his devotion to habits of an opposite kind. The wonder was to find in this lively young barrister the special man for the onerous office which he filled with distinction for many subsequent years. But it was no such great wonder after all. It is the young who regenerate the world! It is to the young alone we must look for the boldness of conception, the indifference to difficulties, the elements of activity and daring, the freshness, eagerness, and self-reliance which are essential to the achievement of hazardous enterprises. Wordsworth was contemporaneous with the Review, and was one of the earliest of its victims. Of a joyous and elastic physical constitution, strengthened by habitual exercise in the mountains, he was in some respects the reverse of Jeffrey. He abhorred wine and fermented liquors, yet highly enjoyed" convivial" society, although he seldom went into it. As to reviews and reviewers, he appears to have held them in utter contempt, his soul being, as he says of Milton, and as quoted by Mr. Gillies, like a star, and taking a starry pleasure in dwell ing apart, in a certain high consciousness of its own elevation. It is no disparagement to the genius of Wordsworth as a poet, to say that, as far as all present opportunities enable us to judge, he was but an indifferent critic of others, and by no means capable of estimating himself. His tendency was to underrate in the one direction, and to overrate in the other. He held Byron in aversion, and had but an indifferent opinion of Scott; and upon all occasions, when questions of taste were in dispute, referred to his own works as the unerring criterion and final appeal. In one of his letters to Mr. Gillies, when he wants to show what a "bad writer" Byron was, he picks out a line from him and contrasts it with one of his own, where the same sentiment is put not "formally" as Byron puts it," but ejaculated, as it were, fortuitously in the musical succession of preconceived feeling," a process Mr. Gillies must have been rather puzzled to comprehend. If the forthcoming life of Wordsworth be addressed to the elucidation of his poetical labors, it will be a book of permanent interest; but little, or worse, is to be expected from his correspondence, or the dicta gathered from his conversations. His fame must be delicately conserved, or VOL. II.-5 some risk will be incurred by penetrating beyond the boundaries of his works, which are the best monuments of his genius, and which, in fact, inclose all the events of his life. We believe that he was latterly prevailed upon to note down the circumstances in which they originated, and the trains of thought out of which they flowed, or which they were intended to illustrate, and that it was his own desire that his biography should be limited to these memoranda. If that desire has been observed, and that no mistaken admiration shall have led to the introduction of the contemporary criticisms he occasionally uttered, in which the weakness of his judgment betrayed him into the strangest fallacies and prejudices, his biography will exhibit a life pure and lofty, and transmit his name to future times with the full lustre which his own ambition yearned for. Hogg had quite as high an opinion of his own powers as Wordsworth. But what was a deep conviction in Wordsworth, shut up and somewhat scornful towards the outer world, was in Hogg pure vanity, and danced upon the surface. When Mr. Gillies hinted at revisions and the advice of friends, reminding him that "Voltaire had his old woman," (Mr. Gillies, we presume, meant Moliere,) and that Scott was in the habit of consulting Erskine and others on his poems, Hogg replied "That's vera like a man that's frighted to gang by himsel', and needs somebody to lead him. Eh man, neither William Erskine, nor any critic beneath the sun shall ever lead mei! If I hae na sense eneuch to mak and mend my ain wark, no other hands or head shall meddle wi' it; I want nae help, thank God, neither from books nor men." This was frank and out-spoken. The vanity here was open and decisive, and was generated by that facility in composition which constantly kept his thoughts in advance of his pen. He could not believe that a man who was able to compose with such celerity could stand in need of any one's advice. Ease was power with him-fluency included all the qualities requisite to perfection. Hogg had another pleasant crotchet about authorship. He maintained that book-learning could be of no use to a veritable poet, and that to make sure of avoiding imitation, it was necessary to keep clear of books. That was his own side of the ques tion, and he held to it pertinaciously—the | for the sake of employment which his urgent illiterate against the learned, genius against necessities render imperative. Nor is this knowledge, for works that are to have the all. The excess of production has reduced true impress