the human mind, and the character of the Christian revelation, that we should expect and quietly submit to them, rather than aggravate a division into a quarrel, by deprecating it and vainly attempting to heal it. It is perfectly proper and expedient, certainly in cities and large villages, that persons holding particular doctrines should associate and worship together. They ought of course to choose a minister who agrees with them, and it is folly rather than charity to force upon them, by way of exchanges, preachers who are disagreeable and cannot edify them. There need not on this account be any rupture of Christian harmony and brotherly love. Paul was evidently the fittest Apostle for the Gentile ministry, and Peter for that of the Jews, and they divided their work accordingly. For conscience' sake, for the love of peace, and the better edification of Christians, let it be so now. All this is well. Controversy and peaceable division we do not object to. Let sects exist as they must. The evil is not in that; but in their so treating each other as to make the word sect significant of malice, envy, hatred, and all uncharitableness. Let sects exist, and let discussion go on. But this denying and disparaging of the personal religion of individuals or classes, this laboring to beget in the minds of a sect a distrust and disaffection towards those preachers and writers in whom they are accustomed to feel confidence, and to whom they look for religious aid and edification, this harsh and exterminating warfare against unpretending and inoffensive books, designed for the religious improvement and direction of persons who have embraced the system of faith on which the books are known to be based, - this miserable and petty skirmishing we utterly deprecate. The review we have been examining is a specimen of what we mean and object to. We cannot see any good end it can accomplish, either for Christianity in general, or the interests of Orthodoxy in particular. Its author undoubtedly saw, that, according to his doctrinal views, there were great deficiencies in Mr. Ware's book. He could not in consistency be quite satisfied with it; it was not to be expected. But then if it exhibits the practical excellency of our system, as he says, better than any other book, why should he labor so earnestly to destroy it? Why should he be so extremely unwilling that our system should exert upon its adherents whatever religious or moral influence it is

capable of exerting? He knows that a large portion of this community are satisfied, and are likely to be satisfied, with the Liberal system; why then should he be so anxious to deprive them of a book, which he acknowledges must be, with their views, one of the most profitable volumes they can read? Does he prefer that men should renounce all religious faith, rather than be Unitarians, and deny or disregard all moral duties and graces, rather than practise them under the guidance and incitement of a Unitarian book? We are unwilling to believe this, and are accordingly at a loss for the motives with which the review was printed and reprinted. When our author saw that Mr. Ware's volume was not such as would meet the wants of Orthodox Christians, he should have remembered that it was not designed for them, and that the writer's name on the title-page would be a sufficient guaranty against its undue circulation and influence among them; and we are confident that he would have spent his time more profitably by leaving that work to its quiet and limited sphere, and employing his ready pen in preparing a practical work, the demand for which he perceives to be great, a work that would meet the religious necessities of those to whom Mr. Ware's could not be useful.

We intended to have noticed the chapters on the Communion, but the ample discussion of that subject in our last number but one, renders it unnecessary.

By

ART. VII.1. Biographia Literaria; or Biographical Sketches of my Literary Life and Opinions. S. T. COLERIDGE, Esq. New York. 1817. 2. The Poetical Works of S. T. Coleridge, including the Tragedies, Remorse, Zapolya, and Wallenstein. 3 vols. 12mo. London. 1829.

3. Aids to Reflection in the Formation of a Manly Character, on the several Grounds of Prudence, Morality, and Religion. Illustrated by Select Passages from our Elder Divines, especially from Archbishop Leighton. By S. T. COLERIDGE. First American, from the First London Edition; with an Appendix, and Illustrations

from other Works of the same Author; together with a Preliminary Essay, and Additional Notes. By JAMES MARSH, President of the University of Vermont. Burlington. 1829. 8vo. pp. 469.

4. The Friend: A series of Essays, to aid in the Formation of fixed Principles in Politics, Morals, and Religion, with Literary Amusements interspersed. By S. T. COLERIDGE, Esq. First American, from the Second London Edition. Complete in one volume. Burlington. Chauncey Goodrich. 1831. 8vo. pp. 510.

THERE is no writer of our times whose literary rank appears so ill-defined as that of Mr. Coleridge. Perhaps there is no one whose true standing in the literary world it is so difficult to determine. For ourselves we know not a more doubtful problem in criticism than this author and his works present. If it were lawful to judge men by what they are, rather than by what they have done, by the evidence they give of what they might accomplish, rather than by the value of that which they have accomplished, few would stand higher than Mr. Coleridge. His talents and acquirements, the original powers, and the exceeding rich cultivation of his mind, place him among the foremost of this generation. But this method of estimating a man's merit 'will hardly be thought righteous judgment in an age which is peculiarly prone to try every man by his works. Tried by his works, Mr. Coleridge, we fear, must ultimately fall, not only below the rank which nature and education had fitted him to maintain, but even below that which he now actually holds in the estimation of literary men.

