SIMPLE PLEASURES.

I was thinking the other day what very little things over and above the necessaries of life may make our hourly enjoyment. In summing up the small satisfactions, which the contented live upon, I was rather surprised so much of our time should be passed, almost without our knowing it, in talking, listening, looking and experiencing sensations. I suppose simple-mindedness to consist much in the habit of enjoying readily unimportant objects and insignificant occurrences. A man walks out into a neat garden, and without anxiously peering after rare exotics, draws entertainment from productions the commonest and least obtrusive: or he takes a stroll through a cornfield, or down a green lane, and a golden ear or a vermilion poppy in the one, and a simple flag or a wild rose in the other, yield him a quiet momentary pleasure as he passes along; and for a brief season, at least, he is happy, not only negatively but positively happy, being really and truly pleased. Much depends, no doubt, on the mood of the mind. We are not, of course, to come to the objects and scenes of nature with a resolution not to be gratified with anything, because it happens to lie as a neglected flower on the road-side, but rather with the intention of being gratified with everything. The most easily satisfied are the happiest people. The intervals between the urgent business of life are to them so many brief holidays. Being continally open to pleasurable impressions they go nowhere and sit down nowhere but something pleases them. Morning, and evening, and all day long their cheerfulness and simplicity bring their own recompense. Their happiness is based upon little things: nor do I distinctly perceive why we may not all acquire the state of mind needed for this healthful kind of existence.

What should prevent anyone from being alive to the presence of pleasure-giving objects! To me it seems there can be no need of evermore dwelling on the dark side of our condition to the exclusion of the bright. Doubtless, we lost much when thrust out of the lovely Garden: but, then, we of the present day, are as the blind who have never seen light: although spiritual intelligences may know clearly what is lost, we do not. They may feel pity for us, but we have known no other state than that we now experience; and are suffering a much diminished regret in comparison with that of our first unhappy father and mother. And, besides, He who might have taken all, has not done so; very far, indeed, from it. The Universe is still rich in beautiful things; the mind and the heart of the good man know it. The Father of loving-kindness has not left him without many tranquil delights.

It is only to acquaint ourselves with the properties of natural objects, to foster the sense of beauty in all things round, to keep our thoughts pure, and cherish a true religion in our bosoms-and we shall see in the fresh greenness of Spring-in the bright time of Summerin the shadow of clouds sweeping over the sunny grass of a noble park-in the golden light of the king-cups at the root of ancient trees-in the still loveliness of a blue unspotted sky-in the crimson flush of holy evening-in the deep songless silence of nightfall-in

the cold brilliancy of the tremulous planet :-and in all that composes the thrilling beauty of earth, sea, and heaven, we shall see with an eye divested of much of its dimness, a precious earnest of what may be treasured up in other portions of the great space around and about us, and reserved for the human spirit when it shall stand on the threshold of its better and brighter home.

I believe the world we are in, intended for giving us occasional glimpses of a superior place. It is only so to regard it, and we shall learn to estimate it highly; and love and reverence its Author the more. Paradise, indeed, is gone, faint shadowings of it alone remain; but nothing is clearer than that a designed adaptation of the outward to the inward continues a perpetuated proof of an encouraging kindliness towards man.

So greatly does a perception of what is pleasing in things of no real actual moment to us, (and which, therefore, are in some sense marked by insignificancy and unimportance) add to our satisfactions, that no one is wise in denying himself its properly controlled indulgence, or in trying to suppress rather than to stimulate its activity. And it is not merely a transient sentiment with which we glow on surveying the objects of nature and of art: a sentiment that goes from us as a dream-No!-for with the recurring images and remembrances of the past, the present is, and the future of our mind will be, peopled. As we grow older, to our memory things absent and bygone will come trooping in; and among them may chance to arrive the recollections and associations of a picturesque old castle, an antique college, a bannered chapel of royalty, a kingly sepulchre, a storied painting, the striking statue of a great man. At that period of life when the shadows of evening are falling on our feet; and we turn from the inquisitive mood to the retrospective; then these things and a thousand others like them will make the opulence of the mindwill make so many intellectual pearls, with which, indeed, we might dispense, but, by which we shall be rendered all the happier. And those who are fortunately endowed with sensibilities may, perhaps, ask in the spirit of a certain Harrovian,

"What is a pearl? what is a pearl ?"

and accept for answer,

"The sunlight on a pictured pane—
The sweet tones of a guileless girl—
The lisping of a mother's name
The praying eye-the bended knee ;-
These are the pearls for price for me!"

