zodiacal circle which the sun has drawn around the earth, but follows rather the progress of the pole; and man, in his noblest development, is found on the north side of the earth, his head pointed, not towards the sun, but to that mysterious pole-star hidden in the darkness of old night. If he enters the region of the equator, he becomes brute-like, as have the Negroes, the Malays, and the West Indians; and as little is he the creature of the seasons, for in his principal intellectual and animal functions he is independent of the position of the sun. "All this proves that man, as the quintessence of the earth, has received of that oldest and star-like earth power which is independent of the sun, or indeed hostile to it. And hence the wonderful contrariety we find in men, and in their history, is the result of predisposing natural causes. "Whatever connexion may exist between the powers that operate on our planet; on the one hand, of the universal stellar and cosmal influenceson the other, of the individual solar influence; still our planet preserves its integrity in its isolation in the freedom of space, and has, as it were, emancipated itself. Never have the inhabitants of other heavenly bodies come down to earth, nor any of its inhabitants ascended. If higher powers operate in them, those powers have transmigrated here into an earthly nature; and though they may originally have been widely separated from each other, here they have both become earthly flesh one child of two dissimilar parents. The earth-child of the star-night and of the sun-has her own physiognomy, her own life, and her own heart's pulse, and must be considered, along with mankind and his history, as one whole; nay, in some degree as a characteristic individuality, how strangely soever the double nature of the parents is changed in it.

"This earth-unity, this earth-character, this earth-principle, gives to all earthly nature its regulated order, and also to mankind and to their history. It is a particular seed from which this natural form and this his torical sequence must necessarily spring. Another seed, in other heavenly bodies, produces a nature cognate perhaps with ours, but of a different organization, finer or coarser,

and a history richer or poorer than ours, as the beings inhabiting them may be higher or humbler than we.

"As nothing in our world seems grouped together without design, and as in the mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms this grouping arises from relationship and family resemblance; so there seems a certain family connexion to exist between the earth and the other planets, which form between them but one individual system, whose limbs and existence are subjected to one law.

"This law of existence, which the planets have in common, is most observable in their regular revolutions round the sun, and must have had a fixed cause and origin. And perhaps, as being nearer to this beginning, the memory of this common connexion, i. e. of the earth and the other planets, was more vivid among the first generations of men; nor is it unlikely that, towards the conclusion, it will again be more visible. In the legends and religious systems of the oldest nations, the stars and the harmony of the planets hold a prominent place, and the ancient notion that the life of all the planets began while they were in a certain position or constellation; and that, after they shall have finished their assigned circuits, they will revert to that constellation again, is, in an astronomical sense, perfectly reasonable; and as, indeed, every thing finite must have a beginning and an end, the notion seems indubitable. But over the duration of this period, and over the connexion between the astronomical and the historical, between the alternation of stars and of events, human reason has often puzzled itself, and has never yet seen its way clearly, and will find it difficult to do so; for history, among its other good qualities, has this, that it never allows itself to be fixed beforehand, but, with its wondrous revelations, constantly strikes us with surprise."

And here ends the Astronomical Problem of a philosophical historian, of what Thomas Carlyle calls " this nineteenth century of time." But our history is only a portion of the history of Georgium Sidus and Mars; that the earth was originally

on more familiar terms with her neighbours, and probably will become intimate with them again; that people have never yet found out-either in the plains of Chaldea or the tents of the Gypsies-the influence of the stars on human events; and that even Francis Moore, physician, will not easily do so, because history likes to astonish! All this is conveyed in the first department of this work, of which we have given a larger specimen than we shall do of the succeeding problems, as we wished the reader to see with his own eyes the struggle to be original and startling, which, as may naturally be expected, ends in being childish and absurd.

We were in hopes that in the next, or Theological Problem, we should have something more tangible than such vague wool-gathering among the stars; but when the fit comes on him, it is not so easy to bring such an ethereal voyager down to common sense and this plodding world. The third paragraph is somewhat odd. "There exists, however, an extraordinary resemblance between astronomy and theology.” Some "wicked allusion," we thought, to the Inquisition and Galileo. But such trivial matters never entered into the author's head. "As astronomy," he continues, "points out to us a tendency of the earthly to ascend beyond the solar circle into infinite space, so theology points out to us a tendency which leads beyond this narrow sphere of existence into infinite time, or eternity; and as that corporeal spacetendency was attached to the north south polarity of the earth's axis, which stands immovably firm in spite of the east-west action of the sun, so also we perceive that each individual's path intersects, in a perpendicular direction, the horizontal stream of earthly history, and seeks its goal upwards in the Deity.

