ABSTRACT
The works of Robert Bage, abstracted from the views against which people have endeavoured to caution the reader, are of high and decided merit. His opinions of state affairs were perhaps a little biassed by the frequent visits of the excisemen, who levied taxes on his commodities, for the purpose of maintaining a war which he disapproved of. In like manner, the habits of the lower classes, as existing in Britain, are far from affording, exclusively, that rich fruit of virtue and generosity, which Mr. Bage's writings would teach people to expect. The misrepresentation of the different classes in society is not the only speculative error in which he has indulged during the poetic narratives. There is in his novels a dangerous tendency to slacken the reins of discipline upon a point, where, perhaps, of all others, society must be benefited by their curbing restraint.
