Page images
PDF
EPUB

intellect may be measured by his influence and ultimate success.

nected with eternity, that it might be wel that which arises from his great command
spent; and imagination was given him to of words, his knowledge of the rules of me-
bear away his thoughts from scenes where tre, and his exquisite sense of harmony.
the shadows of sin and death are resting, We know no English poet who has written
to a world where there is no darkness. The nore melodious verses, and no one who so
external universe is made that the needs o seldom offends the ear with harsh or un-
our probation may be supplied;-this is its musical expressions. His desire to avoid
first and humblest use; for there is scarcely the poetical phraseology which he dreaded,
an atom fixed or floating in it, which ima- has helped to disfigure his minor poems
gination may not enable reason to make with some puerilities; but from faults of this
illustrate the revelations of God, and teach kind "The Excursion" is almost wholly free.
of things to come. Foolishly does proud Mr Wordsworth insists too much upon his
and vain reason-we use the word as mean- system; he is vain of it, and in his valua-
ing little more than the argumentative fac-ble Prefaces, makes rather too much of it.
ulty-claim to fortify the hopes of man, and We do not mean that he rates the value of
teach all his duties, with unassisted efforts. his principles of poetry too highly, but that
She mistakes her end; she leaves her he appears somewhat too determined that
proper home; and however she may essay every one of his lesser poems shall be con-
to soar, her unsupported wing must fail sidered as belonging to one general whole,
long before she passes the Empyrean. We which systematically includes all his pro-
do not say that the imagination must be ductions. He has enough to be proud
ever supported at this height; that were of without this. His distinction between
impossible; but her highest use is to con- fancy and imagination, which, as far as we
nect the things proper to our finite exist- know, is original with him, would, of itself,
ence with things infinite, and the most hon- have assigned him a high rank among the
ourable employment of poetry is to record leading minds of the age. We ought to
and impart the lessons which imagination have spoken of this distinction before, for
thus may teach. And so long as religion we have all along used the word imagina-
holds out from heaven her promises to mention in the sense in which he uses it,-we
walking amid the clouds and cares of earth, may better say, in the sense to which he has
so long will the best uses of poetry be high exalted it. But we cannot, without far ex-
and holy.
ceeding our limits, give our readers a full
explanation of this theory;* and the uses we
have assigned to the imagination will suf-
ficiently illustrate the opinion we hold as to
the nature and power of 'that important
faculty.

