motives. We regret, as much as Sir Walter can do, the neglect of this powerful and salutary spring of human action; but if this objection is to prevail, what shall be done with the scores of novels liable to the same censure, against whose moral tendency he has said nothing; and what, we ask, is to become of the Waverley novels themselves? But it is not fair to say of Bage that he would make reason and philosophy the only foundation and stay of virtue; he has called in the powerful aid of education. His Hermsprong was born in America of English parents, who train him up in the principles which govern his life. He goes to England, where he treats a peer as if he was his equal, and questions the necessity of certain political and ecclesiastical abuses. These are probably the "speculative errors" which give a dangerous tendency to the book. Sir Walter speaks of the "cant" of those who object to the moral tendency of Tom Jones. This is an indefinite expression, and easily applied. What name shall we give to the language of those who cavil against the moral tendency of Hermsprong

?

Our author's prejudices against Bage's speculative doctrines do not, however, prevent him from justly estimating his literary merits, in a passage with which we shall conclude this article.

"The works of Bage, abstracted from the views which we have endeavoured to point out, are of high and decided merit. It is scarce possible to read him without being amused, and, to a certain degree, instructed. His whole efforts are turned to the development of human character; and, it must be owned, he possessed a ready key to it. The mere story of the novels seldom possesses much interest; it is the conduct of his personages, as thinking and speaking beings, in which we are interested; and, contrary to the general case, the reader is seldom or never tempted to pass over the dialogue in order to continue the narrative. The author deals occasionally in quick and improbable conversions, as in that of Sir George Osmond, from selfishness and avarice, to generosity and liberality, by the mere loveliness of virtue in his brother and his friends. And he does not appear to have possessed much knowledge of that species of character which is formed by profession or by nationality. His seamen are indifferent; his Irishmen not beyond those usually brought on the stage; his Scotchmen still more awkward caricatures, and the language which he puts in their mouths, not similar to any that has been spoken since the days of Babel. It is in detecting the internal working of a powerful understanding, like that of Paracelsus Holman, that Bage's power chiefly consists; and great that power must be, considering how much more difficult it is to trace those varieties of character which are formed by such working, than merely to point out such as the mind receives from the manners and customs of the country in which it has ripened. "A light, gay, pleasing air, carries us agreeably through Bage's novels, and when we are disposed to be angry at seeing the worse made to appear the better reason, we are reconciled to the author by the ease and good humour of his style."-Vol. ii. pp. 199, 200.

ART. XXXIV.—Lectures on Geology; being Outlines of the Science; delivered in the New-York Atheneum, in the year 1825. By JER. VAN RENSSELAER, M. D. Associate, and Lecturer on Geology to the Atheneum; Member of the Royal Medical Society, Edinburgh; Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Naples; of the Linnean Societyof the Society of Encouragement, and of the Medico-physical Society, Paris; Director of the American Academy of Fine Arts; Corresponding Secretary of the Lyceum of Natural History, and of the New-York Horticultural Society; Secretary of the Literary and Philosophical Society, and Member of the Historical Society, New-York; Member of the Society of Natural History, Leipzic-of the Society for Promotion of Arts, and Correspondent of the Lyceum, Albany. 8vo. pp. 358. New-York. E. Bliss & E. White.

THE establishment of the Atheneum, will probably form an era in the literary history of New-York. Originating with a few individuals devoted to scientific and literary pursuits, its plan proposed to establish, by their united exertions, voluntary courses of lectures, by which the attention of the public might be attracted, and the wealthy and liberal citizens of our great commercial mart, induced to promote objects that might tend to exalt and elevate not only our civic, but our national character. The following extracts from their address, will serve to point out the primitive views of the associates :

"It is from a character for a high degree of progress in literature, in seience, and in the fine arts, that all lasting national reputation is to be derived. The wealth derived from commerce may vanish; the pride of moneyed opulence may be checked ; but the works of genius, the productions of learning, and the monuments of taste, are indestructible and unfading. Deeply impressed with these truths, a number of persons of literary and scientific pursuits, of whom the undersigned are a committee, have associated for the purpose of endeavouring to raise an institution upon a scale worthy of the city in which they dwell, and call upon the public for that support which it so munificently bestows upon all the objects of interest that are properly presented to its view. In making this appeal, they feel a confidence of success from the well known liberality of their fellow citizens; and should even this expectation be disappointed, they trust that they may derive, from a proper pride, a just sense of the dignity of the city, and the evident necessity of placing it, in this respect, as it already is in all others, above its commercial competitors, what even its often tried munificence might not alone accomplish.

"With these views, they beg leave to submit the objects and motives of their association to the public.

"(1.) Many of the sciences are at the present time in a state of proVOL. I.

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gressive improvement, unexampled in the annals of history; the press teems with literary productions of the most important and interesting nature. To numbers of our citizens versed in scientific subjects, or possessing a taste for their cultivation, the time and opportunity of keeping up with their rapid advance is denied-while the productions of the European press are beyond the reach of even those who possess both the means and inclination to obtain its most valuable works. It is therefore proposed, that the associates of this institution shall appoint, from their own body, persons who shall annually deliver public discourses, in which they shall detail the progress of those branches of literature and science that are most intimately connected with their individual pursuits. Among the many subjects that may be adduced, as fitted for discourses of this description, may be mentioned: the progress of Moral Science of the Literature of France, England, Germany, Italy, and our own country-of Physical and Mechanical Science-of Chemistry-of the Fine Arts-of the Useful Arts, and Applied Sciences of Natural History-and of the Mathematics. Among objects so various, every portion of the community may discover such as are suited to its own peculiar taste; and should the several parts be well executed, they will much abridge the labour of following the ceaseless progress of human intellect, and render that task easy to those whom more active and profitable avocations withdraw from the pursuits of learning.

