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"One of these impressions is, that there is a general wish in America that England should be revolutionized, and a republic founded on the ruins of the monarchy. I think it the duty of every American gentleman travelling in Europe to endeavor to remove this impression by stating, what is undoubtedly the fact, that all intelligent and well-informed Americans wish well to Eng. land and to the English Constitution as it now stands; of course, including such gradual improvements and progress as it is all the time making to adapt itself to the advancement of civilization, and to the changing spirit of the age. Such advances are not modifications of the Eng. lish Constitution, they are only the working out of an essential function of the Constitution itself; for a capacity to follow and adapt itself to the progress of the times, has always been a remarkable feature of this most remarkable bond of union, and is as essential a part of it as the provisions for maintaining the prerogatives of the crown. With this understanding, Americans wish well to the English Constitution as it is. They desire no sudden or violent changes in English society, and no interruption to the vast op. erations of English industry. I do not think they wish for any diminution of the extent of English power. Wherever this power extends, in whatever quarter of the globe, there travellers can go with safety-there letters can penetrate, and merchandise be sent and sold. It is true that pride and ambition have, no doubt, powerfully influenced English statesmen in many of their measures; and English conquest, like all other conquest, has often been characterized by injustice and cruelty. All political action, as the world goes at present, is sadly tainted with selfishness and sin; and English administrations undoubtedly share the common characters of humanity. But still, after all, there has probaby been no government since the world began that would have exercised the vast powers with which the British government has been clothed, in a manner more liberal and just, both in respect to her own subjects and to foreign nations, than she has exhibited during the last quarter of a century, and is exhibiting at the present time. The enormous magnitude of the power she wields, and the extent to which its regulating effects are felt throughout the world, exert a vast influence on the extension and security of com. merce, and, consequently, on the welfare and physical comforts of the human race. In fact, it must be so. The English mind is in advance of all other mind in the Old World; they who exercise it are superior to all others on that stage; and if we, on this side of the Atlantic, can claim anything like an equality with them, it is only because we are English ourselves, as well as they.

"Americans accordingly wish well to England. It is true, they are pleased to witness the advances which the English Constitution is making, especially as they tend in the same direction in which society is advancing in America. We might even desire to accelerate this advance a little in some things. But there is no desire to see a violent revolution, which should aim at making England democratic in form. In fact, the monarchical element in the English Constitu

tion is regarded by thinking men in America as constituting a far less important point of distinction between that government and ours than would at first be supposed. The prerogative of the crown is coming to be, in fact it has already become, little else than a name. It is the function of requesting, in form, the party to take power, which Parliament makes dominant in fact. It is, in a word, public sentiment which appoints the head of the administration, in England as well as in America; the difference being, that in England it is a part, and in America the whole of the community whose voice is heard in forming this public sentiment. It is the exist ence of other features altogether in the British system which constitutes the real ground of distinction between the political conditions of the two countries."

The Four Gospels and Acts of the Apostles, in Greek, with English Notes, Critical, Philological and Exegetical; Maps, Indexes, etc., together with the Epistles and Apocalypse. The whole forming the complete Text of the New Testament. For the use of Schools, Colleges, and Ecclesiastical Seminaries. By Rev. J. A. SPENCER, A.M. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1847.

Dr. Spencer having "witnessed with deep regret the gradual and almost entire disuse of the Greek Testament as a part of liberal education," rightly judged "that some effort should be made to re-introduce the New Testament in the original into seminaries of sound learning throughout the country." One obvious step to this was the providing of a suitable school edition, which, strange to say, did not exist. Our own experience abundantly verifies Dr. S.'s assertion that nothing is to be found among the English and Continental issues of the proper dimensions. This is the more remarkable, as the Greek Testament is very much read in the English schools and universities, and that, too, by a not very advanced class of students; and there are several good English editions of some of the Gospels separately, and some very good ones of the Acts alone. It was suggested to Dr. Spencer by Prof. Anthon, whose pupil he had been, that he should prepare an edition himself; and we do not think the Professor has any reason to be ashamed of his pupil or to repent of his suggestion. The volume contains about 800 pages, two-thirds of which is occupied by the part commented upon. The notes, without being superabundant or otiose, are in general sufficiently explicit. We extract two as specimens, one on Acts ii. 3:

"Siapɛpi Cóμevai, dispertitæ, 'divided, dis. tributed to each person. Comp. Heb. ii. 4: wood, wosi rugós, i. e. the flame appeared in the pyramidal or pointed form like tongues.