We should be exceedingly unwilling to
give Mr Wordsworth more praise than is
due to him, not only because we would al-
ways deal justly with the authors who come
under our notice, but from the certainty
that excessive, unreasonable approbation
would tend to defeat our object, which is so
to acquaint our readers with his true merits,
as to extend the circulation of works so
excellent and so useful. But we cannot
with any justice withhold the acknowledg-
ment, that he is the first among modern
poets, who has distinctly discovered the
true nature and uses of poetry. He has
revealed these secrets; and laid upon all
men whose hearts and minds are capable of
improvement, a heavy debt of gratitude.
Poetry has been long enough regarded as
an elegant but useless art; her creations
have been long enough held to be luxurious
dreams, which he whom the duties of life
envelope, must awake from when he goes
forth to his labours; it is quite time that
her powers should be thought equal to a
worthier use than to amuse an indolent, or
relax an overtoiled intellect. Why is it
that we oppose poetry to prose, and make
that harmony of words which is an incident
-an ornament to poetry, its essence? It is
well said by our author, and others who
have followed him, that poetry should be For the illustration of all that we have
opposed rather to science-to the knowl- said, we refer to the poems of Mr Words-
edge and examination of facts. Science worth; and these works we may also cite,
arranges with the aid of demonstrative rea- as proofs that the imagination is worthy the
son, what things the senses discover, and high office she assumes in them. There
makes herself acquainted with the various are truths directly taught by God to man; If we have in any measure succeeded in
existences in the visible universe, and and while they are remembered, and showing how much Wordsworth's poetry
learns how they are connected together; Wordsworth never forgets them,-this dis-opposed itself to the poetical spirit of the
and here her work ends, and must end. It tinctive faculty of man will find, in all the day in which he began to write, we have
is then that Poetry calls upon the imagina- realities of existence, and all the relations sufficiently accounted for his unfavourable
tion, to tell whence that sun gets his floods between them, stronger confirmation, and reception. The ablest writers of England
of light to bathe the world in beauty, and brighter illustration of revealed wisdom. are now acknowledging their obligations to
whence that warmth comes to awaken the Then the delightful joyousness of innocent his works, and public opinion decidedly yields
universal life around us, and what hand childhood, the natural pleasures of all crea- to him the place he deserves. There is in his
sowed the burning stars in the abyss, and tures, and the living beauty of inanimate Supplement to the Preface, referred to in
rolled around them countless earths;-and nature, will yield instruction touching the the note to a preceding passage, a fine para-
it is for her that the tempest lets loose the duties and the destinies of men. In his graph expressive of his consciousness of
wind and heaves up the ocean, with instruc- smaller poems, the principles which char- the influence and merit and destiny of his
tive sublimity; and the sunlight touches acterize Mr Wordsworth's poetry are ap- poetry,-which we cannot help quoting for
the green hills and gilds the evening clouds plied to a great variety of subjects, and ex- our readers. He has been illustrating his
with beauty that has a voice; the busy in-hibited in various forms. In his "Excur- position that an original poet cannot be at
sects, and breathing flowerets, the singing sion,"-which he states to be but a part of once appreciated; and thus goes on;-
brooks, and the sweet music of the Summer of a larger work,-his topics, and his mode
wind upon its living harps, all, all speak to of treating them, are of a more solemn cast. relation of what has been said to these Volumes?—
It may still be asked, where lies the particular
her, with utterance most distinct, lessons We have said nothing of Wordsworth's The question will be easily answered by the dis-
most momentous. Poetry is not fiction-nor diction, and to those, acquainted with his cerning Reader who is old enough to remember the
foreign from the realities of life-nor bar- works, this may seem the more extraordinary, taste that prevailed when some of these Poems
ren of strong motives and high hopes. Most as he evidently believes that his improve- observed to what degree the Poetry of this Island
were first published, 17 years ago; who has also
true it is, that she is but the record of the ments in the language of poetry constitute has since that period been coloured by them; and
imagination; but it is no less true, that the a great part of his claim to originality. In who is further aware of the unremitting hostility
imagination helps strongly to produce, and this we think he is mistaken. That notion with which, upon some principle or other, they
to support, all those truths which dignify of a "poetical diction," which he so forci- have each and all been opposed. A sketch of my
our sensual existence. Man was made to bly reprobates, was passing away when he own notion of the constitution of Fame, has been
begin his being upon earth, and to bend for began to write; he helped it to pass, but given; and as far as concerns myself, I have
a while to its labours, and bear its sorrows, in this others worked with him. Perhaps
* We refer those readers who may wish to pur-
and help his brethren to toil and to endure; he first distinctly perceived, that "in pro-sue this inquiry, to the Preface to the edition of
and, therefore, his sensual nature, and fac- portion as ideas and feelings are valuable, Wordsworth's Poems published in 1815, in 2 vols.
ulties to take congnizance of existing whether the composition be in prose or in 8vo., (inserted in the 1st vol. of the American Edi-
things, and to reason about them, were verse, they require and exact one and the tion of his Poetical Works, as a Supplement to the
Preface), and to Coleridge's "Biographia Litera-
given to him. But even while on earth he same language.” We cannot think that his
ria." In this last work Mr Wordsworth's views
was to look beyond it; time was to be con-language has any great peculiarity beyond are very beautifully illustrated.

cause to be satisfied. The love, the admiration, the indifference, the slight, the aversion, and even the contempt, with which these Poems have been received, knowing, as I do, the source within my own mind, from which they have proceeded, and the labour and pains, which, when labour and pains appeared needful, have been bestowed upon them, -must all, if I think consistently, be received as pledges and tokens, bearing the same general impression though widely different in value :-they are all proofs that for the present time I have not laboured in vain; and afford assurances, more or less authentic, that the products of my industry will endure.

The early prejudices against this author are not wholly removed in this country; and we should expect to be charged with having praised him extravagantly, if we did not support, by adequate quotations, the opinions we have expressed. This would of itself be a sufficient apology for copious extracts; but we trust we shall not need to be excused for giving to our readers beautiful poetry, with which many of them must be unacquainted. Our quotations will be confined to the Excursion, not only because it is yet less known in this country, than the best of his smaller poems, but because it affords the most perfect examples of what we consider the true peculiarities of our author's poetry.

