REVIEW S. siderable previous experience by which to measure the qualities of new objects, and to direct the eye at once to the most salient points of a vast field; so that we have a book supplying no trivial contribution towards an exposition of our alter idem on the opposite shore. It is a tome easily read; broken up, in modern style, into chapters so short as constantly to cheer you with the conviction that you are getting on, and, without the inanity of a minute journal, or the personalities of a family letter, giving you a lively and definite notion of the thing or group of things which the title of the section led you to anticipate. There is, of course, no foreign country in which it is so easy for a Briton to feel himself at home. The language, and above all the easy manner, at once make you welcome : "Self-possessed quiet independence of manner seems common to all ranks. No one looks bold or forward, for every one is doing what it becomes him, in his position, to do. One never sees the supercilious stare of inquiry which seems to ask, 'Who are you?' 'Do you belong to our set,' 'Are you one of us?' American deportment between persons of different ranks derives from its republican institutions a healthy freedom and at the same time a wholesome restraint. There is no order of things more calculated to give native character fair play, and native dignity its due weight. I never saw this exhibited more to my taste than in the mistress of a large dairy in one of these mountain farms. She was tall, thin, and rather delicate in appearance, yet she managed all the skilful parts of the work with her own hands. America as I found it. By the Author of "A Memoir of Mary Lundie Duncan." Nisbet and Co. 12mo. 1852. Pp. xii. 380. WE cannot complain of the rarity of books of this class. No country has formed such an admirable subject for the descriptive powers of travellers and the philosophic speculations of solitary students. But we shall not quarrel with such authors so long as their productions are the result of accurate observation and of sound thought. The same object presents itself in so many distinct aspects to different minds that the descriptions must be exceedingly numerous before it can be asserted that all its phases have been placed upon record. Stuart gives us the impressions of a well-educated man of the world; Lyell, the facts which strike a scientific observer; and the lamented Mackay, the conclusions of the political economist, while the host of less marked tourists reflect rays as varied as their several characters, attainments, and opportunities. The lady who pens this volume must have visited New England under favourable auspices, as the biographical work of which the name appears on this titlepage had previously delighted thousands there, as it has done at home. The field in which she expatiated was, therefore, not the ordinary one of railway, steamer, and hotel, but of private abodes, domestic merry-makings, quiet intellectual discussions, and all the manifestations of the religious life. To the phenomena thus exhibited she brings a mind full of genial sympathy with all forms of character; a relish of the humorous blending with an affinity to the sad, together with a con We saw many chceses as large as those which | another of meal. This style of things makes itself visible in the manner of supporting ministers, particularly in new settlements where money is scarce. We confess our liking to something more certain and less showy; but our oldworld notions may be wrong. At all events the "Bee," as the ceremonial is called, is not unwelcome to the rural minister. On a certain day the people invite themselves en masse to the manse, parsonage, or "shieling," of the humble man, and as many as its four walls can contain enjoy a repast together, join in a social religious service, and depart. "Then the family explore the house which had been given up to the friendly invaders. They have been in the larder, and there have left such marks as a side of bacon, a cask of butter, some fine cheeses. They have been in the garret and deposited a load or two of flour, and a bag of buck-wheat, and They have been in the study and placed an easy chair, and a rug before it, for their pastor has left life's meridian behind him. They have been in the pantry, and left a barrel of sugar, a chest of tea, and a cask of molasses. The children find with surprise a nice new great coat hanging in the hall, as if it were quite at home. And on mamma's bed a web to make frocks, a beautiful new gown and cloak, and a piece for jackets for the boys. In the midst of all the exclamations of joyful surprise and grateful conjecture as to the individual donors, the good man steps to the garden to breathe more freely under this load of kindness, when lo! his wood-house is packed full of winter fuel, and the last waggoner stands at a loss, not finding room for his load. 'Take it to my neighbour the baptist minister down the hill there,' says the grateful pastor. 