ALISON'S HISTORY OF EUROPE, A. D., 1789 To 1815. In four volumes 8vo. New-York: Harper & Brothers. 1843. THE publication of this elaborate history, of which a review was given in our third number, is now brought to a close. The four handsome octavos, in which it is comprised, are indispensable to every student of history; and, notwithstanding the objections we have urged against it, we are happy to welcome it in its complete form to our table. THE SPANISH STUDENT. A play. By HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. 1 vol. 12mo. Cambridge: John Owen. 1843. PROFESSOR LONGFELLOW is justly entitled to a place in the front rank of American poets, and each successive volume, as it has issued from the press, has hitherto only served to exalt and extend his reputation. The pure poetic spirit and exquisite finish of his minor pieces, no less than the classical vigor and simplicity of the diction, have firmly established his fame as a writer of popular lyrics. In the field of the drama, he has not been equally successful. The present attempt, although not a very ambitious one, falls short of the standard to which such acknowledged powers as he possesses, might be expected to attain. The leading characters are distinctly drawn; but he has failed in the individuality of his dramatis persona. Much of the poetry of the production is indeed exquisite; and the spirit of the whole is elevated, natural and touching. It will be extensively read and admired in the closet; but is scarcely adapted to the stage. POEMS ON MAN, In his various aspects under the American Republic. By Cornelius Mathews, author of "The Motley Book," "Behemoth," "Puffer Hopkins," etc., etc. New York: Wiley & Putnam. 1843 THESE poems are dedicated "To the Hopeful Friends of Humanity." Their object is in a measure indicated by the title and dedication, and the views under which the race in the Republic are considered, are as the Child, the Father, the Teacher, Citizen, Farmer, Mechanic, Merchant, Soldier, Statesman, Friend, Painter, Sculptor, etc., etc. We have already intimated somewhat pointedly that, in our opinion, Mr. Mathews has in his writings shown much originality and power of mind, and that not a little of the unjust criticism to which he has been subjected, has been owing to his contempt for mere popularity. In truth, the author who cramps his intellect in a sort of straight-jacket, and writes to conform himself to the general current of opinion, is no better than the froth which floats on the water and moves to and fro with the tide of public sentiment. The works of such a man die with him, if not before him, while the efforts of one who thinks for himself, and seeks to effect and give a tone to the opinions of his time, and a character to the literature of his country, are not only laudable in their object, but more influential and permanent in their effects. To say that Mr. Mathews stands among the latter class, which is unquestionably the case, is in itself no mean praise. That he writes unequally, though at times very effectively, is no less true; and though these poems are, in the main, but brief sketches, yet the idea they develope is noble and comprehensive. We feel inclined to quarrel with the author for his very fearless use, we had almost said abuse, of poetic license alike in the coinage and application of words; and there are passages in which it is manifest he has not sustained the dignity of his subject; but the conception and the manner in which it is in general developed, stay us from pointing out faults. Man in the Republic, young, fresh, untrammeled, almost untried, with a new and boundless world of experiment, and combination, and discovery, and invention, and thought, before him, is too glorious a theme, to mar with petty criticism. We refrain therefore from venturing in a hostile mood on ground occupied by our author, and which, if he has not yet brought out all its hidden glories, is still his for future effort. The following extract will afford some idea of the mode in which this theme is handled and of the style of the author, which we may add is marked by simplicity and power-rare characteristics in these days of scribbling. THE REFORMER. Man of the future, on the eager headland standing, Thine eye the darkness and the billows rough commanding, And there to spend in boundless peace its happier day. By passion and the force of earnest thought, Where 'gainst thy feet the force of earth and heaven are brought, Thou, stout man, can'st not thence be severed Till ruled and ruler, fiends or men, are taught Seize by its horns the shaggy past, Full of uncleanness; heave with moantain cast But rush not, therefore, with a brutish blindness Thy race to ruin dark and suffering long has hurled. Thy course is nature's; on thy triumph flows Wake not at midnight and proclaim the day, ADVERSARIA-CHAPTER IV. HINTS ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE. THE desire of mental improvement and enjoyment, resulting from a principle in the human constitution, implanted there by the Creator, has led to mental exertion, to the discovery of truth, and to the defining and enlarging of its relations and legitimate boundaries. The fruits of this exertion constitute what is called human knowledge, in the most general sense of the term. It has given birth to science, to philosophy, to the arts, to literature. The vast panorama of the visible universe, in all its beauty, its glories, and its mysteries, has been made the subject of scientific investigation, and the human intellect has been successfully exerted in exploring its secrets and in defining its laws. The heavens and the earth, animate and inanimate nature, have yielded up the key of their mysterious chambers to his anxious questionings. Astronomical genius with a sublimity and boldness of aim, alike admirable and successful, has explored the mechanism of the heavens-tracked the stars in their courses, ascertained the measure of their orbits and the principles of their movements. The material world with which we have more immediately to to do, the scene of our present existence, has been explored in all its departments, and the various operations and productions of nature have been laid open to the enquiring mind. The bowels of the earth and the depths of the sea have been penetrated, the most sublime and terrific phenomena-the storm-the earthquake-the volcano, alike with the silent and beautiful operations of the springing of the grass, the blooming of the flower, and the ripening of the fruit, have been investigated, and for the most part investigated successfully. Nor has the human mind been less diligent in the investigation of its own organization and faculties-in its enquiries into the nature and powers of the understanding-the laws and compass of the reasoning faculty-the office and work of the memory and the imagination. The realms of thought and feeling-the intellectual, the sensitive, the moral world within the bosom of every man, constituting his true and proper being, have been patiently, and in some good degree, successfully explored. By that most wise and beautiful provision of the God of nature, which while it allots to particular individuals the desire and the power of exclusive devotion to particular departments of knowledge-to science-to philosophy-to literature-or the arts, thus contributes most effectually to the advancement of the race in the one great field of intellectual exertion and enquiry, we have had from earliest times a succession of master-minds at once the benefactors of their race, and the living exponents of the capabilities and aspirations of mankind. "Lights of the world" in a higher sense than that of the poet, they have not only revealed truth hitherto unknown, but by their own encouragement and success, incited the general mind to engage in exploring its boundless field. Reaping for themselves and for man the fruits of individual exertion, they have also strengthened the universal desire, and directed the exertions which it prompted into legitimate channels. Such minds, it is true, have often stood apart from and above their age and times, because endowed with larger desires and higher powers for the discovery of truth. But as such they only present themselves the more prominently, as the representatives of the mental and moral powers and destiny of man, exhibiting and testifying to the fact that intellectual aspiration is a principle most deeply interwoven in his nature, and that intellectual and moral progress and enjoyment are his rightful prerogative. This truth will be strikingly confirmed by even the most superficial acquaintance with the history of the human mind in its search after truth. The desire of knowledge, of spiritual attainment and spiritual good, celestial but earth-bound principle as it is, has always manifested its glorious origin and tendency, in its efforts to establish for itself a sphere of action and enjoyment above the material and the sensual objects by which it is environed, to gain and preserve the supremacy of the mind over the body. The rudest essays and the most imperfect discoveries of earliest times, equally with the wonderful revelations of modern science, and the brilliant creations of modern literature and art, attest its essential existence in the human constitution, and its universal power. We notice its manifestation in the studies of the Egyptian priest in his gloomy temple-in the silent night watchings of the Eastern magi, no less than in the speculations of the old philosophy-in the mythology, the poetry, the rhetoric, the arts of Greece and Rome. In the dark ages it gave rise to the efforts of Charlemagne, of Alfred of England, of Abelard and Roger Bacon, and stirred the sublime genius of Dante-called forth the |