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From this source, a large share of the enjoyment which men find in the active pursuits of life, has its origin.

"The teacher has the whole field, which this subject opens, fully before him. He has human nature to deal with, most directly. His whole work is experimenting upon mind; and the mind which is before him to be the subject of his operation, is exactly in the state to be most easily and pleasantly operated upon. The reason now why some teachers find their work delightful, and some find it wearisomeness and tedium itself, is that some do, and some do not take this view of their work. One instructor is like the engine-boy, turning without cessation or change, his everlasting stop-cock, in the same ceaseless, mechanical and monotonous routine. Another is like the little workman in his brighter moments, fixing his invention and watching with delight its successful and easy accomplishment of his wishes. One is like the officer, driving by vociferation and threats, and demonstrations of violence, the spectators from the galleries. The other, like the shrewd contriver, who converts the very cause which was the whole ground of the difficulty, to a most successful and efficient means of its removal,"

6.-The Life of William Cowper, compiled from his correspondence, and other authentic sources of information; containing remarks on his writings, and on the peculiarities of his interesting character, never before published. By Thomas Taylor. Philadelphia: Key & Biddle. 1833. pp. 277.

THIS is the first complete view of the life and writings of Cowper. It is a judicious compilation from Hayley's four volumes, Dr. Johnson's two volumes, the life by Newton, &c. A few original papers are inserted. Mr. Taylor gives a synopsis of Cowper's works, with critical and other remarks. Considerable light is thrown on these portions of Cowper's life, and on those points in his character, which were previously, for various reasons, involved in considerable obscurity. The editor has brought to his work a strong attachment to the life and productions of his author, a familiar acquaintance with the sources of information, a correct idea of his duties as a biographer, and a strong desire to promote the glory of that Being who conferred on the poet his extraordinary endowments. The author makes no pretensions to originality, but only to supply a desideratum in biographical and religious literature.

While we concede to Mr. Taylor all due praise for his labors, we cannot forbear expressing our regret that he did not give us more particulars of the correspondents and friends of Cowper. We, American readers, are left in almost total darkness, respecting lady Austen, and lady Hesketh, when good Mrs. King died, what became of 'cousin' Ann Bodham, in what state the grounds at Olney and Weston now are. These are not now merely matters of curiosity. Satisfactory answers to a number of questions, which we could ask, would throw no inconsiderable light on the life of the poet. Our first inquiries on a visit to England,

would not be at the museum, or the house of commons, or Westminster abbey; but in Cornwall for Henry Martyn's relatives, at Nottingham for Kirke White's, at Liverpool for Thomas Spencer's. We would question some of the old Bedford Row parishioners about Mr. Cecil, and the sexton of Mary Woolnoth concerning Mr. Newton. There is a false delicacy, and a want of knowledge of human nature, in withholding numerous particulars. While we would not advocate such notoriety as some of Dr. Doddridge's concerns have acquired, we still think there are serious and frequent mistakes on the other hand.

7.-Natural History of the Fishes of Massachusetts, embracing a practical essay on angling. By Jerome V. C. Smith, M. D. Boston: Allen & Ticknor. 1833. pp. 399.

IN the introductory part of this book, we find some valuable remarks on the subject of the fisheries. The first knowledge we have of fisheries on the American coasts, was in the year 1504, when vessels from Biscay, Bretagne, and Normandy, were employed in the cod fishery, on the coasts of Newfoundland. In 1578, England employed fifteen vessels in the trade, France one hundred and fifty, Spain one hundred, and Portugal fifty. Many of the pious pilgrim fathers of New England, lived for months almost entirely on fish. Our system of free schools took its rise in Plymouth colony from the fisheries. In 1663, the following proposition was made by the colony court. "It is proposed by the court unto the several townships in this jurisdiction, as a thing that they ought to take into serious consideration, that some course may be taken in every town, that there may be a schoolmaster set up to train up children to reading and writing." In 1670, "the court did freely give and grant all such profits as might or should accrue annually to the colony for fishing with nets or seines, at cape Cod, for mackerel, bass, or herring, to be improved for and towards a free school in some town of this jurisdiction, for the training up of youth in literature for the good and benefit of posterity, provided a beginning be made within one year after said grant," &c. This school was immediately established at Plymouth, and was supported by the proceeds of the cape Cod fishery till 1677, when they were distributed among several towns for the same purpose. In 1641, Winthrop says that 300,000 dry fish were sent to market in the colony of Massachusetts.

