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down on his own threshold under a paralytic affection. The tutor awakened as from a dream. He saw his patron dead, and that his patron's only remaining child, an elderly woman, now neither graceful nor beautiful, if she had ever been either the one or the other, had by this calamity become a homeless and penniless orphan. He addressed her nearly in the words which Dominie Sampson uses to Miss Bertram, and professed his determination not to leave her. Accordingly, roused to the exercise of talents which had long slumbered, he opened a little school, and supported his patron's child for the rest of her life, treating her with the same humble observance and devoted attention which he

had used towards her in the days of her prosperity. Such is the outline of Dominie Sampson's real story, in which there is neither romantic incident nor sentimental passion; but which, perhaps, from the rectitude and simplicity of character which it displays, may interest the heart and fill the eye of the reader as irresistibly, as if it respected distresses of a more dignified or refined character."-Pp. xxix. -xxxi.

The Introduction occupies altogether about thirty pages. There are few new notes throughout the volume.

Letters from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, illustrative of their Moral, Religious, and Physical Circumstances, during the years 1826, 27, and 28. Edinburgh. Waugh and Innes. 1829.

some important remarks as to the effects of missionary labours in America. He has also detailed several strange religious controversies. We may farther observe, that though the letters abound with puerile sentiment and uncouth diction, they occasionally afford a pretty vivid idea of the manners and habits prevalent in our North American territories, which had hitherto been but imperfectly described.

Portugal Illustrated. In a series of Letters by the Rev. W. M. Kinsey, B.D., &c. Embellished with a map, plates of coins, vignettes, modinhas, and various engravings. Second Edition. London. Published for the Author, by Treuttel & Wurtz, Treuttel, jun. & Richter. 1829.

(Second notice.)

OPORTO was, at the time of our author's visit, the head-quarters of the constitutionalist, as Lisbon of the absolute party. He describes the manners of the inhabitants as borrowed from the English, who are there more numerous and considerable than at Lisbon. We have heard it remarked by continental wits, that an Englishman carries his tea-kettle with him wherever he goes,--to the top of Mont Blanc, or into the deserts of Africa. Mr Kinsey's account of the British at Oporto would lead us to believe that a much less amiable appendage of their social system is equally inseparable from them

;--

resident merchants, who contribute to a public stock, so "The British Factory at Porto is an association of the much upon each pipe of wine which they ship off for England, for the purpose of giving public entertainments to persons of their own class, and to the Portuguese families of consequence, such as balls in the winter, and occasional dinners at the Factory-house. The house was built by public contribution of the wine merchants, at the time Mr Whitehead was the British Consul at Porto; but it was impossible that such a body of people, composed of such opposite materials, and among whom ideas and principles were so

of uninterrupted amity. Accordingly, some persons, moved by spleen, quitted the society abruptly; some withdrew their names gradually, and would no longer appear as members; and others were expelled on the ground of unfitness. By degrees, the most considerable of the British merchants appropriated to themselves the entire and exclusive management of the whole concern. Those who retained the superintendence of affairs, were denominated the Ins,' while the seceders and rejected were obliged to endure the appellation of Outs.' It is much to be questioned whether the memorable factions of the Guelphs and Ghibelines were attended with consequences half so important to the state of society as this disruption between the original members of the Factory at Porto."

