MATHEWSIANA. - Of all actors, we believe MATHEWS will be the most posthumous, if we may so speak. He has gone, and we shall see him no more; but we doubt not that in the mind's eye of thousands he is acting still. During his late visit to America, the correctness of his pictures did not at first impress us; but their perfect nature is continually flashing upon us, in the intercourse of every-day life. A look-a tonea ridiculous affectation - will bring him again before us, more palpably, if possible, than the imitations of REEVE, which are excellent --especially the gait, and nervous, restless action. Appropos of Mathews: we have heard a characteristic anecdote of him, which we will relate here. 'When I was about leaving Liverpool for America,' said he to a professional friend, just before he left this country, 'I asked the Yankee captain, as we were lying in the stream, what detained us, that we were not off? He answered, 'The mail, Sir.' I inquired when it was expected? 'In about twenty minutes,' was the reply. In an hour or two, the mail came on board; and we had moved but a little distance, when there was another stop. 'What is this for?' said I. We are waiting for a pilot,' quoth the master. 'How long before he will be on board?' was my next question. 'In about twenty minutes,' was the answer, again; and so it was, all the way over. If there was a gale, it never was calculated to last more than twenty minutes; that space of time was likewise the estimated duration of a calm; and one poor fellow, blue-and-white with active sea-sickness, was told to keep good heart, for it might not last more than twenty minutes! When I arrived in New-York, and, after numerous provoking delays, had become fairly established at my lodgings, there comes me up a waiter, in hot haste, with: Mr. Mathews! - Mr. Mathews!- you can't stay here not no longer, Sà!' 'Why? you villain! "Cause you can't Sà!' 'What is the matter? - the reason? why can't I? "Cause, Sà, Mr. W the 'keeper,' has busted, Sà, and the sheriff has issued his sash-a-rarrar, and the red flag is out o' the winder, and they 're gwyin' to sell all out, Sà!' 'Well, when must I go?' 'Why, Sa, I s'pect you'd better be gittin' away in about twenty minutes! And thus,' (continued Mathews, in his fretful, querulous manner,) 'has it been ever since I set my foot in America. You 'd hardly believe it, yet I have but just returned from calling to see an old friend, who was very kind to me on my former visit. 'Where is Mr. B—?' said I, to the servant. 'He is dead, Sir! 'Dead?-dead! How long since did he decease?' 'I should think about twenty minutes, Sir! was the answer. 'In short,' (concluded the inimitable mime,) 'there is nothing that cannot be, and is not done, in the United States, in twenty minutes!'

UNFORESEEN labors, arising from the destruction of the printing-office of this Magazine, by the late disastrous fire (a destruction involving the loss of many manuscripts, and causing inconceivable perplexity for a time,)-must be our apology for omitting to notice several works, in the perusal of some of which we have enjoyed much satisfaction. We can only refer- and briefly to the following:

PORTRAITS OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES. - We can commend the style of these pentographic engravings, and the excellent letter-press which illustrates them; but we cannot laud the portraits. We should like to know who conceived such faces for the twelve Apostles (we naturally infer that they cannot have been taken from life,) — and where he procured the originals of such a lot of family noses! We have stood at times, of a summer day, on a corner by an adjacent thoroughfare,

nigh where the tide of passers-by In thickest confluence flowed,'

to mark the great variety of human countenances in the busy crowd; but never saw

we such noses! They would even defy the classifying ability of the learned Professor of Nosology, who figures elsewhere in these pages. Simon Peter is depicted with a proboscis that would shame, and perhaps even put to deeper blush, the nasal organ of REEVE himself— though that, in length, breadth, and flexibility, is not unlike the incipient trunk of a young elephant. James, Andrew, and Simon, have nothing to boast of, in this regard; and Bartholomew is in all respects a fright, yet a perfect beauty, in comparison with his next neighbor, Thomas. Nothing less can be said of 'James the Less.' Philip, John, Matthew, and Jude, are the only portraits, the features of which are not revolting to the mind that has ever imagined the personal aspects of the Apostles. Still, the pentographic style is a beautiful one, as may be seen from the frontispiece, which is tasteful and highly finished.

STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES.-The importance of the study of the Sacred Writings, as a part of liberal education, is well and forcibly set forth in a brief Essay, by Rev. CHAUNCEY COLTON, D. D., President of Bristol (Penn.) College—an institution that owes its present flourishing condition, in no small degree, to his energy and talents. Coupled with the essay above referred to, is an able Address on the Standard of American Scholarship and Enterprise of the Nineteenth Century,' delivered before the faculty of Bristol College, at their inauguration, in April, 1834. It has already reached its fourth edition-a satisfactory evidence of its acceptance with the public. Mr. COLTON is the Editor of the Religious Souvenir, an annual of celebrity, and acknowledged excellence, two large editions of which, for 1836, are already exhausted.