Previously to the American revolution, the cod fishery of Massachusetts employed 28,000 tons of shipping, and 4,000 seaThe current value of their industry was about $1,000,000. In 1790, congress gave some encouragement to the fisheries in the form of bounty, on exported fish. A few years afterwards, a

men.

bounty was allowed to vessels occupied in the business for a given length of time. In 1807, 71,000 tons of shipping, belonging to Massachusetts, were employed in the cod fishery alone. In 1803, the State passed a law providing for an inspection of fish. In the following year, the number of barrels of mackerel packed in Massachusetts, was 8,079. The number gradually increased until 1808, when, after a temporary declension, the business extended, and, in 1811, the number of barrels packed was upwards of 19,000. In 1820, the number was 236,243. This was before the separation of Maine. In 1831, there were packed in this State, 348,750 barrels. The number of vessels employed was 400, and of men, 4,000. The probable value of the mackerel fishery exceeded $1,500,000. The number of ships employed in the whale fishery, in 1832, was more than 300; of men, 6,000. These vessels are chiefly owned, built, and manned in Massachusetts. They are supposed to require, to equip for sea, 6,000 tons of iron hoops for casks, 18,000 bolts of sail cloth, 36,000 barrels of flour, 30,000 barrels of beef and pork, 6,000,000 staves for casks, besides numerous other expensive articles of equipment and provisions. They require annually about 700,000 pounds of sheathing copper.

A part of Dr. Smith's book is taken up in describing the anatomy and physiology of fishes; then follows a scientific delineation of the structure and habits of the fishes of Massachusetts. The book is concluded with an essay on trout and angling. Entertaining anecdotes and incidents are interspersed. The disciples of Wotton and Walton will find it a pleasant companion. We have room but for one extract.

"Age to which they live.-Perhaps there is no subject on which the natu ralist has labored with less success, than in trying to ascertain the age to which fishes attain. Admitting that an individual of any species were undisturbed by enemies, or unmolested by its own kindred, and quietly enjoying a circumscribed body of water, amply supplied with appropriate food, there is no reason for doubting that it would live for many centuries. We know of no limits to their longevity, nor can we suppose that the internal machinery would wear itself out, so long as the digestive organs were properly excited.

"But the time must ultimately arrive when death will terminate their existence; though admirably constructed for an uncommonly long life, they are not, nor can they be exempted from the operation of a law, which to intelligent beings, is contemplated with the deepest feelings of awe and solemnity.

"Pike and carp, in artificial ponds, have been repeatedly found, with gold rings in their fins, and other kinds of labels, on which were also found dates, that proved, conclusively, that one hundred years had elapsed since the inscription was made.

"Gesner speaks of a pike that was known to be 267 years old. It is affirmed by some of the French writers, that several pike are in a pond, which formerly belonged to the duke of Orleans, father of the present king, so very aged, that their original complexion is completely lost: they have become of a dingy hue, and actually give the spectator the idea of extreme old age.

"Cartilaginous fishes have a still greater prospect of living to an advanced period. Instead of bones, as previously remarked, their skeletons are elastic, having but a small portion of earthy matter in them. As the vessels secrete but little ossific matter, they do not become rigid, as in the land animal :the heart is in no danger of being converted into bone,-indeed, we do not know why many of them might not live and continue to grow for a thousand years.

"It was at one time thought that the circles discoverable on the ends of the vertebræ of the osseous tribes, indicated the age,-as the rings on the extremity of a log, marked the years of the growth of the tree. Those, unfortunately, are no guides,-and we therefore regret that we know of no mode, at the present day, of solving a problem of the highest interest to the curious. Of the marine fishes, the sharks unquestionably reach a truly patriarchal age.

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Sleep.-Exposed as these animals must necessarily be, to the voracious jaws of inillions of belligerent, as well as hungry associates,-it would seem hardly possible that they should find a safe opportunity for this kind of rest, however much they might at any period require it. Again, being without eye-lids, they would be regarded, at first thought, as organized to require no suspension of the powers of volition. Impossible as it is to speak with certainty on this point, we are fully persuaded that they not only require sleep, but that they also find safe and convenient times to enjoy that sort of repose. Gold fishes, in vases, repose regularly through the night, after the lights have been extinguished. This is inferred from their remaining precisely in one position, six and eight hours at a time."

