MOUNT BLANC REVISITED MOUNT BLANC REVISITED.-JUNE 9TH, 1845. OH! mount beloved: mine eyes again Oh! mount beloved: thy frontier waste And reverent desire. They meet me, 'midst thy shadows cold, Amidst the desert found: Such gladness as in Him they felt, Oh, happy, if His will were so, To lead me, as He leads His flocks Since, from the things that trustful rest- The marmot in his den- Alas, for man! who hath no sense But still rejects and raves; Forget the thousands left; But teach me, God, a milder thought, And this that moves me to condemn Than jealousy for Thee. From A Happy Christmas. From the Journal of Commerce. THE following lines were given to the young men of Sag Harbor, L. I., when embarking in the ship Sabina, Capt. H. Green master, for California, February 6th, 1848. BY MRS. L. M. GARDINER. With anchors weighed, and sails unfurled -LINES-WHITTIER'S POEMS. Mothers', and wives' and sisters' cries 527 A moment's space, yet one word more, Burst brightly on your longing eyes. WHITTIER'S POEMS.-We are highly gratified to see the poems of John G. Whittier in a complete and elegant shape. They have been published by B. B. Mussey, of Boston, in a handsome octavo, with illustrations by Billings. We do not think the portrait does the author justice; but Whittier's face, when in repose, scarcely reveals the expresvolume is eminently worthy of its contents, and siveness of which it is capable. As a whole, the will take its place beside the other illustrated American poets. There are two distinguishing traits which characterize Whittier-his earnestness and his nationality. His favorite themes are drawn from the scenery and legends of his own New England, and the glowing visions of a Christian reformer. None of our bards excel him in a kind of fierce sincerity. His lyrics burn with meaning; they do not seem written as a pastime but from necessity, and gush forth with the impressive zeal of prophetic inspiration. In description, also, Whittier excels; and that there is a deep vein of tenderness in his nature, is evinced by the "Memorials" dedicated to the virtues and love of departed friends. Whittier represents the philanthropic sentiment more effectively than any of our poets. He is an ardent lover of freedom, nature, and his kind. The volume before us contains many gems of expres sion, and is pervaded by a manly enthusiasin, which, united with fine poetic gifts, render it a most desirable addition to this department of our literature.-Home Journal. 1 SHORT ARTICLES.-Recovered Lake, 496; Copy-Rights; L'Allegro, 511.-From La Motte PROSPECTUS. This work is conducted in the spirit of Littell's Museum of Foreign Literature, (which was favorably received by the public for twenty years,) but as it is twice as large, and appears so often, we not only give spirit and freshness to it by many things which were excluded by a month's delay, but while thus extending our scope and gathering a greater and more attractive variety, are able so to increase the solid and substantial part of our literary, historical, and political harvest, as fully to satisfy the wants of the American reader. The elaborate and stately Essays of the Edinburgh, Quarterly, and other Reviews; and Blackwood's noble criticisms on Poetry, his keen political Commentaries, highly wrought Tales, and vivid descriptions of rural and mountain Scenery; and the contributions to Literature, History, and Common Life, by the sagacious Spectator, the sparkling Examiner, the judicious Athenæum, the busy and industrious Literary Gazette, the sensible and comprehensive Britannia, the sober and respectable Christian Observer; these are intermixed with the Military and Naval reminiscences of the United Service, and with the best articles of the Dublin University, New Monthly, Fraser's, Tail's, Ainsworth's, Hood's, and Sporting Magazines, and of Chambers' admirable Journal. We do not consider it beneath our dignity to borrow wit and wisdom from Punch; and, when we think it good enough, make use of the thunder of The Times. We shall increase our variety by importations from the continent of Europe, and from the new growth of the British colonies. The steamship has brought Europe, Asia, and Africa, into our neighborhood; and will greatly multiply our connections, as Merchants, Travellers, and Politicians, with all parts of the world; so that much more than ever it | now becomes every intelligent American to be informea of the condition and changes of foreign countries. And this not only because of their nearer connection with ourselves, but because the nations seem to be hastening through a rapid process of change, to some new state of things, which the merely political prophet cannot compute or foresee. Geographical Discoveries, the progress of Colonization, (which is extending over the whole world,) and Voyages and Travels, will be favorite matter for our selections; and, in general, we shall systematically and very uliv acquaint our readers with the great department of Foreign affairs, without entirely neglecting our own. While we aspire to make the Living Age desirable to all who wish to keep themselves informed of the rapid progress of the movement-to