'I fear he is hardly so richly provided for as I am, and I am as much obliged to my friend as if I had burnt every cord of it myself." "This, Oh! tithe-paying people of England, is 'A Bee!' How sweetly could many of your generous hearts fall into the humour of the country, and contribute your own pot of honey, and your blessing with it!" This energetic friendliness exhibits itself in more extended forms in the benevolent institutions which are the chief ornaments of New England. What has been largely told us on this subject by other writers is here confirmed. Societies meet the needy emigrant the moment he is flung upon the shore, helping him "down East," or "out West," to regions where industry meets its reward; institutions afford education to the orphan, an asylum to the friendless, a refuge to the delinquent, and a home to the seaman of all lands. Prisons have been improved by all the experience of Europe, and the pupil has in many points, well deserving of attention, gone far in advance of the instructor. How perplexing, in the midst of all this philanthropy, the treatment of the coloured race, both bond and free! "It was the only subject on which I saw a tendency to a ruffle on the sunny surface of American temper, and reminded me of Tom Moore's anecdote of an interview he had with Byron. Byron seemed never to have forgiven the providence which had disfigured his otherwise beautiful person, by a club-foot. While the poets conversed the eye of the Irish lyrist rested on the foot. The saturnine lord observed it and his countenance darkened. Poor Tom became aware, and evaded a bitter burst, by making his eyes wander carelessly over the whole person as if he had not specially marked the foot, and gradually the thunder cloud dispersed and sunshine returned. Every nation has its clubfoot-some have two-some are perfect centipedes in deformities. Happy America, if she have but one! It is the more painfully deforming but will be more easily remedied. Even young ladies seem expert tacticians on this subject, and carry the war into the enemy's camp with great keenness. When a simple inquiry is made, not by an enemy, but a true friend, they accuse England of the cruelties perpetrated in Manchester on the manufacturers of cotton cloth as being worse than those inflicted on negroes who raise the raw material. They hardly believe when told that these people are free, that if they do not like one master they can engage with another, that they receive wages for their work, and if oppressed or injured they can bring the oppressor before a magistrate. If, however, convinced that this is not a point where they can make a breach in the wall of the British constitution, they will assail you on the wrongs of Ireland. Should the truth that Ireland has been misgoverned by reason of its popish preferences be conceded, they triumph and say it does not become us to criticize slavery; as if evils on one side of the Atlantic could neutralize those on the other-or as if evils in our government of Ireland-the remedy of which has cost Britain millions of gold, and more than milions of ingenuity, trouble, and disappointment-ought to seal up our hearts against every benevolent sentiment in reference to the African race, or shut us out from the natural desire of information as to the condition of one branch of the human species." The practical wrongs which every where meet the eye, awaken even in gentle hearts deep thoughts of retaliation which our readers can forgive :— "The day and the scene were lovely as I sat on the dock at Poughkeepsie, waiting for the steamer, yet a brief exhibition of what appeared too common to draw the attention of others filled me with indignation and grief. A pleasant looking coloured youth, dressed neatly in clean summer clothing, leaned over the rails, looking down upon the water. Suddenly a dirty, ragged, vulgar fellow, perhaps jealous that a black man should look so much more respectable than himself, came up and tried to fasten a quarrel on him, which the dark man meekly evaded. The fellow struck him, and when still the injured dark man kept the peace, and turned his face to the water, the fellow kicked him and went away triumphing. No one laughed with him as I was pleased to observe; but no one said, 'Why do you insult this inoffensive man?' He saw there was none to take his part. Had I been a man, I think the insolent fellow would have got a washing in the Hudson. It would have been an honour to have been carried before a magistrate for such a trespass. O America! country of freemen, beware of laying up a store He to whom vengeance belongs may be trusted. It is impossible that, under his government, wrongs so vast should go unpunished, and whatever may be in reserve, the present penalty is by no means trifling. We remember being struck with Sir Charles Lyell's curious remark upon the Southern States. "There appears to be no place in society for poor whites." Our authoress expands and justifies this laconicism. of such injuries. The God of the black | find herself called upon to exercise the man and the white is a God of judg- offices and wisdom of age, being looked ment, and does not forget your good up to by a band of people utterly undeeds and your evil." used to confide in themselves and each other. Though a coloured nurse watch by the bed of the sick domestic slave, the lady must drop the medicine. She must look upon the time-piece for the moment to administer it. She, though at midnight or early morning hours, may be awakened to give the potion. She must not only provide clothes for her numerous family, which has no provident habit because it is untrusted, but she may find it necessary to shape them, and fix the seams for the overgrown children who can with needle and thread be taught to fasten them together. Is she free? I speak not of her moral, but of her mere physical condition. Does she not discover that she has married into bondage? Some of the most elegant, refined, intelligent, princess-like women that I have met with in the United States, were such. They have learnt to be waited upon, to have their slightest wish attended to, and withal, because