her efforts will undoubtedly do good. Not merely possess the negative virtue of keeping children from idleness-they will make them better, wiser, happier. We quote a few sentences, which many parents as well as children, would do well to remember.

"I think it the duty of all parents, and especially of American parents particularly, to discourage in their children, every thing like an undue reverence for family, fashion, fortune or extravagance; and to teach them, that all persons are proper associates for them, who are amiable, intelligent, and of good manners. After all, the only real distinction is that of superiority of mind; and by that, men have raised themselves from the very lowest, to the very highest stations. Dr. Franklin's father was a soap-boiler, and Franklin himself, was for many years, a poor journeyman printer. Benjamin West, one of the best painters of his time, and long President of the Royal Academy, was the son of a farmer, and worked on the farm with his own hands."

"GODFREY HALL"-Munroe & Francis. This also is a "Tribute of Regard," and intended as a Juvenile Souvenir. Well, we have no reason to find fault with the publishers of these works, unless it be that they offer such a variety as to distract our choice. There is some danger of that. And then, as we cannot have all, we may possibly determine to buy none, and then they must suffer from the generous attempt to please us. But to return to "Godfrey Hall, or Prudence and Principle." Why was it necessary to add the explanatory part of the title? We do not like this attempt of moralising in a title. It does no good. If there is a moral in the story, those very persons on whom it was designed to operate, will rarely purchase or read the book, with the whole design thus staring them in the face. And but few will read the work with as much interest, as though the denoument was not thus anticipated. Thus much for the title. The book is very prettily got up, bound in silk, gilt-edged, and has one really pretty plate. But then the story, though tolerably well written, is very common-place writing, nothing that will reach the heart and feelings of an American child-we do not mean morally-for the rule of christian morals is, in all christian countries, the same, but we do think a child's feelings must be interested by such references to customs and society, as he or she has connected with the world, as it is exhibited to them, in order to have the instruction duly prized. Lords and ladies, halls and coujurors, are not the material of American history.

"THE MUSEUM OF FOREIGN LITERATURE AND SCIENCE," E. Littell, Philadelphia. This work, which has now reached its thirteenth volume, is, as its title imports, entirely a selection from British periodicals. It is, however, a judicious selection, displaying a propriety of taste in the American publisher, which should, and undoubtedly does secure him a generous patronage. The high character of the English Reviews and Magazines, which receive contributions from the most gifted writers of that country, is well known here; still there is much admitted which can neither interest nor instruct our plain and practical republicans. Mr. Littell acts the part of literary taster to our Foreign Periodical-loving people, with singular skill and good sense. The articles selected for his Museum, besides the knowledge they convey of the particular modes of thought and conduct in the old world, usually possess some information or reflections, that may be particularly useful to the inhabitants of the new. We select a few paragraphs from the article entitled " History,"

which appears to have been the preface of a criticism on "The Romance of History,” by Henry Neele. The whole article is beautifully written, replete with information, and displaying that union of talents, which certainly approaches very near our model of perfection for a writer-the union of sound and of severe judgment, with a vivid, even playful fancy, good sense, good taste and good principles.

"The effect of historical reading is analogous, in many respects, to that produced by foreign travel. The student, like the tourist, is transported into a new state of society. He sees new fashions. He hears new modes of expressions. His mind is enlarged by contemplating the wide diversities of laws, of morals, and of manners. But men may travel far, and return with minds as contracted as if they had never stirred from their own market-town. In the same manner, men may know the dates of many battles, and the genealogies of many royal houses, and yet be no wiser. Most people look at past times, as princes look at foreign countries. More than one illustrious stranger has landed on our island amidst the shouts of a mob, has dined with the King, has hunted with the master of the stag-hounds, has seen the guards reviewed, and a knight of the garter installed; has cantered along Regent Street; has visited St. Paul's, and noted down its dimensions, and has then departed, thinking that he has seen England. He has, in fact, seen a few public buildings, public men, and public ceremonies. But of the vast and complex system of society, of the fine shades of national character, of the practical operation of government and laws, he knows nothing. He who would understand these things rightly, must not confine his observations to palaces and solemn days. He must see ordinary men as they ap pear in business and in their ordinary pleasures. He must mingle in the crowds of the exchange and the coffee house. He must obtain admittance to the convivial table and the domestic hearth. He must bear with vulgar expressions. He must not shrink from explo ing even the retreats of misery. He who wishes to understand the condition of mankind in former ages, must proceed on the same principle. If he attends only to public transactions, to wars, congresses, and debates, his studies will be as unprofitable as the travels of those imperial, royal, and serene sovereigns, who form their judgment of our island from having gone in state to a few fine sights, and from having held formal conferences with a few great officers.

