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that the pupil must commit almost the whole medalling, be-ribboning, and be-starring the citizen of Boston, "Where, sir, is the poof the book to memory, or he can profit Duke of Wellington and all his quality, or lice? Every thing here is regular and or little by it. The study of geography gen- going out of the body with loyal transport,derly; but how is it effected, and where are erally interests the young, if the facts to as he escorted his most condescending maj- the officers?" We are a wary and calculat be learned and remembered are not stated esty, George the Fourth, to the various ing people, no way given to holidays, jubiin too naked and abstract a manner; and cities of his empire, he neglected no opporlees, or uproar of any kind. Our young an elementary work in this science may tunity of sneering at our forgetfulness of and men sometimes play at ball, it is true, on avoid this fault without exceeding its prop-ingratitude to those illustrious men, who had fast days, and shoot turkies on Thanksgiver compass. We are no advocates for those in times of peril, directed the counsels, or ings, let off a few squibs on the occasion of works which are intended to cheat children fought the battles of this republic. But be-a governor's election, and burn a tar-barrel into learning; but the knowledge present- ing tired at last of vapouring in his holiday- or two in honour of the Fourth of July; but, ed to them may, and should be so presented suit, and settled quietly down to business, in general, these things are done in a disas to induce and encourage them to seek, on a sudden he is aroused by the echo of a creet and orderly manner; and it is the by study, for further knowledge. As this nation's shout of welcome to one of its ear-opinion of some of the elders among us, that is intended to be a purely elementary book, liest and dearest friends. Mr Bull puts his the spirit with which they are conducted, as Mr Smiley has done wisely in omitting those pen behind his ear, looks forth from his well as the enjoyment which they afford, is astronomical notices which are usually pre- counting-room, beholds processions, triumph-gradually diminishing. It is fair, therefore, fixed to Geographies; children may begin al arches, and illuminations, and hears ora- to presume, that the feeling is deep and to learn geography at an age, at which it tions and addresses. He sees a whole peo- strong, which has aroused such a people, is impossible for them to have acquired that ple crowding to welcome and honour a man, and excited them to unite, as it were, with knowledge, without which they cannot to whom no welcome can be too hearty, and one heart and one voice, in the most, we comprehend the relation between this sci- hardly any honour too great; and what says had nearly said extravagant, demonstrations ence and astronomy and geometry. Ques- he to all this? Why, truly, he says it is demo- of gratitude and joy. We rejoice that we tions are attached to the description of each cratic twaddling. Really, cousin Bull, you live in these days; we rejoice for the honcountry and state, and they are divided in- are hard to suit, and it is seriously to be our of our nation; we rejoice for the honour to two classes, viz. those which may be an- feared, that we shall scarcely ever be hon-of human nature. Let those who can neither swered from the book, and those which com- oured with your approbation, since we have understand nor appreciate the benefits of pel the learner to search the maps; this so few legitimate objects of glorification. our revolution, or the services of La Fayette, arrangement is not perfectly new, but it is We have no heroes of Waterloo, no dukes look askance at our enthusiasm, and insinua very good one. Throughout the book, the or duchesses, and, save the mark, no George ate that we are thankful for small mercies. mountains, rivers, and cities are divided the Fourth to reign over us; and as for our We will endeavour to set a just value upon into six classes, according to the height of Presidents, no reasonable person can expect the former, and by every possible method to the first, the length of the second, and the ten millions of people to go mad once in four cherish and proclaim our gratitude for the population of the third; and this classifica- years. In the mean time, whatever our latter. We have other reasons for being tion is carried into the maps by figures, crusty relation may think or say, and prob- gratified by this general display of national from 1 to 6, attached to each mountain, ably in this matter, as in some others, his enthusiasm. It has added strength to the stream, and city. We believe this plan to bark is worse than his bite, we have every ties that bind our union together. A party be original with Mr Smiley, and it does him reason to be gratified by the reception which of individuals, whom, perhaps, accident has credit. There is one fault in some parts of General La Fayette has met with in this associated on some occasion of happiness, this book, which a little care might have country. We had heard of the selfishness who have visited together some delightprevented, and may still avoid, if it reaches and cold-heartedness of mankind, and read of ful spot, or passed together some delighta third edition. Some of the statements the ingratitude of republics, till we trembled ful hours, when the cares, the selfishness, cannot be understood without an advance for the event of the visit of this benefactor and uncharitableness of the world were ment in knowledge for which this book is to our land. Our alarm has as yet proved cast behind them and forgotten, and none not at all calculated. For example, on groundless. He has been received, as one but joyous or kind feelings permitted to page 20, it is said, "On the 20th of March whom the people delighted to honour. The appear, will always to a certain degree and 23d of September the days and nights shouts of welcome have resounded from connect these feelings with the presence are equal in all parts of the world, because Maine to Georgia, and from the shores of or memory of their companions. We reat those times the sun passes the equator." the Atlantic to the valley of the Mississippi. gard the friends of our youth with sentiA child who could perfectly understand The cynic may tell us, that the mob will al- ments, which no after ones can share; what is meant by the sun's passing the ways shout on any argument. But in these other friends may be more learned, more equator, and how this circumstance causes United States, we reply, and we have British sensible, more estimable, even more amiaan equal alternation of day and night, could authority for the assertion, mobs are rarely ble; but they want the charm which the certainly find many books upon geography seen. These are the peccant humours, that associations of youthful hope and joy alone better suited to him than this. There are infest the bodies politic of the old world. can bestow; we may admire, esteem, and not many faults of this kind, but there This republic threw them off with the mon- love the latter, but the presence of the forwould be none, if the author were sufficient-archical regime, which engendered them. mer lifts the load of years from our shoully impressed with the importance of mak- The passions of our citizens are continually ders-gives to the mind the feelings of aniing a school-book perfectly intelligible to exhaled through the newspapers, or the mation, which belonged to other days, and courts of law; their actions are sober and that renovation, which the elixir of Paradeliberate. A foreigner who should peruse celsus, had it been real, could never have the alarms and denunciations of the periodi- imparted. Something of the same kind hapcal press, which precede an election, might pens with the individuals of a nation. When conclude that we were on the verge of they rejoice together, they will love each anarchy and ruin. Let him attend the other; when they unite in paying honour to election itself, and he will be astonished to merit, they will be proud of each other. To find so little bustle or disorder; and as he a nation, spread over such an extent of tersees successive groups of voters quietly drop-ritory, whose component parts are so variping their suffrages into a box, and then go-ous, and whose sectional interests and feeling about their usual business, will wonder what magic has stilled the tumult, which he had expected to witness, and perhaps inquire, as an English traveller once did of a

