THE OHIO. FLOW on thou glorious river, To where the Mexic's stormy waves Flow on between the forests, And 'neath the sky and stars, that lie High in the distant mountains, And down the steep, through the ravine, In shallow rills they rush; To which the hills descend, The thousand rills, and blend. And soon the narrow mountain stream, Holds on its course, with a giants force, In a channel broad and deep. High up among the mountains, The fisher boy is seen, Alone and lounging in the shade, Along the margin green; And not a sound disturbs him, save A squirrel or a bird, Or on the Autumn leaves, the noise And many a happy village bank, Upon thy tranquil bosom, floats An empires burdened keels, Flow on thou mighty river! High road of nations, flow! E Wellsville, O. Yes, thou shalt flow eternally, Though on thy peopled shores, The rising town and dawning state Though on the hills were heard no more A human step or sound, Though they were a dead empires mound, Still onward shall thy current be, Thou image of eternity, Onward, and onward to the sea. Y. ART. VII.-FORMATION OF THE MORAL CHARACTER. "I would not give a farthing" said a sordid and profligate wretch who had amassed an immense fortune by villainy and plunder: "I would not give a farthing for virtue, but for a good moral character I would give twenty thou sand pounds." Ir has always been the lot of virtue, to have her excellence acknowledged by the corrupt as well as the good: but there is a class of men, and that not a very small one, who like the rich villain, would buy the advantages of virtue at a high price, while they care nothing for the thing itself; who seek-not goodness, but only the reputation of goodness; and that only so far as they may make it serve some consideration of gain, policy or convenience, or some sordid and selfish interest. For such, if any such glance over these pages, the following remarks on the moral character are not intended; and we will save them the trouble of perusing a dry essay, on a dry subject, by informing them in the outset that they will find in it nothing to their taste;-nothing which to them will be either agreeable or useful. We would hold up moral excellence as a thing to be loved in, and of itself: and, as Aristotle says, temperance should be practised-entirely for its own sake. We do not believe in Dr. Paley's "virtue," nor in the utilitarian philosophy. Either there is something good in moral excellence per se, prior to all considerations of utility, and without any regard to its effects on human condition, or we are adrift without star or compass, on a wide and dark ocean, and our whole existence as moral beings, is little better than a long blunder. The former of these doctrines is the only one which can rescue our nature from the most hopeless degradation, or which can render it any thing but folly to lay down rules and precepts for the guidance of moral conduct. We do not, however, propose to prove the proposition here, though we hope it may be corroborated by such views as may be offered in the treatment of our subject. The precise point of time when an individual acquires the first distinctive features of a moral character, it is unnecessary and perhaps impossible to determine. It may be different in different cases, but it is sufficient for our present purpose to know that every one acquires some kind of moral character, the moment he is capable of a moral action. Every intelligent human being sustains some sort of moral character in the view of the world; and all the rest of mankind assert their common right of passing judgment upon its merits or its defects. Hence, nothing is more usual in common life, than to hear the sentence of approval or of disapprobation pronounced upon the respective characters of individuals. One who has never stepped out of the vale of humble life, by a kind and benevolent disposition, or by amiable and engaging manners, sheds peace and content, and happiness through the domestic circle; and endears himself to all with whom he has intercourse; while another, in the same situation, and sustaining precisely the same relations, becomes an object of general aversion and disgust. The same distinction of character obtains in public life. Here also, one is esteemed and another is despised; one is beloved and another hated. The influence and example of one, render him a public benefactor while he lives, and even when he has "shuffled off this mortal coil," give him a prolonged existence in the memory and the affections of mankind. Another is hunted through life like a ravening beast, and is pursued with curses, even beyond the grave. Now a question arises, whether destinies so different, are really subject to our own control, or whether they are bound to us as by some inscrutable and overruling fatality. Are the different characters which different men sustain in the view of the world, the result of their own voluntary actions, or do they receive them as the unforeseen and unavoidable allotments of Providence; in the same way as they do the complexion of the skin, the features of the countenance, and the form and figure of the body? We are aware that there are those whose sentiments tally exactly with the latter supposi tion: but with all due deference to metaphysical theologians, it is a supposition which, in our humble opinion, is inconsistent with the freedom of moral action, and which tends to destroy all sense of accountability, both to God and to man. Taking it for granted then, that all men are free responsible agents, that they form their own characters, and that, at least in this respect, they are themselves the masters of their own destinies; we proceed to enquire into the best means of attaining moral excellence, and the nature of the difficulties which lie in the way of that attainment. And in the first place we remark that a great part of the work of forming the moral character is completed in early life. There are freshness and strength in the influence of early prejudices and associations, which are seldom found in ríper years: yet youth is the very season in which this influence is most liable to perversion and abuse. The passions are then strong, inconstant, and impatient of control. The understanding is not yet strengthened by exercise, nor the judgment matured by experience. The heart yields to the suggestions of every adviser, and the mind is seldom disposed to calculate the consequences of a given course of action.He who thus enters upon the world, full of the confidence of virtue, and perhaps feeling within him the stirrings of an ingenuous spirit, who has neither learned from failure, the folly of self despair, nor from experience, the fickleness of the most virtuous emotions, will be liable to fall an easy and unsuspecting prey to the treachery of evil passion. Imagine such a person, and under such circumstances, to be as perfect a pattern of youthful innocence and good nature, as humanity ever affords; take him in the midst of his youth and promise, endowed with fine feelings and tender susceptibilities, adorned with all those qualities which can give grace and sweetness to the morning of life, and wholly unconscious of any secret foe that may be lurking within him,-take him, we say, thus excellent, amiable and engaging, to the prison of some condemned malefactor; tell him of the wretch who languishes there for some horrible act of midnight assassination; depict the circumstances, and explain the nature of his crime; and exhibit him standing a condemned criminal at the bar of his country; then unbar the dungeon, and shew the hoary wretch, laden with the consciousness of guilt; tortured with the sting of remorse; and looking forward to his own ignominious and dreadful end; and when the little auditor becomes breathless, and shudders at the tale, tell him that guilt, and that remorse, and that end may yet be his, and how would his whole soul revolt at so shocking, so horrible a picture of his own future self! But alas! for poor human nature! That detestable villain, that practised veteran in iniquity, was once as innocent a being, as pure, as lovely as he whose bosom had throbbed with mingled pity and indignation, as he listened to the sad story of guilt and woe. Nor let it be supposed that this is a mere picture of the imagination. It is a living reality. It is a living reality. It has its prototype in thousands of cases that fall within the ordinary range of human life. Such is the "facilis descensus Averni;"-the lamentable downward tendency from innocence and virtue, and an honest name, to vice, and guilt, and infamy. How then are we to secure ourselves from becoming the victims of temptation? How are we to shut out the influence ef evil passions, and to present to the world in our own examples, patterns of virtue and of moral worth? To these enquiries, we answer: First, We must fix upon a high standard of moral excellence. That high aims are necessary to the accomplishment of important ends, is a proposition which has become trite, to a proverb. In the training of the intellect to scientific attainments, in the various arts of practical life, and in all our common business with the world, the principle which it comprehends, is universally recognised. Where is the instance. of an eminent artist, orator, or scholar, who has not become such by having first determined upon no common attainment? The same principle holds equally true, we think, with regard to morals. We need but a slight acquaintance with our own hearts and with the world, to be convinced that the elements of depravity are within and around us; and that amidst our own groveling passions the conflicting interests of mankind, and the temptations which beset us on every hand, we must fix upon as a common standard, if we would be successful in the practice of virtue. But worthy aims alone, are not all that is essential for the formation of a worthy character. Good resolutions, however essential they may be for the accomplishment of the objects which they are intended to secure, must yet be of little avail, unless they are followed up by a strict and constant adherence to proper and fixed principles of action. In the cultivation of morals, something more is necessary, than a cold, calculating, mechanical determination. on the object as a mere matter of interest, or of representation. Moral excellence is not to be made a thing of barter.It must be loved and cherished for its own inherent beauty |