As a prose-writer he has never been popular, though: skilled beyond most men in the use of language, and writing on subjects of the deepest interest. As a poet, though gifted in no common degree with the essentials of the poetic character, he has not been successful. As a philosopher, though at once both subtile and profound, and deeply versed in all the mysteries of the inner man, he has gained little else than smiles of compassion and ominous shaking of heads by his metaphysical speculations. For a reconciliation of these several antitheses we must have recourse to the history of the man. In the "Biographia Literaria," by far the most entertaining, and in our opinion the most instructive of

his works, we have that history in part; the influences which operated most powerfully on our author's youth, and the elements both of thought and feeling which entered most largely into the formation of his literary character, are there set before us with great clearness and precision; and from the data which this book furnishes we are enabled to account for much that would otherwise be unintelligible in the doings and not-doings of this remarkable man. Nature, it would seem, had endowed Mr. Coleridge with a singularly fertile and creative mind, a mind which, if left to itself with no other training than opportunity might supply, would have enriched the world with manifold and pleasing productions. The marks of this creative tendency are still visible in some of his poetical productions; we would mention in particular the "Ancient Mariner," and the tragedies.

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But at an early period of his education, our author's mind acquired a bias which proved injurious to its productive faculty, and which, by changing the tendency of his intellect from the creative to the reflective, in process of time seduced him from the open highway of literary fame, into more devious and darksome paths. We refer to the discipline which he received at the grammar school at Christ's-Hospital, as described in his life.* Such a discipline, though admirably adapted to invigorate the understanding, and to strengthen the judgment, was ill-suited to unfold a poet's talent, or to nourish creative genius of any kind. It was precisely the training to make a critic; and although we are unwilling to ascribe any irresistible influence to education alone, we cannot help believing that the strong tendency to criticism which has ever marked Mr Coleridge's literary pursuits, is in part the effect of early discipline. We do not mean that Mr. Coleridge has at any period of his life been a writer of critiques, as that business is generally understood, but that he has ever inclined to comment upon the sayings and doings of others, rather than to say and do himself. This propensity, however, has not been exercised on literary subjects alone; it has found a wider scope and a freer field in deep and comprehensive speculations on topics of national and universal interest, particularly those which agitated Europe at the commencement of the present century. It has been

*See Biographia Literaria, Chapter 1.

employed on knotty questions in politics, philosophy, and religion, it has canvassed the rights and duties of civil government, criticized the movements of nations, and passed judgment on the tendencies and characteristics of the age. The results of these speculations were first given to the world in "The Morning Post," and afterwards in "The Friend," a collection of original essays, which for depth of thought, clearness of judgment, sound reasoning, and forcible expression, have few rivals in the English language. For the American edition of this work, as also for the republication of the "Aids to Reflection," and "The Statesman's Manual," we take this opportunity of expressing our obligations to President Marsh. Next to the writer of a good book, he most deserves our gratitude, who in any way helps to increase its circulation. This praise is due, in an eminent degree, to Mr. Marsh; nor does this comprise the whole of his claims to our regard and good wishes; in the valuable dissertation which accompanies the "Aids to Reflection," he has done much to illustrate Mr. Coleridge's philosophical opinions, and has evinced a philosophical talent of his own, which we cannot but hope will some day be employed in more extensive undertakings.

To return to our author. After finding him engaged in the desultory and patch-work business of journal composition and essay writing, we are no longer surprised that he should have produced nothing of a more lofty and epic character. Whether the habit of small writing (under which name we include essays, reviews, and critiques of all kinds) be cause or effect, we shall not undertake to say; but certain we are, that this habit is always connected with an indisposition for more dignified and sustained efforts. From a skilful essayist we might expect excellence in small matters, a spirited ode or a pointed epigram, pointed epigram,—but never should we expect from such a one a well sustained epic poem, or perfect drama, a complete history, or system of philosophy. That species of talent which leads to fragmentary composition, will generally be found to be the offspring. of a mind which loves rather to dwell on particulars than to contemplate universals, and is more accustomed to consider things in their special relations and minutest bearings, than to expatiate in large and comprehensive views. In such minds the centrifugal force is out of all proportion to the