those for whom it is intended.

Memoirs of General La Fayette. With an Account of his Visit to America, and of his Reception by the People of the United States; from his Arrival, August 15th, to the Celebration at Yorktown, October 19th, 1824. Boston. 1824. 12mo. pp. 264. WHEN Our loving and well-beloved cousin, on the other side of the water, was filling up patriotic subscriptions and building monuments, with all his might, to the praise and glory of the conquerors of Napoleon, be

ings so often conflicting, as our own, every moment which consigns these differences to temporary forgetfulness is a precious one; and La Fayette has added one more to the

long list of his benefactions to our country, by giving us an opportunity to feel and act like Americans. The sons of the Pilgrims, the descendants of the broad-brimmed generation of Penn, or the broad-hosed burghers of New Amsterdam, the sailor and the backwoodsman, the hunter of the prairie, and the chaser "of the gigantic game on the coasts of Brazil," have forgotten every thing on this glorious occasion, but that they belonged to the same great and happy nation, and that one of the last survivors of those who had made them such a nation, was before them. We have arisen as one man, and stood firm and united, and the friends and enemies of our confederacy may alike be taught by our conduct, that occasion alone is wanting to call forth the same spirit of union, whether it be needed to welcome a benefactor or trample on an assailant.

In order to appreciate justly the moral grandeur of the character of La Fayette, and the merits of his claim to the gratitude and admiration of the people of these United States, it is necessary to be acquainted with the history of his eventful life, from the moment when he engaged in our service, at the age of nineteen, to the present time; and in the volume which is the subject of this article, we find this faithfully and very agreeably related. We do not intend to give any particular analysis of it, as we expect that it will be in the hands of all our readers, quite as soon as this article. They will learn from the details of the life of La Fayette, to admire the singular consistency of his character. His speeches and writings, as well as his actions, in every period of it, evince the same enthusiastic and inflexible regard to civil liberty and the unalienable rights of mankind, and the same undeviating opposition to any government which had not this for its object. In the war waged by these Colonies, in support of these principles, he lavished his fortune, and risked his life, with a spirit belonging rather to the age of chivalry than any more modern period. In his own country he soon after appeared among the leaders of a revolution, which professed to have the establishment of the same principles for its object; but when his companions and countrymen began to carry the work of demolition beyond | the limits which necessity and justice marked out, La Fayette was no longer with them. His uniform adherence to these principles have procured him the hatred alike of the rulers and reformers of the old world; the despots immured him in their dungeons, and the demagogues denounced his name, confiscated his estates, and threatened his life; amid the fierce struggles and corrupt intrigues of Europe, his opinions and actions have been unintelligible anomalies; and how could those of a disciple of Washington be otherwise; contending steadily and undauntedly for the cause of reason, right, and justice, he has been almost uniformly in the ranks of the weaker party. His zeal and activity have been a perpetual terror to the usurpers of unlawful power, and his example a perpetual rebuke to the unprincipled aspirants after it; but the history of these

