them to devote all the hours of daylight to labor. And there are men, too, of high intellect and delicate taste, who are making a willing sacrifice of the honor they might win in more congenial walks of literature in order to write books and edit papers for artisans and peasants. It is doubtless a misfortune that the direction of these schools should, in some places, have been exclusively confided to a particular class, and not always to the most enlightened members of it; and it is a misfortune, also, that the course of instruction should be so limited, and the text-book often chosen so badly. But still it is a great step, and if these long-neglected beings learn little more than to read and write, and perform for themselves the simple operations of arithmetic, it is a steppingstone secured for some advancement yet more extensive. The beginning has been made, the principle of the importance of popular education has been accepted, and whatever it leads to must be accepted with it.

The education of the people would naturally lead us to that of the middle classes, that chief reliance of a nation in certain stages of its progress towards liberty. But a full picture would carry us too far, and a partial sketch would hardly convey any definite idea of this difficult subject. The existence of the middle class, however, as an active and efficient one, is an important fact, and the true nature of their double relation to the aristocracy on the one hand, and to the people on the other, is one of the surest tests of the progress of political liberty. For, so long as tradition prevails over reason, the aristocracy will command all those whom the chances of birth have placed below them. But with the development of the spirit of inquiry, it becomes evident that the real efficiency of the state lies with those who form the largest proportion of its active members. And as every social truth, however suppressed for a time, must sooner or later become a living principle of action, the middle class soon passes from a consciousness of the right to an open assertion of it. Then comes the struggle between privilege and power, the truly brilliant period of their history; for all that precedes is toil and humiliation, and the closing scenes

* In Rome there is an admirable little paper of this kind, L' Artigianello, edited by Ottavio Gigli, who proposes publishing a series of elementary scientific and historical works for the same class of readers.

are too often defaced by selfishness and arrogance and a sordid thirst of gain.

Of one of the most important branches of this class, the curates and common clergy, it is difficult to speak with precision. Wherever the church offers a sure road to fortune, and a probable one to power, many will be found ready to take orders, as they would take their diploma in medicine or law, not from devotion to the duties of the profession, but for the chances which it gives of advancement. But wherever there is a religion which addresses itself to the nobler principles of our nature, and opens the way for the exercise of its characteristic virtues, many will be found to whom its most rigorous prohibitions are its greatest charm. There can be little doubt but that there are many ignorant and worthless men among the clergy; and it is no less true that there are many among them of profound learning and the purest piety. And great as the inducements are to seek in the church an easy support rather than a field of utility, yet we doubt whether a very great proportion even of those who enter it from such unworthy motives can go through the daily performance of its duties, without experiencing sooner or later in their own hearts the purifying influences of the mission which they had assumed so thoughtlessly. The heart may be hardened to the death-bed, and the eye learn to look on want and sorrow coldly; but for all men there are some silent hours of self-inquisition, when none but those who are utterly corrupted can refrain from asking themselves how far the part which they are playing in the great drama of life corresponds with what they have undertaken, and what they have the means to do. And in a profession which brings so constantly before the mind all the more serious questions of life, in their most serious form, these hours of introspection must be more frequent, and their effects more lasting. It is difficult to conceive of a stream which should flow for ever over beds of ore without bearing away some grains in its waters, or of a mind that could dwell daily on the truths of Christianity without imbibing somewhat of their chastening spirit.

The clergy of every class generally receive their education in colleges and seminaries, completing their course at the university, and thus becoming exposed, to a certain extent, to the injurious influences of these institutions. But they are educated with a direct object ever present to their minds,

and are thus in a measure guarded against that vague and languid tone of thought which must of necessity prevail wherever the development of mind is sacrificed to the monotonous labors of routine. It is not uncommon to meet with men who preserve a taste for literature amid all the engrossing cares of professional life, and know how, without pedantry or affectation, to interweave its embellishments with their most arid discussions. They mix, too, in the world, see things as they are, study man in his actions, and look for his motives, where alone they are to be found, in his interests and his passions. And thus they arrive at a thorough knowledge of their true field of action, the human heart, and of the means of acting upon it judiciously and with effect.

