THE LADIES' REPOSITORY. CINCINNATI, APRÍL, 1841. VIEW NEAR CINCINNATI. (SEE ENGRAVING.) Several avenues extend also far to the west and northwest. Two or three, well paved and partially occupied with dwellings, reach nearly to the remotest borders of the plain. Passing to the northwest by some of these avenues, we reach the Mill Creek Bridge on the Harrison road, about two miles and a half from the Landing. Issuing from the bridge, and following the turnpike about sixty rods along the base of the hill, we touch the eastern verge of the scene sketched in the frontispiece. The veals itself beyond, the graceful eminences in the distance, the acclivity on the right, and the turnpike stretching along with a continued ascent for nearly one mile, are all seen at a glance. As the writer displays genius in his choice of themes, so does the artist in selecting subjects for the pencil. Milton's Paradise Lost is an example of the former, and Raphael's Prophets, whose "thoughts could be seen," is an instance of the latter. Though we will not affect the criticisms of the connoisseur, nor compare our artists with Raphael or Vandyck, yet we venture to affirm, that in his choice of subjects, Mr. Lee evinces skill and taste. Our former engraving em-elevation on the left, the narrow valley which half rebraced a reach in the Ohio, which, with its picturesque borders, would have been pronounced attractive by any tyro. Not so with the scenery sketched in the frontispiece. This, on actual inspection, we should have pronounced destitute of all pictorial interest. We should have said that there is scarcely another spot in the topography of this region so naked of beauty and attractiveness. To be sure, there is a charm in the receding reaches of the vale-in the verdant hills which bound it, and in the road which stretches along the gentle acclivity on the right. But from the point of view which the artist occupied, these appear to the least advantage. In every other direction, near and remote, there is enchanting scenery, from which the painter seems to avert his eye, and with singular obstinacy select the unsightliest spot around him on which to display the magic power of light and shade. Such would have been our conclusion; but the picture is before us, and it proves that the artist understood his business. They who are familiar with the environs of the city, will probably locate the scene at a glance. To others, the following note may invest the engraving with some interest. The plain on which Cincinnati is built may be equal in area to two miles square. Its southern border is beautified by the Ohio. On the east, north and west, it is environed by hills which rise from one to two hundred feet above their bases, and from two to three hundred feet above low water mark. The high grounds on the east are washed by the waters of Deer Creek. Here the plain is about a mile in breadth. Towards the west, the hills and the river diverge--those to the north, and this to the south; and the plain spreads to the breadth of nearly two miles. Still nearer to its western boundary, extensive low grounds open to the north, through which flows Mill Creek, at some points touching the bases of the hills, and at others leaving them to the right. The city occupies, compactly, the eastern half of this plain. But the improvements are now overleap. ing these bounds. Dwellings are rising here and there on the hill sides, east and north, and graded streets are climbing one above another, half way to their summits. Vol. I.-13 Although, as just stated, we should not have selected this as a subject for the pencil, yet we have always admired it as a point of observation. Nothing can be more enchanting than the valley which spreads to the north and south, interspersed with meadows, gardens, and country-seats; while eastwardly the city is revealed, not close at hand, as from the nearer hills, but so distant as to clothe it with all the charm of romance, and bring to mind Johnson's inimitable description of that valley, where "all the diversities of the world were brought together, the blessings of nature collected, and its evils extracted and excluded." "Were there, below, a spot of holy ground, Sure nature's God that spot to man had given, DEAR native regions, I foretell, Survive of local sympathy, Thus, when the sun, prepared for rest, A lingering light he fondly throws On the dear mountain-tops where first he rose. 98 GALLOWAY'S ADDRESS. Original. AN ADDRESS enters into the very structure of the soul-enlarges its comprehensiveness-elevates the sense of duty-puri DELIVERED BEFORE THE PUPILS OF THE OAKLAND FEMALE fies and strengthens affection, and urges him or her SEMINARY, AT HILLSBOROUGH, OHIO.* BY SAMUEL GALLOWAY, A. M. onward in the high career of thought and action! And yet unpractical and unintellectual as this literature is, it constitutes three-fourths of the reading of the young females of our land. Go to your public libraries, and you will see the works of Bulwer, Scott, Fielding, and Smollett, thumbed and marked, bedewed with many a tear, and adorned with many a flower; whilst the standard works on history, philosophy, and I CANNOT dismiss this subject, without adverting to another and yet more fatal error in the literary studies and pursuits of the female. I allude to that passionate and excessive devotion to fictitious writings, which is the reigning idolatry of the sex. This is not a new, but it is an important topic. I speak not of the influ-biography, and even the English classics, are untouched, ence of these writings upon pure affections and chaste except by the curious eye, which suspects something sensibilities of the impure associations, erroneous sen- to be there, or by the spider and the fly, as