Want we companions to heighten the zest for these pleasures? How soon these may be had! There is no lack of them, apply we only to the right source. Much of what we witness in the fields of Nature and the realms of Art has been reflected by the human mind; and those reflections have been like the moonlight by our globe, mirrored again in books. Now what is it determines our choice of a companion, and what is it in him we most delight to contemplate? Is it not his mind? Supposing we had occasion to regret the irremediable loss of an interesting companion, what is there would prove so precious and incomparable as some enduring record of

his understanding, fancy and affections? As none then are more fitting companions for us than the truly eminent of all times and all lands, we should seek through their works to become conversant with their ideas, their notions and their sentiments, till we grow into intellectual and moral companionship. It was the preconcerted arrangement of Infinite Wisdom which localized them in different countries and in different ages; but by an act of the will we can bring them as it were together, place them in company, and draw them into close vicinity with ourselves. We may thus stand in the presence of the noblest, the wisest, the best and purest of our race ;to the imaginative a truly sublime situation. The harmless satisfactions to be had in this simple way are so accessible, so good, so worthy of esteem, so rife with humanizing influence, that, for my part, I do not well know how we can be too thankful for them.

To these companions it is mostly in our power to add living ones. Voices at home and abroad, falling, at intervals, pleasantly on the ear, are denied to but very few; and to these, not seldom on account of their unfortunate and repulsive temper. These kind voices contribute not a little to our cheerfulness. There is no knowing how much we owe to them; a great deal more, I suspect, than we are apt to think. Gracious looks, and corresponding actions, are undoubtedly acceptable to all, and to the sensitive, a part even of their necessary and daily aliment. And these pleasures too need not be far from any one of us. But we are proud, we disdain common enjoyments, we want everything highly seasoned; we require luxuries; we are epicures in the passions; asking for faultless friends, romantic affection, singular attachments; and if any one blessing is refused to our request, we are resolved we will not be happy, we will forget all we either do or might enjoy-absorbed in that which we do not or cannot. There must be something wrong in this. There is a flaw in the heart; and the only efficient remedy seems to be, to religionize the mind, and nurse benignant feelings. Conceding the existence of many sad things in this imperfect world of ours, we shall still be aware of numerous compensations:

'Though the friends of our youth may falsely depart ;-
Though the shadows of life around us may fall;-
One shake of the hand which is felt at the heart!
And, Oh! 'tis a beautiful world after all!"

MIRZA.

Literary Rotices.

Elements of Language and General Grammar: by GEORGE PAYNE, LL.D. Gladding, City Road, and Hamilton & Adams, Paternoster Row. 1843. EVERYBODY has heard of Horne Tooke's "Diversions of Purley," of Harris's "Hermes" and Crombie's "Gymnasium," but few have read them. Philosophical and excellent as these philological works confessedly are, yet, from their voluminousness and intricacy, they are scarcely ever looked into except as books of reference. Some simpler and more concise explanation was wanted of the subjects upon which they treat. We thank Dr. Payne, therefore, for his "Elements," as they supply this want-a deficiency in

English literature, which has been long felt. He gives us a clear and succinct delineation of the fundamental principles of general Grammar, and puts us in possession of the pith and marrow of the chief controversies upon this subject. Very convincing are his arguments upon the questions, whether language be of divine or human origin-whether the object of language be the communication or the production of thought, or bothand whether the character of language be affirmative or imperative. The most useful part of the book, however, appears to us to be the description of the nature and origin of the different parts of speech. The chapters on the force of the Moods and Tenses give the clearest view of the comparative power of the Greek, Latin, and English moods and tenses which we ever remember to have seen. The nature of relative clauses, and the force of the relative, are much better stated than either by Harris or Crombie. As was to be expected, some of Dr. Payne's opinions fail to obtain our concurrence, although ingeniously defended. What will our classical readers say, when they hear that, in Dr. Payne's opinion, the use of prepositions in English and French is preferable to the Greek and Latin mode of denoting case by terminations? He gives as a reason why he thinks so, that when cases are marked by terminations, they "render the acquisition of a language a matter of more labour." True; but if, at the same time, they add to its beauty, its harmony, its variety, is it a valid objection against them that they increase the difficulty of its acquisition? Assuredly not. The richest diamond has the thickest crust, and pearls must be dived for, while worthless straws swim upon the surface of the stream. The power of expressing case by terminations is one of those advantages in the Latin language, by means of which Tacitus was enabled to construct those compact and pregnant sentences which classical scholars so much admire, and which compress the greatest amount of thought within the smallest possible compass. One or two chapters in the book are given to the discussion of such metaphysical subjects as, the Nature of General Ideas, and of Abstract and Concrete Nouns. Our author appears more to advantage as a linguist than as a metaphysician. Take as a proof the following instance of his contradicting himself in two different sentences of the same chapter on General Ideas.

