We have exceeded our limits, but we will take one more passage, to show the poetical cast of the author's mind, and give at the same time a specimen of his style.

"The peculiar charm of an Italian landscape, however, is felt when the sun is approaching the horizon. Our evenings are often intensely beautiful, from the piles of clouds which the sun draws around him, and which he often lights up with a radiance, which an Englishman might almost mistake for a view of a brighter world. Near the Alps, at Venice for example, when the sun retires behind the Friuli mountains, he veils his dying glories with clouds of as gorgeous a coloring, as are seen with us. When no summit is near to attract them, the sun of Italy rarely sets in glory, as it usually disappears without a cloud to reflect its beams. But in the rich tints which are thrown over the landscape, he fully compensates the Italians for the loss of our brilliant sunsets. About half an hour before the sun reaches the horizon, a flood of golden light is shed on every object. This soon assumes a rosy tint, like the light blush on a maiden's cheek, when it soon changes to a deeper and deeper red. A purple of exquisite softness gradually succeeds it, its hue soon changing to one of a more intense beauty, which, floating over the landscape, transforms every object to this loveliest of colors. It is at this time that the bay of Naples is seen in all its glory. At this hour the range which bounds it, and Vesuvius, the beau ideal of mountains, are melted down into a softness which is indescribable. Long after the bay is shaded by the hills of Baise and Ischia, this purple light floats from the sides and summits of the opposite mountains, as if the sun was unwilling to leave a scene so lovely."

p. 352.

We think this book calculated to be a standard one on the country which it describes. It is ground which has been well occupied. The two best volumes of modern travels we know have taken it for a theme"Russell's Tour," and a small but delightful book, " A Ramble in Germany." The latter is full of those delightful, wayside thoughts, which make the author and the reader so intimate, and within a narrow compass comprises a wonderful amount of interest. We have had neither time nor disposition to find fault with Mr. Dwight. Rather than be so unfashionable, however, as to dismiss a book without objection, we will mention the occurrence, here and there, of collegisms likę "quantum suff." and "the stove emitting its caloric"-blemishes which a less hasty publishment would have corrected. The style generally, is singularly pure, and the whole volume leaves upon the mind a relish of scholar-like and racy simplicity.

SUMMER.

LET us go forth, pale student! Nature hath
Voices for thy worn spirit, and a pulse
Beating in concord with a weary mind

O'erspent with its vain toil! Awhile forsake

The lore of bygone intellect-the dreams
Of old Pythagoras, and his, who died
The martyr to a high philosophy

At sunset's quiet hour! Let us go forth!
For by that quivering flush upon thy cheek,
I know that thou hast pondered cunningly
Upon the old world's wisdom! "Tis not well
That one who hath a spiritual thirst
For that deep fount whose element is mind,
Should waste on dogmas of the olden time
Life's brief and perishing taper. Let us forth
Upon the paths of Nature.

Sweetly breathes

The noontide winds among the green arcades,
Form'd by a master hand. Glad summer's voice
Trills in the babbling brooks and in the notes
Of twice ten thousand warbling choristers!
Look how the grain bends to the breeze's kiss;
And watch the sunlight sparkling thro' the shade
Of yon old time-worn wood! Now mark yon scene!
A simple cottage slumbering on the breast
Of a green valley, like a pale white cloud
Living among the soft blue depths of heaven ! *
List! on the wind's wing comes the silvery note
Of some untutor'd girl, and hear! tis' mock'd
By viewless echo 'mong the distant hills!
Look now around, pale scholar! see the sheaves
Piled in the winnowed meadows, and away

Over the lovely landscape, mark the girls

Binding the corn!"

The twilight hastens on

Come let us watch from this enamell'd bank

For the first star! Shadows are crowding fast
Over the silent valleys, and the birds
Fly in strange order towards tomorrow's dawn!
Thy cheek, young student, hath a healthier hue-
Thy step is more elastic. It were well
That thou did'st oftener wander from the crowd,
Holding brief commune with the living things
That pant in nature's bosom. Time soon steals
The polish from young temples. Thou wilt be
Too soon among thy fathers, that thy strength
Should all be wasted in the mazy paths
Leading to wisdom's temple. Live awhile,
And gaze among the crowd in thoughtfulness!

* We cannot help putting this exquisite picture in Italics.

ED.

Soon wilt thou then grow weary of the palm,
And deem its glories idle. I have been
Long time a delver into hidden mines,
And find that glory is not happiness,
Nor wisdom, as the world unravels it,
The food for peace!

Philadelphia.

R. M.

LOOSE THOUGHTS ON BIOGRAPHY.

Ex vitio alterius sapiens emendat suum. PUBLIUS SYRUS.