THE AMERICAN MONTHLY MAGAZINE. - The New-England Magazine has been merged in the American Monthly, of this city, and the united publication, retaining the last-named title, will hereafter be issued simultaneously in Boston and New-York. PARK BENJAMIN, Esq., a popular poet, and a writer of general repute, will be associated with Mr. HOFFMAN, as editor of the present work. Mr. HERBERT, a gentleman distinguished for various erudition, and not less favorably known to the public by many articles in the American Monthly, than by his excellent novel of 'The Brothers,' has retired, as we learn, from the Magazine, to the reputation of which he has largely contributed.

THE LATE CHIEF JUSTICE MARSHALL.

Of the several tributes which have been paid to this eminent and lamented jurist, we have seen none better-with perhaps one distinguished exception - than the Oration on his life and character, pronounced before the citizens of Alexandria, D. C., by EDGAR SNOWDEN. A plain synopsis is given of his personal history; his character and habits are clearly described; and a just and eloquent meed is awarded to his merits as a man, a lawyer, and a judge. The Oration is worthy of its subject—and it needs no higher praise.

MR. GASTON'S ADDRESS, delivered before the American Whig and Cliosophic Societies of Princeton College, in September last, has but just reached us. It will add to the repute of the author, not less from its manner than from its high moral and religious tone. It illustrates the duty of continued perseverance on the part of the graduate-shows the necessity of regarding life itself as a school - exposes the folly of seeking to acquire property, merely, while higher aims are neglected and enforces the sanctity of law, the guardian of freedom.

'CORRECTED PROOFS.' — A work with this odd but not unpleasing title, from the hand of H. HASTINGS WELD, ESQ., will soon be issued at Boston. It is to constitute a selection from the more popular miscellaneous writings of the author, - Tales, Sketches, Essays, etc., and will doubtless command a liberal sale.

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF HANNAH MORE have been published by the Brothers' HARPER, in seven well-printed and elegantly-bound volumes, each one embellished with a frontispiece and vignette, on steel. The matter of the volumes, of course, requires no praise, at this day.

The same Publishers have in press, or will soon publish, Rienzi, a novel, by BULWER; a new History of Italy, to 1830,-Monarchy of the Middle Classes, by H. L. BULWER, — Education in Germany, by JAMES, the Novelist, — Spain Re-visited, by the author of 'A Year in Spain,' - Life of Washington, and Slavery in the United States, by PAULDING, Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia, by Dr. HAWKS, Traits of the Tea Party, (a Memoir of GEORGE R. T. HEWES,) - Martin Faber, (second edition,) — and (with several English re-publications,) Humphrey Clinker, Tom Jones, and Gil Blas, with designs, similar, in all respects to their late edition of Robinson Crusoe.

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THE GIRLS' WEEK-DAY BOOK, the merits and object of which were referred to in the Knickerbocker for December, has been published by WILLIAM JACKSON, of this city. The contents are good in tendency, and lack not interest. The whole is neatly printed, and tastefully bound; and is embellished with a finished engraving by DICK, and several wood-cuts, executed by ADAMS, in that artist's well-known style of excellence.

AMERICAN HISTORY. The first volume of Professor RAFINESQUE's long-delayed 'History of the Ancient and Modern Nations of North and South America,' will be published, we learn, in all the month of March next. The work will appear quarterly, and will constitute several volumes, at one dollar each.

HONOR TO WHOM HONOR.- How a passage across the water seems to stamp the merits of an American production, in the eyes of some of our literary tradesmen! A Ramble in the Woods on Sunday,' by PAULDING, original in this Magazine, is greedily copied from Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, in this country, and in England, and credited to that periodical. 'Leaves from an Eronaut,' written for, and published in, these pages, twelve months since, has found a wide circulation in England, and lo! our Circulating Libraries of Foreign Literature are dealing it out, with many chuckles, to American readers. The Tale, by Captain MARRYATT sent us by the author, in September last, placed in type from his manuscript, and extensively copied in America- having found its way into the London Keepsake, is forthwith re-published here, as coming from that annual, although the American article has the priority, by three months. The Petition' by Miss LANDON, 'The Happiest Time,' and two or three poems by Mrs. BUTLER, (Miss KEMBLE,) now performing a travelling tour in the English journals and periodicals, without any intimation of their American source, we may expect soon to see journeying in this country, enjoying a reversed paternity. After all, this is less provoking, than to see articles, written for this Magazine, within one little month 'riding circuit' in our news and literary journals, while, like the viewless wind, none can tell whence they came. Literary orphans!—in your behalf we issue our mandate, a la mode Taoukweng, of the Celestial Empire: Let this larceny cease. Make not repentance necessary. Tremble fearfully hereat! Oppose not. A special order. Respect this.

TO THE READER. Owing to the haste incident to the late establishment of a new printingoffice, typographical errors may, in some few instances, have escaped the vigilance of the proofcorrectors. In part of the impressions, the reader is desired to substitute, on page 64, 'The length of the evenings was remarkable for the time of year,' for 'The length of the evenings were remarkable,' etc.

