points of view: viz, "1, as ministers to the merely animal wants of the body; 2d, as ministers to the cultivation of the Intellect; and 3d, as ministers to the gratification of the perception of Beauty and its opposite." As a specimen of the work, we extract the following:

"If the ten thousand Greeks shouted for joy when they saw the sea, I am sure there was another burst of gladness when its fresh breath first filled their nostrils. The far-wafted scent of a bean field, or the honey odor of a hill covered with heather, has in a moment brought before the homesick sailor the rustic cottage from which he wishes he had never fled; and all the memories of forgotten childhood have been recalled in a moment to an aged man by the sweet smell of the trodden grass, which has brought up the vision of infant gambols three score years before, among the new-cut hay. And what a depressing influence have hateful odors upon us, and how much do they deepen our dread of disease, our abhorrence of death, and horror of the grave?" p. 97.

The book is fitted to excite interest, and to quicken thought, and would be a well-chosen and welcome gift for an inquisitive and thoughtful youth.

CHRISTIAN PHILANTHROPY AND EDUCATION.

Messrs. J. B. Lippincott & Co. have recently published a work on the Charity of the Primitive Churches,* by M. Chastel of Geneva. It is an admirable book translated by a most competent hand. The original work is one of two prize essays which were crowned as equal by the French Academy, and which were both written by Protestant Professors, the one by Prof. Chastel of Geneva, the other by Prof. C. Schmidt of Strasburg. The prize related to the following subject: "to investigate the influence of charity in the Roman world during the first centuries of our era, and, after having shown how at once it respected the rights of property and acted by persuasion through its religious virtue, to point out by its institutions the new spirit with which it penetrated civil society." This question, it was plain, was suggested by the revolution of 1848-the prize being proposed the next year, and the conflict between the rights of property and the claim of the poor to a support from the state being then a subject of lively discussion.

As we have had the hope for some time of being able to notice these Christian and learned works more at large, we will not enter further into their merits. Since they were published in the original French at

* The Charity of the Primitive Churches, by S. CHASTEL; translated by G. A. MATILE. J. B. Lippincott & Co.: Philadelphia. pp. 356.

Paris in 1853. A new work on the same subject, by the Count de Champagny, and written in a truly Christian spirit, was crowned by the French Academy in 1855. The second edition, published in 1856, now lies before us.

As an example of intelligent and practical charity in recent times, there are few persons more deserving of mention than Thomas H. Gallaudet. His memory is dear to New Englanders, among whom his days were chiefly spent,-but not to them alone. Wherever in both hemispheres the story is known of his energy, his wisdom and purity of character, he is revered and loved as a benefactor of his race, a true Christian philanthropist. Shortly after his decease, an eloquent eulogy delivered before the citizens of Hartford by Hon. Henry Barnard, was printed and widely circulated. A classmate of Mr. Gallaudet, Rev. Dr. Humphrey, late Presiident of Amherst College, now gives the public a more extended biography. It is made up to a great extent of letters and other original papers of Mr. Gallaudet, all exhibiting the faithful piety, the unwearied enterprise and the rare skill in devising and executing new schemes of practical benevolence for which he was so eminently distinguished.

*

Although generally known from his connection with the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, of which he was the recognized founder, (the first institution of its kind in this country, where twenty are now established,) his labors for the relief of the insane, for the instruction of prisoners, for the improvement of common schools, for the introduction of good text books, for the education of teachers, are still exerting an influence not only in the state of Connecticut where he so long resided, but throughout the entire land. We strongly commend this biography of a noble man, especially to the young; who cannot fail to be attracted by the strong common sense, the peculiar public spirit, and the deep-seated Christian principle of a true New England citizen.

Hon. Henry Barnard, distinguished like his friend and townsman, Mr. Gallaudet, for efforts to collect and diffuse information in regard to every department of Education, has lately published a volumet on Re

*Life and Labors of Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet, LI.. D. By Rev. H. HUM PHREY, D. D. New York: R. Carter & Bros. 1857. 12mo. pp. 440. + Reformatory Education. By H. BARNARD, LL. D. 1857. 8vo. pp. 824.

Hartford: F. C. Brownell.

formatory Education, which deserves a careful consideration. No vol. ume in any language contains so much information upon the methods which the wisest men of every civilized nation have adopted for the suppression and cure of juvenile delinquency. Particular accounts are given of the celebrated schools at Hamburg, Mettray, Ruysselede, and Red Hill, and extended quotations are made from the writings of Wichern, De Metz, Ducpetiaux, Hill and others familiar with all the bearings. of this subject. Full statements are also given of other institutions in Italy, Switzerland, Prussia, Wurtemberg, France, Belgium, Holland and Great Britain. A separate volume is to be devoted to the institutions of this country.

We notice with some surprise that the North American Review for January, in a long article on Reformatory Education, does not refer to this comprehensive volume, where it might have obtained more recent facts and valuable illustrations of the subject under discussion.

