remember the many illustrious Romans who were themselves of Etruscan origin, and who flourished while the Etruscan idiom was still familiarly spoken as well as written, it seems impossible to suppose that these progeny of Tyrrhenian kings'-that the Cæcinas and Mæcenases-would have allowed all memory of their national literature to perish, had it contained any thing really worth preserving. Of the poetical element, especially, we find scarcely an intimation. The Tyrrhena carmina,' alluded to by Lucretius*, were merely ritual verses; and the Etruscan tragedies of Volnius (incidentally mentioned by Varro †) appear to have been compositions of a very late date, and were probably, as suggested by Müller, nothing more than the attempt of a learned man to revive an expiring language. The only class of dramatic compositions which were of native Etruscan origin were the coarse and rude Fescennian verses; and there is neither proof nor probability, that they ever rose above the character assigned to them by Livy ‡ on their first introduction at Rome, versum incompositum temere ac rudem,'-until they were polished and fashioned by the Latin poets.

We cannot close this brief view of the character and civilisation of the Etruscans, without adverting to their effect and influence upon those of Rome. It is impossible to deny that this influence was both extensive and durable. The period of greatest power and prosperity which the rising city enjoyed before its destruction by the Gauls, was unquestionably while it was subject to Etruscan rule. It was to her Etruscan kings § that ancient traditions concurred in ascribing those

* Lib. vi. v. 381. Lib. vii. c. 2.

† De Lingua Latina, lib. v. § 55.

There is one monument which, from its close connexion with the Etruscan kings of Rome and its historical importance, deserves a more especial notice. This is the tomb of the family of the Tarquins, lately discovered at Cære. It is one of those family sepulchres so frequent in Etruria, and it contains the names of not less than thirtyfive members of this illustrious house. But that which gives it its chief interest is, the occurrence of the family name in its Latin as well as its Etruscan form, so as to leave no possible doubt that the Etruscan TARCHNAS really corresponds to the Tarquinius of the Romans, and that the name of the Tarquins was not, as has been supposed by Müller and other modern writers, a mere local designation, referring to their origin from Tarquinii, but a real Etruscan family name. Equally decisive is its evidence against the singular theory of Niebuhr, that the Tarquins were of Latin, and not Etruscan, origin; which has always appeared to us as singular a suggestion as that Roman poets should not be authority for writing both Porsena and Porsenna, or as any other of the startling paradoxes which

mighty public works which still excited the admiration of the civilised Romans in the days of their greatest splendour,-the Cloaca Maxima, the Agger of Servius Tullius, and the substructions of the Capitol. A considerable element in the population of Rome itself was generally admitted to be of Etruscan origin; and, in later times, many of her most illustrious citizens were of Tuscan families. Before the general introduction of Greek art and literature, it was to Etruria alone that the Romans turned for a tincture of superior cultivation; and there was a time when many of the youthful nobles of Rome must have been thoroughly conversant with the Etruscan language. Yet, notwithstanding all this, the influence of Etruria upon the nature of the Roman people does not appear at any time to have been much more than formal and external. We have a difficulty, therefore, in recognising the truth of Humboldt's generalisation-where he declares that the influence of Etruria may be said to be still politically operative at the present day; in as far as through Rome it has promoted or at least has given 'a peculiar character to the civilisation of a large portion of the human race.' The Etruscans were as far from possessing the highest and noblest qualities of the Romans, as they were from

have been hazarded by that truly great genius. Whether the persons buried here really belonged to the royal house of Rome, cannot, indeed, be assumed as certain: but there is every probability in favour of the supposition. The name does not appear to have been a common one in Etruria; and the existence of a close connexion with Cære may be fairly inferred from the circumstance that it was to that city that the exiled monarch first turned his steps. Tarquin himself, indeed, we are told, after his unsuccessful attempts at a restoration, took refuge with Mamilius at Tusculum, and afterwards at Cuma, where he died. But some of his sons survived him, and other members of the Tarquinian gens were banished with Collatinus. Hence the antiquary may indulge his fancy in the present instance with more reason than in most others, and may be allowed to believe that he has here discovered the last resting-place of the royal house of the Tarquins.

We cannot but take this opportunity of expressing our regret that in this, as in many other cases, Mr. Dennis has not given the literal inscriptions which he had copied on the spot. These omissions will be keenly felt by the scholar; accurate transcripts of existing Etruscan inscriptions being at present one of the chief desiderata for the study of the language. It is true that he had already published them in the Bullettino dell' Instituto for 1847: but that work is accessible to comparatively few persons; and if he was afraid of heartily wearying' the general reader (see vol. ii. p. 44.), he might, at least, have given them a place in an appendix to the chapter.

rivalling the Greeks in philosophy and art. It was not from them that the brood of the she-wolf' derived any thing of its characteristic grandeur. The Romans, indeed, borrowed from Etruria the painted robes and the ornaments which graced their triumphs; but it was from another source that they learned to achieve those triumphs. The curule chair and the ivory sceptre of the Roman magistrate were copied from those of the Etruscan Lucumo; but it was not till they passed into the hands of men of sterner stuff, that these ensigns became the symbols of universal sovereignty. It was from their Latin and Sabine ancestors-from the hardy mountaineers of the Apennines—that the Romans derived that unconquerable will, that stern, inflexible resolution, which eventually made them masters of the world. The patricians of the rising republic adopted, it is true, from the Etruscans the sacred traditions of their augurs and the ritual of their peculiar ceremonies; but what had been bigotry and superstition in the Etruscans,-what had dwarfed and degraded them-only needed to be once incorporated with the nobler nature of the Romans, and it became transmuted into that higher sense of religious obligation to which, more than to any other cause, Cicero attributed the supremacy of Rome.