times will do his character that justice which | groundless, and that the republic is safe. the times themselves have too frequently de- We have yet among its guardians a few, nied; and we, who "from our loop-holes of whose judgment the spirit of liberality could retreat" beyond the ocean, have seen the not bias, nor the blaze of merit blind; they stir of the great Babel," in which he has knew, that although General La Fayette been involved, can understand and pay the had lavished his fortune in the service of tribute of admiration to a character, such this country, the gift was a free one, and as the world has not often seen. From that no country is bound to return what the account of La Fayette by Madame de was bestowed without stipulation or expectStael, quoted in these Memoirs, after recom- ation; they abhorred the idea of tendering mending the whole of it to the perusal of pitiful trash, to one who has shown that the our readers, we extract the concluding re-only objects of value in his eyes, were the marks.

rights of mankind. They knew, that he Since the departure of M. de La Fayette for had long since become a citizen of these America, now forty years ago, we cannot quote a States, and they conceived him to be fully single action or a single word of his, which was entitled, with the citizen soldiers of his not direct and consistent. Personal interest never time, to the valuable privilege of serving blended itself in the least with his public conduct: his country without reward. They had seen success would have displayed such sentiments to advantage; but they claim the attention of the his- the petition of the veteran officers of our torian in spite of circumstances, and in spite of revolution lying on the table of congress, faults, which may serve as a handle to his oppo-year after year, and session after session, nents. till the dwindling list of its subscribers was Besides the claim of General La Fayette at last hidden under piles of road bills and to all the honour which it is in the power of draughts of canals; plans of fertile townthe American people to bestow, he had anoth- ships, manufacturing memorials, modificaer upon that treasury, which, once so low as tions of tariffs, and maps of the interior of to need the assistance of a private individ- the earth; and they beheld it in imaginaual, is now, as we are annually informed by tion disinterred, and the spirit again hauntour chief magistrate, beginning to overflowing the splendid hall, which they had hoped with accumulating millions. Such a claim was laid forever; they beheld the whitecould not be considered without alarm by the haired remnants of the last century creepfriends of that economy, which has ever been ing out once more from their retreat, and the distinguishing characteristic of our gov- heard again the appalling sounds of depreernment, gaining the hearts of the careful ciated currency, funded debt, bounty lands, men of these realms, and extorting the reluc- and five years' commutation. They felt tant admiration of Europe. They had reas-likewise on this occasion, what every true on to regard with anxiety the session of a patriot must feel, that the security of our a congress, so lately collected from the union is debate; and that our liberties can crowds that hailed the arrival of this illus- never be impaired till our representatives trious person, their ears yet tingling with shall cease to talk. Their hands and their the sounds of rapturous welcome; and their voices therefore were uplifted against rehearts yet warm with the remembrance of funding; what they could not prevent, they the dinners they had eaten to his honor. at least delayed, and history will forever It was to be feared that they would forget, preserve the names of those, who retained to a man, that tender regard to the people's their coolness amid the enthusiasm of a namoney, which we cannot sufficiently praise, tion, and reasoned when others only felt. and vote by acclamation the payment of the the only part of our debt, which can ever be liquidated; and that some furious member, Escalala: an American Tale. By Samuel B. Beach. Utica. 1824. 12mo. pp. 109. in a paroxysm of frantic liberality, would empty the treasury with a motion, and re- THIS poem exhibits some talents, but does duce it again to that state from which La not exhibit them to advantage; the imageFayette had formerly rescued it. It was ry is occasionally quite good, and the verto be feared, that no civil courage, how-sification is often excellent, but there are ever tried, could resist the impulse of that many unpardonable offences against good moment; and no soul could be so independent taste, both as it respects thought and exof circumstances, as to be untouched by such pression, and the story is exceedingly deas those, no heart so firm as not to be fective. softened; no voice so loud as to make its prudential accents heard amid the uproar of gratitude. That even he, that old man vigilant, from whose “wakeful custody, the guarded gold" of these United States has so seldom passed without opposition, would relax his diligence, and swell the vote of his fellows, heedless of the twinges of prudence, and careless of coming regrets. With such fears, did the unbending patriot-economists of our land await the doings of the great council of the nation; and accordingly, no sooner had the logocracy assembled, than rumours of remuneration began to issue from the capitol. The event has proved that our alarms were