FROM the title-page of the present work, we naturally expected it would have contained a good deal of additional information regarding two of our most important North American Colonies. In this, however, we have been considerably disappointed. Its author seems, in a great measure, to have imagined, that having travelled a certain number of miles through an interesting country, he was thereby sufficiently qualified for writing an agreeable and instructive narrative. But a traveller's duties are somewhat more arduous and extensive. If he seldom indulges in original thinking, he should avoid monotonous detail;-if he refrain from the discussion of import-entirely at variance, could long hold together in the bonds ant political questions, he should omit the relation of commonplace incidents;-if he never be profound or philosophical, he should uniformly be consistent and acute. We do not mean to say that our author has altogether overlooked these rules; but he too frequently manifests a discursive propensity, which hurries him away from the consideration of some important subject, to indulge in dull gossiping and trifling dialogue. For example, we are introduced in one place to a loquacious dame, who enters into a long discussion with an Episcopalian clergyman as to her reasons for becoming a Methodist, in consequence of which the English divine is about to enter into a furious vindication of his principles, when at this important juncture," a young lady began to sing the beautiful verses of Home, sweet home!" which completely pacified the irritated pastor. Then we have a commentary upon the rules of carving, by a captain, who, "When the traveller suddenly beholds a large city, with according to his own confession, was placed in a sad pre-mountain, between rocks that seem torn asunder, surroundinnumerable churches and towers, on the side of a steep dicament, by being asked to cut up a fowl. too proud to confess his inability. He began the work with all his might, but his efforts to find the joints were fruitless." Again, in the midst of a magnificent description of American scenery, Dr politely asks our author, "Have you been in the Netherlands?' I replied in the negative. Oh! then-Let us go into this mansion, and get a glass of milk: I feel exceedingly thirsty.'

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We fear our author has sometimes forgotten "moral, religious, and physical circumstances," in his zeal to record private exploits. We refrain from examining minutely the general principles of emigration which he adduces. How far the security and happiness of states are promoted by applying their internal resources to the formation of distant and separate colonies, is a question of very dubious policy. Our author has furnished us with

This is Almack's imitated, on a small scale. Mr Kinsey quotes the following remarks, on the appearance of Porto, from an earlier visitor:

ed by rude mountains, adorned with gardens, churches, and other edifices, interspersed with pine woods, and looks down on a fine and rapid stream, covered with ships, amid scenes of human activity that occupy a spot designed by nature for the haunts of wild beasts, he is at once astonished and delighted with the prospect; the impression of which is rendered still more lively by his vicinity to the objects, as the stream is far from broad, and the valley very narrow."

The description of Mr Kinsey's residence, while he remained in the city, is as follows:

"The windows of the garden front of our host's residence open into a large area, filled with a variety of Brazilian plants, easily distinguished by their gaudy colours; vines extended on a trellis of considerable length, bearing a profusion of purple bunches; superb lemon trees, sweet and sour; lime and orange trees, bending under the weight of their golden fruit; with pear trees, and apples, and plums,

and Alpine strawberries growing in the greatest luxuriance. The Indian cane, with its splendid blossom, whose colour resembles that of the Guernsey, or rather, the Chinese lily, is a great addition to the gay ornaments of this terrestrial paradise. It was delightful during the heat, when it became impossible to mount the steep streets of Porto, to enjoy a lounge under the canopy formed by the vine, impervious as it was to the noon-tide ray.”

Let us now take a peep at the inhabitants of this plea

sant town:

three sides of it, as a defence for its inhabitants against the heat and variations of the atmosphere."

The inhabitants of these pretty, innocent-looking dwellings, are not, it seems, men to be trifled with: "No act of aggression can possibly give the owner of a vineyard so much offence, as taking the liberty to pluck his grapes without permission. Throughout the whole of the wine-country, the precaution is adopted of fencing in the vineyards, on those sides lying contiguous to the roads, with a light frame-work composed of arundo-donax, covered with furze, to secure the grapes from the grasp of the passing traveller. In most of the detached vineyards there is a small hut made of reeds, which is generally placed on an elevated spot, commanding the whole extent of the vineyard, whence an intruder may be quite sure that he will be fired upon without any previous notice, or the tedious process of a discussion by word of mouth."

