making us an irreligious people. The human faculties to a certain extent naturally assimilate themselves to the objects of their constant contemplation. If they deal exclusively with earth, they become "earthy"-to this extent certainly, that they will exaggerate the importance of that on which they exclusively ponder, and deem comparatively worthless that which they neglect-a conspicuous example of which tendency we have in the standard objection to metaphysical study which has moved our author to its defence.

We are continually boasting of the conquests we are making over matter. Not only are the old sciences advancing to new acquisitions, but new sciences are continually starting into being, attesting fresh specific discoveries in the realms of physical nature. It remains to be seen whether in all this mind is triumphing over matter, or matter over mind. If the general effect is to absorb mind in material things— to render it oblivious to its own inherent greatness-negligent of its spiritual duties, insensible to its spiritual destiny;-if such is to be the general effect, physical science becomes the veriest foe of man. And such will be the effect, if no counteracting influence is brought into requisition. We believe that the present active, scientific age full of danger to the soul. And never, as it seems to us, has there been a period when the counteracting influence of the study of mind-metaphysical study-was so imperatively needed. There has ever been war between physiology and psychology. It does not become a Christian people to take sides with the enemy of their souls; and such an enemy, the warlike phase of physiology is, in no metaphorical sense. The peculiar dangers of the exclusive study of material phenomena are explained by Hamilton in words which cannot fail to carry conviction to every appreciating reader.

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"The study of mind is necessary to counterbalance and correct the influence of the study of matter; and this utility of Metaphysics rises in proportion to the progress of the natural sciences, and to the greater attention which they engross. An exclusive devotion to physical pursuits, exerts an evil influence in two ways. In the first place, it diverts from all notice of the phenomena of moral liberty, which are revealed to us in the recesses of the human mind alone; and it disqualifies from appreciating the import of these phenomena, even if presented,

by leaving uncultivated the finer power of psychological reflection, in the exclusive exercise of the faculties employed in the easier and more amusing observation of the external world. In the second place, by exhibiting merely the phenomena of matter and extension, it habituates us only to the contemplation of an order in which every thing is determined by the laws of a blind or mechanical necessity. Now, what is the inevitable tendency of this one-sided and exclusive study? That the student becomes a materialist, if he speculate at all. For, in the first place, he is familiar with the obtrusive facts of necessity, and is unaccustomed to develope into consciousness the more recondite facts of liberty; he is, therefore, disposed to disbelieve in the existence of phenomena whose reality he may deny, and whose possibility he cannot understand. At the same time, the love of unity, and the philosophical presumption against the multiplication of essences, determine him to reject the assumption of a second, and that an hypothetical, substance,-ignorant as he is of the reasons by which that assumption is legitimated. In the infancy of science, this tendency of physical study was not experienced. When men first turned their attention on the phenomena of nature, every event was viewed as a miracle, for every effect was considered as the operation of an intelligence. God was not exiled from the universe of matter; on the contrary, he was multiplied in proportion to its phenomena. As science advanced, the deities were gradually driven out; and long after the sublunary world had been disenchanted, they were left for a season in possession of the starry heavens. The movement of the celestial bodies, in which Kepler still saw the agency of a free intelligence, was at length by Newton resolved into a few mathematical principles; and at last even the irregularities which Newton was compelled to leave for the miraculous correction of the Deity, have been proved to require no supernatural interposition; for La Place has shown that all contingencies, past and future, in the heavens, find their explanation in the one fundamental law of gravitation. But the very contemplation of an order and adaptation so astonishing, joined to the knowledge that this order and adaptation are the necessary results of a brute mechanism,when acting upon minds which have not looked into themselves for the light of which the world without can only afford them the reflection, far from elevating them more than any other aspect of external creation to that inscrutable Being who reigns beyond and above the universe of nature, tends, on the contrary, to impress on them, with peculiar force, the conviction, that as the mechanism of nature can explain so much, the mechanism of nature can explain all." (pp. 25, 26.)

