piness, and the diminution of individual suffering and anxiety, the consequences would be incalculable" p. 34. There is something extremely forcible in the manner in which the following solema truth is conveyed. A truth which, however it may have lost its eflect by repetition, and however it may be stigmatized by the foolish and the wicked, as the very drivelling of preaching, will sometimes in silence and solitude knock with startling power at the conscience of the most depraved, and fearfully quell the courage of the boldest. The Genius is represented as saying to the author, who is reluctant to look upon the thoughts of others "Why should you be afraid or ashamed to do so? There is One, infinitely greater than you, the source of all virtue, and the fountain of all purity, before whom you are as a loathsome worm, obliged daily to behold these vain imaginations; there is not a secret spring, or the lightest conceivable emotion of the mind, that is no instantly open to his view. And if these people are not ashamed to indulge before Him, what you will soon discover, why should they be before you, even if they were sensible of it? Dou you imagine they care more for you than Him? Besides, suppose that sudden death had seized them, would it not have taken them in these very thoughts? and will they not, as well as all others, in a coming day, be exposed to the gaze of an assembled world? They wrong themselves; you do them no injury; come then, and I will show you how to get at the contents of each story, drama, novel, romance, or whatever else you may choose to call it, in this sleeping library." p. 18. In the next divisions, entitled " Vanity," "The Illusions of Pleasure," and "Pride and Love," our author shows that he is no stranger to the workings of these master passions; and the deceitful tenure by which we hold the goods and enjoyments of this world, is strikingly exemplified. In describing the I isappointed Author, he seems to speak very feelingly; he is so happily drawn, we must introduce him. Having failed in the various departments of poetry, essays, moral tales, and romances, all which attempts are happily hit off, as a dernier resort, he determines to try his hand upon politics. He "Here was a field, he conceived, that promised inevitable success. knew he had a talent for popular writing, and a most scorching vein of sarcasm. He would attack the highest characters first, and bespatter them with the most cutting invective. The writing of essays, by numbers, would be rather plodding, and bespeak a dull writer; he therefore resolved, like Junius, to address his letters directly to the individuals themselves." After experiencing numberless mortifications in not hearing of his publications, which have been treated with silent contempt, he betakes himself to a reading room, where the climax of his misfortunes is capped. "When arrived, a great crowd were assembled, and eagerly engaged in reading newspapers, and occasionally conversing upon the multiplied sub jects which they furnish, and the political questions they so warmly agitate. Not a word about our author, until just before separating, when one reader broke out into a most vociferous strain, denouncing "certain letters" as containing the most incorrigible nonsense and sleep-producing stupidity that had certainly ever foundits way into print that "writers of such trash, and printers of such trumpery, ought to be sewed up in a bag, and thrown into a ditch." He then proceeded to read a sentence or two for the amusement of the rest, and at every pause there was a roar of laughter, doubtless more affected than real, and made in slavish obedience to such violent denunciations. Such was the diversion afforded by these letters, that the whole collection unanimously resolved that all their future meetings should be wound up with a few paragraphs from this newlydiscovered magazine of bombast, by way of working off, in a broad hearty laugh, the fumes of better reading; which would serve to put every body in a good humour with himself, the company with one another, and give a better relish for dinner." p. 97. We have no time to notice the dreamings of the Politician, in which there is some keen satire on the shifts and low cunning, by which the people are cajoled, and office-hunters and political slang-whangers foisted into places of trust and emolument. We must also pass over the more humorous account of the manœuvres of widows and widowers, who are candidates for matrimony. On the subject of Education, our author has expended his whole strength. He seems to have thought deeply on the matter, and manfully uplifting his voice against prejudice and error, boldly denounces the whole modern system of instruction. He is well aware of the ticklish ground he is upon. "Error of opinion (to use his own words) will never be successfully overthrown, unless resolutely attacked. It has the great advantage of long acquiescence, and, on that account, has grown into a kind of cartilage. As before suggested, it is frequently nourished by tender passions, and guarded by affectionate associations, which, in a moment, spring at the least alarm, to repel the very first onsets of reason; and however open in attack, or sinuous in approach, there is the same unsleeping protection afforded to a long-indulged prejudice. I have glanced at one or two instances in former numbers; the present will contain another, which will, perhaps, kindle a flame around my head that may be difficult to extinguish. Nevertheless, I shall try it, under the old proverb, that "ventures make merchants." All undertakings are great according to their risks; I therefore for go 66 a crown or a cross." p. 158. Although we cannot agree with the writer that the whole system of college education is wrong, constitutionally wrong, we must confess, that there is a great deal to be amended. We have neither time or inclination, at present, to enter into a discussion concerning the advantages and defects of the present system; but we recommend this article on Education to the serious perusal of all who have at heart the welfare of youth, and the moral culture of their minds. Having thus freely expressed ourselves on the merits of this work, and given fair samples of its style and quality, we feel no disposition to exercise our critical acumen in detecting the chaff. On the whole, we must repeat, that we consider this as no common-place production. It contains much deep thought, and what is better, it furnishes matter of thought to the reader. And although we could have wished he had looked a little more upon the bright side of the picture, and softened down a few of its asperities, we hail, with pleasure, this stranger in the domains of literature, and shall be much disappointed, if he is not received by others with a cordiality equal to our own. ART. IV.-Memoir of the Life of RICHARD HENRY LEE, and his Correspondence with the most distinguished men in America and Europe, illustrative of their characters, and of the ev nts of the American Revolution. By his Grandson, RICHARD H. LEE, of Leesburgh, Virginia.