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A glory was on the silent sea,

And mainland and island too,

Till a haze came over the lowland lea,
And shrouded that beautiful blue.

Bright in the moon the autumn wood
Its crimson scarf unrolled,

And the trees like a splendid army stood
In a panoply of gold!

I saw them waving their banners high,
As their crests to the night wind bowed,
And a distant sound on the air went by,
Like the whispering of a crowd.

Then I watched from my window how fast
The lights all around me fled,
As the wearied man to his slumber passed
And the sick one to his bed.

All faded save one, that burned
With distant and steady light;
But that, too, went out, and I turned
Where my own lamp within shone bright!

Thus, thought I, our joys must die,

Yes the brightest from earth we win:

Till each turns away, with a sigh,

To the lamp that burns brightly within.

H. W. L.

SONNET.

Look! how the young moon o'er the orange west,
Walks in her maiden purity !—she seems
Adorned in brighter, more alluring beams,
To flatter all that look the loveliest.
The wild breeze laps him to his halcyon rest,
Upon the dark blue waters-where the gleams
Of sheeting moonlight silver o'er his dreams,
Melting to love old ocean's heaving breast.
The stars are out, and beautiful are they,

Cold, but still beautiful; a crowded choir,
Harmonious in their silent minstrelsy !—

And I would fain with beating heart aspire To their communion-but this weight of clay, Clings to the soul, and mocks the vain desire.

R. D.

CRITICAL NOTICES.

An Oration pronounced at Middlebury, Vt. before the Associated Alumni of the College, on the Evening of Commencement, Aug. 17, 1825. By Nathan S. S. Beman. Troy. 8vo. pp. 40.

THERE is nothing in the moral aspect of our country, which we contemplate with more pleasure, than the universal diffusion of the means of education. In addition to the schools and academies, which are scattered through every part of our country, almost every state has, at least, one respectable college. The means of intellectual improvement are thus placed within the reach of every one, however narrow his resources. In the kingdoms of Europe, and particularly in England, a considerable fortune is necessary, to enable a person to acquire a liberal education. This evil has been so severely felt, that it now engages the attention of some of the most distinguished literary characters and statesmen of Great Britain. The new and interesting plan, on which they propose to establish a college in London, we published in a late number of the Gazette.

This Oration was delivered on the evening of Commencement, at Middlebury College in Vermont. A half a century has not elapsed since this state was a wilderness. Its growth in population and wealth have been truly astonishing; and the developement of moral and intellectual resources has kept pace with the rapid improvements of our common country. The pure breezes of her mountains, while they have given a healthy tone to the body, seem also to have imparted a corresponding vigour to the energies of the mind. Two colleges are established in the state; one in Burlington and the other in Middlebury. We know little concerning the latter, except that its reputation is good; but we are disposed to think well of an institution, which can number among its sons so fine a scholar as Mr Beman.

The subject of this oration is, as the author says, to trace the connexion between Christianity and mental improvement-their respective and reciprocal influence-their intellectual and moral action and reaction upon each other-and their relations with individual and national character and elevation."

In pursuance of this plan, he combats the argument so often adduced by its enemies, that the Christian religion is unfavourable to the growth and developement of the intellectual faculties. He shows, conclusively, that from the very nature of Christianity, it must be propitious to the highest cultivation of the human mind. He refers to the schemes of heathen philosophy, which, except so far as they were modified by "fragments of revealed truth,

were calculated to obscure the intellectual vision, and to depress and enslave the human mind." He adduces some of the corruptions of Christianity-the ecclesiastical and political tyranny, which was for ages exercised by the Pontiff of the Roman Church, in support of his argument.

"This was a marble-hearted and an iron-handed despotism, which cut down every thing enlightened and liberal before it. It made war upon knowledge, and established and protected ignorance by law. To the truth of this remark, let the gray hairs of that distinguished astronomer and mathematician, Gallileo, subjoin their melancholy attestation. And in support of the same declaration, let the decrees of the Vatican, the cells, the racks, and gibbets of the Inquisition, and the erected stake, and the blazing fagot, utter their distinct and unequivocal voice."

The Christian religion and human improvement exert on each other a reciprocal influence. In the study of the Bible, the student needs all his erudition. Every thing that relates to oriental literature-to philology-to the governments and learning of the old world-to local customs-to topography-to national character, is called into requisition. The manner in which its doctrines are elucidated and its truths enforced, must always keep pace with the mental improvement of the age. We have an ex

ample given us in the scriptures, in which learning and talents and religion unite in forming the character of the same individual.

After describing the revolution in the condition of mankind, produced by the introduction of Christianity, Mr Beman next adverts to the influence of the Reformation; of its moving spirits, Luther, Melancthon, Zuinglius, and others, in awaking mankind from the slumber of centuries; in rousing them to the exertion and improvement of their faculties; and in pouring a flood of light on the moral darkness of the world. He takes a rapid survey of the nations of the earth, and contrasts the refinement and happiness of those where the blessings of Christianity are enjoyed, with the barbarism of others where it either does not exist, or has been corrupted by human inventions. He anticipates the time when Christianity shall be every where diffused, and civil and political liberty, and science and the arts, shall be spread through every nation.