The scenery changes as our traveller glides down the Douro:

"The industry of the Porto artisans is quite remarkable. Scarcely an idle person is seen in the streets. Persons who follow similar trades generally inhabit the same district of the town; and thus, while the booksellers and the shoemakers are pursuing the noiseless tenor of their way in their own exclusive streets, the brasiers, the ironmongers, and the block-tin manufacturers, enjoy, apart, the harmony of their respective trades. Flake, cut in slices and fried in oil on the quays, is the ordinary food of the sailors, and is washed down with a little north-country wine, which may be had in the contiguous wine-houses at a very moderate price. be dangerous when the river is swollen, for even in its pre"We now began to meet the falls. They must indeed We have often amused ourselves with observing the sailors sent state we shot down these roaring rapids with the ceeither consuming huge slices of water-melons, or themselves lerity of lightning, occasionally enjoying the agreeable sendressing their sardinhas on little brasiers containing char-sation of bumping against some sunken rock, and only escacoal, round which they are seen in large groups squatted on ping collision with the shore by the activity and quick-sighttheir hams, in a state of semi-nudity, with their red woollen edness of the man at the prow, who managed his long pole night-caps and swarthy complexions, resembling a party of with most laudable dexterity. Those who have had temeCaribbee Indians. What would the fashionables of our rity sufficient to dare the descent at Paris of the Montagnes own metropolis say to the taste of the day at Porto, where Russes, may conceive the delight with which nervous tragentlemen's carriages are frequently dragged up the steep and vellers commit their precious persons to these fearful cataalmost precipitous streets by a yoke of oxen to the Opera-racts. The stunning noise of the headlong current; the house! The custom is said to have originated in necessity; quick and vehement vociferations of the boatmen ; the rawhen the French laid requisition upon all the hidalgos' and pidity of the stream, increasing as the scene of difficulty is wealthy persons' horses, and thus reduced them to the employment of this Smithfield rather than Newmarket team. approached, all concur in exciting the lively apprehensions of the timid and inexperienced traveller, and occasion an inIn Portuguese houses, the kitchen is generally situated at the top of the house, so that we are become quite accustomed voluntary shudder even after the dangers have been safely to the expression which so much astounded us at first, of the river abound with turtle-doves and nightingales. The woods which overhang the rocky banks passed. 'bring down the dinner,' instead of 'serve the dinner up.'" The sylvan scenery of the Douro principally consists of The number of monks in Porto and the neighbouring pine, oak, chestnut, and olive-trees, intermixed with which convents is rated at 5000. But we must leave Oporto, are occasionally seen cork-trees, and a profusion of myrtles and accompany our traveller in his voyage down the adorning the wild with white blossoms. In many places Douro. Coimbra, with all its learning, we shall leave the rocks assume the most grotesque and varied appearance, in singular forms and odd shapes. There is indeed a wildunvisited, for our anxiety is, to show our reader the counness about this rock-scenery, which is almost terrific. The try as well as the town. The boat in which they made rude masses appear to have been thrown into their present the voyage is thus described: state of confusion by some awful convulsion of nature; and in some cases their dark appearance would induce the supposition that they had been but recently cast up from the blazing crater of a neighbouring volcano."

“Our little bark had a complement of five men, one of whom, apparently the patrone, took charge of the helm. The tiller is necessarily very long, and the blade of the rudder, formed, at its extremity, into a shape resembling the sharp-edged oar of a sculler, is extended to a considerable length, being nothing better, however, than a large log of wood roughly hewn. Its length and form, however, enable the steersmen to guide the boat securely between rocks that often approach each other so closely as almost to block up the navigation of the river, and to turn it round in an instant, as though it moved on a pivot, whenever the man, who is stationed, in difficult parts of the channel, at the head of the boat, with a long pole to keep it steady in its course, may give notice of approaching a sunken rock. One man

But we must shut the book, or we shall never have done; only let us in justice add, that the engravings and embellishments are numerous and interesting.

MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE.

A TRIP TO INNERLEITHEN.

takes an oar by the steerer, and two are employed in the By Charles Doyne Sillery, Member of the Saint Ronan's

fore-part with oars, which they work standing up; and they are occasionally assisted by the fifth man, whose duty it is, as just described, to aid in giving a safe direction to the course of the vessel; and they are, from time to time, relieved by the two men who have been employed in the stern."