they noisetiment, and splendid, but deceptive imagery, which, lessly pursue the "even tenor of their way." Yes, so decked in the drapery of virtue, steal upon the soul, wide-spreading and pernicious is this passion for fiction and possess its sacred citadel, whilst "conscience, as a that it vitiates the taste for pure and lofty conceptions, bribed sentinel, cries, All's well." It would be strange and blinds the eye to all that is splendid in substantial indeed if the intellect, familiarized to scenes of deprav-literature. You find the fond admirer of the novel ity and vice, and disciplined to a constant communion preferring the crude sentimentalism of some love adwith the dark damps and murky vapors of selfishness venture, over which she may languish and pine, to the and sin, should acquire a refined relish for the moun- inspiring sentiments of a Cowper, which might woo tain air and balmy influences of the heaven-inspired her to the highest luxuries of intellectual life, or the heart, and love to contemplate humanity robed in celes- lofty strains of a Milton, which might roll her soul to tial splendors. It is not my purpose to describe how heaven. You find her familiar with the rise, progress, this species of literature mingles poison with the ele- circumstances and catastrophe of some imaginary ments of thought and feeling, and sensualizes the mo- achievement of chivalry, of treason, or of love, and yet tives, hopes, and operations of the soul-my object is to unacquainted with those events in the history of our speak of its influence in seducing the mind from the race, which have overturned empires-peopled contipurest intellectual fountains, gushing with rich and nents-shaken down the strongholds of superstition and exhaustless delights, and leading it to the turbid cruelty-established the triumphs of Christianity-con streams, which, swollen by the sudden freshet, bear all summated all that is grand in art and science-in a the impurities of hill and dale in their currents. The word, which have produced all that is splendid and highest merit ever claimed for popular fictions is that sublime in matter or in mind. Yea, more, you find they supply relaxation and amusement for the exhaust- the fond reader trimming the midnight lamp, passioned intellectual energies. They were never intended to ately threading the incidents and details in the fanciful hold any higher station in the empire of literature, than life of some mock-hero or heroine, and yet she never the rose, the lily, or the daffodil, in the natural world. glances her eye over the biographies of Socrates, CiceAnd the mind that relies on them for enduring enter- ro, Chatham, Burke, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Wesley, tainment, will be as poorly sustained as the body whose and Whitefield-of all those gigantic spirits who have, only nutriment consists of the productions of the flow-under God, wielded this world's destinies, and whose er-bed. They elicit no patient thought-summon none of the sterner faculties of the mind into exercise-supply no discipline for the high pursuits of literature and science-furnish no armor with which the intellect may gird itself for bold and effective action, and, above all, propose no lofty and enduring rewards for time and toil. What orator ever goes to the novel or romance for fire to kindle thought, elevate feeling, and quicken the mind for high exploit? Where, on its pages, can he find fact, argument, or philosophy, which "shall speak from his lips, and in his looks give law?" What writer ever repairs to these resources for stimulus to rouse slumbering energies-to wake the warm emotion of the heart to nerve the mind for lofty daring, or for imagery and illustration, which shall give to word and thought "the radiant hue of fire?" What private reader gathers from these productions knowledge which *Concluded from page 70. deeds are identified with all that is noble, spirit-stirring and enduring in the choice possessions of our age. Who would not be surprised to see an individual more interested in culling flowers on the banks of the Niagara, than in listening to the roar of its cataract, or in gathering pebbles on ocean's beach, whilst navies were rushing to the conflict? and yet who is surprised to see individuals standing in the midst of the wonders of the universe of God, more enraptured with the dreams of fancy, than with those facts which comprehend all that is thrilling in the deeds and destinies of man, and sublime in the operations of God? What parent or friend of education will not concur with me in the expression of the hope that there may be conducted in this seminary, under the auspices of God, and the direction of its worthy Principal, a system of education, which shall render the mind patient, persevering, strong and lofty-which will create such a refined taste for what is intellectual and practical, as to ren GALLOWAY'S ADDRESS. sions, you will soon become as "A harp whose master chord is gone- 99 cure you a name and home in every heart which pure and lofty thought can kindle, and fix upon you the admiration and affection of the brightest intelligences of earth and heaven. Apply your minds early and vigorously to those studies which will endow you with der insipid the imaginings of distempered minds, and || and said, "Let there be light, and there was light," has the caricatures of human frailty and folly-which will breathed anew upon this world's moral chaos; and in infuse a passionate love for whatever is rich and pure its new and nobler creation, has planted you in her in thought, chaste in imagery, classical in style, orig-highest firmament among the "greater lights," to rule inal in conception, sound in principle, and holy in pur- the