ness or correctness, their originality cannot be denied. However much a man may differ from her, he cannot say that these are not her own convictions, to which she has come by a process in which her mind has acted for itself and gone alone, whether its direction be right or wrong. The want of what is called learning is very obvious, and it is not easy to find a person, at the present day, when the temptation to over-read is so strong, who has thought and observed so much and read so little. Few of her intellectual resources have been supplied from books, and allusions and illustrations drawn from literature and literary history are very rare in comparison with those which come from actual observation of the two great worlds of sense and spirit. Where so vigorous and healthy a mind is left to develope itself after its own fashion, there results not only an originality in its thoughts themselves, but in the very garb in which they are clothed. The style of these articles has nothing of that formal cut so often observable in literary hacks who have served a regular apprenticeship to books, but it seems to be so appropriate to the matter that we can hardly conceive of its being presented to us in any other form.

It forms no part of our plan to pass a particular criticism upon each article in these volumes, or to express our assent to the many points in which we should agree with her, and our dissent from those few in which we might be inclined to differ from her. Of the work as a whole, we entertain a high estimation, and we are confident that it is not of that brood which "die and make no sign," but that it is destined to exercise an important and a deep, if not wide, influence. That it should become popular is not to be expected, since there is nothing, either in its matter or manner, to attract those who read merely for the sake of reading; it will find "fit audience though few." The timid will gain courage, and the distrustful, confidence, from its pages. It will be read in solitude with eyes blinded with joyful tears at having found sympathy for the first time within its mute leaves. It is a book which will help those, who are struggling to gain a victory over themselves and to convert their very infirmities into wings. The young, who are in that state of doubtful unrest which characterizes the early stages in the growth of the religious principle, when every thing seems mysterious, and, most of all, the waywardness and apathy of one's own

spirit, will here see the gleam of hope and hear the voice of consolation.

Among the readers of these volumes there will be, of course, a diversity of opinion as to the relative merit of the various articles composing them, each judging according to his own taste. Some of the reviews are full of thought and, as intellectual efforts, inferior to no portion of the work, though they will probably be the least generally read. Those of the "Essays on the Pursuit of Truth," of "Crombie's Natural Theology," and "Lessing's Hundred Thoughts," are conspicuous for their ability. In the first of these, Hume's argument against miracles is examined with great fairness and great acuteness. The general reader will find the essay on the "Characteristics of the Genius of Scott " among the most attractive, if not the most so, of all the articles, not only from its subject, but from the manner of treating it. It shows how much interest may be given to the most hackneyed theme by looking at it from a new point of view, and by transcribing the results of that observation, rather than by saying over again in new and finer language, what in substance had often been said before. It will be a question with many, whether she has not exaggerated Scott's ignorance of the humbler classes, no less than his want of sympathy with them, and whether she has not overlooked the dangers of so desultory an education as his was. We cannot deny ourselves the pleasure of quoting some of her eloquent and striking remarks on the female characters of Sir Walter Scott, though over some of her views, as here expressed, not a few heads will be doubtfully shaken.

has

of

"Much has Walter Scott also done, and done it also unconsciously, for woman. Neither Mary Wollstonecraft, nor Thompson of Cork, nor any other advocate of the rights of woman, pleaded so eloquently to the thoughtful, — and the thoughtful alone will entertain the subject, as Walter Scott, by his exhibition of what women are, and by two or three indications of what they might be. He has been found fault with for the poverty character of the women of his tales; a species of blame against which we have always protested. If he had made as long a list of oddities among his women as his men, he would have exposed himself to the reproach of quitting nature, and deserting classes for extravagant individualities; since there is much less scope for eccentricity among women, in the present state of society, than among men. But, it is alleged, he has made few of his female charac

sameness;

ters representatives of a class. True; for the plain reason that there are scarcely any classes to represent. We thank him for the forcible exhibition of this truth we thank him for the very term womankind; and can well bear its insulting use in the mouth of the scoffer, for the sake of the process it may set to work in the mind of the meditative and the just. There is no saying what the common use of the term canaille may in time be proved to have effected for the lower orders of men; or in what degree the process of female emancipation may be hastened by the slang use of the term womankind, by despots and by fools. It may lead some watchful intellects, some feeling hearts, to ponder the reasons of the fact, that the word mankind calls up associations of grandeur and variety, that of womankind, ideas of littleness and - that the one brings after it conceptions of lofty destiny, heroic action, grave counsel, a busy office in society, a dignified repose from its cares, a steadfast pursuit of wisdom, an intrepid achievement of good; while the other originates the very opposite conceptions, vegetation instead of life, folly instead of counsel, frivolity instead of action, restlessness in the place of industry, apathy in that of repose, listless accomplishment of small aims, a passive reception of what others may please to impart; or, at the very best, a halting, intermitting pursuit of dimly discerned objects. To some it may be suggested to inquire, why this contrast should exist; why one half of the rational creation should be so very much less rational, and, as a consequence, so much less good, and so much less happy, than the other. If they are for a moment led by custom to doubt whether, because they are less rational, they are less happy and less good, the slightest recurrence to Scott's novels is enough to satisfy them, that the common notion of the sufficiency of present female objects to female progression and happiness is unfounded. They will perhaps look abroad from Scott into all other works of fiction, into all faithful pictures of life, and see what women are; and they will finally perceive, that the fewer women there are found to plead the cause of their sex, the larger mixture of folly there is in their pleadings; the more extensive their own unconsciousness of their wrongs, the stronger is their case. The best argument for Negro Emancipation lies in the vices and subservience of slaves: the best argument for female emancipation lies in the folly and contentedness of women under the present system, an argument to which Walter Scott has done the fullest justice; for a set of more passionless, frivolous, uninteresting beings was never assembled at morning auction, or evening tea-table, than he has presented us with in his novels. The few exceptions are made so by the strong workings of instinct, or of superstition (the offspring of strong instinct and weak VOL. XX. - 3D S. VOL. II. NO. II.

