the price. It is a mistake to suppose that there would be any inconsistency in the co-existence of competition amongst retailers and the establishment at the same time of a standard price by publishers. The whole and sole purpose of a standard price is to fix the maximum, above which the bookseller is not to be allowed to charge the public. A fixed price, therefore, is indispensable to the protection of the public against overcharges; but as the public have never expressed any disinclination to obtain purchases at the lowest possible rate, it may be presumed they would have no objection to allow the bookseller to sell his books as much under the maximum as he pleased.

How far the agitation can be really regarded as an agitation_by and on behalf of that numerous class of retail booksellers for whose welfare Mr. Seeley expresses so much sympathy in the name of the Association, will be best exemplified by going briefly into the details of a single transaction, which may be accepted as an illustration of the whole practice of the trade.

At a certain period, or periods, of the year, a publisher issues what he calls his sale catalogue of books, containing a list of his publications. At the head of this catalogue the terms of credit are stated. The following are the terms in the instance we have selected ::

Four months on ten pounds.

Four and eight months on twenty pounds.

Four, eight, and twelve months on fifty pounds.

Four, eight, twelve, and sixteen months on one hundred pounds and upwards.

Purchases under ten pounds to be paid in cash.

Then follows the list of books, priced at trade price, and offered at 25 as 24. The catalogue, thus prepared, was sent round to seventy booksellers in London. Of these, seven were wholesale houses, and the remaining sixty-three retail booksellers, of that class over which the Association professes to throw its protecting influence. Let us

now see the result of this transaction.

Of the sixty-three retail book

sellers, there were only thirteen buyers, and the total sum of their purchases amounted to about 1407., while of the wholesale houses the largest purchaser alone amounted to 8007., and the smallest to about 1007. The reader who is ignorant of the functions of these wholesale houses ought to be informed that they purchase thus largely for the purpose of selling again to the retail trade; so that, in fact, the book before it reaches the public, has to pay a heavy percentage to a kind of middleman. A glance at the terms on which books are thus offered to the trade will show the enormous advantages which the wholesale purchaser possesses over the mere retailer, and by which he is enabled to secure the lion's share of the profits.

From the above transaction it will be seen at once, that the maintenance of the existing system is clearly not for the benefit of the retail booksellers-that numerous class scattered over the streets of London, and said to amount to six or eight hundred in number-but in reality for the benefit of the large wholesale houses. This fact throws an important light upon the origin and objects of the association, whose operations will be better understood when we add, that some of the principal wholesale dealers are publishers also. It is no doubt quite true, that the publishers, as publishers, are not directly interested in the result of the controversy at issue; but it is not the less true, that the manner in which that statement was put forth was uncandid, and calculated to make a false impression on the public mind. Publishers are known to the public only as publishers, but when they combine with the functions of original publication, the general trade of bookselling, they possess a double interest in such questions as the present, which they are bound explicitly to declare, in order that the world may know how to estimate the character of their interference.

Returning to the sale catalogue, it happens that we are enabled, in this instance, to contrast with this practical exemplification of the working of the present system, a sample of the results that might

be anticipated from the establishment of free-trade. One of the proscribed retailers applied to the publisher of the catalogue for certain books he required, and the publisher, not being bound by the restrictive rules of the Association, executed his orders. The transaction with this proscribed underseller amounted to four times the average sum of the individual dealings of the retailers who are supposed to be flourishing under the system they are said to be so anxious to preserve. If any proof were wanted of the extreme absurdity and infatuation of persisting in antiquated modes of business unsuited to the present age, and absolutely detrimental to the real interests of the many, who are deluded into supporting them for the benefit of the few, a single fact of this kind ought to be conclusive.

It is no longer a question as to whether this system ought to stand. It is already extinct. The Association, being pledged to dissolve itself if Lord Campbell's decision should be adverse to its views, must dissolve. The question that now lies before us is, what system is best to substitute in its place? For our own parts we hold with Lord Campbell, that the bookselling trade will have the best chance of flourishing without any special regulations of any sort.'