It must be known to most of our readers, that numerous mounds and barrows exist in the interior of North America, the origin of which is wholly unknown. There they are, but none living can say what hand built them or how many ages have rolled over them, for what uses they once served, or what deeds or names they were intended to record. The Indians who are around them, know as little about them as we. Before our fathers came here, all knowledge, all tradition of their beginning was lost, and the shadow of their memory had faded away. Mr Beach thinks that every one may solve a mystery so deep as

this, just as he pleases;-in this he may be right; but he also appears to think that it is impossible for the story of a poem to oppose obvious probabilities too violently ;—and in this he is clearly wrong. It is said by, or for some Norwegian historian, that Naddohr, a petty chief of that kingdom, flying from Harold Honfager, who had subdued him and his brethren, discovered and colonized Greenland; and in one of his voyages to that country, was supposed to have perished by shipwreck. Our author rescues him from a fate so undesirable, places him near the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi, and permits him to found a colony there, which, under the ninth "of Naddohr's royal pedigree," amounted to six hundred thousand souls. Scania is the name of this singular nation, and Gondibert is their king. The poem is introduced by some lines about America and Americans, which are pretty good and nothing more. In the first canto we are told that

Gondibert, in pride of place,
Stern king of Scania's powerful race,
Summoned his nobles, near and far,
To grace the pomp of sylvan war.

Three days, his royal will decreed
To urge the chase with hound and steed;
And on the fourth, the gathered spoil
Of all their sport and all their toil,
In one vast quarry to array
And thence, with pious care, convey,
Of every kind, the fairest nine
And offer them at Odin's shrine.-
'Twas an old custom, which his sire
Who fled, long since, from Harold's ire,
Had brought from Norway, o'er the sea,
And he observed it, annually.

For Scania's sons-though fabling pride
Their lineage to the gods allied-
Were the descendants of the crew
Of shipwrecked outlaws, bold but few,
Who, led by Naddohr, left the coast
Of Norway, and by tempests tossed,
On Nova Scotia's savage strand,
With nought but life, came late to land,

Long was their wandering; but at last,
Through many a wild and trackless waste,
By Mississippi's hoary flood

The homeless, houseless wanderers stood;
And found them there a place of rest
Richer than Araby the Blest.

The deep, embowering woods, around,
With vines and mantling ivy crowned,
And thousand flowers, of varied hue,
Fresh from their birth and moist with dew,
Shed fragrance-rich as poets sing
Elysian gales were wont to fling
Round those blest souls, by Minos given
On earth, an antepast of heaven:
Seemed, that of nature's birth, the fairest,
Of nature's boons, the richest, rarest,
Some fairy hand had culled, with care,
Spell-bound them all, and placed them there.

And there, the wanderers stayed their feet
And wept, like infancy, to meet
Unlooked, unhoped for, term so fair
To all their toil and all their care.
And there a rustic vill they reared,
Gathered wild maize, the forest cleared;
And-but that memory's busy finger,
Unbid, would still delight to stray
From present bliss, to point and linger
O'er friends, home, kindred, far away-
Not Eden's tenants, ere their shame
And guilt, by the Destroyer, came,

Tasted life's joys with richer zest,
Were more contented, or more blast.

In peace they dwelt; the Indian, wild, Bland nature's free but simple child, Beheld, with terror and surprise, Their race increase, their cities rise, And hid him in some wildwood glen; Deeming the gods had left the skies To tabernacle there, like men. Accordingly the king and his nobles feasted and hunted after the fashion, which their ancestors had brought from Norway, and during the festival the "scalds" "invoked the muse, the rites to aid;"-that is to say, one of the bards relates an anecdote of the witch of Hesleggen, and another tells a pleasant tale of diablerie concerning the Ocean Queen. In the second canto the hunt begins; they ride on gallant steeds very furiously, and go through woods where they had never been before, and kill a great deal of game. We would remark, that the dogs and horses used upon this occasion, demonstrate the care with which Naddohr provided himself with adequate means for the maintenance of ancient customs, or perhaps we may rather infer, that valuable breeds of these animals were once indigenous to this continent, but are now well nigh extinct. After they have hunted awhile, they stop to rest and make merry;-in furtherance of which pleasant object, Ruric, the king's son and heir apparent, relates a most melancholy dream, which

-checked their mirth, and sunk their tone
Of laughter, loud, and noisy glee,
To whispered sigh and stifled moan
Of ill suppressed anxiety.

But the next day they hunt again, and
Ruric's dream is accomplished.

