New-England, he writes like one, who lived in "the days of other years;" when he treats of recent characters and events, he writes, we do not say like one, "quorum pars magna fui" (for he is no egotist ;) but like one, who has been an attentive observer. Whoever is desirous of seeing New-Englandmen, in the costume of the times in which they lived, and New-England principles and manners, as drawn from original sources, may here bé gratified.

In regard to the manner in which this work is executed; if there is much to commend, there is not a little to censure. The characters are drawn with fidelity. Pious men are not exhibited as devoid of passions, common to human beings; patriots, as impatient to die for their coun. try; literary men as sublimated into pureintellect; nor any characters, as immaculate. Though pre-eminent among their contemporaries, and entitled to ever. lasting remembrance, they not only die, but live, like men. While their virtues excite emula tion; their imperfections admin. ister caution, and teach the important lesson of humility. Whatever are the author's theological or political sentiments, he is entitled to the praise of treating the diversified characters of men with christian candor and historical justice.

Of the style of this work, it is with regret that we find ourselves unable to speak in like commendation. In the selection of words "the wells of English undefiled" have not been sedu. lously frequented; in the structure of sentences, the lucidus ordo of Horace has not been

heedfully regarded; in the formation of periods, the organ of hearing has not been critically consulted. The composition is too colloquial. It may be com. pared, as the author compares old Mr. Wilson's sermons, "to a good kind of talking." Priscian might sometimes complain; Quinctilian, often. The lime labor of the ancients seems designedly left to other literary drudges. The antiquary has dug good marble from the quarry, and contented himself to deliver it to the artist roughly hewn. "Non omnia possumus omnes."

Were we to pass by palpable inaccuracies, it might be suppos. ed we did not discern them. But confession disarms criticism. The enormous collection of errata in the last page of volume would incline us to an indulgent sen. tence on an author, who thus pleads guilty; but, whether he should be recommended to mer. cy, is a nice and difficult ques tion. Many of the errors are typographical; and, had the work been written in Sanscrit, and printed at Calcutta, we should have considered it but just, to transfer responsibility for this part of the execution, from the author to the printer. Did the confession include all the errors, we might have been softened into compassion, and not able to withhold absolution. Had the uncorrected errors been few, we might have had resolution enough to attempt their correction; but finding them

Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks

In Vallombrosa, we despair.

The names of the two Biographical Dictionaries, recently

published, designate the objects of each. One embraces America; the other, New-England only. The American Biographical Dictionary contains accounts of 686 persons; the New-England Biographical Dictionary, of 338. The former has about 454 names not in the latter; the latter, 106, not in the for. mer. They have in common 232 names; and the American Biographical Dictionary has 227 names, belonging to New-Eng. land, not in the New-England Biographical Dictionary.

A Discourse occasioned by the Death of His Excellency JoNATHAN TRUMBULL, Esq. Governor of the State of Connecticut; and delivered at the request of the General Assembly, in the Brick Church in New Haven. BY TIMOTHY DWIGHT. D.D. President of Yale College. 8vo. pp. 28. New Haven, Oliver Steele & Co. 1809.

THE death of governor TRUMBULL was a national calamity. All who knew him (and who was ignorant of his character?) acknowledged his worth. Even those who differed from him with respect to some of his opinions, could not fail of recognizing in him an unusual share of personal excellence, and doing homage to his talents and virtues as a statesman, a patriot, and a man. We rejoice that one who held so high a place in the list of American worthies, has found a eulogist so entirely qualified to do justice to his well earned reputation.

This discourse is founded on Psalm xxxvii. 37. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. The explanation of the text is despatched in less than four pages. The remainder of the sermon is taken up with the character of the deceased, which is delineated with a strong, discriminating, and masterly hand. And the whole displays that justness of sentiment, vigor of thinking, and correctness style, which the public have so often received; and so long been taught to expect from president DWIGHT. We pronounce this one of the best productions of that gentleman's pen.

of

The traits of character by which governor TRUMBULL was distinguished, and which Dr. DWIGHT selects as the particular objects of eulogy, are, the practical cast of his mind-his prudence-his firmness-his attachment to the manners and institutions of his native Statehis attachment to the religious system of our ancestors-and his piety. Each of these traits is ably and strikingly illustrated.

