tual honesty makes him the Dumont of letters, even where his fiery eloquence approaches him to the Mirabeau.”

Inklings of Adventure; by the Author of " Pencillings by the Way." Third edition, 2 vols.-Saunders & Otley, New-York and London.

THIS work has already been reviewed at length in our pages. Its present title indicates that it has passed to a third edition, which, considering the brief time that has elapsed since its first appearance, is no slight evidence of its popu-larity.

The Magnolia, for 1837; edited by H. W. Herbert. Bancroft and Holley.

THIS Annual appears to have been frozen up on its way from the publishers to our editorial table, as, though issued some two months since, it has only now reached us. The public have in the mean time been fully informed of its merits through other sources. In a literary point of view it is unquestionably superior to any Annual published on either side of the Atlantic; but, collectively, we cannot praise its pictorial embellishments. Chapman's fine pieces do indeed show to advantage; but the frontispiece, though a good engraving by Cheney, is not particularly interesting, and could only call out the glowing verses that illustrate it from a pretty susceptible imagination, while several delightful things by Inman are so marred in engraving, that we can scarcely recognize the admirable originals from which they were taken. The literary contents are chiefly by the editor-whose "Cavendish" is worthy of all praise-by Miss Sedgwick, Mrs. Ellet, Washington Irving, W. G. Simms, John Inman, Grenville Mellen, and others well known to fame. The contributions of each of these have all, more or less, been copied into the newspapers before this; and our task of criticism, whether to praise or blame, been every where anticipated. There is, however, one capital piece in the volume, which has not to our knowledge yet been culled. This, notwithstanding the very common-place lines at the close, is beyond all comparison the best we ever saw, under the familiar signature of "Flaccus."

EXTRACT FROM 'PASSAIC,' A POEM BY 'FLACCUS.'"

"BLESS thee! bright river of my heart-
The blue, the clear, the wild, the sweet;

VOL. IX.

Vain was my search, since we did part,

Thy rival in far lands to meet.

Rhine, Tiber, Thames, a queenly throng-
The world's idolatry, and song-

Have rushed, have slumbered, roared, and sighed,

To win my worship to their tide;

Have wound their forms with graceful wiles,
And curled their.cheeks with rippling smiles;
Have leaped in waves, with frolic dance,
And winking tossed me many a glance.-
Still, still, my heart, though moved, was free,
For love, dear native stream, of thee!—
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For Rhine, though proudly sweeps her tide
Through hills deep-parted, gaping wide-
Whereon gray topping castles sprout,
As though the living rock shut out-
Too rudely sues me, who despise
The charms wherein no softness lies;
While Thames, who boasts a velvet brim,
And meadows beautifully trim,
Too broadly shows the trace of art,
To win the wishes of the heart;
And Tiber's muddy waves must own
Their glory is the past's alone.
No water-nymphs these eyes can see,
Mine Indian beauty, match with thee!-
For all, whate'er their fame, or place,
Lack the wild freshness of thy face;
That touch of Nature's antique skill
By modern art unrivaled still.

I've traced thee from thy place of birth,
"Till, finding sea, thou quittest earth-
From that far spot in mountain land,
Where, heaving soft the yellow sand,
Thine infant waters, clear and rife,
Gush sudden into joyous life;
To yon broad bay of vivid light,
Where pausing rivers all unite,
As singly fearing to be first

To quench devouring Ocean's thirst.

I've followed, with a lover's truth,

The gambols of thy torrent youth;

Have chased, with childish search, and vain,

Thy doublings on the marshy plain;

Have idled many a summer's day,

Where flower-fields cheered thy prosperous way;

Nor have I faithless turned aside

When rocky troubles checked thy tide,

Tossing thee rudely from thy path,

"Till thou wert wrought to foaming wrath.
Nor when the iron hand of fate
Dethroned thee from thy lofty state,
And hurled thee, with a giant's throw,
Down to the vale-where, far below,
Thy waves, by such harsh ordeal tried,
With new and heavenly softness glide.
Through every change of good, or ill,
My watching heart pursued thee still;
And ne'er, to me, did river shine
With traits so varying rich as thine;
What separate charms in each I see,
Rare stream, seem clustered all in thee!
Now brightly wild, now sweetly chaste,
Now slow, now mad with savage haste-
Grandeur, and softness, power, and grace,
All beam from thy bewitching face.
Nor are the notes thy voice can range,
Less striking for their endless change-
Hark! what alarming clamors ring,
Where far thy desperate currents spring
Into yon chasm-so deep, and black,
The arrested soul turns shuddering back;
Nor dares pursue thee, through the rent
Down to the stony bottom, sent
Loud thundering-that the beaten rock
Trembles beneath the ponderous shock,

And thy commanding voice profound
Bids silence to all meaner sound!—
And when, in peace, thine evening song
In silver warblings floats along,
No whispering waters, far or near,
Murmur such music to mine ear.

