ART. 13. EDITORS' CORRESPONDENCE. To the Editors of the American Monthly netic variation on the 18th of October was Magazine. HAVE lately read the following article in Holme's American Annals, vol. 2, p. 505, “In 1802, the German plan of disposing of books, by means of literary fairs was adopted in the United States." I should feel much gratified to hear from some of your correspondents, whether the above article is correct, as I must own that the fact is new to me. any one can tell where such a plan was adopted, how long it lasted, whether it lasts yet, or has failed, and why it did fail, what regulations were adopted in regard to it, what prevents its revival and success, &c. he will highly oblige those who feel an interest in American Literature. BIBLIOPHILUS. MESSRS. EDItors, In my communication of last month, by an oversight, A. P. in the several examples for finding the latitude by spherics, as called the complement of the declination. It should have been termed the polar distance, as the sun at that time was more than 90° from the elevated pole. During the months of August, September, and October last, while employed in taking observations for correcting the time-keeper, and finding the latitude, I took besides, about fifty observations of the sun's magnetic and true azimuths, in order to determine the variation of the compass. By comparing these, the mag 4° 51' 27" W. But the observations having been made under some disadvantages, I do not feel confident of their correctness. It appears, however, very probable, from their general tendeney, that it is not less than 40 50'," and not more than 50. The foregoing is respectfully submitted to the public, in the hope that some person or persons will undertake to determine the magnetic variations with accuracy. M. NASH. New-York, December 15, 1817. MESSRS. EDITORS, Having read a communication in your last review on the progress and state of Natural Science in the United States, I observed in the remarks on Collections of Minerals, you notice, among others, that of Colonel Gibbs, in the Museum of the Historical Society of New-York. Having often visited and examined the Collection you name, permit me to say, that the collection now deposited in the department of the Historical Society belongs to, and has been there placed by J. G. Bogert, Esq. of N. Y. and that Dr. Mitchill has also contributed very considerably to its value by the specimens he has laid upon the shelves. This communication is not intended to take from the merit of Colonel Gibbs, who has also recently deposited some specimens, but to correct a statement, which if permitted to pass unnoticed, would rob others of the credit due to them. A. B., ART. 14. MONTHLY CATALOGUE OF NEW PUBLICATIONS, THE HE Knight of St. John, a Romance, by Miss Anna Maria Porter, Author of the Recluse of Norway, &c. &c. &c. New-York, James Eastburn and Co. 2 vols. 12mo. p. 486. This is a tale of the Sixteenth Century. Giovanni, the Knight of Malta, who gives title to the work, is not, however, the hero of the story, according to the common acceptation of this epithet among novel readers. Cesario is the personage best entitled to this appellation, as he is the lover whose hopes and fears and fate are meant to awaken a tender concern, and whose eventual prospects of connubial felicity crown all our anxiety. Indeed it would be contrary to immemorial usage to make a novel hero of one condemned, like our Knight of St. John, by the vows of his order, to perpetual celibacy! Nevertheless he had loved, and had been disappointed, and by this means had been rendered a philosopher. But a spice of romance still tinctured his character, and he gave a loose to that enthusiasm in friendship which he had found could not be safely indulged in love. Cesario was the Pylades for whom our Orestes conceived this sublime sentiment, and to inspire whom with a mutual regard he strove with a perseverance rarely exhibited in the cultivation of softer attachments. He had many obstacles to contend with. His father had ruined the father of Cesario, by successfully prosecuting an antiquated claim to an estate which had been illegally alienated by his ancestors to those of Adimari, and the latter had died heart-broken in consequence. Cesario therefore regarded Giovanni as the son of his father's murderer, and repulsed with filial indignation every attempt he made to obtain his confidence. Circumstances gradually compelled him to believe in the disinterested sincerity of Giovanni, and having himself been the instrument of rescuing, unwittingly, this hereditary foe from a premature grave, he admitted at last a kindly feeling towards one whom he had laid under an obligation for his life, to expand into the reciprocation of esteem and affection. Jealousy on the part of Cesario for a while disunite them; but on finding that his mistress was unworthy of his regard, and his friend innocent of encouraging that preference which she had immodestly discovered for him, he expiates his injurious suspicions by a pilgrimage to redeem Giovanni from captivity, into which he had