of Boston, in 1801-3, and now in our possession : and 2. That our attributing the Hymn in honor of Harmodias and Aristogiton to Callimachus, was a mere lapse of pen and memory, without any special excuse. That we did once deem Callistratus the right author, is proved by a short article of our writing, in Vol. 2, No. 1, of the Messenger, p. 38; where, in a preface to our former translation of the same ode, (differing slightly from the recent one,) we said, "The learned are not agreed as to the author of this noble specimen of classic minstrelsy; though by most it is ascribed to Callistratus. Some have set it down to Alcæus; misled, perhaps, by the tyrant-hating spirit it breathes,—so fully in unison with the deep, trumpet tones of his golden lyre.' Unhappily for the paternity of this ode he died eighty years before the event it celebrates," We do not doubt that Callistratus is the true author: and we thank our courteous correspondent for correcting our error. M. THREE HOOTS OF THE HORNED OWL. The superstition upon which the annexed poem is founded, is almost universal. He hath stretched his wither'd arms on high To greet the summer air. Whose sad and eyrie cry Where corpses festering lie. Bright as the Evening star, Lone shining from afar, Remote from the angry strife, 'Mid the paths of crowded lise ; And if the snowy wing of Peace, In this dim and troubled sphere, It well might linger here, On a crone of aspect wild, On a sleeping Infant child :- A babe's can only wear, Folded as if in prayer. On her slumbering infant child, But her face with fear grew wild, And blood in her veins that froze,- An ominous sound uprose, - With anguish keen and fell, Condemned to the nethermost hell. It rings on the midnight air, Stands that mute mother there! And wrings ber shrivellid bands, Like rain upon the sands. Alas for its mother dear! So full of wrath and fear. The grisly Hornéd Owl, So gaunt, and grim, and foul; The shadow of coming woe, God grant it be not so!” And clasps unto her breast And soothes it into rest, With reverential air, A mother's heartfelt prayer. Lent by the power above, The spell of a Mother's Love! Yet if this warning comes from thee HOOT FIRST. " Ho! bird of the strong and rapid wing, Wbither away so fast ? And the sail laps on the mast? And the slorm-fiend's breath is strong !" Croaking his mournful song. Grim messenger of woe- And heralds the Carrion Crow :- From the light he cowers away, The sick beart strives to pray. Of unholy mystic light, In bis fever-troubled night. With winnowing wings the air, With boding doubts and fear. Now rapidly hurries he, On the blasted old Oak Tree. Beneath that tree in days of old, When its boughs were fresb and green, Under its leafy screen. Sunce spectral, grim, and bare, VOL. XIV-23 Oh Lord, thy will be done, Not to my guiltless son." And away flew the Evil Bird, That the mother's prayer was heard. HOOT SECOND. Al the fountain life's .golden' boul, The pure and upright soul.” Chimed in with her accents stern, By the wimpling summer burn; 'Tis the voice of the Bride, as her blushing face On her husband's breast she hides, And with a sweet unconscious grace His quailing spirit chides. In love and maiden pride, Will cling unto thy side. With that which I have given, Without thee what were Heaven? Preserved thine infant life. The love of a faitbful wife- Nor ebbs with ebbing breath, That love can conquer death." Lit up with a lofty scorn, That dismal thing had gone. HOOT THIRD. Long years have passed-the aged crone Ilas been gathered to her rest, As the sun sinks in the west: The nursling of her care? Joyous and young and fair. Over the village green, Upon the smiling scene, Lead on in the bridal train Like violets after rain- Rise in a mingled hum, The bridal party come. In the misty twilight seen? On his nuptial eve I ween! or the Bride is at the door, Uprises in sad and solemn hoot His warning voice once more. Creeps shuddering through the crowd, Came rising from the shroud;-- Gleam with a baleful light, 'Mid the gloom of the gathering night. On the Bridegroom's face, is the pallid trace of fears the soul that stir, His gaze is fixed on her. Those spectral doubts appal, That death voice seems to call :-- With restless shadowy fear, Comes creeping ever near;- The beautiful and brave. The blossoms of the grave. While the hideous sounds arise, And her dim old sightless eyes. “My soul in the midnight hour, Shook at the sounds of that summons dread, But the fiend had no further power, For a greater than he, alone can break The wintry winds are sighing The dirge of the dying year, All withered, brown and sere, Looks down from the cloudy sky, And lain him down to die. On his temples bare outspread, To pillow his aching head, In weariness and pain, Comes back to his failing brain, By the drifting seaman beard, By the Cape of far De Verde ; While the warring winds are mule, " Whose heart-strings are a lute." He ponders o'er his wasted years, By pride and passion tossed, Of the loved ones and the lost. The Night Owl, where is he? Fiom the stump of the old oak tree. And he shrieks with a dismal din, For the aged man within. added, since then, to the Library of the jurist. And in our The sound has caught his dying ear, own country, the kindred minds of the lamented Story and The