swift to be swum, they were passed on rafts; The Young Scholar's Manual, or Compan-capacities of children; and its principal somewhat after this fashion. ion to the Spelling Book. By Titus claim is to revision and improvement. Strong, A. M. Fourth Edition. Greenfield, Mass. 1822. 16mo. pp. 90. The Common Reader. By T. Strong, A. M. Greenfield, Mass. 1824. 12mo. pp.

To starve on one side of the river, to be drowned in it, or die upon the other side, appeared alike to me; and I accordingly embarked our little baggage upon the raft, composed of ten logs of trees about fifteen feet long, crossed by five others, and crossed again by two more, to form a seat for the person

228.

taking charge of the baggage, which was lashed to
the raft. The spars were lashed together by leath-
er thongs, and two or three leather bags were cut
up to increase their length. Each spar was also con-
nected to the one on each side of it by three grum-dren. These are to sow the seeds which
mets formed out of the green branches of the trees
on the banks of the river; and the raft appeared to
be strong enough to resist a severe concussion. We
also provided ourselves with drift spars formed into
oars, to serve to steer, and assist in gaining the
shore should an accident happen. My papers and
journals were fastened round my body, and I took
my station in the bow, in order that I might avoid
danger, and keep in the centre of the river.

It was with difficulty we moved our vessel into the main channel, from the number of eddies; but having once reached it, we descended in a most astonishing manner, sometimes actually making the head giddy as we passed the branches of trees, rocks, or islands. No accident happening, and the river widening, I began to congratulate my companions on the probability of breakfasting the next day in Okotsk, but as yet I had not got upon the proper side of the stream, the islands and shoals perpetually turning us off. The Cossack and Ya

Of "The Common Reader" we shall presently say some things in praise; but we must request Mr Strong to have patience, till we have done justice to his "Directions relative to the Management of a WE should fail of performing a most im- School," and his "Rules for Reading." In portant duty as reviewers, if we neglected these, if in any thing, we should expect him those works which are designed for chil-to avoid errors, in both writing and sentiment. We endeavoured, in reading them, will take the deepest root, and which, not to be hypercritical, but must say that when they spring up, will bear most fruit. we observed vastly more faults than should This duty is rendered the more imperious, exist. Some of the errors are typographfrom the facility with which recommenda- ical; others relate to punctuation; but many tions are obtained for school-books possessof them are of a higher order. ing very inferior merits. We know several distinguished literary gentlemen, who will not recommend a work without examining it critically; but every day presents some work, characterized by great faults, sanctioned by great names. Their remark, that they give the works "a cursory perusal," furnishes no excuse. No man should recommend a book, merely from "looking over its pages;" and those who do, debase equally their learning and their virtue.

Mr Strong says in his preface, that "future editions will invariably answer to the present, both in matter and form;"—a bad promise,-better broken than kept.

He proposes that the school should be divided into classes, "the instructor being governed in the distribution by a similarity of proficiency in the art of reading on the part of the scholars." It is hard copying such clumsy sentences; but the next is not better. "The classes may consist of from twelve to twenty children, and of those who are able to read at all without spelling, ought not to exceed three in number." It is plain to common sense, that no such rules for classing scholars can be of any use. The author advises that those who

The first of the books before us consists of twenty-six short lessons, containing questions and answers on such subjects, with a few exceptions, as children may begin to learn as soon as they can read. These occupy a little more than half of the book, and the remainder is principally a diction- are learning the alphabet should read singary of common words. The first lesson re-ly; but these profit at least as much by lates to letters, syllables, and words; the being classed, as scholars more advanced. second to points; the third to marks; the So many may compose a class, as can confourth to capitals. In the third lesson the veniently read from one book. inark for accent should have been given; The Directions seem to us equally frivoand also the figures, as used by Walk-lous and useless, except that which recommends opening and closing the school with At the close of the book a short prayer.