The author informs us in his title-page, and again in his preface, that this poem is but a portion of a longer work, to consist of three parts, of which this is the second. We have not time nor space for an analy sis,-suffice it to say, that it is an account of an Excursion of a day or two, which the author made in company with a friend, among the hills of Cumberland, and in the course of which they met with two other individuals, who joined their walks. The speakers are the poet himself, his friend, a Scottish pedlar retired from business, a country clergyman, and a singular characser, who, disgusted with the world and op. pressed with disappointment, had been left to doubt the truths of religion. Upon this slender foundation is erected a mass of what seems to us almost unrivalled poetry. We remember several years ago reading the criticism of the Edinburgh Review on this

poem. That criticism began with "This

The spectacle; sensation, soul, and form
All melted into him; they swallowed up
His animal being; in them did he live,
And by them did he live; they were his life.
In such access of mind, in such bigh hour
Of visitation from the living God,

Thought was not in enjoyment it expired.
No thanks he breathed, he proffered no request;
Rapt into still communion that transcends
The imperfect offices of prayer and praise,
His mind was a thanksgiving to the power
That made him; it was blessedness and love!

p. 13.

We cannot believe that the critic was sincere in his remark upon this splendid passage; if he were, we do not envy him that occupation of mind which had blinded him to the exquisite beauty of the poetry, or had deadened his ear to the majesty of its versification.

The following extracts are from a tale narrated by the Pedlar, much too long to be quoted entire. It is of a man, who, reduced from comparative plenty to want, at length enlisted for a soldier, and whose wife pined away and died with the "hope deferred that maketh the heart sick."

A sad reverse it was for Him who long
Had filled with plenty, and possessed in peace,
This lonely Cottage. At his door he stood,
And whistled many a snatch of merry tunes
That had no mirth in them; or with his knife
Carved uncouth figures on the heads of sticks-
Then, not less idly, sought, through every nook
In house or garden, any casual work

Of use or ornament; and with a strange,
Amusing, yet uneasy novelty,

He blended, where he might, the various tasks
Of summer, autumn, winter, and of spring.
But this endured not; his good humour soon
Became a weight in which no pleasure was:
And poverty brought on a petted mood
And a sore temper: day by day he drooped,
And he would leave his work--and to the Town,
Without an errand, would direct his steps,
Or wander here and there among the fields.
One while he would speak lightly of his Babes,
And with a cruel tongue; at other times
He tossed them with a false unnatural joy:
And 'twas a rueful thing to see the looks
Of the poor innocent children. Every smile,'
Said Margaret to me, here beneath these trees,
'Made my heart bleed.' p. 30.

nise the truth of this description. The followWe presume that our readers will recoging is equally true, and still more touching.

Her Infant Babe

will never do;" but the extracts which were made convinced us that it ought to do, Had from its Mother caught the trick of grief, And sighed among its playthings. p. 43. and inevitably must do-in despite of the criticism. We procured the book from We must quote some of the descriptions England; it is of the London edition of of external nature, which, whether intro1820, and from that we must make our ex-duced as pure description, or, as is most tracts-our volume of the American edition generally the case, made to illustrate some not being at this moment within our reach. operation in the human mind, or some relaThe first quotation, which we make, was, if tion between human beings, are alike capwe remember aright, cited by the Edinburgh tivating to our fancy, our memory, and our reviewer as a specimen of unintelligible imagination.

[blocks in formation]

And on the top of either pinnacle,
More keenly than elsewere in night's blue vault,
Sparkle the Stars as of their station proud.
Thoughts are not busier in the mind of man
Than the mute Agents stirring there:-alone
Here do I sit and watch. pp. 83-85.

-Him might we liken to the setting Sun
As I have seen it, on some gusty day,
Struggling and bold, and shining from the west
With an inconstant and unmellowed light.
-She was a soft attendant Cloud, that hung
As if with wish to veil the restless orb;
From which it did itself imbibe a ray
Of pleasing lustre. p. 319.

Already had the sun,
Sinking with less than ordinary state,
Attained his western bound; but rays of light-
Now suddenly diverging from the orb
Retired behind the mountain tops or veiled
By the dense air-shot upwards to the crown
Of the blue firmament-aloft-and wide:
And multitudes of little floating clouds,
Pierced through their thin etherial niould, ere we,
Who saw, of change were conscious, had become
Vivid as fire-clouds separately poized,
Innumerable multitude of Forms
Scattered through half the circle of the sky;
And giving back, and shedding each on each,
With prodigal communion, the bright bues
Which from the unapparent Fount of glory
They had imbibed, and ceased not to receive.
That which the heavens displayed, the liquid deep
Repeated; but with unity sublime! p. 413.

With the following beautiful illustration, we shall conclude this class of our extracts, wishing that we had room for many more such which are scattered through the book.

