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of which many things may be said on both sides. In our present number we intended to discuss this topic at large, but other things have beguiled so much of our attention, that we have been obliged to let it escape untouched.

We notice the above pamphlet, as containing the arguments against the auction system, drawn out in an able, ingenious, and popular manner. The author arranges his objections under five heads, and professes to prove; 1. That the mode of selling by auction enables foreigners to possess advantages in our own markets not enjoyed by American merchants. 2. That it affords them an opportunity of importing goods at a less duty than our citizens. 3. That it induces foreign importers to practise concealment and fraud in the sale of goods, and thus has an injurious moral influence on the community. 4. That it is adverse and prejudicial to the manufactures of the country. 5. That the small traders and consumers are not benefited by the auction system. And the conclusion from the whole is, that it would be an essential advantage to the country, if auctions were abolished. To effect this the author proposes a duty of ten per cent laid by Congress on auction sales throughout the United States. In his concluding observations he maintains, that Congress is the only power authorised by the Constitution to act on the subject. This position he takes from the clause of the Constitution, in which States are prohibited from laying imposts or duties on imports or exports without consent of Congress. He says that a duty on the sale of foreign goods at auction is substantially an impost, else the above clause of the constitution is nugatory; for if the states can lay a duty on the sale of foreign goods at auction, they can on the same principle lay a like duty on them at private sale, and if they can lay a duty of one and a half per cent, they may also lay a duty of twentyfive per cent, and thus they may virtually exclude them from the state. This would

be a regulation of commerce, and is one of the exclusive powers of the general government.' As to the soundness of this construction we undertake not to decide. It has been strenuously urged in other quarters, that Congress has nothing to do with the matter, but that the whole devolves on the states.

7.-Evenings in New England; intended for Juvenile Amusement and Instruction. By AN AMERICAN LADY. pp. 179. Boston. Cummings, Hilliard, & Co. 1824.

GENIUS can hardly be employed in a more grateful task, than in guiding the footsteps of childhood and youth, nourishing the plant of virtue in its tenderest age, and protecting the blossom of innocence at a time, when it may so easily be withered and destroyed

by the rude assaults to which it is exposed. One good principle, one kind affection, deeply rooted in the young and susceptible heart, will have an influence, whose extent and effect are not to be calcu lated. Infancy is the season for strong and permanent impressions; manhood is stubborn; the twig has been bent and the tree formed, and the labor of years will not now remedy what the lessons of an hour might have prevented. Great praise is due, therefore, to those writers who are willing to amuse aud instruct the young, planting the early seeds of virtue, and pouring into the vacant mind the treasures of knowledge. Among those to whom no sparing tribute of thanks is due for this service, is the author of Evenings in New England. Her little volume is recommended, both as the work of a highly gifted imagination and a well informed mind, and as inculcating the best moral principles in connexions with just views of some of the primary springs of human conduct. Her plan is miscellaneous, and she happily combines fable, dialogue, historical incidents, and precept, with such lessons on the works of nature and art, as are suited to the first stages of the rising intellect. The book cannot fail to amuse children, it cannot fail to instruct and make them better, and it may safely be put into their hands, with the confidence, that it will exercise no feeble agency in laying the foundation of a character, which in after life will secure to them the respect of the wise, and the benedictions of the good.

We should do injustice to the author, as well as to ourselves, should we forbear to hint at the faults of this performance, with the merits of which we have been on the whole so favorably impressed. Its imperfections are trivial in their nature, when compared with its better qualities, yet they are strongly marked. An appearance of haste runs through the whole book; thoughts are but half carried out, impressions are vaguely communicated, and the style is too often loose, unfinished, and inelegant. There is no apology for haste; the author of a book is governed neither by the tide nor the seasons; and if it is worth while to write at all, it is equally worth while to write with care. This should be done for children as much as for men, and perhaps more, since their taste will be moulded by those compositions, which at an early period enlist their imagination and settle into the memory. Mrs Barbauld has proved, that topics adapted to the humblest capacity may be treated in a style of pure and polished elegance, and that the attention of children may be riveted by a language, which charms the matured and most fastidious taste. Let no one, who adventures in this department of writing, be satisfied, till the same end is attained. The author's piece entitled the Adventures of a Dandalion, is a close and by no means successful imitation of Montgomery's Life of a Flower; and, indeed, in several parts of the volume the reader is reminded of Prose by a Poet. The moral of some of the stories

floats above the heads of children, and we doubt whether the letters that passed between the Plymouth Rock and the Duxbury Tree, and the discourse held by the Rock and Tree concerning whigs and tories, will contribute much to edify and improve juvenile readIn short, if we are not deceived, this performance betrays a hand capable of much higher things than are here achieved or attempted, and we should be glad to see the results of its skill in some work of wider scope and sustained interest, conceived with deliberation, and finished with care.

ers.

In the article on the Common Law, in our last number, (p. 423, line 16 from top,) there was an accidental omission. The following sentence should be inserted near the end of that line. 'Goodright no sooner enters into possession, than he is forcibly dispossessed by Richard Thrustout. Goodright then sues Thrustout,' &c.

Want of room makes it necessary for us to defer, to another number, reviews of Redwood, of Professor Everett's Oration before the Phi Beta Kappa Society, of Butler's Reminiscences, of Brown's Lectures, and articles on the Insurrection of Tupac Amaru, in South America, and on the Code Napoleon.

QUARTERLY LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

AGRICULTURE.

New England Farmer. Published by John B. Russell; and edited by Thomas G. Fessenden. Boston. 1824.

This is a weekly journal printed in a royal quarto form, and devoted to agriculture. Three volumes have been published. In its purposes and general character it resembles the Baltimore American Farmer, which we noticed on a former occasion. The New England Farmer, of course, is chiefly confined to the agriculture of the eastern states; although it contains communications of general utility sent from different parts of the Union, and such occasional selections from the best agricultural works, as are important in conveying useful knowledge to the farmer. Well conducted journals of this sort must have a most beneficial effect on the community. To instruct the farmer in his art, and teach him easier methods of tilling his soil, and drawing from it a more abundant product, is to diminish the expense of cultivation, and save the same proportion of labor to be employed in an additional production.

The Editor of the New England Farmer is well known to the public as an able writer, and if we mistake not, this journal will prove, that his ability has been employed with judgment and success in the walks of agriculture. Among his contributors are some of our most distinguished citizens and experienced agriculturalists; and his work may undoubtedly be recommended to the farmers of New England in particular, as containing a mass of knowledge highly useful to them, which could not be obtained from any other single source. Farmers in every part of the United States will also find it valuable, as a repository of facts on the principles and practices of agriculture in general.

Memoirs of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society; with Selections from the most approved Farmers of the United States, published by Order of the Directors. 8vo. with Engravings. 1823 and

1824.

ARTS SCIENCES, AND PHILOSOPHY.

Some further New Facts in Vision. By E. C. Cooper, M. D. 12mo. pp. 80. New York. Wilder & Campbell.

The Boston Journal of Philosophy and the Arts, Nos. 8 and 9. New England Journal of Medicine aud Surgery. No. 4. Vol. XIII.

Silliman's American Journal of Science and the Arts. No. 2, Vol. VIII. for August, 1824.

The Practical Manipulator, or American Depository of Arts and Sciences. By Richard Willcox, Engineer, Machinist, &c. VOL. XX.-NO. 46.

30

ASTRONOMY.

Astronomical Recreations, or Sketches of the Relative Position and Mythological History of the Constellations. By J. Green. Philadelphia.

BIOGRAPHY.

Memoirs of the Life of Gilbert Motier Lafayette. By Gen. H. L. Ducoudray Holstein. Translated from the French Manuscript. 12mo. pp. 305. New York.

Memoirs of Gen. Lafayatte; with an Account of his Visit to America, and of his Reception by the People of the United States; from his Arrival, Aug. 15th, to the Celebration at Yorktown, Oct. 19, 1824; to which is prefixed a correct Likeness of this distinguished Patriot and zealous friend of Liberty. Boston. E. G. House.

An Authentic Biography of Gen. Lafayette, in which many Errors and Deficiencies existing in the Memoirs heretofore Published are corrected and supplied. By a Gentleman of Philadelphia. Embellished with a handsome Engraving;

The Life of Gen. Andrew Jackson, Major General in the Service of the United States; comprising a History of the War in the South, from the Commencement of the Creek Campaign to the Termination of Hostilities before New Orleans. By John Henry Eaton, Senator of the United States. 1 Vol. 8vo. Philadelphia, S. F. Bradford.

COMMERCE.

Pre

A Digest of the Commercial Regulations of the different Foreign Nations with which the United States have Intercourse. pared conformably to a Resolution of the House of Representatives of the 21st of January, 1823. 8vo. pp. 528.

The Auction System; being a series of Numbers published in the Federal Gazette, addressed to the Citizens of Baltimore. 8vo. pp. 44.

EDUCATION.

Evenings in New England; intended for Juvenile Amusement and Instruction. By an American Lady. pp. 181. Cummings, Hilliard & Co.

Conversations on English Grammar; explaining the Principles and Rules of the Language, illustrated by appropriate Exercises, abridged and adapted to the Use of Schools. By C. M. Ingersoll. Fourth Edition. 12mo. pp. 298. Portland.

It is not a common thing among us for a work to pass through four large editions within as many years after its first appearance, and yet such has been the good fortune of the Conversations on English Grammar. This success is itself an indication of the favorable light, in which the public is disposed to regard the author's labors. His book has been recommended by some of the principal teachers in the country, and would seem to be going into extensive

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