Statesmen, Divines, Lawyers, and Physicians-to men of business and men of leisure-it is still a stronger object to make it attractive and useful to their Wives and Children. We believe that we can thus do some good in our day and generation; and hope to make the work indispensable in every well-informed family. We say indispensable, because in this day of cheap literature it is not possible to guard against the influx of what is bad in taste and vicious in morals, in any other way than by furnishing a sufficient supply of a healthy character. The mental and moral appetite must be gratified. We hope that, by "winnowing the wheat from the chaff," by providing abundantly for the imagination, and by a large collection of Biography, Voyages and Travels, History, and more solid matter, we may produce a work which shall be popular, while at the same time it wil aspire to raise the standard of public taste. tion of this work-and for doing this a liberal commission will be allowed to gentlemen who will interest themselves in the business. And we will gladly correspond on this subject with any agent who will send us undoubted refer TERMS.-The LIVING AGE is published every Satur- Agencies.-We are desirous of making arrangements day, by E. 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Postage.-When sent with the cover on, the Living Age consists of three sheets, and is rated as a pamphlet, at 4 cents. But when sent without the cover, it comes within the definition of a newspaper given in the law, and cannot legally be charged with more than newspaper postage, (14 cts.). We add the definition alluded to: A newspaper is "any printed publication, issued in numbers, consisting of not more than two sheets, and published at short, stated intervals of not more than one month, conveying intelligence of passing events." Monthly parts. For such as prefer it in that form, the Living Age is put up in monthly parts, containing four or five weekly numbers. In this shape it shows to great advantage in comparison with other works, containing in Binding. We bind the work in a uniform, strong, and each part double the matter of any of the quarterlies. good style; and where customers bring their numbers in But we recommend the weekly numbers, as fresher and good order, can generally give them bound volumes in ex-fuller of life. Postage on the monthly parts is about 14 change without any delay. The price of the binding is cents. The volumes are published quarterly, each volume 50 cents a volume. As they are always bound to one containing as much matter as a quarterly review gives in pattern, there will be no difficulty in matching the future eighteen months. volumes. WASHINGTON, 27 DEC., 1845. Or all the Periodical Journals devoted to literature and science which abound in Europe and in this country, this has appeared to me to be the most useful. It contains indeed the exposition only of the current literature of the English language, but this by its immense extent and comprehension includes a portraiture of the human mind in the utmost expansion of the present age. J. Q. ADAMS. LITTELL'S LIVING AGE.-No. 253.-24 MARCH, 1849. From the Christian Remembrancer. "Have you read The Neighbors,' and how do 1. Brothers and Sisters. Translated from the you like the Bear and his wife, and what do you Swedish by MARY HOWITT. Colburn. 2. The Neighbors. Longman & Co. 3. The President's Daughters; and Nina. Long- 4. The Home. Smith, Fleet Street. think of ma chère mère?" And in reply, everybody had read The Neighbors, and thought the Bear and his wife delightful, and agreed that ma chère mère was a new character, an artist's creation, conceived and executed with equal genius and boldness. People were charmed with her long speeches, instructed by her proverbs, diverted by her eccentricities, awed by her tragic passion; It is now some years since the interest of the they only wished that her first introduction-playstory-loving world was excited by a series of tales ing the fiddle to her servants' dancing-had been fresh from a northern land, which, though not dis-on any other evening in the week but Sunday, and tant from us, was yet almost as much a terra in- that there had been some indication of the Bear cognita as old Scandinavia to the ancient world. and his wife having been at church, which they While Sweden was well versed in our literature-clearly had not; but these were features of nanot only acquainted with Shakspeare, but familiar tional manners, and we have often to get over with such newer lights as Bulwer and Miss Mar- such things. As for Bruno, few people talked tineau we as a nation knew no more of that coun- about him, and a great many "skipped" wherever try than could be collected from one or two books he appeared in the scene-from an entire want of of travels, or the sight in the court circular of interest or sympathy in that style of character. some long unpronounceable name which used to Books where the bad parts are also dull, have a be classed in the fancy with his Excellency the great advantage. Dulness is a veil. Even if the Turkish Ambassador or a Rajah from Burtpore. eye takes in, the attention does not; or if it does We are not