moral day. Realize the responsibility which this pose and in hope, and which will elevate the aspirations honor confers upon you, and feel that you are to be not of every pupil to a standard of attainment whose limits merely this world's beauties, but its brightest benefacshall strike the lines which bound finite intelligence. tors. The charms of beauty are transient as the hectic Young ladies, I have attempted to describe the impor- flush which tinges the cheek of disease; and the distance and advantages of female education-it is for you tinctions won in the court of fashion are fitful as the to illustrate my remarks in your lives and deeds. The gleam of the meteor. If these be your only possesphilosopher may explain the laws of motion upon paper, and the agencies of caloric, by the apparatus of the laboratory-mankind, however, will better understand the beauty and utility of the former, by observ-The charms of a cultivated intellect, however, will seing the heavenly bodies as they roll in their orbits, and more impressively know the power of the latter, as they see the stately steamboat, under its influences, plowing the waves. So I may describe, to this audience, the theory and uses of education, but my most illiterate, as well as my most learned hearer, will bet-the power and privilege to walk abroad, interested specter understand its importance, as it flashes from your tators of all that is magnificent and beautiful above eye, drops from your tongue, glows in your counte- and around you to commune with all that is illustrinance, and breathes in your actions. You appear, this ous in the records of the past, and noble and divine in evening, as witnesses for the importance of education- the developments of the future-studies which will you will soon appear upon the busy theatre of human elevate you to a standard and dignity, upon which your action, as "living epistles" of its efficacy and excel- friends may gaze with rapture and delight, and which lence, seen and read of all men. Do you lack motives shall teach man, in the present and all coming ages, to diligence and duty? Recollect that elevated female that there glows within the breast of woman an intelcharacter illuminated by the "Sun of righteousness" is lect which shall emulate, in its hopes, capacities, and the brighest star of promise for this world's purity, and enjoyments, that of the tallest archangel which "adores that each of you is to be a beam of glory or a dim ray and burns" around the throne of God. Above all, of that star. As the high priest of old bore upon his cherish that purity of heart which a look will define to breastplate the names of the children of Israel, so do the dull, and a blush defend like lightning from the you bear in your example and character the name, dig-|| designing. This, combined with intelligence, is as a nity, and destiny, of the American female, for the pres- weapon out of heaven's own armory, sky-tempered, ent and coming ages. This ought to be a stimulus which "no buckler nor tower of brass can resist." more spirit-stirring to the educated lady, than that With this you will become the choicest guardians of magic watch-word of Trafalgar, "England expects the institutions of your country, and you will stand as every man to do his duty," was to Britain's sons. The the cherubim and flaming sword of Eden, guarding the expectations which cluster around you are lofty as the way to all that is peaceful and happy in our earthly claims of that Christianity which has rescued you from paradise. Females possessing such characteristics, and the degradation of centuries, and impassioned as the they only, are the truly admired and blessed of heaven. pure gushing affections of that mother whose eye is Where is the admirer of that Egyptian queen whose now fastened upon you, and whose heart palpitates art once conquered Roman arms, and the music of with feelings too deep for utterance, as her anticipa- whose voice drowned the trump of ambition? Egyptions thread the line of your temporal and eternal des- tian spices, perhaps, yet embalm her lifeless body; but tiny. That you may fulfill these high expectations, where, in the world's great heart, has she a choice aim to be useful. The day has gone by, when arith- recollection? Where is she who once held supremmetic, in science, and reading the Testament, in litera-acy on Britain's throne? The record of her deeds is ture, constituted the Mt. Parnassus to which your sex on the page of history; but, in the pure intellect of a might aspire, but higher than which it would be danger- virtuous posterity, Elizabeth holds no dearer place than ous to climb. The day has gone by, when, if the ques- the disasters of her country's wars. tion had been asked, What is the chief end of woman? the practical answer would have been, woman's chief end consisteth in cooking, washing, sewing, and spinning well. Now, your chief end, as man's, is to glorify God by the improvement and exercise of those immortal faculties with which you are endowed. The spirit of Christianity, like that Spirit which moved upon old chaos, Ah! how do the queens of other times sink in comparison with the humbler pretensions, and yet more majestic achievements of such spirits as Mrs. Hemans, Miss Carter, and Hannah More! I cannot better exemplify what I mean by female character and useful education, than by holding up before you Hannah More, as a model for imitation. The hand that moved 292080A the pen is cold as the clay of her tomb; but her uttered and written sentiments are now producing a tide of joy over the affections of earth's multitudes, warm as the life's blood which moves the heart. In life's loveliest solitudes, her thoughts come over the soul as angels' music, and even