a mind soured with mankind, and a judgment plainly distorted, in respect to Johnson in particular; but of malignity we can see no trace. Indeed, we appeal to any intelligent reader, if, after a careful comparison of both books, the lights and shadows in which the Doctor's more prominent traits appear on Hawkins's page, are not as true to nature, as the unmixed and glaring brightness with which he is invested by his overweeningly fond companion. And we cannot but observe here, that, aware as Sir John must doubtless have been of the extreme antipathy of his fellow-biographer, this, if secretly returned, at least was not repaid in kind. He allows not the reader to see it. So dignified is he in this respect, that the contrast is striking. While Mr. Boswell was preparing for him a place so conspicuous in his own work, the knight, forgetting the etiquette of politeness, mentions the other but once; and this is, as the Doctor's companion in the Hebridean Tour, where he speaks of Mr. Boswell as one who highly valued him. Very likely indeed is it, that in this oversight the secret sore had its origin. Hinc illa lachrymæ !

Sir John's principal weakness as a writer is, without dispute, that on which the wits and satirists have bestowed so liberally their ridicule, his continual aberrations from his subject. He flies away at a tangent, whenever an agreeable opportunity for excursion offers, and for some twenty or thirty pages together, as it may chance, shows a most amusing forgetfulness of having any other subject in hand. We do not at this instant recollect so strong a case of rambling biography; yet it seems to us rather too much to say (as it is somewhere said), that Johnson is quite lost in the pages of the writer. The above quality of Sir John's book, with other vulnerable points, was very pleasantly and keenly satirized in three successive papers in "The Gentleman's Magazine" for 1787, (entitled "Hawkins versus Johnson,") which, it has since appeared, came from the pen of Professor Porson.

If an exception were taken to the specific editorial qualities we began with claiming for Mr. Croker, it is natural to expect it might be by Mr. Boswell himself, or those who are partial to him. Mr. Croker's prejudice towards him whom he was mainly to illustrate, steals forth in numberless instances. We confess ourselves unable to divine its cause. Those particulars concerning distant individuals which can be most easily

traced, furnish no clue,-political sympathies, for example. Herein we suppose them to be substantially alike; - true sons of the church, and, in affairs of the state, tories imo pectore. Johnson himself, indeed, could he have dictated and arranged this point while living, it may be thought, could not have found men more after his own heart, to rear the monument to his memory. There is just that fitness and proportion between the hero and his biographers and editors, which, whether their principles agree with our own or not, we like to see all being thorough-paced tories, Johnson, Boswell, Malone, Alexander Chalmers (who conducted the edition of 1822, intervening between Malone's and Croker's), and last, though not least, John Wilson Croker; - the last certainly as yet, and if we make bold to call him so prospectively, it is because to his successors, if he shall have them, nothing, so to speak, is left to perform.

ART. III. Woman, in her Social and Domestic Character. By Mrs. JOHN SANDFORD. From the London Edition. 'Boston. Leonard C. Bowles. 1833. 12mo. pp. 180.

WITHOUT believing that woman needs to be reminded of her duty more frequently and directly than man, but being ready to welcome any good book of advice addressed to either sex, we recommend this volume to those for whose benefit it was intended, and whose happiness and usefulness we think it well adapted to promote. It does not discuss the question, nor is it one which we shall discuss, whether sons or daughters, brothers or sisters, husbands or wives, fathers or mothers, best discharge their respective duties, but it aims to teach woman how to fulfill, in the best manner, her several callings and stations, whether man fulfills his own well or ill; — assuming the principle as a truth, which doubtless is a truth, that the good conduct of the one sex will have a favorable and not injurious effect on the behaviour of the other. A wise person will never refuse wholesome counsel, on the plea that it is as much or more needed by another. On the contrary, it will generally be found, that they who least require, are the most willing to receive it, and act upon it. This very circumstance, in fact, has had

no small influence in raising them to their moral superiority. They have always been accustomed to profit by instruction, rather than lose their time in curiously, or perhaps captiously, inquiring why it is particularly offered to them. Convinced that they are not perfect, they desire to go on toward perfection, and are thankful for every help by the way.

On this ground it is, that Mrs. Sandford, though she refers to the greater neglect of religion by men, urges a still increased attention to it on women, in two excellent chapters, the one entitled, "Importance of Religion to Woman," and the other, "Female Influence on Religion." It is as hard to deny the truth, as it is to be blind to the beauty, of the following paragraphs.

"Christian ethics are the only true morality; for they are the only morality which is both universal and minute. They are not a code, but a charter; not an institute, but a principle. They give to woman precisely that dignity which is consistent with her dependence: a dignity not of station, but of feeling, which makes her morally great, but practically subordinate.

"All that the world can offer her is, in fact, of little value. Neither the blaze of rank, the triumph of coquetry, nor the éclat of beauty or fashion, can really elevate her. They may all impart a mock lustre, but confer no true dignity.