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“ δεισιδαιμονέστερους, • much devoted to religious things,' more than others, on which the Athenians prided themselves. The word is susceptible of both a good and a bad sense; the former is here to be preferred. St. Paul never could have begun his address in the offensive manner in which the English version leads one to suppose that he did. His object was to conciliate, not harshly reprehend; hence he says, 'Ye men of Athens, I perceive that you are exceedingly devoted to the worship of the deities;' which remark they would receive as a high compliment to themselves and to their city."

We have but one fault to find with this edition. The root of almost every irregularly inflected verb is given, after the manner of a clavis. It may be said that the work will fall into the hands of many who need such assistance, but we are thoroughly convinced that any one who intends to read Greek at all, must begin by learning his verbs, regular and irregular. Any delay upon this in the outset will prove a great saving in the end.

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| fore they were submitted to the writers. It was, however, left to their option to assign to each of them either the real or a fictitious name, and to arrange the series in any order they pleased.”

It is quite curious to see how these six sketches have been applied to three different stories. The effect on the fancy in reading them consecutively is almost ludicrously perplexing. We have to take the entire imagery of one story and suddenly transpose and apply it to another, entirely disconnected and different. The idea might be productive of still more amusing incongruities by having a few more sketches, of life, rather than of scenery, and a larger number of writers. The same scenery might thus be made to apply to tragedy and comedy; one illustration could give an 'affecting narrative," another a "thrilling sketch," another a "tale of fashionable life," in short, if a little care were used in getting up the sketches, there is no end to the variety of incident that might be strung upon them. It should be suggested to some publisher to issue a dozen sketches at once and advertise for writers, offering to take the twenty best and most diverse that should be written in a given time, and publish them, with the sketches, in a vol

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ume.

But these tales have great merit, aside from thoughtfully and elegantly written, and bear the ingenuity of their construction. They are They are somewhat didactic, and are evidently the impress of pure, refined, and elevated minds. the productions of deeply religious spirits; yet neither the moral purpose nor the piety is so obtrusive in them as to make them unreadable, or bring them under the head of "instructive" or "religious" stories. They are pleasant reading for quiet parlors and sober families.

An Illustrated History of the Hat, from the
Earliest Days to the Present Time. J. N.
Genin, 214 Broadway. 1848.

This is a capital treatise. It goes fully into These three tales are not unworthy the dis- the subject, irons it out with the iron of learntinguished reputation of their writers. The ing, brushes up its nap with the camel's hair of chance thought which gave rise to them was a fancy, and leaves it implanted on the reader's fortunate one, and the stories bear witness to understanding with the firm-seated solidity of its having been carried out in the manner good fit. Though not divided into heads, it is stated in the preface: "This little volume had by no means a shapeless mass, torn and fractured its origin in the following circumstance. It with rents, or crushed with ominous dents; on was suggested as a Christmas amusement, that the contrary, it has the uniform glossy texture one of a party should draw a series of sketches, without, and cleanly arrangement within, which the rest should severally interweave into which are marks of excellence in books as some short story or description. The original well as in hats. The mass of information it plan has been faithfully adhered to: the en- affords, is truly surprising. It begins, as all gravings, therefore, are not illustrations of the histories ought to do, with the remotest antiletter-press, but the letter-press of the engrav-quity, and after carrying round the hat through ings. The sketches themselves are in fact the various epochs of time, and chiefly of Engviews of actual scenes, and were finished be-lish history, leaves it finally at "its ultimate

degree of excellence "—i. e. the present spring | fashion, we suppose. Some of its speculations "In the melare no less ingenious than just. ancholy fate which befell that fair-haired youth Absalom, the Scriptures afford a striking instance of the danger of not wearing a covering upon the head. If Absalom had worn a hat, it is very certain that his hair could not have caught in the branches of the oak tree. It is not likely that he rode out bareheaded; but it is probable that in the skirmish with Joab his hat fell off, and was thus the cause of his death."

This reminds us of some modern medical treatises, which begin with showing from the Psalins particular diseases with which King David was afflicted. Our author, who generally writes very well, appears to have made a slight slip in the last clause of the above; for how Absalom's hat, because it fell off, could become the cause of his death, it is not easy to discover.