"History moves in an horizontal line, from Adam right onwards to the end of time. Each individual, however, only enters on this line to leave it immediately, and seek his loftier des. tiny in a higher existence.

"An irrepressible feeling tells us we struggle upwards from this paltry world into an immortality in the great eternal realm of spirits. But the connexion between that future life and our present state, is as much hidden from us as the connexion between the external firmament and this miserable planet. We must confine our efforts to the present life, and not interfere

with another. We are immortal, that we may see and learn more in the world to come; but here all we can see, and all we can learn, is of the earth, earthy. Much has been said about the connexion of this life with a future, and indeed with a past. The most ancient nations, as do still the people of Eastern Asia, imagined we were fallen angels,-beings condemn. ed for their crimes to inhabit this mortal body. Others imagined we were endowed with freedom of will; and by virtue or vice could choose between heaven and hell. This grand and happy view began, along with all spirited and chivalrous life, among the Persians, and attained its full triumph in Christianity. But in this faith there is nothing real except the effect it has on us, in so far as it inspires us to great deeds and with noble thoughts. Nothing is more foolish than from our earthly state, and with our proportionately contemptible intellects, to try to find out the depths of the divinity, and of the infinite realm of spirits. That depth is as immeasurable by our spiritual vision, as the starry heaven is to our bodily eyes. But the relation man bears to God, eternity, and a future life, has nearly the same weight and influence on his history, as the relation which the earth's axis bears to the heaven of stars, has upon terrestrial nature. If the magnetic attraction of the north pole of the heavens did not produce a counteraction to the solar influence, the whole earth would be nothing but the slave of the sun; if that spiritual attraction which conducts man into the lofty ideal did not exist, history would be nothing but the slave of sensual nature, man would be nothing but an animal. Notwithstanding the interest we necessarily take in the concerns of the world, still there is always something apart from us, as it were, in all our temporal joys and sorrows; and a gentle monitor whispers to us of something higher. It is in this suggestion that Christianity finds its influence. It dashed to atoms the heathenism of old days, in which the sun drew his spiritual circle round the world; and clear, amid the darkness of night, rose up that star which was the handwriting of Heaven. But Christianity has become crumpled; the star has been hidden in clouds, and so it seems impossible that there ever should be fulfilled on this side of the grave a prophecy of rest and happiness, which is expressly limited to the other world. Yes, only in the other world! for it is vain to hope for the kingdom of a thousand years, the republic of virtues - Utopia! The struggle will still go on, and grow loftier as it continues; but in the struggle we shall succumb-our victory will not be here-our triumph will be above. As death overcomes

all physical existence here below, so will evil overcome all moral good. 'Tis only in the struggle that man ennobles himself, and his wondrous history is perfected. But the hostile principle conquers him at last, and therein alone lies the majestic beauty, the tragic charm of history. Without this appalling catastrophe history would be child's-play, a flat, unprofitable tale. No, there pervades her a deeper earnest; and as only the boldest and longest struggle is worthy of her, so also is only the end which the Apocalypse reveals. The earth will not go to sleep in peace and awake in heaven; she will be destroyed in glowing fire. Men will not be perfect in virtue, wisdom, and felicity, and be wafted, like Elijah, to heaven without knowing death; they will go on multiplying themselves without end; and all at once, insanely pouring out their strength in colossal depravity, they will expire amid the terrors of nature, in universal slaughter, when the last days shall come."

And this is the "Theological Problem" of a learned inhabitant of Christendom, though we cannot call him a disciple of Christianity. But we will not waste another drop of our good black ink (blue we hold to be a humbug) on such drivelling. Proceed we to the Mythological Problem, and see if he makes any sense out of fable, now that he has made such miserable nonsense out of the truth. But, alas! alas! before we get many pages into his mythological lucubrations, we find them every whit as ludicrous as his theology.