The view from the river strikes us as pleasing: "Within the distance of a league from the point of our embarkation, we passed under the vine-clad hill of Cambraes, whose towering height is seen from the elevated grounds above Pezo, bounding the line of the horizon to the south. The farm houses and cottages of the vine-dressers, prettily scattered here and there among the green vineyards, and dazzling the sight with their snow-white walls, resemble at a distance the residences of the peasantry in Wales, placed on the gentle declivities of their hills; and, in some respects, the chalets of the Swiss herdsmen in their construction, the ground tier being appropriated to the reception of cattle, or for the stowage of their wine-vats, while the lodging rooms on the upper floor are approached by a wooden staircase, attached to the outside of the building, under a projecting roof, A covered gallery also runs round

Border Club.

"March, march, Ettrick and Teviotdale;
Why, my lads, dinna ye march forward in order?
March, march, Eskdale and Liddesdale,

All the Blue Bonnets are bound for the Border!"

HAIL! Muses, hail! and so on; but at present
I have no time for compliment. Parnassus
Must be forsaken for a space-one hasn't

Sublimity when writing about glasses,
And mountaineer, and shepherd clown, and peasant,
Wrestling and running among whins and grasses;
But yet, old maids! impart to me, a ranger,
Some of the spirit of the Bard of Benger.

Now to the field!-the crimson pennons wave,—
Lo, what a mob is there-all Innerleithen!
The beautiful, the gentle, and the brave,

The high, the low, the rich, the poor, the wee thin
Rosy-cheek'd lassy, and the lusty knave,—
Rustic and polish'd-Christian, Jew, and heathen;

All sects, all kinds, all countrymen,—I never
Saw such a sight-Saint Ronan's Club for ever!

The piper skirls, "Blue Bonnets o'er the Border!"
The patriot's heart beats high-"Well done! well done!"
Now for the sports, and in their glorious order

I dash them into deathless verse. What fun
We had that day,-old Scotia laugh'd,—oh Lord! her
Mountains for very joy sang to the sun.

If perfect pleasure can be found on earth,
'Tis where the Border gave her brave Club birth.

First came the quoits-see how they fly and glitter
In the bright sun, like lovely little planets;
The swallows from their cloud-built castles twitter-

The rustic swains, with their green cloaks and bannets, Crowd round the happy victor-sure a fitter

Fountain for pleasure could ne'er be.-O! man, it's A glorious thing to stand on the brown heather, And see so many happy souls together.

Hop-step-and-leap-ay, there they go! By Jupiter! They stride as if their legs were Nature's compasses; "There's Robertson!"-" Stand back, stand back, sirs!" "Noo, Peter,

Cast off your clogs-away he flies!" What rumpuses The multitude are making." Very few, Peter, Of Caledonia's heavy-bellied, plump asses, 66 Can beat your leaping."-" Na," said Peter, But it's het wark, this smoking month o' July."

"Ay, so it is," replied the Ettrick Shepherd;

For Hogg was there in all his wonted glory. Can Ethiopian change his skin, or leopard

truly;

Her spots ?-no more (to tell a faithful story)
Can Hogg forego the rapture, (though he keep hard
At work all day,) encouraging the hoary,
Old, hearty, healthy, weatherbeaten swain,
To try his luck again, and o'er again.

But I digress, while Scougal whirls the hammer,
And throws it from him like a darting comet.
"How far was that ?"-" Not to the mark."—" No!-
damn her!

She hurt my hand, and slipt like sand eel from it.""Try it again."-" Well done! that's just like glamour!

You'll win the prize, and stand on glory's summit." "Hand here the iron bullet; we must try Our luck at putting."—" Let us do or die."

Away the bullet flies!" Ha! well done, Scott!
You've nearly broken the Secretary's legs, sir."
Scott scratch'd his head, and answer'd, "Na, I've not."
Then, looking wondrous knowingly, said, "Faigs, sir,

I dinna ken hoo that could be a shot

So very bad; these balls are light as eggs, sir."
Now for the race-the race! it is begun;
Huzza! huzza! see how the rascals run!