they, with woman's nature, are pitiful to the sick and feeble, they have exercised much benevolence. They have, mayhap, endured much in being aware of cruelties which they had not power to mitigate. All this has refined their characters, still they are not Cornelias and Portias, fit mothers for the sons of a republic, they are refined into amiable despots, and fit mothers for the owners of slaves." "When all things are fairly weighed," says she, "it appears that the slave holder is as little really a freeman as is the slave. His system violates the eternal principles of justice, and consequently he dare not suffer the vicinity of the free negro, however just his claim to be there, or however it might advantage himself. Such an exhibition of liberty might spoil his gang. He dare not admit the instructor, lest the aurora of knowledge dawning afar should infuse into his gang some idea of a life above that of the passive brute. He dare not indulge even one favourite and promising coloured man with education, lest his skill and knowledge should make others discontented. The freedom of the press cannot exist where he is. Rome is not more exact in her expurgated lists of books and newspapers than is the legislature in a slave state. Nay, he must lord it over free states, that he may the more easily keep his own in bondage. Is he then a freeman, or is he not rather the slave of a most evil and unhappy system? Should a young lady from a free state, without sufficient knowledge of how matters stand, become the wife of a Southerner, she, poor inexperienced child, if she carry conscience and humanity with her, may be alarmed to VOL. XV.-FOURTH SERIES. No candid American can condemn the spirit of these strictures, and if all our travellers had been at once as bold and as tender, we should have had less to regret in the existing condition of the sister land. It is because it is so difficult successfully to touch a theme allied to such violent prejudices that we value every syllable wisely said upon it, and when we consider the position which this writer appears to 3 т have occupied, when we perceive that she was continually surrounded by fastidious intellectual circles, when we bear in mind that she must have penned this work under the consciousness that she had a reputation to maintain, and that every word would be perused by multitudes (an unmutilated copy published in New York now lies before us) who admired her other writings, we feel bound to acknowledge a debt of gratitude for her fidelity. Our readers will not regret taking the volume with them to the sea-side or to their rambles among autumnal woods. The Beauties of the Bible. An Argument for Inspiration. In Ten Lectures. By WILLIAM LEASK. London: Partridge of the works whose titles appear at the head of this notice. This unity of design, rather than any similarity in their execution, leads us to class them together. The author of "The Beauties of the Bible" is now well known as a writer of books, the opinion of some being that while on the whole he always writes well, yet he might write better if he wrote less. We are of this way of thinking ourselves. The work before us originated in a course of lectures delivered in that part of the neighbourhood of London which is the scene of the author's ministerial labours. The lectures having been delivered he was requested by the audience to publish them; and a "spontaneous subscription for a considerable number of copies" having been raised, he felt that "non-compliance would have been uncourteous and unbecoming." The subjects discussed are the structure of the and Oakey, 34, Paternoster Row, &c. Heroes of the Bible; or, Sketches of Scripture Characters. By W. S. EDWARDS, Congregational Chapel, City Road. Lon-bible-its poetry-dreams-biography don: John Snow, 35, Paternoster Row. THE most wonderful book in the world is the bible. Whether we regard the circumstances under which it was written its subsequent history-the statements it contains, or the influence these statements have exercised over the present and future of man, it must be considered as THE BOOK. No other volume attracts so much attention or excites such intense interest in our own times. Its enemies endeavour in every possible way to depreciate its character and disprove its claims. Its friends, by setting forth its historical value-its poetical beauties-its profound wisdom-its unparalleled importance as a revelation from God to man-and its adaptation to all the conditions of our race, seek to invest it with strong attractions and establish it as the highest standard of appeal in all matters spiritual and eternal. To this latter class belong the writers -morality-parables predictionsmiracles-design-and destiny. The Lectures most to our mind are those on the Biography and Morality of the Bible. We regret that the same amount of thought as they exhibit has not been bestowed on some others of prime importance. With the general views expressed in the work we fully agree, taking exception, however, to the pre-millennialism of the Lecture on Parables, and the following statement in that on Miracles :-"I look upon the miracles which Jesus performed when he was on earth as specimens on a small scale of the glorious deeds which he will perform on a magnificent scale when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." As "an argument for inspiration," these Lectures will serve to increase the faith and reverence of those who already love the bible; and in cases where their perusal may not convince they cannot fail to instruct and please. |