"The small portion of the older legends which can be considered as really historical, must be tried by the universal laws of nature and reason before it obtains our belief. The most interesting to us are those of Paradise and the first human pair. According to the Indian legend, the earth was in

NO. COXCII. VOL, XLVII,

the beginning covered with water till it gradually raised itself, and the summit of the mountain Meru (it retains the name still, and is the south-western point of the Himalaya range) first made its appearance. This was the Paradise where the first human pair were placed; - originally an island till the rest of the continent uprose, and then it sent forth the four rivers of Paradise, (the four well-known great rivers of Asia.)

"With this the Mosaic legend agrees, as do the Persian, Greek, and Scandinavian. The legends of all Western nations point towards the original sacred mountain in the East. The Chinese legend, in exact agreement with this, points to this mountain in the West, because the Himalaya lies westward from China. In short, this Indian legend of the elevation of the earth from the water, constantly recurs among most of the ancient nations.

"To this natural history has nothing to oppose. The form of the valleys over the whole earth, and petrified aquatic animals discovered on the loftiest mountains, are still proofs that the earth was originally covered by the waters. And as the Himalaya is really the highest mountain, and lies in the centre of the broadest and oldest continent; and as the plains beneath it are the home of all domestic animals necessary to man, and of all kinds of vegetable food, this oldest of all popular legends, when viewed in this light, derives additional confirmation.

"The mythos also of Paradise is still one and the same. Many of the ancient nations have, no doubt, treated it in a childish and almost ludicrous manner. Wherever polytheism was established, the first man is lost in a crowd of gods and deified animals, and is crushed by the weight of symbolical monsters.

"It is only the Mosaic legend which has conceived the idea, at once lovely and majestic, of a beginning, a first childhood of the human race. The first man! a captivating, most important, inexhaustible thought. How rich in all his relations to God, his Creator! -to Nature, his cradle, his theatre, his grave! - to the great human family, his children! - and to their tremendous history! In all these relations the Mosaic legend satisfies at once the enquiries of the deepest

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mysticism, and of the plainest understanding.

"In all other legends the first man appears dependent upon nature; in the Bible alone he is represented as nature's lord. Adam gives names to all creatures: all creatures obey him till, by sin, he falls under the dominion of the powers of nature.

"The Mosaic legend connects the first hostile separation of mankind immediately with the first pair. The eldest born of men murders his brother, and wanders with the mark of Cain upon his brow into distant regions. Is there not in this mythos, however deeply hidden, a trace of the first mysterious division into the diffe. rent races of mankind? It is of little importance to enquire whether the legend of Noah be a totally new one, or only altered from that of Adam. To us it is of no manner of consequence whether the world began to be peopled by one or by the other. As soon as history becomes a little clear, we find mankind already divided into five great families, which answer to the five great portions of the world, and having already adapted themselves to the climates; the white race in Europe and Western Asia, the yellow in Eastern Asia, the red in America, the black in Africa, and the brown in Southern Asia and Australia. The later dispersions at the Tower of Babel, at the destruction of Troy, and at the oppression of Dacia, whatever their effects may have been, belong only to the white Caucasian races, and to a recent period. But all this gives no explanation of the causes of the differences between the races; and as long as we remain ignorant of them, all those tales and legends can only be regarded as memorials of other separations with in the white race itself. Here, then, we must summon the natural sciences to our aid; for all legends must be tried by geography and physiology." The fourth, or Genealogical Problem, accordingly commences with an enquiry into the effects of climate in altering the colour; then, as to whether it is probable that the Fall had any influence in making mankind black; and after suggesting an original solution of the difficulty, by supposing it not impossible that this diversity of colour was originally implanted in Adam's organization, and took some time to develop itself-as

many new faculties seem to make their appearance from time to time, (such, for instance, as animal magnetism,) while others disappear, he honestly confesses, that the difference of the races continues as great an enigma as the origin of the human race itself. But our worthy friend likes it all the better on account of its being an enigma; being gentleman only inferior to Billy Black in finding out a puzzle. And the following short sentence soon gave us note of preparation for another of his flights. "Here, then, we must again have re. course to astronomy" - To astronomy, to discover why there are niggers in Africa? - Shiver me! what will the fellow do next?