Within the soul a Faculty abides, That with interpositions, which would hide And darken, so can deal, that they become Contingencies of pomp; and serve to exalt Her native brightness. As the ample Moon, In the deep stillness of a summer even Rising behind a thick and lofty Grove, Burns like an unconsuming fire of light, In the green trees; and, kindling on all sides Their leafy umbrage, turns the dusky veil Into a substance glorious as her own, Yea with her own incorporated, by power Capacious and serene. Like power abides In Man's celestial Spirit; Virtue thus Sets forth and magnifies herself; thus feeds. A calm, a beautiful, and silent fire, From the incumbrances of mortal life, From error, disappointment,-nay from guilt; And sometimes, so relenting Justice wills, From palpable oppressions of Despair. p. 188. Dr Johnson died before the Excursion was published, or he might not have said that religion was an unsuitable subject for poetry; though, as it now occurs to us, that great critic must have happened to forget the Psalms of David and the Prophecies of Isaiah, when he made this assertion. We think, that the loftiest and most affecting passages of Wordsworth's poetry, are those in which he has embodied his religious musings. The first extract which we have made is of this class, and we shall now give our readers more.

How beautiful this dome of sky, And the vast hills, in fluctuation fixed At thy command, how awful! Shall the Soul, Human and rational, report of Thee Even less than these?-Be mute, who will, who can,

Yet I will praise thee with impassioned voice: My lips, that may forget thee in the crowd, Cannot forget thee here; where Thou hast built, For thy own glory in the wilderness!

Me didst thou constitute a Priest of thine,
In such a Temple as we now behold
Reared for thy presence: therefore, am I bound
To worship, here, and everywhere-as One
Not doomed to ignorance, though forced to tread,
From childhood up, the ways of poverty;
From unreflecting ignorance preserved,
And from debasement rescued.-By thy grace
The particle divine remained unquenched;
And, mid the wild weeds of a rugged soil,
Thy bounty caused to flourish deathless flowers,
From Paradise transplanted. Wintry age
Impends; the frost will gather round my heart;
And, if they wither, I am worse than dead!
-Come Labour, when the worn-out frame re-
quires

Perpetual sabbath; come disease and want:
And sad exclusion through decay of sense;
But leave me unabated trust in Thee-
And let thy favour, to the end of life,
Inspire me with ability to seek
Repose and hope among eternal things-
Father of heaven and earth! and I am rich
And will possess my portion in content!

p. 143.

Thou-Who didst wrap the cloud

Of Infancy around us, that Thyself,
Therein, with our simplicity awhile

And Intuitions moral and divine)

Fell Human-kind-to banishment condemned
That flowing years repealed not: and distress
And grief spread wide; but Man escaped the
doom

Of destitution;-Solitude was not.
-Jehovah-shapeless Power above all Powers,
Single and one, the omnipresent God,
By vocal utterance or blaze of light,

Or cloud of darkness, localized in heaven;
On earth, enshrined within the wandering ark;
Or, out of Sion, thundering from his throne
Between the Cherubim-on the chosen Race
Showered miracles, and ceased not to dispense
Judgments, that filled the land from age to age
With hope, and love, and gratitude, and fear;
And with amazement smote ;-thereby to assert
His scorned or unacknowledged Sovereignty.
And when the One, ineffable of name,
In nature indivisible, withdrew
From mortal adoration or regard,
Not then was Deity engulphed, nor Man,
The rational Creature, left, to feel the weight
Of his own reason, without sense or thought
Of higher reason and a purer will,

To benefit and bless, through mightier power.
p. 169.

We must premise, that the first of the following extracts relates to a buryingMight'st hold, on earth, communion undisturbed-ground, and the second to the feelings which lead men to set apart and preserve such places.

Who from the anarchy of dreaming sleep,
Or from its death-like void, with punctual care,
And touch as gentle as the morning light,
Restor'st us, daily, to the powers of sense,
And reason's steadfast rule-Thou, Thou alone
Art everlasting, and the blessed Spirits,
Which thou includest, as the Sea her Waves:
For adoration thou endurest; endure
For consciousness the motions of thy will;
For apprehension those transcendant truths
Of the pure Intellect, that stand as laws,
Submission constituting strength and power)
Even to thy Being's infinite majesty!
This Universe shall pass away-a frame
Glorious! because the shadow of thy might,
A step, or link, for intercourse with Thee.
Ah! if the time must come, in which my feet
No more shall stray where Meditation leads,
By flowing stream, through wood, or craggy
wild,

Loved haunts like these, the unimprisoned Mind
May yet have scope to range among her own,
Her thoughts, her images, her high desires.
If the dear faculty of sight should fail,
Still, it may be allowed me to remember
What visionary powers of eye and soul
In youth were mine; when, stationed on the top
Of some huge hill-expectant, I beheld
The Sun rise up, from distant climes returned
Darkness to chase, and sleep, and bring the day
His bounteous gift! or saw him, tow'rds the Deep
Sink-with a retinue of flaming Clouds
Attended; then, my Spirit was entranced
With joy exalted to beatitude;

The measure of my soul was filled with bliss,
And holiest love; as earth, sea, air, with light,
With pomp, with glory, with magnificence!
p. 145.