been carried by the Moors. In pursuing this aim, Cesario discovers the sister of Giovanni, a widow of nineteen, also in bondage, and wins her love in the garb of a slave. He ransoms the sister and enables the brother to escape. The author leaves him in the anticipation of attaining the summit of human bliss. A moral is to be drawn from the tale, which is briefly this-that Providence orders all things for the best to those who confide in him without remitting their own exertions, and that what we are apt in the impetuosity of the moment to deem the greatest calamities often prove in the event the happiest occurrences. Of the author's style we can only say that it is bad enough, but not worse than that of her previous productions which have obtained a measure of popularity. We did not read this work for pleasure, and did not derive much pleasure from reading it. It is certainly harmless, and those who can find either information or amusement in it, will not have wasted their time in its perusal. E. Inaugural Address, delivered in the Chapel of the University at Cambridge, November 5th, 1817. By Levi Frisbie, A. M. Alford Professor of Natural Religion, Moral Philosophy, and Civil Polity, in Harvard University. Cambridge, University Press. Hilliard and Metcalf, 1817. 8vo. 28 pp. "The necessity, objects, and influence of moral philosophy," form the subjectmatter of this able and eloquent address. The necessity of a scientific investigation of "the principles and obligations of duty," is vindicated and enforced with great comprehensiveness of view and cogency of argument; the objects of moral science are justly apprehended-and the influence attributable to the cultivation of that science, not only through the medium of systematic lectures and formal precept, but also by means of the various sorts of fiction and history, whether in prose or poetry, is traced with a fine discernment of moral causes, and exemplified and illustrated with striking beauty of conception and felicity of application. The following extracts from the address are given, not only as specimens of elegant English composition, highly honourable to the taste and academic discipline of the learned professor, but also as examples of just thinking, not less honourable to his head, and heart. "It has often been said, the heart is the best casuist, and its natural promptings the safest guides in duty. But in respect to this objection it must be carefully remembered, that we are not to form our estimate of the value of natural conscience from the prevalent opinions of civilized and christian countries. The moral sense of the most unlearned at the present day is not the sense of nature, but of cultivation; it has been modified by the studies and experience of ages, and, above all, by the christian religion. It is not denied, that we have from nature a moral as well as an intellectual capacity; but the former, no less than the latter, is to be improved and enlarged by observation and thought. Many duties arise from relations, which are complicated and remote; these relations must be investigated and brought together, and general principles, which may be settled into rules, deduced from them. The necessity of this is sufficiently shown by the different and contradicting maxims of duty that have prevailed in different ages and nations. Were however the original suggestions of uncultivated conscience far clearer and more decisive necessity of philosophy would not be superseded. than experience will allow us to believe, still the The unremitted labours of the moralist would, notwithstanding, be required to relieve the sentiments of mankind from those associations of prejudice, of fashion, and of false opinion, which have so constant an influence in perverting the judgment and corrupting the heart, and to bring them back to the unbiassed dictates of nature and common sense. Besides, the moral constitution of man, his relations, and duties, are subjects too interesting, and too fruitful of remark, to be neglected in the speculations of the ingenious and inquiring. Erroneous theories will be formed, nay, they will be presented to mankind as the rule of life, and even history and fiction be made vehicles of principles, dangerous alike to virtue and to peace. While indeed these speculations of false philosophy are wrapped in metaphysical subtleties, they may excite little alarm, and serve rather to amuse the learned; they are those eccentrick lightnings that play harmlessly in the evening cloud; but when they are made the maxims of common life, or, embodied in popular fiction, find their way into the hearts of men, they are these same lightnings concentrated and brought down to earth, blasting and consuming." Under the third branch of his discourse, in noticing the means by which ethical opinions are diffused, and the effects of theory are brought out in conduct, professor Frisbie thus speaks of the moral influence of polite literature. "Those compositions in poetry and prose, which constitute the literature of a nation, the essay, the drama, the novel, it cannot be