as to the art and you may form your own opinions from possessed of medicinal tendencies and sanative effects, the facts stated." which should commend it to the most attentive considera. tion of the humane and philanthropic, and especially to those that are skilled in the medical profession.

The house of a friend in an Eastern city had been robbed of some plate. A magician or conjurer was sent for to detect the thief and discover the stolen goods. He asked for a little boy; they sent to him a lad about twelve years old, son of the American Consul, who had but just arrived from the United States, a few days before. Neither the lad nor the sorcerer understood the language of the other; nor did a word pass between them, through an interpreter. After having performed his enchantments,' the sorcerer said, 'to-morrow morning, this boy will tell you where your goods and the thief are.' The boy was conducted to his parents, and care taken to exclude him from all intercourse, either with the sorcerer, or any who might be his accomplices. Accordingly, at the appointed time, the boy, not only told the house in which the goods were hid, but also accurately described the person, and told the name of the thief, whom it was known he had never seen, and whose name he had never heard.

Though all believed that Mr. Wolfe related the facts as they appeared to him, yet the impression left upon the audience, was evidently a belief that Mr. Wolfe had been imposed upon by some jugglery or other.

And so it is with mesmerism; when witnessing, or listening to, the wonders of animal magnetism, the mind, in most instances, is so beset with prejudices and incredulity, that it is unwilling to give the phenomena exhibited, a proper investigation, or even a serious consideration; it rather seeks to dispose of the subject by the summary process of pronouncing it all a humbug.'

Three or four years ago, Colonel Stone of the New-York Commercial Advertiser, brought down upon himself, for writing a book in support of animal magnetism, the jibes, jests, and even ridicule, of the whole corps editorial.

The reading public of all classes are indebted to the Rev. Mr. Townsend for an exceedingly interesting book. No one, who pretends to keep a run,' either of the humbugs of the day, or of the improvements and discoveries of the age, ought to omit reading this volume. It may be had at the bookstore of Messrs. Smith, Drinker & Morris. We recommend it.

THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S BOOK. Verily this is the era of periodical literature, We hail it with patriotic delight-for its course is decidedly upwards and onwards.

We have on our table the first No. of the YOUNG PEOPLE's Book, a magazine of useful and entertaining knowledge, edited by John Frost, Philadelphia. It is brim-full of useful information-how could it be otherwise when such men as President Bache, Dr. Morton, and Surgeon Ruschenberger of the Navy, are numbered among its contributors? They are in themselves a host; and their names alone, besides others, afford to the public a sure guaranty of the useful character of the Young People's Book. It is published monthly at $2 per annum. J. W, Randolph & Co., are the agents for Richmond.

THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY from the birth of Christ to the abolition of Paganism in the Roman Empire. By the Rev. H. H. Milman, Prebendary of St. Peter's, and Minister of St. Margaret's, Westminster. With a preface and notes, by James Murdock, D. D. New-York: Harper and Brothers-1841.

The history of the Jews, is that of a nation; the history of Christianity, is that of religion. Our author has given In 1784, the French Academy instituted a commission—the one-with what ability and how faithfully, the reading of which Dr. Franklin was a member-to investigate the public are already aware. He now undertakes to give the subject. This commission admitted the reality and won-other; in what manner and with what prospects of sucress, derful character of the mesmeric phenomena, but denied the masterly fulfilment of the former undertaking affords a the existence or rather saw no evidence of the existence-sufficient earnest and guaranty. of an animal magnetic fluid.

character.

The object of the present volume, stated briefly, is, to exhibit the reciprocal influence of civilization on christianity, and of christianity on civilization. The style of the book is always vigorous and animated—sometimes rich and splendid. The author, however, riots in a lively imagination, which, too freely indulged, imparts an unwarrantable obscurity to a sentence here and there. Still, judging from his writings, as a whole, we pronounce him to be one of the most learned and accomplished English Historians of the day.