We are very far from cottoning, also, to the following opinions :-

"Stubbes belonged to that very virtuous class of writers, not wholly extinct even now, that rail against the fashions of men's apparel, as though there were intrinsic good or evil in the shape and color of a coat; who judge of a man's morals by the pattern of his vest, and regard the texture of his pantaloons as a test of religious principles. It is time that the philosophy of fashion were better understood, but the plan of this little book prevents an expression of our opinions on this important subject. The latest fashion is always the best, because it is of necessity an improvement on the one which it supplants; therefore, to rail at an existing fashion is simply to rail at improvement. If a fashion were perfect, it would be permanent; but no fashion ever can be perfect, because man being endowed with the capacity of improvement, he can never arrive at a point beyond which he cannot advance. Progress is the law of our nature, and progress implies infinity. The possibilities of human improvement have not been dreamed of. A conservative, unim proving people, like the Chinese, never change their fashions, because they make no progress, or at least their progress is so slow, that it is not perceptible. There is no such thing as stability

with nations."

To this it might be replied that the changes in the shape of hats are not always improvements, since old fashions come round again so often. Therefore we may be allowed to rail at existing fashions if we please. But granting that every change in hats is an improvement, these changes are ones of simple form, not based on reason, or taste, but wholly arbitrary, and beyond our control; the hatters make these for us twice every year, for which we are taxed nine dollars per annum. But that progress which is the law of our nature does not, in most other matters, operate in this

manner. In our social and political condition it should be borne in mind that pure innovation s are not, though for argument's sake it be admitted they are with hats, necessarily advances towards perfection. They are forms and states based on reason, knowledge, character, experience, and hence those elements must concur in the changes, or else there will be no real progress.

Some people at the present day seem to think that governments are like hats; that we may change the block as often as we please, and it will be sure to be for the better. They even go beyond the hatters; for whereas those worthy members of society are content to allow our headgear to remain stationary six months at a time, these would have states live forever in a condition of pure democratical revolutionary bloody flux-progressing infinitely, pell-mell, everywhere."

There is great probability that the hats worn by social reformers of this order do not in every instance conceal the largest possible amount of medullary substance.

CORRECTIONS.-There is an error in Griswold's "Prose Writers of America," which attributes to R. H. Dana an article on Moore, written by Prof. E. T. Channing of Harvard University. We devote a paragraph to the correction of it, because the mistake was followed in an article on Mr. Dana in this Review for March, 1847. Prof. Channing's article was on "Lalla Rookh," and appeared in the N. A. Review for Nov., 1817, vol. vi.

Another sentence in the article on Mr.

Dana, would seem to make him the author of a review of Brown, which appeared in the N. A. Review, vol. ix., and was also written by Prof. Channing. A review of Brown, by Mr. Dana, appeared in the U. S. Review for Aug., 1827—

much later.

If these reviews were of merely ordinary merit, it would be superfluously nice to give even a sentence to settling questions of their parentage; but they are thoughtful and elaborate essays, and by no means destined to a transitory fame. Only a small edition (five hundred copies) of the N. A. Review was issued previous to and during the editorship of Prof. Channing, who was assisted by Mr. Dana, and copies are, now scarce. To our young readers and writers, many of the best essays of those gentlemen are, necessarily, as entirely unknown as if they had never written them. They owe it to us, to the "rising generation," as well as to their own reputations, to give us collected editions of their works; and we feel very confident that in respectfully urging the request that they would do so, we speak in accordance with the wishes of our whole literary public.

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degree of excellence" fashion, we suppose. are no less ingenious ancholy fate which be Absalom, the Scriptu stance of the danger upon the head. If Al is very certain that caught in the branche not likely that he rod is probable that in the fell off, and was thus This reminds us treatises, which begi Psalms particular di David was afflicted. rally writes very wel slight slip in the last how Absalom's hat, become the cause of discover.

We are very far fr following opinions :

"Stubbes belonged of writers, not wholly against the fashions o there were intrinsic g color of a coat; who the pattern of his ves his pantaloons as a t It is time that the ] better understood, bu prevents an expressi important subject. the best, because it i ment on the one wh to rail at an existing improvement. If a fa be permanent; but no because man being er improvement, he can yond which he canno law of our nature, an The possibilities of not been dreamed c proving people, like their fashions, becau or at least their progi perceptible. There with nations."

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