Let there be entire freedom in the transactions between the publishers and the retail booksellers, the publishers asking prices and making or refusing allowances as they please. Let them deal with every one (although unticketed) who brings money in his purse, or whose responsibility is undoubted; taking care not to encourage the long and renewed credits which are said under the existing system to have produced so much mischief. The publishers are not bound to trust any one whom they believe to be sacrificing his wares by reckless underselling, or to be carrying on business without a profit sufficient for maintaining solvency. But let them not require any pledge from the retail dealer to whom they sell their books as to the price which he shall demand in re-selling them.

Any attempt to temporize with this view of the subject would inevitably fail. There is no choice between stringent regulations and en

freedom of action. We do not

allude to the necessary arrangements for the government of transactions between the publisher and the retailer, but to the field which lies beyond in the relations of the retailer with the public. That ground must be free; and the natural equity which flows from the ope ration of freedom will rapidly adjust the prices of books to the cir cumstances under which they are sold. It is very probable that the bookseller in an obscure village a hundred miles north of the Tweed, remote from railway accommodation, and trusting for the means of transport to uncertain resources, might charge a shilling or two more for a book than the vendor who lives within twenty yards of the house where it was published; it is also not improbable that the active and enterprising man, who is eager to push his market on the principle of small profits and quick returns, might tempt the purchaser at sixpence less than the bookseller next door, who loves tradition better than pudding, and thinks that the world is at an end since high prices were abolished; it is exceedingly likely, too, that that Noah's Ark we are all so familiar with in the country towns, in which the literature of the age is represented by a few forlorn volumes, mixed up with patent medicines, pins and needles, stationery, sealing-wax, smelling-bottles and Berlin patterns, will be displaced by an actual bookseller's shop; and it may be confidently calculated upon that competition will bring out more favourably the intelligence of the booksellers, so that that respectable, but yet mechanical, order of mind which hitherto limited its speculations to names and labels, will either be compelled to learn something of the qualities of the merchandize in which it deals, or be left to go to sleep in the midst of the activity it is incapable of emulating. But the public will endeavour to reconcile itself to the revolution, and will seek, in the wider diffusion of knowledge, and the increased facilities of national education, some comfort and consolation for the loss of a monopoly, which, to do it justice, struggled to live as long as it could, and at last died hard.

ΤΟ

Age of Veneer-The Science of Puffing,
87

Alfred, King, Dr. Pauli's Life of, 74;
Differences with the Author, 75, 76;
his Style, 77; The Danish Invasion of
England, 78; Alfred's Boyhood, 79;
his Efforts at Self-mastery, 80; his
Accession to the Throne, 81; his
Faith in God, 82; his Domestic Policy,
83; Church Reform, 84; the Literary
Works of Alfred, 85; his Will, 86
Allingham (W.), The Valley Stream,
46; Spring is Come, 524
Albemarle's (Earl) Memoirs of the Mar-
quis of Rockingham, 490
America, South-see Rosas

Autobiography of Captain Digby Grand
-see Digby Grand

Ballads, Danish, 649

Books, the Makers, Sellers, and Buyers
of, 711

Buenos Ayres, and Rosas, 596

Cambridge, Modern History and other
Matters at, 170

Cockburn's (Lord) Life of Lord Jeffrey,
557

Chair Vacant at Edinburgh, 624
Clarendon and his Contemporaries, by
Lady Theresa Lewis, 341; Personal
Character of Lord Clarendon, 342;
Fate of the Clarendon Pictures and
MSS., 345; Lord Falkland, 347; Lord
Capell, 350; Marquis of Hertford,
351

Colleges at Oxford, 363

Consulate and the Empire, Thiers' History
of, 605

Coup d'Etat in France-A Letter to the
People of England, by A. V. Kirwan,
Esq., 110; Author's Acquaintance
with the Country and People, 110;
Worst Acts of the Assembly shared by
the President, 111; Sketch of M. L.
Bonaparte's Career, 112; his Oath as
a Member to the Assembly, 115; his
Policy from Dec. 1848, to Dec. 1851,
116; M. De Morny, 117; Pretexts
for the Coup d'Etat, 118; Bona-
partism, 122; Impossibility of Free
Voting, 123; Effects of French Dic-
tatorship on England, 125.