kut continued in a state of alarm, not entirely with-
out cause, for upon rounding a point of land, we ob-
served a large tree jutting into the river, with a tre-
mendous and rapid surf running over it, the branches
of the tree preventing the raft from passing over
the body of it, which was so deep in the water as
to preclude the hope of escaping with life, at least
impossible to avoid being wrecked. The Cossack
and Yakut crossed themselves, while I was quietly
awaiting the result in the bow. We struck, and
such was the force of the rebound that I was in
hopes we should have been thrown outside the
shaft in the subsequent approach. I was, however,
disappointed, for the fore part of the raft was actu-
ally sucked under the tree, and the after part rose
so high out of the water that it completely turneder, to denote the sounds of the vowels.
over, bringing the baggage under water; the whole These should have been applied to the
then, with the Yakut and Cossack, proceeded down words defined in the latter part of the book.
the stream, and fortunately brought up upon an The eighth lesson relates to the sciences;
island about one hundred yards below. In the the ninth to grammar. These should have
mean while my situation was dangerous; being in been omitted, for they will give no informa-
the bow, I could not hold on the raft as my com-
panions had been able to do, for fear of being jam- tion to children at the proper age for using
med in between the raft and the tree. I therefore this book. Several of the lessons which
quitted my hold, and with infinite difficulty, clung follow, relate to arithmetic, and contain the
to the outer branches on the rapid side of the tree; most important tables. These are well, for
they can be understood. The eighteenth,
on geometry, will not be sufficiently intel-
'ligible. For example:-

my body was sucked under, and no part of me was out of water but my head and arms. I could not

long remain in such a state; and making, therefore, one vigorous effort, on the success of which it was clear my life depended, I gained the top of the tree. I was throwing off my upper park, when the branch gave way, and I dropped down, half drowning, to the island. It was a fortunate circumstance that the raft upset, as otherwise it could not have brought up at the island; which it did in consequence of the baggage lashed to the raft being so deep in the water.

We should, did our limits permit, make some remarks on the state of slavery still existing in Russia, which appears to us as severe in some instances as that of the Indians and Negroes in the mines of South America, previous to the revolution in that country. We think the book will furnish a few hours' amusement to many besides Lord Melville, and we think too that it will instruct at the same time that it amuses. We hope that Capt. Cochrane may live to make more journeys, and tell them as agreeably as he has told of this.

Mr Strong has given forms of prayer for these occasions. He appears to be an "orthodox" man, and some persons will object to several of his expressions. Cannot a form of prayer be found, which will be perfectly unobjectionable as to doctrine; which will express exactly all that is always most proper to be said while praying; which will relieve the young and modest teacher from all embarrassment of every kind; and the length of which which will be precisely adapted to the occasion? Will it not be Q. Of what does Geometry treat? A. Of the description, properties and relations of better, in the next edition, to substitute the magnitudes in general.

Q. What is an angle?

A. An angle is the inclination of two lines which
meet but not in the same direction.
The twenty-fifth lesson is liable to the
same objection.

Q. What are clouds?

A. They are vapours or fogs which float in the air from a quarter of a mile to three miles high. When they dissolve or fall to the ground, they

cause rain, and in cold weather hail or snow.

Q. What causes an eclipse of the sun?
A. The moon casting its shadow in the same
way upon the earth.

These examples will also show that Mr
Strong is not always careful as to sense and
punctuation.

The plan of this Manual is very good, but it is executed with too little regard to the

Lord's prayer for those we have mentioned ? We are surprised that the author-as he undertakes to direct the religious exercises of the school-omitted to recommend the reading of the Scriptures. We are very far from wishing to encourage the use of them as a substitute for common reading lessons; but as a religious exercise, they would certainly be most proper-at least before the morning prayer.

The "Rules for Reading" are said to be selected from Murray's Introduction to the English Reader; but Mr Strong must be answerable for their correctness. He has faults enough, without copying those of others. The following paragraph appears to be original.

The two first, and indeed principal qualifications

MISCE

CUI I What's th

NOTHING displays

necessary to form a good reader, are voice and the style of the lessons, both in prose and judgment. A defect in the former may indeed be verse, is almost invariably chaste, and is partially remedied by unwearied application and industry, but a defect in the latter will inevitably frequently elegant; and we have noticed prove fatal to improvement. no passages which are unquestionably obWhat difference is there between thejectionable as to morals. We give Mr first, and the principal qualifications for Strong this praise, heartily; and will leave him with an assurance, that we think his reading? A defect in voice, it seems, may book may be made highly useful, by re-bleness of the human be remedied by unwearied application and industry. What is the difference between formations which it will be easy to make. the illiberal prejudi unwearied application and industry. Both, generally entertain Science, it appears, are necessary to remedy a defect pursuits. in voice; but a defect in judgment will inthe dimness of the evitably prove fatal. But cannot a defect wider scope, serves o in judgment be remedied by unwearied rather like the tele application and industry? We suppose the vision in the particula author thinks so, for he proceeds: "To culrected, to the entire tivate this, therefore, should be the great eign object. "No auth and leading object with every instructor." "can hope to be est not interested in the

The first Rule is, to be particularly careful to pronounce all the vowels distinctly. We think much more is gained by a constant effort to pronounce the consonants

distinctly.