"The reader is especially requested to observe the impossibility of maintaining the existence of general ideas, and consequently of accounting for the origin of general terms in connection with this theory." Page 56.

"General ideas are not indebted for their existence to general terms, as has been falsely and unphilosophically imagined, but are the parents of general terms." Page 58.

Here, it is very evident, the worthy Doctor had unconsciously become muddled. His interesting confusion reminds us of our old favourite Launce, in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona."

"This shoe is my father; no, this left shoe is my father; no, no, this left shoe is my mother; nay, that cannot be so, neither; yes, it is so it is so. I am the dog; no, the dog's himself, and I am the dog; O the dog is me, and I am myself; ay, So, so."

Notwithstanding these, and one or two other slight inaccuracies, the work is one which we can cordially recommend as calculated to give the reader a clear view of a difficult and important subject.

Incidents of Travel in Yucatan: by JOHN L. STEPHENS, author of "Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petræa, and the Holy Land;" "Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan," &c.; Illustrated by 120 Engravings, from drawings made expressly for the work by F. CATHERWOOD. New York, Harper & Brothers. 1843.

Or all modern travel-writers we admire Mr. Stephens incomparably the most. There is a freshness, a truthfulness, a cheerful, honest, hearty,

manliness in all he says and does that thoroughly delights us. Without being in the slighest degree flippant, he is always entertaining, and without affecting the sublime and the magniloquent, he is always impressive, and sometimes poetical. He always sets about his task as a traveller ought to do. He makes up his mind to hardship, fatigue, and annoyance, and determines to bear whatever may happen with a cheerful heart. Nothing seems to ruffle him. If he cannot get a feather bed, he puts up with a mattrass; if a mattrass is not to be had, he will sleep upon the floor; if floors run scarce, he takes up his "lodging on the ground," still with a happy heart and a merry face. Free from all affectation, trifling, or nonsense, but always good-humoured, sensible, and intelligent, Mr. Stephens never writes any other than a delightful and instructive book.

The volume above referred to is, as our readers will imagine, a continuation of the work on "Central America ;" and it describes the most extensive journey ever made by a stranger in that peninsula; containing the account of visits to forty-four ruined cities, or places in which remains or vestiges of ancient population were found. It will be seen, therefore, that the book is more than a merely amusing one, and we can sincerely assure our readers that they cannot fail to derive a very large amount of profitable information from a perusal of its pages.

The journey was undertaken for the purpose of exploring the ruins of many extensive cities said to exist in Yucatan and other parts of Central America; and Mr. Stephens, in company with the acomplished artist Mr. F. Catherwood, who illustrated his former work, left New York in October last, and, after a somewhat tempestuous voyage, arrived safely at Sisal, the chief port of Yucatan. From Sisal our travellers journeyed in succession to Merida, Maxcanu, Becal, Uxmal, Mayapan, Ialacho, Ticul, Nohcacab, Kabah, Zayi, Labna, Kewick, Bolonchen, Iturbide, Peto, Tekax, Chichen, Valladolid, Izamal, and from thence back to Sisal. During their travels they visited and carefully explored a great number of ruined cities, discovering vestiges of antiquity more or less remarkable, some of them being peculiarly striking. Amongst their discoveries were extraordinary wells, caves, sculptured figures, labyrinths, mounds, columns, arches, hieroglyphics, terraces, staircases, terra-cotta vases, monuments and skeletons, all of which are described in a most minute and interesting manner; and which most certainly go to prove the existence of a most intelligent and comparatively civilized race entirely unrecorded in history. The first discovery of these vestiges by modern travellers created extraordinary interest. It was imagined that they belonged to an extremely distant period; and it was fancied that they bore so close a resemblance to Egyptian architecture and customs, as to warrant the conclusion that intercourse had been maintained between Egypt and America during the period of Egyptian power and grandeur.

This conclusion was in part supported by several succeeding travellers, and consequently the mystery and speculation increased. Mr. Stephens conceived a very great interest in the subject, and was thereby moved to undertake his first journey into this remarkable country. He went thither willing, indeed anxious, to throw around the ruins the interest of mystery and old age; but his judgment rejected the inferences that previous travellers had drawn, and he came to the conclusion that there were not sufficient grounds for belief in the great antiquity that has been ascribed to these ruins. The whole of his investigations, both in his former work and in that now under our notice, tend to confirm the views he then advanced; and we think he has proved very satisfactorily that we are not warranted in going back to any ancient nation of the Old World for the builders of these cities, but that there are strong reasons to believe them the creation of races who inhabited the country shortly prior to the time of the Spanish conquest.