IV. A Guardsman's Duty-A Woman
of the World, and a startling Ren-
contre-Peers and Prize-fighters-
The Art of Self-defence and the dis-
comfited Negro, 60. Chap. V. A
Popular Roué-Mornings at Rich-
mond-The Opera and its Attractions
-A Collision by Lamp-light-The
Dangers of Flirting and Fencing, 67.
Chap. VI. A Chapter of Ways and
Means-The Favourite for the Derby
-A Foregone Conclusion Foiled-
Raising the Wind-Fortune favours
the Bold-The Fashionable Dealer,
182. Chap. VII. A Field Day in the
Park-An Old Friend with a New
Face-The Artillery of the Eyes-
Military Evolutions and Civil Explana-
tions-Teaching the Art of War, and
Learning the Art of Love, 191.
Chap. VIII. The Afternoon Break-
fast-Two Strings to One's Bow-
Good Resolutions and their Effects-
Rotten Row in the Season-The Red
House and its Frequenters-A Cruise
in a Four Oar-The Advantages of
Training in a close match,, 272.
Chap. IX. A Man of the World's
Opinions on Matrimony-Life in the
Highlands-The Mountain and the
Moor-Private Play-A Hostile Meet-
ing-A Miss is as good as a Mile, 282.
Chap. X. Long looked for Twenty-
one- -The Old House at Home-
Gunning in the Greenwood - A
Wounded Warrior-The Foreign Post
-Tis well to be off with the old
Love A County Ball-An Unex
pected Meeting-Lovers' Quarrels
and Reconciliations, 398. Chap. XI.
The Hunting Reveillée-A Crack
Meet in the Shires'-A Pattern
Master of Hounds-The Devil take
the hindmost-A Workman at the
Trade-The Water Cure, and its
effects on the First Flight'-Vault-
ing Ambition that o'erleaps itself-
'Tis the Pace that Kills-Who-whoop!
585. Chap. XII. Home, Sweet Home
-Equestrian Critics-The Luckless
Frenchman-A Chapter of Ways and
Means-A Split in the Cabinet, 591.
Chap. XIII. Oxford Reminiscences-
London at the Dead Time of Year-
Bachelor's Hall-The Fortune Hunter
at Bath-Trapping an Heiress-Ro-
mance versus Reality--The Man of the
World and the Man of Sentiment, 673
Chap. XIV. An unlooked-for Ac-
quaintance-A Social Dinner Party-

-

The History of a 'Danseuse'-An In-
dependent Spinster Theatrical
Ethics, 682
Disraeli, Mr. Benjamin, as Leader and
Legislator, 127; Duties of the Leader
of the Opposition, 127; Mr. Disraeli's
Early Career, 128; English Suspicion
of New Men, 129; Mr. Disraeli suc-
ceeds Lord George Bentinck as Leader,
130; Session of 1849, 131; Attack.
on the Manchester School, 133; Mo-
tion for Relief of Burthens on Land,
135; Speech on the Address in 1850,
136; The Session of 1851, 137;
Jealousy of Mr. Disraeli, 139; By what
right does he hold his position?
139;
His advance as a Parliamentary
Man, 140
Dragons, 216

Dryden's King Arthur, Dialogue be-
tween Dryden and Purcell on, 196

East (The) and the West, 472; Empire
of the East, 473; Communication by
the Isthmus of Panama, 474; America
for the Americans, 475; Mr. Squier's
cool assertions, 476; Policy of Ag-
gression, 477; Land versus Water, 478;
Mr. Asa Whitney's Project, 479; the
Great Western, 481; Trade of the
Pacific, 482; the Uses of Gold, 483;
Our interest in the Question, 484
Edinburgh, a Chair Vacant at, 624
Eighteen Hundred and Fifty One, 17;

Prospects at its commencement, 18;
the Peace Society no Pacificator, 19;
Principles Taught by the Great Ex-
hibition, 20; its Effects, 21, 22; Mo-
ral Lessons of the Exhibition, 23;
Criminal Statistics of 1851, 24; More
Home Comforts for the Poor, 26; a
Word for the Omnibus, 28; Revela-
tions of an Omnibus Driver, 31; Ope-
ration of the Police Act, 32
Election Row in New York, 104
England, State and Prospects of, 225;