Rule 3. As the art of reading depends much on the proper management of the breath, it should be used with economy. The voice ought to be relieved

at every stop; slightly at a comma, more leisurely at a semicolon or colon, and completely at a period. Does this mean that we should take breath at every stop? A worse rule cannot be given. Try it by reading.

Love, hope, and joy, fair pleasure's smiling train;

Hate, fear, and grief, the family of pain.'

A familiar Introduction to Crystallography,
including an Explanation of the Common
and Reflective Goniometer, with an Ap-
pendix, containing the Mathematical Rela-
tions of Crystals, Rules for Drawing their
Figures, and an Alphabetical Arrangement
of Minerals, their Synonyms, and Pri-
mary Forms.
Illustrated by four hun-
dred Engravings. By Henry James

Brooke, F. R. S., &c.*

another passage of

where he characteri whose profession it on good sense, and agrémens, as women

under jewels and find

a wit and a philosop understood little of

The scholar contem as one of "Nature's

with himself. The THIS work is peculiarly adapted to the use reign contempt for t of students in Mineralogy, and has receiv-only stored with fact turn looked upon as ed the unqualified approbation of the most distinguished mineralogists in Europe. The son endowed with a first part is devoted to the definitions of the sagacious writer fur tion of the truth of terms employed in the description of crystals, which are given in a peculiarly distinct and intelligible manner, and are amply illustrated by neatly executed diagrams. The principle upon which the reflective goniometer of Dr Wollaston is constructed, and the application of this elegant instrument, are so fully and clearly explained, that all idea of its use being attended with difficulty is wholly removed. In rendering the first part of his work quite elementary, keeping some of the Mr Brooke has enabled the young mineral-life in motion; and t ogist, even if unacquainted with the rudiequal charity regard ments of geometry, to make very considerbecile pedant, that able progress in the science of Crystallog-world, and is liable raphy. Those who are not in the habit of picked at every turi mathematical investigations, and who can- looks down upon the not avail themselves of the theory of decrements in tracing the relation between the secondary and primary forms of crystals, We have not time to notice the other er-will derive great assistance from the "Tarors in this part of the work. On page Forms," in the eleventh section. These Ibles of the Modifications of the Primary 38, we observe the first verse of the fortyfirst Psalm quoted, with one error, and one will enable them to compare all the classes of simple secondary forms with each other, interpolation. The typographical errors, and with their respective primary forms, especially in punctuation, are very numerous throughout the book. The authors of and will present a general view of all the known classes of the primary.

Mr Strong tells us that the points of interrogation and exclamation "should be attended with a little elevation of the voice." What he means by their being attended with a little elevation of voice, is not obvious. If he means to repeat the old rule, that questions and exclamations should be closed with the rising inflection, let him adopt this inflection the next time he interrogates his neighbour, “How do you do?" We wish that those who give rules for reading, would either think and observe for themselves, or consult Walker's Rhetorical Grammar.

the various articles should have been mentioned. We should render to every man his due. This injustice is becoming common,

but we see no excuse for it.

The errors which we have noticed, are sufficient to authorize us in saying, that they should not have been sanctioned by recommendations from the Presidents of Bowdoin and Middlebury Colleges, the Chancellor of Brown University, Dr Lyman of Hatfield, and Rodolphus Dickinson, Esq.

Mr Strong's selection of reading lessons, is, on the whole, very good. Perhaps he has not fully accomplished his object of

The fourth section contains a full explanof the secondary forms of crystals, and of ation of the symbols used in the description the method of applying them.

gist, the botanist, of the earth, to the grubs, busily occupi tal mind which pres

low theorist, spinni again despise the n

brain, to entangle

self. The treasures

mere rubbish in the

the creations of the

in the matter-of-fac
former. In short,
rocates a most cordi
posite; and the ma
In the Appendix, Mr Brooke has given them all, by despi
no profession whate
an outline of the method of applying the Even different brai
theory of decrements, to determine the re-suit inspire no great
lations between the secondary and primary and "the player,"
forms, and of calculating the laws of decre-
ment. In these calculations he has sub-face of the great Co
Wing in his chariot,
stituted spherical for plane trigonometry.
dies he owes his for
savant et pédant sor

the above work to have published an edition in this
*It was the intention of the learned author of

Of all these class

of Macedon, who from a perfidious oppressor, the character imputed to him by Demosthenes, has been metamorphosed by Mitford into a benevolent and enlightened sovereign. How stand the ancient foundations of Roman history? Time has sapped them cruelly, and the first four centuries of her royal and republican grandeur, which have furnished the basis of so many fine schemes of government, of the profound treatises of Macchiavelli and of Montesquieu in particular, are now discovered to be mere "old wives' tales."