Oh! is it fancy makes thy tone
So dear, because thou art my own?
Say, is it fancy gives thy face

Such sweetness, such endearing grace?
Is it because thy voice, or glance,
Brings back my day of bright romance-
When, idle as thy loitering tide,

I mused, sweet playmate, by thy side-
When my thick feelings, warm and young,
Like bees, to every blossom clung;
And, with the honey which they drew,
Sipped not, as yet, the poison too?
I know not, river of my heart!
Why thou art dear-yet dear thou art-
Nor, that all own thy beauties, care;
Content that thou to me art fair-
Perchance, cold reason may proclaim
Those charms, save to a lover, tame-
That fairer 'twere no task to find-
And I, as lovers, wont, am blind.--
Well, be it so; blind let me be,
If sight must show a fault in thee;
And let my very blindness prove
The strength, the fervor of my love!"

Address before the Alumni of the Nashville (Ten.) University, October, 1836; by the Hon. E. I. Shields. Washington-Gales and Seaton.

THE subject of this discourse is the progress of popular science, literature, and knowledge in the United States, and their present condition and prospects in the state of Tennessee. The field, being a wide one, is necessarily traversed in the most cursory manner by the orator. His views, however, are perhaps not the less valuable from being succinctly given. After a rapid glance at the state of popular education in Europe, with a merited eulogium upon the effective system of Prussia, the following summary of the condition of things in the older States of the Union is given. The details cannot be too familiar to our readers, and we therefore make no excuse for quoting them at length.

"In turning from this brief reference to the present systems and condition of education in some of the European states, it is cheering to observe the wonderworking progress of the common-school system in several, and the preparation for its adoption in other, of the sister States of our own dear America. The young American republics are beginning to wake up in their strength, and to bring their mighty resources to bear upon the cultivation of mind;

To pour upon their patriot sons
Instruction's living ray.'

A common-school system, such, in some respects, as was unsuccessfully attempted, a few years since, to be set on foot in our own state, has been in successful operation in the great state of New-York for the last twenty years. The whole

state is laid off into small districts, to each of which a competent teacher is assigned; the commonwealth discharges one-half of the entire expense, and requires the other half to be defrayed by an equitable contribution upon the inhabitants of the respective districts. The children of the rich and the poor are admitted alike into these schools, without charge or distinction. The fruits of this system have met the most sanguine expectations of its friends. In 1832, four hundred and ninety-four thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine, out of five hundred and eight thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight children in that state, were regular pupils at common schools,' leaving but a trifling fraction to be educated elsewhere.

"In the large and respectable state of Massachusetts, under the operation of a system somewhat similar, but where nearly the whole expense is required by law to be defrayed by the districts or townships themselves, in 1832 'there were but ten persons between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one who could not read and write-never were a people so well educated. Several of the other States, with like systems, but, perhaps, in some respects less perfect, have enjoyed corresponding benefits. Surely, nothing in the way of example can be more animating and encouraging to the friends and patrons of a liberal and popular system of instruction.

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"But, furthermore, to pursue example on this subject, it is also provided in the constitution of the state of Maine, (which is, comparatively, but a new state,) a general diffusion of the advantages of education being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, to promote this important object the Legislature are authorized, and it shall be their duty, to require the several towns to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the support and maintenance of schools, * and to encourage, and suitably to endow, from time to time, as the circumstances of the people may authorize, all academies, colleges, and seminaries of learning within the state.' So completely have the Legislature complied with the requisition in this article of the fundamental law of the state, that, in 1834, one hundred and one thousand three hundred and twenty-five persons, between the ages of four and twenty-one, out of one hundred and thirty-seven thousand nine hundred and thirty-one, were attending school, by authority of government, under this wise constitutional provision.

"It would be a useless consumption of your time to give the details of education in its progress in all the New-England States. They have always been distinguished for their excellent system of common education. It is, perhaps, to their example that New-York owes the details of its system of common schools which we have described, and probably to this cause she is chiefly indebted for their present success and prosperity. The whole school fund of Connecticut, one of these states, productive and unproductive, was reported, in 1832, to be one million nine hundred and two thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven dollars and eightyseven cents; and the interest accruing thereon amounted, at the same time, to eighty-six thousand two hundred and fifty-two dollars per annum, which is annually distributed through the state for the benefit of schools. In the small state of Rhode Island, in 1831, there were three hundred and twenty-three public schools, in which were taught seventeen thousand and thirty-four pupils. In the state of Vermont there were, in 1834, one thousand six hundred and twelve public schools, which were required by statute to be open for the reception of pupils for the term of three months in every year. In 1832 the state of New-Jersey had, also, a school fund, amounting, in all, to near two hundred and thirty thousand dollars.