doubted, have a most extensive and powerful operation upon the moral feelings and character of the age. The very business of the authors of such works is directly or indirectly with the heart. Even descriptions of natural scenery owe much of their beauty and interest to the moral associations they awaken. In like manner fine turns of expression or thought often operate more by suggestion than enumeration. But when feelings and passions are directly described, or embodied in the hero and called forth by the incidents of a story, it is then, that the magick of fiction and poetry is complete, that they enter in and dwell in the secret chambers of the very soul, moulding it at will. In these moments of deep excitement, must not a bias be given to the character, and much be done to elevate and refine, or degrade and pollute those sympathies and sentiments which are the sources of much of our virtue and happiness, or our guilt and misery? The danger is that, in such cases, we do not discriminate the distinct action of associated causes. Even in what is presented to the senses, we are aware of the power of habitual combination. An object naturally disagreeable, becomes beautiful, because we have often seen the sun shine or the dew sparkle upon it, or it has been grouped in a scene of peculiar interest. Thus the powers of fancy and of taste blend associations in the mind which disguise the original nature of moral qualities. A liberal generosity, a disinterested self devotion, a powerful energy or deep sensibility of soul, a contempt of danger and death are often so connected in story with the most profligate principles and manners, that the latter are excused and even sanctified by the former. The impression, which so powerfully seizes all the sympathies, is one; and the ardent youth becomes almost ambitious of a character he ought to abhor. So too sentiments, from which in their plain form delicacy would revolt, are insinuated with the charms of poetical imagery and expression; and even the coarseness of Fielding is probably less pernicious than the seducing refinement of writers like Moore; whose voluptuous sensibility steals upon the heart and corrupts its purity, as the moon beams, in some climates, are believed to poison the substances on which they fall. "But in no productions of modern genius is the reciprocal influence of morals and literature more distinctly seen than in those of the author of Childe Harold. His character produced the poems, and it cannot be doubted, that his poems are adapted to produce such a character. His heroes speak a language supplied not more by imagination than consciousness. They are not those machines, that, by a contrivance of the artist, send forth a musick of their own; but instruments, through which he breathes his very soul, in tones of agonized sensibility that cannot but give a sympathetick impulse to those who hear. The desolate misanthropy of his mind rises and throws its dark shade over his poetry, like one of his own ruined castles; we feel it to be sublime, but we forget, that it is a sublimity it cannot have till it is abandoned by every thing that is kind, and peaceful, and happy, and its halls are ready to become the haunts of outlaws and assassins. Nor are his more tender and affectionate passages those to which we can yield ourselves without a feeling of uneasiness. It is not that we can here and there select a proposition formally false or pernicious; but that he leaves an impression unfavourable to a healthful state of thought and feeling, peculiarly dangerous to the finest minds and most susceptible hearts. They are the scene of a summer evening, where all is tender and beautiful and grand; but the damps of disease descend with the dews Female Scripture Biography, including an Essay on what Christianity has done for Women. By Francis Augustus Cox, A. M. New-York. James Eastburn & Co. 2 vols. 12mo. pp. 642. The object of this work is an interesting one-to delineate the private and domestic life and character of the exemplary women who are brought to our notice in the sacred Scriptures; and, from the contemplation of their principles and conduct, to deduce lessons and motives males of every station at the present for the guidance and governance of feday. With this aim the author has proceeded to infer the dispositions and cirmoirs, from the few but forcible facts cumstances of the subjects of his mewhich are related of them in the Bible. As far as we have been able to examine his work, he appears to have illustrated the history of the times to which he recurs, and of the individuals of whom he has endeavoured to trace the biography, with no little learning and ingenuity. Whilst we confess that we have not yet been able to bestow on these volumes that attention which they merit, we feel warranted, from the passages we have read, in recommending them to the perusal, not only of those for whose use they seem principally designed, but of all who are desirous of improving themselves in rational views of religion, and what is preliminary and essential to the attainment of those