—2 vols. pp. 299, 238. Philadelphia: Carey & Lea. 1825. In reverting to the period, when the differences between Great Britain and her colonies led to the conflict, which terminated in the establishment of the latter as an independent empire, it is extremely difficult to decide, whether the mass of talent, and the host of great men who arose to vindicate the rights of their country, in the council and the field, were naturally called forth by the excitement and the emergency of the times, and produced by the same causes, which in any other age, might have brought on the stage of action an equally illustrious band,--or whether their constellation of bright intellects was not rare as it was splendid, combining, under an overruling providence, to effect results, unparalleled in their past, and incalculable in their future operations. It is with no vain and ignorant partiality for our own country and her worthies, that we challenge a scrutiny into the page of history, in order to detect an epoch in the annals of any people more prolific in great minds than that of our revolutionary conflict. The American is not to be told, that he must speak of his country's ornaments in the future tense. The past presents to him on its roll of renown, a list of statesmen, soldiers, and philosophers, on the wealth of whose fame other nations might have quietly reposed for centuries. Nor have we any reason to expect the return of an equally brilliant galaxy in our political horizon. And while we are enjoying the fruits of their toils, and witnessing the full and successful developement of the simple but sublime principles of self-government, which came from them almost as a new revelation, we should be alike unworthy, as men or citizens, did we suffer the memory of any of our proto-patriots to become obscured with the rust of time. When such men die, in the language of antiquity, "all earth becomes their sepulchre ;" but especially, should the posterity for whom they laboured, be taught among their earliest lessons, the names and deeds of the fathers of their country. In the foremost rank of the distinguished founders of this republic, and among those whose gifted vision foresaw the ultimate tendency of the conflict, while it was as yet but a struggle against usurpation, and the difficulties which would occur in the operations of the federal government, which subsequent events have exemplified, we must unquestionably place the subject of the interesting memoirs before us. A rapid perusal of their contents has been attended with no ordinary pleasure and profit. They embrace the whole period, from the first of the contest, to its consummation, and enable us in idea to live through the scenes in which our fathers acted-to participate in the doubts, the fears, and anticipations of the times-to read the thoughts of those who were the most .conspicuous agents in the great events which were hastening to their fulfilment--and at the end, leave us for a time, still marvelling at the comparative ease with which so great changes were accomplished. For although the trials and privations, and frequent despondency of those engaged in the war of our independence, were great and manifold,-when we glance over the record of history in which they are summarily recorded, the impression on the imagination is strong; and the judgment is, for the moment, unable to assign the sufficient causes, by which an ancient and powerful empire was for ever devested of its natural rights and interest in thirteen flourishing colonies, and by which those colonies became the great nation, which is now known as the United States. Those causes, as we well know, are not to be found in any of the abstract speculations of philosophers, but in the history and character of the people who wrested their sovereignty from the mother country-in their physical and moral education-in their total exemption from the influence of feudal and papal superstition-in fine, in the natural and sturdy feeling of selfreliance, which grew with their growth and strengthened with their strength; the inborn consciousness that they ought to, and might realise, politically, the ideal of individual independence dreamed of by the poet, and be in their national capacity, As free as nature first made man, Ere the base laws of servitude began, The characteristic outlines of this people, in their several sections, were drawn by Mr. Burke, in his speech on conciliation with America; and such was the investigation and discernment of that laborious statesman, that the picture has more fidelity, even at the present day, as a delineation of the strong features of sectional and national character, than is exhibited in most of the tours and travels through our republic, undertaken for the purposes of discovery, with so many tomes of which we have been favoured. From the continuance of this resemblance, we have reason to rejoice that we have not begun to degenerate. Nor can we do so, while the spirit of our laws remain the same; and the constantly recurring distribution of property prevents the establishment of overgrown estates; demanding from every second generation the industry and enterprise by which fortunes are founded, and fame and public honours are acquired. We must return, however, to the volumes before us; of the first of which, containing the biography, it is our purpose to give a brief abstract, being all that time admits; avoiding, as much as possible, being led astray by the reflections and associations which suggest themselves so constantly in every narrative of those days. The author of this work, a grandson of Mr. Lee, has performed his filial task with great faithfulness and propriety. He has been particularly anxious to refute two statements, hastily and unadvisedly made: one by Judge Johnson, in his life of Greene,-the other by the eloquent biographer of Patrick Henry. The former had asserted, that 'the Lees of Virginia were never friendly to General Washington.' The correspondence with that illustrious individual, contained in these volumes, refutes completely so grave a charge, if such evidence were required to repel a remark which seems to have been made without consideration. Mr. Wirt had also represented the talents of Mr. Lee as rather brilliant and generally powerful, than suited to the minute, practical details of business. The unremitted labours of Mr. Lee in almost every important committee appointed by Congress, which appear from the Journals of that body, and the documents preserved by his family, prove decidedly a contrary position. It was by assiduous devotion to the dry details of business,' that his health was frequently impaired, and he was obliged, occasionally, to retire from the theatre of his valuable and indefatigable exertions. Richard Henry Lee was born in the County of Westmoreland, and colony of Virginia, on the twentieth of January, 1732. His ancestors were among the earliest emigrants to that province; and his great grandfather was conspicuously active in preserving its allegiance, during the civil wars in the reign. Vol. II. 4 |