool. At a medium, va-
luing money laid out at 7 per cent. his
tent for his house is 424. per annum.
No man lives better: his table is at ail
The rest of his establishment is in uni-
son with his table. Every farmer keeps
one good saddle horse for himself, with
another, generally a better one, for his
son, if he has one; and frequently a gig
or poney for the accommodation of the
rest of the family. His children are
educated in the best style. Many far-
mers entertain a private tutor at home.
The salary, to be sure, is seldom a great
one; yet, with board, &c. cannot cost
less than 60l. per annum.
give their sons an University educa.
tion; and several of them have made
tours to the Continent of Europe, for
the purpose of observing the rural and
political economy of its inhabitants.
Neither are their daughters neglected.

times covered with excellent viands.

Some farmers

Against these authorities, and against several writings which have appeared on the subject, Mr Shirreff contends, that the estimate adopted by the legislature is rather under than above the truth. It is extremely difficult to bring this question to a proof. It depends upon an immense variety of facts, which cannot easily be ascertained, unless by the persons con- After the best instruction and tuition cerned, and not always even by them, the county-town and a governess at especially considering the bias which home can afford, they generally finish their education at a boarding school in they must naturally feel to one side. The following remarks of Mr Shirreff Edinburgh, where they pay from 60%, to Sol.per annum. Here they are taught mucertainly display judgment and ingesic, dancing, &c.; and many of them, nuity, and to the correctness of many of his statements, we can bear testimony from personal observation.

If it be allowed to assume, that expenditure is pretty fair criterion of income, which will hardly be refused, it may not be difficult to satisfy the occupiers of land in Scotland, themselves, that the act, so far as regards them, is neither unjust nor oppressive. This, then, being granted, although it shall not be attempted to discover the maxithe minimum of the occupier's incame shall be shown, which will answer the purpose effectually.

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Farms in the Lothians may be estimated, one with another, at 200 acres ; and the average rent shall be admitted even as high as 44 per acre,which rent is much above the average mark. At this rate, the tenant pays Sool of rent, and the tax must be paid on 4007, Now, does being the half of his rent. he, or does he not, enjov a clear income equal to this sum? It is insisted he does so, and a greater; and this opinion is founded on the following grounds. A modera farm-house costs in erection

not only in dress and external appearance, but in manners, and every useful and agreeable accomplishment, rival the daughters of people of rank and fashion.

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Or suppose the average incomes of farmers of this district, about twenty years ago, only 130l. per annum. the expenses of living hve, since that time, increased at least 150 per cent. their incomes must be 3254. if they even live no better now than they did then; but, as they most evidently do live in a considerably more expensive manner now than at that time, say at the rate of 25 per cent. only of more expense in 1809 than in 1789, their incomes must now be 4c61. per annum, to afford that additional expense. nants too, in general, save money sufficient to set their children off the family in a very comfortable and respectable way.

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P. 10.

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end, either upon the landlord, or upon the public, in the increased price of the produce of land. After the best consideration we can give, we are inclined to consider the following as a correct state of the case :

public would be a much worse alternative, since the effect would be, that of raising the price of the first necessaries of life.

It is fairly enough objected indeed, that with the same rent, some farmers, from superior skill, or from fortunate circumstances, will make more than others; that some may even lose. These inequalities are no doubt evils ; but their seems no remedy for them, unless farming income could be ascertained and calculated like other incomes. Till this can be done, it cannot be expected that the legislature should take any thing short of the average proportion between rent and income.

If the income tax does not fall heavier on farmers than on other classes of the community, then the tax must be paid by the farmer himself. When the profits of any one profession are taxed heavier than those of other professions, then a certain number will quit it, and go to those others. In consequence of this diminished competition, profits will rise till they cover the additional burden of the tax.Thus, if farmers were obliged to pay fifteen per cent. instead of ten, a number of them would rather chuse to become merchants or manufacturers. Then either rents would rise from the smaller number of those bidding for farms; or prices would rise from the smaller quantity of grain produced; and by one or both of these methods the remaining farmers would be indemnified for the severity of the tax. But if the farmer pays only ten per cent. he can gain nothing by withdrawing to any other profession, because there he must pay the very same. There being thus no diminution of competition, nor any reduction of duce, rents and prices will remain as before; the farmer must pay his income tax like any other member of the community, and it is quite rea-ploying his capital, and he may as reasonable that he should.

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From what we have said, it will follow, that whatever part of the tax is over and above ten per cent. the farmer will be able to disburden himself of, either upon the landlord or the public. Mr S. has not determined very accurately on which of the two it is likely to fall, and indeed there seems some difficulty in deciding. The landlord, our author alleges, may bear somewhat more than others, considering the advantageous nature of his property. Its falling upon the

The law directs a new valuation to be made every seven years, and the charge to be regulated accordingly. This, it is said, is to deprive the farmer of a portion of the fruits of what he has expended in improving his land. We think, however, Mr Shirreff has fairly enough proved the justice of the measure. Of course, the farmer will be charged with no improvement which his farm may have received, till he is in the way of deriving income from it. Perhaps, as has been the case very much of late, the advanced value may have arisen from the circumstances of the country, without any exertion of his own. Even where the latter is the case, it is merely the fruits of a certain mode of em

sonably be called upon to contribute a share, as persons who employ their capital in any other branch of busi

ness.

It is therefore just; but, considering the great importance of agricultural improvement, we are not quite so sure as to its expediency. Every accidental rise in the value of land is undoubtedly a most fair subject of taxation; but we do think every liberal allowance ought to be made for so much as the occupier could prove to have been the result of improvements made by himself. It seems

particularly hard to charge this with both the landlord and tenants' tax, or 15 per cent. since this is more than capital is liable to, when employed in any other department of business.

