temporary notice of Washington, from such a woman, before he had become known to the world, and when admiration was not matter of course. "I was struck (she says) with General Washington. You had prepared me to entertain a favorable opinion of him, but I thought the half was not told me. Dignity, with ease and complacency, the gentleman and soldier, look agreeably blended in him. Modesty marks every line and feature of his face. Those lines of Dryden instantly occurred to me: Mark his majestic fabric! he's a temple Sacred by birth, and built by hands divine; General Lee looks like a careless, hardy veteran, and by his appearance, brought to my mind his namesake, Charles the Twelfth, of Sweden. The elegance of his pen far exceeds that of his person."— pp. 51, 52. From her public life, Mrs. Adams returned, not only contentedly, but gladly, to her early home, to her housewifery, her garden, and her dairy. The last letters of the volume treat of strawberry vines, of pigs, and of hay; as the earlier ones had treated of war, diplomacy, and kings. She was adequate to all occasions; from the all-sufficiency of that Being, on whom she habitually relied. She had the virtues of a patriot and of a woman; and united in herself many Christian graces, which are not often conjoined in the same character. While she was cour ageous, and patriotic, and full of energy, she was also gentle, and amiable, and tender-hearted. She was devout and cheerful; she was thoughtful and wise; she was simple, sincere, and modest; she was full of sensibility and fine sentiment; yet she looked well to the ways of her household, and ate not the bread of idleness. "Her children arise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously; but thou excellest them all. Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised." Social Life in Germany. Illustrated in the acted Dramas of H. R. H. the Princess Amelia of Saxony. Translated by Mrs. JAMESON. London. 1840. We have perused these two volumes with much pleasure, both on account of the interest of these dramas themselves and of the agreeable pictures which they present of German manners. If these are, indeed, as the translator represents them, true sketches of social life in Germany, there must be much greater purity of morals among the inhabitants, than prevails in most other countries of the continent. A recent writer in an English magazine has attempted to show the general corruptness of German manners from the delineations of Goethe. It may be fair to set off these dramas against the specimens quoted by him, and the whole will afford proof, that if vice and laxity of morals are to be found in Germany, as well as elsewhere; still there, as elsewhere, the pure mind can find sufficient to dwell upon with pleasure and satisfaction. We find in these dramas, as Mrs. Jameson herself tells us, a high charm in "their unexceptionable moral tone, their exceeding elegance and unexaggerated truth, their earnestness of purpose, that something warm from the heart, beyond the flight of eloquence or the play of wit." Instead of the artifices, tricks, and subterfuges, which are exhibited for our admiration in the personages of nearly all comedies, it seems to be the principal object of the royal authoress to inculcate a high-minded regard to ingenuousness and morality. It is a remarkable fact, that these dramas were produced and obtained their reputation whilst the authoress remained unknown; an evidence that it was to their intrinsic merit, and not to the high station of the writer, that they owed their popularity. Their success, while it speaks favorably of the character of the people before whom they were acted, affords a proof that dramatic performances may be popular, and at the same time be unexceptionable. To say nothing of the good or bad tendency of theatrical representations in general, we may at least wish, that while the stage exists among us, it should be rendered as pure as possible. These dramas are simple and familiar representations of social life, as it appears in the three classes of society. It may be ob jected, that the writer could know little of middle and humble life; but the human heart is everywhere the same, and the individual, who makes it her study in one grade, will not greatly err in attempting to describe it in the others; the virtues, which become the peasant or the merchant, show to even greater advantage in the courtier and the king. We are more touched with the representation of the humbler virtues in the inmates of a palace, than we are with deeds of greatness, because they are more unexpected, and more rarely find record in history. Mrs. Jameson's translation is pure and elegant, and, to judge from the interest excited, we should pronounce it to have lost none of the spirit of the original. Airs of Palestine, and other Poems. By JOHN PIERPONT. BOSton: James Munroe & Co. 1840. 12mo. pp. 334. MANY of these poems have been long before the public, and are in possession of an honorable fame, which must be permanent. Vigorous, elegant, correct, they have long since passed out from the list of ephemeral verses, into the catalogue of good things, which are read because good, and not because new. We are glad to see them collected together. We have long desired it; and are only sorry to be obliged to qualify our expression of satisfaction with a regret, that they are not alone; that they are bound up with many other pieces, which should have been left to pass away with the occasion that called them forth. They would have made, by themselves, an uncommonly choice volume; a volume, full of spirit, dignity, grace, and melody. In the lyric department, especially, there are pieces of preeminent merit; hymns and odes, of great terseness, energy, completeness; not on one key alone, but on many; mournful as well as joyous, fiery and indignant, as well as stately and calm. It is remarkable, that the later poems of this class have more vehemence and less carefulness than the earlier; frequently they are dashed with an off-hand and colloquial freedom, sometimes possibly a little too venturesome, but very effective; and, as they were written for immediate use, for the extemporaneous rebuke of measures, which have as much folly as wrong in them, it is perfectly natural that the severe tone of satire should have been mixed with the laugh of contempt; and this of course is colloquial. They remind us of the description of Paganini's musical performances, when he has been said to make his fiddle "laugh," and "shriek," as he lashed the creature with his bow, to make it express the humor of the moment. We are crowded into too small a compass to be able to pursue our remarks into minute criticism, or to cite passages which would explain and justify what we have said. We must rest content with this general expression of our admiration of the true poetry which the book contains; it is not necessary to speak distinctly of those portions, to which this praise cannot be given. The Monument. Edited by Mrs. S. J. HALE. Seven Numbers. Boston: S. N. Dickinson. 