But the Rev. Chauncy Hare Townsend, A. M., late of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and author of the work before us, has brought to bear upon the subject of mesmerism, a spirit of philosophic inquiry, a strength of mind, and force of talents, that, despite the most deeply-rooted prejudices and obstinate incredulity, must command our respect. He is not influenced by the promptings of any interest, except the love of truth. His book is sensibly written. He reasons well, and has treated the subject with great ability. He arrives at his conclusions by actual experiment, and We commend this volume especially to clergymen, and supports them by reasoning and proof of the most imposing to that numerous class of our readers, who delight in sound theological learning. They will here find discussed in a His object is, not to excite the wonder of the gaping most entertaining and agreeable manner-Pagan Religions reader by retailing marvellous stories and astonishing ef- and their influences on society; the Grecian philosophy fects of mesmerism, but to elicit data for practical purposes. and its effects; the Oriental philosophy with its offspringAnd he has not been unsuccessful in his laudable pursuit. the Gnostic and Manichaean sects, and the bearings exAccording to him, the mesmeriser acts upon the patient ercised by them upon the Jewish creed in some respectsby means of some unknown influence or invisible fluid, upon the language of the New Testament, and the belief of that is called into play by the mesmeric gaze and passes; the early christians. The origin of asceticism is likewise and that the mind, and in fact, the senses of the patient, discussed, with its influence upon celibacy and penanceare operated upon in the mesmeric state, not by the same also the progress of christianity for the first four centuries; means nor in the same manner in which they receive and the origin of the Christian Hierarchy; the spread of Monconvey impressions in the abnormal state; in other words, kery; and the effects of christianity upon the manners and that we are endowed with a sort of sixth sense, which is customs of civilized man-besides other subjects equally called into operation by the mesmeric process-for the pa- interesting. tient can see, and not through the organs of sight-can feel, The learned author also gives too, a very interesting account but not through the sense of touch. The experiments of of the schisms and controversies in the church, as well as our author have induced the opinion in him, that every per- biographies, both entertaining and instructive, of St. Chrys son is capable of acting and being acted upon, with and by ostom, Basil, the two Gregories, Augustine, Jerome, and mesmeric powers and influence; and that mesmerism is' other eminent fathers.

46

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE JAPANESE IN THE 19TH, General Washington; it numbered among its members, the CENTURY; from the accounts of recent Dutch residents most distinguished officers of the Revolution. It was attacked in Japan, and from the German work of Dr. Ph. Fr. Von by Mirabeau and others of his time, as being the germ of an Siebold. Harper & Brothers: New-York; 1841. aristocracy in America. The Society in Virginia having This volume makes the 132nd in the series of the Family failed to take the steps necessary for perpetuating itself, Library. Of all civilized people, we know least of the Ja- the surviving members held a meeting in Richmond a few panese. They are more exclusive than the Chinese. And years ago, and made a grant of the funds of the Societythough they are extensively engaged in manufactures of va- about $20,000-to Washington College, with a condition rious kinds, and their metropolis is the largest city in the annexed, that a lecture should be delivered there annually world, the Dutch is the only European nation allowed to forever, in vindication of the true principles and objects of trade with, or visit them. For two or three hundred years, the Society. Not more than two or three of these lectures the Dutch have been allowed to send two vessels annually however have come to our knowledge. to Nagasaki, a town of about 70,000 inhabitants. The Por- John B. Dabney, Esq. lectures as he writes, which, as our tuguese formerly traded there too; but they have long since readers can testify, he does in a very agreeable and enterbeen denied the privilege. The Dutch are very much re-taining manner. We cannot resist the temptation of one stricted. An island has been built for their confinement in the short extract from this excellent lecture: harbor of Nagasaki, on which the Dutch president and his 'He, who aspires to a distinguished place in the repubclerks-five or six in all-are watched, guarded, restricted lic of letters, resembles the adventurous samphire-gatherer, and confined as in a prison. Their servants (Japanese) are clambering up the fall of a precipice: there is no point or sent from the island every evening at sunset; and all who hold coign of vantage' where he can pause in the perilous a3any sort of intercourse with the foreigners, are required to cent, and repose from his toils: in that dizzy and precatake an oath, and seal it with their blood, to impart no informa-rious elevation his only safety is in a steady hand, a stout tion whatever touching Japanese manners, policy, govern-heart, and a resolution to struggle onward, without ceasing, ment,etc. The consequence is that even the Dutch have learn- till he has attained the summit. Nothing within the comed but little concerning this remarkable and extraordinary pass of human reason is impracticable to the persevering people. It is from their researches, however, that materials energy of a clear, well-balanced understanding; while the for the volume before us, were obtained. The Russians, Eng-brightest gleams of genius have been too often quenched in lish and Americans, have all, at different times, tried to gain a footing there, but without success. Some years ago, an American whaler put into one of the ports of Japan in disThe crew were put in close confinement, the vessel repaired, and when ready for sea, they were put on board again, and required to depart immediately, free of all ex

tress.

pense.

