favors on every side, and the people look up to them as public benefactors, and delight to do them honor. As the Muses in Virgil's eclogue stood up in presence of the poet Gallus, Utque viro Phœbi chorus assurrexerit omnis, so the Roman people, by a charming application of his own verses, rose with one accord to salute the Mantuan himself, when he appeared at the theatre. And as to repose, when they wish to indulge in it (which is not so often or for so long periods, as our author would probably think necessary), the business of the world (for no one else can do it) must wait their leisure. Cicero, at the height of the practising season, at a time when, as he says in his letters, hardly a day passed in which he did not argue some cause, could retire for two or three weeks together from the Forum and recreate himself in his quiet Curnan villa, by enjoying the fresh breezes from the Tuscan ocean, that rolled below his windows, and composing his celebrated six books upon Government. The leisure of these great men of antiquity seems to have been more productive, than the working hours of the worthies of this degenerate age. Even the caprices of distinguished men must be indulged, because their aid must in many cases be secured at all hazards. When Achilles in a fit of ill humor quits the Grecian army, and holds himself aloof in his tent, the king of men, after attempting in vain to go on without him, is compelled to yield the point in question (however delicate), and court him back with more messages, than the other chiefs are willing to carry. The deep diplomacy of Ulysses, the uncompromising frankness of Ajax, the fatherly affection of Phoenix, and the garrulous wisdom of aged Nestor, are all put in requisition, in fruitless endeavors to persuade the haughty youth to make peace on his own terms. Something similar to this would probably happen in most other cases of the same description. There is therefore, we think, but little foundation for the fears of Mr Droz, that in quitting obscurity, he shall renounce at the same time repose and independence. Instead of agreeing with him in considering a contempt for public opinion as one of the principal elements of happiness, we should rather say (like the generous old Roman when he first heard the same Epicurean doctrine expounded by a Greek philosopher), ' May the gods give such principles to our enemies.' To our friends we should rather recommend (in conformity to the wisdom of ages) to seek the good opinion of others, and to aim at a just and honorable distinction. Such was the parting counsel of his aged father to Achilles, when he sent him forth, under the care of Nestor and Ulysses, to accompany the Greeks to the siege of Troy ; Πηλεὺς μὲν ᾧ παιδὶ γέρων ἐπέτελλ ̓ ̓Αχιλλῆϊ, Αἰὲν ἀριστεύειν, καὶ ἱπείροχον ἔμμεναι ἄλλων. Such is the import of the sublime exhortation of the Catholic Missal, Sursum corda, which is quoted with such distinct approbation by Burke, as pure and lofty a spirit as ever wore the vestments of mortality. There is doubtless a base passion, sometimes called ambition, which, instead of seeking to rise itself, endeavors to obtain a comparative elevation above others by depressing them, by fraud or force, below its own sordid level, and which justly excites the indignation and contempt of the wise. But the wish to arrive at excellence in noble pursuits by noble means, can hardly be carried to an excess. "T is the foe of idleness and frivolous employments; it tempers the thirst for sensual indulgence, nourishes high contemplations and generous feelings, and as far as it attains its objects, works out nothing but direct and positive good to the individual and the world. In reply to the objections which we have taken the liberty to make to his theory, Mr Droz may allege his own experience as a proof of its correctness. From his account he is one of the few physicians who follow their own prescriptions, and find themselves the better for it. 'Some persons will perhaps ask, if he who pretends to teach the art of being happy, has been always happy himself. I reply, that having been blessed with a share of philosophy and favored in some degree by circumstances, I have thus far found in life more pleasure than pain. But who can hope for unmingled happiness? I must own that I have at times been through a good deal of trouble. I have sometimes neglected to act upon my own principles, and in professing to instruct others, I am perhaps like a pilot, who should undertake to give lessons in navigation, after having repeatedly run his ship on shore.' We have some misgivings from this account of the matter, that Mr Droz has not been a vast deal happier than the rest of us, who have generally experienced like him alternate showers and sunshine. Be that as it may, our author, we think, labors under an illusion, in attributing the happiness he has enjoyed to an entire want of occupation and a contempt for public opinion. Although he may not have exercised any regular profession, he has given satisfactory evidence of a laudable degree of activity, in the singular employment of recommending idleness to others. The work before us, if it be not thought to demonstrate his good sense, is at least a proof of his industry. His Essay on Moral Philosophy, or the Different Theories of the Art of Living, is another; his Studies on the Beautiful in Art, a third; his Eulogy on Montaigne, a fourth; and so of his various other writings. Mr Droz is, in short, a person who cultivates letters with zeal and assiduity in his own way. This pursuit is after all an occupation tout comme un autre, and in some cases one of the most honorable and useful, in which a man can engage. We put it to our author's conscience, whether the delicious morning reveries, of which he makes so much account, are always devoted literally to reflections on the pleasure of having nothing to do through the day; whether they are not sometimes taken up in meditations on the forth-coming work. Mr Droz talks at his ease of the dolce far niente, with his books around him, and his manuscript open on his writing-table. But let his