of public worship are eloquently unfolded. A defence of it can hardly be needed now; it is universally acknowledged to be the principal engine, by which a sense of religion is kept alive in the community. If there are those who do not think it enjoined in scripture, they have no right to speak against it for that reason; because, if its influence and results are good, we are bound to respect it, let it be the positive institution of God, or of man. It may not have any thing like the influence that might be expected. We are ready to confess that it has not. But so long as it has any, so numerous are the enemies of virtue and religious feeling, it is entitled to the grateful support of every friend of man. We do not allow, however, that its influence is small. No; the traveller can judge of the character of a village by the appearance of the house of God. If the paths to it are grassgrown, and the building neglected and ready to fall, he knows that the vile haunts of dissipation will be found crowded, and the house which charity, perhaps mistaken charity, has built for the destitute, full; and if he asks the history of the abandoned of the place, he will find that they began their course of depravity on that day of the seven, when the gate of the narrow way stands widest open, and seems to implore men to enter. What induced that distinguished man to declare war on this religious institution, we cannot tell. Perhaps, from having severely felt the evils of religious intolerance, he acquired a hostility to every thing that might be bent to the purposes of oppression, even to every thing he had seen associated with what was wrong; and while he saw that some good was done by the institution to the cause of religion, he might have thought it overbalanced by the injury it did, in extending the influence of an illiberal party. But we have little concern with his motives. It is enough to say, that had he succeeded in convincing others, he would have given a death-blow to religion;-not perhaps to the religion of the few who think, and judge, and feel for themselves, but of the many, who depend on others for instruction, whose devotion, instead of being self-inspired, is kindled by the sympathy of religious feeling which passes from heart to heart. We will not do injustice to these Remarks by attempting to make an extract from them. No single passage would fairly exhibit the various excellence of the whole essay, in which all her different traits of intellectual power are here and there dis played. Its eloquence is of the first order; fervent, graceful, commanding. Truth and feeling glow in every line. Its satire is keen, but perfectly respectful, and she shows a delicate forbearance, in not pressing her antagonist with the character of those, who would be most likely to thank him for effecting this peculiar reform. If all her other writings should be forgotten, this will and ought to endure. If any one would understand its usefulness, let him read it on the sabbath morning, and we are much deceived if he do not enter with warmer, purer, and more exalted feelings than ever upon the duties and devotions of the day. In her 'Sins of Rulers, Sins of the Nation,' she makes a a powerful appeal to the people of England, reminding them that each one is guilty of national transgressions. The government is the organ of the people. If it represents their feelings, they are answerable for the injuries it might have prevented, and the good it might have done. If the popular feeling is not represented by the government, they cannot resist the conclusion that it needs reform. The lofty tone of indignant remonstrance, and the bold charges in which she numbers the misdemeanours of her country, often remind us of Cowper's 'Expostulation,' one of the highest strains in which national guilt has been lamented since the departing flight of prophetic inspiration.. Mrs Barbauld has written some fine imitations of Addison and Johnson; but it must be remarked that she imitates, not with a view of acquiring the beauties of other writers, but merely to make a playful trial of her own skill. Of her smaller pieces, however, we shall only notice the fine essay on 'Inconsistency in our Expectations. It gives us a dark picture of human life, but at the same time explains the causes within ourselves which combine to darken it, and affords us a solemn and much needed lesson, expressed with the severe simplicity. of truth. We say much needed, because we believe disappointment to be the parent of many vices. The young invariably enter life with brilliant anticipations, which experience cannot always realize. The field of life is all before them With its paths to knowledge, wealth, or what the world calls glory, all of which they fondly, hope to reach, forgetting that of the many, ways before them, they can seldom walk but one. And when they find it so, they resort to feverish and licentious pleasures, or become a listless burden to themselves and the world. It would be well, therefore, if this eloquent warning were deeply written on every youthful heart. Mrs Barbauld's writings have been thought to bear a general resemblance to those of Addison." "If it were so, it would be natural, as when she was young, he was still lord of the ascendant.' Other lights of literature had not risen high enough to dim the brightness of his fame. But, whether it be treason to that great man's fame or not, we are constrained to say, that we think her writings, especially in verse, superior to his, though not perhaps superior to what he might have written. He throws out his essays with the easy air of a wellbred gentleman, seldom appearing to pour out his heart in his writings, and probably those whom he wished to reform, would have been less impressed by fervor, than by indifference