tion as the fastening of a vampyre proves the presence of a living body. Civilization alone can furnish it its food, but in the act she is drained of her life-blood and dies. If a universal history of the pro

But if we would ascertain the true relation of wealth to civilization, we ought to compare whole classes or countries, rather than individuals. As a class, it must be admitted, the rich are likely to be more highly cultivated than the poor. As will appear by a due consideration of what has been already said, wealth furnishes facilities, means and excitements for social culture, and when a proper use is made of it, civilization is certainly promoted thereby. This effect is still more likely to follow in respect to communities than classes, for though great wealth may not benefit its possess ors, it is almost certain to improve society in general, by promoting the various arts that adorn human life and cultivate the human mind. Yet, fully admitting all this, we shall not find that the civilization of different countries has been, or is proportional to their wealth. In wealth, England is greatly superior to France, but according to the unanimous testimony of continental Europe, France has ever been superior to England in civilization. Were the effeminate Lydians, with Croesus for their king, more civilized than the Spartans with their money of leather and iron, their stern integrity and lofty patriotism? It is true there was always something lacking in the social culture of the Spartans-they were never so highly civilized as their more inquisitive and communicative, though often conquered neighbors, the Athenians-there was always a remnant of rudeness and coarseness in their character; yet in civilization they were undeniably superior to many far more wealthy contemporary nations.

As for luxury, which is sometimes represented as the highest proof and fairest flower of civilization-it is rather its gangrene and plague-spot. It pre-supposes civilization as death pre-supposes life. It proves the existence of civiliza

part would Nineveh with its Sardanapalus, Babylon with its Belshazzar, or Persia with its Artaxerxes and Darii claim therein? Even those forms of civilization which contained other and immortal elements, elements which have come down shedding their kindly influences, even to our own times, were driven from their ancient seats by luxury. So it was with the Grecian and Roman civilization. So it was with that of the Italian republics in the middle ages, which for a time exhibited an almost miraculous display of genius, courage, activity, prosperity. But commerce and enterprise introduced wealth. They knew not how rightly to use or enjoy it-they fell into luxury and effeminacy, with their accompanying vices, cruelty and selfishness, and so were ruined. In short, all history conspires to teach that great wealth is not an indispensable means, nor is luxury a healthy symptom of a high degree of civilization.

But it will be confidently anticipated. by many, that in the general and equable distribution of the means of external wellbeing, especially if this be joined with a general diffusion of the elements of useful knowledge, we have the test and measure of the social progress of any community. But if, in the time of Louis XIV., several countries of Europe be compared in these respects with France, the comparison would result greatly in their favor, though France then stood confessedly at the head of European culture. Sparta was probably superior to Athens in these respects, though less highly civilized. So probably are Prussia and the United States at this moment superior to England or France; yet Prussia will freely acknowledge both England and France to be before her in civilization, and it is hardly worth while for us to contest the point in our favor with the unanimous voice of the civilized world against us. Finally, to bring the question more nearly home to our apprehensions; compare the population of one of our large cities with the scattered inhabitants of the country in respect to general comfort and intelligence, and we suspect the comparison would turn out in favor of the latter; yet all will allow that on the whole the cities are the great

is ignorance. Wisdom and pleasure are synonymous words in the Bible. The body is unquestionably a clog to the keenest perceptions of which the soul is capable, but if it blunt the edge of our pleasures, it does the same to our pains. When the preacher declared that all here was vanity, he only meant all vain employments. Love to God, charity, mercy, pity, conjugal love, friendship, the sweets of industry, the delights of a pure life, the innocent enjoyments of rural occupations, the satisfaction of a right use of our talents, the placidity of a quiet conscience, are all earthly pleasures, they are not vain, for we shall enjoy the same in Heaven, and the zest of their enjoyment will be heightened by the recollection of their enjoyment here. But men will frequently seek enjoyment in objects which they know will yield them none: they will do so, too, even while they caution others against the same conduct. Joseph Andrews was justly astonished in observing that fashionable people thought to gain the respect of their friends by filling their houses with costly furniture, while they laughed at their neighbors for doing the same thing. There is probably not a lady in Broadway who feels the slightest degree of respect, or veneration, or love, or friendship, for the stock in trade of any upholsterer between Union Square and Bowling Green, and yet there is hardly a lady in the same distance that will not pride herself on the possession of a new suit of curtains, or a set of rosewood chairs. The chairs and curtains will give pleasure to nobody, but the cost of them might produce inconceivable happiness if dispersed among the poor and needy.