The perfect historian is he in whose work the character and spirit of an age is exhibited in miniature. He relates no fact, he attributes no expression to his characters, which is not authenticated by sufficient testimony. But by judicious selection, rejection, and arrangement, he gives to truth those attractions which have been usurped by fiction. In his narrative a due subordination is observed; some transactions are prominent, others retire. But the scale on which he represents them is increased or diminished, not according to the dignity of the persons concerned in them; but according to the degree in which they elucidate the condition of society and the nature of man. He shows us the court, the camp, and the senate. Bu he shows us also the nation. He considers no anecdote, no peculiarity of manner, no familiar saying, as too insignificant for his notice, which is not too insignficant to illustrate the operation of laws, of religion, and of education, and to mark the progress of the human mind. Men will not merely be described, but will be made intimately known to us. The changes of manners will be indicated. not merely by a few general phrases, or a few extracts from statistical documents, but by appropriate images presented in every line."

"THE PEARL"-Thomas T. Ash. This neat little book appears to deserve its title, and that we think quite a compliment. To select or invent for an annual, an appropriate, and at the same time, an unappropriated name, is now a matter of serious difficulty, indeed of dismay to some authors who seem deterred from publishing their Souvenir lucubations, solely because they cannot find a suitable name for their volume.

Pearl!-what young reader but in a moment comprehends that such a book must be pretty; pure and polished-and so it is-with the exception of a few blemishes. We do not allude to the pictures-they are not faultless, but they are quite pleasing, especially those illustrating the "Wentworth Family" and the "Pass of the Green Mountain." Such pictures tell a tale children can understand and appreciate. They will be often gazed upon, and never with indifference. The blemishes of the book are grammatical inaccuracies, and sometimes an ambiguity in the sentences which, had not the work been intended for young readers, we should not have mentioned. Persons preparing books for youth should be scrupulously attentive in the choice of proper words, and the arrangement of sentences. The following from "Popular Superstitions," will prove that we are not unnecessarily critical.

"The weather was getting cold and chill; the leaves had yielded to the influence of hard frost, and were swept rudely from the trees, dyed of thousand tints."

Which were dyed? the leaves or the trees?

But the stories are amusing, and the biographical sketches very well done; and we have no doubt it will prove a very acceptable present to those it was intended to interest.

TO PATRONS AND CORRESPONDENTS.

THE present number of the Ladies' Magazine closes the volume for 1829. The work was not undertaken with a very sanguine hope of success on the part of the Editor. The many periodicals now offered to the public, prevents any one of the candidates for favor from engrossing a monoply of patronage, while an equal division hardly furnishes the means of support to any. The fate of several publications similar in character to that which the Editor of the present work proposed, was not such as would have flattered her to have undertaken the task, from vanity, or ambition, or the spirit of rivalry. She was actuated by purer motives; and if success has, in some measure, crowned her efforts, it is to be ascribed more to the energy which peculiar circumstances have called forth, than to her ability for conducting a periodical. The mother, and not the author has been successful.

Much credit is also due to her correspondents. She has received voluntary contributions from some of our most gifted writers, whose aid was not given to gain fame or profit for themselves, but to assist her. They have her gratitude; and they may likewise enjoy the satisfaction of reflecting, that their kindness has not been in vain. Many young writers have also offered their poetic effusions, and if they have not always been received, they have never been rejected without a conviction, that

1828

the insertion would not only injure the credit of the work, but also disappoint their own expectations, They were hoping for a favorable notice, and would have shrunk from the censures which our critics could not, in justice, have forborne. Perhaps it may be well to acknowledge, that the Editor has assumed, in some cases, where the pieces offered were worthy of the labor, the responsibility of correcting, altering, abridging, &c. She has reason to think that this course has been well received by some of her young correspondents,-others may not have been quite so submissive to her judgement. She requests that in future, those who would prefer rather to have their pieces omitted than altered, would so express their wishes.

The contributions of her friends, and those writers whose genius can so easily impart a charm to whatever publication they are pleased to lend their signatures, are still requested, still needed, and-may not the Editor add-still confidently expected. Some who in the beginning patronised the work, doubtless gave their names merely as an encouragement in the undertaking, without intending to become permanent subscribers. Should such now feel disposed to withdraw, we cannot complain; and though loath to say "farewell," to a single reader of ours, yet we are not so selfish, as to wish to retain those who, after a twelvemonth's trial, find our publication unprofitable or unnecessary. To such, [few we trust,] we return our thanks for the support they have given, and express our hopes that, should we continue in our literary pathway, we may meet them again as friends and patrons.

Those who are intending to go along with us through the desultory journey of another year, may perhaps wish to know something of the intended course to be pursued. This it is impossible in the limited space of a paragraph, [al! that our page permits] to describe. The January number will contain some further explanations; but after all, much must be left to contingencies, to circumstances which are not within our capacity to foresee, or skill to mould to our plans and promises. But thus much we will venture to say, that all which we can do, to render the Ladies' Magazine worthy of the character and taste of its patrons, and deserving of the praise which a generous public, and especially the conductors of the public presses have thought proper to bestow, shall be done.