-"Varias mutantia formas Somnia vana jacent."

mechanic, the blacksmith, carpenter, tailor, touching upon all the sweets of miscella- | have been the theme of so much jealous &c. carry with them immediate conviction neous literature, as they were once accus- literary altercation from Plutarch to the of the object and utility of their labours; tomed to do, settle down upon some such present day? What of Dionysius, whose but in what way do the poet, the painter, dry and exceedingly wholesome topic as blackened reputation has been purified by the novelist, &c. further the great business" Tread-mill," "Arbitrary Government," the labours of successive apologists, until of life? How do they supply its wants or "Combination Laws," "Court of Chancery," the "tyrant of Syracuse" shines forth a even its comforts? What serviceable dis-"Price of Tea," "Holy Alliance," "Mine- pure and devoted patriot. What of Philip coveries have they ever made? What ralogical Systems," " Office of Judge Advooperative and before unknown truths have cate," "Dry Rot," &c. &c.; all of them, they revealed? In short, of what use are save the last, crowded into one of the very they?" The Iliad and the Odyssey," said last numbers of the Edinburgh Review. a worthy mathematician, "may be very In our own country, the North American good poems, but, after all, what do they has still an "ample verge" assigned to prove?" The most enlightened sages, in purely literary discussion. But the spirit their esprit de corps, have not concealed of the nation runs quite in another directheir contempt for pursuits so dissimilar tion; and the doctrine of utility is enforced from their own. Cicero, as Seneca records in its broadest extent. In our growing of him (Epist. 49), said, that "if his age state of society, where new relations are were to be doubled, he should find no time constantly suggesting new wants to be to throw away upon lyrical poetry." The gratified, it is perhaps well that it should poetry of Pindar! The Roman orator be so; and yet one might join with the is known, however, to have been guilty author of a very beautiful essay on the of bad verses himself, and it was perhaps "Value of Classical Learning," in a late his ill fortune that led him to the splenetic number of the North American, in wishing The glorious self-devotion of Scævola, reflection. "We cannot attain to it," says that "a disinterested passion for the ele-Cocles, the Horatii, of Lucretia, the inspiration of Numa, the patriotism of Brutus, Montaigne, "let us avenge ourselves by gant and ornamental arts, might be super. abusing it." Nous ne pouvons pas y attein- added to those sober and practical views of it may be, and many other beautiful images, dre, vengeons nous par en médire. Pascal, utility," by which the nation is distin- to which our fancies have fondly clung from earliest childhood, must all be abanin his terrible "Pensées," declares that guished. "honest people make no distinction be- But should the man of fiction be inclined doned as dreams (vg, it is true) before the eye of modern criticism, which, tween the trade of a poet and that of an to encounter the man of fact on his own like the telescope-if we may call upon embroiderer." Pascal was a polemic and ground of the cui bono, the latter may not small account Locke has made of poetry, in vantage as might at first be suspected. What shall we believe of Carthage, that a mathematician. Every one knows what find himself to have so decidedly the ad- this instrument to do us service once moresees clearest into the remotest objects. his valuable treatise on Education. "Poetry Take the historian for example. Whatand gaming, which usually go together, are ever be his accomplishments as a fine writ- strange paradox of a faithless, savage peoalike in this too, that they seldom bring er, his value must chiefly rest upon his ve-ple, and one of the most liberal and perany advantage but to those who have noth- racity. Now what are our chances of fect governments of antiquity? ing else to live on." "I know not what meeting with a fair and faithful narrative? historians survived, think you she would reason a father can have to wish his son a Glance your eyes over antiquity and point What shall we say of the Romans of a later be registered in infamy as she now is? poet," &c. Every body knows also the to the page whence we are to date the comreply of Lord Burleigh to Queen Eliza- mencement of a credible and consistent date, of Sylla, the scourge or the saviour of beth, upon her ordering a hundred pounds chronicle of events. To pass by the enor- his country? Of Pompey, the disinterestto be given to the author of the Fairy mous fictions of the Asiatic and Egyptian ed patriot or the politic conspirator against Queen, whom the treasurer was pleased to dynastics, and the debatable ground of the liberties of Rome? What of Tiberius, denominate a ballad-maker. Sir Isaac early Grecian story, the heroic ages, and Nero, Domitian, &c. &c. the whole show of Newton quotes Barrow, without dissenting the expedition to Troy, let us come down to imperial monsters, whose black reputations from him, as having defined poetry "a kind the Father of History. How much do we Tacitus, like a righteous executioner, has of ingenious nonsense." But instances need here find to rely upon? "All that Herodotus hung up in chains, to the terror of posterinot be multiplied of the bigotted partiality has himself seen," say his advocates, "is to ty? Who can gravely give credit to all of the most liberal minds for their own pe- be believed." And is this all! Out of this culiar walks, to the utter disparagement of copious chronicle, is that only to be receivthose of others, especially when these lasted, to which the historian can personally seem to shrink from a trial of their own testify! His books, "poetæ mendacia dulworth, at the merciless ordeal of the cui cia," have indeed other claims than their bono. "Of what use is it?" said a famous eloquence to be patronised by the names of French critic, on hearing a poem highly the Muses. Even in the account of coneulogized by some of his friends, "will it temporary transactions the reader finds his lower the price of grain?" organ of credulity (if such there be in Dr Gall's scheme) very liberally taxed, and one may meet with some strange incongruities in the Persian expedition and character that would lead him to the belief, that, had a Persian historian told the tale, the characters of Xerxes and his nation might have fared somewhat differently.

