as minutely as they deserve, either the plan adopted by Mr. Smyth in his lectures, or the manner in which he has executed it. Were it in our power we would gladly make, from that part of his work which relates to American history, such extracts as could not fail to impress the reader with the highest respect for the freedom from prejudice, power of analysis, and philosophic spirit which Mr. Smyth has brought to the investigation of the causes and effects of the war of the revolution. At the beginning of the present edition will be found a well written preface by Mr. Sparks, in which, however, we find an error that we cannot pass unnoticed." The soldiers," [of the revolution,] says Mr. Sparks, "who had fought the battles, and secured the freedom of the country, were dismissed and sent home without even a promise that they should be paid." Not so; when the soldiers had arms in their hands the promise of payment was made; when the army, as a body, had ceased to exist, that promise was violated without shame or compunction. The manner in which this work has been got up is highly creditable to the publisher, Mr. Owen. It has all the requisites for a valuable book which it is his part to give; good paper, neat and distinct type, and correct printing, needing no list of errata. 10. Conjectures and Researches concerning the Love, Madness and Imprisonment of Torquato Tasso. By RICHARD HENRY WILde. New York: 1842. A. V. Blake. 2 vols. 12mo. HAD we not in our last number in some manner anticipated the discussion which the appearance of Mr. Wilde's long and anxiouslyexpected work on the "Love, Madness and Imprisonment of Tasso," would naturally call forth, we should have made it the subject of an elaborate article in the present, but having done so, it cannot now receive from us that attention to which it is so justly entitled, as we must restrict our remarks upon it to the narrow limits of a critical notice. To have expended so much time and labor upon a matter apparently so unimportant as the caprices and extravagances of a lovesick poet, may seem to some, perhaps, a misuse of talents which might delight the listening multitude; but for our part we rejoice to know that we have one man among our great men who can prefer the quiet studies of the library even to the plaudits of the senatehouse, and that the charms of elegant literature do now and then allure a solitary devotee from the political shrine at which alone American ambition is wont to worship. Nor do we acknowledge that the questions which Mr. Wilde has so ably and so faithfully investigated, are in fact matters of minor importance, for how can any thing be unimportant which relates to the life of one whose age is an epoch in human history, and whose song will never be forgotten as long as human genius is cherished and honored. There is scarcely an incident to be named, in all that history has recorded or imagination invented, of a more deeply pathetic interest than the cruel imprisonment of this great poet, and the circumstances which led to the barbarous act; and in our view Mr. Wilde has rendered a most important service to the cause of letters by his learned researches into the facts connected with this extraordinary event, and the new light he has thrown upon them. The fine feeling which must have prompted him to undertake such a labor, speaks no less for the kindness of his heart than does the style in which he has accomplished it for his talents and learning. By the plan which he has pursued he has doubled the interest in a subject intrinsically most interesting; making use of the sonnets of the poet as the main historical evidence in the case, he brings him before us as a minstrel to sing his own sorrows, and adds even a new beauty to the original by the finished versions in which he presents them for the benefit of the mere English reader. But agreeable and amusing as he has made these volumes, this was evidently not his principal aim; had it been so it might have been effected at a vastly less cost of labor than must have been bestowed upon the learned work with which he has favored the public; the higher purpose which he must have had in view the settling of a curious and important point in literary history-is here executed in a manner that does great credit to him as an Italian scholar and a poet, and great honor to American literature. As a work of critical research it is beyond all praise, nothing could be more faithful, or more scrupulously exact; and in this respect it deserves to be held up as a model to our historical and biographical writers, who have not always the requisite patience in investigating facts. But we have not room for a more minute comment upon its merits; we can only say, in general terms, that we have found it a very delightful book, and we warmly commend it to the attention of all who are interested in the life and fate of the unfortunate poet to whom it is devoted. - 11. Essays on Property and Labor, as connected with Natural Law and the Constitution of Society. By FRANCIS LIEBER. New York: 1841. Harper and Brothers. 12mo. pp. 225. THIS little volume constitutes number one hundred and sixty-two of the "School Library" of the enterprising house from which that work issues. We begin with this fact of its destination, as explana tory of our views touching both its merits and demerits. What such work should be, thus to become embodied into the common school system of half a million of children, it is easy to premise — clear, plain, progressive fitted, in short, to instruct, (instruere,) to build up, step by step, as it were, the youthful mind in whatsoever truths of science it brings before it. Now, this, though but a question of form, we hold to be the primary requisite in every didactic work for the young, and the one, therefore, to which the critical judgment of the person or persons who sit" behind the throne" of the Harpers to give their "imprimatur" to these works, should first look, after the moral question is settled, in the selection of volumes to constitute the series of "The School Library." Be such judges who they may, responsible or irresponsible, it is yet, we say, an abuse of public trust in them, if, through their neglect, works unsuited, whether in matter or manner, to their destined end, be included in this influential list. No money is there to be wasted, and no volume, therefore, should be inserted but with specific merit in the view of its specific destination. Now, such we think Dr. Lieber's Essays not to possess; with all their merits, they have not that one here most needed, suitableness to their peculiar circle of readers; they want the requisite simplicity to attract the attention of the young, the requisite clearness to enlighten their apprehensions, and the requisite progressiveness to build up their minds in the great and wide truths which still we deny not that their author most conscientiously teaches. If we said that Dr. Lieber's mind is too "German" for such drudgery of detail, we were not perhaps far wrong, but we are rather inclined to charge the defect on lower ground, and think we