may be displayed. We know of no mind better fitted than Robert Hall's to give an intellectual embodiment to the principles of Christianity. Men may differ as to the importance and utility of such exhibitions of the Gospel, but in our judgment they may be made the media of divine influence in a pre eminent manner. The same objections that are usually presented against them may be urged against any form of mind, and hence it should be remembered that the difficulty does not exist in the relation of talent to piety, but in the subjugation of all intellect to the grace of God. Genius cannot change the heart, but is it therefore to be despised? Let the necessity of omnipotent aid be acknowledged, but still human instruments are not to be rejected. The eloquence of the pulpit cannot effect salvation, but it may place men in the way to be saved. It cannot wield the power of the throne, but it may draw the rebellious spirit within the range of its divine influence. The ordinations of God should be duly regarded in this question if he has been pleased to appoint mind to the office of representing the wonders of his truth, we should feel that its noblest gifts ought to be devoted to such a task.

The philosophic reader of Robert Hall's Discourses is impressed with the remarkable harmony pervading them, and he is often embarrassed as to what attribute of his fine mind should be most admired. Above all modern preachers, he seems to have realized the happy art both of commanding great resources of thought and employing t em to the best advantage. Language was a prompt and obedient servant to him. His imagery was always suitable. A bold idea was certain of a bold position. Every combination of argu ment and illustration was fortunate, and whenever he departed from his main purpose and introduced incidental matter, it was readily brought into an appropriate relation and made to subserve the leading plan. That others have excelled him in the popular attractions of eloquence must be admitted. We consider this fact, however, no detraction from his eminent talents. The multitude are too much in the habit of deciding the merits of public speakers by false standards. No man ever became great by consulting their tastes. There is a better ideal than popular sentiment can supply; and he who desires to reach true elevation of mind and embody select thoughts in forms of enduring beauty, must seek its communion. Whoever wishes a model, that

embraces all the essentials of classic intellect, refined style, and pulpit-adaptation, cannot perform a more profitable service for himself, than he will experience in the close study of Robert Hall's works. L.

ART. III.-Carolina Sports, by Land and Water; including Incidents of Devil-fishing. By the Hon. WILLIAM ELLIOTT, of Beaufort, S. C. Charleston Burges & James. 1846.

MR. ELLIOTT has given us a pleasant book on an agreeable subject. It is one, too, of wider and more lasting interest than the title might seem to imply. The sports of a country are somewhat akin to its ballads, and these, as Fletcher of Saltoun thought, are of more importance than the laws. They are at least of weightier import than the unpoetical and sedentary may be willing to believe. Their influence on the manners of a people is always perceptible, and an accurate description of their sports will continue to command attention when graver volumes, on what may seem to be more important subjects, have been long forgot ten. Such a description is Mr. Elliott's "Carolina Sports." He gives us no second-hand accounts from the observations of other men, but genuine reports of things actually seen and done, in which he was himself an important actor. This imparts to them a dramatic effect and an accuracy of detail, which no mere narrator who was not a doer also, could hope to attain. His narratives have a truthfulness about them not to be mistaken. His pen is the faithful coadjutor of the line, and his hits in description and in the chase are equally palpable and numerous.

But Mr. Elliott is evidently an accomplished scholar as well as fisherman and hunter, and his description a great deal more than merely accurate. His book indicates a mind familiar with other science than that of woodcraft. His style is clear, animated and vigorous, and he is in no respect unworthy to be the second of his name in advancing the literary character of South-Carolina. Nor is this a little to say; for no name in the State is more distinguished in this

respect, or is remembered with greater esteem, admiration. and affection than that of Stephen Elliott. With every excellent quality of the heart, he united a refined taste, and an understanding intimate with every department of literature and science. We gladly take the opportunity thus occurring, to do honor to his memory. No place for that purpose can be more fit than the pages of the Southern Review. It was established by him, and his essays are the strength and ornament of the first series of the work.

The author of the "Sports" has been judicious in avoiding the common error of attempting to unite incompatible subjects by throwing his materials into the form of a tale-a tale with a purpose. Such a story, contrived to serve as a hook to hold a string of fishing adventures, would be as unattractive as the tales that do the part of dry nurse to a moral precept or religious truth. The hero would be a sort of Colebs in search of a fish, for whose success no one would feel any more concerned than for that of the adventurer of the same name in. search of a wife. If Isaac Walton had made a story of his book it would have been long since forgotten. He adopted the true model. The hunter or fisherman is naturally of a contemplative spirit. In those intervals when his sport flags, as it often will do, his eye and ear become conversant with all the sights and sounds of nature. The blue sky is above him, the sparkling water beneath, and around him the songs of birds-the various sounds that break, from time to time, the deep silence of the woods-the trees with their rich profusion of tintsall these invite his attention, excite his fancy and beget reflection. The rudest mind is susceptible to their influences. Cooper's Leather-Stocking is a type of this class, and one of the best, perhaps the very best of his characters. It is successful because it is true to nature, and a happy illustration of that rustic philosophy which moralizes both the ruder calling of the border hunter and the more refined pursuits of fishermen like Isaac Walton or Mr. Elliott. It is the episodical, contemplative, descriptive spirit of the old angler that gives a charm to his book and makes it the model of all who may attempt the same kind of subject. Mr. Elliott is very happy occasionally in the vein of thought alluded to. There are passages in his book of this digressive character a reflection at a moment when the action pauses, while the hunter awaits the deer at his stand; a description