speaking of an enlightened public, but for a moment, the memory will not retain it, but of the larger class who read for amusement, and fills itself with the more attractive parts of the to whom the Swedes as a people were as little story. As a fact, many have read "The Neighknown, and as little objects of thought and inter- bors," and forgotten what a curious epitome of all est, as Kamstchatka. What a surprise, then, the vices this Bruno is, how full of all dark, evil, what a new world, to see opened to us vivid pic- base passions, how selfish up to the last moment. tures of a society at once new in many of its so- They have cared too little for him and Serena to recial aspects, and yet akin to all our sympathies: member what a sacrilege and profanation was comlively, intellectual, domestic! where we see real- mitted in uniting him to the author's idea of the ized that favorite dream of the imagination of all perfect, the angelic Serena. Bruno was passed times, the union of the refined with the homely over as a sort of Corsair, and Serena was simply where the most opposite excellences seem to com- insipid. The interest rested at the time, and the bine as in the golden age-where the ideal Ar- memory looks back, on the real character of the cadian shepherdess finds her type in the Swedish piece; and it should not be omitted as a testimony lady, at once elegant, refined, accomplished, and to the author's native and genuine taste, that her skilled in all housewifely labors; alternately de- heart and imagination dwell more gladly, expatiate lighting her hearers by her sallies of wit and more freely, in scenes of innocent affection, harmthought in the saloon, and ministering to their | less mirth, honest, pure, self-sacrifice, than in the vulgarer wants in the kitchen. But nothing there is really vulgar: the "pancakes," the patties, the raspberries and cream, prepared by her hands, have all an ambrosial fragrance, and seem elevated above their rank in the ordinary carte de cuisine. The perpetual allusion to these dainties, the important part that favorite dishes play in the most excited and inspiring situations, is quite another matter to what such an intrusion would appear in our common-place joints and puddings: they harmonize with the humor, the sentiment, the sublime aspirations of the various actors in the scene, with a perfect congeniality. But workings of a dark, misanthropic spirit. There is It was all very new, very amusing, very re-into captivity any thought to the obedience of freshing. Every lady asked of her correspondent, Christ. If her reason or fancy falls in with the Yet, revealed word, she makes much of it, and talks rection may be blunted for want of use in another. religiously; but where they diverge, she follows Their habit of going out of themselves in perpetual without scruple her own reason, as it would seem, observation, is in fact opposed to reflection; and not concealing from herself that she does so. probably they might have been profounder thinkers Gifted with great natural endowments, with an with less external exercise of this power. intense love of nature and appreciation of art, with because they surpass others in one respect, they a heart and intellect apparently formed for enjoy- suppose themselves qualified to teach in all; they ment, and a power of entering into, realizing, and are not content to illustrate what is old and estabalmost prolonging the present; with an extraordi-lished, but must state some new moral of their nary knowledge of character, and insight into mo- own. Because they can portray a vivid scene, tives; an admiration for what is great and power- and invest their personages with characteristic look, ful, and a contempt for everything mean and un- and tone, and action-because they can tell what real; and inspired by a genial, expansive benevo- each will say and think under every contingency— lence which feels as if it could embrace all man- very high and extraordinary gifts-they conclude kind; she sets herself to study and comprehend that therefore they know best what is abstract this world which she so dearly loves, this life in truth; whereas the danger of such is, not to bewhich natures like hers find so much to satisfy lieve in abstract truth at all; to see, for instance, and to enjoy, and yet where she sees so much evil religious truth not as an external dogmatic creed, and misery; and without looking for a guide, but as something that changes with the holder of without depending on that which Providence gives it, and so to survey all shades of opinion from a her as if indeed there were neither guide she superior eminence; to regard good and evil, not in must follow nor revelation to which she must bow their separate nature, their changeless antagonism, -she sets herself to reconcile difficulties, to make but only in their actual combination in the world a world of her own, an image of this present one, as we see it. It is hard for those who intensely where things can go as she chooses, where she realize what they see, who dwell upon it and make may follow out her speculations, and set to right social existence their study, to be severe enough. all that