Their position in society naturally depends to a certain degree upon their personal qualities; for although their profession may gain them a place there, yet nothing but the power of making themselves useful and agreeable can preserve it. In all good society you will be sure to meet some members of the clergy; and if you see them taking a part in diversions which Protestants look upon as unbecoming to their profession, you should remember that there is nothing in their views to condemn it. Enter into conversation with them, and you will find them often intelligent, not unfrequently highly cultivated, and always firm upon questions of duty. If you try to engage them in discussion, they are generally too well prepared to decline it, but are not more given than their brethren of other countries to force their doctrines on unwilling ears. The relation which they bear to their parishioners naturally brings them into a more or less intimate intercourse with them, not unfrequently imposing upon them the difficult task of being counsellors and guides in temporal as well as in spiritual concerns; and if this trust is sometimes abused, it is full as often exercised with scrupulous integrity. Their interest in general events and the political questions of the day, of course, depends in a great measure upon the original diversities of individual character. But whatever touches upon the interests of their religion they follow up assiduously, and their opinion upon public occurrences is always to a certain extent affected by the probable bearing of these upon the welfare of the church. And this is the way in which they will be brought to take a decided part in the struggle for independence; for they feel that Italy is Catholic

both by its associations and its convictions, and that the church can never be free until the nation becomes independent.

We would not hazard too broad a generalization from particular facts; but whatever may be the case in other countries, in Italy the science of medicine is far more apt to form liberal minds than that of law. How far this may depend upon individual character, and how far upon the peculiar character of each study, we will not now pause to inquire. There is something in the practice of medicine which frequently sets the physician at variance with established authority, and throws him altogether upon his own observation and judgment. The nature of law, on the contrary, confines the practitioner strictly to his text, leaving him, at the utmost, room for displaying more or less ingenuity in his interpretation of it. Thus the former are led to form habits of close and accurate observation, while the latter are taught to look up to some acknowledged authority, and submissively abide by its decision.* And in all but those who ascend to the real sources of their science in the common principles of our nature, the result must be a ready subservience to authority, and an uncompromising rigidity of system, different in kind, but in degree perfectly similar to that of the man who devotes himself too exclusively to the exact sciences. Thus, when at the diet of Roncaglia, Frederic Barbarossa called upon the law school of Bologna to examine the question of his regalian rights, that learned body of native Italians decided unanimously in favor of the emperor, and against their countrymen.

But besides the common practitioners, there are profound jurists, men who study hard and think deeply. Romagnosi's works are an admirable example of what the study of legal science may do for the science of humanity; and no one can study Gioja without taking broader views of his duties as a man and as a member of society. The young lawyers of Italy are formed in the logical school of the civil law, that collection of written reason; but their minds are enlarged, and a higher impulse is given to them, by the writings of their own great jurists. Many, when the day of trial comes, may

*It was probably this Italian view of the subject which suggested the remarks in the first book of Botta's Storia della Guerra dell' Independenza.

be found wanting, benumbed by routine, and enchained by their personal interests; but there will also be many to whom the struggle will be all the more welcome for all the sacrifices it may impose.

We believe, therefore, that the hopes of Italy are definite and substantial, for they are founded on her territorial division, which is better adapted for union and defence than it ever was before; on the increased communication between independent states, which is awakening a livelier sense of their common interests as a nation, without effacing those distinctive characteristics to which each and all have owed so much of their glory; on the character of her literature, which is pure, energetic, and national; on the progress which the Italians themselves have made towards a knowledge of their real position, which is the only security of their being qualified to improve it; on the existence of a middle class, uniting the aristocracy and the people by the accessions which it receives from each, and endowed with the activity and energy which fit it for efficient and appropriate action; and in that progress of moral and social character which alone can give the energy that wins, and the constancy that preserves and forms, the surest trust of those who accept with earnest conviction the great lesson of history, that liberty is the reward of virtue.

ART. II. Political Economy, and the Philosophy of Government; a Series of Essays selected from the Works of M. DE SISMONDI. With an Historical Notice of his Life and Writings, by M. MIGNET. Translated from the French, and illustrated by Extracts from an unpublished Memoir, and from M. de Sismondi's Private Journals and Letters; with a Preliminary Essay by the Translator. London: John Chapman. 1847. 8vo. pp. 459.

THIS book is very unskilfully made up. Its contents are selected with little judgment from the miscellaneous writings of Sismondi, and are baldly and inaccurately translated. The biographical materials which are annexed are meagre and fragmentary; but they add something to our previous knowl