once all such trash, or bring it speedily to the trial of the true standard. There should be an early caution enforced, upon the danger of admitting ridicule in any case as the test of what is right or true. The young are oftener laughed out of a virtuous principle than persuaded seriously to abandon it. Let there be cherished in them with unabating vigilance a firmness of purpose, which can hold out in devotion to the right singly against all with whom they are wont most to sympathize. Be not too lavish of your own expressions of authority as a means of effecting a moral decision in cases where they doubt; and when their sense of what truth and virtue exacted may have left them alone, and the pain of desertion is keen within them, be not too eager to apply your soothing assurances to the hurt spirit, but leave it to reap the whole benefit of solitary self-reliance, and to taste its enviable recompense. There is danger in moral culture that there shall be an improper interference with that best of all methods of improvement the discipline of oneself; too early the foundation of this can hardly be laid, its necessity can

never cease.

Familiarity with moral beauty supposes intimate acquaintance with the finest specimens of it. These, as they lie on the page of history, or are more nearly disclosed in biographical narrative, or yet more closely and movingly presented in the living characters around us, should be the frequent, untiring study of the aspirant for the crown of moral excellence. And they should be more especially Christian exemplars. The hero of classic story is not the model we can wish to hold up for youthful imitation, although none who understand them would wish to exclude from all attention the highest forms of virtue known in the characters of ancient heathens. An exercise, worthy of much consideration and likely to promote the formation of correct judgments and tastes of a moral kind, is the minute and careful comparison of the best of the fruits of primitive culture, with the higher instances of the efficiency of Christian nurture.

But as all virtue is often learned most effectually by being witnessed in a life, whose course our own eyes have traced, let the young be solicited to give preference to associates whom their consciences, as well as their hearts, can most approve. Let them mark, with a desire to understand, to feel, and to appreciate the excellence with which it pleases God to VOL. XXIII. 3D S. VOL. V. NO. II.

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bless and adorn their own immediate sphere. Rome trained her youthful sons to desire as a delight, and esteem as an honor, admission to the presence and converse of her glorious chiefs. To covet the society and relish the wisdom of the excellent among their elders, is an omen for good in all young men. Reverence for age is itself a virtue. Reverence for moral worth in every period is a greater still. We need have more, much more, of them both. The tendency of our times is to their opposites. Independence of character and spirit, which we love, demands no sacrifice, surely, of that deference and even homage, to which nature herself prompts the feeble in virtue in presence of the strong in goodness, the inexperienced youth, with whose most passionate and resolute devotedness to high aims there must mingle still so many follies, towards those who have gathered the trophies of victorious virtue in the conflicts of a long life. It is when the soul is bowed down most humbly in acknowledgement of superior worth, it reveals most clearly the dawnings of a like excellence in itself.

Our limits demand that these remarks close, and we forbear the extension of them to other kindred topics. The aim of all we have offered has been to hold up the love of excellence in its widest acceptation, and connected with the whole nature of man in all its relations, as the grand moral lever, which must be in continual use in education; and the inspiring motive which shall give to every study, pursuit, and aim in life, what nothing else can confer,-a dignity and a charm without which all effort droops, all ambition degenerates, all attachment becomes sordid.

E. Q. S.

ART. VI.

Society in America. By HARRIET MARTINEAU, Author of "Illustrations of Political Economy." In Two Volumes. Second Edition. New York, Saunders and Otley, Ann Street, and Conduit Street, London. 1837. 12mo.

We have been amused by the ludicrous outcries about this work from almost every part of the country. The newspaper

press has been exceedingly mad" against the author and her book. It so happened that we could not conveniently read it until it had been a good while before the public. Accordingly, we had fair opportunity to make up our mind about its merits, without the trouble of examination. We admire the discretion of a Yorkshire justice of peace, an unpaid but well fed magistrate, who never liked to hear two sides of a question, because, he said, it puzzled him. We know by experience that one is apt to be "puzzled" about giving a clear verdict, either upon men or books, when there seems to be a strange mixture of bad and good in them. In the present instance we had no such perplexity. A cloud of witnesses appeared at once, as fast, that is, as testimony could be transferred from one journal to another, all on one side, all bearing hard against the culprit. No acquittal, or qualified condemnation even, seemed possible. Patriotism, honor, religion, all demanded summary and condign punishment. Appeals were not wanting to our moral indignation at the monstrous ingratitude of a writer, who had so freely enjoyed our kindnesses and hospitalities, and then had the heart to write and print such afflicting censures upon us.