of river or forest scenery, the place of hunting or fishing; an allusion to the pursuits and conversation of a distinguished soldier and statesman, in the evening of life and the repose of the country,—all of which are written with great beauty, and constitute one of the chief attractions of the work. But it is not in meditation or description that the author chiefly delights. He loves the excitement of action. The "Sports" abound in passages of spirited narrative; accounts of fishing or the chase, lively and vigorous and strongly indicative of the ardor with which the writer seems to throw his whole soul into the sport in which he happens to be engaged. We shall have occasion in noticing the several parts of the book, to extract such of these passages as appear to us peculiarly marked by beauty of thought or of expres

sion.

It is due to the spirit of candid criticism which Mr. Elliott would rather challenge than avoid, to add that his manner is not always quite so successful. His narrative is occasionally in a tone somewhat overcharged. In the fear of being tame, it loses sight of simplicity. It wants, at times, the grace of ease. The object is too apparent; the labor to produce effect too plainly seen. It is deficient, therefore, in the art which conceals art. The spasmodic effort to be lively affects us unpleasantly, like the voice of a singer pitched in too high a key, or the performance of an actor inadequately impressed with the value of the precept, not to tear a passion to rags. The "dash, splash, whip and spur" manner which the author professes to select, may do for the chase, but not so for the description. It suits the hunter better than the writer. Few readers relish riding through the woods at headlong speed in a book any more than on horseback. Mr. Elliott defends himself from the anticipated charge of a want of repose or simplicity in his style by the declaration that it is one assumed purposely for effect. But we doubt if the effect produced be the most happy, or in the most desirable quarter. Like the dropt stitch of the pirouetting danseuse in the Bowery,* its influence would be felt rather in the pit or gallery than in the boxes; with the groundlings more than with those of better taste and sounder judgment. The following passage from the wild-cat hunt, page 87, is one of those in

* Page 100.

the exaggerated or over-charged manner to which we have alluded.

The hunters are embarrassed by an impenetrable thicket. They began to fear that they would start no cat, "when suddenly Rowser burst forth into a fierce cry, as, emerging from the cover, he touched the open field. The hounds rush to the spot. Hurra! they have struck a trail. Gather huntsmen! Now we shall see sport! The. ground was favorable for the sportsmen, for a road ran parallel with the direction of the cry, and thus the whole field got placed, and took a fair start with the dogs. There they go! Look for the hedge! Rowser leads-he leaps the hedge! ha! he has overrun the track! Black has caught it up! It is all right! there they go! look at them! listen to them! Huntsmen, is it not charming? Does it not make your pulse quicken? Is there not a thrill of pleasure shooting through your frame? Can you tell your name? Have you a wife?—a child? Have you a neck? If you can at such a moment answer such questions, you do not feel your position, and are but half a sportsman." The answers certainly would be very much out of place, and so indeed are the questions.

The writer of the narrative which Mr. Elliott adopts at page 22, is liable to the same charge of over-excited vivacity. His enthusiasm for devil fishing betrays him into extravagant phrases, at variance, not only with good taste, but with his own meaning. We need go no farther than the first sentences of the letter for an example.

"After all there is no sport, the world over, like the fisherman's. What of your horse-racing, theatre gazing, or tripping it down of a hot summer's night to the clatter of noteless pianos, split clarionets, cold iron triangles and crazy tambourines? No! give me a tight boat, clean tackle, a few jolly friends, and a warm pleasant sky, and adieu ladies and gentlemen, to your dry land pastimes, as you have no zest for what is far richer, I assure you, if they are more dearly bought. Pardon me if I can't dance to your piping-the fashion of the thing is gone-the soul that once animated is dead-and is to have for us no resurrection."

Now it would be a great mistake to suppose that the writer really intended to renounce forever, piping and dancing, the race-course and theatre, because he has killed a devilfish. He is evidently not in earnest. He knows as well as Solomon, that there is a time for every thing, and is quite