We look at a fine house, a fine picture, or a fine park, and admire them; perhaps we inquire the name of the artist who produced them; but we never bestow a thought on their owner. If we wish to look at handsome furniture we can drop in at Boudoine's or Meeks'. Mrs. Johnson is not elevated a hair's breadth in our esteem for having the articles in her drawing-room, which we saw exposed in an auction-room last week. What do we care whether Mr. Jones or Mr. Brown be the owner of a picture by Page, or of a statue by Powers? All our love and admiration are bestowed upon the artists and their works, not upon Mr. Jones and Mr. Brown, whom we like or dislike without any regard to their property, which may pass into

other hands to-morrow. But Mr. Jones

and Mr. Brown expect to receive pleasure from possessing things which would afford none if they were not possessed.

Swedenborg has not designated the nature of the four hundred and seventyeight pleasures experienced by the dwellers in the lower heaven, where that number are found, but there is one which he mentions in another place, that exactly resembles one of the grand pleasures of this lower world. It is the delight of a parent's heart upon the entrance into life of the first-born. Is there conception in this pleasure? Is it of the earth, earthy? or is it not pure and celestial, free from all taint of selfishness and sin? Speaking of infants in heaven, Swedenborg says, "when they entered, the flowers above the entrance glittered most joyfully." Will not all parents

whose little ones have been taken from them put faith in Swedenborg? But while those celestial flowers glittered with joy in heaven, what blackness and anguish issued from the portals through which the innocents had passed hence. We are not among the disciples of Swedenborg, but it is not the smallest of our pleasures to suffer the sweet delusion of faith in his revelation concerning the State of Infants in Heaven:

"How all things are insinuated into them by delightful and pleasant things, which are suited to their genius, has been also shown to me, for it was given me to see infants handsomely clothed, having around the breast garlands of flowers, resplendent with the most beautiful and heavenly colors, and likewise around their tender arms. Once it was also given me

to see infants with their tutoresses, to

gether with virgins, in a paradisaical garden beautifully adorned, not so much with trees as with laurel espaliers, and thus porticoes with paths conducting towards the interior parts; the infants themselves

were then clothed in like manner, and when they entered, the flowers above the entrance glittered most joyfully. Hence it may be manifest what delights they have, and also that by things pleasant and delightful they are introduced into the goods of innocence and charity, which goods are by those things continually in

sinuated into them from the Lord."

If we believe in this, shall we not be more solicitous to get to Heaven that we may know, and converse with the tutoress who has been charged with the precious care of our little boy?

H. F.

pression-the history of the world, and the present state of Christendom, conspire to demonstrate that such a type of freedom is essential neither to the progress nor to a high (observe, we do not say the highest) advancement of civilization. Little children, in their simplicity, are apt to think their fathers the most important personages in the world: in like manner, there are many among us who have grown up with the fixed idea, that we are not only the freest and happiest, but the best educated and most civilized nation on earth. In their view, all that now remains to be done is to Americanize the world. We will not offend their prejudices by instituting a comparison between some of the old monarchies of Europe and ourselves. We will merely ask them if republican Switzerland is, in their opinion, more civilized than absolute Prussia, or monarchical France, or aristocratical England? We could wish that Christian civilization furnished more republics, with which to continue the comparison. Over our South American sisters it is pious to throw a veil. But we will ask further, if France made no social progress under the despotic government of Louis XIV. ? or, if she has been going backward ever since the end of the Reign of Terror? or, if England has remained stationary since Cromwell dis. missed the Rump Parliament? The inquiry here is not whether civilization is a desirable thing-it is only about facts, applying to them the term according to its ordinary and common-sense acceptation: and so applying it, we find that civilization-in the highest state it has yet reached is not tied to the forms of a popular government. We shall have occasion to recur to this point hereafter, and must now hasten to conclude the answer to our preliminary question.

We mention then, finally, as factors and products of civilization, Science, Literature and the Fine Arts, on the one hand; and Commerce, with the Mechanical and Useful Arts on the other. Both have an important bearing upon it, but its connection with the latter is much less direct than with the former. Its central idea is Science, Literature and the Fine Arts. If it is considered as a process, a becoming civilized, its central idea is progress in these departments; and if it is considered as a state, a being civilized, that idea is a high degree of attainment in them. The cultivation of the mind, the unfolding, the discipline, the enlarg

ing and strengthening of the intellectual powers, and the refining of the tastes and sensibilities-this is not indeed the whole, but the central idea of civilization, Herein lies the very substance of the thing itself-while Commerce and the Mechanic and Useful Arts are but external means, aids, influences. The latter are but the leaves of the tree of civilization, while the former, if not the fruits, are at least the flowers. These views are fully borne out by a reference to history and facts. Of the comparative civilization of all the ancient nations we judge by this test. Hence the Grecian and the Roman tower high above all others as we look back over the wide waste of the past. To a hasty view no other objects are visible.