views, in the habit pertaining as well to practice as to of reasoning for themselves in matters faith. It is in this light we particularly commend this work. By enter It is ing into the situation of the persons to imbibe a liberal portion of his spirit, whose deeds and sayings are recorded in and to effuse it, as freely as it is imparted, Scripture, by considering their educa- on all those occasions which present tion and opportunities, and the condition themselves in our sphere of life. of the times in which they lived, we are neither necessary nor proper for men to led to estimate their piety and morality ape the attributes of Deity-to assume at its proper rate, to judge how far they his providence, or to affect his ubiquity. are fit examples for us, and to understand All that is required of an ordinary mortal the true intent and application of the pre- who is forced to toil for his subsistence, It is well is to practice virtue in the lot to which he cepts enjoined upon them. known that the sacred writers have al- is called. To take upon him the office of ways accommodated their language to the Saviour, and of those whom he has the ignorance and prejudices of the age ordained as his ministers, is unbecoming in which they wrote, and to know the and presumptuous. To go about' to Were all extent of that ignorance, and the nature preach the word, or even' to do good,' is of those prejudices, is important to the to desert his duties at home. right interpretation of the divine com- Christians to set up for apostles, pestimandments. It is of the highest moment lence and famine would soon put an end to distinguish between the moral and the to the propagation of the Gospel. ceremonial law, between the eternal ordinances of God and the local or temporary edicts of the Jewish theoTo discern between injunctions cracy. of so different effect, yet promulged from the same high source, and with the same solemnity, requires the exercise of the reasoning faculty. Indeed the reason of mankind is continually appealed to in the Bible; it is only as reasonable and reasoning creatures that they can have an interest in its promises, or be affected by Reason is therefore its denunciations. legitimately employed in weighing the force and ascertaining the spirit of Scriptural language. We must resort to the same aid to enable us to appreciate the merit of scripture characters. The sacred writers often state the facts, and leave the reader to make the comment. The sacrifice of his daughter by Jepthah, in fulfilment of an impious vow, is no where reprehended in the Bible-yet can any one doubt how the holy penman regarded the act? David is called a man after God's own heart, though there are instances recorded of his depravity; and Soloman is termed the wisest of men, whilst numerous evidences are exhibited of his folly-but is any one at a loss to comprehend the real meaning of the writer? In the best men there are faults, which it is as incumbent on others to avoid as to imitate their excellences. Any one who, in contempt of the dictates of his judgment and conscience, should pretend to assume David or Solomon as his model, for the purpose of gratifying his lusts, would sin still more heinously than he who should pursue his illicit pleasures in open defiance of the interdict. There is but one perfect examplarJesus Christ. Yet we are not servilely to copy him. It should be our endeavour Even the demeanour of the patriarchs and prophets, or of the primitive disciples, is not to be adopted by every christian. In seasons of persecution it is commendable to carry openly the external indications of one's religious persuasion-but when religion becomes a a garment of praise,' an ostentatious display of it, is, like every other foppery, disgusting. To cultivate a decorous and unaffected deportment, neither austere nor relaxed, neither repulsive nor familiar, should be the endeavour of every friend of religion. The crown of righteousness is not necessarily a crown of thorns ; and wry faces are a very unnatural indication of peace with God and charity with all mankind. To use the bounties of Providence as not abusing them, to enjoy the good things of this life without suffering them to wean our affections from Him who bestows them all, to possess a contented and grateful heart, and to diffuse cheerfulness and generous feelings amongst our friends and neighbours, are as consonant with Christianity as prayer and alms-giving. The love of God ought undoubtedly to predominate over every affection which comes into competition with it, but it can hardly be exercised as an abstract sentiment. We love God only as our benefactor, and supremely as our supreme benefactor-but to love the giver and to despise his gifts, to crave blessings and contemn the boons which heaven is pleased to confer, is strangely inconsistent, not to say absurd. It is our duty to convert every talent put into our hands to its proper account. He who has not created any thing in vain, has not implanted in the human breast a single desire which it is not lawful in some mode to indulge-and that man