In exhibiting the practical character of governor T.'s mind, the following passages occur.

"To the human mind there are three scenes of employment, in which, at times, it has acquired the distinction, customathe field of speculation; and the field of rily termed greatness: the field of fancy; action. The first is peculiarly the province of the Sculptor, the Painter, and the Poet. The Philosopher occupies the second; and the Orator claims them both. The third is peculiarly the scene of effort to the Hero, the Statesman, and the Patriot. It is scarcely necessary to observe, that these remarks are made iu

a comparative sense only; or that, in greater or less degrees, fancy, reason,

and action, are common to all men.

"The end of all thought is action: and the whole value of thought consists in

this; that it is the proper, and the only, means of accomplishing this end. He therefore, who is employed in acting vir tuously, and usefully, fills a nobler sphere of being, than he, who is busied in that course of thinking, from which the action is derived. The proof of this assertion is complete, in the maxim, that the end is always of more importance than the means.

It is a remarkable characteristic of human nature, that few speculative men become eminentlyuseful in the active spheres of life. Habits of speculation, long continued, and extended far, render the mind unfit for those vigorous efforts of activity, by which alone the practical concerns of mankind are prosperously managed. Speculative men, also, occupy most of their time, and thoughts, in devising, and establishing, general principles. Active men are chiefly employed in those details of business, which are indispensable to its success, and without which general principles are matters of mere amusement. Of these details almost all speculative men are impatient. Such men at the same time interweave, of course, their own theoretical views in every scheme of business, with which they are concerned. The energy of their minds is also employed, and exhausted, on their speculations; while the active business, to which they are destined, and ought to be devoted, engages only their feebler efforts: the dregs, the settlings of their thoughts. From these causes, and others connected with them, it arises, that a theoretical man is always a bad ruler. To such men, howeyer, there is often attached no small splendor of reputation. Whenever this is the fact, and they are raised to impor tant offices of government, they regularly disappoint, and mortify, their admir. ers. Their official life is unproductive, inefficacious, and, with regard to the business which they are expected to do, lazy Their views are visionary; and their designs, however well intended, totally unsuited to the objects, at which they professedly aim. Men they regard, not as they are, but as their imagination

has fashioned them; and the world, not as we actually find it, but as it is viewed by an excursive fancy. Hence their plans, instead of being fitted to promote the real welfare of man, are only a collection of waking dreams; a course of political Quixotism; regulating the affairs of a state in much the same manner, as the adventures of Amadis de Gaul would regulate those of a private indi

vidua!

"The excellent person, whom we are contemplating, was a direct contrast to all this. Devoted to active employments

from the beginning, accustomed to the various business of man, and sharpened in his discernment of practical subjects by the actual management of them, and by a long continued intercourse with those who were skilled in that management, he was habitually trained to that patient attention, that critical observation, and that skilful conduct, which are so useful and so indispensable, in all business of real importance. By observing, watchfully, every thing which was useful, and every thing which was noxious, in public affairs; the measures which ensured, and the measures which failed of, suc cess; he learned, in an unusual degree, the manner, in which success is obtained. Of this position his political life furnishes the most decisive proof Not a single visionary measure, not a capricious ex pedient, not a fetch, not a whim, disfig ures his public character, or presents & subject for a single disgraceful sentence in his political history. The story is all of one sort; and is told in one style. When he entered upon his public life, he struck a key; and moved in exact harmony with it to the end.