third time and the last, Kent, whose shades yet hover around the temple of our And mingled shades of hope and fear Flit o'er his features fast. jurisprudence, have produced works, that will last as long Feeble at first, his earnest words as the system, which called them into being. Gain force as they roll along, With regard to the course of general reading, which Mr. While his soul in its stubborn strength he girds, Jefferson advises, and which may strike some students To answer that funeral song. with surprise, it may be said that no man, who has risen "Avaunt, grim messenger of Death, to great eminence at the bar, has ever been a mere lawyer, Back to thy master fly, And tell him with this gasping breath and that while the way is tnilsome and uninviting, it is His mandate I defy. sometimes permitted to the traveller therein to loiter even For though, from this decaying clod, in the primrose paths of belles-lettres and poetry. CerMy spirit shall be riven, tainly there should be laid, in the mind of the student, a It pants to mount up to its God, broad basis of general information in the abstract sciences, Within its native Heaven. Though earthly love has left me long, or no lasting superstructure of legal acquirement can be Yet Hope is with me still, built up. A man may labor for years,- indeed pursue the Though Death is pitiless and strong, viginti annorum lucubrationes of my lord Coke--and yel, if Yet Faith is stronger stille he read nothing but law, his mind may be but a repertoriuin Opon its wings my soul shall rise of decided cases, incapable of reflection or of any useful Up to ibat higher sp!ere,And those long lost to these dim eyes application of his knowledge. Such has not been the Blest Angels greet me there." course of ibose, in England and America, who have most Of dew the baffled bird of night adorned the gown of the advocate and the ermine of the And whether to bliss or dole. judge. Such was not the course of Blackstone, of MapsAs through the dark he winged his flight, field, of Sir William Jones or of Legaré. Indeed we can. There fled a parting soul. not refer to a single name, conspicuous on the roll of legal E. D. Savannah, Georgia. merit, who was deficient in general scholarship, but would have been more distinguished in law, had be been better versed in letters. The plodding teacher, who places into the hands of the student only such books as are authority in court, would have censured the late Mr. Scarlett for weaving a bouquet for the Annuals and Talfourd for the beautiful conception of lon. THE STUDY OF THE LAW. In what we have said, however, we would not be under stood as implying that success at the bar can ever be atMS. LETTER OF TH: JEFFERSON. tained by any temporising course of study. We would not induce any young man to suppose that in adopting the In the October number of our Magazine for the year Law as his profession, his "yoke is to be easy or his bur. 1834, (the second number ever published,) there appeared den light :” So far from it, we would, if possible, dissuade a Letter on the Study of the Law, from the pen of the late many of those (and their name is legion.) who from a misWr. Wirt ; a production so luminous and presenting so ex- taken sense of their aptitude for the law and urged not uncellent a view of that“ noblest of all sciences,” that, had frequently by partial and incompetent advisers, are conits author lest no other work behind him, it would itself be stantly pressing forward as candidates for admission to the a sufficient and enduring monument of his learning. Be practice. It is a laborious task to prepare one's self for the low we present a letter on the same subject, never before exigencies of the office and the rewards are at best inudepublished, written by Mr. Jefferson, for which we are in quate and tardy. But if the step has been decided upon, debted to a valued, lbough too infrequent, correspondent. the student had need be diligent in his application. "The The student of Law will find it useful in shaping his stu- Law,” says Dr. Johnson, " is the last result of human wisdies, and to the general reader it will be interesting as dom acting upon human experience for the benefit of the coming from this distinguished source. So long a time has public.” To master it, in its general principles and its elapsed, however, even since the date. when Mr. Jefferson adaptation to the ends of society, requires indeed the most furnished a copy of it to Gen. Mercer, that it cannot be constant and persevering toil. Having stored his mind considered as giving an extended range of scientific or le with the valuable information that Mr. Wirt and Mr. Jefgal bibliography. Since the year 1815, the labors of a host ferson recommend, let the student determine to lead a life of writers have illoserated the Law of England. The of abstinence and industry, remembering that “industry," works of Chilty, the treatise of Sir Edward Sugden on in the expressive language of Dr. South, "for the most Vendors, the delightful dissertation of Mr. Stephen on part opens the way to preferment; and it is the sueat of Pleading, which we regard as the most philosophical we the brow that entitles it to the laurel.” have ever read, the splendid exposition of the Law of Evi. We beg pardon for having extended these