Of the four motives for rhyming thus enumerated by the Bard of nature, only one must ever be permitted to draw forth the powers of the fair sex. Neither anger, ambition, or the love of fun must ever inspire a woman; and even when rhyming for "needfu' cash" there should be some deep, affectionate impulse to induce the effort, and hallow, so to say, the otherwise avaricious desire of writing for gain. The subjects also of a woman's song are as circumscribed as must be her method of treating them. It does not accord with her character to shake the scourge of satire; and she must be very circumspect if she attempt to strike the soft lyre of love. Sapho succeeded; but the charm of her impassioned lay consists much in its truth. She painted what she felt, and sealed, with her dying breath, the sincerity of her deep, devoted affection. Those young lady poets, who are imitating the warmth of her lay, would do well to reflect whether, for fame like hers, they should be willing to die as well as to write. Miss Landon has sung of love quite too much for a lively laughing young lady, who describes the tender passion as so irresistible and so often fatal. Her example must be expected to have some influence, yet we hope the spell of her poetry will not operate on our young ladies, whose genius should be employed to purify the heart, elevate the moral feelings and strengthen the dear ties of domestic affection.

These are our sentiments; and though admiring the genius of Ianthe, and gladly, even proudly, bearing testimony to the beauty of many passages in the volume before us, we cannot but wish she had chosen different themes. Love should not have been thus exclusively the burden of her song; it is not the sole business of life, nor is a disappointment of the heart the most terrible affiction that can befal the children of men.

"Was your mistress unkind?" said the sighing lover to his disconsolate servant. "Very unkind," replied the man, "for she married me, and made one of the most confounded wives in the world."

How much more deserving of pity is the kind husband who has an ill-tempered wife than the discarded lover! And who would compare the heartache of a disappointed damsel, to the agony of feeling which the fond, faithful wife must endure who has a drunken husband? We hope to meet Ianthe again in a field more deserving her taste and talents—in a field peculiarly appropriate to woman-that of hallowing by the aid of sentiment the duties of life. We give the following as proof that she is capable of excelling in the painting of domestic scenes and deep emotions.

THE MOTHER'S FAREWELL TO HER WEDDED DAUGHTER.

Go, dearest one, my selfish love shall never pale thy cheek;
Not e'en a mother's fears for thee will I in sadness speak:

Yet how can I with coldness check the burning tears that start?-
Hast thou not turned from me to dwell within another's heart?

I think on earlier, brighter days, when first my lip was prest
Upon thy baby brow whilst thou lay helpless on my breast.
In fancy still I see thine eye uplifted to my face.

I hear thy lisping tones, and mark with joy thy childish grace.

E'en then I knew it would be thus; I thought e'en in that hour,
Another would its perfume steal when I had reared the flower;
And yet I will not breathe a sigh-how can I dare repine?
The sorrow that thy mother feels was suffered once by mine.

A mother's love!-oh! thou knowest not how much of feeling lies

In those sweet words; the hopes, the fears, the daily strength'ning ties :

It lives ere yet the infant draws its earliest vital breath,

And dies but when the mother's heart chills in the grasp of death.

Will he in whose fond arms thou seek'st thine all of earthly bliss,
E'er feel a love untiring, deep, and free from self as this?
Ah, no! a husband's tenderness thy gentle heart may prove ;
But never, never wilt thou meet again a mother's love.

My love for thee must ever be fond as in years gone by;
While to thy heart I shall be like a dream of memory.
Dearest farewell, may angel hosts their vigils o'er thee keep,--
How can I speak that fearful word farewell' and yet not weep ?

"MARY'S VISIT.---JAMES SOMERS. By a Lady." New-Haven, A. H. Maltby. These books have been on hand for several months, because we have not had room to say of them what we wished and they deserved. We have as yet gained nothing by waiting; our publishers still say, only room for a few lines. Well, we must be brief, for these shall be neglected no longer. Books designed for children are now become so numerous that those who feel a deep interest in education, must make a close scrutiny, of the character of such works, before giving them to their children. The perusal of too many books will certainly injure the minds of the young, and this subject we intended to investigate at some length in these observations, but have not as before remarked, space for a long article. We can only say that we think the two named above, are as unexceptionable books of fiction for children as we have read of late. Mary's Visit is designed for young Misses, and the evils of indulging an inordinate vanity are exemplified in a series of adventures which display, with a knowledge of the human heart, a fertility of imagination joined with good taste and good principles on the part of the writer, deserving of much commendation. The scene, too, being laid in Boston will make it more interesting to the young ladies of this city.

