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nay, that I even reckon several Sundays passed there among my most agreeable recollections, and cannot refrain from expressing the wish, that we might have among ourselves something more of what we there find, in families as distinguished for intellectual endowments, as respectable for their character. I do not address those whom a religious feeling causes to regard as sinful the most innocent occupation, and who think they ought to keep the Sabbath more in the spirit of the Old Testament than of the Christian religion; but those who would wish that a certain harmony might be observed among us also here in Germany, in the employment of Sunday. I foresee that many readers will be of a different opinion. But how is it possible that all people should be of one mind? "It is not to be denied that the difference between the six week-days and this seventh is more striking in England than anywhere else. It is as if a long continued ebb had set in, which would be followed by no flood; or, as if animated life had quitted the streets and public places, and retired to the back part of the dwellings; or, as if every one breathed more softly, to recover from the fatigues and exertions of a restless activity. The latter is really the case. In this respect alone, the law, which commands repose from usual employment, is a real blessing for thousands of people, who have borne for six days together the burden and heat of the day, or in the bustle of worldly concerns have not been able to rest themselves, or hold intercourse with their family; and that is accomplished which the ancient Mosaic institution of the Sabbath had for its object, Exodus, xxiii. 12. On Saturday, when the clock strikes the midnight hour, the curtain in the theatre must be let down, and it is not drawn up again till Monday. Those shops only in which the indispensable necessaries of life are sold are open; all others are closed throughout the day, and the shop windows being covered with painted shutters, the city assumes quite a different aspect. Where the law, originating in ancient times in religious dissension, is observed in all its rigour, even large entertainments, card parties, and private concerts are avoided, and no work done. The streets, however, begin to be animated between ten and eleven, when divine service is about to commence. The number of welldressed persons repairing to church increases in all the streets-the citizens, for the most part, husband and wife together, and the children before them, with the Book of Common Prayer and their Bibles in their bands. The churches being so numerous in all parts of the city, the masses soon divide; and here, as well as elsewhere, some places of worship are more crowded than others. Some of the churches in particular, where evening service is performed, (beginning at six o'clock,) are so exceedingly crowded, that any one coming in late can scarcely obtain a seat, however willing the pew-opener may be to procure him one.

"He who does not consider the theatre, balls, and games for money, as indispensable, in order to be happy or to keep off ennui, in whom those artificial pleasures have not blunted a taste for the scenes of nature and the pleasures of cheerful society, I really know not what should hinder such a man from spending his Sunday agreeably, either in or out of London. I at least have seen, on fine Sundays, the roads almost more thronged with carriages and pedestrians than during the week. The

Thames was covered with boats, conveying numerous parties to the beautiful places, country seats, &c. on its banks. * * * Many indeed, both high and low, who go into the country on a Sunday, do not readily neglect to attend the village churches, before the doors of which you may often see whole rows of carriages from the neighbourhood,-but then they enjoy the remainder of the day in the open country or in the elegant environs of their houses. * * Further, it is true, they do not go in England. Even he who perhaps has religion less at heart than the preservation of certain national customs, requires that Sunday shall maintain its peculiar character, and that there shall not be too glaring a contrast between its principal destination and the employment of the remaining hours of the day. Thus, for instance, every true Englishman would consider it a most indecent contrast, if the same parents who had in the morning gone to church with their children, and there perhaps heard a sermon on modesty and decorum, could go with them in the evening to the theatre, and there see some laughable farce, or such luscious scenes, drawn after nature, as we find represented in some of our favourite pieces, to the eyes of our youth of both sexes. But so ought, in reason, every one to think and feel, who does not regard the whole of life as a farce. Truly, decorum often borders nearer than we believe on morality."

M. von Raumer's fifty-seventh letter on the difference between the system of school education in England and Prussia is very interesting, and points out the erroneous notions entertained by some eminent men in England respecting the Prussian system; he is particularly indignant at what he calls "the calumnies of Lord Brougham, who, had he looked beyond the title-page of M. Cousin's work, would know that all he has said (in the Report on the State of Education, 1834) was entirely visionary, and could only serve to mislead those who believe him." In his remarks upon the schools, M. von Raumer argues on the facts which he finds stated in parliamentary and other documents, to show how little is done in England for the education of all classes, in comparison with Prussia. No country in the world possesses so many ancient, venerable institutions for education as England, and yet, with proportionably the amplest means, the least is done. He is much struck with Oxford, " in which city, full of the noblest, the most astonishing monuments of an ancient period, almost every thing modern is but an insignificant accessory." Considering what Oxford has been and still is, he proceeds to show what he thinks it might and ought to be. The colleges are far inferior to the German gymnasia, and the university to those of Prussia; their circle of study is too narrow, for the wants of modern times: “ some faculties, as medicine and jurisprudence, are, properly speaking, entirely wanting in Oxford, and those of divinity and philosophy are by no means completely filled, in comparison with the German universities. The professors give

so few lectures, and during so short a period of the year, that they appear in comparison with the colleges to be only a trifling addition and subordinate matter. No English university is a universitas literaria, in the German sense of the term."