remarks, (dedence, hy Mr. Starkie, together with the contributions of signed merely as an introduction to Mr. Jefferson's Letter) Phillips, Theobald, Amos, Collyer and others, have all been so far. Always a most unworthy student of the Law our course, selves, we have never advanced farther than the starting single object; but both transitions from one object point of the where branch on branch of the science, to another may be so frequent and transitory as to like Alps on Alps, arise before us in forbidding perspec. leave no impression. The mean is therefore to tive. It were an offence against good taste in us, therefore, be steered and a competent space of time is to be to presume to give advice and we conclude with asking at. allotted to each branch of study. Again a great tention to the letter we now present.-[Ed. Mess. inequality is observable in the vigor of the mind at different periods of the day. Its powers at these pe riods should therefore be attended to in marshalling (To General Mercer.) the business of the day-for these reasons I should recommend the following distribution of your time : MONTICELLO, Aug. 30th, 1814. Till 8 o'clock in the morning employ yourself in Dear Sir,--I have at length found the paper of Physical studies, Ethics, Religion, natural and which you requested a copy. It was written near sectarian, and natural law, reading the following 50 years ago for the use of a young friend whose books : course of reading was confided to me ; and it form- Agriculture-Dickson's husbandry of the Antients. ed a basis for the studies of others subsequently Full's horse hoeing husbandry. Lord Kaim's placed under my direction, but curtailed for each in gentleman farmer. Young's rural economy. proportion to his previous acquirements and future Hale's Body of Husbandry. De-Serres theaviews. I shall give it to you without change, ex tre d'Agriculture. cept as to the books recommended to be read ; later Chemistry—Lavoisier's conversations on Chemispublications enabling me in some of the depart try, inents of science to substitute better for the less Anatomy-John and James Bell's anatomy. perfect publications which we then possessed. In Zoology-Abregé du Systeme de Lenncé par Gilthis the modern student has great advantage. I ibert. Manuel d'histoire naturel par Blumenproceed to the copy. back. Buffon, including Montbeillard Cepede. (Th: Jefferson to Bernard Moore.) Wilson's American Ornithology. Botany–Barton's elements of Botany. Turton's Before you enter on the study of the law a suffi Linnæus, Persoon Synopsis plantarum. cient ground work must be laid. For this purpose an Ethics and Natural Religion-Locke's Essay . acquaintance with the Latin and French authors is Locke's conduct of the mind in the search after absolutely necessary. The former you have ; the truth. Stewart's philosophy of the human mind. latter must now be acquired. Mathematics and Enfield's history of philosophy. Condorcet, proNatural Philosophy are so useful in the most fa grés de l'esprit humain. Cicero de officiis. miliar occurrences of life and are so peculiarly en Tuscalana de Senectute. Somnium Scipionis gaging and delightful as would induce every per Seneca philosophica. Hutchinson's Introduction son to wish an acquaintance with them. Besides to moral Philosophy. Lord Kaim's Natural this, the faculties of the mind, like the members Religion. Frairté elementaire de morale et Bonof the body, are strengthened and improved by ex heur. La Sagesse de Charron. ercise. Mathematical reasonings and deductions Religion, Sectarian—Bible, New Testament, Comare therefore a fine preparation for investigating mentaries on them by Middleton in his works, the abstruse speculations of the law. In these and and by Priestly in his corruptions of Christianithe analogous branches of science the following ty and early opinions of Christ. Volney's Ruelementary books are recommended : ins. The Sermons of Sterne. Massillon and Mathematics. Boront, Cours de Mathematiques Bourdalone. the best for a student ever published. Montri- Natural Law-Vattel Droit des Gens. Reyneral, olo or Bossu's histoire des Mathematiques. Institutions du droit de la Nature et des Gens. Astronomy. Furguson and Le Mounier or de la From 8 to 12 read Law. The general course Lande. of this reading may be formed on the following Natural Philosophy. Joyces scientific dialogues, grounds : Lord Coke has given us the first view Martin's Phylosophia Britannica, Musienbrock's of the whole body of law worthy now of being Cours de Physique. studied; for so much of the admirable work of This foundation being laid, yon may enter reg- Bracton is now obsolete that the student should ularly on the study of the Law, taking with it such turn to it occasionally only, when tracing the histoof its kindred sciences as will contribute to emi- ry of particular portions of the Law. Coke's lonence in its attainment. The principal of these stitutes are a perfect digest of the law as it stood are Physics, Ethics, religion, natural Law, Belles in his day. After this, new Laws were added by Lettres, Criticism, Rhetoric and Oratory. The the Legislature and new developments of the old carrying on several studies at a time is attended laws by the Judges, until they had become so vowith advantage. Variety relieves