and exercises considerable influence in the knitting up and unravelling of the plot. From this abstract, however imperfect, of the contents of the novel, the intelligent reader will see at once how much light it must necessarily throw upon the domestic and political economy of the vast empire in which the scene is laid, and may conjecture what stores of information will probably result from future researches into the same mine that has furnished this specimen. We are prevented by want of room, from entering at much length into a commentary upon the state of civilization in China, as indicated by the work before us; and must reserve most of the remarks which occur to us upon the subject, for some other occasion.

We may observe, in general, that the condition of society in this remote quarter of the globe seems to resemble that, which exists among ourselves, more nearly than has hitherto been supposed; and that the points of difference (which are nevertheless considerable) are not, in all respects, (though they certainly are in some very important ones) to our advantage. As regards the leading principles of domestic economy and the intercourse between the sexes, the Chinese are doubly unfortunate in the allowance of polygamy on the one hand, and the unnecessary restrictions imposed upon ordinary and harmless conversation on the other. The system that prevails on this subject in all the Christian countries, though strictly conformable to nature, and apparently the one that would suggest itself most readily to every correct mind, has never been adopted in any other part of the world, and is doubtless one of the circumstances that have contributed most powerfully to the progress of civilization in Europe; as it was itself, on the other hand, the effect of the general influence, upon all classes of the community, of our pure and sublime religion. In some

other principal features in the aspect of domestic life, the deep veneration of children for their parents, the warmth and tenderness of all the family relations, and the universal polish and softness of manners, we might perhaps with advantage take some lessons from the natives of the Celestial Empire.

Their political institutions, which have been hitherto but little examined, are, as we hinted above, well worth the attention and study of philosophers; and might perhaps furnish useful suggestions for the improvement of governments founded in the main on other principles. The constitution of the Chinese empire, instead of being, as is commonly supposed, an absolute and unmitigated despotism, in which the only element of power is the cudgel, is evidently one of the most popular forms of government that has ever existed; and although the mode of bringing the will of the people into action is different from the one in use with us, we are not compelled to conclude without examination, that it is therefore necessarily bad. The difference of form renders each system, on the contrary, a more interesting and useful object of study, to those who are familiar with the other.

As intellectual accomplishments are apparently much more important and valuable to their possessor, and as civilization is also of much older date in China than in Europe, it appears singular that the Chinese should not have carried the sciences to a higher degree of perfection, and should be in this respect decidedly inferior, as there is reason to suppose they are, especially in the mathematical and physical departments, to the western world. With our present scanty information respecting their institutions, situation, and manners, it would be idle to attempt to assign any precise reason for this inferiority. We may venture perhaps to conjecture, that the vast political importance attached to learning, may have turned

the current of zeal and industry almost wholly into the channel of moral and political studies, which are those immediately required as preparatory for the public service, and have led to the comparative neglect of all other branches of learning. Civil polity, we know, is habitually spoken of by the Chinese, as the great science, or, in their own phrase, the highway; and as it seems, at any rate, to be the one which leads to the possession of wealth, rank, and beauty, it is not very surprising that the majority should regularly follow it. But on this, as on all other points connected with the subject, we must wait for the fruits of further researches before we can speculate with much satisfaction, or draw conclusions with any great degree of probability.

39

THE SABBATH.

[Lady's Book.]

Of all the subjects that can be presented to the consideration of the people at large, Religion is the one, in which they take the deepest interest. Of all the occu

pations in which they can be engaged, religious exercises are those, which habitually produce in their minds the strongest excitement. If it were the object of a lawgiver, independently of any other consideration of expediency or duty, merely to provide the people with the means of agreeable occupation and amusement for a day of rest, he could not do it so well, if at all, in any other way, as by instructing them to devote it to religion.

Religion reveals to us the secret of our higher and better nature; lifts us above the common offices of daily life, into communion with the sublime Spirit, whose word created, and whose incomprehensible essence informs and sustains the universe. It teaches us, that we are not, as the base theories of a detestable sophistry would represent us, merely a different order of the same race of beings with the brutes that surround us, destined like them to pass an ephemeral existence, and then sink into nothing; but that we possess within us, the germ of a heavenly nature, for which death is only the opening of a new form of existence, and which will develop its faculties hereafter, through countless ages of happiness or misery, accordingly as the opportunities for improvement afforded here have been used or neglected.

Religion expands the intellect, by familiarizing us with the most interesting questions in the philosophy of matter and mind. It enlarges the heart, by repressing the selfish, and encouraging the social and benevolent feelings. It checks our pride in prosperity, and our depression in adversity, by impressing upon us the trifling importance of our present interests, when compared with those that belong to us as candidates for a higher state of existence. It consoles us under the agony of parting from those we love, by the reflection, that we shall meet them again in scenes of permanent happiness. In a word, it changes the universe from a chaos of confusion and misery, to a grand and beautiful creation, the fit residence and temple, of the High and Holy One that inhabiteth eternity.

It is not in nature for those who believe these sublime truths, to hear about them, and think about them, without the strongest excitement. What is there in the most absorbing affairs, the most exquisite entertainments, that can ever claim in any respect to come into competition with them? What is there, for example, in the fable of the most highly wrought and beautifully written romance, which can be compared for deep and absorbing interest with the splendid history of creation and redemption, of which the record is the Bible, the scene the universe, the time eternity, God, superior beings, and ourselves the subjects? Who ever complained of not being interested in the proceedings of a case at law, in which his property or his life was at issue? In the case which is argued every Sabbath in the courts of God, there is more at stake than any earthly property, or mortal life, our share in the inheritance of a better world, our happiness or misery throughout all eternity.

The mightiest minds of every age and country, have exhausted the resources of language in expressing the delight with which they habitually dwelt on this subject.