"Stand back!" bawl'd Hogg; "Once!-Constables, I say,
Keep the crowd back-Twice !-Odd! we canna see—
Clear the course- -Brodie, gar your baton play-
That'll do fine-noo tak a breath awee—
Thrice-O! ye deevils, fast! rin! rin away!
They're oot o' sight already! back to me,

My hearties-glorious! round the pole! they leave it!
Well done, Rob Laidlaw !-in! in!-Lord, ye have it!

"Noo mak' a ring."-" We shall," said Mr Stewart.
The ring is made the wrestling just begun—
"Odd, Anderson, I kent ye had a true heart;

You're the best wrestler underneath the sun!
Try it again, my chappy-odd, man, thoo art
A glorious fellow!-Is na this grand fun?"-
Again he tried it-tried it till he had all
Below his breast, so gain'd the silver medal!

The steeple chase was last,-George Laidlaw first,-
A race right tiresome up the Curlie hill.
Some cried, "Wha has it?" others roar'd, "Wha's worst ?"
Hogg sigh'd, "The rain comes doon like ony mill-
Dam-faith, the callant rins as he would burst!"
Said Mr Brodie, "So I think he will."-
"Nae fears-nae fears," Hogg answer'd; "he's gude stuff,
And faith he has't, man!-Brodie, gie's a snuff."

But hark, the dinner bell!-away! away!
Where's Hogg ?—where's

club?—At dinner.

Phoo! where's all the

This is a glorious scene! How dense! how gay! How numerous !-I do believe all InnerLeithen is here, in cramming, crush'd array.

Lo, what a wilderness of fowls!" Ye sinner, Sit up!" cried Hogg, "I canna see Lord Napier; I wush to God they'd listen to the Crupier!"

Behold the table !-like a horse's shoe—

Behold the viands smoking to the ceilingBehold the chairman, Mr Stewart, tooTraquair, our patron, on his right hand dealing Out vegetables, smiles, and wine; then view Lord Napier, on the left, with every feeling Of happiness and hospitality:

Then swear it is a glorious sight to see.

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66

In Innerleithen, about "being drunk :"

As long as any man can lie (quoth they)

On the green grass, and haud by't, like the trunk
Of some old tree broke from its root away,
He is as sober as a cloister'd monk!"
Lordsake! if it be so, I vow sincere,
How awful it must be to get drunk here!

'Tis sunrise-glorious sunrise! O'er the hills
The golden beams stream in a gush of glory—
The birds, enraptured, tune their little bills-

The Lee Pen Hill, with its cairn'd summit hoaryThe Pirn Crag, where the Romans camp'd-the rills Winding into the Tweed, with song and story— The woody Bank of Cadden-all are glowing In the rich sunbeams from the red orb flowing! Up, Deans! thou bard of Innerleithen! stand On Wallace' Hill, and with a poet's eye Behold the clear streams, and the laughing land, And the blue, boundless, beautiful, bright sky! Nature will gently lead thee by the hand, If thou but woo her truly-Oh! man, try

To do your best, and be a happy bard, For poesy has aye its ain reward!

Farewell! thou "bonny bush aboon Traquaire "— Farewell! thou lovely landscape, wood and waterFarewell! my bonny lasses, young and fair

And oh! farewell! Miss G., Lord Dolour's daughter! When next I tread the braes and valleys there,

May no rude swain into his arms have caught herBut oh! &c.-Landlord! let us see bills, For there's the coach about to start for Peebles.

In Peebles, fishing-'tis a glorious river!

The Tweed! the sport and pleasure of my childhood; Oh! would to God I'd been a boy for ever!

How sweet it was to wander through each wild wood O'ershading its pure waters-Never, never

Can I feel what I felt-so gay, so mild-would
That these bright days could come again—for oh!
I am not what I was long, long ago.

When last I stood upon thy banks, oh Tweed !
My young heart had no sorrow——
-I was gay

As the wild bird-and every little weed
That kiss'd thy crystal stream in innocent play,
To me was a delight-This heart doth bleed
To think how it hath alter'd-far away
Are all the wonted pleasures of thy stream:
Oh! man is folly-life is but a dream!