As his character was thus wise, and uniform; so it was eminently honora ble To the subjects, which have been mentioned, he gave the whole vigor of his mind. He was engrossed by them, as a Poet by the theme of his song; or the man of taste by the improvement of his villa. In all the successive spheres which he filled, his life, and his measures, were eminently useful; and deserved, and gained, the approbation of his own mind, and that of his country."

We have always considered the "steady habits" of New. England as the offspring of the religious principles which dis tinguished our ancestors. And of course we have ever regarded such of their descendants as abandon and oppose those prin. ciples, as chargeable with dead. ly hostility against the civil welfare of their country. To hear a modern Socinian praise the habits and institutions of our forefathers, while he ridicules their theological creed, mani. fests a grossness and hardihood of inconsistency, which one would scarcely expect to find among men of discernment and

reflection. Such a man is a more dangerous enemy of New. England than the wildest political visionary that ever labored to undermine her constitutions and laws. When the children of the puritans shall have gener. ally rejected those principles which entered so essentially into the formation of the char. acter of their fathers, they may boast of their descent, and celebrate anniversaries; but their glory will have departed! The following extracts appear to us to contain sentiments so just, so important, and so well expressed, that we cannot forbear to present them, at full length.

manners.

"The literary world has been filled with discourses concerning republics, and their various appendages. In other countries, as well as in this, the press has been loaded with observations concerning republican forms of government, republican rights, republican institutions, republican virtues, and republican Either these subjects are very imperfectly understood; or multiindes of those, who converse, and write, about them, can hardly be acquitted of sinister designs. Their practice and their declarations certainly have, in many instances, very little accordance. The state of Connecticut is more absoIntely republican, than any other, which for a long period has existed in the world. Its constitution of government was originally formed, and established, by the freemen in person. Its laws; its institutions, which are the result of its laws; its manners, which are the effect of both; its virtues; and, I might add, its vices to a great extent, also; together with its rights, duties, and interests, are all entirely republican. A man as such, is, in this state, possessed of more real consequence, than in any other More than half, I believe not far from three fourths, of its freemen hold, at some period of life, offices either civil or military; and thus actually share in the government of the state. The state is divided, successively, into counties, towns, parishes, and school districts: all of them bodies, holding, in subordination to the legislature, the powers of government over their local affairs; and thus superintending with peculiar felicity every interest,

public and private, of every individual. Here, also, no man, as such, has any other power, beside his mere, bodily strength. All power exists in the law: and this is powerful without any assignable limit. But the real power of law itself lies in the fact, that it is actually, and not in pretence only, the public will. Men, here, have generally sufficient intelligence to discern, that government is essential to their happiness; and to per ceive that their own government is peculiarly auspicious to this desirable object. Hence they feel a real approbation in this case; and exercise a real choice; facts scarcely predicable of the great body of the inhabitants, in most

other countries. In this lies the chief

strength of our political system.

"For this system, and all its parts, and consequences, the people of this state, are, under God, indebted to education, and habit It could not be established, nor, if established, could it be supported, I apprehend, even in its sister country, in any other country on the globe; not

Massachusetts. It could not have come into existence, even in Connecticut, among any other set of men, except those, or such as those, who gave it birth; nor among them, in any circumstances of a different nature. It could not be maintained by any people, except their descendants.

At the same time, it is, at least in my own view, the best government, which has hitherto existed. I do not intend, nor am I so ignorant as to believe, that any form of government is good in the abstract; or good for every people; but I intend, that under this government the inhabitants are, and even have been, more free and happy, than any other people ever were, since the beginning of time; and that their government is, at once, suited to their character, and the means of their happiness. It has, indeed, lost something, in modern times, of its former excellence: but it still retains more that is valuable, than can be found else. where; and more, than, if once lost, will ever be regained.

"As these mighty advantages have been preserved, hitherto, by the power of habit; and as habit depends for all its power on custom, and continual repetition; it is evident, beyond a question, that he, who loves this state; or who, in other words, is a Connecticut Patriot will equally love its laws, institutions, and manners. Such a patriot was the late Governor Trumbull. It was from these views, that he set that high price on the "steady habits" of this state; for which he has been sometimes censured by per sons, who, probably, had little considered the subject: while he has been ap

plauded for it by others, as being a sentiment equally honorable to his patriotism and his wisdom.