Inefficient Condition of our National
Defences, 225; Freedom of Opinion
in England, 227; Influence of France
on Belgium, 228; Military Strength of
Great Britain, 229; The Caffre War,
230; the Dispersion of our Ships, 231;
Negligence of the Admiralty, 232;
Preparations against Invasion impe-
rative, 233; Practicability of an İn-
vasion, 234; Means of Defence, 237;
Colonial Administration, 239; New
Reform Bill, 240; Engineers' Strike,
243; Effects of Christian Socialism,
244
Euripides, the Phaethon of-Hora Dra-
maticæ, 448

Exhibition of Eighteen Hundred and
Fifty One, 17

Ficquelmont's (Count) Lord Palmerston,
England, and the Continent, 320

Floreal, 501. Allegory by Arnaud on
his Exile, from the French, 503; The
Violet, from the Italian, 504; The
Parting, from the German, 504; Hope
Deferred, from the Spanish, 504; to
the Scabious, from the Portuguese,
505; Farewell to the Poyne, from the
Irish, 506; On some Girls playing
with Snow, from the Latin, 507; Epi-
taph from the Greek, 507; Lament
for Princess Charlotte, from the He-
brew, 508

For the Penny Wise, 224

France. See Coup d'Etat in France;
Stephen's Lectures on the History of
France; Thiers' History of the Con-
sulate and Empire

France and the Continent of Europe,
State and Prospects of, 352; Unex-
pected Prospect at the commence-
ment of 1852, 352; Faults of the
Movement Party, 353; Tyranny of
M. L. Bonaparte, 354; Character of
Dr. Veron, 355; Censorship of the
Press, 357; Ministry of Police, 358;
M. Persigny, 359; M. Bonaparte's
Senators, 359; Position of the Conti-
nental Sovereigns towards M. Bona-
parte, 360; Necessity of Preserv
ing the Independence of Belgium,
361; Relations of France and Italy,
362

Game Birds and Wild Fowl, by A.
E. Knox, 47; the Author's Qualifi-
cations, 47; New 'Dodge' of the
Poachers, 48; Partridges, 48; Pere-
grine Falcon, 49; Wild Fowl Shoot-
ing, 50, 51; Hawking, 52; Herons,
53; Woodcocks, 54, 55; Gun-boat
Shooting, 56; Wild Geese, 57; Phea-
sants, 58; Careless Shooting, 59
George III. See Memoirs, Letters,
Papers, and Histories of the Earlier
Years of the Reign of George III.
Gift Books, suggestions about, 141;
recent change in their character, 142;
a heap of Stories and Pictures, 143;
Mr. Wray's Cash-Box, by Mr. W.
Collins, 143; Mr. Miller's Village
Queen, 143; Kindness and Cruelty,
144; Mrs. Myrtle's Stories, 144; Aunt
Effie's Rhymes, 144; Child's Play,
145; Andersen's Tales, 145; Mr.
Hervey's Pathway of the Fawn, 146;
Difference between English and Ger-
man Story Books, 147

Gosse's Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica,
379

Grenville Papers, edited by J. W. Smith,
485

Grumbler (A), on the Licence of the
Streets, 147

Holland's (Lord), Memoirs of the Whig
Party, 435; Lord Holland's Early
Life, 435; Burke and Fox, 436;