Upon the breast of new-created Earth Man walked; and when and wheresoe'er he moved,

Alone or mated, Solitude was not.
He heard, upon the wind, the articulate Voice
Of God; and Angels to his sight appeared,
Crowning the glorious hills of Paradise;
Or through the groves gliding like morning mist
Enkindled by the sun. He sate--and talked
With winged Messengers; who daily brought
To his small Island in the etherial deep
Tidings of joy and love.-From these pure
Heights

(Whether of actual vision, sensible
To sight and feeling, or that in this sort
Have condescendingly been shadowed forth
Communications spiritually maintained,

-To a mysteriously-consorted Pair

This place is consecrate; to Death and Life,
And to the best Affections that proceed
From their conjunction. Consecrate to faith
In Him who bled for man upon the Cross;
Hallowed to Revelation; and no less
To Reason's mandates; and the hopes divine
Of pure Imagination;-above all,
To Charity, and Love, that have provided,
Within these precincts, a capacious bed
And receptacle, open to the good
And evil, to the just and the unjust;
In which they find an equal resting-place:
Even as the multitude of kindred brooks
And streams, whose murmur fills this hollow vale,
Whether their course be turbulent or smooth,
Their waters clear or sullied, all are lost
Within the bosom of yon chrystal Lake,
And end their journey in the same repose!

Small Creature as she is, from earth's bright flowers

Into the dewy clouds.

*

p. 159.

*

The primal duties shine aloft-like stars;
The charities that soothe, and heal, and bless,
Are scattered at the feet of Man-like flowers.
p. 398.

Many, very many passages equal to any we have extracted, we have passed over with regret that we could not quote them; but we must bring this article to a close, We have not endeavoured to give our readers a full and adequate representation of Wordsworth's mind. An attempt so presumptuous could not have succeeded; not only because the limits, within which we must confine ourselves, are far too narrow for this purpose; but because such a task could only be accomplished by a genius kindred to his own. We certainly hope that our feeble efforts will help to bring his poems into notice; and this is all we can desire. For we trust there are few who can read them without pleasure and profit;-without recognising in them all the grandeur, eloquence, and beauty of poetry, and paying willingly the tribute of admira

tion to

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

IT is difficult to assign any competent reason for a distinction between Nouns and Pronouns. The custom of distinguishing them probably arose from the erroneous opinion that pronouns have no absolute signification, but derive all their meaning from the particular nouns to which they are, at -And whence that tribute? wherefore these re- any time, made to refer. But if they have

gards?

p. 242.

Not from the naked Heart alone of Man
(Though framed to high distinction upon earth
As the sole spring and fountain-head of tears,
His own peculiar utterance for distress
Or gladness) No,' the philosophic Priest
Continued, 'tis not in the vital seat
Of feeling to produce them, without aid
From the pure Soul, the Soul sublime and pure;
With her two faculties of Eye and Ear,
The one by which a Creature, whom his sins
Have rendered prone, can upward look to heaven;
The other that empowers him to perceive
The voice of Deity, on height and plain
Whispering those truths in stillness, which the
Word,

To the four quarters of the winds, proclaims.' p. 245.

not in themselves, a radical meaning, or, what serves the same purpose, an absolute signification established by custoin, then it could make no difference at any time what They would be so many

pronoun is used. cyphers, which might be used indiscriminately. But if each pronoun has a determinate meaning, it is important that this should be accurately defined; and such definitions would properly constitute the whole grammar of pronouns. Nothing more would be necessary to their being used correctly. But our Grammar-makers are very careful to avoid this and whatever else relates to the philosophy of language. Hence we find the same pronoun belonging successpasively to several of their artificial classes, and frequently becoming some other part of speech. It is almost equally impossible for children and for men to parse that, as, what, mine, both, and several others, according to any rules extant. This part of grammar is in complete confusion, and it must remain so until we substitute absolute definitions for accidental relations. How can these accidental relations be well un

There are a multitude of exquisite sages scattered over all of this poem. We have left ourselves small space for these gems; but there are many like the following Our thoughts

Pleasant as roses in the thickets blown, And pure as dew bathing their crimson leaves. p. 56.