now, throughout the habitable globe, she has the testimony of her worthy deeds in the elevated hopes and pure enjoyments of thousands. And who of you, that has communed with the writings of your own countrywoman-Mrs. Sigourney-has not felt the power of education combined with the loveliness of piety! Can such a lady ever be forgotten? No, never, whilst the chords of the heart vibrate-never whilst there remains a trace of that image which Divinity impressed upon the human soul, or a spark of that fire which was kindled by the breath of the Lord. May it be yours to imitate the example and imbibe the spirit of such American matrons! and may each of you, by the purity of deeds baptized in the love of the Gospel, command, among your kindred, and in your country, an influence which the "toll of your funeral bell will not drown, nor the earth's green sod muffle," but which will speak in thrilling and delightful accents when you and I shall have been gathered to the graves of our fathers. Original. Clemens Alexandrinus gives the following as the language of St. Paul, "Taking in your hands the Greek books, read the Sibyls, and observe what they declare of God's unity, and how they prophesy; then you will learn that the Son of God has come in the flesh." The same writer affirms that in his sermons Paul sometimes referred his hearers to the Sibylline books. He may possibly have done so as he pointed the Athenians to the inscription on their altar; but he evidently did it with no other intention than to condemn them by their own oracles-which, however false in his estimation, were by them accredited and revered. In this way, it' is certain that Tertullian, Eusebius, St. Jerome and others, used them with good effect in their controversies with the pagans. Little is known of these ancient prophetesses. Erythræa was the most conspicuous among them. Cuma, a city of Campania, was the field of her prophetic labors. Her oratory was, so says tradition, a cave, or the artificial hollow of a rock, from whence issued her solemn responses. It is affirmed by ancient writers, that, under the reign of the last Tarquin, there came a woman to Rome, who offered the king nine volumes of the Sibylline oracles for three hundred pieces of gold. On being refused, she destroyed three of the volumes, and demanded the same price for the remainder. On being refused a second time, she destroyed three more volumes, and still THE SIBYLS. demanded the three hundred, which the king, on conTHE word sibyl is probably derived from the Greek, sulting the Augurs, paid down and received the books and signifies the counsel of a god. Among the pa- as a present from the gods. These books were caregans, the Sibyls were prophetesses. It was believed fully preserved till the monarchy was destroyed, and that they foretold future events, and made supernatural were then used as instruments of government, the senrevelations to such as solicited their oracles. They ate alone having authority to consult them through were generally reckoned ten; viz., the Cumaan, the the quindecemviri, .and the responses clothed their Cumanean, the Persian, the Hellespontiacan, the Ly-policy in popular estimation with divine authority. bian, the Samian, the Delphian, the Phrygian, the|| Afterwards the capitol was partly consumed, and the Tiburtine, and the Erythræan. books were burned. Others were collected and deposited in their place, but they were gradually corrupted, and about the year A. D. four hundred, they were all destroyed. Whole books of Greek verses have since appeared as Sibylline oracles, but they are little if any thing more than feeble rhapsodies, without the least evidence that they are the true oracular responses. That the most intelligent of the ancient heathens had some confidence in the supernatural discernment or prophetic functions of the Sibyls, is very evident. Plato and Cicero often speak of them with respect, if not with reverence. Virgil is believed by many persons to have taken from the Sibylline verses what, in his wri- || tings, applies with so much aptitude to the birth of the The heathen oracles are distinguished from the prophMessiah. Suetonius communicates from the Sibyls the ecies of Scripture in several particulars; as, first, in fact that in his times a general expectation prevailed their avowed objects. The divinely inspired are benefithroughout the east, that there was then about to arise cent in their aim, tending to the promotion of man's out of Judea him who should exercise universal empire. happiness. The pagan oracles were indifferent to these Some of the Jewish writers-as Josephus in his great objects. They were often trivial in their import, Antiquities-quote from the Sibyls, but without any and injurious in their tendency. Second, the former note of confidence in their prophetic functions, which were announced by self-sacrificing agents, whose fidelindeed a Jew would scarcely be in danger of, as the ity provoked persecution, and resulted in martyrdomopinion was obstinate and universal in that nation that the latter were uttered by the selfish, who, in their merGod had confided his revelations to his chosen people-cenary greediness, could generally be suborned to serve "to whom were committed the oracles of God." It is more admirable still to find that early Christian fathers not only referred with considerable gravity to the Sibyls, but insist, also, that the apostles invoked them in vindication of Christian facts and doctrines. any cause. Third, the former were published in terms which could not be misunderstood, so that the event must inevitably vindicate or implicate the integrity of the seer-the latter were ambiguous, and left a way of escape. Fourth, the former anticipated events which |