are fit for use every month in the year. The salmon fishery is of great value, whether for home consumption or exportation. Prodigious quantities are consumed fresh in the London market, and in almost all the sea-port towns in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales; but a far greater quantity is salted, dried, or pickled in vinegar. The lochs and friths of Scotland and Ireland are visited by salmon in such copious shoals, that more than a thousand fish have sometimes been taken at a single draught. The two most productive fisheries are that of the Tweed, near Berwick, and of the Bann near Coleraine; at the latter of which, Mr Young says, 1450 salmon have been taken at one drag of a single net. The salmon also frequents the coasts of Norway and Iceland in the summer months in prodigious quantities. Hooker describes the salmon fishery in the river Lax Elbe on the latter island, where women, as well as men, took with their hands, in a few hours, 2200 salmon*. The banks of the North sea, the rocky coasts of the Orkneys, and the eastern shores of Britain, afford, in abundance, two articles of luxury for the London market, though but sparingly drawn from those sources: we allude to the turbot and lobster. For a supply, however, of the former we have always had recourse to the Dutch, to whom we paid about £80,000 a-year: and for about a million of the latter, taken on the coast of Norway, the Danes drew from us about £.15,000 a-year; for eels we gave the Dutch about £.5000 a-year. These fisheries are calculated to give employment to not less than 10,000 seamen, Even the oyster fishery supplies the market of the metropolis with an article of nutricious food for eight months in the year; and if cultivated Journal of a Tour in Iceland, by W.. 1. Hooker. with the same care in the neighbourhood of Chichester, Portsmouth, Southampton, Plymouth, the coasts of Wales, and among the Hebrides, as at Colchester, Milton, Feversham, &c. there is not a town in Great Britain which might not be as abundantly supplied with oysters as the London market. Observations on the Plan of a LOAN FUND for the POOR. SIR, TO THE EDITOR. I SENT you some time ago a Report by a Committee of the Society for the Suppression of Begging, relative to the proposed establishment of a "Savings Bank and Loan Fund," together with a letter from Mr Bridges the Secretary, to Mr Forbes, containing remarks upon the plan, which you were so good as insert in one of your late numbers. As I have all along, in common with my fellow-citizens, taken a very warm interest in the proceedings of the society, I shall make no apology for once more calling the attention of your readers to these papers, in which is developed the outline of a most important addition to the plan of the society. In doing this, Sir, I do not conceive that the very few remarks I am to make, are to influence the proceedings of those in whom the confidence of the society has most deservedly been placed; but I conceive it a duty for every citizen of Edinburgh, to publish, to the utmost of his power, the successful result of the exertions of those men who have laid us under obligations of no ordinary magnitude; who have proved their love of doing good to their fellow-creatures by the most unequivocal of all evidence, I mean great personal and gra tuitous exertions. When I first read the report of the committee, and the Secretary's letter, I certainly was inclined to think there was a good deal of truth in the objections stated by him to the loan fund; a little farther consideration of the subject, however, has fixed my opi nion decidedly in favour of the institution. The Secretary objects to the project of the loan fund on the following grounds: 1. That it is disadvantageous in so far, as it exposes the poor to the temptation of spending at the tayern the money lent them by the Society, or, if it should be invested in business, that the circumstance of their trading with a borrowed capital will involve them in difficulties. 2. That there is great danger to be apprehended to a society like the present, "from the unavoidable laxity "with which its affairs will to a cer"tain degree be administered; that "the advances may not be made, "either to the persons, or to the degree, or at the exact times, and with "the security which may be best, "either for the borrower or for the "lender," and that great and unavoidable losses must attend the most eautious administration of the funds. 3. That there is reason to fear that it will only tend to increase the disposition of the poor to be regardless of the future, and discourage independent exertion and economy among them. Now, Sir, it appears to me, that the Secretary, in his first objections, rather argues against the abuse of the system, than against the mode in which it will be naturally conduct ed. If the managers of the loan fund were to lend money to all those who will readily ask for it, I have no doubt that much of it would be spent in the tavern, and that little or nothing would ever be repaid, but surely a conduct so very inconsiderate is not to be presumed against the managers of this department of the society's business, more especially when in the 66 second rule it is proposed, that "A "loan should only be granted in the case of occasional or accidental distress, "arising from long sickness, unfore"seen losses, and where the applicant can show that the loan will really "be serviceable in relieving his present difficulties, and that there is a rea"sonable ground for expecting that he "will be able to repay it." Here is the denomination of persons who are to be relieved by the loans distinctly pointed out; and if the managers of the loan fund perform the duties of the office they are to undertake, as conscientiously as the visitors have done, we may, I think, be pretty sure, that very little of their money will find its way to the tavern. The objection to the system founded on the disadvantage