who will rather extirpate a passion than Monthly Catalogue of New Publications. regulate it, commits a mental violence as offensive as the mutilation of his body. It is not the interest of the friends of religion to draw a line of distinction between them and the world-nor the province of pastors to obstruct the narrow path to the fold. The physician of the soul should not study to make his potion bitter. Community of religious feeling may result from community of feeling on other topics-and when a little more of life shall be carried into religion, a great deal more of religion will probably be carried into life. E. A letter addressed to Cadwallader D. Colden, Esq. in answer to the strictures contained in his "Life of Robert Fulton," upon the report of the select committee, to whom was referred a memorial relative to steam navigation, presented to the Legislature of New-York, at the session of 1814, with an Appendix, &c. by William Alexander Duer, Esq. printed at Albany, by E. and E. Hosford, pp. 127. ༢ R Mr. Duer was the chairman of the Committee referred to in the preface, and which had made a report, and proposed a Bill hostile to the exclusive right of Messrs. Livingston and Fulton, to navigate the waters of this State by steam, or at least to the ample form in which that right is enjoyed, and the extraordinary privileges by which it is protected. The points of collision between Mr. Duer and Mr. Colden, naturally relate to the great questions of legal right and legislative policy embraced by this subject, and the merits of the various claimants to the honour, and we may add, emolument, resulting from the greatest improvement of modern times, the introduction of steam-boats. These are matters without the legitimate limits of our jurisdiction, and we certainly shall not treat of them in this summary and informal manner. The letter in question is written with much spirit and ability. It betrays a strong personal feeling, although the expression of it is in the main decorous and gentlemanly. Mr. Duer's style has probably been formed by his habits of life, and in reading this production one is continually reminded of a law argument, or an address to the Legislature. It contains, however, a luminous statement of facts and arguments, and will be read with much pleasure by those who feel an interest in the subject.* D. *We would also refer to a "Short account of the origin of Steam Boats," a small pamphlet published by W. Thornton, Esq. the presiding officer in the Patent Office, in 1814. VOL. 11.-No. ui. 233 Letters from the South, written durBy the author of John Bull and Brother ing an excursion in the summer of 1816. Jonathan, &c. &c. New-York. James Eastburn and Co. 1817. 2 vols. 8vo. 514 pp. The book. Although there is too often an unsuccessful effort at wit, yet there are We have been much gratified with this many happy sallies; and though the much familiar and striking, as they are style is sometimes debased by phrases unnecessarily vulgar, and allusions, not so easy, animated, and nervous. low and unseemly, yet on the whole it is letters purport to have been written from Virginia, and the subjects on which they touch are various and interesting; but the principal object of the publication ginian character, which the author having seems to have been to delineate the Virbeen born and bred, as far north as the State of New-York, if we may judge from the internal evidence furnished by sentiments and much knowledge, not to his letters, and being a man of generous say a scholar, and acquainted with men and things, is well qualified to do. He was kindly entertained by the Virginians, and has repaid their hospitality, not with flattery, for he has indicated their faults just and honest praise. His remarks on as well as held up their virtues, but with character and manners, which are numerous, and suggested by an extensive and vigilant observation of his countrymen, are in our opinion accurate and instructive; they abound with good sense and patriotic feeling; and if his wisdom has put on a merry guise, it is not for that ing all austerity of manner, he has fitted reason, the less wisdom, while by avoidhis book for the perusal of those who most need the advice it contains, to a much greater extent than he would if he had been more grave and elaborate. 30 of the author, and also with the hope As a specimen of the caustic humour that it may prove useful, we give the following portrait of a certain class of young and may, it is to be regretted, be appromen of fashion. It is sketched with spirit, priated by numbers in all our more considerable towns. "But little D. -, on the contrary, was deter mined to be a gentleman, according to the fahe was to be rich, there was no occasion for him shionable idea of the present day in our cities. As to know any thing-but how to enjoy it like a gentleman. He accordingly took his degree as the first dunce in the college; and the first thing he did on coming to the possession of nearly half a million, was to send out his measure for a suit of clothes to a London tailor. He forthwith en |