of natural feeling and origi- the stimulus to exertion by lowering the nality. Notions such as these launched on scale of profits. He cannot afford to run the refined society of Edinburgh by an in- the chance of embracing those departments spired shepherd were calculated to startle of literature for which nature and opportuthe tranquil coteries who had hitherto relied nity may have best qualified him. He has upon book-learning for every thing. The no choice but to cultivate the occupations consequence was that the number of aspi- from which alone he can wring an income, ring geniuses marvellously increased, and as whether he is fitted for them or not. How Hogg had laid it down as an immutable little we know how many excellent novelmaxim that no man could be a poet, unless ists, dramatists, historians, and biographers he was perfectly original, they rushed into are wrecked in newspapers and magazines! all sorts of contortions and eccentricities in The retrospect, upon the whole, conducts us the divine rage to be quite new, and unlike to this conclusion, that we have advanced every body else. Even James Hogg, there- into a period of increased literary activity, fore, had some share in the revolutions of but that the palmy days when great reputathe literary world. tions, with corresponding advantages, were gained by small and leisurely efforts, are at an end. It would not be so easy to produce a revolution now. When original writers start up they are always followed by imitators; but novelties supersede each other too rapidly in our day to make it worth while to cultivate the art of imitation. Literary fashions do not last long enough-they come in and go out too quickly-to encourage much speculation in second-hand popularity. Besides, the world is growing too practical to attach the same importance to forms that produced only a few years back such tribes of Scotts and Byrons. And writers who apply themselves to literature as a profession, or even in the hope of earning personal distinction by their labors, must sooner or later discover the tendency of the age they address. It is evident, from the amount of ability employed anonymously in modes unknown to our immediate predecessors, exercising a wide influence over the public mind, and reflecting back no reputation upon the individuals from whom it emanates, that authorship has taken up new ground, and is dependent, to a considerable extent, upon precarious resources. The periodical writer, whatever skill or erudition he may possess, whatever successes he may achieve, is unknown to the public, and through a life of labor is unable to accomplish a reputation upon which he can ultimately found any claims to sympathy or succor. He is forced into the dark by the pressure of an altered system, and compelled to forego fame, which in his, as in all other pursuits, is the foundation of fortune, SONG OF THE SPIRIT OF GOLD. BY ELIZA COOK. MINE is the rare magician's hand, I spread my sceptre, and put to flight Some lowly child of earth has erred, But let me shield the sinning one. Passion and crime may wear the mask, The dame has come to her waning years- Does it not pain the breast to note How the eyes of the aged will glisten and gloat? Pile on to your masses, add heap to heap, Hatred dwells in the poor man's breast, The patriot boasts his burning zeal Gold. I work much evil,-but, yet, oh! yet, I reign with pride when my throne is set That loathes the chance of the rattling dice, The starving foe or needy friend. Glory is mine when I shed my light On the heart that cannot be lured from right; That seeks to spread the cheering ray On all that come around its way. Cursed is wealth when it falls to the share Of the griping dotard or selfish heir! From "Chambers' Edinburgh Journal." MESMERISM.* In a recent paper, we treated of the qualities of the Od Force, and of the ways in which it manifested itself to our sight and feelings. We then showed the strange bond existing between man and the globe on which he lives, and how much he is unwittingly influenced by the lifeless matter around and beneath him. Let us now proceed to a still more interesting part of our subject, and observe the way in which the Od Force, circulating in each of us, can be propelled outwards, and made to influence others. The practice of animal magnetism seems to have existed in the earliest ages, and, more or less, among all nations with whose ancient history we are familiar. But in those ages it was made a mystery of, its secrets were jealousy kept from the mass of the people, and served to invest its adepts (generally the higher class of the priesthood) with a character and attributes seemingly divine. This appears to have been especially the case in ancient Egypt. In later times-as among the Rosicrucians of mediæval Germany-the same mystery was kept up, but from a different reason. The age that