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which has not been employed by the established institutions, these institutions are at once condemned, and the newly discovered and more flashy arts are commended as far better fitted to occupy their place. Thus the lyceum lecture, having its proper place, and useful in its place, has been thrust forward by some shallow minds as a substitute for the drill of the school. According to this class of illuminati, the world is all wrong in the matter of education. There is no need of all this expenditure of time and toil and money in educating the mind! The venerable practices of drilling, flogging and screwing are but remnants of the dark ages, and should be immediately abandoned for lecturing and other gentler processes! Knowledge, instead of being beaten into men's heads, should be poured into their mouths by the spoonful! Thus, as in other cases, a thing good in itself is prejudiced with sound minds, from the exaggeration with which its claims are set forth. But abating all exaggeration, we look upon the popular lecture as of very considerable value for educational purposes. It is a sort of spoken review, It embodies the results of private study, condenses or selects from the views of others, reports the progress of science and the arts, and this in such a style and with such accompaniments as to secure the attention and apprehension of common minds. It thinks for those who will not think for themselves, and even reads to those who cannot read. It holds an important place, therefore, as an educational instrumentality, though not so high a one as is sometimes claimed for it.

But the lyceum, in its true position, is the antagonist of the theatre, not of the school, nor of the church. This is the only proper idea of it. idea of it. It is a protest against the theatre. It had its origin in the desire to substitute something more wholesome in the place of the theatre. It looks upon human nature as it is, and endeavors to make the best of it. Those who cannot be attracted by the church or the school, it would at least keep from going to the devil. And there is a large class of such in every community-of persons whose characters are unformed, whose minds are unsteadied either by thought or devotion, but who float along with the current of things, the sport of every influence, the victims of every temptation. In this class are included most young persons, the hope of every community, who, full of life and animal spirits, must be interested in something, and if nothing improving presents itself, fall into sinful indulgences. With such the first step in the downward course is generally to the theatre, as this is at the same time the most pretending, the

most attractive, and the most respectable means of fashionable dissipation. The lyceum is antagonistic to all enticing pleasures, but is especially so to the theatre, because it works something in the same line. Both make use of thought and language as their instrument, though in very different ways; the one as the principal thing, and the other as a convenient medium for exhibiting persons and action. The idea of entertainment is subordinate in the lecture, but predominant in the play. The lecture is didactic, the play artistic; the lecture instructs, the play acts. With the mass, at least, the play derives its chief interest from the personation of character and action,-from the individual actors, their costumes, their movements, their attitudes and situations. The sentiment is but little heeded, which, besides, is not of a nature to impart useful knowledge. It addresses itself almost wholly to the eye, or the passions through the eye, and hence, by varying movements and scenery, may please all who have the power of seeing. Doubtless the play-house has produced some of the noblest specimens of literature in every language, and has left a possession for all ages in such dramas as Hamlet, the Prometheus Bound, and the Clouds; but the great mass of plays are of a very different character from these. The drama is like statuary or painting, it is susceptible of the highest degree of ideal representation and the lowest degree of vulgar imitation ;-it may create from human elements something greater and more perfect than man, or represent with exaggerated prominence deformities, indecencies, and vulgarities, from which the veil should never be raised. Its character depends very much upon the audience. It is determined to please, at all hazards, and hence panders to the public taste, however depraved. Its great defect is that it has no middle ground of solid utility to rest upon. Its perfection consists in a high degree of ideality, which but few can appreciate, and hence it generally descends to low imitation, which the most vulgar can perceive and relish. And here, precisely, is the grand point of difference between the play and the popular lecture. The lecture would please as well as the play, but it would "please only to edification." It rests ever on the solid middle ground of utility. It is necessarily didactic, and hence has but little scope for pandering. This alone is sufficient to make a strong line of distinction between the lyceum and the playhouse.

But it is often objected to the lyceum, that it is entirely unrestrained in the selection of its topics, and hence is free to

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select improper, as well as proper ones. On the same ground one might object to freedom of speech and thought in general, as many indeed have objected and still do object to it. But the question is fully settled that thought and speech must be free, and whether this be regarded as an evil or not, it is the part of wise men to recognize the fact, and act accordingly. In these days everything is at the mercy of thought. It pries into everything. Institutions the most sacred and venerable are liable to be undermined or exploded by it. And our objecting to it will not prevent these results either. Thought will work, and language will give utterance to its workings, whether we will or nill. This is the grand movement of the age, and the only proper course for wise and good men is, to put themselves at the head of the movement and control it. There is much that is impracticable and unwise on this point in the Christian community. Because all the influences in society cannot be guided quietly along in the old channels and under the control of the old agencies, the staid portion of the community, who have been in the habit of having things in their own way, and who managed them very well, too, while it was possible to do it after the established methods, withdraw themselves more and more from public affairs, till they almost realize the Oriental idea of a philosopher, symbolized by an enormously thick-shelled tortoise, with his head and extremities drawn in from all contact with earth, and completely imbedded within his impervious crust. But such withdrawment accomplishes nothing, completely nullifies, indeed, the influence of the man; and when at length, aroused from his profound repose by external commotions, he timidly thrusts out his head from his encasement to discover the cause, he finds himself, perhaps, with the whole community, tossed by the convulsions of a final overthrow. The truth is, freedom of thought and action necessarily disturb old agencies and cut out new channels of influence. Perfect freedom always tends to individuality, and hence to more multiplied ways of thinking and acting. gress implies a previous state of imperfection, and at every step is a protest against the past. În the nature of things. this process of separation among those who, under less light, agreed, must continue to go on till truth and right being more universally established, men will unite in a higher and more comprehensive unity. The movement has fully commenced, and the most important question to be decided by the Christian community of the present age is, what course they should take in this general breaking up and reorganization of things.