8.-Lectures, on the Literary History of the Bible, by Rev:

Joel Hawes; on the Principle of Association as giving dignity to Christian Character, by Rev. T. H. Gallaudet; and on the Temporal Benefits of the Sabbath, by Rev. Horace Hooker: originally delivered before the Goodrich Association. Hartford, Ct.: Cooke & Co. 1833. pp. 110.

WE consider these lectures as very happy specimens of what ought to be the mental sustenance of our lyceums and popular associations. They are written with care, with much previous preparation, in a popular style, with entire freedom from sectarianism, and on subjects, which ought to be universally interesting. Dr. Hawes thus describes the manner in which our English version of the Bible was effected.

6

"In 1526, the New Testament was translated and published in English, by William Tyndal. This was a crime for which he was condemned to death. He was strangled, and afterwards burned. He expired, praying repeatedly and earnestly, 'Lord open the king of England's eyes.' In 1535, a translation of the whole Bible, and the first English one ever printed, and the first also ever allowed by royal authority, was completed under the direction of Miles Coverdale. Through the influence of Archbishop Cranmer, an order was obtained from the king that a book of the whole Bible' should be provided and laid in the choir for every man that would to look and read therein.' Several other editions of the Scriptures were published during the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI., but all of them were only revised copies of Tyndal and Coverdale's translation. Passing over these, we come to our present authorized version. This, as already stated, was made by order of James I. In 1604, the king nominated fifty-four 45

VOL. I.

learned men to re-translate, revise or correct preceding versions, so as to produce as perfect a translation as possible. Of these, only forty-seven actually engaged in the work, the others having died, or declined the appointment. They were men of distinguished piety, and profoundly versed in a knowledge of the original languages of the sacred writings. Those who lived to engage in the work were divided into six companies. To each company was assigned a particular book or portion of the Bible, which was to be translated by each individual belonging to that division. The book thus finished, was sent to each of the other companies, to be again examined; so that each book passed the scrutiny of all the translators successively. Three entire copies of the Bible, thus translated and revised, were finally submitted to a committee of six, who reviewed and polished the whole work. Nearly three years were spent in completing the translation; and from this account of it, it appears that no time or pains were spared to make it perfect. It was published in folio, in 1611, and has ever since been the version in common use. And we have the best reasons, on the whole, for being satisfied with it. Doubtless, with the improvements which have been made in biblical knowledge, some corrections might be made in our present translation, and some passages rendered more clearly expressive of the meaning of the original. But take it all in all, our English Bible is a noble monument of the integrity, fidelity and learning of its venerable translators. Their reverence for the sacred Scriptures induced them to be as literal as they could, to avoid obscurity; and while they have been extremely happy in the simplicity and dignity of their expressions, they have, by their adherence to the Hebrew idiom, at once enriched and adorned our language."

We give the following as a specimen of Mr. Gallaudet's

manner.

"Suppose the mind of one of our most distinguished statesmen, to be under the controlling influence of the Christian's faith, to be actuated by the motives which this faith inspires, and to teem with those associations of thought and feeling, which the objects of this faith afford. He is a Christian patriot; and in all the laborious duties of his official stations; in all his counsels with kindred souls; in all his plans of reform and improvement, the future moral and religious, as well as political aspects of his beloved country, pass before his mind, and glow in his imagination, with all that vividness and beauty which his own creative fancy, in the light of the promises of revelation, sheds around them. His grandest projects, and his mightiest efforts, with their most splendid results, rise in his estimation to still higher degrees of grandeur and sublimity, because they are but the preparatory steps for making this his beloved country, become, to the millions and millions of people who are yet destined to inhabit it, the great entrance way to that holier and happier country, where Jehovah, in the person of his Son, will manifest his glory, and his empire be one of universal peace and love. "He seeks the honor of his nation, but his estimate of this honor is made with reference to distant times and ages, when the records of history shall breathe the same spirit as the records of revelation, and the admiration of mankind be directed to the heroes who have been great in doing good, and to the nations that have been the benefactors of mankind; and he seeks to prepare the way, in the very discharge of his political duties, to have his beloved country distinguished as the instrument, in the hand of the King of kings, of diffusing the blessings of civilization, of freedom, and of Christianity, throughout the world.

"He is a Christian statesman; and he anticipates the day when the principles which he recognizes, and the measures which he advocates, based on the eternal foundation of truth and justice; imbued with the spirit of the gospel; acknowledging the paramount obligation of loving our neighbors as

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