PREFACE. THE directors of a public company are called upon, as a matter of course, to prepare a synopsis of the state of their affairs, and to make a few remarks in their report upon its management in the past, its condition at present, and the prospect of the future. It has become customary in much the same way for the Conductors of this serial to lay before their readers a few observations by way of Preface to the several successive volumes they have been privileged to add to the literature of research, culture, improvement, and free discussion. On this occasion, considering that those who are best qualified to speak about the purpose, plan, difficulties, and progress of this work, have, in the body of this volume, given an epitome of the history of this literary venture during the twenty-one years in which it has now held its place among serials, the responsible Conductors might well have refrained from any merely prefatory observations. This they would readily have consented to do, were it not that they have little other opportunity of holding specific intercourse with the reader than such as is afforded to them by these half-yearly recurrences of greeting and explanation, of which they are unwilling to lose even a single one. For where the pressure of the hand may not be felt, nor the play of the light of friendship in the eye be seen, words are the only medium through which the mind can find access to mind in a direct form; and the Conductors wish at all times to treat with loving confidence those for whom they labour, and through whom their labour, if it is to be effective at all, must produce the desired results-the promotion of a love of faithful investigation, the exercise of critical thought, and the culture of dispassionate reflectiveness on all matters of interest in regard to life, thought, motives, and events. It is never to be forgotten in the perusal of these volumes that its Conductors cater for those who are supposed to have a high sense of the value of truth attained by the efforts of reason, and of the culture by which the intellectual and moral nature is quickened and refined-those who feel the nobleness of thought. The Conductors certainly desire to aid in the task of popular elevation, but they cannot condescend to court popular favour at the expense of truth, freedom, or the moral integrity of the critical faculties. They seek the countenance and support, and earnestly ask the aid of all those who think, and desire that men should learn to think truly and thoroughly -to create, in short, a reasoned and reasonable public opinion. To that their labours tend, in that they hope they may end. The subjoined review of their efforts in this behalf they now present to the favourable consideration of the reader. The Leading Articles, if less varied, are of higher mark, we believe, even than usual; they indicate a living energy of mind, a broad unconventional force, a rare and notable fertility of suggestiveness. For compass, accuracy, and explicit conciseness, there can be few readers who will not acknowledge the excellence and the informingness of the papers on Deity; and hackneyed as political questions are, there is in the series of papers on Government not a little of originality and worth. The Debates, being, as they are, in |