This disposition to estimate every thing upon the scales of the cui bono has been gaining ground in the world during the last century. Not that elegant arts are abandoned, but attention is much more strongly and widely drawn to practical pur suits (so called), to physical science, to polities, economy, statistics, &c., in short to those studies which seem to have a more direct and effectual influence upon the condition of society. Take the leading foreign journals for instance in Great Britain, a good test of public opinion in this matter, and you will find that the critics now-a-days, instead of

How are we to reconcile the contradictions of character imputed to some of the leading personages in Greece, in a riper period of her glory, when she became the seat of philosophy and letters? What shall we believe of Socrates, of Aristophanes, the philosopher and the poet, whose principles

Had her

the recorded atrocities of the exhausted

octogenarian voluptuary in his isle of Caprea, of the incestuous incendiary Nero, or of Caligula conferring the consulship upon

his horse.

-“Credat Judæus Apella;

Non ego."

But to quote no other examples from antiquity of the perversion of historical truth, what shall we say of the accredited reports of George, bishop of Cappadocia, who, after a life of merciless extortion and gross impiety, has been canonized as a Christian martyr, as "the patron saint of England, of chivalry, and of the garter."

In modern times, however, when the press diffuses knowledge rapidly and widely, when truth may be freely and innoxiously recorded and reported, when the science of politics and government is more gener ally as well as more thoroughly understood, we may expect to meet with veracious testimony. "But how,” says that subtle poli

tician, the Cardinal De Retz, "can I rely on the reports of writers who tell me of the motives and measures of the cabinet, when I, who am one of the actors, scarcely know what is passing there myself?"-Without running over the inconsistencies and numberless obliquities in modern history, obliquities which seem to have been multiplied by the extended interest, and the share now taken by men in the conduct of public affairs, and which have added the prejudices of party zeal to the other sources of historical infidelity, let us simply cast our eyes upon the chronicle of our mother country, as compiled by her temperate and ablest historian. Without reverting to the hasty compilation of the early floating traditions of the Saxon dynasties, look at the latest period to which Hume has continued his work, and after having adopted the apparently dispassionate views of the philosophic historian, turn to Brodie's account of the same period, and behold a new current of facts as well as of inferences let in upon you, that sweep away all your previous conclusions in an entirely opposite direction. Even the gloomy characters of Richard III, and of Cromwell, find their advocates in this benevolent age, and two eminent English writers have endeavoured to wash them as white as those of most sovereigns.

path that leads to truth in despite of the many | latter from personal observation and per
hundreds that lead to error.
sonal feeling. A just history represents
events as they are, and men as they appear.
A skilful fiction, on the other hand, repre
sents men as they are and events as they
appear probable. Which then should pro-
duce the deepest effect upon the mind,
upon the character of the reader?