Before your sight Mounts on the breeze the Butterfly-and soars,

derstood, where the meaning of the word is not first determined? Men of independent minds continue to get along by adopting their own notions where the grammar seems incorrect or incompetent; but with children the case is hopeless.

In declining the personal pronouns, the example of Mr Murray has been followed by all our other writers. The second person singular must be thou, thy or thine, thee. Thus we teach our children, while nine tenths of the books they read, and all of the conversation they hear contradict it, and give you, your or yours, you, both in the singular and plural. So far is this carried in most of our common schools, that even when the antecedent of the pronoun you is singular, the pronoun and its verb are called plural; and our grammarians would be greatly shocked, were they told that are and were should be called singular, when they agree with you, having a singular antecedent. Our Quaker brethren must produce abler grammarians than Mr Murray, before they can prove that their solemn style is more correct than our common familiar style. We shall have occasion to allude to this subject again when we come to the conjugation of verbs.

the mind. They do not of themselves ex-gible manner, nor is it grammatically cor-
press definitely all Modes of being, action, rect. Take for an example, "Penelope is
and passion, and all Times of being, action, loved by me." If we admit the common
and passion; and, hence, they do not an- definition, that "a Passive verb implies an
swer their object. A whole sentence, and object acted upon, and an agent by which
often a whole volume, is necessary to de- it is acted upon," and the common rule➡
fine the mode and time of an action; and that "Participles govern the same cases as
if we allow the use of auxiliaries to ex- the verbs do, from which they are derived;"
press them definitely, nearly all the words in what case shall we call "Penelope?" It
in the language must be recognised as of is certainly the objective of the transitive
this class.
participle," loved," and hence is in the ob-
jective case. The pronoun, “me," is obvi-
ously the agent; and hence, according to
every Grammar, is in the nominative case.
Transpose the sentence, and change the
agent and object, the one for the other,
and say "I am loved by Penelope." In this
example, the pronoun is the objective of
“loved ;" and, if there be any sense in
English cases, it must be in the objective.
If by cases we are to understand the differ-
ent relations of nouns and pronouns, then
it is obvious that every noun or pronoun,
which is the nominative case to what is
called a passive verb, is also in the objec-
tive, and governed by the participle of the
same verb; for it has this double relation,—
being nominative to the verb to be, and ob-
jective to the participle.

It may be said, that an important object of grammar is, to show what words may come together, and how they should be arranged in the construction of sentences; and that this object is promoted by the usual composition of modes and tenses. We admit this object to be important, but we think it would be attained with much greater facility by defining with precision the use of every word in a sentence, than by giving the common vague definitions and rules to such squads or parties of words, as are generally allowed to be sirnamed, to save analyzing them.

We have heard of a few instructers, who have adopted, with great advantage, the method which we would recommend, of parsing every word by itself,-defining it as well as possible, showing its connexion with other words, and naming its variations. This is what parsing should be, and what every teacher should endeavour to make it. It is, however, impossible to adopt this method with complete success, while our elementary books are so deficient as they are at present.

It is somewhat remarkable that none of our grammarians should have stated that the word mine is a compound term and has generally two cases. It signifies my own, that is my property; own being an abstract term, used at present only pronominally for whatever is emphatically the property of any person or thing. According to common rules of parsing, it should It may now be asked, how many modes be considered as governing the pronoun be- and tenses there are in the English language. fore it in the possessive case. "Give me We are not quite ready for this part of our your book and you shall have mine." In subject, but would ask grammarians if the this example, mine is both possessive and following be not the true principle. The objective. "Your book was saved, mine number that should be recognised in any was lost." Here it is possessive and nomi-grammar, is so many as are expressed by native. These remarks apply equally to the the regular and established variations of pronoun thine. The pronouns ours, yours, verbs, without reference to what are comand theirs are likewise compound, and should monly called auxiliaries. If you depart be parsed like mine. We sometimes use own from this rule, you may have millions. before a noun; as, my own house, mine house, his own house. In such cases, it becomes an adjective noun.

It cannot be said that in the example given above, mine may be governed by book, expressed or understood, because it is obvious that it cannot be placed with that term without implying repetition. The sense is complete as it stands, and the force of the verb falls immediately on the compound pronoun. There is no more difficulty in calling these pronouns compound, than in calling what compound, and there is an equal necessity for it.

Before remarking on the errors in the common method of parsing Verbs, we must make a few general observations.

