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cherish a deep respect for the institutions of his country, for upon that respect must their value in a great measure depend; and we would urge this duty the more strongly, because we apprehend that a considerable portion of our most cultivated and gifted men do not entertain any such respect, but, on the contrary, feel either indifference or distrust. Nor have we the slightest doubt of Mr. Everett's entire sincerity in all that he says. But what we regret is, not that he praises generously, for that we like; nor that he praises indiscriminately, and without qualification, for that he does not; but that he does not sufficiently temper his eulogiums with the voice of warning and rebuke, and press home upon his hearers the solemn and stern truth, that of those to whom much is given, much will be required. He is too apt to feed that overweening national vanity, for which we are so conspicuous, and which makes us equally uneasy under the mild reproof of a judicious, and the ill-natured gibe of a prejudiced witness. We deem it to be the imperative duty of our great men to urge upon their countrymen, on all possible occasions, that if they are freer, happier, and more prosperous than others, therefore they ought to be wiser and better. The most striking thing to be observed of our institutions is, that they are, in themselves, so characterless; that is, that they take their character so entirely from the community for whose benefit they are intended. They have in themselves, no conservative principle, to save us from those destructive consequences, which must result from sins of omission or commission on our part. Mr. Everett is by no means the only person, against whom the above charge can, with justice, be sustained; for the remark applies to nearly all our public speakers, and it is because he is so eminent a man and his opinions are justly entitled to so much weight, that we deem it especially important that he should set a good example in this respect.

Mr. Everett is betrayed, occasionally, though very rarely, by his luxuriant stores of imagery, into the use of ornaments, either not in themselves in perfect good taste, or not appropri ate to the subject, which they are designed to embellish. In the Eulogy upon Adams and Jefferson, we have the following paragraph.

"Our jubilee, like that of old, is turned into sorrow. Among the crumbling ruins of Rome, there is a shattered arch, reared by the emperor Vespasian, when his son Titus returned from the

destruction of Jerusalem. On its broken pannels and falling frieze are still to be seen, represented as borne aloft in the triumphal procession of Titus, the well-known spoils of the second temple, the sacred vessels of the holy place, the candlestick with seven branches, and, in front of all, the silver trumpets of the jubilee, in the hands of captive priests, proclaiming not now the liberty, but the humiliation and the sorrows of Judah. From this mournful spectacle, it is said, the pious and heart-stricken Hebrew, even to the present day, turns aside in sorrow. will not enter Rome, through the gate of the arch of Titus, but winds his way through the by-paths of the Palatine, and over the broken columns of the palace of the Cæsars, that he may not behold the sad image of the trumpets of the jubilee, borne aloft in the captive train." — p. 125.

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Nothing can be more beautiful or touching than the above paragraph; but what has it to do with Adams and Jefferson ? It seems to have been introduced for its own sake, and not for the sake of the illustration; and, though the writer could not have drawn his pen through it, without a sigh of regret, we think it would have been the more judicious course for him to make the sacrifice. In the same Eulogy, he says, "the humblest sod of Independent America, with nothing but the dewdrops of the morning to gild it, is a prouder mausoleum than kings or conquerors can boast" This sentence would be improved, it strikes us, by the omission of the words in Italics. In the discourse delivered at Lexington, speaking of Samuel Adams's knowledge of liberty, he has the following sentence. "He knew it was no gaudy May-day flower, peeping through the soft verdant sods of Spring, and opening its painted petals as a dew-cup for midnight fairies to sip at." This might have been judiciously spared, as being in itself a "dulce vitium," and as particularly inappropriate when applied to that stern man of iron, Samuel Adams, the last person in the world, with whom one could associate flowers and fairies. above are slight blemishes, and would not be noticed, were not the discourses so nearly faultless as literary productions.

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We have spoken warmly of these orations of Mr. Everett, but not more warmly than sincerely. We are glad of the opportunity to offer our humble tribute of admiration to one, on whose eloquent lips we have so often hung delighted, and who, before he had left his academic bowers, filled our boyish conceptions of what a ripe and accomplished scholar ought to be. We feel that our literature owes much to him,

and that a considerable portion of what he has written will take rank with the best efforts of the American mind. Especially do we honor him for his untiring industry, and that love of labor for its own sake, not often found united with powers so brilliant. Few men have done more in the same time than he has, though many of his efforts have passed away and left no memorial, owing to the ephemeral character of the objects upon which they were lavished. His contributions to this journal, had he done nothing else, would have earned him the praise of an industrious man; but, as it is, they form but one item in the crowded list of his labors, in his various functions of orator, scholar, and statesman. Besides his literary and political toils, of which the evidence remains in black and white, no man has more conscientiously performed all those petty personal and official duties, which "die and make no sign," and which are such consumers of time, that most eminent men make their eminence an excuse for neglecting them altogether. Mr. Everett finds time to do every thing, and to do it well. In his preface to this volume, he gives us to understand, that another may hereafter be forthcoming, to comprehend the speeches, essays, and other miscellaneous compositions not contained in this. We hope that its appearance will not long be delayed, and we are sure that Mr. Everett can glean from his various miscellaneous writings, much that deserves a permanent place in the library and on the book-table.