of trading on a borrowed capital, however well it may apply to a higher description of traders, is not likely to be felt here. A merchant who trades on a borrowed capital, in the ordinary sense, is no doubt often in difficulties and always in fear of his creditors. His capital is liable to constant fluctuations at the caprice of those by whom he is supported; and if he has not a mind to make his credit suspected (which would instantly destroy it) by disclosing the state of his affairs, he must raise money to meet unexpected demands, frequently on the most disadvantageous terms. But this by no means applies to the future debtors of the loan fund. Here the actual situation of every borrower is known, the nature of his proposed speculations ascertained, and the probability of his being able to repay the sums lent him considered. The debtor runs no risk, like the ordinary trader with a borrowed capital, of having his debt unexpectedly and inopportunely called up: for if he were by some accident unable, on the precise day, to make good his payments, the society, (who do not, like bankers and others, look to derive profit from the se these loans, would no doubt take the circumstances under their consideration, and give a little delay if warranted by such enquiry. In short, the description of persons who will be relieved, is that of the woman whose case is stated in a note to the report: persons who, like her, have a laudable object in view, but cannot attain it without a small advance of money. It is said in the report, "that cre"dit is the soul of commerce." On this observation the worthy Secretary remarks in a note to his letter," that "this is true with regard to that cre"dit which is given from views of profit arising equally to the lender " and the borrower; but it does not seem to have any application to a "forced advance like that which you have in view. The operations of the Ayr Bank may perhaps be regarded as an instance of what I now "state." This I own is not very intelligible to me. I cannot at once perceive, why the mere circumstance of a poor man of industrious and sober habits, receiving a trifling accommodation, without being obliged to pay interest for it, should operate as discouragement to his exertions; more especially when I consider, that the repayment of the loan by instalments begins almost immediately after he receives it. By the expression, "forced loan," I have always understood something like Charles the first's exactions under the plausible name of Benevolences; or those demands lately made by Bonaparté upon his "good city of Paris;" and, I cannot help thinking, it is not well applied to such a mas £.200 annually divided into many, or perhaps into twice as many loans, and given by the rich to the poor. Really, Sir, we must not Campare this charity to the Ayr Bank, or to any other bank, which, like it, should engage to supply the necessi ties of those whose situations were of necessity, but imperfectly known. The credit of the loan fund is not to be affected by the unfortunate results of great speculations, nor by a run occasioned by unfounded suspicions of its credit; and we have good reason to hope that it will be under more prudent management than the unfortunate bank alluded to. Now, with regard to the second head of the secretary's objections, it is to be expected that the managers of the loan fund will not be more liable to be imposed upon than those who take the active management of the other branches of the society's business. I do not understand that these gentlemen are now frequently imposed upon, and if the managers of the loan fund take the same trouble with them, the advances will no doubt be made "to "the persons, or to the degree, or at "the exact time, and with the secu"rity which may be best, either for "the borrower or for the lender." It seems still more improbable that any great loss can result from the administration of the funds, as no advance is to be made without a sufficient cautioner for the repayment; and this precaution appears a most effectual check against granting loans to persons of bad character, as the cau tioner, who must be quite aware of the risk he runs, will, no doubt, carefully watch the conduct of the principal debtor. Even with this precaution, however, I am far from thinking that no loss is to be incurred. On the contrary, the experience of the practice of the Bath Institution, (upon the results of which, by the way, I place much more reliance, as decisive of the general question, than the Secretary,) proves that a partial loss is to be expected. But if the loss to our society shall not exceed that of the institution alluded to, it offers no sufficient ground of opposition to the scheme. Out of £. 1800 lent, the loss to the Bath Society was but a very little above £.50, a sum much less than could could have been at first expected. Indeed, were the loss to our loan fund to turn out three times greater than that SCOTTISH REVIEW. which has resulted to the Bath fund, The Bryde of Abydos: a Poem, in it ought not to be considered as an insuperable obstacle to the system. This is not to be expected, however, unless we suppose that the poorer orders of the Scots are more expensive in their habits, and less capable of industrious application, than their English neighbours. The reverse I believe to be the fact; and if it is so in any considerable degree, the loss to our fund must be proportionably smaller than at Bath. "No man, Sir, will dispute the great advantage "of encouraging in"dependent exertion and economy a66 mong the poor ;" and if the loan fund could have the effect of lessening the chance of this advantage, there can be no doubt of its tendency being positively injurious. But this remains to be proved. I perfectly agree with the Secretary, that all projects in opposition to general principles in human nature are to be suspected; but, Sir, I apprehend that it is in human nature as in physics-those