is wrong in her own way; where she It is difficult, as has been said, to hate properly may allay the doubts and answer the questions of people that one knows ;-a paradox which means. a restless, undisciplined spirit. of course, not the people themselves but the error that is in them to believe in the amount of evil that may lie under smooth and amiable surface, As a general rule, those powers which enable their possessor to understand character and motives, to follow the complex workings of society, and to portray all these with truth, pathos, and humor; that versatility of talent-susceptible, various, intuitive that wide range of vision, which constitute the novelist, are not met in conjunction, are hardly compatible with the deep, clear, steady glance of abstract reasoning-the quiet brooding spirit, necessary to the moralist and the philosopher. The talent for observation forever taking a man out of himself, the gift of imagination always arranging and combining its plastic creations, constructing an inner world in harmony with this outer one, naturally incline the mind to pursuits uncongenial with the calm severe research and concentrated intellect of the philosopher or theologian. Yet it is a common mistake with novelists to enter into these superior forbidden regions, and to suppose that because they can describe the world as it is, that therefore they can originate schemes and theories for making it better. and to detect and unmask sin under all its fair disguises. Their temptation is, to excuse and overlook the evil for the apparent good. This is their temptation, we say which ought to make them distrust themselves, and anchor and ground their faith on a definite creed; and if this is needful in all cases, much more in that of women, whose construction of mind qualifies them for minute observation, for appreciation of home virtues, and insight into social distinctions and shades of character; and who are eminently suited to instruct and advise in this sphere, but who are not formed to make philosophers, or moralists, or theologians, in the literal scholastic sense of these terms. If they wander after theories and strain for originality in this ungenial element, it will certainly be to the loss and sacrifice of their real powers. Of this many female authors furnish an example. How many women, gifted in their own line, and useful in it, have made themselves absurd, or dangerous, or become trite, and poor, and unreadable, by stepTheirs are powers of which they can hardly fail ping out of the familiar paths of home life into the to be conscious, which set them up by unanimous wilderness of polemics, or the vast ocean of abconsent above others, which most men are able to stract inquiry! And of this none furnishes a more appreciate, and for which they receive a general striking example than Frederika Bremer, admirahomage; and yet all the while their steady reas- ble in her own sphere-bewildered, presumptuous, oning faculties, the faculty of deducing one propo- profane, out of it. There is, indeed, so much that sition from another and proceeding in due order is immoral and directly irreligious in her works, from premises to conclusions, their powers of argu- that some apology may be needed for discussing ment, their comprehension of a line of thought, them in these pages. But we fully believe that may be below others, and they may be actually less her case merits pity as well as blame; that, trained capable than ordinary people of taking a clear, in a different school, she would have escaped many candid view. The intellect sharpened in one di-l of these errors; that she suffers from the faulty, ruinous system under which her mind has been developed; that her Church is in part to blame. Lutheranism, that form of it at least that exists in Sweden, does not seem even to attempt to direct and guide its children. It leaves men's faith in their own keeping. It gives them a Bible, indeed, and it professes to give them a creed; but it leaves it to each individual mind to accept these, and adapt them to their own fancies and prejudices as they see fit. Thus we are assured, that while clergy and people profess to receive creeds, and symbolical books, and church ordinances, they only believe them so far as the Bible, interpreted by each individual, sanctions them; and the Bible they compare to the sun, which no two people can be certain that they see alike, and about which every one is welcome to have his own opinion.