The hills are all remember'd-not a tree
But pours associations on my soul:
Behold these children at their play; ah me!
And I was once like them—The heavy roll
Of years hath pass'd away ;-far o'er the sea,
In Indian groves, from icy pole to pole,
I've roam'd since then; and here I stand to keep
One vigil-thus to ponder and to weep.

If ever blessings can be call'd from heaven,

To thee, oh Sloane! my Master and my Guide!
Thy pupil prays that they may aye be given;
It is my glory now, it is my pride,
To think how many a summer morn and even,
With kind, unwearied earnestness you tried
To pluck all thoughts of evil from their root,
"And teach the young idea how to shoot."

Once more, farewell! romantic-running river!
Once more, farewell, old Peebles!-There we fly !—
To be what I have been I'd fain endeavour,
But that I never can be-no, not I;

So, then, huzza! Saint Ronan's Club for ever!
Edina's Castle's glittering in the sky:

Now I must bound and bustle up and down
This horrid, humming, cramm'd, infernal town.

CHAPTERS ON EDUCATION.

By Derwent Conway, Author of " Solitary Walks through Many Lands," "Personal Narrative of a Journey through Norway, Sweden, and Denmark," &c.

CHAPTER V.

The Views and Errors of the Sensibles. WHEN I was a child, the order of nature was consulted; and reading was adapted to the different stages of infancy, childhood, and youth. I recollect all these gradations, and all with feelings of pleasure. At the period when "Cinderella," or "Little Red Riding Hood," delighted me, the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments" would have failed in fixing my attention; and, at an age when the latter had charms for me, I could have taken no pleasure in the books which are now put into the hands of children with the view of teaching them morality, and of in

spiring a love of reading at the same time.

It is truly a mighty plan which has been conceived by a coterie of Sensibles, with a few preachers and some booksellers at their heels! It is indeed a prodigious design---to do away with one of the four ages of man-to blot out childhood-and to fill the world with prudent matronly ladies and soberminded gentlemen of twelve and fourteen years of age! The first and most important step in education is, to give to a child the desire of acquiring knowledge, without reference to any particular kind of knowledge,---a love of reading, without regard to the species of reading---objects which are to be attained in no other way than by following the order which nature has established in the developement of the faculties; or, in plainer terms, by adapting the reading by which education is conducted, to the faculties in the order in which nature successively developes and matures them.

discoveries in heat and moisture,-or Mr Watt his improvements on the steam-engine, without imagination, as Sir Walter Scott could, without that faculty, have written his Ivanhoe,-or Southey, his Thalaba. Before researches in any branch of natural science are begun, imagination must have been at work. Newton did not sit down to the calculations which ultimately demonstrated the truth of his system, until imagination had previously suggested the possibility of the results which he afterwards arrived at ; nor, in truth, was any object ever reached, either by reflection or experiment, without the exercise of this faculty, both in suggesting the ultimate end, and the steps by which it was to be attained. Then turn to a survey of literature. It is not in poetry and fiction only that the power of imagination is seen: There is scarcely a prose writer of any eminence, the charm of whose works does not owe more to imagination than to the reasoning powers. Johnson, esteemed one of the most profound among our writers, is even more remarkable for the excellence of his illustrations than for the depth of his reasoning; and in the conversations related by Boswell, it is by the force and aptness of his illustrations, and neither by his great learning, nor by the perfection of his judgment, that he silences his opponents. "Women," says he, "write indifferent poetry ;" and then he adds, "A woman who writes poetry, is like a dog walking on its hinder legs; it does it ill, but we are suropinion, that women write indifferent poetry, is nothing very striking or original, and will hardly be admitted, in our days, to the sober merit of being true; but, backed by such an illustration, who is there, after Johnson had spoken, and looked triumphantly round him, that dared to have attempted a reply? All illustration is the offspring of the imaginative faculty, and judgment does no more than approve the suggestion which imagination has made.