It chanced, on that autumnal morn,
When first the blast of bugle-horn,
O'er those wild shores and forests deep,
Woke Echo from her lonely sleep;
That joying in the angler's sport,
Young ESCALALA left the court
Of her stern sire; and choosing twain,
The loveliest, from her female train-
Reta, gay, nimble-footed maid,
And fawn-eyed, bashful Arzilade-
With them along the southern strand
Of Wabash-guiding the light wand
Which anglers use with skilful hand-
She strayed; and from the limpid flood
Gaily decoyed its finny brood.

That Indian maid-than whom the sun
Ne'er looked upon a lovelier one,
Among the dark brunettes that rove
In Otaheite's isle of love --
Was the beloved o'er all the rest,
Of the fair progeny which blessed
Great Warredondo, Chief and boast
Of the Algonquin's war-like host.

What though the blush with deeper hue
Flushed her young charms? it woke as true
To sensibility; its glow

Came with as warm, as ready flow,
As though its conscious mantlings played
O'er the pale form of convent maid.
What though impartial nature chose
No lilies, mingled with the rose,
To form the dusky tints, which lent
Her visage their dark garnishment?
Through her swart cheek and eloquent eyes,
Her soul, unclouded by the guise
Of that slight drapery, beamed as bright
As the wild flash of magic light
Which evening throws o'er arctic skies.

And soul of more elastic power-
More bland, more bright, in blissful hour,
More stern, relentless, undismayed,
When danger roused or passion swayed-
Ne'er found in male or female breast,
Since time began, congenial rest.
Though in her form you might not trace
The nice proportion, or the grace,
Which shone in love's all-beauteous queen,
When erst by Trojan Paris seen;
Yet such-so vigorous, yet so free-
Such beauty twined with majesty,
Were chaste Diana's; when she came
To Tempe's vale, with quivered reed,
Bent bow, and hounds of heavenly breed,
To rouse the sylvan game.

Far from her wonted haunts, the maid, Intent upon her sport, had strayed, And wearied, turned to trace again Her homeward course across the plain; Just as the din, so wild and drear, Of that gay hunt-from hound and horn, On Echo's thousand voices borneBurst on her unaccustomed ear. Ruric carries off Escalala, and in the next canto, Reta relates the circumstance to Warredondo. It chanced that Teondetha, to whom Escalala, just before she went a fishing, had promised to be married the next day,-was with Warredondo at the moment of Reta's arrival, and immediately summoned his friends and followers to go with him in pursuit of Ruric, who in the mean time was riding slowly home without any apprehension of injury or danger.

While thus along their dusky way
Sauntered the chiefs, in loose array-
Sudden as bursts from cloud-wrapt skies
The bolt of death-

Was heard such hissing, in the air,
As though ten thousand snakes were there,
With brandished tongues and fiery eyes
And poisonous breath.

'Twas loud and sharp, like wintry blast;
But with such volleying speed it passed,
That scarce the startled ear believed
Its impulse; each uncertain knight
Deemed it some viewless insect-flight
Which, with its hum, his sense deceived.
Again it hissed-again-again!
And Ruric's steed, with sudden bound,
Plunged violently, as from pain
Inflicted by some deadly wound;
And Albert, from his lofty horse,
Fell head-long down, a breathless corse.
Then, well those gallant chieftains knew
The shrill, familiar sound;

It was no insect hum, that threw
Such fearful warnings round;
But arrow-flights, from twanging bows,
Of vigorous, but secret, foes.

"Halt!-form!" the word was passed, obeyed;
Soon was such active band arrayed,
And flashing bright, each battle-blade

Leaped lightly from its sheath;

Each dexter arm was quickly bared,

Each throbbing heart beat high, prepared

For victory or death.

"

Now comrades, on the covert foe!

Stern be the dint and sure the blow
Which makes such dark assassins know
A Scanian warrior's energy"-
Scarce from the prince the mandate fell
When, from the shrubbery, rose a yell
As wild, as though the fiends of hell
Were howling there, in agony:
And from the thicket burst, amain,
Brave Teondetha and his train.

Ruric was overpowered and nearly slain when Aldobrand, whom his father had sent to meet him, attacked and slew Teondeths Then Warredondo sends to Gondibert

demand Escalala, and Ruric will not let her
go, and the Algonquins make war upon the
Scanians; and, in a furious battle, one hun-
dred thousand Indians defeat, with terrible
slaughter, sixty thousand Scanians. The
battle rages loud and long; and both parties
are very near beating several times, before
it is finished. It begins in this wise.

A short but fearful pause,
Of hesitation, hope and dread,
Succeeds-as to the burnished head
His shaft each bowman draws:

Hushed is the clarion's breath,

Fiercely and fast, from wing to wing,
On helm and mail their war-clubs ring;
And the living keep their stainless fame,
And the dying earn a deathless name:
But o'er their shattered ranks, the fray
Spreads carnage, doubt, and disarray;
They droop; they falter-and they flee!
"Huzza!-pursue the victory!"