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Shall all the new agencies which have sprung up be left to the control of bad or reckless men; or shall they be examined, and when they contain an element of good, be improved and wielded in the cause of right? We advocate most decidedly the latter course. "Prove all things," says an apostle, "hold fast that which is good." Let that which has been proved to be evil, and only evil continually, be condemned and exploded, but that which must exist and may be made a blessing, be fostered and improved. On this principle we think the theatre, which is an old sinner, and nothing but a sinner, deserves to rest under the reprobation of the virtuous, while the lyceum, originating in the wants of the age, and capable of much good, may very properly be fostered and used for the best interests of the community.

With these remarks upon the subject of popular lecturing in general, we pass to the particular specimens of lectures contained in the books named at the head of this article. On this part of our subject we must necessarily be brief.

These two volumes are brought together here, not from any particular affinity between them, but rather as indicating a whole class by its extremes; just as throughout life, every whole is made up of an antithesis of opposites, as of good and evil, light and darkness, summer and winter. They occupy directly opposite poles. Not only are they wide apart, but they are diversely electrified; and what is more, the one draws its electricity from the earth, and the other from the clouds. The one reflects the wholesome views of "literature and life" which are current among men ; the other, the mysterious mutterings of spirits of the night and of the air. The one sends up a gentle and healthful light from our hearths and homes; the other darts down fitful flashes and baleful strokes from the regions of darkness and mist.

Mr. WHIPPLE is a gentleman of fine parts and studious habits, who, in connection with the duties of a regular business employment, has attained a high degree of mental cultivation, and an extensive acquaintance with English literature. For several years he has been widely known as an able and brilliant critic and lecturer, and now, we believe, is considered on all hands the most accomplished of American essayists. His Reviews, in two volumes, have been before the public some two or three years, and have been greatly admired and much read; while his Lectures show a most decided public appreciation, in the fact that they have already reached a second edition. Mr. Whipple, as far as we are aware, has never attempted any extended work, but confined himself to

short essays, mostly in the form of reviews and lectures. This may be owing in part to the necessary distractions of a business employment, which allows of short and brilliant efforts, but hardly of continuous and laborious composition. But whatever may be the cause of his devoting himself to this species of literature, we consider the selection fortunate. While he has all the qualities of a critical and pungent essayist, clear insight, nice discrimination, a playful fancy, and tingling wit, we doubt if he possesses, in large measure at least, those comprehensive views and large conceptions of nature and of man which are essential to the production of a great work. He has more fancy than imagination, more wit than humor, more critical acumen than intuition, more culture than native power, is more of a lecturer than an orator, more a reviewer than a producer of thought. But perhaps we do Mr. Whipple injustice in thus inferring his inadaptedness to other species of literature from his eminent adaptedness to that which he has cultivated. But few, if any, we know, have the ability to excel in all departments of literature; still, that a man has succeeded in one department is clearly no proof that he could not succeed in another, but as far as it goes perhaps is evidence to the contrary; since success in one thing gives a presumption at least in favor of success in other things. Of his distinguished success as an essayist there can be no doubt; of this the volume of Lectures before us gives the most convincing evidence. We will briefly indicate and illustrate some of the more prominent of their excellences.

The Lectures, to all intents and purposes, are essays, yet essays admirably adapted to the end and occasions for which they were prepared, to be heard, not read,—to be spoken before audiences with varying degrees of cultivation, and in most cases assembled with the expectation of being entertained as well as instructed. To meet these demands, the author, while he has held himself to a thorough discussion of his subjects within the bounds proposed, has woven into his discourse apt illustrations and pertinent anecdotes, and sprinkled over the whole texture with wit. Nearly every lecture in the volume is a model in this respect of what a popular literary lecture ought to be. They exhibit the writer as retaining a proper respect for himself and his subject, and yet as anxious to instruct and entertain his audience. Take the following passage in illustration, from the lecture on "The Ludicrous Side of Life:"

That habit of instantaneous analysis which we call readiness has saved thousands from contempt or mortification. The dexterous leap of

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