'Some persons will perhaps ask, if he who pretends to teach the art of being happy, has been always happy himself. I reply, that having been blessed with a share of philosophy and favored in some degree by circumstances, I have thus far found in life more pleasure than pain. But who can hope for unmingled happiness? I must own that I have at times been through a good deal of trouble. I have sometimes neglected to act upon my own principles, and in professing to instruct others, I am perhaps like a pilot, who should undertake to give lessons in navigation, after having repeatedly run his ship on shore.'

We have some misgivings from this account of the matter, that Mr Droz has not been a vast deal happier than the rest of us, who have generally experienced like him alternate showers and sunshine. Be that as it may, our author, we think, labors under an illusion, in attributing the happiness he has enjoyed to an entire want of occupation and a contempt for public opinion. Although he may not have exercised any regular profession, he has given satisfactory evidence of a laudable degree of activity, in the singular employment of recommending idleness to others. The work before us, if it be not thought to demonstrate his good sense, is at least a proof of his industry. His Essay on Moral Philosophy, or the Different Theories of the Art of Living, is another; his Studies on the Beautiful in Art, a third; his Eulogy on Montaigne, a fourth; and so of his various other writings. Mr Droz is, in short, a person who cultivates letters with zeal and assiduity in his own way. This pursuit is after all an occupation tout comme un autre, and in some cases one of the most honorable and useful, in which a man can engage. We put it to our author's conscience, whether the delicious morning reveries, of which he makes so much account, are always devoted literally to reflections on the pleasure of having nothing to do through the day; whether they are not sometimes taken up in meditations

on the forthcoming work. Mr Droz talks at his ease of the dolce far niente, with his books around him, and his manuscript open on his writing-table. But let his study be locked up; let him be debarred from the use of pen, ink, and paper; let him be excluded from reading-rooms and public libraries,-let all this continue for a few weeks and he will hold, we suspect, a different language. We should probably find him laboring under the same disease, which carried off the comrade of the Marquis of Spinola. Nor do we believe, that he can allege his own experience in support of his recommendation of contempt for public opinion with greater justice. It is remarked by Cicero, that the very philosophers who advise us to despise the opinion of the world, put their names to the books containing this counsel. Our author, we are sorry to say, is an example of this inconsistency. Upon turning to the beginning of this article (where the titlepage of the work before us is copied), the reader will see at full length the name of Joseph Droz, inserted as that of the author. After the mention of his christian and family names, follows the honorary addition of Member of the French Academy. He is willing we should know that his art has enabled him to scale the celestial towers occupied by the Forty Immortals, who preside over the world. of French literature, and take his place among the number. Even this is not all. After the qualification de l' Académie Française, we next find the significant memo. randum, Quatrième Edition, Fourth Edition.' Is this then the end, or rather the beginning, of our author's superb indifference? Why should Mr Droz, who holds the judgment of the many so very cheap, be at the pains of informing us that they have taken off three editions of his book? Is it consistent in one who scorns the suf

*One of our author's books (if we are not mistaken, the work now before us) obtained the prize which had been offered by the French Academy

frage of his fellows, to proclaim upon the house-top, that he has been received into the French Academy? Did it become this contemner of public opinion to indulge in the petty vanity of being known as a writer?

The truth seems to be, that our author, while recommending to his disciples the 'primrose path of dalliance,' has had the good sense to pursue himself with some degree of firmness the steep and thorny road;' and while advising others to despise public opinion, has made no scruple of doing everything in his power to conciliate it in his own favor. This management appears at first view singular, and upon a second may be thought suspicious. Timeo Danaos. Is Mr Droz endeavoring to put us to sleep that he may have the field entirely to himself? At all events, we like his example better than his precepts.

It is time, however, to close our colloquy with this writer, which we have already continued somewhat longer than we at first intended. Beside the chapters to which we have particularly adverted, there are several more upon a considerable variety of subjects; such as Pleasure, Pain, Love, Hatred, Melancholy, Marriage, Life, Death, and others of equal moment. They are all treated with nearly the same success, but we have not room to comment upon them in detail. In combating the arguments of our author, in favor of idleness and contempt of public opinion, we have had occasion to intimate that, on our view of the subject, his theory is directly the reverse of the truth, and that a diligent pursuit of almost any honest occupation, and a decent regard for the judgment of those around us, are among the most effective means, that we can employ, for the attainment of happiness. We may add here, that the real art of for the most valuable publication in a moral point of view, that should appear during the year. Credite, posteri.

being happy is nowhere stated in a more satisfactory form than in the Ten Commandments of the Old Testa ment, and the Two into which they are abridged in the New. The person who shall diligently and faithfully practise upon these digests, will have but little need of the assistance of Mr Droz. A good familiar and practi cal exposition of the spirit of these approved codes is to be found in the common saying, The art of being happy, is to endeavor to make other people so; to which the most judicious phiosophers have subjoined as a supplementary principle, that a man is never happy without a good wife.

20*

LIFE AND WORKS OF CANOVA.*

[North American Review, October, 1829.]

In a preceding number of this journal,t was some ac count of the principal events in the life of Canova, and of the most remarkable among the multiplied productions of his chisel. . Not long after the article containing it appeared, the grave closed over this celebrated artist, who died at Venice on the thirteenth of October, 1822, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, universally lamented throughout the civilized world, as one of those rare individuals whose extraordinary and unrivalled genius throws a lustre on the period in which they live, and whose loss is, in the nature of things, altogether irreparable. The biographical memoirs and collections of engravings of his works, which have appeared since his death, supply materials for a somewhat ampler notice than we were then able to furnish; and we avail ourselves with pleasure of the opportunity for rendering complete justice to the memory of this great artist, who has particularly recommended himself to the attention. of Americans, by consecrating one of his works to the honor of our political saviour and father. A tribute of this kind is the more necessary in this country, because

*The Works of Antonio Canova in Sculpture and Modelling, engraved in Outline by Henry Moses, with Descriptions from the Italian of the Countess Albrizzi, and a Biographical Memoir by Count Cicognara. 2 vols. folio. London. 1824.

† North American Review, Vol. x, p. 372.