On a closer examination, however, appear evidences of a Jewish, an Egyptian, an Indian, a Saracenic civilization, but we refer them still to the same standard. Nineveh, Babylon, Tyre, Carthage, were immensly rich, immensely powerful; but they are not known to have made any considerable advances in literature or the fine arts, and men are silent concerning their civilization. The same test we apply to modern nations. Thus we judge of the civilization of France, of England, of Germany; and thus we infer that Italy, Spain, and Portugal have been retrograding in later times. But to this point also, we shall have occasion to recur.

If now we should venture to give a definition of civilization, it would be the complete and harmonious development of man in all his appropriate relations to this world-or, more fully expressed, the expanding and cultivating of all the pow ers and capacities of man considered as a social being; especially of those higher faculties which characterize man's proper nature; and including the refinement of the manners, tastes and feelings. In reference to each man, considered individually, this process might be called humanization, i.e., the complete drawing out and unfolding of his proper naturemaking him perfectly a man-realizing his ideal character; (and hence, with singularly beautiful appropriateness, the proper studies of a liberal education used to be called, not only the Arts, but the Humanities). But as the nature of man can be thus completely expanded only in society, the process is rightly called civilization. Man makes society, and society civilizes man. Civilization terminates therefore in the cultivation and

perfecting of individuals; but it is a social cultivation and perfection. The self-improvement of each individual must go on in living connection with the observation and appreciation of the progress made by others. The more extensive these two processes are, and the more thoroughly they interpenetrate and modify each other, the more perfect the result. It is the internal which is to be unfolded, but it can be unfolded only in connection with the external. The subjection is to be guided, corrected, stimulated by the objection reflection, discipline are to be conjoined with observation, conversation, intercourse the wider the better. This is the way in which war, and one of the ways in which commerce, exert so beneficial an influence on civilization. Hence the debt which modern Europe owes to the Crusades. To nothing is civilization more directly opposed than to narrow. mindedness. A man truly civilized is distinguished for breadth and comprehension of view. He has what the Germans call a world-consciousness. He carries about with him the familiar feeling that he is here in a world where there are not only New Englanders, with their peculiar prejudices and institutions -not only Americans and Europeans, but Hindoos also, and Turks, and Tartars, and Chinese and Japanese, who, like his own neighbors, are all proud of their several countries, creeds and characters; in a world, too, where there have been Jews, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Arabians: in short, his mind is to a certain degree a geographical and historical omnipresence. He feels, moreover, that he is in vital connection with a race which has been, and is, in a process of development wherein he shares, from which he has received, and to which he must contribute. He is not a mere isolated individual. In all the fortunes of the race he takes sensible interest. He is a man-and whatever concerns humanity comes home to his bosom. Columbus is said to have discovered America; though multitudes were on the spot before him. But they knew only of the existence of their own tribes, and of their immediate neighbors, whom they chanced o meet in war or hunting-they had no history, no future, i. e., they were savages: they were not properly men; and hence they are said to have been discovered as if they were mere things. True civilization also implies a ready sympathy and power of appreci

ation. It enters with facility into the characters and ideas of other nations, and of more imperfect forms of social culture; and by impartially judging them, includes and makes them its own. In fine, its idea, its mission is to bring into one, the past, the present and the future-all nations and all generations. Its spirit, therefore, is both conservative and progressive. It keeps up the continuity of the race. Its monuments are enduring. Its apostles live and labor for all time, though often obscure and neglected in their own.

What share have we in such a civilization? What are our claims and prospects as compared with the leading nations of Europe? We proceed to offer some views in answer to these queries with a deep sense of insufficiency, but at the same time with a clear consciousness of an earnest and impartial spirit. If what shall be said be true and sound as far as it goes, we trust that, in view of the immensity of the subject, our readers will pardon some incoherence and great deficiencies.