study be locked up; let him be debarred from the use of pen, ink, and paper; let him be excluded from readingrooms and public libraries,-let all this continue for a few weeks, and he will hold, we suspect, a different language. We should probably find him laboring under the same disease, which carried off the comrade of the Marquis of Spinola. Nor do we believe, that he can allege his own experience in support of his recommendation of contempt for public opinion, with greater justice. It is remarked by Cicero, that the very philosphers who advise us to despise the opinion of the world, put their names to the books containing this counsel. Our author, we are sorry to say, is an example of this inconsistency. Upon turning to the head of this article (where the titlepage of the work before us is copied), the reader will see at full length the name of Joseph Droz, inserted as that of the author. After the mention of his christian and family names, follows the honorary addition of Member of the French Academy. He is willing we should know that his art has enabled him to scale the celestial towers occupied by the Forty Immortals, who preside over the world of French literature, and take his place among the number. Even this is not all. After the qualification de l'Académie Française, we next find the significant memorandum, Quatrième Edition, Fourth Edition.' Is this then the end, or VOL. XXVII.- NO. 60. 18 rather the beginning, of our author's superb indifference? Why should Mr Droz, who holds the judgment of the many so very cheap, be at the pains of informing us that they have taken off three editions of his book? Is it consistent in one who scorns the suffrage of his fellows, to proclaim upon the house-top, that he has been received into the French Academy? Did it become this contemner of public opinion to indulge in the petty vanity of being known as a writer? The truth seems to be, that our author, while recommending to his disciples the 'primrose path of dalliance,' has had the good sense to pursue himself with some degree of firmness 'the steep and thorny road;' and while advising others to despise public opinion, has made no scruple of doing everything in his power to conciliate it in his own favor. This management appears at first view singular, and upon a second may be thought suspicious. Timeo Danaos. Is Mr Droz endeavoring to put us to sleep that he may have the field entirely to himself? At all events, we like his example better than his precepts. It is time, however, to close our colloquy with this writer, which we have already continued somewhat longer than we at first intended. Beside the chapters to which we have particularly adverted, there are several more upon a considerable variety of subjects; such as Pleasure, Pain, Love, Hatred, Melancholy, Marriage, Life, Death, and others of equal moment. They are all treated with nearly the same success, but we have not room to comment upon them in detail. In combating the arguments of our author, in favor of idleness and contempt of public opinion, we have had occasion to intimate that, on our view of the subject, his theory is directly the reverse of the truth, and that a diligent pursuit of almost any honest occupation, and a decent regard for the judgment of those around us, are among the most effective means, that we can employ, for the attainment of happiness. We may add here, that the real art of being happy is nowhere stated in a more satisfactory form than in the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament, and the Two into which they are abridged in the New. The person who shall diligently and faithfully practise upon these digests, will have but little need of the assistance of Mr Droz. A good * One of our author's books (if we are not mistaken, the work now before us) obtained the prize which had been offered by the French Academy, for the most valuable publication in a moral point of view, that should appear during the year. Credite, posteri. familiar and practical exposition of the spirit of these approved codes is to be found in the common saying, The art of being happy, is to endeavor to make other people so; to which the most judicious philosophers have subjoined as a supplementary principle, that a man is never happy without a good wife. ART. VII.—The Red Rover. BY THE AUTHOR of the Pi- 1827. WE venture but little, we apprehend, in saying that the public is exceedingly obliged to Mr Cooper for these volumes. For ourselves, we shall not be backward in declaring, that he has, in this instance, done more and better things for his name, than upon any former occasion. We the rather rejoice at this, as we have sometimes had fears of his falling off as he advanced, by a sort of échelon, that is melancholy in any writer, and eminently so in the novelist. Happy the popular writer, who is thus able to stand the test of frequent appearance at the public bar; and who, if he sometimes falter, is yet able to renew his strength, and resuscitate his slumbering energies at those secret fountains of power, that are ever flowing clear and strong in the deep and, to common minds, inaccessible places of genius. He thus comes with something like surprise upor a world that is getting even weary over his books, and at one wave of his 'enchanter's wand' dissipates every shadow of distrust as to his efficiency, or of conspiracy against his good fame and empire; as an energetic king may be supposed to put an end to all treasonous murmuring against his authority and name, by his sudden appearance among the malecontents, in his panoply, and with all the ensigns of his royalty about him. It may be observed, moreover, though not an unfailing concomitant of superior powers, that this alternation of excellence and mediocrity in their productions has been common to eminent writers. Sir Walter Scott has evinced this peculiarity to a degree quite uncommon, which, in one less gifted, would have been absolutely dangerous. Some of his works anterior to the 'Crusaders,' had been singularly tame and nerveless, considering their lineage and pretensions. But, in the mean time, |