From the farthest verge of their flying host-
Now hope is abandoned and order lost-
And their bravest have joined in the mingling rout.
One might well despair of the Indian
cause, after all this; and doubtless the Sca-

And the drum's long peal, and the shout of death, nians would have conquered, and might

And silence, almost palpable,

Sheds o'er each host so deep and full
Her noiseless spell, that the pained ear
Seems as if never more to hear.

Thus-ere the yawning earthquake burst
To whelm proud Lisbon in the dust,
And o'er her fall the billows rushed→
The very elements seemed hushed:
And thus-on Afric's deserts vast,
Where darts the dark Sirocco's blast
Its poison npon beast and man
Through all the shuddering caravan;
Ere sweeps the death-wind's fated sound,
A horrid stillness breathes around.

The word is given !—

Hiss the barbed shafts, the bowstrings twang,
And dinted shields and bucklers clang,
And rings and rives the tempered mail,
As pours the arrow-shower like hail,
And- echoing up to heaven,-
Withering, and wild, and shrill, and fell,
Bursts far and wide the savage yell;
Thrilling upon the wildered ear
In tones as dissonant and drear;
As when the winds and surges roar
On chafed Superior's cliff-bound shore.
Nor shrink the Scanians; fast and free,
From all their fearless archery,
With errless aim and hurtling might
Wings back the viewless arrow-flight-
Impetuous as the flashing levin

By which the thunder stroke is driven,
And ceaseless as the changeful motion
Of warring waves on the troubled ocean:
And their answering shouts that defy the strife,
And the sharp, shrill notes of the martial fife,
And the sighs and the groans of the wounded
and dying,

Dashed to the earth, in their heart's-blood lying, And the bugle's trill, and the drum's loud rattle, Float, mingle, and swell, o'er the raging battle. Warredondo leads a chosen band through an unguarded pass in hopes to surprise the Scanians; but he is met by Gondibert with his reserve, defeated, and slain.

"Now, forth! and on the wakened foe,
Ere he recover from the blow !".
Thus utters Ruric: o'er the fosse,
Spanned by the light but firm pontoon,
Dash, fearlessly, the glittering horse,
The heavier phalanx follows soon;
And, like the earthquake's fated gush,
Their deep, united masses rush

Upon the foe; whose frowning columns,
In huge and dense and darkening volumes,
Stand to receive them, as fixed and undaunted
As the earth, on whose bosom their banners
are planted.

Dire is the crash of their meeting bands,
Wild the din of their shivering brands;
More dire and more wild are the shout and the
cry

Of the victors, who triumph, the vanquished,
who die

And fearfully strewn is the gore-drenched plain
With the weltering wounded and tombless slain.
Sternly the allies withstand
The death-shock of the Scanian band;

have flourished to this day, to our no small annoyance, but for one remarkable circumstance, to wit, that Escalala, having escaped from prison, ran about until she found a MAMMOTH, mounted upon him, and came to succour the Algonquins and avenge her father's death.

Vigorous, active, dauntless, free,
Sheathed in burnished panoply,
And armed and girded for the slaughter,
Like Juno's flower-begotten daughter;
On a mammoth's giant might,
Rushing through the failing fight,
Like Hope descending on Despair,
ESCALALA's self is there.

The lady and the beast do wonders; the Scanians are beginning to fly, and are only sustained by the strength and fiery courage of Ruric. At length Escalala espies him, and a terrible combat ensues, which we must give in the words of our author.

But the havoc of his brand
The injured maid descries;

And for vengeance, through the band,
Impatiently she flies.

Stern and implacable as fate,

And flushed with hope, and armed with hate,
Beneath her mammoth's rushing weight
The solid earth appears to tremble;
And her flashing eyes resemble
Some fiery and malignant star
Glancing o'er the troubled war.

Not unobserved of Ruric, came
That eye of fire, that heart of flame;
Nor from the combat turns aside,
In fear or scorn, his arm of pride;
Nor waits he till the foe draws near;
But spurs his steed to full career-
With shield advanced, and dancing crest,
And visor closed, and lance in rest,
And soul as haughty, stern, and free,
As that which nerves his enemy.
Mid-way, in their sounding course,
They meet; and Ruric's gasping horse-
Encountered by the swerveless force
Of the huge mammoth-from the shock
Recoils, as from the ocean-rock
The rushing wave; and on the plain
Sinks, shuddering-ne'er to rise again:
And hapless Ruric, swift and far
As peasant might can pitch the bar,
Is head-long hurled-like meteor driven
Downward, from the cope of heaven.
Dizzy he rises; his palsied hand
Feebly gropes for his useless brand:
But ere from its sheath he has freed the blade,
On him rushes the vengeful maid,
And her war club's weight, like the levin-burst,
Dashes him down to his kindred dust;
Through helm and scull and gushing brain
It sinks-and Ruric's with the slain.
Gondibert dies when he sees his son die:
no quarter is given to his troops, who are
pursued and slaughtered day after day, un-
til the nation is extirpated, and all their

281

works and monuments left nameless and story less.