In taking leave of a volume, so rich in all sorts of excellence that we have found it difficult to avoid falling into a monotonous tone of commendation, may we venture, unblamed, to exercise that privilege, which reviewers have claimed for themselves, time out of mind, of giving advice, whether they are qualified for it, or not? We would respectfully recommend to Mr. Everett, to devote himself, hereafter, to some continued work, in which his reputation can be more surely trusted, than in orations and articles, however brilliant and successful. We know of no one, who has higher qualifications for an elaborate historical or biographical enterprise, than he; his style is so finished, his taste so pure, his habits of investigation so thorough. He is in the prime of his life, and in the full possession of his fine powers; and may anticipate, with as much confidence as we can rely upon any thing, so uncertain as the life of man, many valuable and hard-working years, before he arrives at that period, when the easy-chair is coveted

before dinner. He has given enough of his time and powers to occasional efforts; let him devote the prime of his manhood to some theme, to which he may address himself with the full strength of his mind, and bestow upon us a work, which shall be, in the language of Thucydides, a κτῆμά τε ἐς ἀεὶ μᾶλλον ἢ ἀγώνισμα ἐς τὸ παραχρῆμα ἀκούειν. For his own sake, and for his country's sake too, we hope that this suggestion, made in the spirit of respectful deference, may find favor with him.

ART. IX. History of the Reformation in Italy. By T. MACRIE, D. D. Edinburgh. 1827.*

THE history of the Reformation is naturally divided into several distinct branches, which vary in interest and in importance according to the literary, or religious, or political influence subsequently exercised by the nations among which they extended. While the pious ardor of Luther found support in the political interests of a portion of Germany, the free principles of Swiss government favored the reception and extension of the doctrines of Zuinglius. And when the brutal passions of Henry were affording an opening for the introduction of Protestantism into England, the seeds of religious liberty were, in despite of royal persecution, taking root throughout the whole of France. Nor was the spirit of reform confined to those nations, among which its success has proved permanent; but in Spain, where the supremacy of Catholicism might have seemed least likely to be disturbed, and in Italy itself, the seat and strong hold of papal power, the doctrines of Protestantism spread for a while with sure and rapid progression, and long withstood the combined attacks of secular and inquisitorial violence. In each of these countries the rise of the new opinions was marked with all the peculiarities of national character; and even long after the great dispute had been irrevocably decided, the political movements of each continued to be more

Besides the work of Macrie, we have availed ourselves of the important details, which have been given by Botta with that sincerity and independence which distinguish all the productions of his pen, and some of the most important of which had escaped the attention of Macrie.

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or less influenced by the feeling developed during their respective struggles for reform.

But notwithstanding the extent and variety of this subject, and the rich harvest which it affords of all the lessons which render the study of history important, one of the most interesting portions of it has been strangely neglected, and its real character alternately exposed to the satires of ignorance and the misrepresentations of calumny. The attention of most. writers, and even of those from whom we derive the clearest and justest views of this epoch, has been confined to those nations in which the first efforts at reform were followed by a full and permanent religious independence; while the fate of others, whose struggles in the same cause were pursued with equal devotion, and attended with an equal degree of intellectual developement, has been passed over in silence. So true is this, that a distinguished writer of the last century hesitated not to assert, that the Italians, devoted to intrigue and pleasure, had no part in the trials of the Reformation; and this too of a period, in which hundreds were wearing out an agonized existence in the dungeons of the Inquisition, and the snows of the Alps were stained with the tracks of multitudes of others, who blessed an exile that secured them from torture and the stake. *

The blame of these errors, however, does not fall exclusively upon those, who traced the history of this dreadful period. The historian must be guided by his materials, and his search of these is for the most part directed by the views of writers contemporary with the events that he attempts to describe. Facts, therefore, whose importance was not understood by those who witnessed them, are long hidden from posterity by the short-sightedness which first represented them under a false point of view, and the subsequent negligence which failed to place them in a truer light while their proximity rendered the undertaking comparatively easy. But when in the course of time the accomplishment of some great change, or the developement of some important principle, calls the attention of the philosopher to the causes by which it was produced, and the circumstances under which it originated, it

*This is not exaggeration; the dungeon of the Inquisition in Rome overflowed to such a degree, as to require the erection of new prisons, and in Locarno upwards of two hundred persons of both sexes and all ages were compelled to abandon their homes and cross the Alps for shelter.

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