their first dawning by the foul vapors of sloth and sensuality. "It is of the utmost moment, that in the outset you should form sober and rational views of the course of human transactions. I have known young men, who, after giving decided evidences of talent in the progress of their education, have sunk into obscurity in consequence of having imbibed false and delusive conceptions of life. In 1837, a few Japanese were taken from a wreck by an Deeming their release from the restraints of college disciAmerican vessel off the North-Western coast of America. pline an emancipation from intolerable bondage, their feelThe missionaries took charge of these unfortunate beings, inga resemble the wild and tumultuous delight of manumitchartered a vessel, and with Mr. Gutzlaff in company, in-ted slaves, ignorant of the true nature and real value of stead of going to Nagasaki-the Canton of Japan-at-freedom. Giddy with this sudden transition, their excited tempted to enter the port of Yedo, or Jedo as it is com-imaginations picture the world as a kind of Mahometan monly called. They were repulsed and driven away, with-paradise, where every object beckons to enjoyment, and out being able even to land their 'cast-aways.' This is a where, in the intervals of pleasure, the exhausted senses very interesting little volume.

THE HISTORY OF CONNECTICUT from the first settlement to the present time. By Theodore Dwight, jr. Harper & Brothers: New-York; 1841.

are steeped in voluptuous repose. When, with such mistaken impressions, they plunge into the turmoil of business before avarice, ambition, or necessity have supplied sufficient incentives to exertion, they speedily relax those habits of systematic application, which compulsion alone had This volume also belongs to the Family Library; it constrained them to adopt, and gradually decline into a makes No. 133 of the series. Of all the States, Connecti- state of hopeless, helpless lethargy and inaction. Under cut, with Virginia, New-York, and Massachusetts, affords that benumbing influence the mind withers and decaysthe most interesting materials for historical detail. And every generous purpose, every nobler aspiration, languishes it is to be regretted that Mr. Dwight-a name so well and expires. Better the war of elements, and the tumult known to the public-did not better digest the materials of of the waters, than this waveless calm, whose unruffled the work before us. To the general reader, for whose in-surface, like the dead sea, presents no symptom of life to struction this volume is professedly written, not more than relieve the still and cheerless waste.

one-third of the facts and incidents here set forth, are of "That action is essential to the growth and vigor of the any manner of interest, use, or benefit. What, for in-mind, is a truth as indisputable, as the correlative maxim stance, does he care who was pastor of this or that congre- in physics, that exercise is indispensable to the strength gation, how long he officiated, when he died, who succeeded and activity of the body. him, etc.? These, and other details equally dry, have swelled this history of Connecticut-which should not have exceeded 150 pages, to 450. We cannot bestow upon it, a tithe of the commendations we have passed upon the vo-ture, as to limit to a single point the movements of the hulume that immediately precedes it in the series.

An ADDRESS delivered at Washington College, before the "Graham Philanthropic" and "Washington Literary" Societies, by John Blair Dabney, Esq.

"The intellectual faculties are never stationary. As well might you attempt to fix the subtle fluids of heat and light, which penetrate and pervade every substance in na

man mind. It must be either retrograde, or progressive. If not improved and invigorated by unremitting culture, it becomes feeble, inert, vacillating, powerless to acquire knowledge, and imperceptibly relaxing its paralytic grasp even on former attainments. It is thus, that the wretched What has become of the annual lecture that was to be deli- voluptuary suffers his faculties to stagnate into infantine vered at that College in vindication of the Cincinnati Socie- imbecility, and barters the noblest gifts of God for the fleetty? This Society, our readers all recollect, was formed by 'ing and feverish gratifications of sensual passions. And

VOL. VII-102

does he find a recompense for this purblind surrender of an immortal heritage in the value of the equivalent? No! The feast, on which he revels in anticipation, palls upon his jaded palate, and its most delicate viands are poisoned, and polluted by the harpies of ennui, and remorse. To labor was the doom pronounced on man as the penalty of primæval disobedience; but providence has kindly miti gated the severity of the sentence by making this necessary duty the source of our greatest and most durable enjoyments. Believe me, toil, either mental, or bodily, always brings its own reward in the consciousness of duty performed in the healthful and vigorous exercise of the faculties-in the ennobling sense of constantly expanding powers and capacities."