"Religion is her only elevating principle. It identifies itself with the movement of her heart, and with the action of her life, spiritualizing the one, and ennobling the other. Duties, however subordinate, are to the religious woman never degrading; their principle is their apology. She does not live amidst the clouds, or abandon herself to mystic excitement she is raised above the sordidness, but not above the concerns of earth; above its disquietudes, but not above its cares.

Religion is just what woman needs. Without it she is ever restless or unhappy; ever wishing to be relieved from duty, or from time. She is either ambitious of display, or greedy of pleasure, or sinks into a listless apathy, useless to others, and unworthy of herself. But when the light from heaven shines upon her path, it invests every object with a reflected radiance. Duties, occupations, nay, even trials, are seen through a bright medium; and the sunshine, which gilds. her course on earth, is but the dawning of a far clearer day." — pp. 50 - 52.

Mrs. Sandford always speaks of home as if her own heart was there, and as of the place where every woman's heart

should be. It is this deep domestic tone pervading her little work, which constitutes one of its principal charms. We perceive it especially, as might have been expected, in the chapters on religion. Take, for instance, these passages.

"A woman's virtues must be genuine. They are to expand, not in the sunshine, but in the shade. And, therefore, they need some vital principle to supply the place of foreign excitement. Religion is this influence, this germ of every grace, this sap which finds its way through every fibre, and emits the fairest blossoms without the aid of artificial heat.

"The pious woman courts retirement. She seeks not the inertness of quietism, but the calmness and regularity of domestic duty. And though she may sometimes be called to less congenial scenes, she will neither refuse the summons, nor show a peevish reluctance to obey it; yet her taste is home! for there she feels she is most useful, most happy, and has most communion with her God.

"And it is the domesticating tendency of religion that especially prepossesses men in its favor, and makes them, even if indifferent to it themselves, desire it, at least, in their nearest female connexions. They can securely confide in one, who is under its sober influence, and whose duties and pleasures lie within the same sphere. They feel no jealousy of a sentiment, which, however intense, interferes with no legitimate affection, but which makes a woman more tender, more considerate, and more sympathizing, than the most ardent passion of romance would do, or the most studied polish of the world." 52, 53.

- pp.

Though most earnestly recommending religion to her sex, it is a practical, heartfelt religion, full of humility, gentleness, and charity which our author recommends, and not a spurious kind, full of bustle and words. She thus advises them on the subject of controversy.

"There is a great difference between being religious and affecting the theologian. Yet these are too often confounded; and women who, perhaps, are not remarkable for intellectual endowment, imagine, that because they are in earnest about spiritual concerns, they are qualified to enter the thorny path of controversy. This is, however, a great mistake. Not only is controversy, for the most part, unedifying, and very inappropriate to the gentler sex, but it often diverts them from profitable contemplation, and important duties. Besides, it is apt to make them opinionative and dogmatical, and to lead them to

throw their influence rather into the scale of party than into that of true religion." - pp. 61, 62.

We cannot forbear making one further extract from this volume. It is from the last chapter, on "Female Duties," and towards the close of the book. The author has been speaking of that important duty of a mother, the instruction and care of her children.

"And well is her care repaid. On whom does the infant smile so sweetly as on its mother? To whom do the little boy and girl fly so naturally for sympathy, as to their mother? And often, in after life, does not youth repose its confidence securely on a mother, and seek the counsel of a mother's faithful heart, and hide its griefs in a mother's tender bosom? It is a delightful relationship; and if mothers would secure the love and respect of their children, they must not grudge their attentions to them in their earliest years. They must be willing to sacrifice a little amusement, or a little company, or a little repose for the sake of nursing their infants, or teaching their children, or fulfilling, themselves, offices which, too frequently, they devolve on servants.

"To accomplish, however, these duties, a woman must be domestic. Her heart must be at home. She must not be on the look-out for excitement of any kind, but must find her pleasure, as well as her occupation, in the sphere which is assigned to her.

"St. Paul knew what was best for woman when he advised her to be domestic. He knew that home was her safest place; home her appropriate station. He knew, especially, the dangers to which young women are exposed, when, under any pretence, they fly from home. There is composure at home; there is something sedative in the duties which home involves. It affords security not only from the world, but from delusions and errors of every kind. A woman who lives much at home, hears the rumors merely of conflicts which perplex and agitate all who are involved in them. Opinions are presented to her, not dressed up with all the witchery of eloquence, and fresh from the mouth of their propounder, but divested of extrinsic attractions, and in their true garb. She entertains them with a mind not fevered by excitement, nor athirst for stimulus, but prepared to weigh every thing impartially, and preoccupied by important themes." pp. 176-178.

The reader will think, after perusing the above, that whatever the subject of the song may be, "Home, sweet Home,"