A notice of the institutions of our own country, of her moral and political character, and of her rank among the nations of the earth naturally forms a part of the address.

"The character and institutions of this country, have already produced a deep impression upon the world we inhabit. What but our example has stricken the chains of despotism from the provinces of South America-giving, by a single impulse, freedom to half a hemisphere? A Washington here, has created a Bolivar there. The flag of inde

pendence which has long waved from the summit of our Allegany, has now been answered by a corresponding signal from the heights of the Andes. And the same spirit, too, that came across the Atlantic wave with the pilgrims, and made the Rock of Plymouth the corner-stone of freedom and of this Republic, is travelling back to the East. It has already carried its influence into the cabinets of princes; and it is at this moment sung by the Grecian bard, and emulated by the Grecian hero.'

Husband Hunting; or, the Mother and Daughters. A Tale of Fashionable Life. In two volumes. 12mo. pp. 276 and 282. Boston. 1825.

This book belongs, on the whole, to the ancien régime of novelwriting and cannot expect to be received with much favour by the present generation. We do not understand why it has been republished in this country, and should be sorry to believe that the republication can be a very profitable enterprise. The story

is made up of materials which have been the property of novelwriters from time immemorial,-a miserly old relation, with good feelings under a rough exterior; a wicked, treacherous, and gay, deceiving friend; a dissipated mother, hunting husbands for her daughters; a languishing lady, a proud and cold, a satirical, and an innocent and lively one; two or three baronets, a lord and some military officers are put in motion according to rule, and the resulting situations varied according to the circumstances of the case; and it is rather a sad thing to observe the time and talent of a person of some ingenuity thus wasted in taking advantage of the common doctrines of permutation and combination to place in a new arrangement, what was never very valuable in any. We have neither space nor spirits to enlarge on this subject. In our various notices of poor novels we have had occasion to say, quite as much perhaps as will ever be read on this point. We speak ill of this book with the less hesitation, as it claims no forbearance on the ground of its origin, and dismiss it with the hope that few like ourselves will feel under any necessity of reading it through.

INTELLIGENCE.

SCHOOLS IN GREECE.

Learning is making rapid strides among the Greeks. Argos possesses a school, where the Homerian language is taught, with history, philoso phy, and many other languages. A school on the Lancastrian system, established since the revolution, contains more than 200 scholars. The school at Hydra is about to be re-established;-and at Athens two schools exist, which though extremely large cannot contain near the number of pupils that arrive from all parts of the country.

ALPHABETS.

The English contains twenty-four letters; to which if we add J and V, consonants, there will be twenty-six. The French contains twentythree; the Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and Samaritan, twenty-two each; -the Arabic, twenty-eight;-the Persian, thirty-one-the Turkish, thirty-three; the Georgian, thirty-six ;-the Coptic, thirty-two;-the Muscovite, forty-three;-the Greek, twenty-four;-the Latin, twentytwo; the Sclavonic, twenty-seven;-the Dutch, twenty-six ;-the Spanish, twenty-seven;-the Italian, twenty-the Ethiopic and Tartarian, each two hundred and two;-the Indian and Bengal, twentyone;---the Buramese, nineteen. The Chinese have, properly speaking, no alphabet, unless we call their whole language by that name. Their letters are words or rather hieroglyphics, amounting to eight thousand.

NEW SCHOOL AT CHITENENGO N. Y.

Dr Yates, formerly a pastor of the Congregational Church in East Hartford (Conn.), since Professor of Moral Philosophy and Logic in Union College at Schenectady, has issued a prospectus of a Polytechny or a school to be established at Chitenengo, Madison Co. N. Y. The plan of the seminary embraces a liberal course of studies; and these are arranged in the following order; first, the sciences which call into exercise the perceptive powers; secondly, those which exercise the perceptive and reflective powers combined; thirdly, such as address themselves to the reflective powers exclusively. As we do not understand, precisely, what definitions Dr Yates would attach to the different powers of the mind, we can form no adequate idea of the correctness of his arrangement of studies with reference to those powers. But we are glad to see an attempt to fix the purpose of education upon its right ground. A mistake in the object, it is easy to perceive, leads to infinite mischief in the details.

The acquisition of knowledge, and especially useful knowledge, is the great purpose which all schools seem to have in view; and every thing is done with reference to it. Whereas it seems to us, that the development and discipline of the mind should be the principal concern in early education, and all studies should be arranged with reference to this. The amount of knowledge which can be acquired under the most favourable circumstances in any academical course of studies in this country, is but a trifle compared with a proper development and the healthy and vigorous action of all the intellectual faculties.

VARIETIES.

New Publications. Our list of New Publications in this number of the Gazette contains fifty-two distinct works, which make, in all, sixtyfive volumes.

Mécanique Céleste.-The Marquis de la Place, at a late sitting of the French Institute, presented the 5th volume of his Mécanique Céleste.

Scott's Novels.-Several of Sir Walter Scott's Novels have been

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