the mind, as luminous as to require a new digest. This was well as the eye palled with too long attention to a 'ably executed by Matthew Bacon, although unfor. a tunately under an alphabetical, instead of analyti- | Political Economy-Say's Economie politique. cal arrangement of matter the same process of Malthus on the Principles of population. TraDew laws and new decisions on the old laws going cy's work on political economy, now about to on, called at length for the same operation again be printed, (1814.) and produced the inimitable commentaries of Black- In the afternoon read historystone. In the department of the Chancery a simi- History, ancient—The Greek and Latin originals. lar progress has taken place. Lord Kaims has Select histories from the Universal history. Gibgiven us the first digest of the principles of that bon's decline of the Roman empire. Histoire branch of our jurisprudence, more valuable for the Ancienne de Mellot. arrangement of matter, than for its exact confor- History, modern-Histoire Moderne de Mellot. mity with the English decisions. The reporters Russel's History of Modern Europe. Robertfrom the early times of that branch, to that of the son's Charles the 5th. same Matthew Bacon are well digested, but alpha- History, English-The origical histories, to wit : betically also in the abridgement of the cases in the History of England, by E. Habington. E. Equity, the 2nd sol. of which is said to have been W. More's Richard 3rd. Lord Bacon's Henry done by him. This was followed by a number of 8th. Lord Herbert's Henry 8th. Goodwin's able reporters, of which Fonblanque has given us Henry 8th, Edward 6th. Mary Cambden. Eliz. a sommary digest by commentaries on the text of and James Ladlow. McCaulay. Fox. Belthe earlier work ascribed to Ballow, entitled “ sham, Baxters' Hist. of Eng., (Hume republitreatise on equity"-the Course of Reading recom- canized and abridged.) Robertson's History of mended then in these two branches of Law is the Scotland. following: American. Robertson's History of America. GorCommon Law-Coke's Institutes. Select cases don's History of the Independence of the U. S. from the subsequent Reports to the time of Ramsay's History of the American Revolution. M. Bacon. Bacon's abridgment. Select ca- Burke's History of Virginia. Continuation of ses from the subsequent reporters to the present History of Virginia, by Jones and Guardin, nearday. Select tracts on Law, among which those ly ready for the press. of Baron Gilbert are all of the first merit. The From Dark to Bed Time. Belles-lettres, Criti. V2. Laws. Reports on them. cism. Rhetoric, oratory, to wit-Belles-lettresChancery-Lord Kaims' principles of Equity, 3rd read the best of the poets-epic, didactic, draedition. Select cases from the Chancery re matic, pastoral, &c. But among these Shaksporters to the time of Matthew Bacon. The pear must be singled out by one who wishes to abridgment of the cases in Equity. Select have the full powers of the English Language, of him we must advise as Horace did of the cases from the subsequent reporters to the pres Grecian models—“vos exemplaria Graeca nocent day. Fonblanque's Treatise of Equily. turnà versate manu versate diurna.” Blackstone's Commentaries, (Tucker's'edition) Criticism. Ld. Kaime's Elements of criticism. as the last perfect digest of both branches of Law. Took's Diversions of Purley, of Biographical Criticism; the Edinburgh Review furnishes the In reading the reporters, enter in a common finest models extant. place book every case of value, condensed into the Rhetoric. Blair's Lecture's on Rhetoric. SheriSarrowest compass possible which will admit of dan of Elocution. Mason on Poetic and Propresenting distinctly the principles of the case. saic numbers. This operation is doubly useful, inasmuch as it Oratory. This portion of time, (borrowing some obliges the student to search out the pith of the of the afternoon when the days are long and the case, and habituates him to a condensation of nights short,) is to be applied also to acquiring thuught, and to an acquisition of the most valuable of all talents, that of never using two words the art of writing and speaking correctly by the when one will do-it fixes the case, 100, more in following exercises. Criticise the style of any delibly in the mind. books whatever, committing your criticisms to writing-translate into the different styles, to From 12 10 1 read Politics wil, the elevated, the middling and the familiarPolitics, general-Locke on government. Sidney orators and poets will furnish subjects of the ongnvernment. Priestly's first principles of gov- first, historians of the second, and epistolary and ernment. Review of Montesquieu's Spirit of comic writers of the third. Undertake, at first, Laws, anonymous. De Lolme sur la constitu. short compositions, as themes, letters, &c., paytion d'Angleterre. De Burgh's political disqui- ing great attention to the correctness and elesitions. Haisell's precedents of the House of gance of your language. Read the orations of Commons. Select Parliamentary debates of Eng. Demosthenes and Cicero-analyze these oraland and Ireland. Chipmans on the principles tions, and examine the correctness of the dispo. of government. The Federalist. sition, language, figures, states of the cases, ar |