most holy, and at any rate, against all persons who esteem themselves exclusively so, and despise others. "There is a notable difference between all other causes which operate to prevent the proper growth and development of the moral powers, and false views of religion. It is this, that in all other cases, conscience is merely obstructed; but, in this, it is perverted. In other cases it continues to fight on the side of virtue, only it is vanquished by the powers in opposition: but in this, it comes over and fights on the side of vice. Hence the peculiar malignity of corruptions of religion. Nothing else can drive men so far astray from the path of rectitude. For, in other instances when men act wrong, they move but by the impulse of a part of the energies of their nature passion and appetite urge to the perpetration; conscience reclaims and reluctates. It is the flesh and spirit contending for the mastery; and when the force of the latter is subtracted from the former, the man moves forward in his evil course, under the influence of the remainder only. But, when a false religion has corrupted the mind, his whole nature is engaged in one direction, and he moves onward towards his object, impelled by all his energies. Flesh and spirit, conscience and appetite, reason and passion unite their force no wonder, then, that the man after perpetrating under their sanction, deeds, the bare recital of which, even after the lapse of ages, fills us with horror; should look abroad upon the scene of his crimes with delight, on himself with complacency, on others around with pride and triumph, and to the retribution of a future state, with confidence and exultation. The pious transports of the martyr were perhaps equalled, if not surpassed, by the infernal ecstacy of his tormentors, who believed that in offering his blood, they were presenting a sacrifice acceptable and well pleasing in the sight of God. The records of former times, in relation to this subject, would probably be rejected as fabulous, were they not supported by modern instances. The Thugs are a people of India, who not only follow murder as a profession, but practice it with religious zeal, with the view of securing the favor of the goddess to whose service they have devoted themselves. Whether something of the same spirit may not, under some more plausible shape, be lurking among the professors of our holy religion, is a question not for us to determine. Let every one look well to the state of his own mind in this matter." The Spring has returned upon us. Fair May is shaking flowers from her lap, upon the fields and in the woods. Yesterday I walked through one of our splendid Kentucky forests, and as I loitered on, the wild Sweet-William perfumed the air aroundthe wild Violets, white and blue, enamelled the sod; the Dogwood with its white blossoms, gleamed through the tracery of boughs; and the Red-bud, like a flame of fire, shone from afar. "The winter is passed, the rain is over, and gone, the flowers appear in the fields, the time of singing of birds is come." Every thing denotes the happy season: When rising, like the ocean tide, The busy Wood-pecker is hammering on the bark; the Oriole with golden plumage and cheerful whistle flutters along, while far above us, in the top of that huge tulip tree, frisks and barks the grey squirrel. Take care, merry squirrel, the Kentucky bullet can reach even as high as that. Surely no forests in the world can compare with these. What enormous shafts have these sycamores, springing out of the velvet sod, like giants refreshed with slumber. See these straight trunks, straight without a leaf or twig for seventy feet, and five or six feet in diameter. Primeval monarchs of the soil, they seem to belong to a stouter race of things and men, than our weak age can furnish. Joyous Spring, we bid thee welcome. Thou art welcome to the invalid, and as he breathes thy gentle air, he hopes that another year may be given to him. Thou art welcome to the young, who long once again to ramble in the leafy arcades of thy forests, pluck thy wild flowers, and perchance listen to a softer tale below than even the birds warble above. Thou art welcome to the tender infant, in winter months a "prisoner to fond fears”— But now, when every sharp-edged blast, His mother leaves him free to taste Now, each flower prepares to open its bright eye, among city walls, and in the nooks of unfrequented cliffs. Now the trees, with their buds only half opened, look as if a veil of leaves were thrown over them, through which the slightest tracery of the branches is not indistinctly seen. Now the brooks and runs ripple and dance Gurgling in foamy water break, and a thousand flashing fins dart away as we approach. Air, earth The number of murders and deadly frays which occur among us, throughout the West, is truly terriffic. It is seldom that a week passes without bringing accounts of two or three shooting and stabbing adventures. Our own city has been disgraced by several within the last three months, in some of which medical students played a leading part. If these young men are to introduce among us such scenes as these, it may be well doubted whether the city will gain much by the establishment of this institution. It is, however, to be hoped, that as a body, the students will discountenance such mad conduct, and show that young men can pursue their studies