principles are most to be depended upon which are deduced from a careful observation of facts. Now, Sir, the reports of the Bath Institution present us with the result of many years experience, all tending to prove the advantage of a loan fund; and I cannot conceive that the results in this instance could be affected by "many particulars unknown or inap"plicable in other quarters." They could only be influenced by a difference of the management of the funds-the habits of the people-or the encouragements to industry and if, in these respects, Edinburgh is not proved to be inferior to Bath, no good objection can be urged to the experiment on the limited scale proposed by the committee. I am, Sir, : Your most obedient servant, two cantos. By LORD BYRON. FROM the perusal of " Childe Ha rold," and the "Giaour," we certainly were led to augur favourably of any production of Lord Byron's muse. Yet will we own that it was not without surprise, and even some degree of regret, that we saw a new poem thus promptly announced. This young and fortunate author has not, we suspect, yet learned the nature of those with whom he has to deal. The vainest and most flattered possessor of fortune or beauty is not more fastidious, or more easily sated, than is the public in the judgment which it forms upon works of genius. An individual, indeed, there may always be some hope of fixing; but as to the public, if the most agreeable entertainment be presented to it in too great abundance, indifference is almost the infallible result. The truth is, such a disposition is not so irrational as might at first sight be imagined. In intellectual food, variety is at once agreeable and salutary. Now, there runs through the writings of every author, a certain vein of thought peculiar to himself, and to which his genius is in a manner limited; of this the public has room, as it were, only for a certain portion; and a craving inevitably arises for a different species of gratification. The danger must be peculiarly imminent, when the supplies following each other very rapidly, leave no intervals for the renewal of appetite. There is another point of view, in which such rapid publication strikes us with alarm, as to the poetical career of Lord Byron. We had hoped, from the example of Childe Harold, to have seen exhibited in his poetry a correct and classical standard, which fear the satiated public will soon become insensible, that it exhibits no decay of genius, and contains passaages equal to what may be found in any of its predecessors. Before proceeding, however, to give any specimens, we shall introduce a short sketch of the story :-It is in many cases a disadvantage, thus to anticipate the reader's curiosity; but not so in the present instance, where the difficulty of understanding it forms the chief bar to the pleasure of its perusal. We will even observe, that the darkness does not rest quite so thick upon this narrative as it did upon that of the Giaour. is extremely wanting in this licentious age. On the contrary, we find him becoming, every successive poem, more and more careless and irregular. He not only gives full scope to the eccentricities of his own genius, but he seems disposed to admire and to copy those of others. There are several passages in the present poem, in which he appears to us to have had Mr Scott in his eye; a course which appears to us extremely injudicious. The irregularities of that poet belong to the subjects of which he treats, to his own peculiar vein of thought and fancy; they would not suit another poet or another theme; they are, and they ought to be unique. Lord Byron, we fear, in pursuing this imitation, will lose his own proper excellencies, without attaining those of his model, the gay animation of whose narrative, we apprehend, he is not likely ever to rival. Upon the subject of narrative, indeed, we have already expressed our opinion, which is not in the least altered by the perusal of the present specimen. Lord Byron has not patience to tell a story well. There is a certain restlessness, an cagerness continually to feel and say something striking, inconsistent with that tempered animation which alone suits such a strain. Above all, we object to that profound and studied obscurity in which it is involved. Every successive event is, as it were, an enigma, which it requires the utter of Giaffir, and gains her whole most effort of the reader's understanding to solve. Such an exertion of intellect is at once painful and utterly unprofitable. This obscurity is peculiarly ill placed, where, as in Lord Byron, the story is nothing, and the whole beauty resides in the imagery and sentiment. It distracts the attention from these; and the story, when discovered, affords no compen sation. Selim is educated by the Pacha Gaffir as his son. He himself, however, knows that he stands not in this relation, but is the son of a brother whom the Pacha had secretly murdered. Giaffir, though remorse or feeling induce him to educate his nephew in this character, feels no confidence in him, never allows him to go to the field, or to learn warlike exercises, and keeps him immured in the haram. Selim, indignant at this treatment, finds means to deceive his inhuman guardian. Taking advantage of the intervals when the latter goes to the army, he leaves home, forms connection with a band of pirates, and becomes their captain. At the same time a tenderer interest is excited in his breast. He becomes enamoured of Zuleica, the real daugh heart. Then disclosing to her the actual relation between them, he persuades her to an elopement. Their departure is soon discovered; they are pursued and overtaken: Selim is pierced by the hand of Giaffir, and Zuleika dies of grief. The description of Zuleika, though somewhat laboured, and containing a few bad lines, is on the whole fine; the last line is exquisite : Fair as the first that fell of womankindWhen on that dread yet lovely serpent smiling, Whose |