The custom of taking several words together to form one part of speech, is totally inconsistent with the analytical mode of teaching. The compound modes and tenses of verbs, formed in this way, instead of defining the meaning of a sentence more clearly, and determining the precise influence or use of every member, tend only to confuse

The

The division of verbs into active, pas-
sive, and neuter, is objectionable, because
the terms active and neuter do not convey
to the mind any idea of the uses of these
two classes of verbs in construction with
other words. Transitive and intransitive
are more definite, because they distinguish
between those which govern, and those
which do not govern other words.
passive verb is not a species distinct from
the others, but formed by combining the
verb to be with the perfect participle of a
transitive verb. In those languages in
which it is a distinct form of the verb, there
is no objection to styling it the passive
voice; but we totally destroy the simplici-
ty of English syntax by endeavouring to
make it agree with that of other languages.
We shall have occasion to say so much up-
on this subject, when we come to treat of
Modes and Tenses in a future number, that
we are not willing to add more in this
place.

The common mode of parsing passive
verbs does not explain them in an intelli-

In our next number we shall treat of Modes and Tenses. Our readers will no tice that we are not criticising the work of any author; but that our remarks apply to the Grammars in common use. All with which we are acquainted are nearly use less in the study of the English language. They are totally destitute of analytical method, and embarrass the minds of scholars with an unexplained and inexplicable technical phraseology. We sh our to offer occasionally som their incorrectness, which we degrees, lead those who are co examine the subject more atten give this science an intelligible anɩ cal form.

endeav

fs of by

[blocks in formation]

THE Complaint uttered by Cicero, in his Treatise de Legibus, concerning the meagreness of a jurist's reward, may be justly adopted by the compilers and editors of law books in the United States. Quid tam exiguum quam munus eorum? Only one ancient reporter has been republished in this country with annotations. and the editor in that instance, we have the means of knowing, did not ultimately receive day wages for his labour in that behalf. Mr Day has rendered valuable services to his brethren, by adding notes to about twenty-five volumes of modern reports; but he has been

by no means adequately compensated. He purposes of eliciting truth, preventing chi-manufacture of the United States, may lefirst undertook Espinasse's Reports of Cases canery, and securing an orderly investiga-gally be carried from place to place, and at Nisi Prius, which has been, perhaps, the tion. A defendant knows not whether the exposed for sale; yet, a fine of not less than most popular book of reports ever publish- plaintiff's evidence is closed, until the jury ten, nor more than one hundred dollars, is ed in the United States. The success of is sent from the bar. He may, thereupon, to be inflicted on the offender, who shall be this work induced a bookseller in New pretty safely conclude that no further tes- so hardy as thus to carry abroad and sell, York to republish the two first volumes of timony will be admitted, even though it or expose for sale, those pernicious artiMr Campbell's Reports, in 1810 and 1811, may be offered. Such loose practice surely cles, ycleped indigo, feathers, books, tracts, without additional notes. The two last vol- deserves no toleration where the rules of prints, maps, playing cards, lottery tickets, umes, with notes by Mr Howe, were pub- the common law are the professed guide of jewelry, and essences. Now, as the lowest price of any article of trade must include lished in 1821. The notes are evidently courts. Notwithstanding the want of pecuniary the value of the risk incurred in that trade, from the pen of a learned and discriminating lawyer, and greatly enhance the value encouragement, there have been many it is evident that a repeal of the aforesaid of the edition. The cases reported are American editions of English law books, statute would enable the travelling seller worthy of attention,* and are recommended which are greatly increased in value by the of law books to offer them, on safe mercanby the circumstance that they are among addition of notes and references. The ex-tile principles, at a yet lower rate; and the last decisions of that most eminent nisi tent of the market induces booksellers to thus we gain a still further insight of the prius judge, Lord Ellenborough. If we ex- republish, and a commendable desire of im- great regular profits. cept his too strong inclination, in some proving the jurisprudence of the country, cases, to rely on what may be called a and affording facilities of investigation to moral estoppel, we can hardly find a fault the profession, has incited its members to in his judgments. Indeed, Sir James Mans- a gratuitous contribution of their labours. field, near the close of his long judicial life, We hope every future edition of foreign expressed his most unqualified admiration publications on legal subjects may contain of the correctness and ability of the Lord references to our own decisions. Chief Justice of the King's Bench, as displayed in the reports of Mr Campbell.

Sic vos non vobis

EDINBURGH REVIEW.