(2.) Many parts of literature, science, and the arts, may be cultivated for the sake of the pleasure they produce, and the agreeable relaxation they afford from the cares of domestic life, the dissipation of the fashionable world, and the turmoil of business. It is, therefore, a prominent object with the associates, to provide popular lectures upon such subjects, open to the patrons and subscribers to the institution, and to strangers; and from among their number, they propose to select lecturers, who shall, for six months in the year, by a rotation among themselves, produce daily one lecture upon some topic of general interest. In the first outline of such an institution, it would be difficult to define precisely the departments to which these lectures should be devoted; and much will depend in this respect upon the future state of learning, and on the qualifications and pursuits of the associates. It may, however, be reasonably anticipated, that Political Economy, Modern and Ancient Literature and Poetry, the Fine Arts, Natural History in its three branches, Physics, Chemistry Elementary and Applied, Phrenology, &c. would excite interest and attract public attention. It is proposed that these lectures shall be open to both sexes; and it forms no unimportant feature of the plan, that the ladies of New-York will thus be enabled to pursue studies and investigate subjects, from which, by the present system of education, they are excluded."

This address bears date in May, 1824, and is signed by 58 gentlemen. A few weeks before that time, no more than five could be found hardy enough to hope for success; many of the names comprised among the signers of the address were obtained with difficulty, and even of them but few felt any great anticipation of a favourable result. The publication of the address, however, caused a great change in their sentiments, and in those of the citizens at large. The name of associate became instantly a title of honour, and was so eagerly sought for, that

each new election was attended with close and severe balloting among the associates themselves; and such, finally, became the excitement, that the association formed for mutual aid, and which had at first been humbly content with soliciting. the use of names, that by previous labours had become eminent, was, by the disappointed candidates, stigmatized as a literary aristocracy. Still, no great amount of patronage was at first obtained; nor was it until after the delivery of the eloquent address of Mr. Wheaton, and the actual opening of the courses of lectures in the month of December, that the associates had a prospect of realizing, to any great extent, the fruits of their labours. The first lecture was delivered by Professor Moore, of Columbia College; it was attended by barely a hundred persons; but such was his brilliant success, that he closed his course in the presence of an audience only limited by the size of the room, of which every part was crowded to overflowing. The ladies of New-York, let it be remembered to their honour, led the way, and by their influence chiefly, a committee of associates, appointed for that purpose, was enabled to obtain the signatures of a number of respectable merchants, to a call of a public meeting. At this meeting, the views and objects of the institution were detailed in a most luminous and eloquent manner by Mr. Charles King, a large subscription was obtained upon the spot, and a committee of merchants appointed to seek for further support.

Up to this time, every thing seemed to promise the associates the utmost success. A plan was suggested, by which it appeared practicable to form a union among all the literary institutions of the city, and to bring their joint strength to bear upon one common end. In carrying this into effect, much was hoped from the influence of the trustees and professors of Columbia College; indeed, it is in no small degree owing to their aid that so much was done at so early a period. Three of their professors delivered courses of lectures with flattering success; the College Chapel was granted for the purposes of the Atheneum, free of all expense; and upon an application for ground, on which a building for joint purposes might be erected, an answer was given, by which, as it was provided that the rent named should be wholly invested in books, or other articles of mutual interest, to be open to the use of the members of the Atheneum, no part of the funds of that institution need have been diverted from their legitimate object.

But at this moment, unhappily, incidents occurred, which still throw a shade over the prospects of the Atheneum. The disappointment of those who had at first, refused to become as

sociates, or had been finally excluded; the opposition of the enemies of Columbia College, who repined at seeing its reputation promoted by the success of its efforts for the public good; a spirit of jealousy among some of the merchants, the source of which it is impossible to discover; and, finally, (as is said,) feelings of personal hostility, that ought, on such an occasion, to have slept, seemed all at once to unite to oppose and thwart the views of the founders, and blast the promising prospects of the institution. The subscriptions, which appeared, from the rate at which they first increased, to be likely to reach to $100,000 at least, suddenly ceased; contests and disputes in retion to the constitution of the association were excited, and the whole ended in such a change of its features, as tore the entire power from the hands of the founders, who might fairly have been considered as best qualified to conduct the concerns of an institution which they had themselves planned and carried into most successful operation.*

We shall say no more on this painful subject, but merely remark, that the conduct of the associates on this occasion is perhaps more to their honour than any other part of the history we have recounted. Far from seeking to retain their powers, or to withdraw from the institution, they promptly met the wishes of the subscribers, and have not permitted the expectations of the public to be disappointed by relaxing in their exertions, although they might have been fully justified in so doing, by the treatment they received. Their services have been entirely gratuitous, and they are about to provide courses of lectures for the present year, equally interesting and varied in subject with those delivered during the season that has elapsed.

Nor is the excitement produced in the mercantile class of the community, less likely to add permanently to the reputation of the city. We have stated, that causes intervened to interrupt the accumulation of the permanent funds of the Atheneum; but before this time, a spirit of liberality had been shown, that is honourable in the highest degree; and, although causeless jealousies were excited, and this laudable spirit depressed, we

*Of this success we shall give a single proof: Fourteen years have elapsed since the foundation of the Boston Atheneum; in all that time, it has been found impracticable to furnish courses of public lectures, although a declared, and the most important and generally useful object of the institution. The associates of the New-York Atheneum were enabled, within the first year, to furnish courses of lectures that were attended by 600 persons, including all eminent for science, learning, beauty, or fashion. The lectures of the British Institution, however celebrated, never drew so numerous an assembly.