burned witches, and imprisoned Galileo for maintaining that the earth re * This paper coming to us from a respectable quarter, and containing information on a subject which at present excites much attention, we do not feel called upon to exclude it, merely because we have not ourselves had the opportunities enjoyed by the writer of becoming convinced of the truth of the phenomena described and referred to. The reader will please to receive the paper as one presented for the gratification of any curiosity which may exist on the subject of Mesmerism, and not as a declaration of our own faith upon that subject; on which, however, it is but candid to say, we entertain none of those prejudices of skepticism which as often form a measure of ignorance and self-conceit as of knowledge and true wisdom.-Ed. The researches of science it denounced as profane; and powers which it could not account for were summarily ascribed to the devil. Hence the illuminati of the middle ages had to veil their discoveries from the public eye, only communicating them to a chosen few, banded by oath in Secret Societies. volved, was obviously not a tolerant one. | ble of reaching the clairvoyant degree, and that the progression is not always regular from stage to stage, but varies with different persons, and even with the same person at different times, both in order and extent :1. As soon as the mesmeric process has taken effect, the patient falls into a profound trance. In some cases one or other of his senses is partially active, but in general he is totally insensible. You may cut off a leg or an arm, and he will not feel it; you may fire a gun at his ear, and he will not hear it. In circumstances so unfavorable to its preservation, it is not surprising that, by the beginning of last century, the knowledge of animal magnetism had become virtually extinct, or could only be gathered, dimly and in fragments, from the not very intelligible writings of the old mystics. The merit of its rediscovery is due to Mesmer; and accordingly the science of animal magnetism has very generally been called after his name. Puységur subsequently discovered that the magnetic trance could be induced by a simpler method than that practised by Mes mer. The principal features of the process are too generally known to need any description here: suffice it to say, that the result can be obtained either by contact or passes-by the eye, or by the will. As a general rule, the mesmerizer should be stronger than the person he operates on. From their weak diet and apathetic temperament, Dr. Esdaile found the natives of Bengal very susceptible to the magnetic treatment; but the case is different with Europeans. With us a person in health succumbs only to a skilled operator, remarkable for mesmeric power; and if he be robust in body, as well as in health, it is almost impossible to affect him. The lymphatic temperament is the most easily subdued; while a restless, energetic mind is least so. Trance is ordinarily induced in from five minutes to half an hour; but sometimes more than half-a-dozen sittings are required ere this takes place. Among French patients, the mesmeric powers are more rapidly developed than with English or Germans. The English especially, says Dr. Mayo, for the most part require a long course of education, many sittings, to have their powers drawn out: but "these are by far the most interesting cases." Let us see now what are the principal stages in the development of the mesmeric powerspremising that very few persons are capa 2. After continuing thus for some time, or after being several times entranced, the patient awakes within himself. He cannot see any thing; but he hears and pertinently answers his mesmerizer, and sometimes others also. 3. By and by a new phenomenon appears. Without seeing, he sympathetically adopts the voluntary movements of the operator. He imitates what he says and does. He will sing a song after him, though the music be strange to him, and the words be in a foreign tongue; and will throw himself into any posture the operator may assume, however difficult to maintain, and will continue in it motionless as long as you please, or until he awake. Thus Dr. Esdaile made a native Bengalese, who knew not a word of English, sing "God save the Queen," and others of our national ditties, in capital style. He gives a curious account also of the odd rigid postures which he made his patients assume; and mentions that any limb could be instantaneously thawed by directing against it a jet of cold water. Thus with a syringe, and from a distance, he shot down one limb after another of his living statues; while directing a jet-d'eau against the calf of the leg brought them at once to the ground. 