authority uniformly cited, and generally in the words of the original narrator. It is therefore a work of the greatest utility, and almost necessary to one who would form an intimate acquaintance with the history of the first planting of New England.

A new edition has long been wanted, as the old one was no where to be purchased, and was only to be found in old libraries. The editor of the present edition, besides adopting a more modern and uniform orthography, and introducing in their proper places, the additions and corrections made by the author at the end of each part of the original publication, has adopted a more intelligible mode of referring to the authorities quoted, and has added a few explanatory notes. Every public library in the country ought to be furnished with a copy of this work.

5.-Summary of the Practical Principles of Political Economy, with Observations on Smith's Wealth of Nations, and Say's Political Economy. By A FRIEND OF DOMESTIC INDUSTRY. Cambridge. Hilliard & Metcalf. 8vo. pp. 88.

As we have not room to examine this work in detail, we shall do no more than give our impressions of its character in a few words. The first part, called a Summary,' consists of a series of brief maxims, or principles, on the various topics of political economy, methodically arranged. The second part is made up of criticisms on some of the opinions of Adam Smith, and of Say. The principles show an acute mind, quick in research and decision; they are sometimes sound and pithy; but, as far as we understand the subject, they are often of dubious import, and very often entirely erroneous. Precipitancy, imperfect examination, and a proneness to decide on first impressions, we fear have in too many cases led the author astray. We know of no science requiring more patient investigation, than the one which is here briefly dispatched in a series of aphorisms. It is a science involving all the relations of political and social life, and has proved itself too much for the grasp of many of the first order of minds, after years of laborious study and inquiry. It is not surprising, therefore, that our author should fall into many mistakes, in attempting to comprise the whole in so short and hasty a sketch; and that, too, with some professions of originality and new illustrations. Such an undertaking would have appalled most men, and the courage, which, in defiance of such obstacles, has prompted this attempt, may demand our praise even in its failure.

The criticisms on Adam Smith and Say, which constitute the second part of the work, are not altogether to our liking. We agree with our author in some of his objections to the doctrines of those great leaders in the science; in a few cases, he has detected these with discrimination, and exposed them with force; in others, he has called up old objections and confuted them in the old way; in others still, he imagines them to exist where few will accord to him a discovery. Adam Smith was one of the master spirits of his age, possessing a mind of extraordinary power and resources, and throwing a new and brilliant light upon every subject he touched. In such a man's opinions there may be errors, but they are not the errors of a hasty decision, or of a feeble grasp of his subject; nor are they to be confuted by a syllogism, a sentence, or a paragraph. Smith and Say have passed the ordeal of the world, not as exhibiting a new science in its perfection on the day of its birth, but as writers of very great merit on political economy, who stand indeed at the very head of the list, and whose errors, compared with the truths they enforce, are as a drop in the sea. Their faults are mere specks on the bright mirror of their fame. Let these be cleared away, but in a manner, which shall show equal respect for the judgment of mankind, in assigning to these writers so a high a rank, and for themselves as honest expounders of a system, which they believed to be true, and which they put forth the strength of their genius to develope and explain.

6.-A Map of the New England States, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, with the Adjacent Parts of New York and Lower Canada; compiled and published by NATHAN HALE. BOSton, 1826. Engraved by J. N. N. Throop.

IN illustrating the geography of New England, nothing has recently come before the public, which can be deemed of so much importance as this map. It has been the work of several years, with all the facilities for executing such an undertaking, which could be obtained by a diligent research, and a free access to the means of knowledge. It is drawn on a scale sufficiently large to exhibit the boundaries of every town, and all the important geographical features of the country which it embraces; and the public have the surest pledge of its accuracy, not more from the known ability of the editor to execute such a work, than from the uncommon advantages, which he has possessed, in the variety and

fulness of his materials. and documents, he has had access to numerous manuscript surveys and plans, and has consulted the acts of incorporation for the boundaries of towns. The principal roads are drawn with dis tinctness, and the villages, meeting houses, bridges, and other important objects are carefully noted. In short, no map, or series of maps, has appeared, which we can recommend with such entire confidence to all, who would obtain an accurate view of the topography of the New England states.

In addition to the best printed maps

The engraving has been executed with great care by a skilful hand, and is neatly finished. Neither time nor pains have been spared, by the publisher and the engraver, to make the work as perfect as the nature of it would admit, and worthy of the approbation and study of such persons as seek instruction in this department of knowledge.

7.-Hints to My Countrymen, by an AMERICAN. New York. J. Seymour. 12mo. pp. 216.

THIS Volume we have perused with satisfaction. A severe criticism would find in it some extravagances in sentiment, and some affectations in language. Trivial incidents are too often made occasions of grave remark, and the more important ones do not always sustain the tone of reflection into which they lead the author. We do not think it perfectly good taste, in a work exactly like this, to introduce names and anecdotes of distinguished living indviduals, and in the present instance we cannot but think some of the anecdotes would have better been omitted. The title indicates the character of the volume. It allows great latitude in the selection of subjects, and the author has used his privileges. In the short notice we propose to make, we shall show what seems to us to be the design of the author, and with what success this has been prosecuted.