But supposing both the man of fact and of fiction to be virtuous and able writers in their peculiar departments, it may still be doubted whether the former makes a wider and more penetrating impression upon the public mind, than the latter. What history, for instance, can be pretended to have had In the defence which we have set up for the same intellectual, moral, and political works of fancy, we may seem to have wan influence upon the character of a people, as dered somewhat from the original ground the poems of Homer. A very discerning of discussion, which was not a vindication critic pronounces them "the bond which of any particular profession, but an exposi held the Greek nation together." Herodo- tion of the frequency of an undue estima tus informs us that" the whole theogony of tion of the practical importance of our own the Greeks may be referred to the composi- pursuits, to the exclusion of dissimilar ones. tions of Homer and Hesiod." The Greek And as an illustration of this we have entragic drama, fashioned upon a similar ele- deavoured to show what argument could be vated standard, had an obvious effect of sus- offered in favour of pure fiction, as being taining that exalted tone of public feeling, a class of composition least defensible of for which that people were so remarkable; the score of utility. The man of fact, from and their comedies, from a very opposite the highest deductions of science, to the cause, held a more positive controul over humblest effort of mechanical ingenuity, carpopular manners. The familiar anecdote ries with him immediate conviction of the of Tyrtæus, the sentence pronounced upon usefulness of his labours. "No man," Voltaire Homer by Plato, the ordonnance of the has somewhere remarked, " is so much reve Spartans prescribing the cultivation of a renced by the world as the professor of an certain class of poetry, all show the im- obscure and difficult science, whose results mense weight attributed to this species of are applicable to the common purposes of composition among the enlightened Greeks. life." An enlightened mind, however, But to descend to our own times, it may be should penetrate deeper. The positive inBut why should we go to Europe for ex- difficult to point to any one, or two, or any fluence of speculative pursuits on man, alamples in point, when they are so rife in dozen regular histories that have produced though less rapid in its operation than that our own country, nay, at our own doors. a stronger pulsation of public feeling than of practical pursuits, is not less certain. Notwithstanding the many circumstantial the Waverley Romances. Exhibiting in the The physical enginery of the latter (if we narrations of the first and most important broad light, which they do, all distinguishing may so express ourselves) furnishes the battle of our revolution, the name of the features of national character, all the local necessaries, the comforts, the luxuries of veteran who virtually commanded in it, ‘for and hereditary attachments, the prejudices life. The moral enginery of the former he absolutely controlled the point of dan- transmitted from their ancestors, and made works only upon the heart and the under ger, and with his own troops sustained the dear by such a descent, all the beautiful standing. Inventions in mechanics, diswhole weight of the attack,' the name of fancies, the romantic superstitions, that coveries in philosophy, researches in histoPrescott has been hardly noticed, except have arisen out of the speculative temperry, supply the wants of human life, and in the incidental and scattering records of of the people and the wild complexion of store the mind with such knowledge as the few last years;-Botta, in his celebrat- their scenery, all the momentous objects for may direct it in the conduct of human af ed history of our war, has copied the same which they have contended, and the princi- fairs. The productions of elegant art, the injustice, and our national painter, deceiv-ples which have animated them in the con- speculative creations of genius, of whatever ed by history, has assigned the commander kind, present beautiful and lofty subjects of in the redoubt the station and the appearcontemplation to the mind, that give a rel ance of a common private. "Oh, quote me ish to life, or rather that raise us above life. not history," said Lord Orford to his son "Because the acts or events of true histoHorace, "for that I know to be false." ry," says Lord Bacon with that nice discrimination which distinguishes him equally on subjects of taste as in philosophy," have not that magnitude which satisfieth the mind of man, poesy feigneth acts and events greater and more heroical; because true history propoundeth the successes and issues of actions not so agreeable to the merits of virtue and vice, therefore poesy feigns them more just in retribution, and more according to revealed Providence: so as it appeareth, poesy serveth to magnanimity, to morality, and to delectation. And therefore it was ever thought to have some participation of divineness, because it doth raise and erect the mind, by submitting the shows of things to the desires of the mind; whereas reason doth buckle and bow the mind unto the nature of things." Even inferior productions of imagination; by presenting a means of innocent recrea tion, wean the mind of the indolent and the vicious from grosser pleasures, and shed a