In carrying out our present purpose we have found it convenient-the book we have had under notice has compelled us to give special prominence to the labors of Sir William Hamilton. We do not, however, wish to be understood as giving any thing like an unqualified adhesion to his general philosophy. We now recommend Hamilton as a disciplinarian. In this particular we are confident that he has no superior. Whatever may be the dogmatic value of his speculations, the value of the mental process process which every mind must go through in order to appreciate his speculations, can admit of no dispute. As respects the philosophy of Hamilton, considered in itself, our present purpose does not call for the statement of an opinion one way or another. We may, however, by way of digression, express the belief that it is destined to take its turn, with all other systems of speculative thought, in being subjected to the tests of criticism. It has not been given to any one mind, however capacious or however erudite, to give the world a complete or a perfect system of doctrines on a subject so subtile, so difficult of investigation, as the mind of man. All that we are permitted to expect of any single thinker, is an approximation towards such a result. That criticism will pare away the bulk of Hamilton's speculations-that it will eliminate therefrom many errors, it would be irrational not to expect. In fact, this very work is now going on. And it is an instructive fact, as exhibiting the soundness of Hamilton's method as a teacher, that the most effective assaults upon certain doctrines in the system of Hamilton, come from those who have been his pupils-those, in fact, on whom the mantle of his greatness is considered to have fallen. That the issue will show a large residuum of truth-of what every one who verifies the process of thinking which has led to it, will acknowledge to be truth-we are firmly persuaded. More than this we must not expect of the labors of any one thinker, however resplendent his gifts.

Having said thus much of Hamilton's philosophy, it seems hardly necessary to disclaim any intention of submitting to Hamilton himself as an authority. We have already seen, that in philosophical matters there can be no authority. It is the peculiar characteristic of speculative thought, that its results cannot be taken upon testimony-cannot be thus taken, even though our mental indolence would tempt us to

receive them in this way, were it possible to do so. Let it always be remembered that the process of reaching thought is of more importance than the thought itself, and that every student must verify in his own mental experience every speculative doctrine before he can intelligibly avow it; and the impropriety, we may say the impossibility, of relying on authorities-however eminent-will be at once felt.

In conclusion, we have only to express the hope that what we have now submitted in behalf of speculative pursuits, will not be without influence in calling a proper degree of attention to a noble study. The study of mind-metaphysical study-has for its subject the divine image in man, the greatest subject within the human grasp. But the dignity of the subject is second in importance as compared with its practical efficiency as furnishing the occasion of the severest mental energy, the surest and highest development of the essential attributes of manhood. And we have seen its indispensible agency towards the attainment of a complete theology-the engagement of religious conviction and trust the acknowledgment of a Divine Ruler not less holy and benevolent than intelligent and powerful. Let these considerations, strengthened by the perception that exclusive material research is in the end degrading to the soul, and destructive of pure religious faith and life, serve as an incentive to give to the study of mind that judicious, that properly balanced attention, which-for fresh students certainly-is rendered so largely practicable by the appearance of the noble volume, which has suggested to us our present theme, and in no small measure furnished us the material for its treatment.

G. H. E.

ART. XVII.

Novels.

WHAT was said of theatres in the late discussion concern-· ing amusements, is equally applicable to novels. If we must have theatres among us, it is well to have the matter looked

into; so that instead of their being a source of immorality, they may be rendered a healthy and profitable recreation for the mind. So, if we must have novels among us, if, as they always have occupied, it is to be presumed they will always continue to occupy, a great deal of the time and attention both of old and young, it is certainly well that the subject of their composition be duly considered, and their importance properly estimated.

The words, novel and romance, though often used as synonymous, are different forms of fictitious writing. The romance is the elder sister of the novel. The former is an ancient, stately dame, fond of ceremony, with a weakness for high-sounding names and titles, delighting in martial deeds and tournaments, fond of knights and squires and a goodly retinue, with a predilection for the marvellous and wonderful. Her origin is of very ancient date, as far back as the invention of the art of writing, at least; and even before that time, fables and traditions were handed down from generation to generation, and these fables and traditions were often nothing more nor less than unwritten

romances.

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Among the Orientals, with their fervid imaginations, this kind of writing flourished luxuriantly; and the Greek tales handed down to us, and the historical romances composed during the decline of the Roman Empire, show that the romance was much favored at that time. Even in the dark ages the art was not lost; indeed, from this time forward, it seems to have flourished with greater vigor than ever. number of things combined at this time to favor it. The custom of deciding causes of justice and honor by single combat, the system of chivalry, the gallantry of knights-errant, the beauty of distressed ladies, pages, dragons, and enchanted castles, the songs of the troubadours, the holy zeal of the crusaders, the battle of the cross and the crescent, were rich subjects for the romance writer. It is said to have been at the time of the troubadours, that this style of writing received the name of romance; a name derived from the word Roman, the language in which the stories of the troubadours were related.

But as time passed on, the tournament, the single combat, the song of the troubadours, the belief in enchanted castles died away. Gradually the spirit of the old, stately