habits of the people. From his great and acknowledged powers of observation, and from the good-humoured impartiality which, it could not be doubted, would be brought to their aid, we had hoped for the production of a work, containing general views and impressions, which might have proved common ground for all parties to judge and argue from, in the questions involved in the great social and political experiments now at work in America. In such expectations we need hardly say that we have been disappointed; perhaps we expected too much from a six-months' absence from home; and certainly the modest title of "American Notes" ought to have forewarned us that we had raised our hopes too high. As it is, the book is, (with the exception of the two last chapters, on which we shall say a word or two in a moment,) an amusing and interesting tour, which we would fain have had much longer; fairly sustaining, without, at the same time, adding to, its author's reputation as an acute, brilliant, and humorous sketcher. In the two first chapters, "Going Away," and "The Passage Out," Mr. Dickens's humour finds full scope. His descriptions, of the third morning out with a "heavy sea on, and a head-wind,"-of his own sea-sickness, and of the vessel in the heavy gale of wind, which arose after they had been ten days out, are each truly admirable in their way, full of minute, lively, humorous, and powerful description. We At Boston he visited all the principal Public Institutions. cannot here forbear from retaining, for the satisfaction of our College readers, an extract which we had made, expressing Mr. Dickens's opinion of the refining influence, on the society of Boston, of the University of Cambridge, situated in its vicinity; and evincing his cordial appreciation of the principle on which the American Universities, together with our own, are established. "There is no doubt that much of the intellectual refinement and superiority of Boston, is referable to the quiet influence of the University of Cambridge, which is within three or four miles of the city. The resident professors at that University are gentlemen of learning and varied attainments; and are, without one exception that I can call to mind, men who would shed a grace upon, and do honour to, any society in the civilized world. Many of the resident gentry in Boston and its neighbourhood, and I think I am not mistaken in adding, a large majority of those who are attached to the liberal professions there, have been educated at this same school. Whatever the defects of American Universities may be, they disseminate no prejudices; rear no bigots; dig up the buried ashes of no old superstitions; never interpose between the people and their improvement; exclude no man because of his religious opinions; above all, in their whole course of study and instruction, recognize a world, and a broad one too, lying beyond the college walls." A writer of Mr. Dickens's popularity has great power in his hands, even in the influence of such passing reflections as these: it is a power which has never yet been abused in his hands. He gives us also a full and very interesting account of the Perkin's Institution and Massa chusetts Asylum for the Blind; as also, at South Boston, of the Lunatic Asylum, conducted on the enlightened principles of our Institution at Hanwell; and of the House of Correction for the State, "in which silence is strictly maintained, but where the prisoners have the comfort and mental relief of seeing each other, and of working together;" and of other Institutions. "I have described them," says Mr. Dickens, "at some length; firstly, because their worth demanded it; and secondly, because I mean to take them for a model, and to content myself with saying of others we may come to, whose design and purpose are the same, that in this or that respect they practically fail, or differ." In his description of the Perkin's Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, he introduces some fragments from the history of "Laura Bridgman,” a deaf, dumb, and blind girl, from an account written by him to whom she owed her intellectual existence; some notice of her, though not so full a one, appeared, if we recollect aright, in the appendix to Mr. Coombe's work on America. These extracts are full of the deepest and most affecting interest. Mr. Dickens gives us interesting descriptions of his trip to Lowell, with its factories worked by "girls (often the daughters of small farmers), who come from other States, remain a few years in the mills, and then go home for good;" of his stay at Worcester; and at Hartford, where he found the Public Institutions almost as well managed and in as flourishing a condition as at Boston. Of New York he does not seem to have received a very favourable impression; he visited the great Prison, called and appropriately so-"The Tombs," and explored a quarter of the city, known as the "Five Points," rivalling, in filth and wretchedness, the worst parts of our metropolis: among other Institutions on Long Island, he mentions the Lunatic Asylum, badly managed, a victim to the "miserable strife of party feeling," which finds its way even into that "sad refuge of afflicted and degraded humanity :"the governorship of this Institution changes hands as political party fluctuates in the regulation of the State. From his inspection of the Eastern Penitentiary, at Philadelphia, where the system of solitary confinement is rigidly carried out, (though established and conducted from the best of motives, and the most benevolent intentions,) Mr. Dickens arrives at a decided conviction that such a mode of punishment is necessarily and irremediably injurious in its effects 66 My firm conviction," he says, " is, that independent of the mental anguish it occasions-a —an anguish so acute and so tremendous, that all imagination of it must fall far short of the reality—it wears the mind into a morbid state, which renders it unfit for the rough contact and busy action of the world. It is my fixed opinion, that those who have undergone this punishment, MUST pass into society again morally unhealthy and diseased." The first and second chapters of the second volume contain highly amusing and characteristic descriptions of a steam voyage by night on the Potomac river, of a Virginia road and a Black driver, and of a passage by canal boat, on the way from Harrisburgh to Pittsburgh. We must draw briefly to a close. The last chapter but one, on slavery, is honest, straightforward, and powerful; it contains a collection of facts bearing on the ill-treatment of the slaves, and the character of their owners as evinced in this treatment, as well as in their quarrels among each other; and put in such a way as to startle even those, we should think, whom long familiarity has hardened to the cruelties it relates; it should do good in America. In his "Concluding Remarks," Mr. Dickens gives us his impressions of the national American character; with a view of those influences which are at work to endanger and corrupt it. Briefly, these influences, in his opinion, may be referred to "universal distrust," "love of smart dealing," and a "licentious press." We believe such a view to be correct; but we believe it, as certainly, to be inconsistent with what he gives us as his own impression of the national character— 66 They" (the Americans) “are, by nature, frank, brave, cordial, hospitable, and affectionate. Cultivation and refinement seem but to enhance their warmth of heart and ardent enthusiasm; and it is the possession of these latter qualities in a most remarkable degree, which renders an educated American one of the most endearing and most generous of friends... These qualities are natural, I implicitly believe, to the whole people." We much wish that our space allowed us to go into this argument. Primâ facie at any rate, we think, it will be allowed that Mr. Dickens is in error; the onus rests on him to prove the national character of America to be what he describes it; yet he offers no arguments in favour of his opinion, but refers us to his own experience as narrated in the preceding chapters of his book. But in turning to them we seek in vain for the information we desire; they constitute, as we have seen, an amusing and interesting tour, abounding in lively descriptions of incident and localities, and containing an interesting account of many useful and well-regulated Public Charitable Institutions; but offering no sufficient body of facts bearing on national character, to enable us, from his own experience, to arrive at a satisfactory judgment of the truth or error of his own impressions. J. S. ART. VIII..-MONTGOMERY'S SACRED GIFT. AMONG the Christmas presents now forthcoming, is "Montgomery's Sacred Gift," published by Messrs. Fisher. We have not time now for a detailed review of the poetry of Mr. Robert Montgomery, the author of the work. We shall probably take an opportunity of doing so when he again comes before the public. The present treatise is a collection of prose and poetical contributions upon religious subjects, taken from the Old and New Testaments: each subject being embellished with a steel engraving after one of the old masters. In point of embellishment the book is extremely elegant, and got up with great finish. The engravings are well selected, and executed with much ability. "Nathan and David," from West, "The First Death," from Vanderwerf, and "Didst thou not agree with me for a penny?" from Rembrandt, are some of the best. We cordially recommend it to the attention of our readers. |