* So long as they are churchmen in word, and acknowledge Lutheranism in word, they may think as they please; and as a confirmation of this, there is, in fact, no dissent in Sweden. much to what seems a naturally pure and healthy imagination. However, whether a corrupt social state is portrayed or only inferred, its evil influence is taken for granted in characters scarcely less favorites with her on that account, and excused as something inevitable. It is a singular and embarrassing fact, that the Swedish nation, isolated from the mass of the European people, and almost entirely agricultural or pastoral; having in about 3,000,000 of individuals only 14,925 employed in manufactories, and these not congregated in one or two places, but scattered among 2,037 factories; having no great standing of strangers; no considerable city but one; and army or navy; no extended commerce; no afflux having schools and universities in a fair proportion, and a powerful and complete church establishment undisturbed in its labors by sect or schism; is notwithstanding in a more demoralized state than any nation in Europe-more demoralized even than any equal portion of the dense manufacturing population of Great Britain. This is a very curious fact in moral statistics. It is so directly opposed to all received opinions and long established theories of the superior moral condition, greater innocence, purity of manners, and exemption from vice or crime, of the pastoral and agricultural state of society, compared to the commercial and manufacturing, that if it rested merely upon the traveller's own impressions, observations, or experience, it would not be entitled to any credit. The traveller in a foreign country swims on the surface of society Lutheranism may be said to have had more entirely free course, to have more uninterruptedly developed itself, in Sweden than in any other country. It was introduced with little opposition, it was maintained elsewhere by one of its greatest kings, who won for himself the title so familiar to us as the "Defender of the Protestant faith ;"it still possesses the affection of its children; but it seems not even to desire to rule their minds, to in contact, perhaps, with its worthless scum, as teach, to train, to check, to control their faith. It well as with its cream; and is not justified in would appear as if Miss Bremer offended no rule, drawing sweeping conclusions upon the moral charwas conscious of no departure from any profession, acter and condition of a whole people from what he in advancing her extraordinary opinions. She uni-may meet with in his own little circle of observation. I would not venture to state this fact upon formly shows affection for the religion of her coun- any grounds less conclusive than the following.try; her clergymen are good men; her favorite Laing's Observations on Sweden. characters are taught and instructed by them; the best understanding appears to exist; her congregations are crowded and edified. She seems to feel no want, and can breathe freely. She would not desire to introduce another state of things. There is no indication of feeling under a yoke, but the uniform, sweet, unprovoked temper which implies absence of opposition or censure. This state of the Swedish church has been felt and acknowledged by an able writer, himself an enthusiastic admirer of its founder; and has called forth all his skill, to account for what militates against his most cherished convictions. He treats the question in connection with the subject of the demoralized state of Sweden-an incontrovertible fact, which private sources confirm. We will give some of his preliminary statements, not only as information, but as in some sort exculpating our authoress, who, in the intimations of a bad state of society, which we find in her works, at least did not go out of her way to invent what does not actually exist. Taste and instinctive propriety, indeed, commonly preserve her from enlarging on scenes of wicked passion, though certain unfortunate exceptions to this prevailing rule rise to our memory, and forbid our trusting too *Schubert on the Swedish Church. See also an Article on the Swedish Church, Christian Remembrancer, April, 1847. : Then follows a statement from the official returns, giving the number of prosecutions and convictions for criminal offences all offences-he explains-involving some moral delinquency greater than the simple breach of a regulation or conventional law of the state; with a comparison between these returns and those of Norway, Denmark, Scotland, England, London, and Ireland, immeasurably to the disadvantage of Sweden. The rural population are bad, but Stockholm is worse. But we will not overwhelm our readers *Figures do not bring home to our imagination the moral condition of a population so depraved as that of Stockholm. **** Suppose a traveller standing in the streets of Edinburgh (as he might in Stockholm) and able to say from undeniable public returns, " One out of every three persons passing me is, on an average, the offspring of illicit intercourse and one out of every forty nine has been convicted within these twelve months of some criminal offence!"**** There are two minor causes, both however showing a degraded moral feeling, which were stated to me as contributing much to this low state of female morals. One is, that no woman in the middle or higher ranks, or who can afford to do otherwise, ever nurses her own child. A girl who has got a she is pretty sure of getting a place for two years, which child is therefore not in a worse, but a better situation, as is the ordinary time of nursing. The illegitimacy of the child is in this community rather in recommendation of the mother, as the family is not troubled with the father or friends; as to the girl's own child, there is a foundling hospital-the second minor cause.-Laing's Tour in Sweden. |