wisdom of the heavenly Father who had so recently afflicted him, in a strain so exalted and sincere that to this day all who heard him dwell with enthusiasm upon the scene."

Of the living lights of Andover, New Haven, Hartford, and Cambridge; of the learned and accurate Stuart; of Bacon and Bushnell, with their light but shining armor, Jarvis with his vast erudition, and Norton, whose exact and comprehensive scholarship, clear, compact and beautiful style, and masterly discussions of the evidences and genius of Christianity are fitly applauded by Mr. Griswold, our limits forbid a particular characterization. Coming from New England into New York, we find in the last generation the wise and pious Hobart, and his Presbyterian contemporary, Dr. Mason, who deserves to be classed among the most eloquent preachers since Bourdaloue and Massillon entranced the gay world of Paris, or Barrow and Taylor warmed and invigorated the colder hearts and minds of London. It is related that the celebrated Robert Hall, after listening to a sermon by Mason, while the American orator was in England, declared that his "occupation was gone;" he could never hope to approach so great a master; and was so impressed by his superiority that he could not be prevailed upon for nearly two months to erënter a pulpit. Mason has left us no compositions to sustain his great reputation; but we know that his mind was thoroughly furnished with the best learning; that the fulness of his mind gave him his powerful and fit command of language; justifying the words of Horace :

"cui lecta potenter erit res,

Nec facundia deseret hunc, nec lucidus ordo."

Passing from the theologians, eminent as such, to those who have been more especially distinguished as religious moralists, we meet first the venerated name of Dr. Channing, whom we have always regarded as one of the most interesting and remarkable characters that this nation has produced. He was not distinguished for those qualities that usually confer celebrity in this country; for his nature was in fact a complete antagonism to all the characteristics of our people and our day. In all

wherein the ordinary great of these times are strongest, he was nothing; and that which constituted the mystery of his undying influence, was what the popular mind was little able to analyze, however quick it might be to feel. He was not eminent for keenness of intellectual penetration, for closeness of logic, dexterity of argument, or copious strength of passionate eloquence : the magic of his power consisted in the exquisite sensibility of his moral apprehension, in his subtlety of spiritual perception, in the fineness and freedom and fervor of his sympathies with nature and man and truth. His greatness was in an unusual way. In meeting him in society, the first impression undoubtedly was disappointing. Certainly, he was not great after the same fashion that Webster is. Of the logical analysis, the demonstrative power, the piercing and all-pervasive ratiocination that, like the formulas of the higher mathematics, is at once comprehensive and exact, which Webster has in such prodigious perfection,—Dr. Channing, as we have intimated, possessed little or nothing. When for the first time you "coped" him, to use the Duke's expression,prepared, of course, more or less, for that re-active, wrestling vigor that you look for commonly, from a strong mind, there was absolutely no re-action at all; and the sort of shock was felt, which one experiences when he has braced his muscles for a strenuous effort and finds that the object he opposes, offers no resistance whatever. You got a fall It was not, that the display of mental force was toned down by a peculiar delicacy of taste or an unwonted suavity of temper; the mental force, nay, even the ability to understand and reply, seemed quite to be wanting. Of course, the visitor had no mind to appreciate what proceeded from one who appeared to have no sympathy with his perceptions. If he were a quick and confident man, he went hastily away in contempt; and remained, forever after, intolerant of the praises of so unimpressive a companion. But if he chanced to be of a more patient and inquiring temper, and remained to observe and consider, his curiosity was soon engaged by something altogether unexpected; and out of his first disappointment grew the capacity to comprehend those qualities which, when once comprehended, were sure to be admired. He made acquaintanco

with a character wholly new and singular, in whose developments he soon felt himself intimately interested; a character which first puzzled, and then charmed. He beheld mental capacities, not so much rare in order, as novel in kind; sentiment doing the work of understanding, and doing it with infallible accuracy; feeling made rational, and reason warmed and animated by sensibility. It seemed as if, a Des Cartes in morals, Dr. Channing had by some fundamental conception, reconciled two faculties and two domains, before separated and antagonist, and had reduced affection and intellect to one; originating, in effect, a new analysis. So simple, quiet, and even loose, did this new method seem, so little of the old geometrical formality had it, that you might doubt its power and efficacy; but when you saw it decomposing with ease the insoluble problems of philosophy, developing social theorems of immense application, and without any failing cases at all; and, if not explicating all political difficulties, at least turning their flank and taking them in the rear, and thus provisionally determining them, then your doubt turned into wonder, and your wonder grew to confidence and the enthusiasm of admiration. He formed, in truth, a new centre of opinion and action in this country; he might almost be said to have introduced a new element into our civilization, and to furnish a new variety of character in our history. The effects of his career upon American society will never cease; and whatever fresh commotions may disturb the waters of life among us, the gentle wave that emanated in expanding circles from the sphere of his operations will be reproduced in larger and broader sweeps throughout all times, and that agitation will be for the healing of the nations.