NUMBER LXXX of this journal contains an amusing article upon America; from which we propose to make some extracts for the good of those of our readers who happen not to take the Review. It is evidently an honest article, and moreover, contains a good deal of truth, which it should be gratifying to us to find English writers willing to allow, and which it ought to do the English public some good to learn. The writer sets out thus:

There are said to be in the United States more than six thousand practising lawyers. From the character of almost every re- Mr Griffith, the compiler of the United cent English treatise on legal subjects, we States Law Register, has announced, by are disposed to believe that reports may be way of recommendation, no doubt, of his more profitably consulted than elementary volumes, that he has the names and places works. These last contain, of late, no prop- of residence of the gentlemen of the bar in er scientific arrangement of the decisions, fifteen states, amounting, in 1821, to four and are too often grossly deficient in matter thousand eight hundred and forty-one. He There is a set of miserable persons in England, as well as arrangement. Learners will not estimates the number of judicial officers, in who are dreadfully afraid of America and every be well instructed by them; and those who the several States and Territories, at twen-thing American-whose great delight is to see that We think he must include have already learned much, will derive very ty thousand. little profit from them. In this day of mak- the worshipful host of Justices of the Peace ing many law books, the profession will in this last class, in order to obtain such a probably obtain more advantage, at a given formidable aggregate. Assuming, however, expense, from a thorough perusal of reports, that there are but six thousand men in our than from any other means. There is much country, who would ever incline to open a in them, it is true, which is apochryphal; law book, it is manifest that almost every but not less in the recent treatises, the au- work that issues from the over-teeming thors of which boast of having intruded presses of the "law printer to the king's no impertinent comments of their own upon most excellent majesty," and of others in the wild conceits which they embody and Great Britain, might be reprinted here disseminate. We can except from this with tolerable safety to the pockets of the One in twenty of those who censure a very few treatises that have late-publishers. ly come under our notice from England; rank among professional men, may well be and with great satisfaction we assure our hoped and expected to become a purchaser readers that a native Essay on Insurance, of any legal publication of passable merit. which has recently issued from the press in This would secure a sale for three hundred this city, is liable to none of these objec- copies, which, at the price generally detions, but is every way worthy of the sub-manded for books in law binding, would enject, and does honor to the talents, learning,

and acumen of the author.

One benefit may be hoped from an extensive circulation of the English reports of cases at nisi prius: we mean a correction of the very loose and slovenly practice in some of the American courts, of presenting evidence to a jury. Almost every thing is admitted, de bene esse at least, and witnesses are examined, cross-examined, and reexamined, without any regard to the rules which we find applied in the English courts, and which are so wisely adapted to the

As an illustration of a government of laws, and not of men, we know of nothing more striking than the case of Beaurain vs. Sir W. Scott, Vol. III. page 388.

country ridiculed and vilified-and who appear to imagine that all the abuses which exist in this country acquire additional vigour and chance of duration from every book of Travels which pours forth its venom and falsehood on the United States. We shall, from time to time, call the attention of the public to this subject, not from any party spirit, but because we love truth, and praise excellence wherever we find it; and because we think the example of America will, in many instances, tend to The Economy of America is a great and importopen the eyes of Englishmen to their true interests. ant object for our imitation. The salary of Mr Bagot, our late Ambassador, was, we believe, rather higher than that of the President of the United than the second Clerk of the House of Commons; States. The Vice-President receives rather less and all salaries, civil and military, are upon the same scale; and yet no country is better served than America! Mr Hume has at last persuaded the English people to look a little into their accounts, and to see how sadly they are plundered. But we ought to suspend our contempt for America, and sure the printer and bookseller, quicquid consider whether we have not a very momentous honorarium more valuable than the pur-lesson to learn from this wise and cautious people chasers often receive for any single profes-on the subject of economy. A lesson upon the importance of Religious Tolsional service. Indeed, since we have seen new law books, fresh from the press, hawk-eration, we are determined, it would seem, not to quarter of the globe. The High Sheriff of New ed about our villages like tin ware, and of-learn, either from America, or from any other fered at prices so very far below the book-York, last year, was a Jew. It was with the utstore mark, we have been led to infer (er- most difficulty that a bill was carried this year to roneously perchance) that the profits of allow the first Duke of England to carry a gold the regular trade must be greater than we stick before the King-because he was a Catholic! -and yet we think ourselves entitled to indulge in before suspected. The pedlar of tin ware, impertinent sneers at America, as if civilization by the way, has one advantage over the did not depend more upon making wise laws for itinerant venders of law books, which is not the promotion of human happiness, than in having to be overlooked in an estimate of regular good inns, and post-horses, and civil waiters. The profits. His is a lawful traffic, at least in circumstances of the Dissenters' marriage bill are Cherokee, if he could be brought to understand Massachusetts. Whereas, by a statute of such as would excite the contempt of a Chictaw or that state, though goods, wares, and mer- them. A certain class of Dissenters beg they may chandise in general, if of the produce or not be compelled to say that they marry in the

« PreviousContinue »