without ceasing to be gentlemen, and without introducing riots and license into the society where they reside. Nothing but a correct moral sentiment can put a stop to such scenes of blood as those of which we are speaking. Laws are powerless, except when supported by such a sentiment. When the citizens of the West come to realize that there is no true courage in Luther was as trampling on the law of Godthat the bulley, who goes with pistols strapped under his coat, and a Bowie knife in his pocket, is generally a coward as well as a ruffian-that heroism is not quarrelsome or murderous, but calm, and self-sustained-then we may hope that scenes of blood may terminate. The courage and spirit of the West will flow in better and nobler channelsand the weapons of its warfare will be spiritual, not carnal. Man must always fight; but not with man. Evil, Error, Sin, are his true foes. Man must always fight, but not with Bowie knives and pistols. Reason, Truth, Persuasion, Example, Argument are better weapons. true a hero as Napoleon, and a hero in a higher cause. When he declared that he would go to Worms, though there were as many devils there as tiles on the house-tops, he showed a daring equal to a Murat or Ney charging recklessly on a storm of shot and a hedge of steel. The Murats and Neys are soon forgotten ;the Luther lives forever. Richard, the lion-hearted, showed not more of the spirit of chivalry than did the poet Schiller, battling with disease and pain, and writing his noble tragedies when the cords of his brain seemed ready to snap within. The life of Milton was a heroic poem, and the thought of the blind old man, in poverty and neglect, losing no jot of heart and hope, but still bearing up, and moving right onward, stirs the blood like a battle trumpet. Many people suppose that if men leave off fighting there will be no more courage in the world--that all heroism must perish when people cease wearing weapons-and the spirit of chivalry expire with the disuse of the duelling pistol. This is a great mistake. Heroism, magnanimity, and courage will always have occasions and opportunities to display themselves.So long as it is necessary to stand up in opposition to public opinion, to resist the current of fashion-to expose oneself to ridicule and persecution for conscience sake; to bear the world's dread laugh in the cause of humanity and right-so long will there be need of courage, independence and manliness. The duelling field, and the fray, are not their only medium of action. We hope our contributors will remember that bricks cannot be made without straw,or magazines filled without a union of many heads and hearts. We need much assistance to prevent our work from becoming monotonous and insipid. Variety is as necessary in this as in other mat ters. An incident which occurred a few weeks since in Louisville, is an example of the natural combativeness of Kentuckians. Mr. Clayton's balloon was inflating, as he proposed making an ascent. But while this process was going on, the gas suddenly took fire and exploded, probably owing to the heat generated from the sudden mixture of a large quantity of oil of vitriol and water. The balloon was blown to pieces with a report like a cannon, and a fence three or four rods off, took fire. The people in the neighboring houses were, of course, greatly alarmed, not knowing the cause of this occurrence. In the midst of the confusion a little boy, three or four years old, was observed standing with tears running down his cheeks, but with a brick clenched firmly in his hand, ready to fight with the unknown enemy whatever it might be. ANTIQUITATES AMERICANE SIVE SCRIPTORES SEPTENTRIONALES RERUM ANTE-COLUMBIANARUM IN AMERICA. Edidit Societas Regia Antiquariorum Septentrionalium. Hafnia, 1837, 4to. pp. XL, 479, with seventeen plates. THE fame of this important work so long preceded its arrival with us, that we had been made pretty fully acquainted with its contents, through the medium of Eastern Journals, before we had the pleasure of examining it for ourselves. Many of our readers have probably become acquainted with it in the same way. But considering it as we do, the most important contribution that has ever been made to the geographical history of this country, we lay before our readers, though at a somewhat late hour, a view of the most important facts presented in the work before us. It is issued under the auspices of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquities at Copenhagen, at present perhaps the most efficient society of the kind in existence, and is edited by the learned secretary of the society, Professor C. C. Rafn, whose name is already familiar to the students of Scandinavian antiquities and literature. The leading object of the "Antiquitates Americanæ," is to give to the world the evidences which existed in ancient Icelandic and Scandinavian manuscripts, of the discovery of the American continent by the Northmen, or Danes and Norwegians, at a period considerably antecedent to its discovery by Columbus. The story of this alleged discovery of the Northmen has been long familiar to the reading world; but though stated by Danish historians of reputed faithfulness and high authority, it has in general been treated as one of those pleasant fictions with which sober history has been sometimes wont, when treading the shadowy confines of the uncertain |