He intends to show that a moral and instructed yeomanry are the great and stable blessings of a nation. The good they effect is their own, as well as their country's. He gives animated and very pleasing views of an enlightened industry. The country where this is cherished has a pure moral atmosphere, as well as the healthful breezes which are native to it. The mind and the body, the forests and the fields, are vigorous and luxuriant in such a country. Freedom of thought and of action will be found in it. It will favor useful learning, and produce a love for its privileges, as well as a pride in them; but if this love and this pride have

their spring in a just sense of these privileges, they will not be thought unnatural or unamiable. It is to be feared, it perhaps should be acknowledged, that in some parts of the land, a proper feeling on this subject is not yet entertained. Our independence and equality are thought to be so exclusive of distinctions, that just claims to attentions and courtesy are not always felt or not always allowed. Travellers from abroad into our interior, have observed this, and have noticed it to our disadvantage. We occasionally feel it ourselves. Now this is not the fault of our freedom; it springs directly from a want of knowledge. You will always find, where our yeomanry most want courtesy, are least accommodating, or are most rude, that there the public provisions for education are most defective. Children grow up with little respect for their natural superiors ; and have little at the disposal of the strangers whom accident may throw amongst them. There is another remark in this connexion equally true; that in such parts of the country, there is much poverty, little care about appearances, a slovenly agriculture, and much intemperance.

These are great evils in any land, they are peculiarly so in our own. We hold our blessings not by the mere freedom which we have inherited. That freedom was the growth of a fine perception of the endowments as well as rights of intelligent beings. It was an enlightened conviction that in the wide circle of creation there was nothing better, nothing so good, with which we had a direct relation, as the human mind. This power our ancestors acted upon chiefly. They built colleges and schools for its cultivation and exercise; and among their earliest foundations were our churches, in which an improved intellect was to find means and opportunity for its highest elevation. Education, moral and intellectual culture in its highest sense, was the great aim and end of our ancestors, and it was this which taught them that they were free.

We think these views very important. It was not consistent perhaps with the plan of our author, if he had any distinct plan, to allude very particularly to them. It was more grateful to him to notice their effects. We do not discredit his representations, for his travels have carried him through portions of the country in which the value of education is understood. Still it would not be just to our country, nor to ourselves, to leave it unstated, that even with us there is much that is wild and waste. The Book Merchant,' or traveller, whose tour makes up so much of the book, and which we think the best part of it, acknowledges, indeed, that he saw some things that did not altogether please him; but he was unwilling to mar the beautiful by sketches of the de

formed. This is very amiable in him, but it is wisest and best to know the whole truth about the evil. Here it is particularly so, for in our honest complacency at our truly great privileges, we are in danger of loving our faults; or, if we do not actually cherish them as parts of our privileges, we may think too little about the matter to correct them. Let it then always be understood, and let it always be stated, that the safety and happiness of this land are to be looked for solely in its provisions for education. We cannot be more free than we are; there is hence no danger here in knowledge. Our courtesy, our kindness, our whole morality, will always be in exact proportion to our moral and intellectual cultivation. All that is brought forward on this topic in this volume, and it hints much concerning it, is very interesting. It is our yeomanry, whose good and whose happiness it everywhere studies, and this, with us, has given to a hasty and temporary work, an interest we are very free to acknowledge.

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We regret that the Book Merchant' is a foreigner, and an Englishman. We do not think a stranger, though a very shrewd observer, the best judge of either the good or the bad amongst us. Both of these are comparative everywhere. But in a country like ours, so unlike in so great a variety of particulars, and where resemblance depends on so many circumstances not very readily comprehended by a stranger, a comparison of ourselves with ourselves should, to be useful or credited, be made by the wise observer of our own land. As to comparisons with another country, even with that from which we sprung, we are very doubtful of their correctness or expediency. This is as true of men as of literature. Our literature has always suffered, because it has been so common with us to compare it with the literature, and the best too, of another country. It will be the same with our institutions, our habits, and our manners. It is with ourselves, our own minds, and all the peculiarities our institutions may and do produce, our country, and all the circumstances in which it is novel, we would say original; it is with these we are most deeply concerned, and it is by a study of all these that we are to find defects and remedies, an elevated morality, and a distinctive literature.

We do not, indeed, suffer in the present instance, where the comparison is between us and England, for the balance always appears in our favor. It seemed to us somewhat against the representations of the foreign literary pedlar, that he should love us so much, and his own home so little. His descriptions are exaggerated. He compares great comfort with extreme misery. In his admiration he becomes enthusiastic, and an enthusiast is not the best observer of the simple, homely scenes which it is the object of the VOL. XXIII.-NO. 53.

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