We hope that Mr Beach is young, and that, before he writes again, he will subject his mind to profitable discipline, and enIdeavour to amend his taste. No one can read his poem without acknowledging that he has talents of a highly respectable character, to say no more,-and regretting that they are not used to better purpose.copes

MISCELLANY.

EDGEWORTH'S WORKS.

MISS EDGEWORTH and her admirers cannot complain that her works have received less attention than they merit. They possess no excellence, which has not been critically examined, and liberally applauded. Their faults have been faithfully exposed, but generally treated with tenderness; and she has had every inducement and every assistance to render her works faultless, which could be afforded by the most enlightened community in the world. She has not been wholly unmindful of these advantages and facilities, and in many respects, she has fully rewarded the confidence and liberality of her readers. In all that relates to the merely literary character of her works, she has made improvement; and, in her later works, the morality is more refined, and she less frequently introduces descriptions of immoral actions without distinguishing them with marks of disapprobation. She has, howev er, rigidly adhered to her original plan of inculcating morality separate from religion, of teaching how to live well in the present world without any reference to the world to come. This indignity against revelation has called forth numerous remonstrances from her christian readers; and it can have given little satisfaction, to receive equivocal assertions in favour of her own and her father's faith. The public required them to show their faith in their works; they have not done it, and their excuses have been incompetent and frivolous.

The works of Miss Edgeworth are so extensively read, and their influence is so great, that their moral character deserves more attention from our journals than it has received. I would suggest some considerations applicable to this subject; and shall illustrate my remarks by references to her "Practical Education." But I must first be allowed to quote the following highly judicious and eloquent remarks respecting the moral character of her works generally, from the Inaugural Address of the

late Professor Frisbie.

“Miss Edgeworth has so cautiously combined the features of her characters, that the predominant expression is ever what it should be; she has shown us, not vices ennobled by virtues, but virtues degraded by their union with vices. The success of this lady has been great, but had she availed herself more of the motives and senti

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ments of religion, we think it would have been greater. She has stretched forth a powerful hand to the impotent in virtue; and had she added, with the apostle, In the name of Jesus of Nazareth,' we should almost have expected miracles from its touch."

Respecting the importance of incorporating religion with morality, he adds the following remarks. The influence of this "extends to every order in society. It is not the fountain, which plays only in the garden of the palace, but the rain of heaven, which descends alike on the enclosures of the rich and the poor, and refreshes the meanest shrub no less than the fairest flower. The sages of antiquity seem to have believed that morality had nothing to do with religion; and Christians of the middle ages, that religion had nothing to do with morality. But at the present day, we acknowledge how intimate and important is their connexion. It is not views of moral fitness, by which the minds of men are at first to be affected, but by connecting their duties with the feelings and motives, the hopes and fears of Christianity. Both are necessary, the latter to prompt and invigorate virtue, the former to give it the beauty of knowledge and taste. It is heat, that causes the germ to spring and flourish in the heart; but it is light that imparts verdure to its foliage, and their hues to its flowers."

If in any work we might expect a distinct recognition of the authority of revealed truth, surely none could have higher claims to it, than a treatise on Practical Education. Miss Edgeworth obviously saw that an apology would be required for the omission, and she has given the following in the preface.

"On religion and politics we have been silent, because we have no ambition to gain partisans, or to make proselytes, and because we do not address ourselves exclusively to any sect or to any party."

Had this been given by any one but Miss Edgeworth, it would be regarded as too feeble and contemptible to deserve notice. Because it is not her object to make proselytes to any sectarian dogmas, is the very spirit any life of religion to be disregarded? Was it necessary to avoid every allusion to the Sacred Scriptures as containing the light of life, and to draw every motive for good conduct from merely temporary considerations? The essence of religion is common to all the children of God; and Christians of every denomination may be referred to the Bible as their spiritual directory, without regard to the peculiarities of their several views. What, but an indifference to religion itself, can prevent a teacher from doing this? Lest we make our children sectarians, shall we avoid giving them any religious principles Lest the sanctions of religion should be misused to strengthen some error, or justify some bad feeling, shall we utterly forget or desecrate them?