Within a few years past, conventions, including official delegates from various countries of Europe, have been held at Paris, Brussels and Frankfort on the Maine, to discuss among other things the best means of preventing the crimes of children, and of reforming such youth as have incurred the penalties of the law. A similar assembly composed of delegates from different parts of our own land was held in New York last May, under the auspices of the New York House of Refuge. The President of this institution, Mr. Oliver S. Strong, is entitled to much praise for the part he took in bringing together so many persons familiar with the subject of Juvenile Delinquency, and in conducting the preliminary arrangements essential to a successful conference. A volume has just appeared,* giving the proceedings of the Convention. About seventy-five persons, mostly connected in one way and another with Houses of hefuge, State Reform Schools, or Juvenile Asylums, came together and presented in informal statements their views upon the extent and causes of Juvenile crime, and especially upon the best methods of prevention and reformation. The report is full of valuable practical suggestions by practical men. A second Convention is to be held next May, when it may be hoped that more elaborate papers will be presented on these important topics.

Mr. Brace, the Secretary of the Children's Aid Society, has printed

* Proceedings of the first Convention of the Managers of Houses of Refuge and Schools of Reform, held in New York, May, 1857. New York, 1857. 8vo.

the Address which he gave in November last to the Ladies engaged in the Industrial Schools of New York. Six schools, providing for 1176 children are now connected with the above named Society, and 1100 poor children, are cared for in other similar schools. Mr. Brace speaks earnestly against the evils of "soup kitchens," which with other schemes of indiscriminate bounty, are suggested in smaller towns than New York, as demanded by the pressure of the times. Dr. Chalmers long ago pointed out the evils of careless almsgiving, and his views are worthy of study in a winter like the present.

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY.

No person has been so entirely under the ban in these United States as Aaron Burr, except Benedict Arnold. All parties have cursed him; all kinds of men, for instance Washington and Jefferson, Hamilton and John Adams, have thought badly of him; his own friend gave the last stab to his memory. It is kind and brave perhaps of Mr. Partont to soften down the dark colors of Burr's character by a few strokes of his pencil; but even the biographer, who is so apt to convert into a hero the man whose life he writes, is unable to do more in this instance than to praise single traits in Burr; he could have done much the same service to Benedict Arnold. He imputes to him, and, no doubt, justly, great courage, self-reliance, hopefulness and activity of mind, with uncommon sagacity and fertility of resources, but there is hardly a single good trait of moral character which he does not deny to him. He was not He flattered women 'on principle,' (p. 162 ;) his intercourse with men was not hearty nor direct; his system of education as well as of life was 'fatally deceptive,' says Mr. Parton. He admits that Burr was a tricky lawyer; he had no religious and little moral sensibility; he never showed the slightest remorse at killing Hamilton; he violated the rules of honor in attempting to bring officers of the army into measures inconsistent with their duty; he used other people's money as if it was his own; in fact, not to repeat the long list of his defects and bad qualities, he had neither faith nor heart, nor any great aim in life. He did not put faith in the Bible, nor in the constitution. He had not moral capacity to think well of Washington.

true.

*Address on the Industrial School Movement, by C. L. BRACE. New York: 8vo, pp. 27.

1857.

+ The Life and Times of Aaron Burr, by J. PARTON. New York: Mason & Brothers. 1858. pp. 696.

Burr was notoriously licentious, but Mr. Parton thinks he has rescued him from the slanders of Matthew L. Davis, Burr's friend, when he reduces down his offenses against purity to the peccadillo of meeting women half way in sin. He would not attempt unsuspecting innocence, not he! But he would commit adultery and had illicit amours when he was past three score and ten, and loved the reputation of more crimes than he even committed. All this Mr. Parton admits, and deserves the indignation of society for making so little of Burr's offenses. Burr's worst fault, he says, (p. 622,) was a reckless generosity in the use of money.' Compared to this fault then his lust, revenge, selfishness and other vicious traits, which his biographer owns to condemn, come nearer to the side of virtues. With such moral principles Mr. Parton is not fit to teach his young countrymen. There is such a thing as 'damning with faint censure,' but it is the author in such cases who damns himself.

We have examined the Memoirs of Elkanah Watson,* in the hope of learning something of the great men, and great events, which mark the period in which he lived-from 1758 to 1843. During his life-time, there occurred the most important changes in the social condition of a large portion of the civilized world. A Biography which would throw light on the character and principles of any of the distinguished men of those times would be of especial interest, but we have been unable to find anything of real value in the book before us.

On September 4, 1777, Elkanah Watson commenced a journey from Providence, R. I., to Charleston, S. C., shortly after the battle of Brandywine, and at about the time of the advance of the British on Philadelphia. The brilliant northern campaign, which resulted in the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne, soon followed. It was about the time when articles of confederation between the thirteen "United States of America" were agreed to in Congress, and when a treaty of alliance with France was concluded, but there is nothing more stirring in his account than the finding a negro hung in chains, in Virginia, and the knocking down an impertinent barber in North Carolina. Two years subsequent, Mr. Watson visited Europe, where he spent five years in

Men and Times of the Revolution, or Memoirs of Elkanah Watson, including his Journal of Travels in Europe and America from the year 1777 to 1842, and his correspondence with public men, and reminiscences and incidents of the American Revolution. Edited by his son, Winslow C. Watson. 2d Edition. New York: Dana & Co. 1857.