can see in the work itself sufficient internal proof that the body of it was not originally prepared for that juvenile class of readers, since not only is his page occasionally garnished with Greek, an unknown tongue in our common schools, and with continual reference of his readers (or perhaps hearers, originally) to his former speculations, but whenever, as in his "concluding remarks," he writes definitely for the object before him, his reasoniug, we find, can be practical, and his style perspicuous. But to pass from this invidious view of the labors of one whose name both carries authority and deserves respect. The great pillars of society which Dr. Lieber here labors to strengthen, are the rights of property, its origin and necessity, together with the right of controlling it by bequest, in opposition to all those false theories of equality, and fatal schemes of levelling, that in every age and country, but never more rifely than in our own, have vexed the minds or threatened the peace and good order of the community. To place these on the immutable foundations of natural right, instead of arbitrary law, is indeed a high problem in political philosophy, and one, of which the true and clear solution in language and reasoning level to the apprehension of the young and ignorant, who are the victims of this false philosophy, could hardly be overprized, more especially in such community as our own. We have already expressed our judgment that it is a task not here completed, partly as already noted, through fault of manner, unfitting it for such influence, but somewhat, too, we deem, through want of our author's not apprehending aright the conclusive principles on which its demonstration rests. Dr. Lieber's argument is, that the existence of property precedes the formation of government, which latter, therefore, flows from it instead of giving origin to it, and therefore, too, is not competent in its subsequent action to disturb the foundations of that which preceded it. The question is, is this a satisfactory argument. If his premises be true, the conclusion doubtless follows; but still, with this risk, that if his premises be false, the whole question is yielded, and government may rightly decree a new division of property. Now, we would not willingly rest this fundamental pillar of society on such dubious and slippery ground. That the division of property preceded the formation of government is surely not a self-evident axiom; on the contrary, it would seem to involve something of inconsistency, if not absurdity, and at any rate has this against it. the silence of history, and the uniform authority in opposition of all great names who have reasoned on the subject, ancient as well as modern. Now, it were surely unwise to rest a vital question, and to teach our rising youth to rest it, on the chance of an American philosopher demonstrating all others to be in the wrong. But again, even supposing property before organized government, it would yet be but as a fact to exist as a right, with corresponding obligations on all others to abstain (a condition without which it is not "property.") This would seem to be necessarily of the very essence of government, and without government to have no existence. Our author's theory, therefore, does not solve the difficulty. The error, in our judgment, lies deeper, as the correction we would bring to it is a less dubious one. The error, we think, lies in speculating at all on the origin of government as an actual fact, as if man ever stood on earth without it. As a theory, indeed, it may be both analyzed and resolved into its conceivable elements, distinguishable, though not separable; but in point of fact, such elementary state never existed among men. Man is born under government, that is clear, were it but parental; he grows up under government; that, too, is certain, for otherwise he would perish in his feebleness: and when he comes to man's estate, he finds himself under government, and a member of a state, of some form or other, were it but a fraternity of gypsies, or a colony of emigrants; this, too, is unquestionable. Now, modify that government he may, recast it, improve it, add to it the lights of experience, and all needful social laws; but to refound it, would be to lay again the foundations of his social nature. This is a transcendental act - it belongs but to Him who made him. In other words, we hold "government," in its origin, to be of God, and not of man- it originates not on earth- and that we deem to be its only rock of safety, in theory or in practice, and that it is the duty of all didactic reasoners, more especially in instructions addressed to the young, to distinguish, and lead their students to distinguish, between "government" as one of the laws of our social nature, and those human institutions which are but the clothing and outward form of an inward and heaven-born reality. Now, this alone we hold to be Christian teaching, and, what in our utilitarian age is a more taking argument, this alone is safe teaching, cutting up, as it does, by the roots, all infidel schemes directed against the foundations of government and society. But if the origin of government thus "transcends" experience, so, too, necessarily, does that of property. Its roots are in the heart and reason of man, and it grows up, in fact, with his hands and head's growthwith his labor and skill. It is no creature of society-no fiction of law no corner-stone of man's hewing or placing. Power, indeed, may displace it may trample upon it in its unjust laws and folly may discard it from its reasonings; but still, as of God's planting, it cannot be rooted out of the social system. It is its life and nourishment, and while man endures on earth, will continue to work out the great results of society, in spite of all agrarians, chartists, and levellers. But our limits forbid enlargement. In conclusion, we commend the work before us rather for its practical deductions than its theoretical reasonings, and rather for the use of adult general readers, than for the youthful class into whose library it has been received; and we would again urge the conscientious duty of a little more special care in the selection or preparation of volumes which carry an "imprimatur" with them before the public, and the purchase of which is not, as with other works, a matter of free choice, but rendered by law imperative, or next to imperative, on the twelve thousand district school libraries of our own state, to say nothing of the wide circle of general demand that exists beyond its limits. 12. An English Spelling-Book, containing Rules and Reasons for Orthography and Pronunciation, derived from a complete analysis of the Language. By A. B. CHAPIN, M. A. New Haven: 1841. 12mo. pp. 170. We have perused the "English Spelling-Book," attentively and critically. The general plan of it, or the principles on which it is constructed, so far as our knowledge extends, is entirely new, and meets our unqualified approbation. The book not only gives us a complete set of rules for pronouncing the English language, with |