In the same dignified company, a high place is justly given to Dr. Wayland, whose vigor and originality are appreciated. In regard to the literary characteristics of this distinguished writer, Mr. Griswold has been guilty of an infelicity, which he will probably correct in a new edition; he has given a description that is applicable only to Dr. Wayland's later productions, and added specimens from his early works which are marked by qualities of a very different kind.

Of American novelists, the earliest that attained general distinction and enjoys a still-living reputation, was Charles Brockden Brown. In some of his characteristics he resembled the school of Godwin; in some qualities, he bore the stamp of decided originality and power. His narratives exhibit great ingenuity of mental contrivance; his characters are analyzed with a morbid acuteness; both are so vivid in their impression, and so connected in the sequence of the parts, that if the reader's interest is once engaged, it is held by a kind of fascination to the end. His writings, however, want relation to nature and ordinary life; they lack the invigoration of human sympathy, and the grace of familiar and domestic sentiment. They look like wonderful pieces of mechanism; they excite our respect and wonder, but do not attract affection. The decorations of his style resemble cast-iron ornaments, more than the genuine flowers of imaginative feeling.

But the writer who in this department has risen to the highest order of greatness, and in a style of narrative entirely his own exhibited the fullest luxuriance of creative vigor in art, is Mr. Cooper. With all that is impressive and splendid and peculiar in the condition and character of this continent; with the prairie, the solemn forest, the lake, the wild and boundless ocean; his genius is associated in enduring connection. The influences which in the silent mighty regions of the west act upon the character of man till they inspire it insensibly with a force and sublimity kindred to their own; the enthusiasm that "thrills the wanderer of the trackless way" of waters; are subjects of the first magnitude and difficulty in romance; and the pen of Mr. Cooper has been equal to them. If you consider the variety of subjects over which his fancy has cast an illustrative ray, and the novelty of the effects which he has accomplished in fiction; if you follow him through the long range of characters and scenes; the Indian, the revolutionary soldier, the western adventurer, the sailor, the pirate, and many others; in all of which he is superior, and in some of which he is supreme; it will be acknowledged that he possesses a copiousness and energy of imagination which few in any day have exceeded. Few have been gifted with a

larger share of the idealizing faculty, and none have exercised the faculty with more exquisite taste and judgment. The elevation and lustre of romance are given to every subject which his narrative takes up, yet the impression of reality is always preserved undiminished. The truth of the scene is always closely kept; the character, effect and tone of nature are never sacrificed. He never indulges in false creations; he never resorts to distortion from a want of strength to render the simple and genuine impressions. Persons and incidents and circumstances are described with minuteness enough to individualize and bring them vividly before us, but without that painful subtlety of characterization and description which forget that they are addressed, not to the intellect, but to the imagination and the taste. It must be remembered, too, in estimating the creative power of his genius, that in the cases in which his success has been most brilliant he was not dealing with scenes around which traditionary narrative had thrown a romantic charm, or incidents and characters that national feeling had invested with a sentiment which the novelist is called upon merely to render and not to impart; that he was not occupied with the "old poetic mountain," which "inspiration breathes around," nor with the valley or the stream on which the shadows of the past linger and sport, but with regions bare of association; with plains and hills and rivers not glittering in the ray of any noble recollection; with characters known to us only in connection with vulgar or repulsive or disgusting accompaniments. He was called upon first to drive away the atmosphere of familiarity that surrounded and degraded the landscape, and then to breathe through all the region, from his own resources of fancy and feeling, the roseate air of romance.

Next to Mr. Cooper, in the walks of fiction, and in the power to invest familiar narrative with ideal grace and sentiment, we are disposed to place the authoress of "Hope Leslie." There is a charm of imaginative purity and a beauty of refined thoughtfulness in all her writings, which have caused us to read them again and again without diminution of interest or admiration. When woman becomes an original and vigorous author, without ceasing to be a delicate and gentle woman, authorship is seen in