33

reason combined); save in the two or three instances where the female mind had been exposed to manly discipline. Scott's female characters are easily arranged under these divisions: Three-fourths are womankind merely; pretty, insignificant ladies, with their pert waiting maids. A few are viragoes, in whom instinct is strong, whose souls are to migrate hereafter into the sheeagle or bear, Helen M'Gregor, Ulrica, Magdalen Græme, and the Highland Mother. A few are superstitious,

Elspeth, Alice, Norna, Mother Nicneven. A few exhibit the same tendencies, modified by some one passion; as Lady Ashton, Lady Derby, and Lady Douglas. Mary and Elizabeth are womankind modified by royalty. There only remain Flora M'Ivor, Die Vernon, Rebecca, and Jeanie Deans. For these four, and their glorious significance, womankind are as much obliged to Walter Scott as for the insignificance of all the rest; not because they are what women might be, and therefore ought to be; but because they afford indications of this, and that these indications are owing to their having escaped from the management of man, and been trained by the discipline of circumstance. If common methods yield no such women as these, if such women occasionally come forth from the school of experience, what an argument is this against the common methods, - what a plea in favor of a change of system! Woman cannot be too grateful to him who has furnished it. Henceforth, when men fire at the name of Flora M'Ivor, let women say, "There will be more Floras when women feel that they have political power and duties." When men worship the image of Die Vernon, let them be reminded, that there will be other Die Vernons when women are impelled to self-reliance. When Jeanie is spoken of with tender esteem, let it be suggested, that strength of motive makes heroism of action; and that as long as motive is confined and weakened, the very activity which should accomplish high aims must degenerate into pure restlessness. When Rebecca is sighed for, as a lofty presence that has passed away, it should be asked, how she should possibly remain or reappear in a society, which alike denies the discipline by which her high powers and sensibilities might be matured, and the objects on which they might be worthily employed. As a woman no less than as a Jewess, she is the representative of the wrongs of a degraded and despised class; there is no abiding-place for her among foes to her caste; she wanders unemployed (as regards her peculiar capabilities) through the world; and when she dies, there has been, not only a deep injury inflicted, but a waste made of the resources of human greatness and happiness. Yes, women may choose Rebecca as the representative of their capabilities: first, despised, then wondered at, and involuntarily admired; tempted, made use of, then persecuted, and finally banished

not by a formal decree, but by being refused honorable occupation, and a safe abiding-place. Let women not only take her for their model, but make her speak for them to society, till they have obtained the educational discipline which beseems them; the rights, political and social, which are their due; and that equal regard with the other sex in the eye of man, which it requires the faith of Rebecca to assure them they have in the eye of Heaven." Vol. 1. pp. 46-50.

The "Sabbath Musings " are full of beauty and originality. They are vivid transcripts of a state of devotional feeling, tinctured neither with extravagance, bigotry, nor spiritual pride. They are as natural, as they are impressive. We have never met with any thing before, which resembled them very nearly. They breathe that healthy fervor, which is the unerring index of true religion, and, under the guise of emotions spontaneously bubbling up, contain important revelations of the manner, in which religion ought to mingle with every enjoyment of the taste, every aspiration of the soul, every effort of the understanding, and every impulse of the affections. To recommend them warmly to those who value religion and who have felt it, like sunshine, passing into their souls, would be superfluous; for such cannot fail to recognise in them, in a more beautiful aspect, the image of what they themselves have felt and thought.

The "Letter to the Deaf" is an admirable production, conveying important moral instruction, not only to those to whom it is addressed, but to all who are desirous of ruling their own murmuring spirits, and of gaining, through moral conflict and victory, that peace which the world can neither give nor take away.

The essay "On Moral Independence" is, however, that part of the book, for which we feel most grateful to her, and which we should be least willing to lose. To one who had never read this essay, it would seem as if the subject had long ago been exhausted, and that all, which could be said about it, was already familiar to the minds of reading and thinking men; but the first two or three paragraphs are sufficient to show us, that here the whole thing is put in a new light and made to rest upon a new foundation. Not only is the duty of moral independence made perfectly clear, that it always was,but we are made to wonder and be ashamed that any thing

--