MORAL maxims present to the mind in a condensed form a vast amount of practical wisdom. They are general rules for the regulation of moral conduct, derived from a cautious examination and comparison of the results of different dispositions of events, and the tendencies of dissimilar principles of action. They are an epitome of the knowledge, which the uniform experience of ages has collected, and which, after diligent sifting, has been universally adopted as unquestionable truth, and left on register for our improvement. But they possess little efficiency-do not exert that controlling agency over the tenor of our lives, which they ought to exercise, and without which they are to us unmeaning hieroglyphics. For though their intrinsic value, and the authority by which they are recommended, give them strong claims on our attention, they are seldom understood, or if the abstract proposition be assented to, are seldom appreciated; and this intrinsic value is immense, for they touch our daily interests, claim the right of governing those feelings which are daily brought into action, and come to us in a shape which renders their application easy and indubious; and their authority is high, for the unvarying experience of all ages attests their correctness, and amid the endless and numberless disputes respecting the nature of virtue and the foundation of moral distinctions, these only remain inharmed and unquestioned. We are taught them from our childhood, and grow up in the belief of them, and when they come before the mind, assent without hesitation, and almost without reflection to their truth, and go away and forget them. The proposition for example, that 'honesty is the best policy,' as it is evidenced by the observation of every man, and strictly logical inference from it is on all hands acknowledged to be true. But how few model their conduct on this principle. How few are there I mean, who maintain that severe integrity which shrinks more from the falsehood than from the impu

tation of it, which will not suffer itself to be seduced to the smallest deviation, by any prospects of emolument. And yet, where do we hear more frequently the above mentioned maxim than from those who sometimes make a compromise between duty and interest, and smother, for the sake of gain, the expostulating voice of conscience? The fact is that general principles seldom fasten on the mind, and become a part of our habitual train of thought, and incorporate themselves with our modes of action. Were this the case they would possess a mighty efficiency, and impart their complexion to our whole character. Now let these same truths be presented to us in a visible and palpable form; let them come in the shape of actions, and they acquire a mysterious and unfailing virtue; otherwise they would float in the mind inert and useless; but now they bring with them a vivid apprehension, and solemn and permanent conviction of their reality and importance, and operate with unwonted energy and effect.

In analyzing the two processes generated by truths in their abstract form, and when bodied forth in action, we notice this distinction. In the former case our conceptions are vague and confused; in the latter definite and vivid. This dimness of our conceptions results from the generality which is the essence of moral maxims. To this distinction we are disposed to refer the difference of effect produced by the two modes of contemplating truth. For we have observed that the man whose conduct is characterised by scrupulous rectitude and resolute consistency, usually possesses a clear and nicely discriminating perception of moral distinctions; while he whose course is marked by an unstable regard to truth and virtue, or a uniform neglect of the distinction, lives in a circle of perpetual moral occultation.

From these remarks we might infer the necessity of caution in the selection of associates; but the topic is too hackneyed, and the propriety of such a course too devious. We might also infer the necessity of caution in the selection of books. Apart from incidental remarks, which we may convert into means of self improvement, and apart from the knowledge we derive from its perusal, we find on laying down a volume, that a general impression remains on our minds, a new direction is given to our thoughts, or a new current of feeling is set in motion-an effect very analogous to that produced by our companions. None but base passions can be brought into action by the perusal of a work saturated or tinctured with pollution; while high and fervent aspirations after moral perfectness, are the result of an intimate communion with those etherial spirits, who seem to belong to a higher order of intelligences, and who sometimes deign to visit our world on a holy errand of love and mercy to lift our thoughts above the din, and vain imaginings of earth, to

our reason.

the contemplation of rich and ravishing and enduring realities. An intimacy with the writings of such men, produces not only a purification and elevation of our moral nature, but exalts and enlightens Our moral tendencies twine about our reason, and impede its operations and distort its conclusions; and the prejudices which these propensities almost necessarily engender discolor the objects of our reasonings and infect our reasonings themselves. But this moral exorcism-this casting out of the spirits of darkness within us, clears away the mistiness that clouded our intellectual vision, and confers a wider range, and stronger grasp, and keener subtility of thought. From the perusal of many works we derive only an accession of knowledge; the intellectual man grows like a crystal, by accretion. But such writings impart power. They go down into the secret chambers of the soul, and with mysterious incantations, break the spell that benumbed and 'prisoned up' its glorious faculties, and bid it put on its native panoply, and gird itself for the stern conflict. Some leave us in a state of sickly languishment. Some beckon us to untried and forbidden tracts, and leave us on the threshold, with no torch of evidence to guide us in our wanderings.

But we would confine our attention to the utility of a judicious selection of biographies. The doctrine we have endeavored to establish teaches the inefficacy of moral essays. Though this seems to us, a legitimate consequence, we would not interdict nor censure them. We believe them important auxiliaries to the cause of truth and virtue. For we deem it of the highest moment that the boundaries of right and wrong be clearly and definitively settled. The correctness of our conduct depends on the accuracy of our moral judgment, and if this judgment be not truly informed, there is an end of all propriety of action. Then we shall push our prejudices or first-formed and favorite notions too far; and shall narrow or widen the field of virtuous feeling.

The portraiture of a quality then, though it may illumine our reason may teach us where to go, does not possess intrinsically a renovating virtue-cannot stir up the deep feelings of the heart. Tell an unlettered man of the pleasure of philosophical investigation, of the rapture experienced on the discovery of a new train of reasoning or the developement of a new truth, and perchance he will be led to seek the enjoyment; but it will be the result of his confidence in your testimony, not of an appreciation of the delight you have described. But place in the hands of a youthful student, who can see nothing but barrenness in scientific pursuits, who manifests not (as in the other case supposed) an indifference merely, but a positive aversion to study-place in the hands of such an one, the memoirs of Milton, or Parr, or Jones, or White, the self devoted martyr of science; however listless he may be, the nature of the

VOL. I.-NO. IV.

33