"In the key-stone' state, (the great state of Pennsylvania,) early attention was given to the cause of education. The illustrious Penn, in his Preface to the Frame of Government,' remarks that 'that which makes a good constitution must keep it, viz: men of wisdom and virtue-qualities that, because they descend not with worldly inheritance, must be carefully propagated by a virtuous education of youth.' In this 'Frame' he provides for the establishment of public schools by the government. Also, in the constitution of 1790, the Legislature of this state is required, as soon as conveniently may be, to provide, by law, for the establishment of schools throughout the state, in such manner that the poor may be taught gratis.' Pennsylvania has now a large school fund, the annual income of which will, in a few years, amount to one hundred thousand dollars, at which time the Legislature is to dispose of it for the promotion of free schools.' The little state of Delaware had, in 1834, a school fund of one hundred and seventy thousand dollars. The state of Maryland had, also, a school fund, in

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1831, of near one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, besides an annual tax of twenty per centum on bank capital, for the same object.

"Education in the 'Old Dominion,' before her separation from the mother country, was not only neglected, but absolutely discouraged. The most distinguished governor which Virginia had during her colonial state,' wrote to the Committee on Colonies in England in the following disgraceful manner: 'I thank God, there are no free schools or printing; and I hope we shall not have, these hundred years; for learning has brought disobedience, and heresy, and sects, into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best government.' But (as might well have been expected) after the declaration of independence, education seems to have been one of the first subjects which engaged the attention of the leading politicians of Virginia. Mr. Jefferson, who was always at the post of usefulness and of honour, was found, among the foremost of her sons, urging, with all the energies of his great mind, the establishment of 'a general system of education for all classes of the community.' The system of common schools, recommended by this illustrious statesman many years since, is now being carried into successful practice, and has already been eminently useful. North Carolina is accumulating a school fund, and anticipates the adoption of a common school system. The state of Georgia has a school fund of more than five hundred thousand dollars, from which much practical benefit has already been derived. The chivalrous state of South Carolina has also appropriated, as a fund for the support of a system of 'free schools,' the sum of four hundred and forty-one thousand one hundred and seventy-six dollars and ninety cents; and, in 1832, had no less than eight hundred and seventeen free schools' in operation. The new States, likewise, (as we may notice more particularly hereafter,) have generally been well provided for in this respect on their admission into the Federal Union."

In the new States the prospect of diffusing the blessings of education is not quite so promising; while the great influx of European population in many of them render legislative action upon the subject much more important.

"The new States, which have since been formed out of that territory and admitted into the Federal Union, have received one thirty-sixth part of all the lands within their chartered limits, respectively, besides other donations from the General Government, for the benefit of schools, which ensures them an ample endowment for all their literary institutions. Tennessee afterwards united herself to the confederacy, on the express condition that her inhabitants were never to be deprived of the privileges which the people of the territory north-west of the Ohio were to enjoy. In pursuance of this condition it was afterwards provided, by act of Congress, that two hundred thousand acres of land should be laid off, the one-half in East and the other in West Tennessee; the half of the proceeds of the same, at two dollars per acre, was to be applied to the use of two colleges, to be located, one in each of the great natural divisions of the state, and the remainder to be appropriated for the benefit of academies. According to a fixed policy of this country with regard to the public domain, these lands were afterwards conveyed to actual settlers at one-half the stipulated price, depriving these institutions at once of half the beneficent patronage of government, and striking a deadly blow at the rising prospects of the state. Tennessee was equally unfortunate in the next effort that was made by government to endow her institutions of learning. It was also provided that the state of Tennessee should, moreover, in issuing grants and perfecting titles, locate six hundred and forty acres of land to every six miles square, in the territory ceded to the state of Tennessee, to be appropriated for the use of schools for the instruction of children for ever; thus placing her on an equal footing with the other new states of the Union. But of this she has only received some twenty-three or four thousand acres, leaving a deficit of more than half a million of acres of land to which she is justly entitled. No hope now remains, however, for further aid from this quarter that can be of much avail to this object. The remnant of the public lands that is yet unappropriated in this state, and which justice and policy demand should be speedily added to the school fund, cannot be of much consequence, in what way soever it shall be applied."

The University of Nashville has our warmest wishes for its prosperity, and