1840. "THE Monument" is the name of a newspaper of large octavo size, printed on each day of the celebrated Bunker Hill Fair. It answered its design very well, we suppose, inasmuch as by its sale it served to swell the general sum. But besides this its principal merit, its pages furnish quite respectable communications, both in poetry and prose. The following remarks, by the Editor we presume, are from an article entitled "Is Self-defence Morally Right? "From all we can gather from history, of the experience of the past, or from the requirements of the Gospel, we are convinced that permanent peace will never be established throughout the world, till other sins, besides those of war, are exposed and corrected. Lust, pride, envy, jealousy, avarice, intemperance, these are the bitter root of dissensions. 6 First pure, then peaceful,' is the requisition of the apostle. And it appears to me, that nothing will be gained by urging this subject of peace, unqualifiedly, upon the community. But if we take the ground that none but defensive wars, according to the definition given in the beginning of this paper, that is, a war merely to repel aggressions, and which is not incited by any selfish passion, seeking its own gratification, but submitted to as an evil, only more tolerable than the sacrifice of justice, humanity, and freedom of conscience, if we take the ground that none but such defensive wars, should be permitted by any Christian government, we might, doubtless, enlist popular opinion to carry out the theory. And would not this be gaining the victory over the worst evils of war? Certainly, if all Christian nations would recognise this principle, and bind themselves to perform it, there would be no fightings among each other, because there would be no aggressions. And the heathen would see that the Christian religion, in freeing the nations who professed it, from the fear of each other, was truly what it professed to be, the bond of good will among men. "It is often the case, that the most salutary reforms are defeated or postponed for an indefinite period, in consequence of the over-wrought zeal of those who urge them forward, without any limit or qualification. The thing is good and right, therefore it must be done at once. But God teaches us, both in his works and in his word, to expect a progressive improvement only. Throughout the whole material world, this progress is marked; creation was a continued process, not one act. And thus, in the development of the human powers, and in the moral renovation of man, the work is to be perfected only by slow degrees." - p. 22. This is good sense and sound argument. We have seen no objections urged against the Monument of sufficient force to prevent the expression of our satisfaction at the success of the measures lately adopted for raising the sum necessary for its completion. We congratulate those who have devoted themselves so laboriously to the work, that they have at length succeeded, where so many before them have been driven back, baffled and defeated. We would rather that the zeal of our community had been hearty enough to have finished it the year it was begun; but we experience no sense of mortification, that its completion has been delayed until now. It is not unusual, in older countries, for great national monuments, or large and costly structures, columns, arches, temples, or cathedrals, to be begun by one generation, and finished by another. And it is far better, it seems to us, that magnificent works of art, in honor either of religion, or of great men and events, should, in this manner, be erected by the joint efforts of even successive generations, - if such be the only alternative, ―than that works of an inferior character, both for extent and material, should be hastily and imperfectly built out of the inadequate and strained resources of some single period. So that, though it should prove in the sequel that the sum now obtained is deficient, we trust that instead of curtailing the monument of any of its fair proportions to meet such deficiency, lieve it was determined by the board to do some few years since, -it will be roofed over and stand another ten years, if necessary, till the requisite funds shall be forthcoming. as we be We say that we are glad the monument is in the way to be completed. We are glad that it was projected, and that the design has been so far successfully prosecuted. A great deal of money has, indeed, been expended upon it, which might have been devoted to worthier objects. But would this same money have been devoted to such objects? We suppose not. It would probably have remained in the hands of its possessors. And supposing it would have been; are none but the highest and noblest objects to have our regard? There is wealth enough in the community, we believe, for all; for the less, as well as for the more elevated. While so much is expended by those who think themselves, and are esteemed by others, to be among the most righteous, upon the needless embellishment of their persons, their dwellings, and estates, let it not be held an unpardonable sin, that a sum not very large, and easily spared by the ten thousands from whom it has been drawn, in dollars or cents, is applied to a structure, grand and beautiful as a work of art, and affecting, as a monument commemorative of the great and good deeds of great and good men. We can detect no moral guilt in a subscription to this monument, unless it can be shown that, while we profusely lavish our means upon works of taste or mere ostentation, we with a niggard parsimony withhold them from objects of real utility; that other higher claims are neglected which, as we judge, it would be difficult to do. Our institutions of charity, religion, education, are not neglected for columns, statuary, or galleries of painting. They are munificently endowed. They are flourishing, through the voluntary offerings of the rich, the humane, and the patriotic. More might be done, more always may be done, but very much has been done. For ourselves, we would utter no word of complaint; but |