terious, and, if we may judge from the whole tone of his writing, perfectly insolvable. To us, on the contrary, these same subjects appear plain and simple. It requires only care in examining the particular ideas, which we class together under the general words, time and space, in order to mark a characteristic feature of resemblance among them, and then the difficulty vanishes. A child's understanding might thus be taught to comprehend them.

A Discourse pronounced before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, at the Anniversary Celebration, on the thirty-first day of August, 1826. By JOSEPH STORY. Boston. Hilliard, Gray, Little, and Wilkins. 8vo. pp. 58.

An Address delivered at Plymouth, Massachusetts, at the Consecration of "Plymouth Lodge," September 6, A. L. 5826. By JAMES GORDON CARTER. Plymouth. Allen Danforth. 8vo. pp. 37.

THE profusion of orations, which our occasions of public assembling call forth, bears testimony to the intellectual activity of the people. Men's amusements are a test of their characters; and the fact, that multitudes of our countrymen come together again and again to be entertained with discourses on important topics, is a proof of an advanced state of public improvement. The causes which have given this direction to the popular taste, may be easily found in the nature of our institutions, and the great moral and physical characteristics of our country. The continual exercise of the various rights of free citizens produces among us a constant necessity and consequent love of argument and discussion. They like to talk and to be talked to, and a fondness for hearing set speeches is the natural result. The boundless field which our country spreads out before the eye of enterprise, awakens mental activity, affords the means of constant progression, and produces of course a love of improvement, a thirst for knowledge, and a desire of instruction. At the same time this active spirit is not favorable to contemplation, to solitary study. It finds its proper food in the bustle of life, and much more gladly receives instruction from living lips than from the treasures of written wisdom.

Moreover the general cultivation arising from the wide diffusion of the means of knowledge among our countrymen, demands a peculiar literature. The literature of Europe is intended for a

1

particular class, raised by systems of monopoly and exclusion, to a very disproportionate height above their fellow men. There is no intellectual food provided for the mass of the people. With us the wide extent of intellectual cultivation produces a greater demand for intellectual nutriment adapted to the taste of the whole community. The people will be informed. More especially are they anxious for a right apprehension upon subjects of general and immediate interest. To supply this demand, and thereby to gain a hold on public favor, ambitious men are ready to produce the fruits of their study and reflections in the shape of popular addresses.

We may add, that the men whom nature and education have fitted to promote the progress of literature among us, share in the active spirit which pervades the land. The avenues to power and wealth are numerous and open. No jealous monopoly excludes all but the favorites of fortune from posts of honor and trust. No crowded population presses hard upon the means of employment. The prospect of wealth and honor attracts every eye, and the refinements of contemplation give place to the energies of action.

In Europe the exclusive system weighs so heavily upon talent unaided by adventitious circumstances, and the number of competitors in every department of honorable action makes the struggle so arduous and success so uncertain, that many men, whose wealth and influence lie in their intellects, retire from the arena of active life, and concentre their powers in literary labor. Thought becomes profound, writing finished, and authorship a profession. While, among us, men of talents being mostly devoted to active pursuits, their literary efforts are of course less elaborate, and take almost exclusively the shape of essays and orations. Among these may be found many productions of great merit. Several of the best have been called forth by our late celebrations.

The Discourse of Judge Story is a happy excursion into the fields of elegant literature, by a mind devoted untiringly to the arduous and honorable duties of a high public station. The object of this oration is to "trace.out some of the circumstances of our age which connect themselves closely with science and letters." "One of the most striking characteristics is the general diffusion of knowledge," arising from the freedom, combined with the cheapness of the press. The effects of the wide spread love of reading are illustrated by the altered condition of authors themselves, now pursuing an independent and lucrative profession, and by the elevated character of education among the female sex.

"Another circumstance illustrative of our age, is the bold and fearless spirit of its speculations." The effects of this spirit are shown in the changes which have taken place in jurisprudence and legislation, in medicine and theology, in mathematics, physical science, and metaphysics, and more especially in the department of general literature. After exemplifying the advantages which have sprung from this spirit, the orator proceeds to set forth some of its bad effects and extravagances, arising from the demand for novelties and the rejection of old opinions. Among these bad effects, is justly reckoned the growing propensity to disparage the importance of classical learning. And, as our readers may like to know the opinions of a man of high character, and distinguished for practical ability, upon a subject much agitated among us at the present time, we extract a part of his remarks relating to it. After showing its importance to professional men, and some of the reasons which have tended to bring it into disrepute, the orator proceeds thus:

"There is one objection, however, on which I would for a moment dwell, because it has a commanding influence over many minds, and is clothed with a specious importance. It is often said, that there have been eminent men and eminent writers, to whom the ancient languages were unknown; men, who have risen by the force of their talents, and writers, who have written with a purity and ease, which hold them up as models for imitation. On the other hand, it is often said, that scholars do not always compose either with elegance or chasteness; that their diction is sometimes loose and harsh, and sometimes ponderous and affected. Be it so. I am not disposed to call in question the accuracy of either statement. But I would nevertheless say, that the presence of classical learning was not the cause of the faults of the one class, nor the absence of it the cause of the excellence of the other. And I would put this fact, as an answer to all such reasonings, that there is not a single language of modern Europe, in which literature has made any considerable advances, which is not directly of Roman origin, or has not incorporated into its very structure many, very many of the idioms and peculiarities of the ancient tongues. The English language affords a strong illustration of the truth of this remark. It abounds with words and meanings drawn from classical sources. Innumerable phrases retain the symmetry of their ancient dress. Innumerable expressions have received their vivid tints from the beautiful dyes of Roman and Grecian roots. If scholars, therefore, do not write our language with ease, or purity, or elegance, the cause must lie somewhat deeper than a conjectural ignorance of its true diction.

"But I am prepared to yield still more to the force of the objection. I do not deny, that a language may be built up without the aid of any foreign materials, and be at once flexible for speech and graceful for composition. That the literature of a nation may be splendid and instructive, full of interest and beauty in thought and in diction, which has no kindred with classical learning; that in the vast stream of time it may run its own current unstained by the admixture of surrounding languages; that it may realize the ancient fable, 'Doris amara suam non intermisceat undam;' that it may retain its own flavor, and its own bitter saltness too. But I do deny, that such a national literature does in fact exist in modern Europe, in that community of nations, of which we form a part, and to whose fortunes and pursuits in literature and arts we are bound by all our habits, and feelings, and interests. There is not a single nation from the North to the South of Europe, from the bleak shores of the Baltic to the bright plains of immortal Italy, whose literature is not imbedded in the very elements of classical learning. The literature of England is in an emphatic sense the production of her scholars; of men, who have cultivated letters in her universities, and colleges, and grammar schools; of men, who thought any life too short, chiefly, because it left some relic of antiquity unmastered, and any other fame humble, because it faded in the presence of Roman and Grecian genius. He, who studies English literature without the lights of classical learning loses half the charms of its sentiments and style, of its force and feelings, of its delicate touches, of its delightful allusions, of its illustrative associations. Who, that reads the poetry of Gray, does not feel, that it is the refinement of classical taste, which gives such inexpressible vividness and transparency to his diction? Who, that reads the concentrated sense and melodious versification of Dryden and Pope, does not perceive in them the disciples of the old school, whose genius was inflamed by the heroic verse, the terse satire, and 'the playful wit of antiquity? Who, that meditates over the strains of Milton, does not feel, that he drank deep

-at "Siloa's brook, that flowed Fast by the oracle of God"

that the fires of his magnificent mind were lighted by coals from ancient altars?

"It is no exaggeration to declare, that he, who proposes to abolish classical studies, proposes to render in a great measure inert and unedifying the mass of English literature for three centuries; to rob us of much of the glory of the past, and much of the instruction of future ages; to blind us to excellencies, which few may hope to equal, and none to surpass; to annihilate associations, which are interwoven with our best sentiments, and give to distant

times and countries a presence and reality, as if they were in fact

our own."

pp. 37-40.

The orator proceeds to set forth other bad consequences of the spirit of innovation, in the constant demand for new works and new styles of writing, and the hasty preparation into which men of genius are seduced. He then speaks of the interest which we of the United States ought to feel, and the efforts which we ought to make in the cause of science and literature, and concludes with an elegant panegyric on the lately deceased patriots of the Revolution.

The variety of subjects embraced in this discourse necessarily precludes profound disquisition upon particular topics. This is not in fact its object. It is intended to exhibit a lively sketch of the distinguishing characteristics of our age, most interesting to the lovers of literature and of human improvement. It is composed with taste and spirit, and contains much "for reflection, for encouragement, and for admonition."

The subject of Mr. Carter's Oration is the progress of the world. From a wide survey of the history of man, through his various periods of advancement and decline, he comes to the conclusion, in which we all delight to believe, that the human mind is on the whole advancing, although its motion at certain periods has been undoubtedly retrograde. The difference between the Jewish and Christian dispensations is adduced in support of this opinion.

During the first four thousand years of the world, a period embracing the lapse of ages from the creation to the introduction of christianity, the economy of the divine government, so far as it was distinctly revealed, proceeded in the manner of a parent with a child. It inculcated few general principles, but consisted rather in specific directions for particular actions, defined and described in the law. The sanction of the law, too, was not merely the slow displeasure of men and the little punishments they can inflict, but the immediate vengeance of the Almighty. The Jewish dispensation does not suppose in the subjects of it understandings sufficiently enlightened, to comprehend any very general principles of action, nor to be influenced by any very distant motives. Nor does it presume upon such pure hearts as can be made the sole seat of devotion. The forms of worship were an essential part of the religion, and were revealed at the same time with the object of it. Though Abel offered a more acceptable sacrifice than his brother, it was still a sacrifice of the firstlings of his flock, and not merely 'the grateful incense of a pure heart.' pp. 12, 13.