It is impossible to say what might have been the result, had the patricians of the rising republic succeeded in the attempt to retain in their own hands the absolute possession of the sacerdotal as well as magisterial offices: But it is probable, in case a constitution similar to that of the Etruscan cities had been permanently established on the banks of the Tiber, that the City of the Seven Hills would have shared the fate of her Etruscan neighbours, and have succumbed at last beneath the arms of the more spirited and warlike Samnites. Fortunately for Rome and for the world, the power of the exclusive aristocracy gave way before the energies of the plebeians; and the formation of a free and independent commonalty-an order of which not a trace is to be found in any Etruscan state-became the solid foundation of Roman greatness.

*We are aware of the general incredulity of the English public on the Greek descent of the Etruscan vases; and we have admitted that it is only the least of two improbabilities. But it is so much the least, that, instead of being the rivals, they are now referred to as examples of Greek art. For instance, in an interesting book lately published, 'Manners and Customs of the Greeks, translated from the German of Theodore Panofka, with illustrations by G. Scharf, taken 'chiefly from Greek Fictile Vases,' the Etruscan vases are assumed to be as Greek as any other, and of equal authority.

ART. V.-1. A Letter to the Right Honourable Henry Labouchere on the Balance of Trade, ascertained from the Market Value of all Articles imported during the last Four Years. By C. N. NEWDEGATE, Esq., M. P.

2. Fruits of the System called Free-Trade, as shown in Three Letters to the Operatives of the Manufacturing Districts of the United Kingdom. By a London Merchant.

T has become the fashion to talk of the approaches made of late years in this country towards a system of free-trade as an experiment an expression which is at once devoid of truth, and which tends to mischievous results. The expression is indeed not simply untrue; it is the reverse of the truth,—since it never can be held an experiment to leave or to restore things to their natural course; while it is decidedly of the nature of an experiment to place obstacles in the way of that natural course, and to tamper by artificial arrangements with the free agency of mankind. Nor is it any sufficient answer to say that protection, as it is called, has been so long the rule in England, that it has become the normal condition of commerce. For, however ancient may be the date of its introduction, it must have been originally based upon theory, and theory alone: while, on the contrary, the system which it superseded was certainly as ancient as the first bargain that was made in the world. After a moment's reflection nobody can deny that Free Trade is the normal condition of mankind, and that restriction, which is the proper name for protection, whenever introduced, and by whatever means supported, was and must continue to be an experiment.

The distinction, which we have pointed out, will not be deemed unimportant by those, who have experienced the powerful influence so often exercised by an epithet in misdirecting men's minds. The advocates of an artificial system of restrictions and encouragements would obtain an undue advantage if they could succeed in removing from themselves, and in fixing upon those who would restore things to their natural course, the charge, for such it undoubtedly is, of having resorted for that purpose to theory and experiment. The advocates of this system, while they are constantly interfering with the efforts made by the individual members of a nation in furtherance of its prosperity, are wont to talk of themselves as practical men and of their opponents as theorists; and by dint of reiteration have to a great extent succeeded in impressing on the world this notion,

than which nothing can in fact be more at variance with the truth. It is the advocates for freedom of commerce who are eminently practical; since all that they propose is to follow out the simple rule of leaving every one to do his best for securing his individual advantage, under the conviction that by so doing he will best advance the general interest of the community: while the advocates for protection, in their vain attempts to avoid the most glaring injustice, are forced to invent a complex system of restrictions and compensations, each branch of which is the growth of theoretical conceptions, and by the number and complexity of which all freedom of action is ultimately destroyed.

Although, judging from analogy, there is every reason for believing that the natural system-that of leaving every man to the unrestricted use of his faculties and opportunities-must be the best for the community; yet we know that there are many who hold that it does not of necessity follow that the theory of protection is false, or that the experiments which its advocates have been enabled to carry out have proved failures. Surely, however, when they plead either for a continuance of those experiments, or a return to such of them as have recently been abandoned, they ought to be prepared with good reasons from practical experience, and should be able to exhibit at least a balance of advantages in favour of their system. We wish to give them on this occasion a passing intimation of the difficulty of the task; and shall, therefore, dedicate most of the following pages, to showing that the result of recent experience, as far as it is all the other way. goes,

The removal of the shackles with which our commerce was impeded under the protective system, has as yet been but partial; but the impulse and prosperity, which have followed from that removal, are, under the peculiarly adverse circumstances that have accompanied the change, far greater than the most ardent advocates of freedom would have ventured to predict. We hear, it is true, of 'reaction' in favour of the doctrine of protection; but we hear of it only from persons who have never ceased to hold that doctrine; and we may safely challenge them to produce a single writer, of even moderate talent and authority, who had given in his adhesion to Free Trade doctrines, and who has since gone over to the ranks of the protectionists. They who talk of ' re-action' speak as they wish, rather than as they are warranted by facts. If they are making any way with the inert mass of mankind-with persons unable or unwilling to qualify themselves for forming an opinion on the subject, they do so mainly, if not entirely, because, after the destruction of the monster restriction on Free Trade personified in the Corn