To those, who have marked the progress of improvement for the last twenty years in the art of teaching, the labors of Mr Wrifford are not unknown; and such persons will duly estimate the value and importance of the work, whose title is placed at the head of these remarks. By the most unremitting exertions, the author has successfully combated the obstinate prejudices in favor of the old methods of teaching Chirography, and introduced one founded on scientific principles, the only means by which certain success can be reasonably expected.

He introduces his subject by a preface, in which are imbodied many valuable observations, the result of his own experience. We fully concur with him, that the nature and true character of Chirography, or writing, has been overlooked, and the application of systematic principle and mode of instruction in its practical attainment, has been disregarded by the ingenious and scientific for ages. Our predecessors have, from time out of memory, and down to the present day, viewed and taught writing as an act to be acquired by the "mere dint of practice;" and governed by these delusive impressions, they have caused large and small text hand to be taught in schools, and to be written year after year by the same scholar, in the vain hope, that this course of practice, which was, and is pursued without motive or definite direction, would eventually, some how or other, lead to a useful style for common buisness.' These views are just. The light of science should be resorted to in all cases, where it can be effectually applied. Method and system are essential to rapid attainment and permanent impression; and from Mr Wrifford's thorough investigation of the elements and practical details of his favorite art, it cannot be denied, that he has developed principles, formed combinations, and deduced results, which greatly facilitate the means of acquiring a ready and beautiful hand writing.

This is an art, which, of course, cannot be reduced to positive rules, because these rules, although founded on science, must be modified by principles of taste, upon which no two persons will perfectly agree; but as far as any system can be made a general standard, we should suppose that Mr Wrifford's experience, judgment, and good taste as a chirographer, better entitle his practical system to hold this rank, than any other with which we are acquainted. The work does not want the testimony of hundreds of the most distinguished citizens of America, who have examined the merits of the plan, and tested [?] its efficacy by experience in their own families. To this testimony we cheerfully add that of our own observation, having witnessed instances in which quite adult pupils, under Mr Wrifford's management, have improved with a rapidity approaching the marvellous. This success, however, is probably owing as much to the skill of the teacher, as to the excel

lence of the system. Mr Wrifford, by long habit, and perhaps a peculiar original aptitude, seems to possess that happy secret in all successful instruction, of seizing those moments, when the attention of the pupils can be caught and effectively operated upon.

Our limited space will not allow us to enter into a general detail of the interesting particulars, relating to the author's method of instruction; nor could we, if so disposed, lay before the reader anything like a just view to be derived from inspecting the method, as taught under his own direction. The style of his composition is peculiar, sometimes eccentric, and not always in good taste, yet these defects can detract nothing from the merit of his system, nor from his reputation, as an excellent, successful, and thoroughly practised teacher of Chirography. The elegance and beauty of the drawings, which accompany the work, afford complete proof, that he has spared neither pains nor expense to render it the most finished of the kind, which has come before the public.

4.-A Summary View of America, comprising a Description of the Face of the Country, and of several of the principal Cities; and Remarks on the social, moral, and political Character of the People; being the Result of Observations and Inquiries during a Journey in the United States. By AN ENGLISHMAN. 8vo. pp. 503. London. 1824.

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So much abuse and folly have been published in England, in books purporting to be travels in the United States, and so much ignorance and stupidity, as well as unfairness, have been palmed upon the public in the works of this description, that all interest for them seems to have died away, even with the most inquisitive and reading part of the community. It is mainly on this consideration of the subject, that we can account for the fact of the Summary View' not having been published in this country, although it issued from the press more than a year and a half ago in England, and is on the whole written with as much candor, as any person could be supposed to have towards a foreign country, and evidently contains the results of close observation, and no small degree of knowledge. To those, who judge only from experience of the past, this will be thought to be saying a great deal in favor of an English traveller in America, but as great an anomaly as it may seem, we nevertheless think, that this meed of approbation is at least due to the Englishman,' who has favored us with the volume under notice. And we will add, moreover, that, in spite of his prejudices, which it sometimes costs him a hard struggle to keep down, he writes with as good a spirit, and with as open a disposition to learn the reality, and report it fairly, as any American could reasonably desire.

The author tells some truths not the most flattering to our self prepossessions, nor grateful to an American ear, but it is our duty to listen to them with patience, and to profit by such as it gives us no pleasure to hear. His remarks are now and then tinged with a spice of cockneyism, and he sometimes has a gossiping way of relating incidents, which detract somewhat from the dignity of his work, but when these are accompanied with a good temper, and a philosophical resolution not to be biassed by appearances, nor to draw hasty conclusions, we can easily endure them. It may be safely believed, that the author had it not in his thoughts to make any false impressions, in regard to America, or to indulge a vein of humor or sarcasm at the expense of the people, whose manners and character he aims to describe.

The following topics, among others, constitute the heads of his chapters, namely; face of the country; conveniences of travelling; men; women; domestic life; spirit of conversation; patriotism; hospitality; politeness; religion; slavery; colonisation society; English language; oratory; literature; government; political parties; law and jurisprudence; manufactures; fine arts; morals; national character. Now it is quite evident, that several of these subjects are such, as no foreigner, who had resided but a few months in the country, could be qualified to discuss with any fulness or pertinency. In remarking upon them, therefore, it is not surprising, that our traveller should frequently say little to the purpose, and enter into speculations betraying at the same time his ignorance and his indiscretion. What, for instance, could he be supposed to know of our literature, government, political parties, jurisprudence, and national character? These things are not to be learnt in a month or a year. The author shows, that he has been industrious in collecting as many facts pertaining to them, as his limited means would allow; and that he aims to represent these in a fair and proper light, according to the best of his knowledge; but after all, his important facts are exceedingly scanty, and his notions crude. It could not be otherwise. The chapters on slavery and the slave trade exhibit little else, than a total ignorance of the origin and history of our political and civil institutions, and the credulity, benevolence, and amiable zeal of the author. His hatred of slavery is just, but misapplied; his visions are bright, but airy as the dreams of an enthusiast, or the mists of an autumnal morning. He talks of our literature without reason or discrimination, selecting books for his criticism, of which no American ever heard, and sometimes passing judgment with a pertness, which no wise man of any nation would approve. He was much scandalised at the violation of syntax, and otherwise faulty style of the Annual Report of one of the New York Charity Schools, and a publication of the Philadelphia Society for promoting Agriculture. Some writer in

the Reports of the Colonisation Society amused him with the loftiness of his flights. From these sources he draws the first elements of his opinion of our national literature. He then goes on to examine books, and of Mr Jefferson's Notes on Virginia he confesses, that, 'exclusive of the bigotry and prejudice conspicuous in it, the performance is creditable to him.' How indulgent a critic! The Life of Franklin 'exceedingly interests us,' but we hear nothing of his powerful works on politics, civic economy, and philosophy; these it may be presumed our worthy Englishman had not found time to read. But what surprises us most is, that our country is famous for its travellers in Africa and Asia. Now and then,' says the critic, some one makes an exploratory journey into Africa and Asia; yet how little have they contributed to cosmography.' How little indeed! Not a single cosmographer, we believe, adorns with his presence any part of the United States, whose renown can justly be claimed as a nation's boast, unless it be he of the west, whose struggles have been to get at the centre, rather than to roam on the surface of the earth. We must lament our ignorance, at never having heard of any of these exploratory journeys' into Asia and Africa by our countrymen. Since the days of the ill fated Ledyard, we know not the American, who has turned his face to the perilous enterprise of exploring Africa, unless it be the shipwrecked, renegade sailor, known by the name of Robert Adams, who called himself an American, and who had the address to deceive a whole bench of lords and gentlemen in London, and induce them to publish in a spacious quarto, under the sanction of their names, a fabricated narrative of a journey to Timbuctoo. This fabrication is not a sin for which our literature is accountable. But we have not time to follow the author through his chapter on American literature. He tells us, that, while he was in this country, he wrote for some journal a review of an octavo volume published at Boston,' but he had 'forgotten both the author's name and the title of the book.' We may have been precipitate in speaking with so little respect of the opinions of a professed reviewer, but still our judgment must be, that he has meddled with a subject, with which he was very little acquainted, and that it requires all his good nature to redeem the blunders, into which by his critical propensity he has been unwittingly drawn.

The author encountered some marvellous incidents in America, but not more, perhaps, than usually occur to travellers as enterprising as himself. He was quite shocked to hear certain New Yorkers pretend in conversation, that their city would in a century become the rival of London, and affirms that such a thing is only to be mentioned to show its absurdity.' It has been rumored at home, to be sure, that the New Yorkers are beginning to assume consequence to themselves in anticipation of their future greatness,

which is to grow out of the length of the grand Canal, and other advantages pertaining to the great commercial emporium of the western world, but we have not till now been informed of their habit of besieging foreigners on this account, till they deserved the charge of absurdity. The writer also makes the discovery, that 'no city in America is under more mob influence than New York ;' and he puts in a feeling protest against the savage custom of using pigs for scavengers,' a practice, he adds, of which many of the inhabitants are ashamed.' It is a pity, that the New Yorkers should be ashamed of their own customs, and we leave the matter for them to consider and digest, subjoining only the further declaration of our traveller, who speaks authoritatively on the subject, that 'pigs ought not to be allowed to be kept even in a yard within the boundary of a city.' Such New Yorkers, as would be further informed, must consult the volume itself.

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In our good city of Boston the author resided but a short time, and pays us only a passing tribute. He ascended the dome of the State House, and says the view from it is the finest in America. Next to this in extent and beauty, he considers the view from the Washington monument in Baltimore. For the edification of those, whom it may concern, we give, in his own words, an account of the chief event, which happened to him in our city.

'I was present,' says he, at a meeting of the Debating Society of Boston, when a question was proposed for discussion on the policy of prohibiting usury. The first speaker was a short, jolly man, who seemed much more likely to please a dinner party by acting as their chairman, than to throw light on an abstract question. He began with diffidence; a good symptom; but after blundering through his speech, bewildering himself and his auditory, he concluded with no more confidence than he manifested at the commencement. The second speaker was quite as obscure, though with rather more assurance. The third, with some appearance of method in the handling of his subject, and with the air of a man, who is to bear down all opposition, floundered in the mud of his own spreading, till he had tired himself, and blinded those about him. The chairman was about to put the question, when a gentleman suggested that if the debate were adjourned, some further light would be thrown on it at another meeting. Some one might have told him, that there had been "no light, but rather darkness visible." The motion for adjournment was carried, and the meeting dispersed, having, as I thought, shown a most exemplary patience.'

The author met with occasional troubles and inconveniences of a personal nature, in the course of his travels, as well as moving testimonies of the negligent habits of Americans, which ought not to pass unnoticed. 'Let me mention,' he says, that I went into a draper's shop at Fredericksburgh, in Virginia, to purchase a night