test, in short, all those habits of thought, of feeling, of adventure, which have set them apart from all others and made them a nation,-had histories similar to these by the author of Waverley appeared at an earlier But, says the man of fact, after all this period, before the Scottish people had been stringing together of insulated instances of cemented by so many other associations, misapprehension or mendacity, there will they might have formed a bond of union as still remain behind a large mass of valua- coercive and as lasting as the fictions of ble and incontestible truths. And how far Homer. And should a novelist of equal superior, of how much greater moment to powers arise in our own country, youthful mankind, is the historian, who from uncol- and plastic from its youth, as its national oured facts draws sane and philosophic character now is, and altogether unexerdeductions, to the writer of fiction, who cised by such an impulse, it might not be spins out of his invention an ideal state of easy to predict what would be his influence things that in conduct either leads to noth-in binding together the scattered energies, ing or leads to error? the conflicting sentiments of the people, It is true, bad works of every description and animating them with a central princiare to be deprecated; but whether an ill-ple of feeling and action. written novel or poem is as prejudicial to society as an ill-written history, may admit of a doubt. What we know to be false, can never have the same unwholesome influence upon our conduct, as what we receive as true, but which, in reality, is false. Then how difficult for the historian, with all his honest intentions, to detect the one

We have but one word more to say of those peculiarities in which history must yield to fiction. The former depicts men as they play their part in public life, that is, en masque; the latter, as they are disclosed in the unsuspicious intercourse of private and domestic life. The former copies from hearsay or written report, the

grace over the rudeness of society.
then shall doubt their utility? Or what
virtuous intellectual exercise is there,
which is to be despised as unprofitable?
Philosophy," says an eminent writer,
"teaches us to regard all human pursuits
as equally vain." Philosophy, say we,
should rather teach us to regard them as
almost equally profitable.

NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW.

And far in heaven, the while,
The sun, that sends that gale to wander here,
Pours out on the fair earth his quiet smile,—
The sweetest of the year.

Where now the solemn shade,
Verdure and gloom where many branches meet;
So grateful, when the noon of summer made
The vallies sick with heat?

Let in through all the trees
Come the strange rays; the forest depths are bright;
Their sunny-coloured foliage, in the breeze,
Twinkles, like beams of light.

The rivulet, late unseen,
Where bickering through the shrubs its waters run,
Shines with the image of its golden screen,
And glimmerings of the sun.

But, 'neath yon crimson tree,

Who have leisure and means to do what they
will, and good taste enough to love what is
beautiful. The contrast, rather the com-
parison, instituted between the two great
epic poets of Italy, pleased us perhaps more
The
than any other part of this article.
merits of each are allowed him; and the
faults of each are fairly stated; and this the
author has done as only he could have
done, who had studied them for himself, and
learned to appreciate and enjoy their ex-
cellence. There are translations of parts
of Pulci's Morgante, of Ariosto's Satires,
and of the Ricciardetto of Fortiguerra,
which, we suppose, should be accredited to
the writer of the article. They are, espe-
cially the last, so very good, that we can-
not help hinting to the writer, that he may Lover to listening maid might breathe his flame,
perhaps employ a part of his leisure pleas- Nor mark, within its roseate canopy,
antly and profitably in preparing for the
public translations of larger portions of
Oh, Autumn! why so soon
Italian literature. The dramatic poetry of
Italy did not fall within the scope of this Depart the hues that make thy forests glad;
Thy gentle wind and thy fair sunny noon,
writer's plan; and he alludes to Alfieri's
And leave thee wild and sad!
writings slightly and seldom.
gret, for if there be one European author
of modern days, who must be read with ad-
miration by every American, acquainted
with his language, it is Alfieri. His high
respect for the institutions of our native
land is well known; and no one can read
his tragedies-especially the best of them—
without acknowledging how truly and deep-
ly they sympathize with what should be the
habitual and ruling feelings of a citizen of
this country. There are mistakes of the
press in the French and Italian quota-
tions, which disfigure the pages quite too
much.