"Though we have been principally attentive to all the circumstances, which can be essential to the management of young people during the first nine or ten years of their lives, we have by no means confined our observations to this period alone; but we have endeavoured to lay before parents a general view of the human mind (as far as it relates to our subject), of proper methods of teaching, and of the objects of rational instruction."

tific parts were written by Mr Edgeworth. world will be determined by our conduct That it may not be inferred, that I require in the present. We do not say that it is more than could be reasonably expected necessary to inspire into the minds of our from the general design of the work, it is children a superstitious dread of the hornecessary to say, that the authors profess rors of retributive justice, for we believe to treat of every thing that is important to that mankind are every day becoming children, as will appear from p. 311. more capable of acting from enlightened principles,-of seeing the reasons why vir tue produces happiness, and vice, misery; and thus of maintaining a regard for the right, because it is right, instead of acting from fear of punishment or hope of reward. But we see little reason for expecting a period-and certainly none for saying it has arrived-when we may dispense with the sanctions, while we inculcate the law. The grand christian principle, that, in a future state of existenee, our destiny will be determined by our character, and that every one shall be rewarded according to his works," is absolutely essential to form our minds after the image and likeness of God. An external morality, however exact it may be, which has within it no soulno reference to God and eternity, cannot abide the judgment of Him, "who searcheth the heart;" and by teaching our chil dren to tell the truth because it is useful, without alluding to any other than temporal good, we are doing nothing for them, but to encourage them to live with devotion to the world-to seek its good things by the most effectual means, and to be prepared to die the death of brutes.

The plain question now is, whether they have performed this task with any reasonable degree of fidelity. By referring to a few chapters we shall find a satisfactory answer. The chapter on "Truth" affords a fair specimen of the moral character of the book. Its object is to show by what methods children may be made to acquire the habit of telling the truth. Most of the directions that are given, are worthy of attention. They may do much; but much will still remain to be done, unless we accompany our exertions with other modes and other principles, than are here described. The fact, that lying is forbidden by God, is not even alluded to; nor is it intimated that integrity is to be preferred to falsehood, because one is in itself virtuous and the other vicious. Indeed we do not find in the book the idea, that any actions are wicked in the common sense of the term. In general, those actions which are commonly denominated wicked, are disapproved; but they are not represented as opposed to the laws of God nor is their effect on the future state any where recognised.

That truth is to be preferred to falsehood, because it is more useful, might be a competent reason, were we always competent and always disposed to judge rightly of what is most useful. But the simple fact, that the Scriptures reveal sanctions to the divine law, proves that our judgment of utility is not always to be trusted. There can be no question, in the abstract, that integrity of character is more advantageous than duplicity and falsehood; but whoever has learned how prone his corrupt affections are to blind his judgment,-how frequently he acts with reference only to the present, and how often the present allures him by deceptive appearances of utility, and causes him to mistake the gratification of evil concupiscences, for the essential and eternal good of his soul, such an one, surely, needs not to be told, that in order to preserve the mind at all times within the path of rectitude, it is necessary to impress it deeply with those truths, which teach us that there is an all-seeing eye, from whose ken nothing is secret; that we are amenaIt will be seen then that I impute to Miss ble for every thought, affection, word, and Edgeworth all the faults in the moral char- action to the judgment of an unerring triacter of this work. Only the more scien-bunal; and that our state in the future

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In the chapter on Vanity, Pride, and Ambition, the first two are classed among virtues. They are, however, considered as vices, when they are excessive, and when excited by unworthy objects. I am well aware, that the terms vanity and pride can be so defined as to denote virtues; but in ordinary language, they signify vices. There has been so much contention on this subject among metaphysicians, that I must endeavour to clear away the mist they have raised, in order to make my self understood.

The desire of receiving the approbation of others, may proceed from benevolence, or from self-love. For example; the artisan may be gratified by the praises bestowed on his works, because he knows them to be truly valuable, and loves to have others rightly estimate them. If this be the only cause of his pleasure, it would be equal, if the works were the fruit of another's skill and industry. He may be pleased with the commendation, because he perceives that the laudable objects of his pursuit are promoted, such as the maintenance of his family. In these cases, it is obvious that his pleasure arises from the gratification of good affec tions; and no one has any question as to the purity of such a love of approbation. But the artisan may be gratified by the praises bestowed on his labour and skill, because he considers them as distinguishing him above others,-as magnifying his importance; and not from any regard to the good of others. The desire of approbation, so far as it proceeds from these selfish affections, is commonly regarded as evil; and it is what, in ordinary discourse, we de nominate vanity. There is little difference

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