THE LADY'S BOOK OF FLOWERS AND POETRY; to which are added a Botanical introduction-a complete Floral Dictionary, and a chapter on plants in rooms. Edited by Lucy Hooper. New-York: J. C. Riker; 1842. We have turned over the elegant pages, gazed on the bright flowers, and read the sweet poetry of this volume, with melancholy interest. To string these pearls of the muse, and illustrate "these stars of earth," was the last employment of one gifted and beloved, now numbered among the departed. To her eye, the flowers she so delighted in, will bloom no more. Their fragrance will not again mingle with the incense of her devotions. Their meek appeal, their fragile loveliness, will awaken no more in her gentle heart"thoughts too deep for tears." Yet in this little volume, it is pleasant to behold a befitting memorial of her love of beauty, and her aspirations for truth. It is delightful to associate with flowers, the memory of her virtues and graces. Flowers are the best monuments of poets. It is true they fade year by year, but every Spring they are renewed like visions of immortal beauty. Let their resurrection indicate to our senses, the eternity of those flowers of mind and affection, which gladden the path of our being.

"As if in their fairy urns of gold,

Beat human hearts like ours."

To drink from, when on all these boundless lawas
The morning sun looks hot. Or let the wind
O'erturn in sport their ruddy brims, and pour
A sudden shower upon the strawberry plant,
To swell the reddening fruit that even now
Breathes a slight fragrance from the sunny slope.
But thou art of a gayer fancy. Well-
Let then the gentle Manitou of flowers,
Lingering amid the bloomy waste he loves,
Though all his swarthy worshippers are gone-
Slender and small, his rounded cheek all brown
And ruddy with the sunshine; let him come
On summer mornings when the blossoms wake,
And part with little hands the spiky grass;
And touching, with his cherry lips, the edge
Of these bright beakers, drain the gathered dew.

LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS.

BY C. F. HOFFMAN.

Teach thee their language? sweet, I know no tongue,
No mystic art those gentle things declare;

I ne'er could trace the schoolman's trick among
Created things, so delicate and rare;
Their language? Prythee! why they are themselves
But bright thoughts syllabled to shape and hue,
The tongue that erst was spoken by the elves,
When tenderness as yet within the world was new.
And still how oft their soft and starry eyes-
Now bent to earth, to heaven now mutely pleading,
Their incense fainting as it seeks the skies,

Yet still from earth with freshening hope receding-
How often these to every heart declare,

With all the silent eloquence of truth,
The language that they speak is Nature's prayer,
To give her back those spotless days of youth.

In order to afford our readers a view of the most recent productions of several eminent American poets-we shall subjoin to the poems of Bryant and Hoffman, one by Pro

from the Boston Notion,' and another by Professor Daponte, from The Poets of America,' edited by Mr. Keese.

ENDYMION.

Every one who loves flowers should possess this charm-fessor Longfellow, from the 'New World'—one by Whittier, ing book. In the depth of Winter, it will revive a sense of green fields and rose-buds. In Spring-time and Summer, it will enable the votary of Nature to associate, with flowers, beautiful sentiments, and poetic images. It will instruct the unskilful how to interpret the mystic language of Flora. The selections are made with much discrimination and taste, and the occasional remarks conceived in a spirit eminently worthy of the subject. We are happy to observe that several of our poets have contributed original illustrations, which add to the value and interest of the work. There are some delightful lines, by Mrs. Embury-and some pieces by William Cullen Bryant and C. F. Hoffman, from which we make extracts.

THE PAINTED CUP.

BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
The fresh savannahs of the Sangamore
Here rise in gentle swells, and the long grass
Is mixed with rustling hazels. Scarlet tufts
Are glowing in the green, like flakes of fire;
The wanderers of the prairie know them well,
And call that brilliant flower, the painted cup.
Now if thou art a poet, tell me not

That these bright chalices were tinted thus
To hold the dew for fairies, when they meet
On moonlight evenings in the hazel bowers,
And dance till they are thirsty. Call not up,
Amid thy fresh and virgin solitude,
The faded fancies of an elder world,

But leave these scarlet cups to spotted moths

Of June, and glistening flies, and humming-birds,

BY HENRY W. LONGFELLOW,
The rising moon has hid the stars;
Her lovely rays, like golden bars,

Lie on the landscape green,
With shadows brown between.
And silver white the river gleams,
As if Diana, in her dreams,

Had dropt her silver bow
Upon the meadows low.

On such a tranquil night as this,
She woke Endymion with a kiss,
When, sleeping in the grove,
He dreamed not of her love.
Like Dian's kiss, unask'd, unsought,
Love gives itself, but is not bought;

Nor voice, nor sound betrays
Its deep, impassion'd gaze.

It comes-the beautiful, the free,
The crown of all humanity-
In silence and alone

To seek the elected one.

It lifts the boughs, whose shadows deep,
Are Life's oblivion, the soul's sleep,
And kisses the clos'd eyes
Of him, who, slumbering, lies.