mentary rules of that part of grammar, including those of versification, are probably taught in the schools; but I am almost certain, though not from any information I received, that the higher branches have, in a general way, no attention whatever paid to them. I infer this, not only from the prevalent monotony of public speakers, but from the manner of reading in the domestic circle. I did not hear a single reader who did full justice to the author whose work he was reading, except perhaps in those passages requiring no vocal inflection. There seems in fact to be a notion in America, that if the pauses are correctly made, and the emphases duly marked, the perfection of reading is attained; just as if the spirit of the author could be communicated to the hearer by cold correctness. The best reader that I heard was a young lady at New York, who read prose with propriety and elegance, but failed in verse; the failure in the latter being occasioned by her attending to the sense in disregard of the metre.

The next cause of the alleged deficiency, I suppose to be the slowness of utterance; a fault very general, but nearly as fatal to eloquence as over fulness of pronunciation, which is the fault of so many English orators. The orator whose

words follow each other like the ticking of a clock, must necessarily fail in keeping the attention properly fixed. I have constantly noticed, that those orators whose utterrance is rapid but distinct, are the most powerful.

The last cause to which I think it needful to refer, is to that apathy which is so great an ingredient in the national character. Without fervour, it is impossible for an orator to thrill and hold captive his hearers. By elegance of diction and a melodious voice he may delight and enchant; but he cannot gain that ascendancy which is the aim and object of the first-rate orator, without those

Thoughts that breathe and words that burn,"

which never flow spontaneously from one of cold feelings.

CHAPTER XXV.

LITERATURE.

The

The literature of England is that of America. Our popular and standard works are reprinted, and circulated from Maine to Georgia, from New Jersey to Illinois. At a solitary log-house standing in the midst of the native forest, and remote from town or village, I found books which may be seen on the toilette of London ladies. poetry of Scott, Byron and Southey is as familiar to the Americans as to us, and the Waverley novels are devoured with equal avidity. The Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews, and several of our Magazines are regularly reprinted. Of native authors they have comparatively few, a circumstance by no means discreditable to them, as it is the almost necessary result of their situation. Yet they were highly nettled and indig nant, when a question was tauntingly put some years ago in the Edinburgh Review, "Who reads an American book?" The fact was, that they were sensible that from the paucity of their authors, the question was one not to be so easily answered as such a one as this, Has America

ever produced a great man? If this question had been put, it would have excited only a smile. Hence they may perceive, that so long as they manifest anger at English prejudices and sarcasms, it will not unreasonably be concluded that they are not ill-founded. Would Julius Cæsar or Alexander the Great have been offended, if they had been represented as cowards? Or would their own Washington have been offended, if he had been stigmatised as the enemy of his country? If then the taunting question of the Reviewers excited wrath in the Americans, we may be sure it was owing to their inability to answer it, or at least to their consciousness of its being a question naturally arising from the state of their literature.

Since that question was put, Washington Irving has redeemed the character of his country; though in my opinion, the want of native literature is no disgrace to them since they are amply supplied from abroad. When a country is furnished with an article, what signifies it whether it be of native growth or of foreign importation? Before however proceeding to offer any remarks on his writings or those of other authors of note, let me advert to the miscellaneous pamphlets constantly issuing from the press. I

saw.

was surprised on inspecting a number of these, to find that they were written so carelessly and slovenly, as to appear like the productions of a schoolboy unskilled in grammar. The Annual Report of one of the New York charity schools, was the most faulty composition I almost ever Some violation of syntax was perceptible in nearly every sentence, certainly in every paragraph. It is likely that the framers of that Report had had only a commercial education, and had never bestowed much time in reading any books besides their bibles and ledgers; as such, the errors may be pardoned. But what defence can be offered for the numerous errors in the publications of the Philadelphian Society for promoting Agriculture? a society which enrols on its list of members several men of literary reputation. These errors might in many cases pass unobserved, if it were not for the occasional attempt at fine writing; for where that is conspicuous we begin to criticise. I was much amused at an attempt of this sort in one of the pamphlets issued by the Colonization Society, which as a specimen I here insert, assuring the reader that it is only one instance out of many. "Africa," says the writer, "has been the cradle of a race of men, having characteristics sufficiently bold to distinguish them from every other people.