THIS is a very curious and interesting book, from which much that is valuable, on the subject of training the young mind, may be learned. It is designed, as the title page sets forth, to exemplify the general principles of spiritual culture; and is an authentic record-made by Miss Peabody, an assistant of Mr. Alcott, teacher of the school in question of the proceedings had in it, from day to day, for a period of six weeks' interspersed with occasional comments by its author.

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What is meant, precisely, by spiritual culture, must be gathered from the Record itself. At the close of an article appended to the Record, upon the General principles of Education,' Miss Peabody says: It is very easy for a prepared mind to learn, or at least to reason, at a glance, upon facts, which no mere industry could apprehend, in any relation to each other. This preparation is what Mr. Alcott means by spiritual culture, a term so general, that it includes moral and intellectual.'

Mr. Alcott, it seems, has been a teacher for the space of twelve years; first in Boston, then in Philadelphia, and again in Boston. His mode of teaching, being based upon principles hitherto unrecognised in school education, is of course new in its public adoption. It must, however, be more or less familiar to all judicious and reflecting parents, who, keeping in mind that the beings committed to their charge are immortal, believe that if the care of their physical growth and nurture is an important duty, that of their moral and intellectual advancement is of far higher moment.

But many parents are neither judicious nor reflecting; and there was need, perhaps, of something as striking, and we may add, as strange, as Mr. Alcott's method of teaching, to rouse both parents and teachers from their great insensibility to some of the most imperative wants of young minds from their apathetic acquiescence in all existing modes of instruction, however imperfect, and of course, ineffectual.

When I pronounce Mr. Alcott an enthusiast, it is with no intention of detracting from his merit. Very little of what has hitherto been accomplished, most worthy of man, and most conducive to his best interests, could not have been brought to pass without the aid of enthusiasm. It takes all the enthusiasts who appear from time to time in the world, to urge on the tardy, the doubting, and the inactive, to the proper point of progress in the various departments of life; and to do this, they must themselves advance beyond that point. This is the enthusiast's mission.

Mr. Alcott rejects all previous systems: we differ from him in this, that we reject none; and, therefore, we do not reject his, but endeavour

to gain from that, and from all others within our knowledge, something from which to form, or endeavour to form, a better than has hitherto existed.

We warn all those who are disposed to prejudge, or to think that what is objectionable in part, must therefore be rejected altogether, that they will find something, almost in the commencement of this book, which may seem so absurd, as to induce them to shut it up at once; but, at the same time, we beg them to suspend their judgment. If they read to the end, we are sure their patience will be rewarded; and they will find that they have gathered from it much calculated to 'furnish them more thoroughly' unto the good work of education.

And here I will adduce some testimony in favour of the book, which, were I its author, I should highly value. A mother, and a most devoted one, whose children, if there is any inspiration in example, will be sons and daughters of light, was heard to say, that if she could have had that book when she first became a mother, it would have been invaluable to her, in regard to the moral training of her children. I have been told, too, a very pleasing anecdote of a violent, obstreperous little boy, of five years old, a pupil of Mr. Alcott, who said to his mother: Mother, if you die, I hope you will give me to Mr. Alcott, for nobody in the world, besides you, except him, can make me good.' It was certainly remarkable, that a child so young, should reflect so much on the importance of being good, and the best means of becoming_so; while his request shows, that Mr. Alcott had gained his perfect love and confidence. Indeed, it is generally agreed, that his pupils are exceedingly fond of him, and so happy in his school, that they consider the being kept away from it, a single day, as a great privation.

The book commences with a description of the school-room, part of which is as follows:

"Considering that the objects which meet the senses every day, for years, must necessarily mould the mind, he felt it necessary to choose a spacious room, and ornament it, not with such furniture as an upholsterer would appreciate, but with such forms as might address and cultivate the mind and heart. In the four corners of the

room, therefore, Mr. Alcott placed upon pedestals, fine busts of Socrates, Shakspeare, Milton, and Sir Walter Scott; and on a table before the large gothic window, by which the room is lighted, the God of Silence, with his finger up, as though he said, beware! Opposite this gothic window is his own table, about ten feet long, whose front is the arc of a circle, and which is prepared with little desks for the convenience of scholars. On this table he placed a small figure of a child aspiring. Behind him is a very large book-case, with closets below, a black tablet above, and two shelves, filled with books. A fine cast of Christ, in basso-relievo, is fixed into this book-case, so as to appear to the scholars just over Mr. Alcott's head. The book-case itself is surmounted with a bust of Plato. Other figures of Atlas bending under the weight of the world, of a child reading, and a child drawing, are arranged in different parts of the room; while the walls are hung with maps, two old pictures, and a portrait of Harding's, of one well known to the children, and associated, in their minds, with every idea of goodness."

At the close of this description, which we have not space to quote at full length, the writer says: Great advantages have been found to arise from this room, every part of which speaks the thoughts of genius. It is a silent reproach upon rudeness.'

From her account of the opening of the school we extract the following, as exhibiting at once Mr. Alcott's principles: