gorous displays of genius, the republic of letters in Great Britain is lopped of its luxuriance, swept of its frivolity and absurdity, cleansed of its dulness and ignorance, chastened in its strength, and brightened in its ornament. All these, and All these, and many other causes, are continually operating to excite the men of letters in Britain to a display of the most energetic and brilliant exhibitions of talent and learning; and do we therefore marvel that in every department of literature and science, the nation has produced, and still continues to produce, works of such transcendent excellence, that her philosophers, poets, orators, historians, moralists, and critics, command the applause and homage of their contemporaries, and ensure the admiration of all future ages?

But what is the case with respect to the United States? The very condition of society in this country forbids its people, as yet, to possess an axalted literary character. A comparatively thin population, spread over an immense surface, opposes many serious obstacles to the production and circulation of literary effusions: the infancy of its national independence, and the peculiar structure of its social institutions, do not allow a sufficient accumulation of individual and family wealth to exist in the community, so as to create an effectual demand for the costly or frequent publications of original works: the means of subsistence are so abundant, and so easy of attainment, and the sources of personal revenue so numerous, that nearly all the active talent in the nation is employed in prosecuting some commercial, or agricultural, or professional pursuit, instead of being devoted to the quieter and less lucrative labours of literature: the scarcity of public libraries and of private collections of books, renders any great attainments in science and erudition exceedingly toilsome and difficult: the want of literary competition, rewards, and honours, the entire absence of all government patronage, whether state or federal, together with the very generally defective means of liberal education, necessarily deter men of high talents from dedicating themselves solely to the occupation of letters; and consequently prevent the

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appearance of those finished productions, whether in verse or prose, which can only find an existence when the efforts of genius are aided by undisturbed leisure and extensive learning.

Such are some of the causes which contribute to retard the progress of literature in the United States; whence we have no right to expect, while these causes continue to operate, the appearance of many original American publications, bearing the stamp of very profound science or very comprehensive erudition. The literary taste of the generality of our readers may be inferred from inspecting the books of the public libraries in New-York, Philadelphia, and Boston, the three most enlightened portions of the union. The Novels, chiefly English, with a few bad translations from French fic tions, the sweepings of the Minerva press, in Leadenhall-street, are most abundantly used, as affording the highest gratification to the lovers of literature: Plays and Farces are in the next degree of requisition: Moral Essays and History suffer a little injury in the first, less in the second, and none in the subsequent volumes; the Classics, elementary books on Metaphysics, Political Economy, and Philosophical subjects, generally sleep securely on their shelves, undusted and undisturbed by any profane hand or prying eye. Of Of course, this statement does not apply to the liberal scholars who visit these libraries-they, however, are comparatively few.

As is the generality of readers, so is that of writers, in a country; for the literary, like every other market, must always be supplied with commodities in quality and quantity proportioned to its demand for merchantable wares. If the purchasers insist upon being provided with nonsense, there will always be a sufficient, supply of that article forthcoming for the use of the home consumption trade. Hence, as must ever happen in such an order of things, the press teems with those mushroom productions of folly, which are engendered by the conjunction of ignorance with impertinence. Thus, at the first dawning of the revival of letters in the south of Europe, the Troubadors and Provençal

writers deluged the land with a flood of fantastic foppery and childish conceit. Thus, in later times, even in our own days, the minor men of letters, the literatuli of the age, enter into a small conspiracy against all useful and solid information, and commit a feeble outrage upon the efforts of genius and learning. And as is the case with all weak animals, these self-styled wise men, instinctively throng together in herds, and while they wage eternal warfare against all exalted intellect, incessantly besmear the effusions of each other's folly, with the ignoble ordure of each other's praise. They perpetually and reciprocally lavish the epithets of "ingenious," "learned," "acute," "illustrious," "profound," philosophical," and so forth, upon the dismal lucubrations of themselves and their brethren, which afford no light, but rather darkness visible; while at the same time they industriously raise the cry of alarm and horror, even at the sound of the distant footsteps of sense and knowledge.

The defenceless field animals are always gregarious; always found in flocks and herds; but the lion ranges alone over the extent of his undisputed dominion. True genius scorns the knavish arts of popular adulation: it loves to be solitary; and when surrounded by the cackling of folly, it broods over the inmost recesses of its soul in silence, and "pines, like the melancholy eagle, amidst the meaner domestic birds."

It is however to be remembered, that although the condition of society forbids us, at present, to expect in the United States many original writers on subjects involving an intimate acquaintance with the depths of science, and the heights of learning, yet there is much more literary excellence in this country than ever meets the public eye; because, as from the comparative thinness of the population, as well as from other reasons, authorship is not a distinct and separate calling, as in some of the more crowded parts of Europe: the best scholars in America are those who follow other pursuits, in addition to that of letters; namely, our professional gentlemen, the clergy, physicians, and lawyers;

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and some who are not attached to either of these vocations, but are immersed in commercial enterprises, or agricultural experiments. Among these different classes are to be found individuals, who, on general subjects of learning and taste, need not turn their backs to any of the literary veterans on the other side of the Atlantic. From the comparatively small demand for original works in the United States, our ablest and best informed men seldom appear as writers; and the field of letters is left almost entirely clear, for the exhibitions of those who are not to be numbered among the most learned, and the ablest men in America. Add to this, that the continual influx of British literature, although beneficial in imparting to our people new and extensive information upon a great variety of subjects, is so far prejudicial, as it depresses the spirit of native literature, by creating a fastidious rage for foreign publications, and an affectation of contempt for the productions of our own press.

Yet notwithstanding all these unpropitious circumstances, the literary spirit has been for some years past rising in the United States; witness the progressive increase in the importation of foreign books, in the republication of British works, and the productions of American writers. And probably, on a fair view of the subject, we may conclude the progress of letters in this country to be proportionally equal to that of Britain; considering the different states of society in the two countries. But, perhaps, it may be useful to notice some of the other causes which obstruct the course of literature in the Union. Among these, is to be particularly noticed, the unfortunate practice of entering upon active life at too early an age. Partly from the condition of society, and partly from the eager appetite for wealth, which especially characterizes all young and thinly-settled countries: divines, lawyers, physicians, and merchants, rush into the occupations of active life, almost before they reach that period which the wisdom of the common law allots as the termination of infancy. Plunging so early into the minuter details of practical

employment prevents the due developement of the intellectual faculties; and after a while renders the mind, from disuse, both unable and unwilling to direct its attention to the more abstracted pursuits of literature and science.

There is a salutary adage in the old law books, which runs thus, "In juvene theologo conscientiæ detrimentum; in juvene legistâ bursæ detrimentum; in juvene medico cemeterii incrementum ;" the consciences of his

parishioners suffer by a young clergyman ; the purse of his clients diminishes in the hands of a young lawyer ; and the churchyard increases by the labours of a young physician. This adage, however, has not yet found its way into the United States, where the young people of all classes are precipitated into business during childhood. Lord Bacon complains, that in his time the full growth of mind was retarded by the pernicious custom, then prevalent in Europe, of permitting youth to enter into active life at so early an age as thirty. This prince of philosophers was, in common with other great men, his contemporaries, in the habit of indulging Utopian visions concerning the millennial perfection of this his "New Atalantis ;" and the most confident predictions were hazarded, that America, rising superior to the heedlessness of European haste, would patiently unfold her national intellect, by large and liberal study; so as to produce in each particular calling the most beneficial results, and most luminous discoveries.

With such a conviction, how would Verulam be moved, could he behold with what unmeasured precipitancy this New Atalantis, this Athens of the western world, pours forth its swarms of unfledged youth to assume the responsibilities of public life, ere they have passed the little period of one and twenty years. At this unripe age, the preacher takes upon himself to expound the all-important doctrines that characterize the stupendous scheme of redemption, and to impart spiritual consolation to veteran Christians. The physician, also, is, at this early age, licensed to break the sixth commandment; and the lawyer is, at this premature