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"Let us remember the great astronomical opposition of an earth-power north and south, to a sun-power east and west, and we shall find the same opposition recurring in the development of mankind on the earth. Strictly speaking, there are only two positively opposed races of men, the black and the white. But the whites are evidently children of the north, under the influence of the great fixedstar heaven; under the law of a higher world regulation, endowed with spirit and activity, and, so far from submitting to the mere power of nature, that they have, through the whole course of history, aimed at making themselves independent of it. The blacks, on the other hand, are children of the south, under the influence of the sun, eternally subjected to the animal desires, without self-consciousness-without historical recollections - without an object of endeavour, and living but for the morrow.

"The third great family is the yellow-Mongol-Chinese.

"If the blacks represent the sun, and the whites the great fixed-star heaven, the Mongols would seem to be the earthly representatives of the moon. There is something about them grey, pallid, and faded, and isolation is their peculiar characteristic. In the midst of the world, they make up a little world of their own, perfectly detached and separate. But this little world, although perfect in itself, is only a shadow of the rest a lifeless, cold imitation. In physical conformation, the Mongols are even less different from the whites than are the blacks. And on the difference between these three races, the legend of the three sons of Noah may be founded. The Negroes, indeed, have a legend of the three brothers, and they expressly refer to them the white, the yellow, and the black races of mankind. The two other principal families may have arisen from admixtures of the other three. The brown Malays, from a junction between the blacks with the Indians and Chinese. The red Americans appear also to be a kind of mulattoes, a combination of the Mongol and Malayan races, and probably also of the Gauls, Finns, and Wendæ, who are undoubtedly of Indian origin, and may have peopled the north of Europe and Asia in the earliest times, and have passed over, via Greenland, to America.

"The coloured races have certain points in common, notwithstanding the differences that are to be found among them. I allude not only to the darkness of their colour, but to a corresponding darkness and contractedness of the understanding. The stereotype character of earthly nature, under the annually recurring influence of the sun, is shown in their whole life and bearing. They either have no history at all, and have made no progress towards a higher civilisation for thousands of years or they remain on a very low step of civilisation, and have hindered the farther improvement of their descendants. The first holds good of the Negroes-and the last of the Mongols.

"Europe, from its peninsular shape, is particularly adapted for maritime pursuits, and this led her to make conquests in other quarters of the world. The Dutch-Roman races (the Portuguese, Spaniards, Hollanders, French and English) colonized all America, and made themselves masters of the coasts of Africa and all the Australian islands. With this commenced a new intermixture of the white and coloured races. A great discovery was made in the course of these commixtures, namely, that though they take place in equal quantity, the quality is in favour of the whites. If, for example, ten whites and ten blacks unite, the descendants in the eighth generation will be white. It has also been observed, that the white mulattoes of the eighth generation surpass their progenitors on both sides in every re

spect; they attain the pure complexion, noble sentiments, and lofty spirit of the whites; and, at the same time, have the plastic forms and sound health of the dark races. May not the splendid qualities of the Greeks and Romans have arisen from a similar combination of the Thracian and Semitic families?

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"It may be asked whether, at some future time, the rest of the world may not be flooded with Europeans from the East Indies, from the Cape, and from Botany Bay, and by this means (though it may take hundreds of years in the performance) a universal commixture take place, as it has in America? Or whether there may not occur a reaction of the original coloured inhabitants against the colonists-and in that event, whether those coloured races would remain, as hitherto, in their lethargic stupidity, or, of their own accord, would embrace Christianity and European civilisation? It would be a strange phenomenon in the history of the world if the rigid crust of those ancient nations were to soften all at once, and after remaining immovable for six thousand years, they were instantaneously (as by the touch of magic wand) to be endowed with the soul of the white races. do not believe it. I believe rather that the final complete triumph of Christianity and of civilisation will be the consequence of an entire fusion of the whites and blacks. Australia must speedily have the same fate as America has had. There the aborigines are thinly scattered, and cannot resist the aggressions of the trading colonists, who will go on increasing rapidly as the Indian trade acquires additional expansion through the prosperity of the American States -the emancipation of the East Indies-and the extending colonization of the Cape. Africa will soon follow. The time is not far distant when Northern Africa will be subject to Europeans. And Egypt also must in future play a distinguished part, either by the restoration of an Arab kingdom, or by European conquest; and colonization will go forward slowly, but surely, from the Cape. The Negro tribes in the interior seem incapable of offering any effectual opposition, and will sooner or later be reduced to the same situation as the

North American Indians.