This last seemed, to many of our tender-hearted countrymen, to be the very head and front of her offending. We were confounded. It was too much for our sensibility. We well nigh sat down and wept outright to think that, while the savor of the very roast meat or rather "birds," - which we had given her was on her tongue, she could so cruelly turn about "and beat us with the spit"! But upon reflection we could not make up our mind to give her over to hopeless reprobation without a trial. Notwithstanding the superior comfort and convenience of making a sweeping decision from a onesided view of the case, we resolved to read her volumes and see if some mitigations, at least, might not be found. After weighing the matter well, it was not clear to us that the principle on which she had been judged was a sound one. We have concluded on the whole, though with diffidence, as there are great authorities on the other side, that a statement of facts and opinions ought not to be very much modified by the dinners, better or worse, which the writer has been permitted to eat. We do not want gratitude or generosity. We want justice. We want true statements, accurate observations, and sound reasonings. We do not feast an author, as a house-breaker throws meat to a dog, to keep him from biting.

We read accordingly; and the result is such as we might have apprehended. Our clear judgment is unsettled. We can pass no sweeping sentence upon the work, either as the best or the worst of books. We are quite sure that it lies somewhere between these extremes. Our mind at length settled into such a tranquil and impartial state, that we are able to judge without bias-certainly with no unfriendly one- and find in it a great deal to praise and something to blame. It is no common gossipping work. It differs entirely, in spirit and tone, from the writings of most English travellers about America. It does not show that disposition to quarrel needlessly with our people, institutions, and manners, which has given so much annoyance to some of our countrymen. We have been too sensitive on this point. We are apt to invite the ridicule of Fidlers and Trollopes, by exposing the irritability of our self-love. It gratifies their own malice and pigheaded prejudice; and at the same time amuses the people of England, to see us writhe and wince when the lash is cunningly applied "to a sore place."

But Miss Martineau is neither narrow nor ill-natured. She writes about us with no scoffing, captious spirit, but earnestly, lovingly, and we believe, notwithstanding frequent appearances to the contrary, impartially. In order to do justice to her comments on American Society, we must endeavor to get into her own point of view, and see how our character, institutions, and manners revealed themselves to her mind. She has furnished us the means of doing so. She frankly states in her introduction her sense of the difficulties of her undertaking, and the means by which she proposed to overcome them. So great were they in her view, that she says - "I had again and again put away the idea of saying one word in print on the condition of Society in the United States."

Her mode of proceeding is thus described.

"In seeking for methods by which I might communicate what I have observed in my travels, without offering any pretension to teach the English or judge the Americans, two expedients occurred to me; both of which I have adopted. One is, to compare the existing state of society in America with the principles on which it is professedly founded; thus testing Institutions, Morals, and Manners, by an indisputable instead of an arbitrary standard, and securing to myself the same point of view with my readers of both nations. In working according

to this method, my principal dangers are two. I am in danger of not fully apprehending the principles on which Society in the United States is founded; and of erring in the application to these of the facts which came under my notice. In the last respect I am utterly hopeless of my own accuracy. It is in the highest degree improbable that my scanty gleanings in the wide field of American society should present a precisely fair sample of the whole. I can only explain that I have spared no pains to discover the truth, in both divisions of my task; and invite correction in all errors of fact. This I earnestly do; holding myself, of course, an equal judge with others on matters of opinion.

My readers, on their part, will bear in mind that, in showing discrepances between an actual condition and a pure and noble theory of society, I am not finding fault with the Americans, as falling behind the English or the French or any other nation. I decline the office of censor altogether. I dare not undertake it. Nor will my readers, I trust, regard the subject otherwise than as a compound of philosophy and fact.

"The other method, by which I propose to lessen my own responsibility, is to enable my readers to judge for themselves, better than I can for them, what my testimony is worth. For this purpose I offer a brief account of my travels, with dates in full, and a report of the principal means I enjoyed of obtaining a knowledge of the country."-Introduction, pp. iii. — v.

Then follows a rapid sketch of her travels and means of observation. How well she has executed the plan proposed to herself can be known only to those who read her work for themselves. It is impossible, by any extracts we can make, to give a clear idea of the contents of a work so multifarious; we might as well pick out single stones, and carry them about as samples of a Mosaic pavement. We shall aim to do nothing more than help our readers to make a fair estimate of its character and merits.

It is easy to see that Miss Martineau writes in good faith, with a bold, uncompromising love of truth. She describes things as she sees them, or as she believes them to be, without abatement or exaggeration. Her impressions of American life, character, and manners are honestly recorded. Be they right or wrong, carefully or hastily adopted, they are evidently her own, and always frankly exhibited without fear or favor. They are colored often by the peculiar characteristics and biasses of her mind, but never we think by a malig nant and fault-finding spirit. There is none of the captious