We, Americans, are often accused of indulging a vain and boastful spirit-and not without reason; though it seems to be quite forgotten by our accusers that we are not altogether singular in this respect-nor are our boasts altogether groundless-nor is it a greater sin to boast than to traduce. If we boast more than others, it is because we have more people among us who take it into their heads that they have a right to think for themselves, and not only for themselves but for the rest of the world-more mouths which are opened not only to utter the minds of their owners, but to serve as the organs of the nation. Every little village newspaper dares to speak in the name of the American people; and every petty 4th of July orator and Lyceum lecturer, considers himself the pro tempore mouth-piece of the whole country. Now it is certainly assuming more than any considerate man will venture to maintain, to suppose that we can furnish such myriads of men with views equally enlarged and minds equally cultivated, with the select few who presume to stand forth as the representatives of other nations. Among the mass of the people in most other countries, there is probably as deep-seated a feeling of their national superiority as there is among ourselves; but this feeling is among them comparatively silent, because there is too little

pression-the history of the world, and the present state of Christendom, conspire to demonstrate that such a type of freedom is essential neither to the progress nor to a high (observe, we do not say the highest) advancement of civilization. Little children, in their simplicity, are apt to think their fathers the most important personages in the world: in like manner, there are many among us who have grown up with the fixed idea, that we are not only the freest and happiest, but the best educated and most civilized nation on earth. In their view, all that now remains to be done is to Americanize the world. We will not offend their prejudices by instituting a comparison between some of the old monarchies of Europe and ourselves. We will merely ask them if republican Switzerland is, in their opinion, more civilized than absolute Prussia, or monarchical France, or aristocratical England? We could wish that Christian civilization furnished more republics, with which to continue the comparison. Over our South American sisters it is pious to throw a veil. But we will ask further, if France made no social progress under the despotic government of Louis XIV. ? or, if she has been going backward ever since the end of the Reign of Terror? or, if England has remained stationary since Cromwell dis. missed the Rump Parliament? The inquiry here is not whether civilization is a desirable thing-it is only about facts, applying to them the term according to its ordinary and common-sense acceptation: and so applying it, we find that civilization-in the highest state it has yet reached is not tied to the forms of a popular government. We shall have occasion to recur to this point hereafter, and must now hasten to conclude the answer to our preliminary question.

We mention then, finally, as factors and products of civilization, Science, Literature and the Fine Arts, on the one hand; and Commerce, with the Mechanical and Useful Arts on the other. Both have an important bearing upon it, but its connection with the latter is much less direct than with the former. Its central idea is Science, Literature and the Fine Arts. If it is considered as a process, a becoming civilized, its central idea is progress in these departments; and if it is considered as a state, a being civilized, that idea is a high degree of attainment in them. The cultivation of the mind, the unfolding, the discipline, the enlarg

ing and strengthening of the intellectual powers, and the refining of the tastes and sensibilities-this is not indeed the whole, but the central idea of civilization, Herein lies the very substance of the thing itself-while Commerce and the Mechanic and Useful Arts are but external means, aids, influences. The latter are but the leaves of the tree of civilization, while the former, if not the fruits, are at least the flowers. These views are fully borne out by a reference to history and facts. Of the comparative civilization of all the ancient nations we judge by this test. Hence the Grecian and the Roman tower high above all others as we look back over the wide waste of the past. To a hasty view no other objects are visible. On a closer examination, however, appear evidences of a Jewish, an Egyptian, an Indian, a Saracenic civilization, but we refer them still to the same standard. Nineveh, Babylon, Tyre, Carthage, were immensly rich, immensely powerful; but they are not known to have made any considerable advances in literature or the fine arts, and men are silent concerning their civilization. The same test we apply to modern nations. Thus we judge of the civilization of France, of England, of Germany; and thus we infer that Italy, Spain, and Portugal have been retrograding in later times. But to this point also, we shall have occasion to recur.

If now we should venture to give a definition of civilization, it would bethe complete and harmonious development of man in all his appropriate relations to this world-or, more fully expressed, the expanding and cultivating of all the pow ers and capacities of man considered as a social being; especially of those higher faculties which characterize man's proper nature; and including the refinement of the manners, tastes and feelings. In reference to each man, considered individually, this process might be called humanization, i.e., the complete drawing out and unfolding of his proper naturemaking him perfectly a man-realizing his ideal character; (and hence, with singularly beautiful appropriateness, the proper studies of a liberal education used to be called, not only the Arts, but the Humanities). But as the nature of man can be thus completely expanded only in society, the process is rightly called civilization. Man makes society, and society civilizes man. Civilization terminates therefore in the cultivation and