THE first article in the XLV. number is a review of General Sumner's letter to President Adams, respecting the Militia System, with his answer; and of Captain Partridge's observations upon the same subject. The writer recommends that the national government should arm the militia at the expense of the nation; that Scott's system of discipline, now used by the United States army, should be adapted to the militia; and that some kind of classification should be adopted, by which the severer labour and greater expense of time should fall upon the younger class. He states with force and accuracy the reasons which make those plans of occasional encampment of bodies of militia, which have often been and probably often will be urged upon the general and state governments, impolitic and inexpedient. We understand that the writer of this article is an officer in the regular army of the United States; and it is gratifying to see a professional soldier speaking with so much candour and good sense of an instrument of warfare which his brethren are rather too apt to despise. He has however fallen into one error, unless we be greatly mistaken.

He sup

POETRY.

This we re

Her blush of maiden shame.

Ah, 'twere a lot too blest

Forever in thy coloured shades to stray;

Amidst the kisses of the soft southwest

To rove and dream for aye;

And leave the vain low strife

That makes men mad-the tug for wealth and
The passions and the cares that wither life,

power,

And waste its little hour.

NAHANT.

Nahant, majestic Queen of promontories;
Who ridest in the raging of the deep
Like a sea-monster; by what potent hand
Were thy unyielding crags deep-morticed
In sockets caverned to the inmost earth.
What strife of chaos or what shock of worlds,
Sea-born, pressed upward thy amphibious bulk,
Through the burst marble of the ocean's floor.
Ages and ages ere man looked on thee,
Have thy rude battlements rung to the wreck

I

Of continents of ice. Impregnable,

B.

The fourth article, upon Agriculture, is poses the religious sects, now exempted by sensible and very well written. But there law from militia duty, would not complain should be in this work, or elsewhere, a were they taxed with the fine for the non-fuller exposition of the errors of the econperformance of this duty. We think, that omists, which, as the writer of this article no one at all acquainted with the princi- states, Adam Smith did certainly adopt. ples and habits of these sects can doubt We have not room to speak more partic-Thou seem'st to stand a footstool for the weight that they would complain, and that the fine ularly of other articles. Of that gigantic angel whom the world If some of the Cannot uphold alone. From thine oft shocked verge could only be collected by legal distress. lighter publications of the day had been look upon the violent strife of waters, A very large sum is annually levied by dis- noticed, the number would certainly be As thundering they dash on thee, and split tress upon the Quakers, in England, for more amusing,-though perhaps less in- And fly to atoms at thy touch, silvering Thy Atlantean shoulders with their spoil. nonpayment of tythes and nonperformance structive. I love to look at thee by pale moonlight, of military duty. When the dun Ocean, wearied out with rage, Submissive, lays his head upon thy lap, And slumbers, while his rustling silver curls Fringe with their shining ringlets thy dark feet. But when the awakened waters shudder In their dismaying sense of coming storms, Then is thy greatest glory. Then amidst The scorching lightning and the thunders' din, The howl of frenzied elements, the sigh Of apprehensive and alarmed nature, Thou standest like to one that trusts in God! How noble is the Ocean in his wrath? Swoln with the lashes of tempestuous winds, Headlong the green surge rushes upon thee; And upward pouring with a thorough search Fills every hollow-till the massy bulk Of the black wave, rising and threatening stands, And then with one o'erwhelming, bursting stroke, Grinds the drenched granite in its giant arms! Thy strong rocks tremble, and the glittering spray Darts upward like the gleams of northern morn, And spreads around a cloud of silver dust; Then suddenly the exhausted waters fall Relaxing from their gallant hold to drop Into the bosom of their baffled host,

The third article is upon the Life and Genius of Goethe. It is well written and interesting; and discovers an extent and intimacy of acquaintance with the literature of Germany which is highly creditable to the writer. We have no doubt that he speaks not only scholarly but wisely; but are not sufficiently well versed in the mysteries of the German tongue, to vouch for the accuracy of his criticisms.

AUTUMN WOODS.

Ere, in the northern gale,
The summer tresses of the trees are gone,
The woods of Autumn, all around our vale,
Have put their glory on.

That guard the enchanted ground.

I roam the woods that crown

The mountains that infold The fifth article is a learned and beauti- In their wide sweep, the coloured landscape round, fully written essay upon Italian Narrative Seem groups of giant kings in purple and gold, Poetry. It is very long, occupying indeed fifty-three pages; but we believe no readers will think it too long;-they certainly will not, who hold that the intellect of this country is nowise deficient in strength, and rejoice at every new proof, that it will, ere long, receive due culture. We doubt not that the ornament of elegant literature will be sought and won by those amongst us who

The upland, where the mingled splendours glow,
Where the gay company of trees look down
On the green fields below.