We agree with our author in thinking that advantageous changes might be made in the system of university education, even without violating the will of the founder, which, besides that it does not strictly prescribe every thing, must in some cases be understood according to his real meaning and intention. If he directed, in the sixteenth century, that the best Greek grammar then existing should be used,-will it be acting in conformity with his wishes to retain it, after it has become the worst? But it is equally wrong obstinately to abide by what is antiquated and to indulge in rash innovations. If a judicious middle course be adopted, general approbation will follow. The halls of Oxford are founded for eternity, and the tenants will not suffer themselves to be expelled by the first new comer who might take a fancy to erect in or near them a noisy machine. How then shall the requisite improvements be effected? M. von Raumer thinks that the legislature should interfere, that no object of private right or private property can be unconditionally withdrawn from its power. Much, he thinks, might be done by the university itself, and where it doubted its power to deviate from the will of the founder, it might apply to the legislature to sanction the proposed change.

We have dwelt on this particular subject, because it has by far the most important claim to general attention. All parties will agree that some education is necessary; and though some would restrict it within much narrower bounds than others, yet all desire that a good system should be adopted. Our author is decidedly adverse to the voluntary system, and considers it the duty of a government to take on itself the care of providing the means for a general education of the people, as is done in Prussia. How far this could or should be done in England is a different question, which is well worth the sincere consideration of every real friend to the happiness and prosperity of his country.

In conclusion, we must repeat our admiration of the exemplary activity of Professor von Raumer, his sense of justice, his varied knowledge, and the clear insight which he shows into the manifold subjects of which he treats. The English ought certainly to be grateful to him, for having given to foreigners a highly favourable view of their country, their character, and manners,-for having proved by irrefragable arguments, founded on facts that cannot be disputed, that, far from hastening to inevitable decay, it contains within itself the undying germs of constantly increasing

prosperity. If he at times points out defects which he thinks capable of remedy, or if he now and then touches too tender a string, let us listen to his counsels as to the voice of a friend who wishes us well, even though he should be mistaken both in the disease and the remedy. Let us ascribe to the difference of feeling, arising from a continental education, an occasional apparent levity of expression, which, though not ill meant, is calculated to offend those whose views differ from his;-with respect, for instance, to the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, which, even those who do not wholly approve of them, can never look upon as fit to be lightly treated, involving, as they do, the dearest interests of the Christian world.

In our review of M. von Raumer's "Letters from Paris, illustrative of the History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries," (F. Q. R. No. XXII. p. 452,) we have adverted to his great work, "The History of Europe during the last Three Centuries." Of this work five volumes have already appeared. It was intended to be completed in six, but as the fifth comes down only to the year 1660, it seems probable that it will extend to at least ten or twelve.

To the particulars of the author given in the number of our Review just quoted, we may add that he is a man of highly independent spirit, and considerable surprise was occasioned by his undertaking to write a History of the Fall of Poland, in which, though he was receiving a salary from the state, he admitted that the conduct of the Prussian government had been unjust. For the misfortunes of Poland he has always expressed the greatest sympathy. Another proof of his spirit is his resignation of office, when a member of the Supreme Board of Censorship, because he disapproved the narrow views of his colleagues. On this occasion he expressed his sentiments in an energetic remonstrance, which, finding its way into the papers of South Germany, excited particular attention. He has nevertheless always enjoyed the favour of his sovereign, who has given him leave of absence for his different journeys to France and England; and we learn that his majesty has granted him permission to pay a second visit to England, where he is expected to arrive about the end of April or the beginning of May.

ART. XI.-1. Bericht über eine Reise nach den Westlichen Staaten NordAmerikas, &c. von Gottfried Duden. (Account of a Journey into the Western States of North America.) 1 vol. 8vo. Bonn, 1834. 2. Europa und Deutschland von Nord-Amerika aus betrachtet: von Gottfried Duden. (Europe and Germany considered from North America.) 2 vols. 8vo. Bonn, 1835.

THOUGH the first of these works is the account of a visit to the United States, undertaken above ten years ago, and therefore cannot be expected to contain much that is now new, we are induced to notice it for several reasons. In the first place, it caused a very considerable sensation in Germany on its first publication soon after the Author's return, a very large edition having been sold in a short time, and it met in many instances with great opposition, and was very severely criticised. The author, whose object was to prove the great advantages of emigration from Germany to America, was accused of having drawn far too favourable a picture, and even of having falsified and misrepresented facts, in order to promote the purpose he had in view. In this second edition he has made considerable additions of a later date, and has embodied in a preface the various criticisms on his work, the most violent of which he reprints word for word, with his answers to them, many of which show the critics in no very favourable light. But what many may perhaps consider to be more in his favour, is a letter from the celebrated historian Niebuhr, who, having seen, shortly before his death, a portion of the second work, " Europe and Germany," wrote to him as follows:

"I am extremely obliged to you for the friendly communication of the table of contents of your projected work. Even in the general part, the plan of which you have specially stated, I see many points touched upon, respecting which we agree in differing from the prevailing opinion. But those which will be discussed in the following part excite my expectation in a still higher degree, as your views proceed from the same clear and unprejudiced observation, the same love of truth, and independence of spirit, which render your account of America admirable, nay classic, and as the counsels founded upon your views will be suggested by your practical mind. May those plans of colonization which we have often discussed be carried into effect, and your ideas be duly considered by those who have it in their power to contribute to that object!"

A testimony so honourable is more than sufficient to outweigh the censures of a dozen such critics as those whose observations Duden has himself quoted.

With respect to his own views, the author observes, that, notwithstanding all that had been written on the subject of emigration to America, the question was by no means so fully decided as to render his undertaking superfluous, and that the information which he communicates is not a compilation from European or American books, but the result of his own experience, which he recommends to the attention of his countrymen. Speaking of the impartiality which

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