II. Fables and Satires, with a Preface on the Esopean Fable. By Sir Brooke Boothby, Bart. 2 vols. 8vo. 15s. Constable and Co.

FA

'ABLES have long ranked among the most popular species of literary composition. They have formed immemorially the first study of children, and, in the hands of Phedrus and La Fontaine, have risen to the dignity of classical compositions. The present is the most complete collection of them, perhaps, that has ever been published. It begins with an entire translation of the fables of Esop, as versified by Phedrus; it then contains a miscellany of Greek and Latin fables, translated from different authors; then gives a few from Fontaine; and concludes with translations from the modern languages, and with a few originals.

The author sets out with a preface, illustrating the nature and design of the Esopean fable, and defending its use. He justly condemns, however, the mode in which these fables are usually presented in the English language, with a moral tacked to them, three times their own length, to which the fable serves as little more than a text. The following is a sketch of his own views on the subject.

The Esopean fable may, I think, be defined, a maxim for the use of common life, exemplified in a short action, in which the inhabitants of the visible world are made the moral agents.The attributes appropriated to these actors easily become associated with the ideas of them; and then their characteristic virtues and vices are presumed before they speak; and courage or cowardice, wisdom or folly, innocence

or cruelty, are represented, not in abstract terms, but in sensible images; and what would have required a long and difficult explanation, is conveyed in a much more lively manner by a single appellative.

In natural order, instruction should precede practice. But the usual didac tic methods pre-suppose an advancement in knowledge and understanding, which, if their lessons were not there. fore unintelligible, would render them superfluous. Moral as well as physical knowledge, must be acquired experi. mentally. Inexperienced minds comprebend neither the abstractions employed in the art of reasoning, nor the allusions to motives and sentiments which they have never felt. To talk to them in a language they do not comprehend, is to teach them to be satisfied with words instead of ideas; a pseudoknowledge, much worse than the ignois, that Quintilian, with his usual good rance it pretends to remove. Hence it sense, considers the Esopean fable as peculiarly adapted to the instruction of the simple and inexperienced. Vol. I. p. 7.

The characters given of Lafontaine and Gray, will interest our readers.

The fables of Lafontaine, as an elegant and ingenious work, have received that sanction which places them out of the reach of criticism, the almost enthusiastic admiration of his country for a century. His principal merit seems to consist in a certain naïveté of expression, a sort of refined simplicity, almost peculiar to himself, and perhaps to the language in which he wrote.There is a perfection belonging exclusively to different languages, which none but those accustomed to think in them can be fully sensible of. That which in Lafontaine most charms a Frenchman, is, I believe, but little felt by other nations. As a general style, I confess, I should prefer that of Phedrus. The brevity, of which he was accused, as we learn from himself, of carrying to excess, is not obscure, and, for the most part, strongly pointed.Considered as a model for the young scholar, it has the advantage of teaching him to condense his thoughts as well as his expressions; a lesson essen

tial to classical taste, and what is much more important, to good sense itself..

Of the collections of fables in English, Gay's I believe is alone held in any estima. tion. But they are rather political satires than Esopean fables. In this view, many of them are excellent. A blundering selfsufficient minister was never better represented than in the Bear in the Boat. There seems to have been a remarkable coincidence of character between him and Lafontaine. Both of them are recorded as of an incapacity for the ordinary concerns of life, bordering upon imbecility:

"In wit a man, simplicity à child;" which we learn from Swift to have

been literally true of Gay, was equally applicable to Lafontaine. Both of them attempted to be courtiers, and failed in a calling for which their characters, remarkable for sincerity and good-nature, and what Swift calls Cullibility,

must have been of all others the most

unfit. Both of them had the rare good fortune to be generally beloved by the famous wits of their time; and the happiness to be cherished in their latter days by ladies of high rank, eminent for wit and beauty.

Vol. I. p. 16. The first volume of the work consists chiefly of an entire translation of Phedrus. Simplicity, terseness, and brevity, seem to be the qualities which Sir Brooke has chiefly aimed at. The celebrated one of the frogs desiring a king may serve as a speci.

men of his success.

THE FROGS DESIRING A KING.

Athens in freedom flourish'd long, 'Till licence seiz'd the giddy throng. Just laws grown weary to obey, They sunk to tyranny a prey. Pisistratus, though mild he sway'd, Their turbulence had not allay'd. Whilst they were cursing in despair The yoke they had not learn'd to bear, Esop, their danger to describe, Rehears'd this fable to the tribe:

"Some frogs, like you, of freedom
tir'd,

From Jupiter a king desir'd:
One that should execute the law,
And keep the dissolute in awe.

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SIMONIDES SHIP-WRECKED.
Plac'd where fate will, the wise can
find
Resource perpetual in his mind.

Joy and compassion could inspire,
Simonides, whose tuneful lyre
Through Asia went from town to town,
Singing for money and renown,
Of those who conquer'd in the course.
His poverty by this resource
Was so reliev'd, with gifts he earn'd,
Rich tow'rds his Cea he return'd.
A tempest, as his voyage he made,
Attack'd the ship; with age decay'd,
She founder'd: and each tried to save
Something of value from the wave.
One to Simonides then cried,
"You nothing take?" The sage re-
plied,

"I take myself, I want no more.” With labour some attain'd the shore, Others, with burdens charg'd, were drown'd;

And those who 'scap'd by thieves were found. Naked

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