"Permit me, on this occasion, to say, that this is an attachment, in which every citizen of this state ought ever to follow this bright example; an attachment, which every citizen ought invariably to feel, and ardently to cherish: an attachment, which every citizen will feel, who clearly understands, and faithfully regards, the well being of himself, his family, or his country.

"Permit me further to say,that, should the Ruler of the Universe, provoked by our manifold sins, suffer our ignorance, our folly, our crimes, or the hand of a foreign enemy, to destroy this singular system, the brightest spot, which, since the apostasy, has been found on this globe, would be shrouded in darkness, without promise of returning day.

"The religious doctrines, which the planters of New-England, particularly of the Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Connecticut colonists, brought with them to this continent, have not unfrequently been styled the Doctrines of grace, and the Doctrines of the Reformation. That they are, substantially, the genuine doctrines of the gospel, is satisfactorily evinced by two very interesting considerations. The first of these is, that they have been the doctrines of those, who in every age have claimed the character of Orthodox; and who by their adversaries have been acknowledged to possess it in the public estimation. By this I intend, that, from the age of the apostles, they were those, in whom the apostolic church was regularly continued from period to period; so as to be, in each period, the same body with that, whose early history is contained in the acts of the apostles; with that, to which the several apostolic epistles were addressed. Let me add; they were those, in whom almost, if not absolutely, alone the christian character has appeared with uniformity, and lustre. That this body of men has judged justly concerning the doctrines of the gospel, and received them, at least in substance, as they are there revealed, cannot, I think, be questioned even with plausi bility, or decency. That they have mistaken them, regularly, through such a succession of ages, and yet brought forth their proper fruits in an evangelical life, is to me incredible. The fact would certainly establish this remarkable conclusion; that error has been productive of incomparably more piety and virtue in the world, than the truth of God.

"The second proof of this assertion is, what has indeed been hinted already, that these doctrines have effectuated,

among those who have embraced them, almost all the moral ex ellence, which has appeared in the christian world. If we may be allowed to understand the apostles in the plain meaning of their de clarations, these doctrines produced the mighty change which took place, among Jews and Gentiles, in the first and ser ond centuries. In the same manner they renewed a great part of the chri tian world in what is emphatically called the reformation. To them, so far as nj information extends, every revival of res ligion owes its existence. From the and those who received them, nearly e ery attempt to reform, and christianize mankind, to'publish the gospel in their rious languages, and to gather them in the fold of the Chief Shepherd, has ob ously sprung In them, let me add, the creeds and confessions of all the reformed churches harmonize, without an excip tion of any serious moment.

"Had we no other proof of the exed lence of these doctrines, beside their happy influence in the colonization of Ner England, and the beneficial character, which they have been the means of i stamping on our laws, institutions, and manners; even these would furnish strong presumption in their favor. will be remembered, that I have mer tioned these objects as forming a com nation, in my own view singular, as wel as eminently happy. Such colonies Be er existed since the world began. N others were ever formed in such a ma ner or by such bodies of men. No oth ers have permanently produced sadi consequences, or given birth to such! state of society.

"That this wise and excellent m should have received doctrines, so skr tioned, so beneficent to the interests mankind; that he should have regar them with a reverence, and submissi due to the revealed will of God; ! that he should have adhered to the with a firmness, which, though ca gentle, and catholic, was at the time immovable; was to be expected all, who were acquainted with his re character. He regarded them as glory of his country, the glory of the church, the glory of the gospel, sl, s this world, the peculiar glory of its v thor He loved all, who loved them he honored all, by whom they were ored and defended."

We should be glad to presest our readers with several other extracts from this excellent and able discourse, did not our lis its forbid. We take for grant