Buried Treasure, 291; Phaethon of
Euripides, 448
Huc's Travels in Tartary and Thibet.
See Tartary.
Hungarian War, History of the. Chap.
III. Movements of the Ban Jellachich,
94; Duplicity of the Imperial Family,
95; the Palatine an exception, 96;
Illegal appointment of a Dictator, 97;
Murder of Count Lamberg, 98; Battle
of Velencze, 99; Appointment of the
Ban as Imperial Commissioner, 100;
Battle of Schwechat, 101; Rise of
Arthur Görgey, 102; Kossuth's Power
as an Agitator, 103. Chap. IV. Prince
Windischgrätz, 200; Austrian Prepara-
tions for War, 201; Abdication of the
Emperor, 202; Statistics of the Ar-
mies, 203; Görgey's Evacuation of
Raab, 204; Battle of Moor, 205;
Scene in the Hungarian Parliament,
206; Arrest of Louis Batthyanyi, 207;
Austrian Occupation of Pesth, 208.
Chap. V. Prince Windischgrätz's
Treatment of the Jews, 208; General
Bem, 209; his Advance into Transyl-
vania, 210; Battle of Herrmanstadt,
213. Chap. VI. Görgey's March into
the Carpathians, 329; Retreat on the
Theiss, 331; Battle of Iglo, 332;
Henry Dembinski, 333; Görgey's
Mutiny, 335; Concentration of Troops
round Kapolna, 337; Dembinski's
great Crime, 339; Conspiracy against
him, 340. Chap. VII. Occupation of
Szolnok, 459; Defeats of the Invad-
ing Armies, 460; Kossuth's Govern-
ment, 461; Austrian Charter of 4th
of March, 463; Kossuth appointed
Dictator, 464; Act of Independence,
465; Görgey's Mutiny, 467; State of
the Austrian Empire, 469; Russian
Intervention, 470. Chap. VIII.-In-
difference of England and France
about the Intervention, 575; Kossuth's
Return to Pesth, 577; the Palatinal
Hussars, 579; Kossuth's Crusade
against the Russians, 580; Battle of
Pered, 581; Görgey disobeys the Or-
ders for his Deposition, 582; Progress
of the Russian Army, 583; Gorgey's
Treason, 584. Chap. IX. Close of the
Struggle, 687; Battle of Temeswar,
689; Kossuth Resigns his Power to
Gorgey, 690; Kossuth's Flight, 691;
Görgey Surrenders to the Russians,
692; Vilagos, 693; Defence of Ko-

morn, 694; Klapka's Pusillanimity,
795; his Surrender, 696; the Bloody
Assize of Hungary, 697
Hypatia; or, New Foes with an Old
Face. By the Author of Yeast, and
The Saint's Tragedy. Chap. I. The
Dying World, 1. Chap. II. The
Laura, 10. Chap. III. The Goths,
157. Chap. IV. Miriam, 163. Chap.
V. A Day in Alexandria, 303. Chap.
VI. The New Diogenes, 315. Chap.
VII. Those by whom Offences come,
417. Chap. VIII. The East Wind,
425. Chap. IX. The Snapping of
the Bow, 541. Chap. X. The Inter-
view, 546; the Author to his Readers,
553. Chap. XI. The Laura again, 700.
Chap. XII. The Bower of Acrasia, 705

Jamaica. See Naturalist in Jamaica
Jeffrey's, Lord, Life, by Lord Cockburn;
Character of the Work, 557; Jeffrey's
early Life, 558; at the Bar, 559;
Editor of the Edinburgh Review, 560;
his Notices of Contemporaries. 561

King Arthur, Dialogue on the Dramatic
Opera of, 196

Kirwan, A. V., a Letter to the People
of England, 110. See Coup D'état in
France

Knox's Game Birds and Wild Fowl, 47.
See Game Birds

Lamprey, the, 517
Last Buccanier, the, 214
Lewis's, Lady Theresa, Lives of the
Friends and Contemporaries of Lord
Chancellor Clarendon, 341
Licence of the Streets, 147

Mahon's, Lord, History of England, 494
Makers, Buyers, and Sellers of Books,
711

May, the Month of. See Floreal
Melville, G. J. W., The Alarm, 595
Memoirs, Letters, Papers, and Histories
of the Earlier Years of the Reign of
George III.; 485, The Grenville Pa-
pers, 485; Memoirs of the Marquis of
Rockingham, 490; Lord Mahon's His-
tory of England, 494

Meredith, G., The Sweet o' the Year,
699

Modern History, and other Matters at
Cambridge. See Stephen's Lectures on
the History of France

More Marine Stores-The Narke, 631;
Sturgeon, 635; Rana or Lopheus, 638;
Eels, 640

Musical Season, Opening of the, 525

Narke, the, 631

Naturalist in Jamaica, Mr. Gosse's book,
379; the Voyage Out, 380; a Night
Scene at Sea, 381; Prickly Pears,
382; Entrance to Bluefield's Bay, 383;