- compiler is the Rev. W. P. Lunt, of Quincy. The volume contains seven hundred and two hymns; constituting one of the largest collections that has been published. Whether it be equally well suited with some others to the purposes of congregational worship, can only be known by trial, and we forbear to give any very decided opinion. We see, however, no reason for doubting that it would give satisfaction in the use; the principles on which the selection is made, and the good judgment with which they are for the most part applied in practice, commend themselves entirely to our approbation. We think that we have noticed an occasional violation of the principles laid down, and sometimes an adhe ence to them where departure would have been better. Some pieces seem to have been introduced rather as specimens of the antique, for example, those of Sternhold and the New England Version, than because of their intrinsic value or adaptedness for present use. We should have been glad also to have seen a larger number of the fine modern compositions, for which some of the selections from the old writers might well be exchanged. We occasionally miss a stanza from a familiar hymn, which seems to us mutilated by the excision. We find one, the six hundred and twenty-third, ascribed to the " Episcopal Collection," which we have always supposed originated in Belknap's Collection; and another, (the admirable Christmas hymn, two hundred and nine,) put down as "anonymous," which, we suppose we are telling no secret in saying, was written by the Rev. E. H. Sears, of Lancaster. It was first printed in the Boston Observer, under the initials of its author, and has since appeared anonymously among the supplementary hymns of Greenwood's Collection. It is too good to be kept straying about the world without its parentage being known. And finally,—to finish our little exceptions, there are several with a tone more warlike than we should like to hear either read or sung in a Christian congregation. On the other hand, the merits of the compilation are very great and decided. It seems almost unfair to name anything else. When we reflect how exceedingly difficult it is to make a selection from the mass of devotional poetry, which shall be acceptable, we do not say to all, but even to a considerable number; when we remember the ill success and entire failure of many attempts, made by men in whose judgment we should beforehand have implicitly relied; we are inclined to express surprise that one succeeds, rather than to wonder at mistakes. And though we have thought it but just to hint at the deficiences above named, we feel it still more just to express, on the whole, a strong approbation. The method, which is new, is very clear and perfect; the index to the psalms is a most valuable addition. The copious extracts from those chiefs of sacred lyrists, Watts and Doddridge, stamp a peculiar value on the book. The attempt to bring again into our churches the best productions of Mrs. Steele is to be greatly commended. We heartily like, also, the principle of restoring the original reading to the hymns that have been altered; it is an act demanded alike by justice and taste. And yet, it must be acknowledged, that some alterations were made so decidedly for the better, and some have so gained a right to their place by long prescription, that they ought not to be restored. We do not assent, therefore, to some of the restorations introduced here. We think Watts's hundredth Psalm, for example, injured by refitting to it the original first line, which has so long been absent as to have become an entire stranger, whose return is unwelcome and obtrusive. For half a century, at least, that is, ever since the days of the "Lock Hospital Collection," when "Denmark" was first published, we have been reading and singing, "Before Jehovah's awful throne We do not see that anything can be gained by going back to the lines as originally written, "Nations, attend before his throne With solemn fear, with sacred joy" except to make us wish that they had been forgotten. Still the principle in itself is the true one, and has been well applied; as for example, in the readings of Dryden's "Veni, Creator Spiritus," by which that hymn is greatly enriched, in the present collection. But it will not do to begin with particulars; there would be no end to it. It is enough that Mr. Lunt is to be congratulated on his success, in making a book so well adapted to the ends of public worship, and which cannot prove other than acceptable wherever it shall be used. Theory of Teaching, with a few Practical Illustrations. By a TEACHER. Boston: E. P. Peabody. 1841. THE claims of education upon the favor of the community have of late been mainly advanced on the ground of its utility in preserving public order and protecting property. It has thus become apparent that the true idea of culture as the worthy training of the infinite soul has but a weak hold upon the public mind; and, what is perhaps a still more discouraging fact, that too many of those who profess to have the interests of schools nearest to their hearts, act and argue without the dimmest perception, that they are attributing a primary importance to what is quite secondary in its character, that they are degrading the highest and most sacred relations of humanity into a convenience, - that they are bearing up the ark of God with unholy hands. - as a We remember no work on education, which seems so well calculated to supplant the current notions on this subject, as the unpretending little volume we are now noticing. Protests against them, loud and earnest, have not been infrequent; but, for the most part, they have been couched in such a dialect, and addressed to circles so select, as to do little towards the direct accomplishment of their object. But none, we believe, who may read this "Theory," can fail to see how dignified is the position of one who makes it the pleasure and employment of life to develop harmoniously the faculties of a soul which is to last an eternity; and to see the unworthiness of any other statement of the teacher's vocation. And yet not a single expression in the book, so far as we remember, indicates any purpose of opposition to existing arrangements, or even a consciousness that, were the views of the writer to become general, another set of views would be certain to lose their influence. We cannot help regarding this as a sincere book, genuine record of experience, as