bordering on contempt. Her thoughts, on the contrary, evidently flow from the soul; she is deeply sincere in her endeavours to send home conviction to the cold and slow hearts of men, and in every appeal to the feelings, sincerity is power. We must now take leave of Mrs Barbauld, having no time to notice the 'Legacy' published since her decease, except to say that it is light and airy, and will not injure her literary fame. If we are thought extravagant in our estimate of her merits, we have only to ask the objector to read her works. He will there find noble powers, nobly devoted to the cause of virtue. He will see poetry free from false sentiment, and eloquence such as religion inspires; and what can be said of few who have written so much, may be truly said of her, there is none of her writings which she might not bear with her into the presence of her God. ART. X.-1. A Sermon, delivered in King's Chapel, Boston, 9th July, 1826; being the next Lord's Day after the Death of John Adams, late President of the United States. By HENRY WARE, D. D. Hollis Professor of Divinity in Harvard University. Cambridge. Hilliard & Metcalf. 1826. 2. A Sermon delivered July 9th, 1826, the Sunday following the Death of the Hon. John Adams, a former President of the United States. By AARON BANCROFT, D. D. Pas 1826. tor of the 2d Congregational Church in Worcester. Worcester. Charles Griffin. 3. Christian Patriotism; A Sermon, on Occasion of the Death of John Adams, preached in Chauncy Place, Boston, July 9th, 1826. By N. L. FROTHINGHAM, Minister of the First Church in Boston. Boston. Munroe & Francis. 1826. 4. A Eulogy on John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, pronounced in Newburyport, July 15, 1826, at the request of the Municipal Authorities of the Town. By CALEB CUSHING. Cambridge. Hilliard & Metcalf. 1826. 5. Eulogy pronounced in Providence, July 17, 1826, upon the Character of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, Late Presidents of the United States. By request of the Municipal Authorities. By J. L. TILLINGHAST. Providence. Miller & Grattan.. 1826. 6. An Oration delivered in Independence Square, in the city of Philadelphia, on the 24th July, 1826, in commemoration of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. By JoHN SERGEANT. Philadelphia. H. C. Carey & I. Lea. 1826. 7. Eulogy on John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, pronounced in Hallowell, July 1826; at the request of the Committee of the towns of Hallowell, Augusta, and Gardiner. By PELEG SPRAGUE. Hallowell. Glazier & Co. 1826. 8. An Address Delivered at Charlestown August 1, 1826, in Commemoration of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. By EDWARD EVERETT. Boston. William L. "Lewis. 1826. 9. An Address Delivered in Chauncy Place Church, before the Young Men of Boston, August 2, 1826, in Commemoration of the Death of Adams and Jefferson. By SAMUEL L. KNAPP. Boston. Ingraham & Hewes. 1826. 10. A Discourse in Commemoration of the Lives and Services of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, delivered in Faneuil Hall, Boston, August 2, 1826. By DANIEL WEBSTER. Boston. Cummings, Hilliard & Co. 1826. WE had thought to have let the late solemn events which have so deeply interested the country, pass by without notice in our pages. It has seemed to us as if these aroused and simultaneous feelings of a whole nation, were too vast for utterance, and too universal, if not too constantly discussed, to need it. Nor, indeed, do we now propose to attempt any expression of them. But we have felt, at last, that this extraordinary and moving concurrence of circumstances, this widely spread and most unusual excitement of national sympathy, this visitation of what can never come again, this voice of Providence which can never more be so heard in this land, requires at our hands some offering. The call of country, the claim of patriotism in circumstances like these, the remembrance of former days and deeds, the voice that speaketh from the graves of men such as. Adams and Jefferson, the graves of men who are justly considered as among the most illustrious political patriarchs of this land, opened in one day, and opened while yet the shout of their country's jubilee was ringing in all its borders; these thoughts have been too strong with us, to permit us to be altogether silent. We have felt impelled, though a thousand other and abler pens are engaged, to bring our tribute, however humble, to this great national occasion. We cannot help adverting for a moment, in passing, to the public testimonials with which this occasion has been solemnized. Since the death of Washington, there has not been, and we do not expect soon again, if ever, to witness any thing of a nature so peculiarly grave, dignified, and imposing. Though the labor and business of our cities has been suspended, and their whole population has been dismissed from its toils, to employ a day of leisure in the manner most agreeable to them, there has been no excess witnessed, nor any thing of holiday mirth. It may seem like a slander by implication, to mention this fact as worthy of note, and it may excite surprise in some, that we should do so; but we ask, where else upon the face of the earth a population, could be turned loose from their occupations, on any similar occasion, and would hallow it as if it were a sabbath? The solemn processions have moved through silent streets, and when the solemnities of the day have passed, there has literally a sabbath-like quietness reigned over our land. There is one circumstance attending these, and many other of our public celebrations, which is quite peculiar to this country. We mean the custom of delivering set and formal addresses to assemblies convened for that especial purpose. We |