great name, undisturbed by doubts derived from previous knowledge. It is in this absolute creation of character that our modern novelists so far exceed all that their predecessors were able to accomplish. In variety of individuality, in successful delineation of the action of one character upon another, or of internal will upon external circumstance, or the struggle of earnest natures against adverse influences, in these, the themes of the modern novel, Nature herself is almost rivalled. And here, again, comes up the contrast with the old romance. It is now the struggle itself which interests, the development of character which commands attention, as it does in the real life about us. It is not the mere fact that the hero and heroine are in love,' that makes us wish them success; it is the effect of that love upon the inner nature, that makes us hope or tremble for the result. It is the growth and beauty of the sentiment that we study; not the simple, yet universal fact of its existence. Heroes and heroines are not now born into the full blossom of perfection, nor does their discipline come only from the stereotyped misfortunes of loss of gold and plottings of enemies. The sorrows and sufferings endured are intended not merely to delay the happy moment, but to develop strength and excellence, and to discipline impetuous carelessness into earnest endeavor. They arise from the internal organism of those who suffer, as often as from a pressure of outward difficulty; and even when they originate in the external, they strike home to the inner heart, and become something more than mere incidents, else we are dissatisfied with the conception of the author. The high requirements which criticism has lately made, have placed the novel on an elevated grade, not only as a composition, but as an assistant in mental and moral culture. He who does not read the good novels of the present day is not only but half acquainted with the tone which literary labor has assumed, he loses one very important source of improvement for his own intellectual and spiritual nature. We owe much to those who have opened this new avenue for the transmission of healthy social influences, and a more and more general appreciation of their efforts will reward their continuance. 66 Most of the great novels of the present age are written to set forth some leading idea in the author's mind, to call the attention of the public to some great evil or to some great want, or to encourage the struggles of some class of human beings by showing them that their feelings are understood and sympathized with. Because the moral of a book is not written out in a few pithy words on the last page, it does not follow that the book has no moral. No faithful transcript of human life and human passion can be clearly and powerfully exhibited, without, of necessity, containing a deep and searching moral, all the more forcible to the thinking man because it is subtile and beneath the surface. Is not Thackeray's Vanity Fair" a sermon of the most stringent application? Its author holds a mirror to our hearts, which reveals to each of us many a spring of action that we blush for, many a littleness and weakness, with much of worldliness and vanity, which we have never before been forced fairly to acknowledge, even to ourselves. We lay down the book, confessing, in spite of ourselves, that it is a faithful likeness of a large part of our human nature, and this confession is followed by a pang that is not always useless. The study of human nature in all its manifestations is of benefit to him who thinks. deeply, furnishing in itself a spur to the attainment of those qualities which command admiration and respect, and to the dropping of those which call forth contempt and condemnation. Much self-knowledge may be attained, much healthful humility promoted, by having, as it were, the picture of our own hearts set forth before our astonished eyes, touched by the hand of a skilful and fearless master. To persons who read books as they ought to be read, who abandon themselves entirely to the study of what is before them, who enter, con amore, into the story, and become themselves actors and participators therein, a good novel is more like an episode in their own lives, than a tale which serves to while away a few hours of leisure. Friendships are made in the world of fiction, as real and as true as many a visible connection in the world of fact. Who, that thus reads Villette and Jane Eyre, does not recognize Lucy Snow and little Jane as living and suffering intellectual organisms? Who sees not the heart of fire beneath the quiet daily aspect, and longs not that they should know how earnestly their progress has been watched? Who does not feel better acquainted with Becky Sharp and Major Pendennis than with his next-door neighbor, whom, perchance, he meets every day in the street? Does not a smile of recognition pass from face to face at mention of Aunt Betsy Trotwood? Have we not all heard her call "Little Blossom," and seen her drive the donkeys from her garden? Characters which call forth our sympathy, in books, exercise, in some degree, the same magnetic influence upon us that they do when we meet them in real life. These impressions are more or less deep and prolonged, as the sympathy established is more or less complete. Some never wholly die away, but take their places in the halls of memory, as old friends who have, merely for a time, passed out from our sphere of action. The novel of the present day has a noble mission to perform, one which should not be lightly undertaken. It has be come the most popular of all instruments for producing great effects in the literary world, and for the successful employment of great talents. It is becoming a happy medium for the spreading of truths, which, clothed in this guise, shall win a patient hearing among many that would have turned impatiently or scornfully away, had they met these same truths in a less attractive form. Politics, metaphysics, theology, have all found utterance through the novel. It has ceased to be the plaything of an idle hour, and we look to it for greater depth of thought, a higher range of ideas, closer fidelity to abstract truth, and a more manly grappling with error and falsehood, than ordinary minds are capable of supplying. Therefore let ordinary minds cease to flood the world with idle tales and powerless absurdities, arrogating to themselves a title made honorable by the genius of others. Let ordinary minds, we say, fall back and leave the field to stouter soldiers, who shall do more valiant battle for the cause. We have had patience long enough with vapid story-tellers and self-styled novelists. Let them fill the pages of ephemeral magazines or the columns of country newspapers, if they must write at all, and rest content with the fame consequent upon such efforts. But let the novel be the lofty and enthusiastic utterance of All ART. IV. 1. Post-Biblical History of the Jews. By MOR- ,Die Israelitische Bibel מקרא תורה נביאים וכתובים .3 enthaltend den Heiligen Urtext, die Deutsche Uebertragung, die Allgemeine, ausführliche Erläuterung, mit mehr als 500 englischen Holzschnitten. Herausgegeben von D. LUDWIG PHILIPPSOHN. Leipzig. 1844-1856. 4 Bände. 8vo. 4. Jeschurun. Ein Monathsblatt zur Förderung jüdischen Geister, und jüdischen Lebens. Herausgegeben von SAMSON RAPHAEL HIRSCH. 5. Le Lien d'Israel, Feuille populaire, pour favoriser les Intérêts religieux et moraux des Israélites Français. 1855. 6. L'Univers Israélite. Journal des Principes Conservateurs du Judaïsme. Paris. 7. Archives Israélites. Janvier, 1856. Paris. 1855. 8. The Occident, and American Jewish Advocate. Philadelphia. 1856. WE have placed the above list of works at the head of this article, not with a view of examining any of them critically, but as presenting the most accessible specimens of the varieties of modern Jewish thought, the vigor of modern Jewish style, and the breadth of modern Jewish scholarship. The last five are periodicals, published monthly, with the excep tion of "Le Lien d'Israel," which is published semi-monthly. They are ably conducted, but not more so than many others which we know only by name. The other works are too important to be passed by in a paragraph. We had designed to make the first of them the subject of an extended article, which its rare merits most justly claim. But an accumulation of facts from the most reliable sources, concerning the present position and prospects of Judaism, leads us to make a preface of what was our intended theme, and a subject of what was intended only as a preface. We are inclined to believe that Christians in this land-perhaps we may add, in Europe also-have very imperfect knowledge concerning the Jews as a religious community. Much has been written in these last years not always wisely-upon the singular gifts and achievements of the modern Hebrew race; and by implication, we are left to think that the greatest names of the century that has passed and is passing, in philosophy and in letters, in science and in politics, in the most practical of economies and the most ethereal of arts, are the names of Israel's children. Illustrations of this theory are indeed furnished in surprising profusion,- enough to sustain less plausible theories. Yet while we concede much truth to the claim and pleading of writers like D'Israeli, we must hesitate to adopt their full conclusions. We have heard a modern governor of Sparta relate facts about the Greeks of to-day, which |