James Somers is quite a different story-it is founded on the interesting subject of the pilgrim's triumphs, and is valuable as well for the historical facts it contains, as for its touching pathos and pure principles.

THE AMERICAN MONTHLY MAGAZINE is to be commenced in April. The name of its Editor, N. P. Willis, is a sufficient guarantee to those who are familiar with the beautiful productions of his gifted pen, that the work will be conducted with taste and ability. May it meet with success.

THE WESTERN EXAMINER-an English Newspaper, in character somewhat resembling the Albion is soon to be published. Mr. John Thomas, late editor of the Cheltenham Chronicle, (England) is to be editor of the Examiner. He is said to possess talents and acquirements which eminently fit him to discharge the duties of such an undertaking.

THE INTELLECTUAL CHARACTER OF WOMAN.

WHENCE arise the jests and the jeerings in relation to the intellectual character, the weakness, irresolution, want of purpose, with which the fairer portion of the creation have been stigmatized? Has nature really made a distinction in her mental gifts ?-has she really classed them, and divided the one poor pittance to woman, while she has assigned the "portion of Benjamin" to man?-or is there indeed an intellectual, as well as an animal distinction of sex? These questions have been repeatedly asked, and repeatedly answered; and have now nearly arrived at a complete settlement. Still there are many who even at the present day point at the general developement of female intellect, and with a sort of triumphant exultation, enumerate the achievements of female mind, in a narrower and more contracted field, than that in which the exertions of manly mind have been made. They rejoice that the corruscations of female genius have glittered, like the nocturnal meteor, only amid the mild radiance of the lesser lights of science, and shone only in the lighter departments of literature, while that of man, like the powerful "King of day," has not only glittered by its direct rays, but has likewise given back its light by reflection. It is a little singular, that in the days of mythology, when doubtless an opinion like that which these persons entertain, must have been more indisputable, and prevalent, even on Parnassus, a doctrine was indirectly inculcated completely at variance with the settled opinions of the day, in relation to the intellectual character of the sex. How consonant soever the doctrine thus advanced may be with rhetorical rule, it must be supposed that had it been necessary, rhetorical propriety would have been set aside to make way for poetic justice; and that while the lighter departments of science were provided with tutelar deities of the softer sex, the abstract and exact sciences would have been consigned to the peculiar guardianship of some other deity. Apollo would thus have been constrained to resign the lyre of Urania, and receive in exchange the emblems of astronomical science. But, at the present day, there is no need to revise the fables of antiquity in behalf of the sex. They need no concessions from mythology for the establish

ment of their claims-nor can the justice of those claims be controverted, when they are fairly met and duly considered. Whoever will be at the pains to reflect, for a moment, upon the very different means of education hitherto enjoyed by the two sexes, must be constrained to acknowledge, that the result of each must necessarily be widely different. Let us suppose, for a moment, that one of the stronger sex, in early life, for some reasons, should be constrained to adopt a disguise similar to that to which Achilles resorted to avoid the Trojan war;-that from early life his education should be conducted, and his manners formed, in reference solely to the sex whose garb he had adopted; and that no Ulysses tempts him to betray his sex, by a preference of the weapons of the field, to the decorations of the ball-room. Will it be contended that masculine genius will rise from beneath the load imposed upon it, and "give the world assurance of a man?" or will it not be conceded that the individual would be assailed with the common stigma of weakness and effeminacy? We could extract a few hints from the fictions of novelists and poets pertinent to our present design, were there no fear that such authorities would receive but little respect. But since the consonance of those fictions to nature has been acknowledged, the books that contain them considered as correct representations of nature, and the characters themselves commended as correctly drawn, we see no reason why the arguments they furnish, are not in themselves as forcible, as if taken from real life; for we judge of the correctness of a fancy painting, not by any resemblance it may bear to particular objects within our immediate observation, but by its agreement with the suggestion of imagination, instructed by observation, together with a judicious distribution of light and shade.

Let us for a moment compare, not the natural but the real character of the genius of the two sexes. In quickness of perception, the balance is decidedly in favor of woman. This faculty has been strengthened in them by their general habits. Accustomed to the indulgence of the pleasures of the eye, they acquire a peculiar delicacy of sensible perception, which is not long in being transferred to the mind; and by its constant exercise in works of imagination, it acquires a readiness of action which is seldom obtained by men. But in retentiveness of the impressions made