written from the heart to the heart. One sees at a glance that the authoress is no amateur teacher, but an excellent and accomplished person, who has devoted herself with cheerfulness and hope to a life commonly reckoned unattractive, with the determination to wrestle with its difficulties, until they shall confess themselves angels in disguise, and departing bless. It is at once apparent, too, that she does not toil painfully up an ascent in assuming the office of teaching the young of her own sex, but descends to it, as it were, from above. Evidently one who has drawn in wisdom from the highest sources is giving it out to little girls in the humblest ways and with the humblest spirit; and that too, when a capacity of instructing many who sit in high places as teachers of grown men, is shown in every page; and a literary talent evinced, which puts her on a level, to say the least, with our most accomplished lady-writers. But though written in so high a spirit, this is an eminently practical book. Our authoress has learned by experience, that life is made up of every-day occurrences as well as of great crises; that common attainments have their value as well as exalted virtues; that the former are often, and always may be made to be, the ministers of the latter. She has satisfied herself, that to overcome slight obstacles in childhood, is the surest pledge of being able to rise superior to great difficulties in maturer days; and that prudence requires us to learn perfectly many uninteresting things then, without a knowledge of which we should make but a poor figure in after life. And the main object of the book seems to be to give, in connexion with some pretty high doctrines about general culture, methods of making the closest pursuit of elementary studies acceptable to the minds of children. For throughout the book runs a most lively sense of their claim to be treated as reasonable beings. The writer would never coax her pupils to learn a lesson for the sake of pleasing their teacher, but in all cases where there was a want of interest manifested, would assure the child of the pleasure and utility to be derived from attention to the slighted task, and of the impossibility of further progress in that direction, until the difficulty was surmounted. To go into any minute analysis of the contents of this little volume, would carry us far beyond our limits. It is made up of letters, which "are part of a real correspondence, begun in order to systematize the writer's own theory and practice. The position of governess was assumed as the most favorable one for carrying out completely her ideas on education." The ten first letters contain the views of the authoress on the general subject of female education; the remaining fourteen are principally occupied with a detail of her specific methods of teaching its various branches. Hints, which we should esteem as likely to be of great value upon the best ways of instruction in reading, spelling, arithmetic, geography, grammar, &c., abound therein. And we feel that we are performing a thankworthy service in commending this Theory of Teaching not only to the study of those engaged in the management of schools for little misses, and to the favorable notice of mothers and elder sisters, but also to the attention of the friends and advocates of education generally. Not that we would pronounce it a faultless book, for that would involve the necessity of endorsing the atomic and various other theories, on which we do not feel called upon to pass judgment here. But we would say, that all which it contains strikes us as worth consideration at the hands of those to whom it is virtually addressed, and that by far the greater part challenges approbation at once. We are glad to see, that the concluding paragraph encoura ges the hope of something more complete from the same pen, so soon as further experience shall have shed its guiding light. In the mean time we hasten to greet the volume already published, with the welcome it deserves; and beg leave to express our trust, that its gifted authoress will find the task she has chosen to devote herself to, its own exceeding great reward. Anthon's Classical Dictionary. Harper & Brothers. 1841. Svo. pp. 1423. THIS book is a great enlargement of its predecessors. It contains copious materials, drawn from the writings of recent scholars, in the departments of biography, literary history, and mythology. But the work is not equal to the materials. To reverse the old saw, Materia superat opus. Dr. Anthon has not a good intellectual digestion. He has brought together an immense collection of information from various sources; but he has used it with little judgment. He exercises no critical skill in selecting what is to the point; he has not taken the trouble to sift contradictory statements, but puts them all in, apparently without seeing their inconsistency. A great many things which so big a book ought to contain are left out. Whoever should undertake to read the first two books of Herodotus with the aid of Anthon's geographical articles, would find a very large portion of the names omitted. It would be impossible to make out a connected view of any one entire department of ancient literature from his literary biographies. Among the ancient artists more than two thirds of the names are not to be found. Dipoenus and Scyllis, not to mention others, that occur in the slight sketch of ancient sculpture by Flaxman, are passed over. Much room is occupied to no purpose with undigested speculations upon mythological personages, upon allegorical phantoms, which have bewildered the brains of solemn philosophers and flighty females, and which would have sorely puzzled the old pagans themselves. names The Professor has struck upon rich veins, but he has not been at the pains to smelt the ore. If he would rewrite the entire work, combine the scattered information contained in his authorities, under the guidance of his own original researches, reject a vast quantity of crude and useless matter, supply its place with an equal quantity of useful matter, now not found there, but easily to be found elsewhere, see that his dates are correct, and his references right, he would make a capital book. But this is not Dr. Anthon's way of doing things. If it were, he would make fewer books, but so much the better; better for his own reputation, and for the scholarship of his disciples. VOL. XXXI. -3D S. VOL. XIII. NO. III. 52 |