4. A step further and the entranced person, who has no feeling, or taste, or smell of his own, feels, tastes, and smells every thing that is made to tell on the senses of the operator. If the most acrid substance be put in his own mouth, he is quite insensible to its presence; but if sugar or mustard be placed on the operator's tongue, the entranced person immediately expresses satisfaction or disgust. So, also, if you pluck a hair from the operator's head, the other complains of the pain you give him. Dr. Mayo accounts for these sympathetic | have been placed in magnetic connection phenomena by supposing that the mind of (en rapport) with him. Thus such persons the entranced person has interpenetrated the nervous system of the operator; that in the third stage, it is in relation with the anterior half of the cranio-spinal cord and its nerves, (by which the impulse to voluntary motion is originated and conveyed ;) and in the fourth stage, with the posterior half also. answer This interpenetration can extend farther; but before this happens, a phenomenon of an altogether different kind manifests itself? this is transposed sensation. The operator contrives to awake the entranced person to the knowledge that he possesses new organs of sensation. Comparatively few persons can be brought as far as this, but many make a tantalizing advance towards it, thus: They are asked, “Do you see any thing?" and after some days they at length "Yes!" 66 What?" A light." "Where is the light ?" Then they intimate its place, which may be anywhere around or above them, and describe its color, which is usually yellowish. Each day it is pointed to in the same direction, and is seen equally whether the room be light or dark-their eyes meanwhile being shut. And here with many the phenomenon stops. Others now begin to discern objects held in the direction in which they see this light. In most of the persons in whom Mr. Williamson (of Whickham) brought out this transposed sensation, the faculty was located in a small surface of the scalp behind the left ear. The patients generally saw objects best when held at five or six inches distant from and opposite to this spot; but with one the best distance was seven or eight feet, and behind her. Some can see to read with their finger-ends, others with the pit of the stomach and in some rare cases this visual faculty is spread over the whole cutaneous membrane. Dr. Mayo mentions a curious case in which a girl, when entranced, saw with the knuckles of one hand; and on smearing the back of that hand with ink, she could no longer see with it. 5. In the fifth stage, the entranced person reaches what has been called the state of self-intuition; he obtains a clear knowledge of his own internal, mental, and bodily state, and generally possesses a like power of internal inspection with regard to others who have frequently told the exact nature of their disease; have prescribed for themselves, in no recorded instance erroneously; if subject to fits, have predicted the precise hour of their recurrence, sometimes months beforehand, as well as the period of their own recovery. It is to this stage and the next that the term clairvoyance, or "lucid vision" has been applied. 6. The sixth degree is just an extension of the preceding one, and has been styled that of universal lucidity. When a person has reached this stage, if there be given him a lock of hair, letter, &c., belonging to an unknown and distant party, (and of course impregnated with his peculiar Od,) the clairvoyant will forthwith mentally go in search of him, and will tell where he is, what he is like, what he is doing-nay, even how he is both in body and mind. To this stage belongs the remarkable phenomenon of mental travelling by entranced persons; the more complicated cases of which prove that the mind of the clairvoyant actually pays a visit to the scene in question, and can see things, or pass on to remote places, of which the fellow-traveller has no cognizance. Instances of this are stated. We quote one in illustration from Dr. Mayo's book :--" A young person whom Mr. Williamson mesmerized became clairvoyant. In this state she paid me a mental visit at Boppard; and Mr. Williamson, who had been a resident there, was satisfied that she realized the scene. Afterwards I removed to Weilbach, where Mr. Williamson had never been. Then he proposed to the clairvoyante to visit me again. She reached, accordingly, in mental travelling, my former room in Boppard, and expressed surprise and annoyance at not finding me there, and at observing others in its occupation. Mr. Williamson proposed that she should set out and try to find me. She said, 'You must help me.' Then Mr. Williamson said, We must go up the river some way till we come to a great town, (Mainz.") The clairvoyante said she had got there. Then said Mr. Williamson, ‘We must go up another river, (the Maine,) which joins our river at this town, and try to find Dr. Mayo on its banks somewhere.' Then the clairvoyante said, 'Oh, there is a large |