The framers of the new system have been actuated by two considerations; the one, that, by the old plan, foolish and false beliefs, and idle superstitions, gained admittance to the infant mind; the other, that it is far more important to cultivate the judgment than to improve the imagination and to these considerations there was also added another motive,---that, by the new system, the mind might be led to virtue by presenting to it those models in which virtue is taught by precept. Fully bent upon the great work of preventing false beliefs and foolish thoughts from having any place in the infant mind,—of up-root-prised that it can do it at all." The mere expression of the ing, if possible---at all events, of stinting the growth of---| that faculty called imagination---which they looked upon as the enemy of judgment, and worthless in itself,---and of teaching the love of virtue, and the names of the letters which compose the word, at one and the same time,---the Sensibles set themselves to the task of banishing from the infant library all those fictitious relations which were conversant with the unreal world of fairies, and giants, and genii, and magicians. But no system ever originated in so extraordinary a mistake as that of supposing, that injury is done to the mind by familiarizing it in youth with unreal imagery. Is it of any importance that a child, five or six years of age, believes that the story of "Little Red Riding Hood " is a true story? or that a pair of boots could be made, capable of taking seven leagues at every stride? Do the Sensibles suppose, that the child will, at ten or twelve, continue to believe in these fictions? or that the girl of sixteen, who, at twelve, may have been charmed with the story of "Beauty and the Beast," or "Blue Beard," will still retain a predilection for that species of reading? For every era in life, a different kind of reading is adapted; and it is just as impossible that a child of eight should relish a sensible history, setting forth the beauty of virtue, as that the full-grown man or woman should give a preference to the fairy tales that delighted their infancy. There is no reasonable ground of alarm that the taste of childhood shall continue to be that of after years; every year will bring a change along with it; but the love of reading once acquired, it will continue through life, and the description of reading will accommodate itself to the changes which the human mind is constantly undergoing in its progress towards maturity.

CHAPTER VI.

Nor need I confine my survey to the field of letters. In oratory, what is it that mainly captivates? What would Chatham, or Burke, or Sheridan, or Canning, have been without imagination? And if at this day I were asked, what it is that makes Dr Chalmers the Prince of Pulpit Orators, I would answer, imagination! imagination!! Such is the faculty that is so despised, and which modern wisdom labours to extinguish. Had the Sensibles lived two hundred years ago, we might never have known "Caliban," or seen "the Mask of Comus ;" and in place of " the Romance of the Forest," and "Waverley," we must have been content with "SelfControl," and " 'Discipline," and "May You Like It," and the tales and talkings of the Sensibles.

But by the new system, the Sensibles would mend the morals, as well as improve the intellects, of the rising generation: and so would I, if I but knew how to set about it. But is not a certain maturity of judgment required to comprehend the nature of a duty, or to understand the value, and feel the authority, of those writings which are the basis of all morality? Refinements in morality may be carried so far as to disturb our conceptions of its true essence. Such is the description of that ridiculous refinement which the Sensibles have declared for, in doing away with the use of fables, upon the ground, that they inculcate falsehood, by making children believe that birds

False Notions of the Sensibles with respect to the Imagina- and beasts can speak. Oh! most tender-conscienced of

tive Faculty.

BUT a second consideration, which has had its weight with the Sensibles, is, that, in their opinion, it is more important to instruct the judgment than to improve the imagination,—a fallacy, which originates in an entire misconception of the nature and uses of the imaginative faculty. It may be laid down as an incontrovertible position, that in no one department has true greatness ever been attained where this faculty has not been pre-eminent. Sir Humphrey Davy could just as little have invented his safety-lamp,-or Professor Leslie made his

moralists! Was it ever known that a child cried because the cat would not answer when spoken to? It would not, perhaps, be advisable that the morality of the ancients should be taken as a guide; but there were some shrewd men among them, who seem to have considered fables no bad method of instruction. Before leaving this part of the subject, let me briefly notice one other overstrained refinement which has of late years been attempted to be effected. Along with Infant Mythology, the innovators would explode all those mirthful revellings, which, in bygone days, enlivened the holidays of happy Christmas. Blind man's buff, and all romping games, are proscribed,

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